Elastica
For Baek Seol, who looked a little downcast, what I intended to make was a simple batch of chocolate chip cookies.
I pulled out the cookie dough I had already rested in the refrigerator. Lately I had been thinking about what kind of menu would suit a woman and had prepared it in advance.
At the very least, there shouldn't be a woman who hates sweet desserts.
Especially for calorie-burning heroes like Astra or Baek Seol, a sweet dessert like this would hit the spot even harder. I took out the dough I had already mixed—bread flour, butter, eggs, and brown sugar—and retrieved the chocolate chips I had stored separately in the fridge.
What I wanted wasn't ordinary cookies, but chocolate chip cookies with chips packed thick across the surface. I folded a proper amount of chocolate chips into the dough, portioned it out, and flattened each piece into a round.
I should've bought cookie cutters too.
Unfortunately I hadn't picked up any cute cutters, so all I could manage were thick, round cookies—but even that shape had its own charm. I slid the finished dough into the oven I had been preheating while I worked and started the bake.
"What. What are you making?"
"I'm trying to make a sweet dessert. They say when you're feeling rotten, something sweet helps."
I answered casually and, while the cookies baked, lightly brewed a cup of coffee and set it in front of her so she would have something to drink. Baek Seol, who had been sitting there looking glum, opened her eyes wide, hesitated a moment, then spoke in a small voice.
"...Thanks."
"Mm."
Without forcing any further conversation, she lifted the cup I had offered and quietly sipped the coffee. In the silence I collected the dishes she had finished and began washing them. The warm coffee seemed to settle her a little; the earlier dejected look faded, and a faint playfulness returned to her expression when she spoke again.
"What. You're pretty good at this. Did you reel Yuna in the same way?"
"Reel her in...? I already told you it isn't that kind of relationship."
"Well. Even if it isn't that kind of relationship right now, like you say. Do you really have zero interest? Yuna's pretty. Looking at someone pretty and kind like Yuna, nothing crosses your mind?"
Looking at Astra and thinking nothing?
Well...
Plenty crosses my mind.
A pretty, kind woman treating me gently and showing up every day—claiming I felt no attraction would be a lie. On top of that, while investigating my buff ability I had already mixed bodies with Astra more than once. We hadn't gone all the way yet, but after everything that had happened it was only natural I had started to regard her as someone special.
But...
So what? I'd just be the only one fantasizing.
Getting carried away and making a move just because we had tangled a few times would be ridiculous. No—if anything, didn't Astra probably dislike me quite a bit? From what I had heard she had never been with a man before, yet because of my ability those first experiences had been filled by me, someone she had only just met. Her personality was so good she never showed it, but I could understand if she quietly hated me for it.
"Hmm."
While those thoughts left me standing blankly, Baek Seol glanced back and forth between my face and the coffee cup I had given her, a complicated look on her own face.
I shook him up that much and still no reaction... so they really aren't dating...
Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling that some invisible thread still connected the two of them. Looking at Siwoo with that uneasy expression, her gaze fell again on the coffee cup he had handed her the moment he noticed she was down.
....He doesn't seem like a bad person... so this should be enough.
Suddenly wondering what she was even doing, Baek Seol let out a quiet sigh and decided to stop forcing connections and prying into their secrets any further. At the very least, someone who could comfort another person like this didn't seem the type to do anything truly rotten.
"Thanks for the coffee. I should get going."
"Yes? Right now? The cookies are almost done—why not eat some before you leave?"
"I'll take the thought. Give them to Yuna later for me. And... from now on I won't come every day and bother you the way I have been."
"Yes?"
"The food's good, so I'll probably still drop by for meals now and then, but I won't make a nuisance of myself like these past few days. Sorry for being a pain."
The day she could stand shoulder to shoulder with Astra wasn't far off. Rather than wasting energy on things like this, she would be better off increasing her training time. With that resolve she turned to leave the shop—
—Wooong!!
"Hm?"
Her quiet communicator suddenly rang. She stopped mid-step and answered.
