An Ordinary Breakfast
It was warm and cozy, and soft besides. Drawn by that gentle sensation, I wriggled closer still. The heat source drew nearer, and the warmth doubled; the softness grew even springier. The sunlight was so pleasant, and that faint dry, fluffy scent…
Mm. That was Helena's scent. The smell of dry sand and ash that even body wash couldn't quite hide, and the faint heat lingering within it.
The moment I recognized it, my consciousness expanded in every direction. I registered Helena lying right in front of me. Then the room itself, flooded with cheerful sunlight pouring through the window. Only after that did my eyes finally open.
Well, I didn't really need to open them. But I used to be human, so there's this lingering sense that if you're awake, you ought to have your eyes open.
And when I looked at Helena with those opened eyes, she seemed to have felt my movement and woken as well. The way she was staring at me with that distinctly displeased look said as much.
Hmm. Why was she in such a mood first thing in the morning? It was cool outside the blanket thanks to the air conditioner, but so wonderfully warm underneath. And the sunlight was so nice this morning…?
Morning…?
Looking into Helena's unimpressed blue eyes, I blinked and took stock of the situation. Then I tried to bolt upright—and flopped right back into the mattress as I shouted.
"Good heavens, I slept!"
"Yes, you did. You slept quite soundly. After getting up in the middle of the night to wander around on your own, and then spending all that energy turning a statue into a woman—how could you not be exhausted?"
"No, that's not the point. This body can sleep. Isn't that amazing?"
Just the night before last, I had stayed up with my eyes wide open and been perfectly fine. I hadn't felt tired, hadn't gotten sleepy, hadn't so much as dozed. Wait—was that the same thing said twice?
Yesterday had been the same. I hadn't noticed anything wrong with my body. And lying down hadn't exactly sent sleep stealing over me, either.
But if I replayed the moments just before I drifted off… I had leaned against Helena's shoulder, and then I had simply slipped under.
Could there be a sleeping-pill compound seeping from those elegant shoulders? So the instant I leaned on them, I went right out?
I was staring at Helena's shoulder, lost in that solemn line of inquiry, when she—still grumbling—carefully helped me sit up.
She really was so considerate.
"You did say Yeonmin's body is similar to a human's. Living things consume energy, and after they've been active they need sleep to recover. I suspect that principle is still intact. So from now on, don't go wandering around at night. Just sleep quietly with me. If you dozed off somewhere outside, that would be a problem all its own."
"Ehehe. I will."
I didn't think I was about to keel over mid-stride and collapse in the street. I had only fallen asleep because Helena's arms were so warm. Still, it felt nice to be worried over like that. I was perfectly fine, and yet it gave me this cozy feeling—like a baby cheering me on with all its little heart.
With Helena's help I sat up, swung my feet off the bed, and was just about to stand when I felt Yegyeong approaching beyond the door.
Helena sensed the presence a beat after I did. Her hand drifted toward her pistol, tension flickering across her face—until a knock came, and Yegyeong's calm voice followed.
"Are you up? You have modern adaptation class again today, so I came to let you know you should have breakfast and start getting ready."
Helena eased the tension from her hand. In that other world, anyone who slipped into her room unannounced had been there to take her life. Old habits, then. It was a useful habit for staying alive—but in a world this safe, didn't it just wear a person down? I hoped she would adjust to the peace here soon, and live with a softer heart.
"We'll wash up and come out, so please wait a moment. Ah—would you come in and keep an eye on Yeonmin for a bit?"
"Of course."
Helena said that and disappeared into the bathroom attached to the room. Then the door clicked open, and Yegyeong stepped inside.
I wasn't a child. I hardly needed a minder. That said, a beautiful girl was always welcome. Helena had just proven the Law of Conservation of Beautiful Girls for me. No, wait—was this the Law of Substitution of Beautiful Girls? When one beautiful girl vacated a space, another had to take her place!
"Yeonmin, how are you feeling…? Is your body all right?"
For some reason, Yegyeong looked worried about me. Ah—maybe because my sleeping had been unusual? I had boldly declared I didn't need sleep at all, and then keeled right over. She had every right to be concerned. It might only have been because it was her job—but she was still spending her time on me, and that deserved thanks.
