Chapter 6
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 6. You Can't Recognize Me...? (1)
You know, aren't there sometimes people who attach pointlessly weird settings when describing a rich character?
Things like, rather than living lonely in such a large house, it was better back when the whole family lived stuck together in a small house, or that it's better to live harmoniously together even if you don't have money.
No, well, I understand. Even if you have a lot of money, you could be a bit unhappy in a dysfunctional family.
But actually, the size of happiness fundamentally doesn't have a high correlation with money. A person who would be happy will be happy even if they have a lot of money, and a person who would be unhappy will be unhappy even if they have no money. You can't say that one side is definitively correct.
The reason I came to have such certainty is precisely because I saw Soi's family.
The house is spacious. Yes, to be honest, it might be too spacious for just one child.
But being spacious also meant there was that much room to run around and play.
Soi held my hand and truly diligently roamed all around the house. Not just the house, but we've also pitched a tent in the front yard and slept together there.
As if to compensate for often being away from home, Soi's parents also held things like barbecue parties in the yard with us.
For Soi's birthday, they invited an incredible number of people, to the point where I honestly wondered if it was okay for a birthday party to be this grand.
Seeing as they were such a harmonious family, I also wonder if that's why Soi was able to grow up without any dark spots.
And because of that, how big of a blow the mister disappearing from this house must have been.
"Lua."
"..."
"Lua!"
"...Huh?"
Lost blankly in my own thoughts, I finally snapped to my senses at Soi's call.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Hmm."
Thinking, huh.
I was just spacing out.
After figuring out my true identity, I couldn't help but continuously deliberate over my situation.
Is it because I'm still a kindergartener? I'll become an elementary schooler next year, but even so, they weren't providing any special education for someone fostered by a superhuman family.
Then again, thinking about it, it's probably not like every child with a superpower changes families.
I was able to come to a different family like this because I was from an orphanage. No matter how much a child has a superpower, they wouldn't take away a kid who was living in an ordinary family.
To summarize, they probably judged that an ordinary orphanage wouldn't have the capacity to protect a child with a superpower. They even codified it into law.
So, the more fun I have living like this, the more pointless guilt I feel.
Chaeyi, who loved sticking to me just like Soi does, keeps coming to mind.
Chaeyi is a superhuman too. She just hasn't awakened yet.
...But even if I talk about it, I'd just be a pipsqueak lying because I want to live with my friend.
"Huh?"
When I sank back into thought and gave no answer, Soi tilted her head in the opposite direction.
"No, it's just..."
Whenever I think of Chaeyi, I think about wanting to meet her.
I just thought of her as a kid who just clung to me, looking a bit highly anxious.
Thinking about it now, I wonder if the reason I didn't need to crave affection from other people was because Chaeyi was by my side.
...Well, thinking about it again, ultimately we were both just young children anyway.
But, how should I put it.
At first, I thought it would be a simple matter. I figured if I just told Aunt Yujin I wanted to go play at the orphanage, she would drive me there right away.
But, I worried she might pay too much attention to it if I said something like that.
Aunt Yujin and Mister Dohyun are both heroes. Although the term 'hero' used in this world has changed to mean people whose profession is fighting villains, they are still people who make a living risking their lives fighting villains. Even if not every hero is like that, the heroes of this world generally had good personalities.
The people who came to Soi's birthday party were all good people too.
Aunt Yujin is already treating me with utmost devotion anyway, so if I say I want to go to the orphanage, wouldn't she think like that?
Ah, what I'm doing for her isn't enough.
Mister Dohyun is even more so.
How should I describe it, he has an aura that makes it a little scary to approach him. He definitely has a quite gentle impression and treats me well, but it was a bit hard to approach him because the memory of that time keeps coming to mind whenever I'm close or held in his arms.
Since he himself senses that too, what would he think if I asked him to take me to the orphanage?
...I said I'd go play. For that reason, in the end, I haven't been able to bring myself to say the words even though nearly a year has passed since I came here.
"It's okay."
As I was lost blankly in thought, Soi hugged my head.
And pat, pat. While patting my back.
"It's okay."
She must be mimicking what her mom does.
A mom comforting her daughter who woke up startled from a nightmare.
I really don't want to admit it, but that action of Soi's was a truly great comfort.
The guilt didn't fade, but I felt like it really was okay. I felt like it was okay to think that way.
"No, it's not!"
Startled by hearing Soi shout loudly, I went to look and found Soi, her face dyed bright red, in the middle of a verbal argument with another kid.
