B-Rank Hero Angel (2)
They ran several more tests after that.
Unlike the Hero exam, though, the Sidekick test was built around support rather than combat, and Arang cleared those trials just as cleanly. After several hours, the Sidekick test was over.
"Your result is 695 out of a perfect 700. You pass. We'll finish assigning your Sidekick placement in a few days."
"Understood."
The staffer's voice carried an awe he couldn't hide.
No Sidekick has ever scored like this...
He might be only a Sidekick, but with numbers like these he could have worked as a non-combat Hero without any trouble. Arang had just finished every last procedure and was turning to leave when something soft clamped tight around his wrist.
"...?"
He looked back at the gentle pressure and found Yuyeong there, her hand locked around him. Her golden eyes seemed to shine brighter than they ever had.
"Did you have something to say?"
He was baffled. Why was she grabbing his wrist now?
...Don't tell me.
Had she realized he was a Kaijin?
No. That couldn't be it. How would anyone pick out a bottom-of-the-barrel small fry like him? Even so, he couldn't bring himself to relax.
What left her mouth, though, was something no one could have predicted.
"I don't have a Sidekick. Would you become mine?"
"...Pardon?"
An offer, just like that?
He hadn't seen it coming. His plan had been to build a record under whatever Hero he was assigned. A Sidekick with no background and no achievements would have a hard time even speaking to a high-ranking Hero. When he had taken her hand and used his ability, there had been no particular reaction, so he had assumed there was no point of contact after all.
And then this, out of nowhere...
He was badly thrown, but this was an opportunity. She was only a B-Rank Hero now, yet she had the talent to reach S-Rank someday. If he stayed at her side and conditioned her early, he would gain one very powerful card.
"I don't mind. If anything, I ought to thank you."
In the end, he decided. He would become her Sidekick.
The moment his heart settled on a clear direction, more information poured into his head.
The lifespan I'd gain if the conditioning succeeds... five years?
The years he could earn by conditioning her were delivered straight into his mind. That wasn't all. One year... six months... three months... He could see, at a glance, the lifespan waiting in every woman around him.
Men come out negative... and I can get quite a bit even from people who aren't Heroes.
The goddess must have packed a great deal of power into this body.
She could have just dumped it all into a single status window. What a hassle.
A useless thought occurred to him—maybe the goddess simply hated status windows.
"Then you're my Sidekick from now on. That's all right, isn't it?"
"Ah, yes... so long as we follow procedure, it's fine."
At Yuyeong's question, the staffer nodded at once.
"Normally we prioritize matching a Sidekick with a suitable Hero, but if a Hero chooses first, that step can be skipped."
"Then there's no problem. Please proceed right away."
"Understood."
The staffer bowed and disappeared to handle the registration.
"I didn't think I'd walk out of here with a Sidekick. This isn't bad."
"...Is that so."
Yuyeong was as expressionless and dry as ever. He couldn't tell whether "not bad" meant good, but if she said so herself, then that was that. He decided not to dig any deeper. There was nothing he could know right now.
The Sidekick registration finished quickly. After the final signature, Yuyeong and Arang left the Association building.
"Would you like to come to my place for now? Or do you have something else to do?"
"...Nothing else. But are you sure that's all right?"
"It's common for a Sidekick and a Hero to live together. You could call it a way for each of them to learn the other."
He had nowhere to stay and not a cent to his name, so following her was the sensible choice, but...
Is it really all right to drag a strange man she met today into her own home?
Of course he knew she was a B-Rank Hero. She was strong enough to kill someone like him with a single punch. She wasn't going to die, and yet, by ordinary common sense, it still felt strange.
"It's fine. If a Sidekick and a Hero are going to mesh, living together is the best way."
She knew exactly what Arang was worried about, and still she offered to share a place without hesitation.
It's not as if I have any reason to refuse.
If he wanted to survive, he had to condition her and bring her down, and to do that he would have to spend more time stuck to her side. With no home and nothing else, this was an offer he had to take. There was nothing in it but gain.
"Shall we go, then? It's getting late, so let's have dinner at home."
"Let's do that."
Arang rode in her car. A B-Rank Hero's fully loaded midsize sedan was more comfortable than he had expected. Before long the car stopped, and the two of them got out.
"I took a place near the Hero Association. It lets me handle Association work quickly, and more than that, this building is Hero-only, so Heroes can move in cheap."
"I see."
He listened to her explanation as they went inside, tapped a key card, and boarded the elevator. The doors didn't open until they reached the top floor.
"...You live on the top floor?"
"Yes. I just like high places, somehow."
An unusual taste. The game had never gone so far as to show preferences like this. They reached the door, entered the code, and stepped inside.
Whoa... this place is enormous.
What met his eyes was a fairly spacious apartment.
Figures. From B-Rank up, Heroes eat well and live well.
Through C-Rank, Heroes without an unusual trait—or with a weak one—weren't worth much. From B-Rank on, the story changed. They were treated as national property, and as beings of considerable value.
"It may be humble, but please come in. I'll get dinner ready right away."
"......"
He took off his shoes and stepped inside as she said. The neatly kept home felt quite beautiful.
Dinner, though... what?
"Um, I'll prepare dinner."
"I couldn't let you. You're my first Sidekick, for one thing, and... I like cooking."
"No, you really don't have to—"
"Please rest. I'll take care of everything."
He tried to talk her out of it, but every attempt came to nothing. Being invited in and waited on by the owner of the house made him uncomfortable, but there was a much bigger reason.
You... are an absolutely terrible cook.
Yes. She was a B-Rank Hero, perfect in looks and figure, and there was one thing she was so bad at that it could fairly be called the worst. Cooking.
