The Small Fairy
When I opened my eyes, the lab desk filled my vision.
So did the report half-crumpled under my cheek, and the long trail of drool stretched across it.
"……."
I needed a moment to accept reality. My face burned.
Every kind of dangerous thing existed on the floor where I worked. Things that stole your body the moment you spoke a person's name. Things that wandered in and out of dreams like they owned the place.
When I slept, I always locked the door at home and lay down in my own bed. I had never once taken a nap at the office.
My head throbbed.
…I fell asleep? For real?
The idea that I had dozed off in the middle of the lab, drooling no less, made no sense at all.
Why had I fallen asleep here?
The moment I tried to lift my head, something gold swayed right in front of my face. Blue eyes peered out from between hair that fell all the way to the waist. Star-shaped pupils were looking straight into mine.
She was right there. Close enough that our noses might have touched.
"Aagh!"
I shoved the chair back and stood. The wheels caught on a desk leg, and the backrest slammed into the filing cabinet. At the thud, several files tumbled to the floor.
Sirin didn't so much as blink. Still bent at the waist, still studying my face, she simply smiled.
"Good morning, Senior."
"Wh-what were you doing?"
"Watching you sleep."
"Why?"
"Because you were cute?"
Sirin's thumb drifted toward the corner of my mouth. I grabbed her wrist on reflex, and her fingertip stopped just short of my lips.
"Ah, there's drool there…"
"Tsk. Got a handkerchief?"
"Sadly, no."
I scrubbed roughly at my mouth with my sleeve. My head felt heavy. My eyelids stuck together the way they did after a long sleep, and my thoughts wouldn't string themselves together properly.
The last thing I remembered was Sirin sitting on the cot. Wet blonde hair. Star-shaped eyes. A tongue wrapping around my gloved fingers.
After that came the memory of bare hands touching hair.
Sirin had said something, and I felt like I had uncovered something important… but the actual content wouldn't come back. A dream?
"How long was I out?"
"About ten minutes?"
"And you just stared at my face the whole time?"
"Pretty much? By the way…"
"By the way?"
Sirin tapped the report on the desk with one finger.
"You're the one in charge of the Small Fairy, Senior. You should go in and get to work."
"Who said I was in charge?"
"You are, Senior."
"Call me Team Leader."
"It's just the two of us right now."
That didn't deserve an answer.
I picked up the drool-soaked report.
"There's nothing confirmed on the Small Fairy, so we decided to put the work on hold. Once the investigation team checks the discovery site first…"
I was reading as I spoke, and then my mouth simply closed.
Fields that had been blank until moments ago were filled in.
CLASSIFICATION:Equivalent Exchange Type
ORIGIN:Presumed offshoot of the tooth fairy
BEHAVIOR:When given an item, returns an item of similar value.
THREAT LEVEL:Low
Investigation required.
The discovery site and intake route were written in as well.
There was even a note explaining that the dollhouse inside the containment cell had been found alongside the subject and appeared to serve as a storage space for items used in trades.
At the bottom of the report was the name of the researcher in charge. Seollin. My name.
The signature matched my handwriting exactly. The slightly rounded strokes, the habit of flicking the ends upward in a hurry — this was unmistakably my writing.
"I wrote this…?"
"You must have been really tired."
"I don't remember writing it."
"You haven't been sleeping properly lately. You even said your shoulders hurt because of your chest."
"……."
Sirin closed her mouth. Only those star-shaped pupils curved, slowly.
I read the report again from the top. Every sentence, every detail was normal. No signs of contamination.
Equivalent Exchange Types were on the easier end to manage. As long as you didn't provoke them and stuck to the established trading procedures, the odds of an incident were low.
Clutching my throbbing head, I looked through the containment cell window. The dollhouse sat there alone.
"…I'll check its condition first."
"You're going in?"
"I at least need to verify whether the report is accurate."
Sirin smiled as if she were delighted.
That smile is beautiful.
Those eyes are fucking disgusting.
She's pretty…?
.
.
.
Inside the containment cell, the fairy was hiding behind the dollhouse.
The dollhouse had been found with the subject — a small two-story wooden house with a red roof, about knee-high. It even had a tiny bed, a dining table, and a wardrobe, making it a fairly spacious home for a palm-sized girl.
I checked the seals on my protective gear, then approached slowly.
