The Veteran High School Girl
Water flows from high places down to low ones.
Even when there is a slope, it simply keeps flowing; even when something blocks its path, it eventually reaches the bottom.
A personality without hard edges. Soft. Yielding.
It never forces its way. It only ever flows.
A life that flows and flows. And when, at the end of that long flow, it finally gathers in a puddle—
"You know why I called you, right?"
"............"
—the water starts to rot.
Water spirits are the same. So are water Spirit Contractors.
"You think if you just hang your head and space out, I'll let you go?"
"....I'm sorry..."
Pool it, and it rots.
Sujin and I are especially like that.
I leaned back against the chair for a moment and looked at her.
"How's life treating you these days?"
"Huh?"
"The life you're living right now. You're pretty satisfied, aren't you?"
".........."
No answer.
In that case, I would answer for her.
"You're making decent money. Compared to before, you actually have friends. At home they treat you somewhat like a person. You get that feeling of social recognition. On top of that, people fawn over you because you're an idol. Honestly, if a shut-in who turned her back on society has come this far, I think it's fine to get a little full of yourself."
"Th...at's right?"
"Did 'full of yourself' sound like a compliment? I'm roasting you, you bitch."
"Ugh... bu...but. But!"
I tried my best in my own way!
At Sujin's heartfelt cry I simply nodded, conceding the point.
"You did try hard. Especially when I think about that forced march back then—you worked yourself to the bone."
"Right? See!"
"That still doesn't mean it's okay to settle."
"Ugh...."
She had worked hard.
Resting was right, too.
But if she simply let go completely after that, it would only add another line to the accident reports.
"You think this is the end? After this you still have to practice new songs, relearn the choreography. The things you need to do right now are piled up like a mountain!"
"...I can work hard when the time comes."
"Shut up and do it later? Is that words or a fart?"
"Uuuu....."
Correct words.
But also words she could not accept—words she did not want to accept.
I get it, but...
She kept putting everything off.
She shrank from approaching.
She avoided confrontation as hard as she could.
That behavior. That look. Every little detail of it reminded me of a past version of myself.
I'm not sure this is the right thing to say for the situation we're in...
Still, given where we were, saying something—anything—was probably better than nothing.
I stared blankly at the ceiling and muttered,
"Think you can keep dodging forever?"
".........."
"I'm not asking for an answer, so don't get scared."
"....Yes."
Her voice was still tight with tension.
I paid it no mind and kept going.
"A long time ago. When I was little, my parents died."
".....?"
"Car collision. The life insurance payout was pretty big. All of it came under my name."
"............"
She had no idea what to do with that information.
After a moment she quietly clasped her hands and fell silent.
I continued in an even voice.
"All the relatives gathered round and kept being nice to me. But you're a Spirit Contractor—you'd know. Whether they were coming close because they liked me, or because of the money."
"Ah....."
"Grandma shut every one of them down. She told me not to worry about it, that she'd handle everything herself. So I really... couldn't live without a single care.
But because Grandma fought the relatives in my place, I think I lived pretty well."
The problem, though, came after that.
"...Grandma blocked everything."
Every time the relatives showed up they shouted.
With that much money you could buy a whole building, they said.
Lend it to me and I'll pay you back for sure, they said.
Sometimes they raged. Sometimes they wailed and sobbed.
In the end they cursed Grandma with every filthy word they knew for daring to stand in their way, then left.
That was when every last scrap of affection I had for people drained away.
Except for Grandma, every single one of them looked like a bad person.
Scary. Bad. So I hid behind Grandma's back...
"After Grandma died, no one protected me."
From then on I had to endure alone.
That situation. That fact. It was almost impossible to bear.
If, while Grandma was still alive, I had found a little more courage and shouted at them to stop—what would have happened?
If I had even just called the police, would things have turned out differently?
In the end it was nothing but belated regret.
After that I still stupidly fell for their tricks, knowing full well I was being played and still getting taken.
"...Sujin. I'm not going to criticize you for wanting to avoid things."
I had never managed it myself; I could not force her.
But even so, if there was one thing I could still say—
"Later. When even avoiding is no longer allowed. When facing it is the only answer left, and you finally try to face it then—"
At that moment,
there will be nothing more terrible in the world.
"...Anyway, what was I even talking about that got me all the way here?"
"Cough!"
I never used to feel like this.
But maybe it was because of Nox.
Looking at how I kept getting strangely sentimental and ending up in confession-like monologues...
...No way.
Just in case, I checked the mana hole.
It was spotless—not a single speck of dust.
........
"Sorry."
Well. Reasonable suspicion exists for a reason, right?
I gently soothed Nox while growing flustered at the way I myself was changing.
The kids saying I have early signs of heart failure, too...
Even before, I couldn't claim I had lived a particularly rational life,
but lately it really felt like I had one brain up top and two down below.
