The Festival's Egg Rain
By the time we'd more or less graduated from scavenging empty bottles, Saebyeok appeared. Her sudden arrival was startling, but I already knew we would be living together from now on. I decided to teach her how to get by in this world, since everything must still feel awkward to her.
"Saebyeok, come here."
"Okay."
Saebyeok stepped in front of me, and Levinas came bouncing along right beside her. Levinas snapped into a stiff, soldier-like attention, though it looked a little clumsy.
"King of Darkness! Collecting empty bottles is an incredibly, incredibly important job!"
"Is it really?"
"Yes! You have to be as serious about it as Levinas is right now!"
Serious, huh. She wasn't usually this serious. Something felt off, but I understood she just wanted to set a good example as the senior bottle-collector. For now, I'd play along. It wasn't a bad thing that she was trying to look responsible.
"Right. Got it."
Saebyeok copied Levinas and stood at attention. Unlike Levinas, she didn't put any real force into her posture.
"Um… all right… Today we're going to learn the basics of bottle collecting."
"Roger!"
"Okay."
Saebyeok nodded, saying she understood. Since she'd been the one to suggest collecting bottles together with Levinas, she probably knew something about it. The fact that she wasn't refusing to learn made me suspect she didn't actually know much.
"Do you know how to collect bottles, Saebyeok?"
"Not really."
"I see. Then…"
I was about to explain in detail when Levinas suddenly shot her hand into the air.
"Levinas wants to teach! Levinas wants to be the teacher too!"
"All right."
Teaching someone would be a good experience for Levinas as well. I'd just watch from behind this time.
"King of Darkness! If you want to find bottles, you have to sniff around!"
"Sniff around?"
"Yes!"
Levinas lifted her nose toward the sky. Sniff-sniff—her little nose twitched as she pretended to catch a scent.
"Once you smell it, you'll know exactly where the empty bottles are!"
"Sorry, my nose isn't that good."
"Huh?"
Both Levinas and I voiced our confusion at the same time. She couldn't understand how someone who looked exactly like her could have a weak sense of smell.
"Shouldn't Saebyeok have the same physical abilities as me?"
"I only changed in appearance and habits. I didn't get a better nose or ears like real beastkin."
"Just your appearance? Why copy the looks?"
"Because my real form is dangerous."
Ah. That made sense. She'd been buried underground, after all. If the people involved were still alive, showing her original appearance would probably be risky.
"While I was at it, I copied your appearance too… I guess?"
"Yeah. The adults did it for me."
The adults. Who exactly were the adults Saebyeok mentioned, and what kind of people had buried her underground while claiming to protect her? My head was spinning. With the information I had, there was no way to figure it out.
"So your physical abilities are normal?"
"Mm… I'm stronger than I used to be, though."
"Stronger?"
"Yeah. Other than being a lot stronger, I'm probably about the same as an ordinary person."
"I see…"
Just how much stronger had she become for her to call it "a lot"? The question was forming when Levinas's eyes went wide like a startled rabbit.
"King of Darkness, what do you mean by your real form?"
"I have a different original appearance."
"Your real form…! Gah…!"
Levinas trembled, then whipped her head around and bolted away. She had clearly started imagining something strange about Saebyeok's original appearance.
"I guess Levinas is really scared of me."
"Yeah. She's still just a kid, so she's easily frightened."
"…I see."
Saebyeok spoke in a tone similar to mine. It felt oddly like I'd gained a sibling.
We wandered around the park for a while before heading outside to find more bottles. At the same time, I decided to speak casually with Saebyeok from now on.
"Winter! Winter, something terrible happened!"
Levinas came running toward us from afar. Alarmed, I sharpened my senses and heard her heart pounding wildly.
"What's wrong?"
"They're eating people over there!"
"E-eating people…?"
In the middle of the city? If it were true, it would be extremely dangerous, but something told me Levinas had misunderstood again. I glanced at Saebyeok following quietly behind me and headed in the direction Levinas was pointing.
"Winter! Over here!"
Following Levinas's lead, we arrived at a high school. Students were running around the brightly decorated campus, throwing flour and eggs at each other.
"Whoa…"
It wasn't even graduation season. Why were they doing this? In the world I came from, the tradition of throwing eggs and flour at graduation had disappeared long ago. I could only look around in confusion.
