A Sweet Escape and a Spicy Discovery
Our plan to steal Amy's attention with the Team Harmonize calisthenics was an absolute stroke of genius. Once she focused on our routine, she stopped asking what we had been up to. Rain, Shine, and I put our absolute all into the exercises, working harder than we ever had before. Our hands and feet moved in a blur. Spin, spin, and then a loud, crisp clap. *Clap, clap!* Amy watched us with a warm smile, clapping along.
"Are you all done?"
"Yes," I replied, catching my breath and straightening my posture.
While Amy's attention drifted back to her phone, I glanced over at Rain's yellow chick bag lying among the pile of plushies. It was sticking out at a slightly odd angle, but it blended in well enough to look like just another stuffed toy, so Amy probably wouldn't think twice about it. Keeping a wary eye on her, I edged closer to the pile. To avoid raising any suspicion, I picked up both the chick bag and a massive teddy bear at the same time. I handed the chick bag back to Rain and quietly began to make my move. Tiptoeing softly, Rain and I clutched our respective plushies and started shuffling toward the door.
Shine must have caught onto my plan, because she sat perfectly still and began drawing Amy's attention.
"Amy."
"Ah. Yes?" Amy looked up from her phone, her gaze shifting entirely to Shine.
"Where did you go today?"
"Today? Just to see Jin for a bit."
"Jin? I don't like Jin."
Watching the two of them strike up a conversation, I immediately seized the opportunity, threw the door open, and bolted out of the room with Rain.
"Jeff? Rain?"
"We're just going out for a bit!" I yelled back.
Amy started to stand up with a worried expression, but Shine gently caught her arm.
"Rain is with her."
"Well, yes, but..."
Leaving their fading voices behind, I shut the door firmly.
Suddenly finding myself out in the hallway clutching a giant teddy bear, I let out a soft sigh.
"Whew..."
Rain let out an identical sigh of relief. If Amy had caught us, all of Rain's hard work today—doing her calisthenics and drinking her milk—would have gone completely to waste. I gently patted Rain's head. Just how much did they hit her during those experiments to keep her this tiny? Rain looked up at me with a strange, searching gaze, then shook her head and playfully swatted my hand away.
"Thanks, Jeff."
Holding the teddy bear in one hand, I took Rain's hand with the other and started walking down the hallway. There were still plenty of people passing by.
"Where's your room, Rain?"
"Over there."
I figured this was the perfect chance to check out her room. When I asked for the location, she pointed her finger straight ahead. From where I stood, I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary—just a long, seemingly endless corridor. Wait, is her room close to Victor's?
As if confirming my suspicion, we had to walk for quite a while. We passed the lounge, the training grounds, Victor's private training room, and finally Victor's actual bedroom door.
"Here it is."
Rain's room wasn't very far from Victor's. I stopped in front of the door and nodded. It was so flashy that anyone could tell it belonged to Rain at a single glance. The nameplate hanging on the door was shaped like a giant baby chick, with the name "Rain" written across it. Oddly enough, the doorknob was positioned quite low, clearly custom-made to match her height.
"Come on in."
Rain swung the door wide open. Stepping inside, my jaw dropped as I looked around. I was genuinely shocked by how clean it was.
"Why do you look so surprised?"
"It's... so tidy."
I had been expecting a disaster zone similar to the room Shine and I shared whenever Amy went away for long stretches, but there wasn't a speck of clutter in sight. Surprisingly, Rain seemed to be quite the neat freak.
I slipped off my shoes and stepped inside. The room carried a scent that was identical to Rain's own body fragrance—a slightly sweet, yet refreshing aroma.
"W-What are you doing?" Rain asked, her face flushing red as she noticed me sniffing the air.
"Oh, nothing."
I shook my head and walked deeper into the room. The decor was incredibly cute, perfectly reflecting Rain's personality. The furniture was scaled down to match her small stature, and everything was arranged at her eye level. It felt as though the usually oversized world had finally shrunk back down to a normal, comfortable scale. It was cozy. Incredibly cozy.
Setting the giant teddy bear down on the floor, I wandered over to a bookshelf packed with books.
"The Scent of Hinoki and You? The Rose of Astrosa?"
As I blankly read the titles aloud, a thoroughly embarrassed, bright-red Rain rushed over and threw herself between me and the bookshelf.
"Th-That's..."
"Are these all manga?"
"Y-Yeah... and some novels too."
I gently nudged Rain aside to scan the rest of the shelf. Most of the books shared a very similar vibe. They were meticulously cared for, without a single speck of dust on them. I ran my finger along the spines.
"These are... all that kind of stuff, right?"
"Yeah..." Rain mumbled, hanging her head.
I watched her and let out a soft sigh, which made her flinch and peer up at me nervously.
"Rain, I told you earlier. I actually found it pretty interesting."
I took the chick bag from her hands and pulled out the manga volumes inside. Reaching my hand into the chick's mouth felt a bit bizarre, but I managed to retrieve the three books. I slid them back into their empty spots on the shelf, matching them by their cover art, the flow of their titles, and the overall aesthetic. Seeing how beautifully organized her bookshelf was, I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit impressed.