"Yes, thanks to you. I slept so well I woke up completely refreshed. It was that electric jolt you get when you oversleep on a workday."
"Uh… that doesn't sound like a morning anyone would welcome."
"Well, the mood might be awful. But your fingertips tingle, you start shaking, your heart pounds—isn't that what they call a thrill?"
To Yegyeong, this would probably sound like a joke from someone who didn't understand humans. But it wasn't as if I didn't know what office workers went through. I had worked right up until I died in my last life. I had been teasing her, in my own way—yet I couldn't feel any heat rising off her at all. Maybe she just assumed I was talking nonsense because I didn't know any better.
A shame. Teasing was only fun when the other person played along.
"So are we eating before we go to class? What's on the breakfast menu today?"
"Ah, today we're going to try a convenience store. It's a place where you can buy small household goods and simple food."
"Oh, right. There was a convenience store on the first floor."
"That's right. You remembered."
I had been thoughtfully considering breakfast options for the two humans who actually needed nutrients, and that was the faintly disappointing answer I got back.
There was a saying that Koreans ran on rice—that you needed a proper bowl of it in the morning to have any strength. Plenty of people skipped breakfast, and I had been one of them, but even if the world had changed this much, that bit of common sense ought to have held, shouldn't it? And yet we were supposed to make do at a convenience store.
I was a little unhappy about it. Then again, Yegyeong was the one buying our meals, since none of us had any money. The decent thing was to accept it gratefully. And besides, even before I died, convenience-store boxed lunches had gotten pretty decent. It wasn't something to hate on principle. It was also a chance to show Helena how ordinary people in this world sometimes filled a meal. Sure, cooking at home could raise the quality—but making something better than a convenience-store lunch box took no small amount of effort, and depending on your skill you might still end up eating something terrible. Office workers were often short on time. If the price was right, a convenience-store boxed lunch was far more efficient. No—more rational.
"Mm. Would it be possible to get some new clothes? I know purification is keeping them clean, but this will be the third day in the same outfit, and it's starting to feel a little grimy."
"Ah—I didn't think that far ahead. I'll bring some clothes from our place while you're in class today. And how about we go shopping for clothes afterward?"
"Ah. Thank you."
Helena had finished her shower and come back out. She had even learned how to use a hair dryer—and yet she had just roughly towel-dried her hair and emerged like that, which was a little adorable. I could picture it perfectly: she had been taught, but didn't quite know the proper method, so she had fussed with it a bit and given up.
Come to think of it, what kind of modern clothes would suit Helena? She was so tall and striking she could probably pull off almost anything. No—her face would make anything look good. Of course it would. Who do you think picked this beautiful girl?
Yegyeong, meanwhile, showed not the slightest interest in Helena's wet hair. Or perhaps she figured it would dry on its own over breakfast. Either way, she led us straight out of the house.
Were quite a few of the residents here in the habit of grabbing breakfast at the convenience store? The hallway was surprisingly busy. Some people shuffled out still half-asleep in their pajamas, hair a wild tangle. There was a cat beastkin riding one of those little disc-shaped cleaning robots toward the elevator, only to get dragged back into her apartment. An alligator-person who had gotten an earlier start was already climbing the stairs with a convenience-store bag full of this and that. And then there was the statue, coming up the stairs with a salad in one hand and a roll of gimbap in the other—until her eyes met mine, and she furtively tried to hide.
There was nowhere to hide. Why was she planting her face against the wall? Was becoming a beautiful girl really that embarrassing…?
At any rate, making do with convenience-store food in the morning seemed to be the local culture. Some people I couldn't see were probably cooking at home. Others might simply have slept in and skipped breakfast altogether.
Following Yegyeong's lead, we walked down the stairs to the first floor. If the world had changed this much, what kinds of boxed lunches would be waiting for us? The disappointment I had felt at the word boxed lunch had already vanished without a trace. I stepped into the convenience store swelling with anticipation—
A remarkably deep voice echoed from within a suit of steel armor, drifting over from the register.
"Welcome."
…So the Management Knight was a knight, and there was a knight at the convenience-store counter too? Was this not the Adaptive Villa at all, but Knight Villa with a badly chosen name?