The problem was that the two downstairs were tiny brains that only managed half a thought.
"Ahem! Anyway, what I want to say is this."
I met Sujin's eyes.
"A comfortable path that leaves you with zero options when the worst happens, or a filthy hard path that will actually help you when the worst arrives."
Which one will you choose?
Sujin answered in a clear, confident voice.
"I want to choose the comfortable path!"
"Alright. Then we'll go the comfortable way."
"...Really?"
"What, did you think I'd force you? Want me to teach you the hard way with my body like Yeonhwa?"
"The comfortable path! The comfortable path! I like things that are comfortable and easy!"
"That's what I'm saying."
Forcing someone to do what they hate has no meaning.
So I looked straight at Sujin and said,
"You. Become a military-service-completed high school girl."
People call the sword the king of all weapons.
They say that among every weapon that exists, the sword is the strongest—but that's pure bullshit.
"Huh? Looking at Yeonhwa Unnie..."
"It's a weapon for kings, not for commoners like you."
"Ah..."
From the beginning, every person has a weapon that fits their body.
Yeonhwa had already adapted herself to the greatsword and used it well, so that was fine.
"I'd like to put a spear in Harin's hands..."
Looking at her judgment, flexibility, and ability to adapt on the fly, a spear seemed to suit her better.
But she insisted on daggers, and thinking back to the sparring she had shown me before, I figured she might still pull off something interesting with them, so I let it go.
Sujin's case was different.
Neither a king's weapon nor a retainer's weapon suited her.
That left the commoner's weapon—the one that could take even uneducated, unpolished commoners and turn them into excellent soldiers—
"Guns are the best. And you've already shot plenty, right?"
"That was in games!"
—Hii, hi! Hiiik!
Sujin flinched hard at the gunshots coming from the shooting range next door.
But I had not brought her here merely for the convenience of firearms.
"Water Spirit Contractors have excellent compatibility with guns."
"Compatibility...?"
"More precisely, they suit water and earth spirits."
Even a tiny shift of the muzzle changes where the bullet lands.
In that regard, the calm, collected water Spirit Contractor and the rock-steady earth Spirit Contractor were the best matches for the weapon.
"Wind spirits..."
"If you're thinking of those movies where bullets curve, I'll tell you right now—when I tried it in real life it was neither rice nor porridge."
"Ah....."
A bullet flies in a straight line; that is how it keeps its power and destructive force.
Force the trajectory to bend with wind midway? You only kill both the stopping power and the penetration.
Against ordinary people maybe, but against Awakened or monsters the force becomes far too weak.
"Ah, yeah. This looks good. Try this one."
"Hyaak?! Ow... wait.... uuungh!"
A sniper rifle whose frame was made from the rib of a deep-sea whale, they said.
Given the affinity with water, it should take Sujin's mana cleanly.
"Using it isn't hard. Just look at the target and shoot."
"Huh? Ueh? Eeeeh?"
I rented it on the spot and we moved to the next range.
Even while she panicked, her nostrils flared a little—she was clearly excited about getting to use a weapon she only ever held in games out in the real world.
Too much assumption? No. This was a fact backed by evidence.
Just look at how she was shouldering it right now.
"Pretending to freak out while still doing everything properly, huh?"
"....There's no bullets."
"Open the drawer underneath. There should be spare practice rounds."
"..........."
Without a word she opened the magazine and loaded it perfectly.
Is she actually a military veteran?
Military veteran. Huge tits. Hawawa. High school girl.
If a character sheet went this far, the goddess of victory Nike herself would start clapping and try to take her home.
Muttering something about a fine talent having appeared in this place.
"Sss───."
Without any signal from me she finished loading and steadied her breath.
Movements as natural as breathing itself.
When her breath stopped and the sound around her died—
Banggggg!
"Ah."
"Hit it. A little off-center, but..."
For a first shot, this was...
The kind of result that made it obvious why she played FPS games so obsessively.
"..........."
"...You don't have to look like that. Keep going. I'll bring a few other guns."
"!!!"
Sujin smiled without a sound and aimed at the target again.
"Hoo.... hohee! Hoheeheehee!"
After that I brought her a submachine gun, a pistol, a rifle, and more, letting her try each one. In the end she settled on two.
The deep-sea whale-rib sniper rifle she had first picked up, and the Desert Eagle she had begged for, calling it the gun of guns.
"You can't even control the recoil and you still want that one?"
"B-because I'm an Awakened! If I practice I can use it!"
"You'll use it, sure, but..."
"...It's a romance, I said."
"Hm? What?"
I turned my head toward her.
"It's a romance... the Desert Eagle...!"
"....Yeah. Okay."
If she liked it, what else could I do?
I decided to cheer for Sujin's romance.