14. Melting Point (13)
14. Melting Point (13)
Thanks to the Hawk he'd sent scouting around the inn earlier, Wonderstein already had a few ideal spots in mind for taking Reina and Ruelo.
The first place they visited was a nearby playground. His reason was simple: a kindergarten stood right next door.
The quest condition was "to make Reina feel what it's like to attend kindergarten." The fastest way to fulfill that was to put her around other children. With any luck, the whole thing might wrap up here without needing the second location.
The kindergarten sat on a street where the wealthy lived. In this era, public education was meant for the urban middle class. Upper-class children were cared for by private governesses, while lower-class children ran wild in the streets, left to entertain themselves.
The playground itself wasn't much different from the ones in the modern world. It had the usual array of risky-looking equipment that demanded acrobatic talent from children, plus a sandpit for digging and dirt play.
"Oh, are you here to drop off a child?"
When they arrived, the playground was already full of children in kindergarten uniforms. A teacher standing near the fence spotted Wonderstein and came over.
The staff here were accustomed to parents showing up unexpectedly to leave their kids. A train station served the neighborhood, which meant short-term enrollments happened frequently.
"No. I'm a caretaker employed by the Bergson Trading Company. These are the children I'm looking after. I was simply hoping we might share the playground."
Wonderstein had fabricated a plausible identity on the spot. Anais had given him a company employee badge for emergencies, and it came in handy now. The teacher checked the papers he held out and accepted his story without suspicion.
"Is this your first time in the area?"
"Yes. We travel by train constantly. While the employees handle business near the station, I look after their children."
The female teacher's wariness toward him melted away quickly. His credentials checked out, and she felt a sense of solidarity with a fellow caregiver. But more than anything else, the decisive factor was that he was a rare, striking beauty.
She studied his face openly, her eyes sparkling.
"This playground is run by the city. It's for girls only. Normally we'd have to charge an outside visitor a fee, but... for you, Mr. Wonderstein, I can use my authority to open it up free of charge."
"I'm sorry to impose. You really don't have to go that far...."
"Ohoho, one dinner would more than cover it... what do you think?"
Her offer was blatant. She was a woman who had spent her entire twenties on poor pay cleaning up after other people's kids, and with her thirties fast approaching, an urgency had crept in.
Wonderstein gave her a bright smile and nodded.
"I can certainly treat you to dinner."
Success! Her face lit up, and she promptly shooed the two children he'd brought into the playground. Then she pressed herself right up against his side, chattering away with an excited expression. He made the right noises in response while keeping his main attention fixed on Reina.
Among the children who barely topped a meter in height, Reina — taller than the average adult woman — stood out immediately. Yet she wasn't afraid at all. Walking here, she'd felt the power of the nameplate firsthand and now brimmed with confidence. She called out cheerfully to the children staring at her.
"Hi, everyone! I'm Reina!"
The laughter and chatter of the playground died in an instant.
Sensing something was off, she looked around. The children's reactions were strange. Every last one of them stared back at her with frightened eyes. She caught their whispers.
"Who's that big sister?"
"No matter how you look at it, she's an adult...."
"Why's she wearing the same clothes as us? It's weird...."
"Scary...."
The sidelong glances they shot her brimmed with wariness. Reina's body went rigid.
The adults still saw Reina as a five-year-old child. But for some reason, the Role Name Tag's power wasn't working properly on the children.
This was one of the weaknesses of Perception Impairment Magic. Human perception is built on experience. That's why adults, skilled at symbolizing and categorizing what they see, were relatively susceptible to having their perception distorted. It worked much like fooling someone with a fake ID.
Children, however, evaluated things purely on raw, one-dimensional observation, free of accumulated knowledge or prejudice. The distortion affected them far less. It was like trying to pass off a forged ID to someone who couldn't read.
"Teacher, why's that big sister wearing kindergarten clothes?"
"She's not a big sister. She's an auntie. Her chest's really big."