Being bad at it would have been fine on its own. The problem was that she loved to cook while being terrible at it. After eating her food, the protagonist had said this when she wasn't around:
Taken one way, it could almost have been praise. Looking at the protagonist's face, though, it had absolutely not been meant as one.
I'm not going to die today, am I?
But the water was already spilled. No matter what he said now, she clearly wasn't going to give up. All Arang could do was pray that, just for today, her cooking would turn into something a person could at least eat.
"Dinner's ready. I worked hard on it, so please enjoy."
She sat at the table and spoke with the first hint of excitement he had heard from her.
"...All right."
Arang looked at her, then turned his eyes to the food. The pot held a purple porridge of unknown identity. The bowls held something black and stir-fried, along with a glittering, glow-in-the-dark object that had no business appearing in food.
"Today's menu is curry, soy-glazed bulgogi, and a mixed salad of seasoned greens."
"......"
This was... what?
So that purple was curry, the black was soy-glazed bulgogi, and the glow-in-the-dark stuff was seasoned greens?
Good God...
He despaired at a god he didn't even believe in. What did a person have to do to create food like this? Today's menu jackpot had been a complete bust.
I still have to eat it...
He didn't know what would happen if he didn't. And if he wanted to get closer to her, he had to endure at least this much. He stilled his trembling hands as best he could, took up the ladle, scooped the curry, and laid it over the rice. Then he mixed the curry and rice, set a spoonful on the spoon...
The spoon paused in the air for a moment, moved again, and finally went into Arang's mouth. He closed his lips. He chewed.
"......"
The curry was in his mouth. The instant it touched his tongue, he tasted something appalling.
Is this even food a person can eat...?
A ladleful scraped out of a food-waste bin would have tasted better. He wanted to spit it out and gargle dozens of times, but he held it in. If he broke here, the distance between them would only grow. After chewing a few times, he barely managed to force it down his throat.
"Hoo..."
"How does it taste?"
She had been watching him swallow, and now she asked.
"It's... very good. The best."
He couldn't tell the truth. The words—your food tastes worse than garbage—climbed all the way to the back of his throat, but he swallowed them and offered a kindly lie.
"Oh, I'm glad. There's still plenty, so please eat as much as you want."
Fortunately, she fell for the lie completely. He forced the rice down without even chewing and emptied the bowl.
"...Thank you for the meal."
"I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Everyone else takes one look at my food and runs away in horror."
She lamented it with a blank face.
......
How many people in the world could eat when an expressionless, ice-cold beauty set down food worse than garbage and asked them to try it? Even the men who had hovered around her for her looks might take one taste, flee in shock, or pass out on the spot.
Either way, I got past one crisis.
Next time he would have to dodge dinner somehow—say he had already eaten out, or find some other excuse. That stuff had left the category of food a person could eat.
Fortunately, the instant coffee that came out afterward tasted like the mixed coffee he knew.
Well. If she couldn't even make this, she wouldn't be human.
She might mess up the water, of course, but that almost never happened. They drank their coffee and talked about this and that. Starting with names, they traded simple details—hometown, age—then hobbies, the things they liked, and more. The conversation went on for quite a while, and then...
"Um..."
"...?"
Uncharacteristically, she fidgeted with her fingers. Her face was blank, but the movement of those fingers alone told him at once that she was in a difficult spot.
What is she trying to say?
He couldn't begin to guess that far. Arang didn't have mind-reading.
"My wings have been stiff lately, and they don't move well... Could you massage them for me?"
"......"
So... she wanted him to massage her wings?
It was a request he hadn't expected at all, but he didn't let the surprise show.
Is this woman in her right mind?
Not only had she brought home a Sidekick she had met today—she was asking for a massage too? He couldn't tell whether she was innocent or just stupid.
Works for me, though.
This was clearly a chance to get closer to her.
"Are you sure? Even if I'm your Sidekick, we've only just met..."
"It's fine. And you, Arang... you aren't a bad person."
"......"
Not a bad person. Anyone watching would think she could read minds. But she had no ability like that. Wings like an angel's were the only trait she possessed.
"So... will you?"
When his answer was slow in coming, she asked again. She seemed a little restless, afraid he might refuse.
"I will. Looking after a Hero is a Sidekick's job."
Refusing this would make him an idiot. His life was on the line, and every chance like this mattered.
"Thank you. Then... let's start right away."
The moment he agreed, she rose from her chair and went into the large inner room.
"Come in when I call you. I need to get ready, in my own way."
"Understood."
With that, she closed the door and went in. Only after she was gone did Arang let out a long sigh and click his tongue.
"Hoo... I'd better do this right."
The first button was always the most important. He had to leave the best impression he could during this massage, and make sure she came away satisfied. Even if the only trait he had right now was Lustful Touch, he had to make it work somehow.
"Arang. I'm ready, so please come in."
Before long, her voice came from the room she had entered. Still cold. Arang stood at once, opened the closed door, and stepped inside.
And there...
Hah...
A neatly prepared massage room for one was waiting. On the massage bed lay Yuyeong, naked, her wings spread wide and a white towel wrapped around her hips. Her face was buried, so he couldn't see it, and even so the scene before him was like a painting.
He stared, dazed for a moment, then came back to himself, walked over, and stopped in front of the bed.
"Please be gentle, and only on the wings. I'm sorry for making you do something like this when we've only just met..."
"Not at all. This is a Sidekick's work too."
Arang said it flatly, then ran a hand over the wings to take their measure and decide where to begin.
Start from the base, more or less... The nerves cluster on the inside rather than the outside, so if I work that spot until it aches, that should do it.
He had never massaged wings before, but he knew that people with bodies like this usually had their nerves gathered at the joint, and that those places were sensitive.
"...Then I'll begin."
Once the plan was roughly set, Arang reached for her wings at once.