A Mutual Contract (2)
"Ah, um... that is..."
"Boss! Where have you been all this time?! Get over here, quick!"
I set aside Sasha, who was stammering and fumbling over her words in a way that suggested she'd been thoroughly rattled, and called for the Boss instead.
Where the hell have you been wandering around all night, only showing up now?
It was a good thing I'd knocked him out cold with one flawless punch to the jaw — if I'd failed, it would've been my jaw that ended up shattered.
"What the—! Yulia, did you smack another customer?!"
"It's this guy. You know, that one. The... the thing. The uh. The—"
"The what? Use your words! Stop doing that 'the uh the thing' thing like some old man!"
"Come on! The bastard who kept dragging Sasha into the back of the shop and stinking up the whole atmosphere!"
"Ohh. That guy. Good work, Yulia."
The Boss looked down at the tattooed pig sprawled out and snoring, and let out a satisfied "Ahh" of understanding. Then, with practiced ease, he hoisted the massive body onto his back and dumped it outside the shop.
Apparently he was a former knight — the man looked skinny as a rail, but had strength to spare.
Was that what they called compressed practical-combat muscle? Dense, combat-packed muscle, I mean.
"Y-Yulia! Master! Just now, you—!"
"Don't worry about it, Sasha. I'll contact the guard and have him hauled off. I'm sorry I left him alone for so long without dealing with him."
"That's not it!"
Out of nowhere, Sasha shrieked at the top of her lungs.
The Boss and I both went slack-jawed, staring at her in silence, wondering what on earth this commotion was about.
"Tia's—!"
"What about Tia? She's in the room upstairs."
"No! Tia just went out the front door!"
"Oh, come on. What kind of nonsense is—"
"Yulia! Tia's gone from upstairs?! Did you take her with you by any chance?!"
"......"
With a thunderous clamor of footsteps, Irina came rushing down the stairs.
The four of us froze, speechless.
Tia wasn't upstairs.
Not with the Boss. Not with Irina. Not with me.
Which meant, naturally, that what Sasha said was true.
Tia was outside......
The ground seemed to drop out from under my feet.
"Aaagh! Why didn't you tell us sooner?!"
"I-I'm sorry! Our eyes definitely met, but she kept checking to see if anyone noticed, and then she just bolted out the door!"
"......"
I kicked the door open and rushed outside, but there was no sign of Tia anywhere in the alley.
No — that wasn't quite true.
"This little..."
A trail of tiny footprints stitched its way through the mud that had become of the ground.
Judging by the somewhat wide stride, she'd been sprinting along at a very industrious pace.
After I specifically told you not to go outside on your own, you little brat.
"Sasha, Irina — you two stay and watch the shop!"
"Why are you coming along, Boss?"
"I'm not sending you out alone in the dead of night. It'd worry me."
"......"
He had a point.
This world's public safety was leagues behind Korea's, and wandering around alone in the middle of the night in this body was basically walking around with a sign that read please assault me.
That said, Tia had apparently gone farther than I expected.
No matter how many corners I rounded, I couldn't catch a glimpse of her anywhere.
"Tia! Tiaaa! You'd better hope I don't catch you, or you're dead!"
"Hey now. Threats like that just make her run fast—"
I bit my lip raw.
I'd lectured her so earnestly, so many times. Why on earth did she run out?
Was it because I hadn't been taking proper care of her lately?
It was certainly true that lately I spent more hours leaving her alone in the room or handing her off to Irina than I spent actually watching her.
Thinking about it that way did make me feel a little guilty......
Ugh. But what am I supposed to do, I'm busy.
No, no. That couldn't be it.
I'd done so much for her even while I was busy.
I picked her up every single time she whined about how heavy she was. When she came at me rapid-fire asking what the strange words she'd learned from the rough-looking men during business hours meant, I answered every one of them, individually. On days off, I even took her out to get some sunshine.
What parent could be more diligent than that?
Even a biological mother wouldn't go this far.
...Oh. Right. I am her biological mother, aren't I......
Anyway — I doted on her like this, and my reward was her running away from home.
Prepare yourself. If I catch you, you're dead.
