Controlling the Power
I woke up to the sound of the announcement broadcasting the start of dinner. I wanted to bury myself deeper under the fluffy blanket, but having skipped both breakfast and lunch today, my stomach was hollow with hunger. I tossed the blanket aside and sat up.
My hair was a tangled, messy nest. A warm hand snuggled into my chest. Rubbing my eyes, I gently pried Shine's hand off me. Her small hand slipped away without resistance, limply clutching at the blanket instead.
For some reason, my head felt foggy. I sat there doing absolutely nothing, letting the time drift by. I quietly watched Shine as she occasionally squirmed in her sleep. Her expression was troubled, as if she were trapped in a bad dream.
Staring blankly at her, I reached out a finger and gently stroked her hand. The moment I touched that small hand tightly gripping the blanket, it moved suddenly. Her palm spread wide, and Shine's hand clamped down around my finger. Startled, I peered at her face. She was still fast asleep.
"Shine?" No answer came. I gently pried her fingers off again and climbed down from the bed. Adjusting my clothes, which had ridden up while I slept, I padded over to the refrigerator. My mouth was bone-dry. Judging by the dried drool on the corner of my mouth, I definitely needed to wash my face.
After chugging a glass of cold water, my mind began to clear. I headed to the bathroom sink. In the large mirror, the face of a small girl stared back at me. With a blank expression, the girl tried making various faces.
"Something's weird," I thought, cupping my cheeks. Something was definitely off. It was a completely different sensation than before. The facial expressions that used to feel slightly awkward and foreign now flowed with perfect, natural ease. The girl in the mirror, wearing a charming smile, turned on the tap and splashed cold water over her face. The icy shock chased away the last lingering traces of sleep.
"Jeff?" When I stepped out of the bathroom after washing my face, Shine was awake.
"Did you sleep well?" It was a perfectly natural greeting. I greeted Shine just as I always did.
"Yeah," Shine replied, accepting the greeting just as naturally. A happy smile graced her face. Watching her, I felt that subtle sense of misalignment again. This isn't right.
"Is it already time to eat?"
"Yeah." I nodded at Shine's question. Drying my face with the towel draped around my neck, I tossed it onto a nearby chair. "Shine."
"Yeah?"
I knew how bizarre the question I was about to ask would sound. But I had to ask it. For some reason, I couldn't shake this twisted, unsettling feeling. "How long have we known each other?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean..."
I tried to search my memories. Specifically, the moment we first met. "Has it been a year?"
"No," Shine denied. She shook her head slowly, a slightly displeased look crossing her face.
"No?"
"No."
I pressed a hand to my forehead as a dull headache began to throb. Was it not a year? "Then... two years?"
"No." The headache grew sharper. Clutching my temples, I sank to the floor, unable to stand. "Then..."
"Jeff." Shine approached me as I writhed in pain. Her small hand touched my forehead. It felt warm and soft. She gently stroked my brow, and like magic, the headache vanished. "Let's go eat."
I nodded blankly at Shine's words. Looking down at me, Shine offered a bright smile and held out her hand. I followed her out of the room. The headache was gone, but the doubt remained. How long had I actually been with Shine? No, even harboring such a question was bizarre in itself. She and I were family. That meant we had been together from the very beginning. But there was a massive difference between my age and Shine's. I crossed my arms and began to ponder. "Hmm..."
"Jeff?" Perhaps because I was so deep in thought, my feet had stopped moving. Shine turned back to look at me, puzzled.
"Oh, sorry." The moment I looked into her eyes, the questions drifting through my mind vanished without a trace. Rubbing my forehead, I hurried to catch up, falling in step right behind her.
Arriving at the cafeteria, we ordered our food just like yesterday. With the help of a passing adult, we successfully carried our trays to a table and finished a delicious meal. Patting my full stomach, I thought back to the beer I had drank yesterday. The hangover had been brutal, but I figured it would be fine if I just drank in moderation.
"Shine. Let's go to the convenience store."
"...Why?"
"I want to drink what we had yesterday again."
"That...?" Shine didn't seem to like the idea of beer.
"Do you hate beer, Shine?"
"Yeah."
"Then you don't have to drink it. I'll just drink by myself."
"No." Shine shook her head firmly. I stared at her in bewilderment, completely caught off guard by her stubborn refusal.
"Why...?"
"But Jeff, you get weird when you drink that."
"I do?"
"Yeah." I tried to recall the events of last night. But my hazy memories were fragmented. A total blackout. The only bits of information my brain could piece together were images of me enthusiastically scattering snacks all over the table.
"I don't want you drinking that, Jeff." Shine reached out with both hands and cupped my face. Her small hands squished my cheeks mercilessly. Our gazes locked. A silent, complex battle of wills ensued. In the end, I was the one who folded. I nodded and mumbled, "Okay, I won't drink it."
