Chapter 6. Let's go home. (1)
Chapter 6. Let's go home. (1)
My body stiffens.
Did she make eye contact with me? Is she actually looking at me?
I couldn't tell. It looked like she was saying something, but I couldn't hear it from here.
The woman tilted her head, then walked with a light step.
Skipping right over the circle drawn on the ground.
The man tried to get up as if to do something, but collapsed again with a thud. He was very far away, but I could see him writhing.
"Ah, over there."
A kid pointed somewhere, looking terrified. As if they had only just realized.
The red circle drawn in the middle of the playground was so vivid that it stood out, but it was a different story outside the playground. Red drawn on black asphalt or old cement didn't stand out nearly as much.
Plus, it was far away.
People were collapsed near the school gate, too. Were they school staff? Or were they people dispatched by the Association to protect us, like the man on the playground?
The first person who came to mind was Yujin-ajumma. I wished she would come quickly. I wished she would come before that woman arrived here.
But my phone vibrated again.
It was a vibration about the civil disturbance. It said not to leave the house, or if already outside, to follow the instructions of nearby police.
If only they had already set off toward here before that woman arrived.
"......."
The kids looked at the teacher with anxious eyes.
In a situation like this, the teacher's job would naturally be to keep the kids from going outside the school.
But what if someone was trying to break into the school?
What if locking the doors wasn't enough to stop them?
Had the police been called? Could they arrive in time? And even if they did, wouldn't that just increase the number of victims?
Meanwhile, the teacher's phone rang. After answering, the teacher replied with a serious expression and then looked at us.
"Everyone, let's move calmly. Don't be too scared. We're going out the back door. Got it?"
I looked out the window again.
Was the distance about 100 meters? The woman wasn't in any rush. So, the teachers were probably trying to get the students out as much as possible in the meantime. In case we ran into her while inside the building, without even being able to run away—
I tried not to think about what would happen next.
"......."
Soi gripped my hand tightly. She didn't let go of my hand even as we stood up and followed the teacher's guidance out into the hallway.
Once we were out, I could already see the backs of the kids lined up and heading down the stairs in the distance. Were they moving in order, starting from the classes closest to the stairs?
When we had gone down about one floor.
Bang. A loud noise came from the first floor.
The footsteps of the kids going down stopped.
And again, bang. The sound of something being struck hard. The sound of something creaking as if it were about to break. Someone's scream. Shouting.
One of the kids burst into tears. Calling for Mom or Dad, sniffling—
"Shh. Hurry."
The teacher put a finger to their lips and said that quietly.
The kids also carefully went down, and down.
The closer we got to the floor below, the louder the sound became, but listening again, it was the sound coming from the door in the middle of the building.
The creaking and rattling sounds grew louder. The door, which had been blocked by something, looked like it would break at any moment.
The kids' breathing and screams grew a little louder.
By the time our class finally reached the side door on the first floor.
A roar echoed.
Who was the first kid to scream? I think it was a girl, at least.
That scream pushed the kids' backs. No one knew if someone had come inside or not, but as the kids moved all at once, my back was pushed.
Even so, Soi's hand was holding onto me. So that I wouldn't collapse.
Was our class, which had been in the very middle of the hallway, the last one? Since the first graders were on the third floor, the fact that our class was moving meant we were the last ones out.
There were teachers in the hallway. Shouting, trying to make sure the kids didn't fall, trying to evacuate them even in this situation.
I looked back without realizing it. Even while being dragged by Soi, who was pulling my hand.
Far down the hallway, there was a woman walking in slowly. A woman whose age I couldn't tell—whether she was young or old—but whose hair looked incredibly healthy.
For some reason, she looked dressed up. As if she were going to a job interview somewhere, or, like she had to go meet someone important.
Maybe she wasn't specifically targeting anyone? Maybe she saw the text about the civil disturbance while thinking she wished the world would just end, and decided to take it out on us as a way to vent.
