I Want to Grow Taller
What, really, is the difference between a child and an adult? There are plenty of answers, but the one that shows on the outside more than any other is size.
To see Haru's face, I had to tip my head all the way back. For her to see mine, she only had to glance down. That gap left me restless.
Height... what did a person even have to do to grow taller? I decided to ask her.
"Haru. Haru."
"Hm? What's wrong?"
She had her chin propped on one hand, eyes on a variety show. After dinner we often killed an hour or so like this, the two of us in the room with the television on.
"What do I have to do to get as tall as you?"
I looked up at her, eyes shining. The height chart on my wall — an illustration of Rumi — had come down ages ago in that flood, and even the last time we'd measured, I hadn't grown much at all.
A body that was only ten this year couldn't possibly have closed its growth plates already. Maybe I was just a late bloomer. Still, no one had ever looked me in the eye and said, You're going to get tall! so the worry never quite left me.
"Hmm..."
She hadn't seen the question coming. For a moment she actually seemed to be thinking it over.
"You'd have to sleep well and eat well, I suppose."
"I already do both, and I'm still not growing."
I really was keeping to both. Staying up late for anime these days was a secret, but even then I never watched until dawn.
"Oh! Milk! If you drink lots of milk, you'll get taller!"
"...You think so?"
I got up and headed for the refrigerator. It was packed with every kind of drink. I pulled out the milk and started gulping it down on the spot.
Cold milk sliding into my stomach felt strange. I couldn't drink much of it, though. I'd only just finished dinner.
If I'd known, I would have eaten less...
My belly went tight as a drum, and before long I was flat on my back on the floor. A full stomach made moving feel like too much work. Haru took one look at me, laughed, and scooped me up into her arms.
The world rose around me. I stayed there in the circle of her hold.
"I want to be someone like you!"
I shot one hand into the air as I said it. I wanted to be as cool as Haru. She only tipped her head, puzzled.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"I want to be amazing, just like you! Having meetings, going on business trips..."
It was a roundabout way of saying I wanted to be a grown-up. She understood anyway, and stroked my hair as she answered.
"Hana, you're still little. Being an adult is a long way off."
"No! I'm not a little kid!"
"Right. You said you were a grown-up, didn't you?"
I had no proof I was an adult, but I had the memory of having lived as a man, so it wasn't a lie. If I could have shared what was in my head with other people, I could have announced to the whole world that I wasn't a child...
I couldn't show anyone those thoughts, though. All I could do was say, out loud, that I was a grown-up.
"Then how about this. If you grow as tall as me, I'll let you come to work with me."
I lifted my head and looked at her. Haru was very tall. Or maybe I was just short.
I couldn't begin to guess how long it would take to catch up to her, and for no good reason the thought made me gloomy.
She'd said that growing taller meant going to bed early, so that night I even skipped Little Magician Rumi and sank into sleep ahead of schedule.
Haru's mornings were a jumble. Ever since I'd once caught her nodding off for a moment, I had never again seen her asleep. I figured that time had only been exhaustion from one stretch of overtime too many.
From the moment morning started, she was hammering at a keyboard, writing something, her whole attention fixed on the monitor.
I slipped into the office and watched from beside her. Seated in that chair, she was a career woman through and through.
I stayed quiet at her side, and she noticed me anyway. She offered a morning greeting without looking away for long.
"Hana, you're up?"
"Yeah!"
I'd gone to bed early, so I woke earlier than usual. A quick wash, my hair pulled into a ponytail, and I came looking for the office.
Haru drew me in as I came up beside her and settled me into the chair next to hers. I sat still.
"What are you doing, Haru?"
"Working."
The monitor was packed edge to edge with text. She kept typing, steady and intent. It was a familiar sight by now.
Beside the screen sat a mug, a cute little thing with a character mascot printed on it. Haru's taste didn't seem so different from mine.
A faint curl of steam said the hot water hadn't been poured long ago. The scent was familiar enough that I could guess what was inside.
Green tea filled the office. It was, of course, the green tea I'd made. All I contributed was the hair, but I'd heard that when it came to this tea, the hair was everything — so I was proud of it.
Sitting in a chair that high made the difference between us impossible to miss.
Haru's feet rested properly on the floor. Mine hung in empty air.
I stretched my short legs down as far as they would go. They still didn't touch. People really did need long legs.
Soldiers appeared at Starlight Food. Kim Sehee's face went doubtful for a moment, and then she smiled and received them.
Major General Kim Taeseong, the Army's Logistics Director, had come with his aides and a retinue of colonels.
He greeted her first, with scrupulous courtesy. Two stars or not, the woman across from him was direct blood of the Starlight Guild. Even written out of the succession, she still had pull.
"Good day, ma'am."
"Ah. Yes, hello."
From there it was light greetings and a stretch of talk that nourished no one.
Once the air had warmed, one of the aides at Kim Taeseong's side eased the real business onto the table.
"Ahem... The reason we've come to Starlight Food is nothing other than the Starlight Cherry Tomatoes. There's something we'd like to discuss."
Kim Sehee spoke only after she'd forced the corner of her mouth not to climb. She could already see, clear as day, what they were about to say.
"Please, go ahead."
"We tried them, and the effect is remarkable. It almost makes you think — these were made to be rations for soldiers."
Kim Taeseong backed his aide at once.
"I ate them myself, and they really are excellent. The flavor is decent, and they're more than filling. Unlike ordinary cherry tomatoes, they also stand up to a certain amount of impact."
He cleared his throat once, then went on.
"What matters most is how portable they are. Frankly, they don't even belong in the same conversation as existing combat rations. If you filled the space one soldier uses for a single day's rations with these Starlight Cherry Tomatoes, that soldier could hold out for a month."
Kim Sehee kept her smile and answered as if none of it surprised her.
"They do happen to be rather specialized for that."
Then she drove the point home.
"The shelf life is extraordinary, too. Unlike other cherry tomatoes, they'll keep for two or three years. Dried, perhaps longer."
At that, they had no choice but to open their eyes wide. They had expected a short shelf life and meant to lead with it, using the flaw to work the price down — and she had told them, outright, that it was long.
The one small crack was gone. There was nothing left to hesitate over.
"The Army believes the Starlight Cherry Tomato is ideally suited to serve as a combat ration."
Kim Sehee folded her arms. The party with something to lose was sitting across from her. If she needed a place to sell them, she could make one. Frankly, even without the military, there were plenty of buyers for cherry tomatoes. If the domestic market wouldn't do, an overseas channel would be more than enough.
"Mm... Tell me more."
"We were hoping to ask whether a military supply contract might be possible."
"If we can agree on terms, no deal is impossible. I'm a merchant, after all."
Kim Taeseong's face brightened. He had the feeling this was going to end well.
"If I may ask the specific price per tomato."
"I'd like to sell them at the same price as on the open market... but military procurement isn't subject to VAT, so I'd be willing to let them go at about this."
The figure Kim Sehee named was 4,000 won — a full twenty percent below the cherry tomatoes sold to the public.
It was nearly the same as existing combat rations. What she said next was what closed the contract.
"Of course, depending on the volume you require, the price could come down further."