The Dragon and the Ordinary Witch
Shhhhhhhhh.
Yeah. The day I first awakened to my memories, it had been raining just like this.
If there was one small difference, it was that back then I'd been standing there stark naked, completely soaked through, staring blankly into the rain. Now I was at least wearing clothes—and still getting soaked all the same.
"Hmm. It's starting to feel colder. Not that I could ever catch a cold anyway."
As if the sky had perfectly read my mind, the rain that had only been wetting my shoulders began to pick up in force.
I hadn't brought an umbrella. I'd managed to take shelter under a tree, but as time passed the rain grew heavy enough that a tree alone could no longer keep it out.
If I'd given it even a little thought that morning, I would have brought an umbrella. But to someone who figured it didn't matter either way whether he had one or not, that kind of foresight meant nothing at all.
I'd run into the rain on the walk home after school. I could have just sprinted for it—and yet for some reason, my feet refused to move.
All I had to do was run. So who, exactly, was I waiting for?
Hell if I knew. There was no one waiting for me, and not many people who even knew me. No—I could pretty much say there was almost no one.
But that was just how it was.
Except for one person.
"Siu! You don't have an umbrella? You didn't bring one? Eek! You're already soaked! Why are you just standing there like that?!"
"...Ah."
It wasn't that I had no one who knew me. It just wasn't many.
A yellow umbrella the same color as the ginkgo leaves settled over my head as I stood blankly beneath the massive ginkgo tree near the school.
The girl who had put it over me was looking at me with the clearest eyes.
Yeah. That day, at that same hour, she had looked at me with those exact same eyes.
Clear and sparkling and pure—and so full of worry. Someone who loved pitch-black clothes but had a name that was the complete opposite. Someone who looked cold when her face was blank, but who was warm inside—warmer than warm. Features as sharp and well-proportioned as her eyes. Clean skin that made her look almost girlish. Long hair falling to her shoulders, neatly pulled back with a yellow hair tie.
Anyone who saw her would think: pretty, cute, and bound to grow into a real beauty. A pure, lovely high school girl.
And right now that girl was flustering in front of me in a school uniform much like mine, almost as soaked as I was.
I stared at her for a moment with empty eyes. Maybe it was because it felt so much like that day.
When I kept staring at her without a word, she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and carefully wiped the rainwater running down my face.
"Oh dear. What's with you, really? You could know the weather a year from today if you put your mind to it. You just went to school without thinking because you were too lazy, didn't you?"
"Probably?"
The warmth of her hand reached my cheek, and only then did I open my mouth.
"Pfft. Times like this, I can hardly believe you're a dragon, Siu. Come closer. Your hair's soaked too."
She spread the handkerchief wide and stepped in close, gently rubbing my hair—still dripping—with it. The distance between us was about the width of a fist. Her warmth and her scent started coming in through my nose.
Lee Ha-yan.
The smell of the fabric softener her house used the most. And the unique fragrance that belonged only to her.
It might sound a little perverted, but I guess even I couldn't help being a dragon. Wearing a human form didn't change what I was at the core.
As I stood there blankly accepting her touch, Lee Ha-yan soon flashed her usual bright smile, took my hand, and said cheerfully,
"Let's go! Quick! We've got to get you in a bath and then eat! Mom said she's making something good today!"
"...Yeah. Let's go. We shouldn't keep your mother waiting."
Following the girl who had lit up the dark places in my heart, I moved under the yellow umbrella. Even sharing it with her, I kept one of my shoulders out in the rain as we walked on together.
My name is Cha Siu.
As I already said, I'm not an ordinary human. Well—looking only at my current life, I'm living a perfectly ordinary high school existence in South Korea. But at my core, I'm not human.
If I put in just a tiiiiiny bit of thought, I can forecast the weather for at least a year? Something like that.
"Ehehe. Siu, is it good?"
"Good grief. That girl can't even see her mother anymore, can she?"
"Hey! Mom was the one going crazy since yesterday because Siu was coming over for the first time in a while. Why are you only picking on me?"
"Siu is Siu. Of course she's going to make a fuss."
I answered Ha-yan and her mother rather curtly.
"Mother. That doesn't mean I can give you another scale after the one I gave you a few days ago."
"Huh? Why not?"
Mother looked at me with a rather surprised expression.
Honestly. She was taking other people's scales way too lightly. Those things sting, you know.
I shrugged and answered.
"My scales don't regenerate infinitely. I've been giving you ones from the least painful spots, and those haven't grown back yet."
"Tsk. What a shame. But that's that, and this is this. Eat plenty, okay?"
"Of course. I'll eat gratefully."
She hadn't gotten what she wanted, but Mother—who had already received so much from me—beamed at me again and pushed my favorite dish, braised short ribs, toward me. She would have treated me the same way even if I weren't a dragon and just an ordinary person.