Like the orphanage from my childhood.
"......Huh?"
Like at the orphanage? Like when a Superhuman suddenly burst into a normal orphanage? Like when someone with enough power to potentially kill a reasonably skilled Hero burst in?
......No.
Maybe that premise was wrong.
Like 'my childhood' orphanage.
What if she didn't just pick anyone, but picked 'me'? What if she rushed in to try and do something to me, and people got hurt trying to stop her?
Yujin-ajumma is a very good person. Of course, even such a person can break down if they lose their beloved husband.
Could she have completely neglected the child she had gone to the trouble of taking in? Unless there was a specific reason.
Until Seo Lua eventually became completely twisted and started ruining her own daughter little by little.
If 'because of Seo Lua' wasn't a 'coincidence' but 'inevitable'.
No, no, no. It's a delusion. It can't be that.
Even so, that... Isn't it possible that could happen if you lose a loved one? Even if it was a coincidence, what if she got into big trouble while saving that kid?
Even if that were the case, there's no way she would have taken me in knowing that.
My footsteps stop.
"Lua!?"
Soi, who was holding my hand, quickly looked back. With a surprised expression.
The kid with pink hair who had been pushed along by the other kids up ahead looked back at us at that voice.
My body won't move.
My other arm was floating in mid-air.
No, not floating, it was caught by something. A hand that was holding my hand gently, yet tightly.
An invisible hand.
The woman looks this way.
The kids around me also seemed to notice something unusual and jumped aside in surprise. Sticking to the wall, trembling.
Soi tried to pull me harder, but my body, already caught, wouldn't move at all.
"Hmm."
Click-clack. Every time the woman walks, the sound of her heels echoes in the hallway.
The teachers were stiff, their faces deathly pale.
"Is this how this school welcomes parents?"
The woman said, smiling.
I couldn't help but think she was pretty.
Yeah. If we're just talking about senses.
Back when I first became aware of myself after being born into this world.
It's similar to the feeling I had when I looked in the mirror.
"Aww, I dressed up all nice for this. That's too much."
It's not normal to say that while brushing off blood as if it were just coffee.
No, in the first place, there's no way it's normal to break into a place like this.
"Y-you are......."
The homeroom teacher said that, then shut their mouth.
"Ah, yes. I'm Seo Arin. I'm Lua's mother."
She bows lightly. As if she were actually a parent.
Then she stands up straight, and with sparkling eyes, she cups her cheeks as if she's deeply moved.
"Wow, I really wanted to try this. The day finally comes, huh."
Is that sparkle tears?
It does look like they're welling up in her eyes.
"......."
At that sight, everyone stares at Seo Arin with their mouths agape.
And soon, those gazes shifted to me. To me, unable to move, with one hand held by Soi and the other likely held by that woman.
The gaze hurts.
I couldn't lift my head.
I didn't want to believe it. I'd rather there be some misunderstanding, that she was mistaken and had come to the wrong person.
No, it might not mean anything at this point.
Everyone already heard. The teacher, the kids. That she came here because of me. And that she calls me her daughter.
Because the people collapsed on that playground, and the people collapsed in front of the school gate, all ended up that way because of me. The red circle drawn on the playground, too.
How many teachers tried to guard that broken door? If there were such teachers, how badly were they hurt?
What about the kids who haven't escaped the school yet? The kids who are still stuck to the hallway wall, trembling.
And Soi, who is gripping my hand tightly.
And Chaeyi, who is trying to push through the kids from behind to get to me.
If anyone dies or gets hurt, it's all because of me. Because I'm here.
"W-w-w-wait a minute!"
As the woman tried to approach me, the homeroom teacher jumped out in surprise and said.
Blocking the space between the woman and me. Although the teacher flinched a little late, they didn't move aside.
"You can't take the child!"
A statement that was almost a scream.
Eventually, someone burst into tears. There had been crying sounds since earlier, but now they were sobbing, unable to even stifle the sound out of fear. Even if quieter than that, I could hear sniffling too.