"Really...?"
"Yeah. Whenever Amy isn't around, you can bring them over."
"Seriously? You're not lying?"
"I'm not. But only... the milder ones."
"Mmh, I get what you mean."
Rain pointed her finger, tracing a line from the bottom shelf up to the middle.
"From here to here are the relatively mild ones."
"Mild?"
"Yeah. Things that even you wouldn't find problematic, Jeff. They're perfect for beginners!"
I don't really plan on becoming a 'beginner' in this...
But looking at Rain's eyes, which were practically sparkling with anticipation, I couldn't bring myself to say it. Under her watchful gaze, I looked at the shelf above. The 19+ maturity rating stickers plastered on the covers instantly piqued my curiosity.
Gulp. I swallowed hard.
As I slowly reached my hand out, her eyes locked onto my fingers. She seemed incredibly eager to see what I would choose.
I pointed to a book just below the 19+ section. Rain nodded.
Next, I pointed to one of the 19+ books slightly higher up. Rain shook her head.
I nodded back, then snatched a book with lightning speed. It was a volume proudly bearing a bright red maturity rating. Rain gasped in shock and lunged forward to stop me, but I was faster.
Crackle!
A spark of electricity flashed through the air, and in the blink of an eye, I was standing on Rain's bed.
"Let's see..."
"No, don't!"
I held up the cover. On it, two scantily clad anime girls were tangled together, barely covered in all the right places by a strategically draped blanket.
My hands went limp, and the book slipped from my grasp. Yeah, this is definitely weird.
The book landed on the bed with a soft thud, bounced off, and tumbled onto the floor.
Pitter-patter. Rain rushed over on her tiny feet and scooped up the book, cradling it protectively.
"Th-This one is a bit intense..."
She wasn't kidding. "A bit" was a massive understatement; it was incredibly intense. I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.
"Did you actually show stuff like this to Shine?"
"Yeah... Shine asked me to."
"Rain! Shine is still young. She is definitely not at the age where she should be looking at things like this!"
Rain shifted her gaze guiltily, her eyes darting around as she apologized in a tiny voice.
"I'm sorry..."
I sat on the edge of the bed and let out a heavy sigh. Watching my reaction closely, Rain crept up beside me and whispered, "Um... do you want to read it?"
She timidly held out the very same spicy book I had just dropped.
Startled, I whipped my head away. "N-No, I don't!"
But to be completely honest, I did. Or rather, I was incredibly curious about the plot.
"Well... you see, this one is about an older sister and a younger sister."
"Sisters?"
"Yeah. Between family members... you know."
Family?
The moment Rain said that, Shine's voice echoed in my head. Shine had once mentioned learning "what family members are supposed to do" from a manga. Before I even realized what I was doing, my hand was already reaching out.
"Jeff?"
"I... between family? I need to verify this first."
"Oh... okay."
I practically snatched the book out of Rain's hands. The content inside was... normal. No, it definitely wasn't normal. Actually, to be completely honest, I had no idea if this counted as normal or not. Do family members really do things like this? Well, Shine said so, so it must be true, right?
"Do family members usually do this kind of thing?"
"Well... since they're family, usually in secret... out of sight."
"I see."
I nodded as I scanned the pages. So, just like Rain said, family members do these things in secret?
Suddenly, the room felt incredibly warm. I fanned myself with my hand and swept my hair back.
"Are you hot?"
"Yeah... a little."
Seeing that I was getting engrossed in the book, Rain beamed with delight and stood up. I looked up from the pages and watched her walk away. She was heading toward a refrigerator—or rather, a mini-fridge that was perfectly suited to her height. She pulled out a cold bottle of Coca-Cola.
"Cola!"
"You haven't had much of this lately, right?"
"Yeah!"
Rain approached me with a shy smile. "Drink as much as you want."
With that, she handed me an entire giant plastic bottle. Deeply moved, I threw my arms around her.
"Thank you!"
My mouth had been absolutely ruined by all that green juice. The grassy smell was so strong that even breathing made me feel like a lawnmower, forcing me to brush my teeth multiple times a day—something I used to hate doing. In the midst of those torturous days, this Cola was like rain in a desert. True to her name, Rain was showering my parched soul with sweet, fizzy rain.
"You need a cup, right?"
"Yeah."
This time, Rain headed over to the sink. She was using a step stool, just like I did. Watching her short little legs move so diligently was honestly adorable. She returned holding a massive cup in each hand. Ah, Rain really knows how to drink Cola. It was so much better to pour a massive amount into a giant cup and chug it down rather than sipping teasingly from a tiny glass.
The cups had a print on them that perfectly matched Rain's taste. As the dark liquid filled the cup, the image of a giant baby chick began to change, spreading its short wings and taking flight.
As I stared at it in wonder, Rain explained with a proud puff of her chest, "It's a custom-made cup."
It was honestly pretty cool.