Different Expectations
"..........."
Inside the silent room.
In the space left to her alone, only the stirring of the child in her belly prodded unpleasantly at her heart.
The sensation of a small, weak heart beating. And with it, her own heart forced into rhythm, the blood circulating through her body against her will.
All of it unpleasant, repulsive, irritating—and yet, the feelings she could never scrub from her heart no matter how hard she tried.
"Hah.... Heh heh...."
A smile rose from sheer disbelief.
A sigh escaped because there was no answer.
And still, for all of that—Sunwoo-nim was kind.
"..........."
She regretted it.
The things she had done just a little while ago rose slowly to the surface.
Every word she had asked of Sunwoo-nim came back to her one by one.
If she were to make excuses, she hadn't done it consciously.
It had simply been unconscious. Somehow.
Her eyes had turned toward Sunwoo-nim, her hand had reached for him, and Sunwoo-nim had simply received her with his usual gentleness—or so she told herself.
There's a limit to how shameless a person can be.
Ah, no.
Nothing but bleak thoughts filled her to the brim.
Her whole body went limp, and she felt herself sinking from the extremities inward into a thick soup of despair.
Warm and heavy at first. The deeper she went, the colder it became—sweet on the first sip, and bitter as death by the last.
Shoveling it down in a frenzy when she was starving, only to whine that her stomach hurt once she was full.
If the Lord in Heaven were watching this sight, what expression would He wear?
"Lo....rd....."
She clasped her hands together.
She lifted a prayer toward the sky.
"I am... a sinner."
A kind of confession.
The act of laying oneself bare before someone.
Only this one was vicious in that no one was permitted to absolve her of her sins.
"Sinner... filthy bitch... disgusting bitch...."
The words stumbled out.
They no longer resonated in her heart. They stirred nothing.
A heart that didn't so much as tremble, as if all of it were only natural.
As if it had already died. As if it had simply stopped beating.
"...Sunwoo-nim."
Thump──!
Always.
The moment she thought of him, it began to pound violently.
She laid her hands over her chest. Felt the throbbing of her heart.
Not the blood the child in her belly forced through her veins—
but a heart beating by her own will, her own feelings alone.
And what occupied its very foundation, with no room for anything else, was Sunwoo and Sunwoo alone.
"...I won't ask you to forgive me."
When she gave birth. She had asked him to stay by her side.
It was only a request.
Using the absurd claim that he could refuse as her excuse, she had pressured him.
He wouldn't be able to refuse.
She had been certain he wouldn't refuse.
Because—Sunwoo was, without a doubt, a kind person.
The one who had come to her when she couldn't mix with the others, when she couldn't get a single word out.
The one who had even cross-dressed without hesitation for her sake.
The one who had stayed her friend even after she rejected his confession.
And the only one who had come looking for her even after everything happened.
That person was Sunwoo.
"You can... resent me. That's fine."
So she had asked.
Sunwoo had hesitated. He had hesitated more deeply than before.
A hesitation that went beyond simply rejecting a confession.
She had expected as much—
and the instinct that had driven her to blurt it out, knowing that, had disgusted her.
It was repulsive.
It was humiliating.
And also—it made her happy.
"Sunwoo-nim.... Sunwoo-niiim....!"
He looked at her.
He agonized for her sake.
That strained face. That difficult expression. And yet the way he held out his hand in the end—
it was enough to loosen the tightness that had been choking her these past few months as she watched Sunwoo-nim and the women around him, enough that she almost felt compensated for something.
...Sunwoo-nim.
When she gave birth.
She would make sure Sunwoo-nim kept watching the whole time.
And then she would place the child in his arms.
Of course, she wasn't shameless enough to ask him to raise it.
Uncle and niece would be fine. Close older-brother and little-sister would be fine.
Even a connection that thin would surely reach back to her as well, and that would constitute a relationship in its own right.
She knew.
She knew that Sunwoo-nim was kinder than anyone.
