An Astonishing Gift
Before dinner, I slipped off somewhere for a little while. Bora and Haru were supposed to see me off, but they said they had things to do and vanished.
And that "somewhere," just as I'd expected, turned out to be the monthly physical. I rose onto my tiptoes, desperate to squeeze out even a little more height, only to get caught by the examiner standing right beside me.
"Hana, no standing on your tiptoes."
"Hnnngh."
Faced with that cold, merciless delivery, I had no choice but to pull a sulky face. They had trampled, without a shred of pity, my heart's wish to grow even a single centimeter. The measuring bar bonked the crown of my head and slid back up. For a second I considered going up on my toes again, then decided against it.
I wasn't going to live my life on tiptoe. What good would a fake extra centimeter do me?
Still, the moment my height flashed on the digital display, my resolve wavered enough that I wondered whether I should have cheated after all. Sure enough, it was the same as ever: 135 centimeters. I wasn't stuck like this forever, was I?
I buried the uneasy fear that I might never grow and submitted to the exam. It was a simple, basic checkup, so it didn't take long. Soon I was grinning, already giddy at the thought of a delicious dinner. What would be on the menu tonight?
Pork cutlet was wonderful, but I'd eaten so much of it I was sick of the stuff. A steak dripping with juice would be perfect too! Any meal that came with only a little bit of vegetables was welcome anytime. Chewing meat was one of the great joys of my life. I could eat and eat and never get tired of it.
Meat really was the best.
Once the exam was over and I headed back up, I caught a delicious smell the instant the elevator doors opened. They hadn't raided the food in my secret stash, had they?
My face went pale. I bolted for my room, feet pattering across the floor. But the moment I saw what was inside, I couldn't hold back my shock.
Not only was there an enormous table set up in my room—it was piled with delicious food I wouldn't even have dreamed of on an ordinary day.
Pizza, fried chicken, pasta, and more, steam curling off every dish and filling the air with mouthwatering scent. It reminded me of Christmas. Back then we'd kept things modest, just a cake down at the cafeteria, but today they seemed to have gone all out.
The second I saw the food, drool started streaming from my mouth. I'd turned into a puppy parked in front of a treat. It wasn't that I was weird. This was Bora and Haru's fault for filling an entire table with food this good.
"Hana, you're back?"
Bora and Haru were still carrying dishes in. The table seemed more or less finished by then, and they scooped me up into a hug. Her hand slipped warmly between the strands of my hair. I closed my eyes and soaked in the petting. That ticklish, somehow refreshing stroke—there was no heaven like it.
The party had been thrown to celebrate my entrance ceremony going off without a hitch. The table was heaped with delicious food, and there was even champagne. I couldn't tear my eyes off alcohol I hadn't seen in ages. One cool glass of that champagne and I'd have nothing left to wish for!
But beside my mug—the one with Rumi printed on it—there was only cola and lemon-lime soda. Sadly, it didn't look like anyone was going to pour me champagne. If it hadn't been for that beer incident last time, I might have gotten away with a single glass...
Unfortunately, now that Bora and Haru had seen me hungover, they weren't about to hand me any alcohol. That was fine, though. Delicious food was far better than liquor anyway.
Bora lifted me up and set me down in the chair at the center of the table. Then she spoke.
"Hana, congratulations on your entrance ceremony!"
In the middle sat a delicious chocolate cake with a single candle stuck in it, already lit—the kind of moment anyone could see was meant to be blown out with a puff.
"Congratulations!"
When Haru's greeting followed, I blew—whoosh—and snuffed the candle planted in the cake. Then, along with a round of applause, party poppers burst.
"Waaah!"
Who knew an entrance ceremony could feel this good! I thought it would be wonderful if we had one every single day. If we did, wouldn't I get to eat food this delicious every single day? I felt a little bad for the cafeteria auntie, but this seemed tastier than anything served there.
I picked up my fork with a grim, battle-ready expression. My first target was the cream pasta. Sadly, there was no proper Korean set meal with rice—just Western food you could find anywhere—so there wasn't much chance to use chopsticks.
"Nom!"
I twirled the pasta around my fork, popped it into my mouth, and felt pure happiness wash over me. Maybe because it was packed with Bora and Haru's care, it seemed far more delicious than the pasta they sold at the cafeteria. To think they had cooking skills like this. It was beyond anything I'd expected.