Those sounds feel like they're crushing me.
"Why?"
Seo Arin asks.
"W-why, because... I'm Lua's homeroom teacher."
"But a parent has come to pick her up?"
"Th-the grounds for saying that......."
"You can tell by the ability. Because it's inherited from the parents."
"Ah, no, that's not necessarily the case with Superpowers......."
Trying to buy time somehow. I don't know if dragging it out will make the situation better or not. But the kids can't stay trapped here.
"Oh my, this isn't even a common ability. And, I remember the orphanage I left her at, you know? Who do you take me for, a fool? I went to pick her up, but someone just stole her."
"......Huh?"
The teacher made a bewildered sound.
"So, will you move? Hmm, actually, I don't have much time. It's not like I can withstand it if a meteor just falls from the sky, right? Still, I guess it's not a bad thing that that woman raised her. She wouldn't have gone hungry."
The teacher slowly rises into the air.
Their heels lift, then they stand on tiptoe, and soon the tips of their shoes leave the floor.
Their feet flailed, and one shoe came off.
The sound of gasping for air, sobbing.
Even as they struggled and clawed at their neck, their neck was indented in the shape of an invisible hand, as if it had happened on its own—
"No!"
I screamed.
"Lua, no!"
As I struggled to shake off Soi's hand, Soi screamed.
"Ah, right."
Seo Arin, who was choking the teacher, says.
"Come to think of it, there was something like that in parenting books. That a child should also know how to make choices for themselves."
As if what was happening right now was no big deal, Seo Arin tilted her head slightly to one side and looked at me.
Leaving the teacher aside, with only her face poking out to the side.
"What will you do? Should Mommy come pick you up, or will Lua come here herself?"
The teacher's feet flailed more. They tilted their head up as much as they could to try and breathe somehow, but their face was turning blue.
"I, I'll go. I, I'll come to you!"
"Lua!"
As I shouted urgently, Soi shouted with a look like she was about to cry.
I looked back at Soi, who was gripping my hand tightly.
She was already covered in tears. I had seen this face once before. When I met a Villain and fainted. Soi had this expression then, too.
The reason I was always able to live comfortably at home was because of Soi, but I keep hurting Soi.
I don't want to either. I don't really want to go. Who would give up the happiness they have in their hands?
But, still.
If I don't move?
The teacher blocking the way is in danger. If I give up on the teacher, what happens next?
Soi, who is holding my hand......
That can't happen.
Soi's fingers fall from my hand, one by one. No matter how much strength she used, it would have been hard to resist a Superpower like telekinesis.
"Lua! Lua!"
Soi shouted that and tried desperately to hold my hand even tighter, but eventually, her strength gave out completely.
Thud. Her body, which had been pulling back, fell to the floor.
My body, too.
Collapsing toward Seo Arin.
"Well done. Children really should listen well. You've become a good child."
"A good, child......?"
The teacher drops to the floor with a thud.
Barely managing to flip over and crawl on the floor, struggling to breathe somehow.
But I couldn't take my eyes off the face of the woman walking toward me one step at a time.
Because the words coming from the face that looked exactly like mine were strange.
"Yeah. Little Lua was so noisy. Always just crying. That's why I left you there. They say orphanage teachers are experts, right? I intended to take you back once the noisiest phase was over, but I'm late."
What is that.
What kind of reason is that.
"Geez, people always say it's weird when I tell them? Isn't that statement actually weirder? I lived and paid taxes to the country until I was twenty-five, too. I have that much of a right, don't I? They operate on government money anyway."
Grumbling. Seo Arin said that, and then.
Leaned toward me and reached out her hand.
"So, let's go home now. Oh, and if you had come looking for me when you called out asking where Mommy was, this wouldn't have happened. Mommy knows everything, you know. I was watching to see when you'd come back, but you're too late. Our Lua is going to have to get a scolding when we get home."