The Quest for a Like
Truly. "Did you have fun today?" Amy asked as I lay in bed, cradling the hat she had gifted me in my arms.
"Yes..." I replied, hiding my face behind the hat. It had been a truly happy time. Delicious food, heartfelt congratulations, and even the very gift I had wanted.
"I loved it so much!" I squirmed and rolled around on the bed. My legs kicked in the air, and my long, messy hair wrapped softly around my neck.
"What about you, Shine?"
"I liked it too." Shine's voice was laced with amusement. She seemed to be in just as good a mood as I was.
I looked at the giant teddy bear sitting next to the bed. It was a gift from Victor, who usually looked so indifferent and tired of everything. The massive bear stared down at me with a soft, plush expression. I reached out and squeezed its paw. The squishy, yielding texture of the stuffed animal and the gentle warmth wrapping around my fingers brought an uncontrollable smile to my face.
"Birthdays really are important," Shine murmured quietly into the silence of the room, broken only by the rustle of our blankets.
Our ordinary routine resumed. I studied and ate meals with Amy. In the gym, I finished my power control training with Victor and ran around playing with Shine.
A blue spark crackled at the tips of my fingers. I was used to using it now. Moving as naturally as my own hands and feet, the electric current drew patterns in the empty air.
Clap, clap, clap! "Jeff! That was amazing!" Sitting on a chair some distance away, waiting for my training to end, Shine clapped and cheered. I immediately looked down. My cheeks flushed red, and my ears burned hot. Suddenly, the gym felt stiflingly warm.
After training, I plopped down on the floor and chugged some cold water. The refreshing liquid sliding down my throat cooled the heat in my body. As I sat there catching my breath, Shine walked over from afar and gently wiped the sweat from my cheeks.
"Isn't it about time we took off those bracelets?" Amy, who was sitting in a chair, said to Victor. He raised a hand and adjusted his glasses.
"Hmm..." Holding a folder in one hand, he picked up a pen with the other and began scribbling something down.
"At this age, this level of control is certainly impressive."
"Then you can take them off."
"But she's too emotional. The fluctuations in her control are too large depending on her emotional state."
"But..."
"Amy. They aren't going outside anyway. There's no way they'll be exposed to danger."
"I know, but..."
"If you want them off that badly, you'll have to go to Gene and get permission."
"What? Show the kids to him? Are you out of your mind?"
"Then there's nothing we can do."
Victor fell silent after that. As if it was out of his hands, he averted his gaze, took off his glasses, and began tidying up his desk. Amy let out a deep sigh and looked at us. It seemed there were some things even her power couldn't resolve.
"I'm sorry, girls. It looks like we won't be able to take the bracelets off just yet."
I raised my arm at Amy's words. Hanging from my wrist was a lightweight accessory that no longer felt like a shackle. The thin white bracelet suited my slender arm quite well. But it was fine. Even if we didn't take them off right now, they didn't cause any discomfort. Just as Victor said, there were no dangers here that required me to use my powers. As long as we didn't go outside, that is.
"Amy."
"Yes?"
"Who is this 'Gene' person?"
"He's our leader."
"Our leader?" Amy shut her mouth after that. She clearly didn't want to mention this Gene any further.
"Jeff."
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to know about Gene?"
I fell silent at Shine's question. Every now and then, she would say things like this that caught me completely off guard.
"Do you know him, Shine?"
"No."
I slowly shook my head. Her eyes were flickering with a dangerous light.
"It's fine, Shine." I pushed myself up from the floor. I picked up the witch hat I had set aside for training and pressed it firmly onto my head.
"Do you really like that hat that much, Jeff?"
"Yeah." I nodded at Shine's question. On the first day we received them from Amy, she and I had walked all over the place wearing our matching hats. But Shine had quickly grown tired of hers, eventually placing it on the head of the giant teddy bear Victor had gifted her.
I, on the other hand, absolutely loved this hat. Aside from the symbolic meaning of it being my very first birthday present, the design perfectly hit my tastes, and its cozy fit made me never want to take it off. Having recovered some of my energy, I hopped down from the chair.
"Amy."
"Hmm? Going back already?"
"Yes." I nodded. Turning to look at Shine, she seemed to be thinking the exact same thing.
Today's training had started quite late, mostly due to Victor and Amy's bickering. While waiting for them, we had played with a ball until we were sick of it. Now, I wanted to do something else. Along with Amy, we headed out of the gym. As we walked down the long hallway, a forgotten thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
"Ah..." A sudden memory. It was definitely something important, so how on earth had I forgotten it? I hurriedly bolted forward.
"Jeff?" Shine's voice echoed from behind me. But that didn't matter right now. I pumped my short legs as hard as I could, sprinting down the hallway. The rapid patter-patter-patter of my small footsteps echoed repeatedly. Shine's footsteps followed close behind, and behind hers, Amy's heavier strides joined the chase. I ran with all my might. Holding down my fluttering hat, the place I finally reached was a spacious lounge.