So if he cut the umbilical cord with his own hands, held the child in his arms,
and watched it grow—he would have no choice but to grow attached.
And if it was Sunwoo-nim—
once a bond like that had formed, he would never be the one to sever it first.
Even if it wasn't a child born of his own seed.
Even so—because he was a kind person.
And if that went further still...
"Heh heh.... Heh heh heh heh....."
She slowly stroked her belly with her hand.
The heavily swollen belly. It wriggled as if it wanted to come out any second.
Cute.
Disgusting.
Adorable.
I want to kill it.
A curse and a blessing.
A loss and an opportunity.
Yun Ayoung simply waited, and waited again, for that day to arrive.
Spirit Idols—Nature.
Debut day. Rehearsal.
"Yeonhwa."
"...Watch carefully."
Watch how I do it.
Burn it into those two eyes of yours.
Yeonhwa slowly reached her hand out toward Flame.
"You're a filthy, ignorant, uneducated halfwit of a lizard."
[....Sssit.]
"Even so—you're my subordinate."
[Sssit──Pow!]
They clasped hands.
At once the flames pouring from Flame's body wrapped around Yeonhwa like a dress,
and the sight was nothing short of a scene from a magical girl anime—a warrior of fire brimming with passion and youth.
"How is it...?"
Half smile. Half pounding heart.
I quietly circled her once, checking her condition.
Mana output levels. Stability relative to that. Whether anything was gushing out too hard somewhere. I checked her condition as well.
"...Not bad."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?"
"You look like the shifty-eyed side character who helps the protagonist in a magical girl show for elementary schoolers."
"Are you roasting me with extra steps?"
"That's a compliment, coming from me."
"Instructor, please never compliment me again."
Yeonhwa looked at me with dead eyes and released the transformation, letting the flames unravel.
The other kids still had to go after this, and keeping the fire up the whole time would only tire her out, so I let it slide.
[Sssit─Pow! Sssit─Pow!]
"Yeah. You're not a total idiot after all! That's right, that's right! If you're under me, this is the bare minimum!"
[Ssssssit──Pow!]
So stop with the lizard noises already.
A very peculiar cry.
The way it kept going pow-pow like it had gotten stuck in its mouth, I half expected it to turn into pop eventually.
What was it, a gangster lizard? I was half afraid that if I shipped it off to South America it'd come back with skin toasted dark as charcoal.
"Next up, Nam Sujin."
"Y-Yes...!"
[Pee...]
Samdasu, half-melted into a slack expression in Sujin's arms.
Sujin kneaded and massaged Samdasu's body, coaxing it into a better mood.
"Debut... j-just, just get through today....!"
[Pee... Peeee....]
"Ah, aaaah....!"
"...Haaah."
Whether we'd worked them too hard lately, the effect was starting to wear off.
I pulled out my phone for a moment and held it up in front of Sujin and Samdasu.
"I reserved tickets for Seoul Character World."
"Huh...?"
[Pee?]
Both of them reacted instantly.
Or rather—one person and one spirit.
"Cosplay. Merch. Scroll posters, Nendoroids."
"There's even those kinds of books and those kinds of dakimakura waiting for you...."
"...If you quit here, I might just tear the tickets up?"
"Ugh....!"
[Peeee....!]
Huh?
The bait felt a little weak.
They wanted to go, but they also didn't want to go even more.
Hearts split fifty-fifty, stuck unable to do either.
Weird. I thought this would land pretty hard.
Was the lure too weak?
Puzzled, I asked Sujin, and she answered.
"I... want to go to Seoul Character World, but..."
There'll be... so many people....!
"....What?"
"I-I prefer online mail-order over going in person...."
[P-Peeee....]
"............"
I simply lost the ability to speak.
What kind of nonsense was it that a girl who was about to dance and sing in front of people didn't want to go somewhere with lots of people? Was that even a real sentence?
When I looked at Sujin and Samdasu with pure disbelief, the two of them immediately clung to each other and eyed me warily.