"Tia!"
"Mu!"
I'd finally found her.
From far off, Tia looked back at me — not sprawled on the ground, not sitting, but posed weirdly on all fours, hands and feet planted in the dirt.
Apparently she'd worn herself out running and was taking a breather.
Thankfully, her adorable little hat was still clinging on, barely.
Catching my breath, I stopped and called out to her.
"Come here right now. Walk over on your own and I'll only hit you four times. If I have to come get you myself, it's forty."
"......!"
Tia's eyes went wide.
But she seemed to have taken it as a joke, because she burst into a bashful little giggle.
Oh, I'll make it a real forty if I catch you.
"I said come here."
"Mu......"
I could practically hear the gears grinding in Tia's head.
She glanced around, deliberating for a moment, and then—
"Hey! I said come here!"
"Muhehe!"
She spun around, flashed me the cutest split-second moon she could manage, and started running again.
Fire shot up my spine, and I took off after her at full sprint.
I started out running like I had back when I was a man, but between my heavy backside and my aching chest, it quickly devolved into the dainty little hops of a woman.
Still, I was faster than Tia.
By a stroke of luck, just before she rounded the next corner, I finally managed to catch up.
"Got you......!"
"Huumph!"
At that moment, a black shadow loomed from beyond the corner, and Tia smacked right into it and bounced backward.
I hurled myself forward and managed to clamp my hands under her arms and catch her into my embrace just before the back of her head hit the ground.
Ah. Her clothes were ruined — smeared head to toe in the mud.
"Oh dear. My apologies. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"......"
At the man's gentle voice, Tia's head and mine slowly lifted.
The voice felt strangely familiar.
And sure enough — standing before us was the priest who had visited the shop before.
I almost didn't recognize him this time; he wore black clerical garb instead of the white ceremonial robes.
"Yes, we're fine. Hello again, Father."
"A pleasure. We meet again."
"Yes......"
Slowly helping Tia to her feet, I couldn't take my eyes off the right hand the priest had slipped discreetly behind his back.
I'd definitely seen it.
The dark stain of blood smeared on his sleeve.
I'd been around blood often enough lately to say with complete certainty: that was blood.
A sudden chill crawled over my entire body.
What the hell is this bastard doing here.
A man who hid a blade up his sleeve, showing up in an alley at dawn with blood on his clothes?
I could roughly guess where he'd been and what he'd been doing on his way here.
And that was exactly the problem.
It would be one thing if I could just play the oblivious fool — but standing there, frozen, with my wavering pupils and my awkward crouch, I might as well have been announcing, Yes, I noticed every single thing.
But that wasn't the only problem.
"Mu......"
"Ah."
Only now did I notice Tia's hat, knocked loose, lying in the dirt.
It felt like the breath had been snatched from my throat.
Tia let out one of her oddly world-weary little huffs, bent down to pick up her hat, and pressed it back onto her head — and until she did, I stood there frozen, unable to say a single word.
"Yulia."
"Yes......"
"How about we agree that neither of us saw anything today?"
"Good idea! Yes! Let's do that!"
I nodded at lightspeed. Just in case there was any misunderstanding, I grabbed Tia by the cheeks and wobbled her head into a nod too.
mutual forgetting, then.
I would forget the blood on the priest's clothes.
The priest would forget the horns on Tia's head.
"What does the proprietor think?"
"Huh? What do you mean, 'saw nothing'? What are you—"
"The Boss says he didn't see you today either, Father! Right, Boss?"
"No, hold on, somebody explain. I just got here. What is going—"
"Boss! Answer him!"
"Fine. I saw nothing, Father."
"......"
That oblivious idiot nearly got us all killed.
Having heard the Boss's answer, the priest gave a faint smile.
No blade slid out from his sleeve — so it seemed he had no intention of disposing of the witnesses after all.
"It would be discourteous to the neighborhood to carry on a conversation this late. I shall take my leave."
"Yes. Good night, Father."
"Get home safe."
"You too!"
And with that, the priest quietly vanished around the corner.
I scooped up Tia, turned on my heel, and headed back toward the shop at a brisk clip.