"The lounge?" Amy's voice came from behind. But this wasn't my final destination. Searching my memory, I ran even deeper into the facility. Panting heavily to catch my breath, I finally arrived at a room lined with several computers—an in-house PC cafe.
"What, did you want to use the computer?" Ignoring Amy's puzzled question, I climbed onto one of the seats. The chair, designed for adults, felt overwhelmingly large to me. Adjusting the height of the seat, I pressed the power button on the computer.
"Jeff?"
"Yeah..."
"This is boring."
"Just wait a bit, Shine." It was really, really important. I reached out and rested my hand on the mouse with practiced ease. But immediately after, I was forced to freeze. I could feel Amy's gaze boring into my back.
The memories in my head tangled into a chaotic mess. I couldn't let Amy see what I was about to check on CloudTalk. To her, I was just a little girl who had spent her entire life locked away in a laboratory.
The screen lit up brightly. The mouse cursor hovered over it, twitching erratically. What was I doing? I slowly shifted my gaze. My eyes moved from the screen to Shine's face. She was staring at me with a thoroughly displeased expression.
"Jeff." I swallowed hard.
"Yeah..."
"I don't like this. It's boring."
"You two have been here when I wasn't around, haven't you?" Amy said, pulling out the chair next to me and sitting down. She crossed her arms and stared at me, clearly curious about what I was planning to do on the computer.
"Amy, is this fun?"
"We can certainly find something fun to do."
"What Jeff was doing was boring."
"Shall we see what our Jeff is up to, then?" Both of their gazes locked onto me. In that brief split second, my brain went into overdrive. The witch hat pressed onto my head trapped all the heat inside, making my scalp burn. My hesitation didn't last long. Click. I moved the mouse rapidly and accessed Neotube. I immediately searched for The Great Adventure of the Little Witch. A long list of videos cascaded down beneath the search bar. I clicked on the highlight compilation with the highest view count.
"Is this what you came all this way to watch?"
"Yes... I suddenly really wanted to watch it." Fortunately, I had avoided suspicion. I let out a sigh of relief while keeping an eye on Amy. She let out a soft chuckle and stroked my cheek. Her hand slid behind my ear, gently untangling my messy hair. I shivered slightly at the ticklish sensation.
"I guess we'll have to put a computer in your room too."
"Really?" My face lit up at Amy's words, and I grabbed her hand. She gave a subtle, playful smile and added:
"Only if Jeff gets a perfect score on today's pop quiz, that is."
"Ah..." My hand, which had been gripping Amy's, went limp. Math problems, which I used to be so confident in... Just thinking about that massive wall that now felt so utterly foreign drained all the strength from my body. As my hand hung dejectedly, the computer screen flashed. The ad ended, and the familiar theme song began to play. My eyes naturally locked onto the screen. Amy's voice beside me faded into background noise. Clutching my pounding chest, I pressed my hat down firmly. The sight of Lucy flying through the sky amidst a shower of brilliant starlight was absolutely dazzling.
"Shine. Has Jeff done this before?"
"Yeah. But she did something different back then."
"Like what?"
"Boring stuff."
I couldn't hear their conversation anymore. I was completely absorbed in the video. The high-quality editing made even the most mundane scenes feel grand and epic. When the song swelled during the highlight reel, my body practically bounced in excitement.
"Is it really that fun, Jeff?"
"Yes!" I nodded vigorously. The video was nearing its end. This was truly incredible. But the heart-pounding excitement didn't stop there. The owner of the channel seemed to be a massive fan of The Great Adventure of the Little Witch, having uploaded various other fan-made AMVs. I moved the mouse and clicked through them, playing them one by one.
"Jeff. I'm bored," Shine whined beside me. She grabbed my arm and shook it back and forth.
"Yeah... Just a second. Let me just finish this one." The static buzzing in my head was growing louder. But I didn't care. This was much more important right now. As I kept watching, the noise in my head suddenly sharpened into a high-pitched beeeeeep. My vision whited out, and my balance gave way. My body collapsed with a dull thud. My mouth hung open blankly, muttering a word that made no sense.
"L..." When I came to, my face was smashed against the keyboard. The same had happened to Shine. Unable to support herself, Shine had collapsed right on top of me. Her soft, limp body tangled over mine.
"Girls?!" Amy's voice cried out in panic. But I didn't have the energy to reply. Summoning the last of my strength, I nudged my limp hand to grasp the mouse. I focused my blurry vision on the cursor moving across the screen. Through my hazy sight, the cursor struggled its way over to the video's "Like" button and stopped. Click. I successfully pressed the Like button. A small smile played on my lips. As my consciousness faded, I felt Amy's hands grab me. Scooping both Shine and me into her arms, Amy began to run frantically.