So I Really Am a Kid...
I looked outside through the window. Night had fallen, and brilliant lights shone from every direction, the city glittering like a scatter of jewels.
It was a view I never tired of, no matter how many times I saw it. I drifted closer to the glass in a daze, drinking in the scene beyond, while beside me Bora got ready to head home from work.
"You're having your snacks, and you know to behave yourself, right? I'll be back tomorrow."
Bora had a place of her own, so when night came she clocked out and left. Part of me wanted to grab her and hold on, but she was tired, and I let her go. Somehow, being alone in a place this huge made me feel like a ghost was bound to show up.
Of course, someone stayed behind on night duty every day, one person at a time, so if I got scared I could always flee to the office. They had so much work that even while they were on duty they rarely came into my room. Whenever curiosity drove me out to the office, I found them locked in battle with their computers.
After I saw Bora off, I took the bag of potato chips she'd bought me, sat down in front of the computer, and listened to the pleasant rustle of the bag. Sunlight and water alone were enough to keep me alive, but that was a boring way to eat. I wanted to enjoy my food. Eating brought flavor and the feeling of being full, and if you truly knew how to savor a meal, you had to chew it and feel it.
I opened NewTube and started watching Little Magician Rumi. Tonight I meant to spend with Rumi. I was nearly halfway through season one, and what surprised me even more was that the show ran all the way to season nine. There was still plenty left to watch. What I was seeing now was Rumi in her very earliest days, which meant I still had the chance to watch her grow far stronger—assuming I didn't get bored before then.
I grabbed the bag of chips in both hands and tore it open. I must have used too much force. With a pop, crumbs spilled onto the floor. I glanced down slowly, then turned my eyes back to the screen. I didn't think I'd ever been much for snacks before, but lately they tasted strangely good, and I craved them. They were delicious. The crisp chips shattered in my mouth, salt spreading across my tongue, and a look of pure satisfaction settled on my face. Now this was a potato chip.
Thinking how nice it would be if someone built a tower out of them, I watched the episode playing on the computer. I'd heard that watching in the dark was bad for your eyes, so the lights in the room stayed on. Half an hour vanished without a trace, and the chip bag was completely empty. I meant to start the next episode, but for some reason sleep was crashing down on me. Once the sun went down, the drowsiness was impossible to fight. I could have held out if I tried, but I had no particular reason to resist the sandman. I dove into bed. I ought to have brushed my teeth, but it was too much of a bother—except my body was already heading for the bathroom on its own. I finished brushing in a hurry, buried my face in the fluffy pillow, and sank into sleep. This unemployed life of mine was starting to feel familiar.
Flash!
The moment the round morning sun rose and poured bright light into my room, my eyes opened on instinct. It was early enough that there weren't many cars outside. I looked at the clock. Seven in the morning. It would still be a while before Bora or Haru arrived. I'd woken earlier than planned, so I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Sleep wouldn't come.
I got up with a sigh and headed for the shower. The shower room was nice and spacious. I turned the water on and waited for it to run warm. It would have been lovely if hot water came out right away, but sadly the boiler didn't seem to be all that good. I checked the temperature with my palm, and the moment it felt warm enough I slipped quickly under the falling stream.
Green hair that reached my waist clung to my body. A bob would have been far more convenient, but Bora and Haru liked it long, so I had no choice. I worked fragrant shampoo through my hair and finished with conditioner. For my body, I just squeezed a long line of body wash onto a shower towel and scrubbed. My arms and legs, once long and lanky, had turned short, and I still couldn't get used to it. This body didn't feel like mine. I let out a small sigh, rinsed every last bit of foam away, and stepped out.
I gave my wet hair a rough pass with a towel and sat down in front of the mirror. I didn't need a hair dryer. Strangely enough, my body absorbed water so well that after only a few dozen minutes I was soft and perfectly dry. From the clothes Bora washed for me every day, I picked one that smelled nice and changed into it. Then, finishing up, I watched myself in the mirror, gathered my hair in one hand, picked up a hair tie with the other, and tied it back.
I was starting to understand why women with long hair wore ponytails. When you were feeling lazy, nothing was as convenient as pulling it all together. Standing there, I saw myself in the glass. That unnatural green hair and those green eyes greeted me no matter when I looked. I shot my right arm up. The me in the mirror raised her hand too. A month seemed to have passed already, and this body was still awkward. Getting used to it in so little time would have been the strange part.
I stood there half-crooked and pinched the corners of my mouth with my fingers, pulling them into a smile. The original must have been a remarkable beauty, and cute besides, because what looked back at me was a little child whose cheeks you wanted to pinch and tug. Sure enough, no matter what I did, I was adorable.
Morning passed, and it became lunchtime. Once I'd taken in plenty of sunlight and water for the meal, I finished the studying I still had left and turned on the computer. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, I started poking around the NewTube channel that produced and released Little Magician Rumi. I got spoiled now and then, but nowhere was as much fun as that channel.
And then I had no choice but to stare, eyes wide. The animation studio that made Little Magician Rumi was running an event. I rushed onto their homepage. Fortunately it wasn't a restricted site, so it wasn't blocked. Come to think of it, the community sites hadn't been blocked either, the last time I checked... Anyway, I went into the event page and found the one I'd been hoping for. The moment I clicked, a huge picture of the heroine, Rumi, was plastered across the screen. Underneath, it said they were giving away Rumi's magic wands by lottery. In the anime, her wand turned into brass knuckles when she fought villains, but sadly the real-world version didn't seem to come with that feature.
"Th-this is—!"
I couldn't help falling into shock. They were just handing out something this rare? I couldn't stand it. I tried to enter the drawing right then and there, and immediately ran into an enormous obstacle.
Please create an account.
"Eh..."
As I was now, I was an illegal resident with no identity to my name. They wouldn't hand me over to the police, of course, but moments like this still left me aching. I wanted to enter, and I couldn't... As a last resort, I tried putting in my old name and resident registration number. A new window popped up and told me the name didn't exist.
This name does not exist.
"Grr..."
Had my original self vanished? The unexpected turn made my head ache. It felt like a huge treasure chest sitting right in front of me that I couldn't open because I didn't have the key. I thought I might cry. When they'd offered to make me an identity, I should have cooperated with everything I had. Even if I'd stepped forward, it wasn't something I could have settled on my own—but the regret was real all the same.
Still, every road leads to Seoul if you just get there. As long as I could have that magic wand, I didn't care if they found out I watched a children's anime.
"Bora!!!"
I flung the door open and bolted for the office. The moment I shouted, Bora came rushing out, startled.
"Hana, what's wrong?"
She asked it with real alarm on her face. I pointed back at my room.
"Help meee. Just one thing."
I twisted the words into the cutest voice I could manage. Seeing me like that, Bora stroked my head.
"You little troublemaker. What are you going to ask me to help with this time?"
She was smiling even as she said it. Still held in her arms, I went back to the room.
"What's this?"
Bora said it while looking at the screen on the computer.
"I want to do this, but I don't have an account, so I can't... Can't you do it with yours, Bora?"
I looked up at her with the most glistening, teary eyes I could muster.
"So this is what you've been watching? And here you always said you weren't a child."
"Th-that's... but!"
"It doesn't even cost anything. I'll do it!"
Bora looked at me and laughed, as if she'd just uncovered a side of me she hadn't expected. It was humiliating, but if it meant getting Rumi's magic wand, I could endure this much shame. Bora worked the keyboard, and before long she said it was done.
"Thank you!!!"
I threw myself into her arms with everything I had. The magic wand was mine now.