The moment I went to pick up my chopsticks again, Lee Ha-yan, sitting right next to me, chose a piece of short rib with her own chopsticks and held it out demurely.
"Ahhh~~"
"Hey, hey. When your mother and father are both here..."
"My. Saying that now? You two sleep in the same room and everything."
"Ahhh~~"
"...Fine."
With Ha-yan and her mother ganging up on me from both sides, there wasn't much I could do.
Of course—
"Hic... Our daughter's already..."
—the sight of Ha-yan's father tearing up at his daughter's behavior right in front of me was something I just had to endure.
Face slightly flushed, I quietly accepted the short rib Ha-yan offered and ate it.
When the meal was over, I flopped down on the living room sofa, gently rubbing my full belly. The first times I'd received this kind of hospitality, I'd already absorbed all the various customs of this country, so I'd tried to at least do the dishes—but Mother had blocked me with her entire body, leaving me no other option.
After helping Mother get all the empty dishes into the sink, Lee Ha-yan plopped down right next to me with a bright smile, naturally linked her arm through mine, and started giggling for no reason. I simply accepted Ha-yan's affection.
"Ehehe."
And then—
Float~
A plate hovering in midair flew toward me. I caught it naturally and called toward the kitchen,
"Thank you, Mother."
"No need to thank me. Feed Ha-yan one too."
"Yes, ma'am."
On the plate were several neatly sliced pieces of apple. I picked one up with my fingers and held it out to Ha-yan.
"Here. Have one."
"Mmm..."
But Ha-yan shook her head hard and clung to me, so I had no choice but to let out a long sigh and say quietly,
"...Ahh~~"
"Thank you! I'll eat well!"
Crunch!
Ha-yan bit into the apple slice I held out with the brightest expression, taking a big mouthful. After repeating the same motion a few times, the plate was soon empty, and I sent it back to Mother the same way it had come to me.
Mother casually caught the plate flying at the back of her head while washing dishes and spoke to me.
"Nothing happened at school today? I've been a little worried lately—Ha-yan's mana has been a bit unstable."
"You don't need to worry about that. You know better than anyone who I am."
"Hehe. That's true enough. But as a parent, you can't help worrying."
Mother smiled faintly and went back to her kitchen work.
And so a quiet, warm, ordinary evening passed.
"Yo. Still lovey-dovey as ever today, huh."
The next day after a perfectly ordinary school commute. Lunch period.
After finishing class and scarfing down the cafeteria food, Ha-yan and I were leaning against each other with our eyes closed, soaking in the languid spring breeze, when a friend of mine walked over, glaring daggers at us.
Friend. Well. Yeah. In terms of my current social position, he was a friend.
Man. I had no idea what kind of relationships other dragons had with humans like these, so I couldn't even compare. I wondered what other dragons would say if they saw me getting this close with humans other than Ha-yan.
Anyway. Whatever else I was, right now my position was that of an ordinary high school student.
"Isn't this pretty ordinary?"
"Ordinary? Did you just say ordinary? Should I run straight to the broadcast room right now and livestream to the whole school what you two are doing?"
"Uh. Maybe not that."
"See? Even you think so. What's ordinary about this. Just die. Die."
"Ugh..."
"Shut up. Zip it. If you've got nothing to say, get lost. You'll wake Ha-yan. If she doesn't sleep now, she'll be dead all afternoon."
"Ugh, seriously. Total nanny. Total nanny. Fine, fine!"
Choi Hoon—the only person at this high school who'd gone to the same middle school as the two of us—grumbled unhappily but vanished from our vicinity the moment he heard Ha-yan might wake up.
Then a gentle breeze came through the window again, slightly mussing Ha-yan's hair. As I raised my hand to brush the soft strands that had fallen against her cheek back into place, Ha-yan felt my touch and smiled sleepily, mumbling in her sleep.
"Mmm... Siu... there are too many girls..."
"What kind of dream are you even having?"
I'd overheard some guys from another class muttering about my name and harems and whatever not long ago, but if even you start doing it, that's a little much, don't you think? Harem this, harem that. Of all the people I know who are my age and have XX chromosomes—humans, that is—there's only you.
And then, in that moment—
Twitch. Ssssssss.
Thwack!
The broom that had been lying next to Ha-yan suddenly started to move. I flicked my fingers quickly. If I'd been even a little slower, that broom would have smacked the lower back of some girl sitting in front of Ha-yan. With a single gesture from me, it returned to where it had been lying.
Something was clearly wrong with Ha-yan's mana control lately—whatever was going on.
"...I can see why Mother was worried."
But it wouldn't be a problem. Even if Lee Ha-yan—daughter of a mage family rarer than a national treasure, living among ordinary people—had that kind of issue, who was I?
Cha Siu, the dragon who was probably the only one left in the world. I was right here beside her. What was there to worry about?
And on top of that, well. Ahem. We were the kind of couple who couldn't live without each other.
It wouldn't be a big problem.
...Probably?