I was in the middle of massacring the pasta with my fork when Bora drew something from her arms and held it out to me. I dragged my gaze off the pasta and onto the paper envelope she offered.
It was small—looked like it held a card, or maybe a business card. I set down the hand still gripping my fork and carefully opened the envelope.
It was wrapped so elegantly that ripping it open any old way felt like a waste. It was exactly the sort of paper envelope that would be perfect later for holding Rumi illustration cards.
"This is...?"
Name:Kim Hana
Grade:3
What came out of the envelope was unexpected. It looked like a small identification card. Luxurious gold foil decorated the outer border in ornate splendor, and my photo was set in the upper left. I'd been too lazy to bother smiling for the picture back then and pulled a blank face—and that expression had been preserved forever...
"It's like a certificate that proves Hana enrolled in elementary school! You absolutely cannot lose it, okay?"
On the business-card-sized ID, the name was written clear as day: Kim Hana, third grade, Starlight Elementary School. It seemed they'd used Bora's surname. I tilted the student ID this way and that under the light. Depending on the angle, the card shifted and glittered magnificently in the reflected glow.
Maybe because it was a prestigious elementary school, even the student ID was anything but ordinary. How hard must I have worked to receive this? It felt a little like I'd gotten it for free, and a corner of my heart prickled with guilt. Still, compared to the value I produced, they said it was an incredibly tiny gift.
Then again, I was hardly some ordinary person. I was a precious body responsible for a considerable share of the sales at Starlight Foods and Cosmetics. I decided to hold my head high.
It wasn't as if I were the only one who would suffer if something happened to me. The livelihoods of tens of thousands of employees hung on this body. I was certain that if I went on strike for even a single day, enormous chaos would follow.
Of course, I had no reason to strike. Nowhere else would keep my back this warm and my belly this full. Before I knew it, I'd lost interest in the student ID and started focusing on the food spread across the table. Maybe because this was a remote place where delivery didn't come easily, the pizza and chicken I hadn't tasted in ages melted the moment they hit my tongue.
I hadn't been this obsessed with meat before, but a body in its growth spurt constantly demanded lots of food and even more meat. This wasn't my fault. It was the fault of a hungry stomach that growled no matter where I was.
"Hyah! Hyah!"
I flourished my fork and began devouring the resistance forces arrayed across the table. Watching my artistic movements, Bora and Haru laughed at how precise and proper my campaign was, and ate their own meals.
"Hana, you don't have to eat that fast."
"You didn't eat anything after lunch, so Hana's really going at it, huh?"
Bora and Haru mostly just watched me eat. Now and then they'd sip their champagne and lift a forkful of food. That was about it.
I kept shoveling food in until my stomach was drum-tight. Dishes that had seemed piled sky-high a moment ago vanished like the wind. Of course, I wasn't the only one eating. Bora and Haru helped themselves too, and the office staff dropped by one after another, grabbed a bite, and left.
I was merciful, so I forgave them. If I hadn't already been full, stealing food would never have been forgiven.
With so much of the feast gone, I clutched the belly that had popped out over my lap. I didn't think I'd ever eaten this much before. I'd better take a digestive, or I'd have a stomachache tomorrow.
Bora and Haru met each other's eyes, then brought something in from outside: a gift box, carefully wrapped. My eyes lit up as my gaze shifted to it. What could be inside? Last time they'd bought me a Rumi bag, so maybe this time it was a pencil case, or some other school supplies?
"Hana, open it. It's a present."
At Haru's words I tore into the wrapping in a rush. But the gift was unexpected.
"Aren't these pajamas?"
They looked a lot like the dinosaur pajamas I used to wear. After my body grew, one of my stretched-out dinosaur onesies had to be thrown away, and it seemed they'd bought this to patch that hole. Now that I had two pairs of dinosaur pajamas, I could rotate them.
"Try them on, Hana."
At Bora's words, I put on the dinosaur pajamas. The moment I pulled the hood down over my head, a perfectly magnificent dinosaur was born.
I wiggled my hips in delight and swished my tail.
But that wasn't the end.
Without a word, Bora turned off the lights.
In the mirror, my reflection glimmered softly out of the dark.
A soft green light, glimmering in the dark.
That's right. These weren't ordinary dinosaur pajamas at all. They were Glow-in-the-Dark Dinosaur Pajamas!
"Waaah!"
I had no choice but to scream in astonishment.