"I'm Seollin, Leader of Research Team 1. I'm here to check on your condition."
No answer. A few strands of silver hair and the tips of transparent wings showed from behind the house. She seemed to be curled up, trembling.
"If you want to trade, come out. If not, I'll leave for today."
After a long while, a small face peeked out past the wall. The fairy looked at me, then immediately checked the containment cell window.
Sirin was standing on the other side of the glass.
The moment the fairy confirmed that, her face went deathly white. She tried to hide again, smacked her wings against the wall, and began to tremble with both hands clamped over her mouth.
…What is that about?
A stranger in full protective gear walking toward her — maybe the reaction was natural.
The way she kept glancing toward Sirin was a little strange, but right now I needed to confirm whether a trade was even possible.
—Right?
I sat down on the floor and pulled a ballpoint pen from my chest pocket.
"I'll give you this."
I set the pen on the floor and drew my hand back. To the fairy, it was an object as long as she was tall.
She hesitated for a moment, checked the window again, then wrapped both arms around the pen. It was just a light plastic pen, but the size difference made moving it look difficult.
Grunting with effort, she dragged it to the front door, opened it, and disappeared inside.
Through the windows, I could see her moving around.
She rummaged through drawers and the wardrobe, dropped to her stomach to reach under the bed. She picked up a tiny teacup and a saucer one by one, inspecting each.
Side to side. The fairy shook her head. She came to the window and met my eyes.
Apparently nothing left inside the house was worth trading.
"It doesn't have to be the same value. If nothing appeals to you, just keep the pen."
Whether she heard me or not, her movement stopped.
The fairy poked her head out the window. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
…Why?
Side to side. She shook her head hard, then went back to searching the room.
She opened empty drawers over and over, picked up the teacup and set it down again. The more agitated she became, the more often she checked the glass.
Sirin stood with her arms crossed, smiling.
Why is she smiling like that?
The question had barely formed when my eyes met the fairy's.
Hah. She sucked in a breath like someone caught doing something that must never be seen.
"Stop. Trade's off."
I reached out to take the pen back.
Kyaaah! The fairy swallowed a scream and scrambled backward.
Side to side. She clutched the pen to her chest and shook her head.
Tears slid down her cheeks. Trembling — her legs were shaking violently. Her whole body was.
An incomprehensible reaction.
What happened if a trade couldn't be completed? There had been nothing about that in the report.
I was about to request additional confirmation from the control room when my head went hazy again.
—Equivalent Exchange Types are safe. You give an item, you receive an item, and once the trade is finished, nothing happens. That's all there is to it.
Sobbing. The fairy cried for a while, then reached toward the wings on her back.
Of the four transparent wings, she gripped the lower right one with both hands.
"Wait — what are you trying to—?"
A strain. Force gathered in that tiny body.
Creak. Creak. Crack. The wing pulled taut from the root. A blue light spread across the thin membrane, and the fairy's face twisted in pain.
"Stop! I don't need that! Stop it!"
Snap. As I moved closer, she yanked even harder in desperation.
Pop. With a short, sharp sound, one transparent wing came free.
The fairy sank to the floor.
Hnnngh… She had both hands over her mouth, but the crying leaked out between her fingers.
A clear fluid seeped slowly from her back.
Unable to process what had just happened in front of me, I held out my hand.
The fairy lifted the torn-off wing in both hands. With a face full of tears, she checked the window one more time, then set the wing on my palm.
—The trade is complete.
In that instant, the pressure clogging my head eased, just a little.
"…Why on earth?"
The fairy's gaze shifted past my shoulder. When her eyes met Sirin's through the glass, those star-shaped pupils curved into a pretty arc.
Without a word, the fairy fled into the house.
Whimpering. Even after the door closed, the small sounds of crying went on for a long time.
The moment I stepped out of the containment cell, Sirin was the first to run over.
"How was it?"
I looked down at the wing sealed in its container. A blue glow still lingered in the transparent membrane, and clear fluid clung to the root.
Fairy blood, maybe.
The investigation had gone wrong. The report would have to be rewritten.
Sirin needed to be quarantined first, and I needed to find out why the fairy was so terrified of her. I opened my mouth to say exactly that.
"Eh, it was ordinary."
Sirin beamed.
In my hand was a wing the fairy had torn off while crying.
My thoughts and my words did not match. This was a clear sign of mental attack and contamination. I had to report it immediately—