The opponent was a boy. He was a mean kid who often made the girls cry because he was a bit mischievous. Well, even if he was mean, it was at a cute level fitting exactly that age.
"Lua!"
Seeing me approach nearby, Soi quickly requested backup.
Since tears were already welling up in her eyes, I first patted the back of Soi, who was clinging tightly to me.
"Why? What's going on?"
"Hmph."
At my question, that pipsqueak raised his nose high.
Ah, right. There are kids like this. Kids who make other pipsqueaks cry and think they are so great.
"Childishly believing in things like that."
"What's childish?"
I reflexively asked back, then felt something was strange.
More importantly, isn't this a kindergarten?
Isn't it a place where kids of the exact age to be childish are gathered?
"Still believing in things like Santa Claus."
Deep wrinkles formed between my eyebrows.
Come to think of it, it's winter now. Next month is Christmas.
The impatient Soi was already jumping around saying she was waiting for Santa Claus, and Aunt Yujin and Mister Dohyun were right in the middle of decorating the house with a Christmas vibe to match Soi's wish. Even a fairly large Christmas tree had been brought into the living room.
"Why wouldn't there be a Santa Claus?"
When I asked while hugging Soi, Soi peeked her face out and looked up at me. The gazes of the kids watching around us also gathered on me.
"What, you believe it too?"
"It's not that."
I tilted my head and asked, looking truly curious.
"Why wouldn't he exist?"
"Huh?"
The boy blinked his eyes stupidly.
"Because he just doesn't?"
"Why?"
When I tilted my head and asked, the kid, looking genuinely flustered, babbled and stuttered, then,
"Because, there's no way an old man flying around on a sleigh exists!"
He shouted loudly.
"But Soi's mom just flies around normally?"
But that logic was sunk by my single sentence.
"Huh?"
At my words, the surrounding kids also blinked their eyes.
Hearing my words, the pipsqueak's face turned red, and he huffed and puffed, finding another counterargument.
"T-To carry around that many presents, he would have to be incredibly strong...?"
But even as he said that, he didn't seem confident.
Because among heroes, there are people who are truly incredibly strong.
"To go around giving presents to various places, he'd have to be incredibly fast..."
Naturally, there are also heroes who use being incredibly fast as their catchphrase.
The kids' gazes gathered on the boy. The boy's face turned red as if it would burst, but now the atmosphere among the kids was flowing toward the vibe that Santa Claus probably existed.
"Why wouldn't he exist?"
I tilted my head as if I didn't know anything, but there was no answer this time.
Hmm, but.
Thinking about it carefully, it really seems plausible.
No, of course, there wouldn't be an old man fast enough to visit every Christian household in the entire world.
Doesn't it feel like there'd be some kind of Santa service or something? A service where heroes with superpowers dress up as Santa and appear here and there handing out presents.
Well, whether it exists or not, right now taking Soi's side is the priority, so I'm just saying whatever comes to mind.
"He does exist!"
In my arms, Soi shouted, huffing out snorts of air.
"N-No..."
"Why are you saying he doesn't exist when he does!"
At Soi's words, the boy's expression became truly incredibly frustrated, but.
The atmosphere among the kids had already been persuaded to our side.
It would be a bit difficult to persuade them now.
Above all, kids naturally want Santa Claus to exist. Insisting that Santa Claus doesn't exist among such kids is just being a troll.
"G-Grrr...!"
Ultimately having nothing left to say, the boy spun his body around with a resentful face and stomped away.
"Heh."
Soi, raising her nose and putting on a proudly victorious expression.
Feeling a bit dumbfounded by that expression,
"Soi, did you cry?"
I asked like that.
"Huh?"
"Because if you cried..."
"I didn't cry! I didn't cry!?"
At my words, Soi quickly rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and wiped her damp eye area.
"Mom, Mom!"
To Aunt Yujin, who came home a bit late today because she had things to do outside, Soi ran excitedly and leaped up.
Soi clung like a koala to the body of Aunt Yujin, who caught her skillfully.
"Mom, Santa Claus really exists!"
"Huh?"
At the words she heard as soon as she entered the house, Aunt Yujin blinked her eyes briefly, then soon broke into a wide smile.
"Is that so. May I ask why you think so?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Soi nodded her head with sparkling eyes, then,
"Because I already got this year's present!"
She shouted like that with a wide smile and looked back toward me.
Since Aunt Yujin looked at me the exact same way with an expression exactly like Soi's, I felt embarrassed for no reason and turned my gaze elsewhere.