"What are you doing?"
"...I-I've got a bad feeling."
Mostly.
You've got the same look in your eyes my dad had when he said he couldn't stand looking at me anymore after a year of being a shut-in NEET and forced me outside...!
[Pee, p-pepee, peeee!]
"Well, well."
Even the spirit was chiming in with something.
According to Hecate's translation, it was yelling that I wasn't just going to work them to death on debut day—I'd keep making them work after that too—so they'd rather go on strike.
"Haaaaah."
I didn't even know what to call this.
I slowly approached the two of them and set my palms on a shoulder and the top of a head.
"Kids."
"Hic...?!" [Pip...?!]
Shoulders locked rigid.
At least take this to heart.
I tried to be as nice about it as I could, but.
"Did you really think I wouldn't know about the boxes you hid inside the wardrobe...?"
"...Hic!"
[......Pip!]
You two are the ones who turned me into a thug.
So.
"Do it."
"D-Dasu! Transform! Install! Connect Deviiiiice!!!"
[Peeeeeeeee!!!]
They hurriedly fused their bodies together.
Before long the mithril fabric drank in the spirit's power and shone with the color of water, and the bland debut costume bloomed into a water-blue dress.
"Pretty Cure Aqua Princess!"
"Oh."
Aqua Princess.
The recreation rate on this was high.
Especially the staff in her hand—every last detail was overflowing with precision.
"Ooooh....."
That said, if there was one problem that wasn't quite a problem—
"...It's lewd."
Mostly the chest, or the hips, or the way the stockings dug into the flesh of her thighs.
Overall, rather than the fresh young-girl princess of a magical girl show, she gave off more of a voluptuous princess-knight vibe bordering on dark fantasy.
To put it more bluntly, she was an idol, sure—but closer to a gravure idol.
You.
You might have a talent for MAXIM.
"D-Don't...?! D-Don't look!"
Sujin dropped straight into a sit and covered herself.
Even after showing it several times already, she was still embarrassed.
Even accounting for that, though, the output itself wasn't bad.
The overall presence, the power—and especially the way things looked like they might slip into view at any second, you could feel Samdasu working hard to cover things up from the inside.
Probably because it knew its master didn't want those parts shown, the spirit was following that wish and hiding them.
And that, needlessly, made it even lewder.
What is this. Absolute territory or whatever they call it?
Apparently the reason the skirt didn't fall with gravity even when she did a handstand was because the spirit was holding it in place.
"Last up, Harin."
"....Yes."
Clear eyes. Eyes that had steeled their resolve.
Could I trust her? Was it okay to trust her?
Well, if she failed it was her loss, not my problem—but still.
I've watched her work this hard all this time, though.
I hoped she'd succeed. I wanted her to succeed.
With a rare pure-hearted wish of support for Harin, she took out Nitro and brought her fist up against it.
"Nitro."
"..........."
They glared at each other.
A far cry from intimacy.
After a month—no, more than that—of fighting, their gazes were sharp enough to draw blood—and yet.
"Ten churus."
"Huh?"
Magic word activated.
[Nyarrrrrrr♪]
The effect was tremendous.
"....Hoo."
Crack. Crackle-crackle!
Sparks pouring out at a steady rate.
Nothing flying too wildly. Nothing dying out too much either.
The steady, softly crackling sparks carried both threat and beauty.
Yes.
"And what exactly is this 'ten churus' business?"
"Eheheh...?"
If only it weren't for this.
"Gold-star Mom... how many times have I told you!"
Spoiling a lightning spirit too much turns the kid into a spoiled little gold-star brat with no manners!
One snack a week! Any snacks beyond that only go through my hands—I've said this over and over!
If you keep this up, the kid's going to go past gold-star and straight into juvenile-delinquent territory!
"Instructooor.... just for today, okay? Today's an important day...."
"...Tsk."
It left a bitter taste.
Well, it was already done—what could I do?
I pulled the churus out of my pocket and handed them to Harin.
