The Taste of Sweet Deception
When I opened my eyes again, I was tucked inside a wonderfully warm blanket. Everything felt hazy, as if the events of that day had all been a dream, but the throbbing pain throughout my entire body left a clear mark, forcing me to remember last night.
"Jeff. You awake?"
Rain was sitting right next to me, happily stuffing her face with apples. I stared blankly as bunny-shaped apple slices rapidly vanished into her mouth. Sensing my gaze, she sheepishly slid one into mine.
"Mmh..."
I accepted it naturally, though I had no idea why Rain was sitting by my bedside eating apples. As I chewed, she offered me another. Accepting the treats as they came, I looked around and realized where I was.
It was Rabin's Clinic.
While I was admiring the pristine white room, Rain stared at the very last apple slice, locked in a deep, agonizing conflict. She was trying to decide whether she should eat it herself or give it to me.
In the end, she chose her own stomach.
Nom. With lightning speed, her hand snatched the slice and popped it into her mouth. Her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel's, and she flashed me an awkward smile.
"Hey, Rain. What happened?"
"Mmph. 'Bout whu?" Rain mumbled, her voice muffled by the food.
"I remember stopping the train at the very end..."
I strained to piece my hazy memories back together. Blurred fragments flashed through my mind in rapid succession. Shine trying to hold me back, me ignoring her and rushing out anyway, grabbing the power lines... and the final scene: a massive train derailing and crashing into the melted earth.
"Oh, yeah. The mission was a total success."
"So, we actually got that Mind Stone thing?"
"Yep. Jin took care of it."
Answering my questions, Rain reached for a banana on the side table, peeled it, and started eating. It was honestly impressive how much food she could pack into such a tiny body, yet she never seemed to grow. Well, maybe she had grown a tiny bit, but "tiny" was still the only word to describe her.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Shine went to see Jin. Amy and Victor are in the office."
"Then why are you here, Rain?"
"Shine said someone had to stay by your side."
"So you volunteered to stay?"
"Yeah. Pretty touched, aren't you?" Rain asked, patting her stuffed cheeks.
Just as she said, I actually was a little touched. If I had opened my eyes in this silent, sterile clinic with absolutely no one around, I probably would have felt pretty lonely.
I pushed myself up to sit on the bed and inspected my body. My ankle, which I had pushed far past its limit, was wrapped thick with bandages. In fact, there were bandages wrapped all over me. Even my hair felt a bit shorter. It seemed my hair had singed when I channeled the entire district's electricity, and someone had trimmed the damaged ends.
"Did... did everyone make it back safely?" I asked, tracing my bandaged fingers.
Rain's mouth fell open, a conflicted, hesitant look crossing her face.
Right. There was no way everyone survived. That bombardment raining down from the sky wasn't some light show. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, paying silent tribute to the nameless comrades who would never return.
"Wait, now that I think about it, something's weird."
"Huh?" Rain tilted her head.
I snatched the banana right out of her hand, took a bite, and said, "Shine absolutely hates Jin. Why would she go see him?"
"Oh..." Rain's brow furrowed as she pondered my words, apparently realizing the contradiction just now.
I tossed the blanket aside and tried to swing my legs out of bed. My ankle throbbed instantly, and my entire body screamed in protest. It was bearable, but "bearable" definitely didn't mean "walkable." I let out a silent scream and immediately sat back down.
Reaching over to the side table, I grabbed my phone. It was covered in smudges, showing clear signs of someone having messed with it. Even my wallpaper—which had been a photo of Rain's tiny feet—had been changed.
Now, the screen displayed a smiling girl who looked exactly like me.
I knew instantly it wasn't me. It was Shine. She must have hijacked my phone while I was asleep to change the wallpaper. I didn't think I had ever told her my lock pattern, so how did she even get in? Well, that wasn't the important part right now. I immediately opened my messages to text her.
'Shine. Where are you?'
Finding myself searching for Shine the second I woke up made me realize just how dependent on her I had become. As I scrolled through my contacts, I also noticed she had changed her saved name. There were now rows of hearts plastered next to her name.
Instead of a text reply, my phone suddenly vibrated with an incoming call. I swiped to answer immediately.
"Jeff!"
A loud voice erupted from the speaker. Shine's tone was bursting with sheer relief and joy.
I let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah~"
"Are you awake? Does it hurt anywhere? Are you really okay?"
Her questions poured out in a frantic rush. It sounded like she had a million more things to say, but she forced herself to stop and wait patiently for my response.
Gently rubbing my aching ankle, I let my face fall into a pout. For some reason, I suddenly felt like being incredibly whiny.
"It hurts..."
I let my voice tremble slightly at the end. I did it entirely on purpose, pitching it so it sounded like I was on the verge of tears. Rain, who was watching me, made a deeply disgusted face. I flashed her a quick grin and stuck my tongue out.
"I'm coming right now!"
I could hear Shine scrambling frantically on the other end. I also caught the faint sound of Jin's voice in the background, confirming she had indeed been with him.