"What is it, Operator? What's going on?"
"Ms. Baek Seol. Your location is registering inside Ms. Astra's assigned sector. Are you with her right now?"
"No. We were together until a little while ago, but she picked up a beast signal, turned down my help, and went alone."
"Oh no..."
"...Why? What happened?"
The operator's strangely dark tone made Baek Seol's expression turn serious. A moment later, a bolt from the blue came through the communicator.
"We've lost contact with Astra."
"What?"
"The beast signal vanished, so she seems to have taken it down safely, but we haven't been able to reach her since. Right now you're the hero closest to the site, so..."
"Location?!"
As if she needed no further explanation, Baek Seol demanded the coordinates of Astra's dispatch and slammed out through the shop door.
Standing there packaging cookies, I had overheard the entire exchange. My heart began to pound hard in my chest.
Astra....
Contact lost? The same Astra who, barely ten minutes ago, had been sitting right here talking and eating with us?
—Thump. Thump.
My heart started racing. It might turn out to be something trivial, but worry for her crashed over me like a wave.
Did she collapse from exhaustion after taking down the beast? Simple communicator failure? Or a villain attack?
Every worst-case scenario flashed through my mind at once, and I was startled by how strongly I was reacting. I cared about Astra more than I had realized.
"Damn it..."
Even if I was worried, there was nothing I could actually do. The Hero Association already knew and had sent Baek Seol as backup. All that was left for me was to pray nothing had happened to her...
—Ding!
"Ah?"
Just as I was trying to settle my racing thoughts and simply wish for their safety, a clear chime rang out. I looked toward the sound. The cookies were finished, and the oven had shut itself off right on time.
"......."
I stared at the finished cookies with a complicated feeling, then muttered,
"Screw it."
I stuffed the hot cookies into the packaging I had prepared earlier, hung a Closed sign on the door, and left.
Yuna...!!
Baek Seol arrived, gasping, at the remote coordinates the operator had given her and frantically scanned the area. A secluded place no one normally came. Searching the empty ground, the first things she found were the corpses of beasts.
They had been roasted black by Astra's lightning and were still warm. Beyond the scorch marks there was no blood, no scrap of clothing belonging to Astra.
Nothing special. Just ordinary small beasts.
So the lost contact hadn't been caused by the beasts. That meant the next most likely possibility was—
—Swoosh!!
"....!!!"
In that instant Baek Seol read the trajectory of something tearing through the air and reflexively threw up an ice shield. The shield finished a hair's breadth before impact; the black streak slammed into the space her head had occupied a second earlier.
—Kwaang!!
A chill ran down her spine at the ambush, yet she still forced herself to identify what had struck her—and was startled all over again. The thing that had attacked her was a human arm stretched impossibly long.
"Pretty sharp senses for a C-class hero."
—Step.
The elongated arm snapped back and vanished. From that direction a soft, almost languid voice arrived, followed by a woman wearing a black mask. In one hand she was dragging someone along the ground.
"Yu... Astra!!"
The sight of Astra collapsed and bleeding sent Baek Seol into a fury. Seeing that expression, the masked woman casually flung Astra onto the dirt.
"Her teammate? Perfect timing. It ended so easily I was getting bored."
"You...! What did you do to Astra?!"
"Can't you tell just by looking? I worked her over a little. I heard she'd taken down large beasts, so I went out of my way to mark her as my prey—only she turned out weaker than I expected."
She yawned as if the whole thing bored her, still referring to Astra as "prey." Between that attitude and the stretchy limb that had just attacked her, Baek Seol finally recognized the woman in front of her.
"Elastica?"
B+-class villain designated by the Association. Elastica. A transformation-type ability user known as Rubberization, a serial killer who specialized in hunting superhumans—especially heroes.
"Mmm...! Correct. Those Hero Association types get on my nerves about everything else, but they did give me a nickname I actually like. Don't you think?"
"How dare you!!"
—Crackle!!