"Winter, look! They're covering people in eggs and flour!"
"Yeah, I see that."
"They must be trying to turn people into pancakes!"
"Hmm…"
If you didn't know what flour-throwing meant, it was easy to reach that conclusion. Instead of explaining, I gently tugged on a nearby girl's sleeve.
"Excuse me…"
"Ah?!"
The girl jumped in surprise and looked down at us. After glancing between me, Levinas, and Saebyeok, she muttered to herself.
"Twins…?"
"Twins?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing."
The girl held both palms out in front of her. I decided not to press her about what she'd said.
"Um, I was wondering…"
"Sure. What do you want to know?"
The girl rested her hands on her knees and bent down to meet our eyes. Even though we'd just met, she was surprisingly kind.
"Why are you throwing flour and eggs?"
"Oh… today's the last day of the festival. We're just wrapping it up with a big after-party."
"A festival?"
"Yeah. It's dangerous here with eggs flying around, so maybe you should step back a bit?"
The girl lightly patted my head, then let out a small squeal. I didn't know why, but she didn't seem like a bad person, so I let it go.
"Winter."
Tap tap— Saebyeok poked my back with her finger. Her tail, moving on its own, wrapped around her wrist.
"What?"
"Eggs and flour."
"Yeah."
I already knew that. Did she have something else she wanted to say? While I tilted my head in confusion, Saebyeok made a surprisingly tempting suggestion.
"If we pick up the broken eggs and spilled flour, couldn't we use them as food?"
"Whoa…!"
Levinas and I both gasped in admiration. Her brilliant idea made our ears and tails perk up.
"Saebyeok, you're so smart. How did you think of that?"
"……"
Embarrassed by the praise, Saebyeok's face turned red. Her expression stayed blank and fierce, but her tail was wagging furiously.
At the festival's after-party, young men and women gathered together, throwing eggs at one another. They hurled them like baseballs, but a light protective magic kept anyone from getting hurt.
Thud—!
In the middle of the schoolyard, where eggs cracked and flour scattered, three children stepped forward. Winter, Levinas, and Saebyeok.
"Throw eggs! Throw eggs at Levinas too! Sprinkle flour everywhere!"
Levinas bounced up and down on the spot, waving her hands to show she wanted to be hit. Winter squeezed her eyes shut and waved her hands as well, while Saebyeok silently spread both arms wide. But no one threw eggs at the children.
"Those are Yeomyeong kids…?"
"I've never seen that one before. Were they twins…?"
The students who had been enjoying the festival stopped in their tracks. Even the energetic youths didn't throw anything at the children.
"Winter, they're not throwing eggs."
"Yeah… I guess outsiders aren't welcome."
"Aww… I thought we'd get to eat eggs…"
Winter and Levinas's shoulders slumped. A beat later, Saebyeok lowered hers as well. Her face remained expressionless, but her ears and tail drooped.
"Oh…"
The students nearby flinched at the children's guilt-inducing conversation. The reason they wanted to be hit with eggs was so they could eat them. One boy swallowed hard and approached the children.
"Hey, do you want this egg…?"
"No! Winter said we can't beg!"
"B-beg?"
"Yeah! Instead of getting hit, Levinas will take the eggs and flour!"
They meant to take what hit them as payment. Everyone understood the logic, but still, no one threw eggs or flour at them.
"But they're not throwing any… Levinas wants to eat eggs…"
"You can throw them at us to relieve stress… We'll catch everything no matter where you aim…"
At the children's pleading eyes, the boy looked away. Sweat ran down his cheek, mixing with the flour already on his face.
"They're too young to throw at…"
"Levinas is great at getting hit! Even if adults hit me, I can take it!"
"Uh, really…?"
"Winter's been hit by adults a lot too, right?!"
What on earth were these children saying? The students enjoying the festival felt their hearts drop. They'd heard rumors that the beastkin children's pasts weren't good, but hearing it directly made it impossible to feel at ease.
"L-Levinas, let's stop now. I think we have to give up on the eggs."
"Ehh…"
"Sorry, I'll buy you an egg on the way back…"
"No. Levinas is sorry for being selfish…"
The children left looking dejected. Seeing their powerless backs, the boy holding an egg squeezed his eyes shut. He really had no choice but to throw it after all. Not in a violent way, but in a somewhat reasonable manner.