Afraid he might follow, I found myself checking over my shoulder at regular intervals.
My spine was still cold to the marrow.
"What was that about? What did the priest say to you?"
"You don't want to know. No — you're better off not knowing."
"Aw! Now I'm curious!"
There was absolutely no need to be curious.
Ignoring the Boss as he kept needling me, I hurried back to the shop.
"Yulia! What happened to your clothes?"
"Did you fall down?"
"Haha......"
Seeing Irina and Sasha's faces when I got back was somehow a little reassuring.
Thank the heavens those two hadn't been there for it.
A priest who carved people up in the middle of the night, of all things.
No. No, no. I'd simply believe he happened to be passing through this gloomy alley and dispatched a tiger that had escaped from the zoo.
That was the version my heart could live with.
It never happened. That's all.
Above all, we'd agreed to forget today.
I didn't see the priest today, and the priest didn't see Tia's horns.
That was our contract.
There was no paper, no signatures — but I could trust it.
Because each of us was holding the other's weakness in hand.
"Leave Tia with us for a bit and go wash up."
"No. Tia got dirt on her clothes too, so she's getting washed anyway. Boss, give me the key and head home. I'm just sleeping at the shop tonight."
"Tsk. Fine, have it your way."
He seemed slightly put out about it, but either way, I had the Boss's permission.
I didn't think I'd be able to go home tonight — too scared.
After seeing everyone off, I took my time heading into the bathroom with Tia.
Since our place didn't have anything you could properly call a bathroom, we ended up bathing at the shop almost exclusively.
"Eyes closed."
"Okay!"
"Nose too."
"Mmph!"
I sat Tia on my lap and tipped a basin of water over her head.
Feeling the water wash over my body, it was as if all my worries were rinsing away with it.
Then, out of nowhere, the earlier incident came flooding back and irritation surged up all over again.
Was I bipolar or something?
"Why did you do it?"
"Mua?"
"Why did you run off without listening to your mom, huh?"
I bowed my head and took her by the cheeks, making her look up at me. Upside down, Tia's lips wobbled for a moment before she spoke in a tiny voice.
"Wanna pway tag......"
"What?"
"Wanna pway tag wif Mama......"
"Haa......"
Tag. Of all things.
A long sigh escaped me all on its own.
I let go of Tia's cheeks and began lathering soap into her hair.
"Was it fun?"
"Yeah! Suuuper fun!"
"But you can't just run off without telling anyone again. If you want to play tag, you have to say so. It puts your mom in a really hard spot, you know."
"Sowwy......"
Her tail drooped instantly in apology — endlessly, hopelessly well-behaved.
And that was exactly what made it so frustrating.
If she'd just flat-out ignored me, I could have disliked her with a clear conscience.
Why did she have to grow up so sweet?
It was maddening, truly.
Even when I put a little feeling into it and pressed the soap firmly into her scalp as I worked up the lather, Tia just kept giggling her little head off, apparently having the time of her life.
"Eyes closed again."
"Okay!"
I poured warm water over her head to rinse the soap away.
Her hair swayed in silky, straight strands — that much she took after me — but that deep, obsidian black was nothing like mine.
Looking at it always left my feelings tangled in knots.
Where in the world is that jet-black lizard bastard who ran off by now.
"Tch. Whatever the hell that bastard's doing, wherever the hell he is — none of my business."
"Mua?"
"Not talking to you. Don't worry about it."
His business was his business.
I decided to stop thinking about that bastard and turn my mind to something more productive instead — namely, what exactly I was going to do with my life once payday came and I borrowed the money from Irina.
Getting my citizen card came first, obviously.
After that, everyone said the best path was entering service as a maid in some noble house, but if it were up to me, I wanted to start a small business of my own.
With my genius of a brain, surely I could make a business succeed even starting from nothing.
"Muhehehe! Mama, that tickles!"
"Hold still, will you."
I kept those hopeful thoughts spinning in my head without pause.
I knew it was foolish and I was getting ahead of myself, but I kept at it anyway.
Because if I didn't, I was going to crack open another bottle of liquor.