"Instructor...?"
"I was originally going to settle at five, but since you went and raised it to ten packs on your own, you fill in the other five yourself."
"....Instructor!"
Clamping down too hard wasn't good either.
So for an important day, I'd figured on loosening the reins a little to raise motivation.
But even so.
"If you pull something like this again today, I really will shove them up your ass."
"...I'm sorry."
"As long as you understand."
For now, let's just get through today.
I stood the three of them on the stage and slowly ran through the rehearsal.
I coordinated with stage lighting, direction, the director and the rest, and checked the screens as well.
"Tsk...."
Something.
Something felt just a tiiiny bit off.
But I couldn't put into words what it was.
In the end, frustrated, I just clenched and unclenched my hands—when.
"One moment. Could you lower the brightness on light number one a bit here?"
"Hyewon?"
"Right now I'm the CEO and manager. Ah, yes. That should be good."
"...I was wondering where you'd gone."
Apparently she'd already claimed her spot ahead of me.
With her on it, I could leave this in her hands.
"Ayoung. Look after the kids for me."
"Yes. Leave it to me, Sunwoo-nim!"
After rehearsal wrapped.
I handed out water bottles to the Nature trio, their bodies nicely loosened and in the zone, and asked Ayoung to heal them up.
"They don't really look like they need healing."
"You know what happens if they sit around grinning about how well they did and then their mana holes seize up on the live show and their output drops, right? Game over."
"Yes, yes. I know, I know. Always with the nitpicking..."
"I'm saying all this for your sakes."
And for my bank account's sake, too.
If you guys do well, who knows—maybe Hyewon will throw in another little bonus sheet as an incentive.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeees... feels so gooood...♡"
"Nothing else bothering you, I hope?"
"Thanks, Ayoung unnie. And Sujin—you're making a face a woman shouldn't be making right now, so snap out of it."
After that I checked on Sujin and Harin's conditions and restored their bodies as well.
The overall presence rolling off them was peak form.
Clearly all that drilling had paid off—I found myself nodding without thinking.
Just keep it like this. Just like this.
I clenched both hands into fists.
I could feel the dampness.
Nerves? Well, fair enough to be nervous.
And those three over there were probably more nervous than I was.
So.
"It's going to be fine."
""".....?"""
A little awkward, but.
I said it to the kids with my own mouth.
"Just like Hyewon... the boss said—I drilled you myself."
""".........."""
"....Well."
The atmosphere went cold for a second.
Silence. And then what followed was…
"Pff.... Pwah!"
"What is that supposed to be! Was that you cheering us on just now?"
"I-Instructooor...?"
Smiles. Laughter.
"Instructor... I didn't think you did this kind of thing. Kind of unexpected?"
"Shut up."
You talk too much.
"...I'll do my best!"
"Just. Do it like usual."
Sujin. No one makes the words "I'll do my best" sound more ominous than you.
"Thank you, Instructor! I promise, I won't forget what you said!"
"Yeah..."
As expected of Hyewon, who had the absolute worst aptitude as a Spirit Contractor.
Among these three, her personality was the best by far.
Yeah... I'm glad you guys are happy about it.
No tension or awkwardness in their eyes.
They'd probably handle it fine on their own.
I took their words in stride and stood up from my seat—when.
"Ack....!"
"Ayoung?"
"Wai—no.... I can't—Aaaah!!"
".....Uh."
The moment everyone's tension finally eased.
Ayoung sank down where she sat.
Labored, ragged breathing. Pupils trembling violently.
And
"You... don't tell me...."
Flowing down between her legs.
A colorless, transparent liquid.
"Sunwoo...-nim....!"
Eyes full of anxiety.
A hand reaching out toward me.
"Hello? Hello! Is this 119? We're at XX-dong XX-XX—a pregnant woman's water just broke!"
"Don't worry, unnie. Yes. Breathe slowly, like that, yes, just like that."
"........?"
I immediately brought Hyewon over and put her on care duty.