Baek Seol's rage answered her power; the air around her froze in an instant. A volley of ice spears shot toward Elastica, but the villain moved first.
—Whoosh!!
She cracked her arm out like a whip, snagged a nearby building, and launched herself clear of the spears' range. In the same motion she stretched a leg and slammed it into Baek Seol. Baek Seol desperately threw up another ice shield, but Elastica's leg simply bent around the barrier and hammered into her side.
—Thwack!!
"Keuh...!!"
"Lucky me. I was starting to worry that one alone might not be enough for them to accept me, but even if they're only C-class, two heads should do the trick."
Muttering nonsense, she hooked the stretched leg against the ground, used it as a pivot, and snapped her body forward again. Fists began raining down on Baek Seol. Baek Seol tried to block and freeze her at the same time—
—Crack.
"Too slow!!"
—Thwack!!
"Keuk!!"
Before the cold could fully expand, Elastica's fist crashed into her jaw and cut the ability short.
"Cough... Seol-ah?"
While Baek Seol was being beaten without mercy, a faint cough sounded. Astra was still breathing. She forced her eyes open, saw her friend taking the hits, and shoved herself upright on broken ribs, scattering electricity to help.
Electric Pierce!!
—Zzzzzzt!!
Current lanced from her fingertips almost too fast to track and struck Elastica's body—
"Still haven't learned? Your power doesn't work on me!"
—Whoosh!!
A stronger voltage might have been different, but C-class lightning simply could not properly damage a body under full Rubberization. Mid-beating of Baek Seol, Elastica suddenly stretched an arm, grabbed the wall, and slingshotted herself forward, using the momentum to smash into Astra.
—Crunch!!
"...Guh...!!"
The sound of breaking bone filled the air as Astra's body crumpled again.
"You...!!"
Spitting blood, Baek Seol staggered upright and tried to attack once more, but Elastica's hand was faster. Fingers closed around her collar.
"Painfully slow. Heroes these days just don't have enough viciousness, do they?"
—Hung! Whoong! Hung!!
Mocking Baek Seol's desperate struggle, Elastica spun the arm that held her like a windmill. Acceleration built; Baek Seol's body whipped around like a kite. The moment the speed peaked, Elastica simply let go and hurled her.
—Swoosh!!!
Flying like a shot put, Baek Seol created an ice path in the last instant to slide and bleed off the impact—but she was a fraction too late.
—Crack... Clang!!
The half-formed ice path shattered without absorbing the force. Baek Seol slammed into the ground and tumbled through the dirt, coated in dust.
"Ugh....."
She had reduced the shock enough to avoid a fatal injury, but the accumulated damage left her unable to move properly. She somehow raised her communicator with one arm to call for support—
—Beepbeepbeep!!!
As if on cue, the communicator blared with the detection of a new beast wave appearing in the nearby area. Almost as if something were deliberately blocking timely reinforcements.
How...?
It wasn't as though someone had captured a beast elsewhere and released it. Could natural beast generation really line up this perfectly?
She still forced the rescue request through, but the future looked bleak. Even so, Baek Seol pushed herself up while blood ran down her face.
I... I have to help. At this rate Yuna...!!
Elastica would return her full attention to her original prey. If Baek Seol didn't get back there immediately, Astra's fate was obvious.
"No... Yuna...!!"
She staggered, trying to force her legs to move, but her ruined body refused to obey. After only a few steps she collapsed again.
No... don't.....
The pain was sharp, yet the despair of being unable to save Astra was sharper still. No. Astra—Yuna—her friend was not someone who died in a place like this. A real hero, different from all the fakes. A hero who would go on to save countless people. The one who had only just begun to shine must not die here.
Ple...ase...
She offered a prayer to no one in particular and tried once more to squeeze strength into her limbs—
—Tadadak!!
Hurried footsteps suddenly reached her ears.
"Huff... huff... It was definitely around here, right?"
...Ah?
At the same time she heard a man's voice she had listened to only a short while earlier.
".....Sniff."
And the sweet scent of freshly baked cookies drifted on the air.