Sweet Treats and Sudden Sparks
On the way back. Caught again, you three? Amazingly, Amy was carrying all three of our limp bodies in her arms as she walked down the hallway. As my body swayed gently with her steps, the stares coming from all directions made me flush with embarrassment. Hanging onto Amy, I raised my hands to cover my face. But even with my face hidden, it was completely pointless unless Shine covered hers too, given we shared the exact same face. Shine was hanging limply, her cheeks puffed out in a pout. She looked thoroughly displeased.
"Shine... you said we wouldn't get caught," Rain sniffled, on the verge of tears. Hearing this, Shine mumbled something under her breath before closing her eyes. "Sorry."
"What are you three whispering about?" As Shine muttered her apology, Amy turned her head to look down at us. The three of us reflexively clutched our heads at the same time, fully expecting another round of noggins.
"If you wanted to play, you should have just said so."
"Is that true?! But you never let me go before!" Rain blurted out in surprise at Amy's words.
"You have work to do." Thump! Amy's fist came down once more, rapping Rain on the head. Shuddering once, Rain went completely limp without another word.
Watching this, I couldn't help but tremble. I finally understood why Rain was so short. If you got hit by a fist that powerful every single day, no amount of stretching exercises would ever help you grow.
Keeping my mouth shut, I quietly rode along as Amy carried us back to the room from earlier. Victor, looking exhausted with a lollipop in his mouth, was reviewing documents with Highry. Seeing Amy return, he spoke up.
"Found them?"
"Yes. They were playing games downstairs."
"Good thing you didn't call ahead. If you'd contacted Rain first, she would've run for sure."
"No, we wouldn't! We wouldn't have run!" I squeaked at Victor.
I yelled at Victor at the top of my lungs, but he merely glanced at me once before raising his documents again.
"I'm so glad you found them."
"The kids stand out quite a bit. I just had to ask around, and people pointed me in their direction right away."
Answering Highry, Amy set the three of us down one by one onto the plush sofa. The limp Rain showed no intention of getting up, while Shine still looked thoroughly displeased.
"Amy. When are we leaving?"
"Soon."
"Okay."
Hearing Amy's reply, Shine buried herself deeper into the sofa and closed her eyes. As Amy turned to head back toward Victor, I watched her and reached deep into my bag, pulling out the snacks I had saved for her and Victor. My stuffed dinosaur bag, which had been bursting at the seams, was forced to vomit up all the chocolates I had stuffed inside earlier.
"Amy, have some of this."
"Hmm?"
Amy turned back at my call. Her eyebrows twitched as she noticed the chocolates lined up on the table.
"Where did you get these?"
"I grabbed them from downstairs earlier."
At my words, Amy stepped closer and lifted me up. Our eyes met, my legs dangling and swaying in the air.
Sniff, sniff.
Amy brought her nose close to my body and began sniffing me here and there. It was a habit similar to Shine's, but the feeling was entirely different.
"How much did you eat?"
"Uh... just a little..."
I muttered softly, avoiding Amy's gaze. She stared at me suspiciously for a long moment before letting out a small sigh and setting me back down.
"I'll let it slide just for today."
"Phew...!"
Though she still looked somewhat unsatisfied, Amy stared at the chocolates on the table for a moment before scooping up a handful with both hands. Is that really enough for her? Despite my doubts, Amy didn't take any more. Instead, she handed most of what she took over to Victor. Victor, who had been looking exhausted with his lollipop, instantly brightened up the moment he received the chocolates. As expected, he really had a massive sweet tooth.
"These are the snacks stocked in the staff breakroom, right?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes. That's correct."
"Hmm..."
Amy crossed her arms at Highry's response. An unopened chocolate roll rolled around in her hand. After pondering for a moment, she finally unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. Rolling the chocolate around in her mouth, she nodded as if she had made a decision.
"Redirect the budget allocated for this elsewhere. We will handle the funding for these snacks ourselves."
"Excuse me? What do you mean by..."
Even as she spoke to Highry, Amy began tapping away on her phone.
"Check the average weekly consumption and report back to me. Got it?"
"Pardon? Ah... yes, ma'am."
Highry could only nod in bewilderment at Amy's sudden instructions.
"I think that's enough for the paperwork," Amy said, standing up.
"Jeff?"
"Y-Yes?!"
I had been busy unwrapping chocolates and stuffing them into my mouth, so I jumped in surprise at her call.
"So, how did you like this place?"
"Uh..."
I hesitated for a moment at Amy's question. Standing behind her, Highry fixed his gaze on me. His eyes were sparkling with anticipation—to a slightly overwhelming degree. Still, if he was the general manager of this place, he couldn't be a bad person. He cared immensely about employee welfare, and the pristine cleanliness of the building made for a very pleasant environment. Judging by Amy's expression, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the reports she reviewed either. He was clearly a highly capable individual.
"I think it's a really wonderful place."
"Is that so?"
I stuffed the remaining chocolates into my pocket and nodded vigorously. Behind Amy, Highry's face lit up.
"Enough that I'd love to come back again."
"I see."
At my answer, Highry looked like he was about to cry tears of joy. I flashed him a playful smile.
"Very well. I quite like the contents of the report. I'll make my final judgment after inspecting the actual facilities."
Highry let out a sigh of relief at Amy's words, though he kept his body tense, knowing it wasn't over yet.
"Victor?"
"What."
"Take the kids and board the helicopter first."
"Me?"
"Yes. If you leave them with Rain, the three of them will definitely wander off on their own again."