As soon as I hung up, Rain stared at me in disbelief.
"Jeff. Where on earth did you learn to do that?"
"Just..."
"Just what?"
"It was in that manga you lent me."
Rain's jaw dropped, looking utterly betrayed by her own literature choices.
It didn't take long at all for Shine to arrive. She practically threw the door open and rushed inside, but the moment she saw me sitting up on the bed, she froze, her hands outstretched.
She didn't dive in to hug me like she usually did.
"Are... are you okay? How bad does it hurt?"
Honestly, as long as I didn't move, I was fine. But Shine's panicked reaction was way too entertaining, so I decided to keep up the act.
"Shine... it hurts so much... I don't think I can even move my hands..."
Shine looked absolutely devastated, her eyes trembling. She crept closer with agonizing care, gently wrapping her arms around my shoulders in a feather-light embrace.
I didn't know what she had been doing just moments ago, but a rich scent of coffee drifted off her clothes.
"Shine, did you drink coffee?"
"No. I didn't drink any."
"Then why do you smell so strongly of coffee?"
I grabbed her collar as she tried to pull away, leaning in to sniff her. It was a very distinct, heavy coffee aroma. Shine didn't answer. Instead, she gently pressed her hand over my eyes and guided my body back down onto the mattress. I didn't resist; my body naturally relaxed under her touch.
"She just woke up, right?" Shine asked, turning her attention to Rain.
She began grilling Rain about my condition, wanting to know exactly how I had been acting and if I was truly in pain. Rain glanced at me, hesitated for a moment, and then gave a slow, reluctant nod.
"Who was the first person Jeff looked for when she woke up?"
"The first person?"
Rain crossed her arms and closed her eyes, deep in thought. After a brief silence, she slowly opened her mouth.
"Mmh... she didn't really look for anyone in particular. She just asked where everyone went."
"I see..."
Shine scowled, clearly dissatisfied with that answer.
I reached out and tugged on Shine's hand. It felt annoying having her ignore me to talk to Rain. Feeling my pull, Shine seemed to understand my silent demand; she reached over and gently stroked my hair. Only then did I let out a satisfied sigh and pull the blanket up to my chin.
"Hey, Shine. How long was I asleep?"
"Only a day."
"A day?"
I blinked in surprise. Given how hazy my memory was, I had assumed at least three days had passed. Since it had only been a single day, I pulled out my phone, suddenly curious.
"I thought you said it hurt to move."
"I can manage this much."
Ignoring Shine's attempt to confiscate my phone, I quickly opened a browser. The information I wanted wasn't hard to find. The internet was already flooded with articles detailing the aftermath of last night.
There were photos of the melted, scorched earth, the blinding beams of light raining from the sky, and the mangled, derailed train. But as I stared at the screen, I noticed something bizarre.
The comments—which numbered in the dozens—were vanishing in real-time.
"What's going on?"
Every single time I refreshed the page, more comments disappeared.
I hit refresh again. The comment section was now completely empty. One more refresh, and the entire article I was reading was deleted.
Other articles remained, but they all sung the exact same tune: A satellite crash. An unavoidable accident. A natural disaster.
I stroked my chin and refreshed another page. Comments were being deleted here too, though at a much slower pace. The very first article that had been wiped completely had claimed the incident was the work of the mysterious terrorist group I belonged to.
A cold shiver ran down my spine. I tapped on another article.
"Ah."
It was gone. The article I tried to click, and the one right next to it—all deleted.
In the end, the only articles left untouched were the ones that made absolutely no mention of terrorists. I slowly turned off my screen.
"Jeff. Look at this."
"Huh?"
Shine held something out in front of my face. It was a beautiful, translucent green object that caught the light.
"What is it?"
Shine gave a small smile and handed it to me. A sweet, fruity aroma wafted over. It was a large, green pacifier-shaped candy.
Before I could say anything, she popped it right into my mouth. A burst of sweetness flooded my tongue, but I couldn't help but feel incredibly embarrassed.
Suck, suck. The wet, squelching sound of the candy was mortifying. Unable to bear Shine's amused gaze, I pulled the blanket up to cover half my face.
Once the candy had melted down to about half its size, I remembered the question I wanted to ask.
"Shine."
"Yeah?"
"You hate Jin. Why were you with him?"
Once again, Shine didn't answer. Instead, she reached out, pulled the pacifier candy out of my mouth, and popped it into her own.
"Ah."
The sudden loss left my mouth feeling cold and empty. I instinctively licked the sweet residue from my lips.
"Why did you take it?"
She was clearly avoiding the question. If she didn't want to tell me, I didn't need to force it. It would be a lie to say I wasn't a little disappointed, but I trusted she would tell me eventually.
"I was just curious what it tasted like."
Shine took the wet, glistening candy out of her mouth and slid it right back into mine. The candy was now warm, sticky, and thoroughly coated in her saliva.
Rain's face flushed bright red as she watched us.
Was it really that weird? It was a pretty common scene in the manga she had lent me, after all.