The Price of a Dream
Walking on water. It was something almost everyone had imagined doing at least once. In a world where superpowers existed, it probably wasn't even that rare of a sight. And yet, Rain looked incredibly—no, absolutely enchanting. The glittering droplets of water and her bright smile, which went so perfectly with her yellow raincoat, had a way of coaxing a warm smile out of anyone watching. Maybe that was why, but looking at Rain, I caught a glimpse of Lucy, the protagonist of The Great Adventure of the Little Witch. Lucy was always so cool and radiant. And right now, Rain was just as cool and radiant. My heart fluttered. Touching my cheek, I clutched my chest. My heart thudded softly. A strange sensation spread throughout my entire body, making me mumble to myself.
"Whoa..." A soft gasp of admiration escaped my parted lips. Then, at some point, my eyes met Rain's as she walked across the water. Reflected in her sparkling gaze, I could see my own face was flushed bright red. I hurriedly raised my hands to hide behind my hair. Since it hung down long on both sides, I could easily cover my face if I just pulled it forward.
Whoosh! The rapidly spinning whirlpool began to slow down. Rain remained completely unaffected by the motion. As if walking down a perfectly normal street, she stepped closer to the glass wall.
"So cool," Shine murmured, clearly sharing my thoughts. Her eyes sparkled as she pressed her face close to the glass.
"How is it?" Mary, standing beside me, checked the folder in her hands and called out to Rain.
"It's fine. No problems at all."
"Shall we conclude the test here, then?"
"Sure, why not?" At Mary's words, Rain tapped her foot. With a silent tap!—though no sound actually carried through—a splash of water droplets scattered in all directions. At that exact moment, the whirlpool spinning beneath her feet began to slow down even further. Like water draining from a pool, it vanished, maintaining its spiral shape until the very end.
"Ta-da!" Once the water had completely vanished, Rain threw her arms up in the air and cheered. It looked like she was showing off her powers to Shine and me, which coaxed a small chuckle from my lips. Clap, clap, clap. I let go of my hair and began to applaud. Delighted by the reaction, Rain stomped her feet happily. The moment her boots hit the floor, tiny droplets of water misted into the air.
Stepping out of the training room, Rain brushed off her raincoat. The moisture clinging to her body instantly dispersed into the air.
"That was so cool!"
"Amazing!" Shine and I rushed over to Rain, our eyes gleaming. We circled around her, gently tugging and feeling the fabric of her raincoat.
"Well? Pretty awesome, right?"
"You looked just like Lucy!"
"Lucy?" It was the highest praise I could possibly offer, but she didn't seem to have any idea who Lucy was.
"What kind of functions does your suit have?" Shine asked, seemingly more interested in the suit itself as she poked and prodded Rain's arms and legs.
"It helps me control my powers, absorbs minor impacts, and gathers moisture from the surrounding area."
"Anything else?"
"It looks cute?" Rain said, fluttering her raincoat. She seemed highly satisfied with the design of her yellow raincoat suit.
"And only you can use it, right?"
"Yep! Exactly. It's custom-tailored specifically for my ability."
"I see." Hearing Rain's answer, Shine took a step back and smiled faintly. While Rain sorted out her suit, Shine and I began to talk. Naturally, the topic was mostly about the suit.
"Do you want a suit too, Shine?"
"Yeah. How did you know?" At my question, Shine turned her gaze toward me. Though her eyes looked somewhat vacant at a glance, I could read the emotions hidden within them.
"You were staring at it so enviously."
"So you were watching me, Jeff?"
"Uh..." I felt like the focus of the conversation had veered in a slightly bizarre direction. But as long as Shine was happy, it didn't really matter.
"Yeah." At my reply, a bright smile spread across Shine's face. True to the meaning of her name, it was a smile as radiant as the sun.
"Looks like Mary made all of this." Mary had walked over to Rain and started discussing the suit with her. Only then did I begin to carefully scan the rest of the room. Aside from the suit, there were tons of incredibly cool gadgets lying around. Giant gauntlets, a massive hammer... Carrying things like that around in public would probably get you questioned by the police in no time, but they were still undeniably cool.
"Should we ask Mary to make us some?"
"Make what?"
"Suits." I had been loitering in front of the giant gauntlets, but I turned around at Shine's words. She was staring at Mary with glittering eyes.
"Do you think she'd make them for us?"
"Yeah. I'll ask her to make one for both you and me."
"But Shine, I don't think she just makes them for anyone. Even Rain said they're incredibly expensive."
"Hmm..." It was a matter of money. If the two of us had a lot of money, we might have been able to ask Mary.
"We're going to need money."
"Yeah. A lot of money." Shine and I put our heads together and began to ponder. Money... where on earth were we supposed to get money? Now that I couldn't receive a paycheck anymore, my source of income was completely cut off, meaning I couldn't participate in Shine's plan.
A paycheck...? At the thought of a paycheck, hazy memories began to surface. Fleeting scenes flashed through my mind. Money? Was I working and getting paid before?
"Let's ask Amy!" In that instant, Shine grabbed my hand. The sudden jolt scattered my stray thoughts. I shook my head and focused my eyes. As my blurry vision cleared, I gasped and took a step back, startled by how close Shine's face was. I could literally feel her breath against my nose.
"Huh? Ask Amy?"