"Well, I do prefer avoiding annoying situations. When are you coming?"
"Soon."
At Amy's words, Victor pushed himself up from his seat. He stretched his stiff body as he walked over to us.
"Let's go."
Muttering quietly, Victor scooped up the limp Rain like a sack of potatoes. He looked incredibly practiced at it. I grabbed my bag and stood up. As soon as I did, Shine, who had been lying limply, sprang up and stood right beside me.
"Goodbye!"
I bowed politely to Highry and followed Victor out of the room. Highry waved to me until the moment I stepped out the door.
Once outside, we headed toward the elevator. By now, I had a perfect map of this place drawn in my head.
"Um, Victor."
"What."
"When is Amy coming back?"
"She said soon, so... maybe ten minutes?"
"It only takes ten minutes?"
"Well, she has her ways."
"Aren't you curious, Victor?"
"About what."
"How Amy can inspect this entire massive building in just ten minutes."
"If even I can do it, there's no way Amy can't."
"Ah..."
I fell silent at Victor's reply. Is that so? Was ten minutes really enough to inspect a building this huge? Well, I suppose it would be if they used their abilities. I rubbed my cheeks with both hands. As the limits of my own abilities expanded, my common sense was constantly being shattered.
We boarded the elevator and arrived at the top floor shortly after. It was a wide, open helipad where the helicopter was parked. There were already people waiting there—men who looked like security guards stationed at wide intervals. Their gazes were fixed beyond the building's railings.
"Everything clear?"
"Yes, sir!"
Victor asked as he walked forward. The response from the man who appeared to be the head of security echoed across the spacious rooftop.
Walking through the cold wind felt surprisingly good. Once, back when the buses had stopped running, I had walked across a long overpass over a river. This felt similar to that time. The wind you feel on your way home after finishing a job... I smiled faintly.
We all boarded the helicopter and began waiting for Amy. As I sat there blankly playing with my dinosaur bag, Victor suddenly spoke up.
"Jeff."
"Yes?"
"Those chocolates you were eating earlier."
"Yes? These?"
I pulled a small chocolate out of my pocket and showed it to him.
"Do you have any more?"
"Uh..."
I hesitated, thinking of the remaining chocolates in my pocket.
"Don't take Jeff's. I'll give you some."
Just then, Shine, who was sitting next to me, reached into her own dinosaur bag, pulled out a bag of cookies, and handed it to Victor. Victor looked utterly bewildered as he took the cookies.
"This is..."
"I'm giving it to you."
"You are?"
"Yes. Got a problem with that?"
Shine stared intently at Victor's face. Meeting her gaze for a brief moment, Victor's eyebrows twitched.
"Thanks."
Nodding, Victor examined the cookies for a moment, then tore open the packaging and tossed them all into his mouth at once. Ah, if your mouth is big, you can eat cookies all at once. I touched my own small mouth. If I could open it that wide, I felt like I could stuff all the cookies in and chew them at once too. I stretched my mouth open as wide as it could go.
"Jeff, what are you doing?"
"Ah."
Seeing me with my mouth wide open, Shine asked in confusion. Overcome with sudden embarrassment, I quickly hung my head and shut my mouth.
"Did Rain pack some too?"
Having devoured all the cookies, Victor began eyeing Rain's bulging chick bag.
"Yes."
While I hesitated to answer, Shine nodded. Rain still showed no signs of waking up. At Shine's confirmation, Victor immediately reached out and shoved his hand into the chick bag's opening.
"She packed quite a lot."
Small cookies, candies, chocolates, and even the jelly bread Rain had been saving for later. Having vomited up everything, the chick bag now lay with its deflated belly exposed. Victor snatched and munched on Rain's treats without a single shred of remorse.
"Um, Victor... that's Rain's..."
I spoke up as Victor held the jelly bread Rain had carefully saved.
"Is it?"
Hearing my words, Victor seemed to pause for a second, only to open his mouth wide and stuff the entire bread inside in one bite.
"Oh my gosh..."
Rain's jelly bread vanished in an instant. If Rain had been awake to witness this, she would have definitely burst into tears. I gently stroked the head of the limp Rain. Just as Victor was finishing off the rest of the snacks, Amy returned. Exactly ten minutes had passed.
"What's this? Are you stealing the kids' snacks?"
"They gave them to me. Don't make me look like the bad guy."
The moment Amy stepped into the helicopter, she questioned Victor, who was busy chewing.
"I have some for you too, Amy."
"Thank you."
Since she looked somewhat left out, I handed over the snacks I had set aside specifically for her. Having her arms filled with sweet treats, Amy's expression instantly softened.
"Let's go."
At Amy's command, the pilot started up the helicopter. The heavy, rhythmic thrumming of the massive engine echoed in my ears. Feeling a slight flutter of nervousness, I popped a chocolate into my mouth. On our way back to the home we shared, the interior of the helicopter was filled with a sweet aroma.
As I sat there happily chewing on my chocolates and candies, Amy gently pinched my cheek.
"Do you like it that much?"
"Yes!"
I used to eat as much as I wanted, so it had been incredibly tough when Amy put me on a strict diet and banned sweets. I wished there could be more days like this where I could eat to my heart's content. Just as I unwrapped a new candy and popped it into my mouth with that thought, I felt a strange sensation. I wasn't the only one; Victor suddenly sprang up from his seat as well.
"Amy."
Victor's face hardened into a grim expression. He crunched down on the candy in his mouth and raised his hand.
"Get ready."
Crackle! A blue spark of electricity flashed from Victor's hand.