Shine beamed with a satisfied smile at my answer. And so, we returned to our room empty-handed. It was incredibly boring. There was simply too much free time. To think I had so much time on my hands when it usually felt so scarce. I lay on the sofa, swinging my legs. My short, dangling legs thumped against the cushions, making a dull, rhythmic noise. As I was idling the time away like this, the firmly shut door suddenly swung open.
Both Shine and I turned our eyes toward the entrance. There was only one person who would barge in so freely. A brilliant mane of pink hair shimmered. Amy, dressed in a tracksuit, stepped through the door. "I'm home~"
Amy's voice was thick with exhaustion. She stepped into the room and scanned her surroundings. The faint smile on her face instantly cracked. Her sharp gaze locked onto Shine and me.
"Welcome back," I said, sitting up from the sofa to greet her. She had no idea how much I had missed her.
"Where's Victor...?"
"Victor said he was busy," Shine answered instead. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Victor since that day. It seemed Shine had heard something from him separately.
"That piece of..." Amy muttered, looking thoroughly ticked off. She looked around the room, let out a deep sigh, and stepped further inside.
"Who did this?" Amy's eyes were fixed on the absolute disaster of a floor. Snack crumbs were scattered everywhere. At her question, I quietly averted my eyes. "Wait, what is this?" Amy's voice pitched higher. She was holding the empty beer can I had tossed aside after drinking. "Who drank this?"
"Jeff did," Shine said instantly.
"Shine drank it too!" I blurted out defensively. Amy's expression shifted to one of sheer disbelief. I slunk toward the corner of the room to escape her gaze. If I buried myself among the giant plushies, surely I could hide from her sight.
"How did you even buy this?" I shut my mouth. Yeah, come to think of it, how *did* we buy it? I tried to recall the convenience store. The clerk had definitely said they couldn't sell it to us because Shine and I looked too young. How on earth did we get it? Buried deep in the plushies with only my face poking out, I warily watched Amy's reaction. She looked back and forth between Shine and me, then let out another heavy sigh.
"Nothing bad happened, right?"
"No, ma'am," I said.
"Nope," Shine chimed in.
"This is something you should only drink once you're adults," Amy said, starting to clean up. She pulled out a large trash bag and began sweeping the empty cans and crumbs into it. Why do I have to listen to this lecture? I am an adult, I grumbled internally. I looked down at my hands. My tiny, delicate fingers wiggled back at me.
"Jeff said she won't drink it anymore," Shine said, walking over to me. The static buzzing in my head grew louder. I nodded dumbly. Because she was right. I wasn't going to drink beer anymore.
"You two ate dinner, right?"
"Yes." Amy's question cut through the mental static. I carefully wriggled out from the plushies. Amy didn't press any further about the beer. She acted as if she had already forgotten about the whole thing.
Small words floated in my mind. Beer. Something I shouldn't drink. If I drink it, I get weird. And my head hurts. I hate pain.
"I'm going to go see Victor for a second." Having finished cleaning, Amy left the room to find Victor. Left alone, the room felt excessively quiet.
"Shine."
"Yeah?"
"I think... something's gone wrong with me," I murmured weakly, squeezing my cheeks. The soft, squishy sensation of my skin... yes, something was definitely off.
"What is?" I couldn't answer her follow-up question. I didn't know exactly what was wrong. I just had a vague, hazy feeling that something about me had changed.
"It's because you drank beer."
"Is that it...?"
"Yeah." My brief worry was settled just like that. It had to be the beer. Shine said so, after all. And so, I sat side-by-side with Shine, waiting for Amy to return.
It was a long while before Amy returned, looking absolutely furious.
"Amy?"
"I'm sorry, girls. It's my fault for trusting that bastard." The "bastard" she was referring to was undoubtedly Victor.
"Why, what happened?"
"Before I left for work, I asked Victor to look after you two." Amy stroked my head and Shine's as she continued, "And would you believe it? That reckless bastard completely forgot you guys even existed."
It wasn't like we had been particularly inconvenienced by Victor's absence. Since the messy room was entirely my fault anyway, I decided to keep my mouth shut.
"Victor said he was busy."
"Right. Busy sleeping like a log, more like." It seemed Victor's reputation in Amy's eyes had hit rock bottom. Sighing, Amy pulled out some documents she had been clutching and placed them on the table.
"Shine, you haven't been tested yet, have you?" The moment Amy finished speaking, Shine stood up. She locked eyes with Amy and opened her mouth. *Bzzzt— crackle—* The faint static in my head suddenly flared. My vision began to white out. By the time the crackling noise finally subsided, I rubbed my eyes and looked around.
"Shine?" Shine, who had been standing right next to me, was now sitting beside Amy. The two of them were writing something on the documents.
"So, both of your tests are complete," Amy said, checking the paperwork. I felt a subtle, jarring distortion. I nodded blankly at her words. "We'll have to start your training tomorrow."