"Bigger than my mom's."
"Think milk comes out?"
Multiple children clamored at once. Their noise gradually seeded doubt in the eyes of the kindergarten teachers watching Reina. A subtle sense of incongruity was creeping in.
"That girl...."
"Her development is suspiciously advanced."
"But why did we think she was five?"
"Five? Is she five? She's a full-grown adult, isn't she?"
"Don't say something so grotesque. Why would an adult wear a kindergartener's uniform...."
Reina's face blazed crimson. She began to tremble, her eyes darting around with a look of pure dread.
Right now, dozens of adults were near this playground — kindergarten staff, parents, passersby. If even one person's perception shattered, the whole thing could collapse like a chain reaction. Like a forged ID losing all its authority the moment one person calls it out.
If Maya had been here, she'd have easily explained the situation using exactly that kind of ID metaphor. But right now, dealing with the crisis itself was far more urgent than understanding the theory behind it.
Wonderstein saw at a glance where the cracks in perception were forming and instantly worked out how to seal them. He walked over to the children gathered around Reina, a sympathetic smile on his face as he addressed them.
"Reina is actually five years old — she's just bigger than other kids her age. She took the wrong medicine when she was very little. It wouldn't be nice to tease a friend or a little sister just because she's chubby, would it?"
No one was easier to steer with suggestion and leading statements than children. The authority that came with the name "teacher" made it even easier. And on top of that, the children gathered here were all girls. They were especially receptive to the kind-hearted logic he offered.
"Sorry! Reina, right? We weren't teasing!"
"You really are five? I'm seven!"
"I'm five! That means we're friends!"
"I'm six! You can call me big sis!"
The children accepted her instantly as a five-year-old friend. The adults who'd been growing suspicious stepped back as they watched her blend in so naturally, dismissing their own misgivings as baseless flights of fancy.
"Yeah. Ah... thank you, big sisters... I'm really okay."
Reina, desperate not to be caught out, strained to act as childlike as possible. A part of her felt pathetic — a grown woman frantically mimicking a child in front of kids far younger than herself — but another part found a strange peace in it, as if she were finally getting to live the childhood she'd missed.
"That's a pretty tough challenge! Bring it on!"
"Whoa, your name's Ruelo, right? You're amazing!"
"She cleared all the stuff even the boys struggle with!"
While Samson drew the awestruck stares of the athletic kids, crossing the precarious rope bridges and log swings, Reina threw herself into various role-playing games with the older girls in the sandpit. She was a hit with the six- and seven-year-olds, who were delighted to have a new "little sister" bigger than they were.
"Reina, let's play farm! You have big udders, so you can be the cow!"
"We'll squeeze you to get milk!"
"Ah, i-if you squeeze too hard... b-big sis! Hyaaah! I-if you pinch the tip...!"
"Mommy cow's having a baby!"
"Vet doctor! Come quick!"
"D-don't pull my clothes up...!"
Watching her play so openly with the children, Wonderstein felt a wave of relief. Her shadow was savoring the five-year-old childhood she had never been allowed. At this rate, the quest would be completed without any major problems.
The morning wore on. Then, out of nowhere, Ruelo came sprinting toward him.
"The Creator — I mean, sir! Sir! Big trouble!"
"What is it?"
"Reina... Reina's...!"
He'd been stuck in a relentless barrage of questions from the mothers and teachers who had surrounded him earlier, and he hadn't been able to keep an eye on what Reina was doing.
"Let's go!"
Wonderstein jumped up and rushed into the playground after Ruelo.
Reina was still crouched in the sandpit where they'd been playing. When she saw him coming, she pulled her hat down low to hide from his gaze.
"What happened?"
The instant he raised his voice in alarm, the children who'd been watching Reina anxiously flinched and blocked his path.
"R-Reina's teacher!"
"Don't be angry!"
"Don't scold her!"
"Reina didn't do anything wrong!"
"It's our fault!"