"Yeah. Amy has tons of money." I nodded, thinking of Amy's credit card. It was true that she was rich, but wouldn't even she find this kind of expense a bit burdensome? I couldn't even begin to fathom the true extent of Amy's wealth. Shine pulled my hand and started running toward Amy. My vision swayed as Shine's hair whipped wildly in all directions, capturing my gaze.
"W-Wait, Shine~" I steadied my stumbling steps and followed closely behind her.
"Amy!"
"Amy!" Shine and I ran up to Amy and clung to her legs. She placed her hands on our heads and smiled softly. "You little rascals. I think I know exactly what you're about to say."
"Gasp..."
"How? What do you think we're going to say?" Shine and I widened our eyes and looked up at her. Looking down at us, Amy smirked.
"You want suits of your own, don't you?"
She hit the nail right on the head. Startled, I let go of her leg. "That's right! Amy! We want suits!" Shine nodded, her eyes sparkling. I stared at her, utterly dazed. It was my first time seeing Shine act like this. I had never seen her express such a strong desire or possessiveness over a specific object before. It was just like how I fanboyed over The Great Adventure of the Little Witch. It felt like looking into a mirror.
"It's too early for you two."
"Why?"
"Because you're still too young."
"But...!"
"I'll have them made for you when you grow up." Amy's permission came incredibly easily, as if she were promising to buy us snacks from a convenience store—even if it did come with the condition of having to grow up first.
In my mind, I imagined a colossal mountain of pork cutlets. For someone like me who used to live on a normal paycheck, how many years would it take to build a mountain of pork cutlets that big? Or maybe the price of the suit was even higher than I could possibly imagine. "Amy, how expensive is a suit?" "Hmm..." At my question, Amy closed her eyes as if lost in deep thought. She seemed to be searching for an analogy that would be easy for us to understand. "Even if you sold the copyright to your favorite show, The Great Adventure of the Little Witch, it probably wouldn't be enough." "Gasp..." "The copyright?" "Was that too difficult? To put it simply, it's like completely owning Jeff's favorite anime. The characters, the merchandise, and all that miscellaneous stuff."
"So if you have a lot of money, you can change Jeff's favorite anime however you want?"
"Exactly."
"Whoa..." Shine nodded as if she understood Amy's explanation. Meanwhile, I was left in absolute shock. The copyright value of an anime that was currently a massive, roaring trend was astronomical. Although I didn't know the exact figure, this meant Amy possessed such immense wealth that she could spend that mind-boggling amount of money without even blinking an eye.
Just then, Mary, who had been talking with Rain, whirled around to Amy in utter shock. She was so startled that she actually dropped the folder she was holding onto the floor. "Lady Amy! Are you serious?!" "Huh? Of course. They're my kids." "What? Lady Amy's...?" As if deeply shocked by Amy's words, Mary's hands began to tremble. Watching her reaction, Amy smirked and pulled Shine and me into a tight hug. "It's not even that much money. Why are you making such a big fuss?" Dismissing it as if it were pocket change, Amy rubbed her cheek against ours. My cheek and Shine's cheek were squished mercilessly.
"Right... Yes, of course. If it's you, Lady Amy, you could easily do that..." Mary nodded as if she had just remembered who she was talking to, then bent down to pick up the scattered papers. Standing next to her, Rain looked at Amy with a pout. "Amy!" "Yeah?" "Me too! Me too! I want something new!" "You too?" "Yeah!" "What else do you need?" Amy looked at the case containing Rain's suit, wondering what could possibly be lacking. "Something stronger! It lacks firepower!" "Firepower?" "Yeah!" Listening to Rain, Amy nodded in agreement. "True, it does lack firepower."
Rain's eyes sparkled at Amy's agreement. However, her expression quickly slumped at Amy's next words. "But I don't think we can do it this month because of the budget. Gene is suddenly pushing forward with some weird project." "Aw..." "But next month should be fine." "Really?" "Yep."
My head began to spin. To think that a single month's budget could cover the entire cost of a specific project... Was the project just really small, or was this facility's monthly budget unimaginably massive? Once Amy gave her approval, Rain pulled a small notebook from her pocket and flipped it open. "Then this! This! Make lasers shoot out of here!" Drawn in Rain's notebook was a giant umbrella. It showed a girl in a raincoat holding an umbrella as tall as she was. Her drawing skills were just as terrible as mine, but it wasn't hard to make out what it was supposed to be.
Rain fluttered the notebook, her eyes shining. The umbrella drawn inside was packed with an absurd number of features. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she had crammed in every single function she could possibly imagine. "Show it to Mary and only do what's feasible." "Okay!" "Mary! I leave this to you!" Rain tossed her notebook over to Mary. It was a clear sign of just how excited she was. Catching the flying notebook, Mary quickly flipped through the pages. "What's the budget limit?" "Probably up to half? I'll have to see when the time comes, though." "Understood. I have a rough idea now." Mary nodded at Amy's words and stuffed the notebook into her pocket, her white lab coat fluttering slightly. "Shall we head back, then?" "Are we leaving now? Is all the work done?" "Yes. This was the last of it." At Amy's confirmation that the work was finished, we stepped out into the hallway. Before passing through the door, Rain looked back and shouted to Mary, asking her to do a good job.