Realizing he'd been too hasty, Wonderstein softened his tone.
"I'm not angry. I heard something happened to Reina, and I rushed over because I was worried. So — what's going on with Reina?"
At his question, the children glanced nervously at Reina, whose head was still bowed low, and answered.
"Well...."
"Reina...."
"...she wet herself."
He let out a hollow laugh.
"Wet herself?"
"W-we were playing the tickle game, and... well, Reina is so big that when we all jumped on her at once to tickle her...."
Now he understood why the children were so anxious. For a child fresh out of diapers, bladder control was a serious matter of personal dignity.
He looked at the spot where Reina crouched. The sand beneath her had darkened into wet, blackened soil. A wry smile tugged at his lips. He had already rolled around naked with her in the bath more than once, and he'd seen her lose control before.
He walked over and stroked her head reassuringly.
"Reina, it's fine. Children your age make mistakes like that all the time."
"...okay."
"Should we go to the bathroom nearby and change your underwear?"
Reina nodded, her face still blazing. She was just about to stand when an uneasy murmur rose from behind them.
"Goodness, this girl — seeing her up close, she really is huge."
"She wet herself? At that size?"
"How old does she look to you?"
"No matter what, to my eyes it's...."
It was the mothers and teachers who'd been chatting with him moments ago. They had all followed him when they saw him dash off.
Wonderstein recognized that the cognitive patch he'd applied earlier was on the verge of shattering. If they hesitated here even a moment longer, the Role Name Tag's magic was certain to fail completely. And that would send her social standing and reputation straight into a freefall.
"Miss Reina, the perception impairment is about to collapse! Quickly, your act — !"
His whispered warning made her grasp the severity of the situation. She promptly dropped back into a crouch and resumed her child act.
"S-sniff... t-teacher... R-Reina wet her panties... I-I'm sorry...."
She scrubbed at her eyes, pretending to cry. The parents who'd been eyeing her suspiciously a moment ago clicked their tongues with chagrin.
"Oh, sweetheart, those things happen when kids get caught up playing."
"Exactly. Don't be too hard on her. My eldest drew a map on the sheets right up until age nine."
"Right. Even after potty training, it's common for kids to have accidents before they're twelve."
"Your name's Reina, yes? You don't have to be so embarrassed about it."
They were mothers. They were teachers who cared for children. One look at her weeping so miserably, and they rushed to comfort her. It was just barely enough to stop the perception impairment from crumbling.
"Well then, I'll take her to change her underwear."
Relieved that the situation had stabilized, he moved to get Reina out of there. Keeping her in this spot any longer was dangerous. A quick fix might have worked for now, but once things truly settled, they could easily start doubting her again.
He was helping her to her feet when the teacher who'd exchanged dinner promises blocked his path.
"No. I think it's better to change her right here."
"What? What do you mean...?"
"The boys will be coming out from their indoor class any minute now."
She pointed toward the kindergarten building. From inside, the growing noise of excited boys anticipating their outdoor session was clearly audible.
"Hurry! There's no one here but women anyway, except you! Do you have any idea how mortifying it is for a girl to have the boys see something like this?"
Hearing the teacher's words, the children cried out with grave expressions.
"Hurry up! Lie down, Reina!"
"The boys are coming!"
"We'll block you with our bodies!"
Wonderstein and Reina exchanged a look.
They were trapped. There was no choice. Any more resistance here could break the Perception Impairment Magic for good.
"Here, Reina. Lie down, sweetheart."
Without a word, Reina let his hands guide her until her back was on the ground. Her face was so crimson it looked ready to burst into tears at any moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and spread her legs toward him. Her short sky-blue dress rode up, revealing the lean, acrobat-hardened lines of her stomach and her toned legs.
Wonderstein let out a small sigh and pulled down her wet panties. Reina covered her face with both arms. Something close to a sob leaked through her clenched teeth. Before the eyes of dozens of people, she bared her unadorned lower body, pale and exposed.