The New Year's Event
"Girls, time to sleep, okay?"
"Yes!" I nodded at Amy's words. The brand-new dinosaur pajamas had chased my sleepiness away at first, but the soft, cozy texture wrapping around my entire body quickly brought it right back.
Shine seemed to really like her dinosaur tail, lying on her stomach and wagging it back and forth. "So cool." Had Shine also realized the sheer coolness of dinosaurs? The tail, which had been swishing vigorously, finally came to a halt the moment she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Shine and I headed to the dining hall still wearing our dinosaur pajamas. We wanted to show off these awesome dinosaur pajamas to Rain.
As soon as I stepped into the dining hall, I scanned the room. But the meeting I had been looking forward to didn't happen. "Rain isn't here," I muttered, my voice sounding strangely deflated. Amy patted my head and said, "Rain must be busy too."
I nodded, looking around the dining hall, which seemed much emptier than usual. After finishing my meal with the usual tonkatsu combo, I headed to the gym where Victor was.
"Hello!" I called out energetically as I pushed open the gym door. As always, Victor was sitting at a small desk set slightly back from the entrance. He was sorting through some paperwork, but his eyebrows twitched when he saw me. "Oh... hey?" He looked utterly bewildered.
I trotted over to Victor and pulled a dinosaur-shaped stone out of my pocket. "Look at this, Victor!" "Uh..." His dubious gaze fell upon my hand. I began to wave the dinosaur stone around so he could get a good look. "What do you think?" "What do I think of what?" "Don't you feel some kind of vibe from it?" I asked, looking up at him with high expectations.
He stroked his chin and answered cautiously, "It's... cool?" "Whoa!" I cheered at Victor's words. Until now, no one had ever called this dinosaur cool, which meant Victor was the only one who truly understood the appeal of dinosaurs.
"Jeff." As I was stomping my feet in excitement, Shine, who had her dinosaur hood pulled low over her head, tugged on my arm. "Hmm?" "We should start." "Ah. Right, okay." I nodded at Shine and slipped the dinosaur stone back into my pocket.
The small chairs near Victor's desk were our designated seats. I sat down and began my power control training. It was the same routine as always. However, I wasn't making any progress. Having reached a certain level, my control abilities had stalled, constantly running in place without moving forward.
Victor told me I would improve if I practiced harder, but I secretly believed this was the limit of my talent. "Victor." Perhaps because of those thoughts, I found myself talking to Victor more often during our control training. "What?" "Aren't you going on vacation, Victor?" "No." Victor didn't seem annoyed and gave short answers to my questions.
"Don't you do anything, Victor?" Shine's questions occasionally grated on Victor's nerves. This was one of those times. Hearing Shine's question, Victor's right eyebrow twitched. "I'm working right now." Shine didn't even pretend to listen to his answer. She just sat in her chair, playing with her dinosaur tail.
Shine's attitude was strangely petulant. Looking between her and Victor, I nervously fidgeted with my fingers. It felt like sitting next to a bomb about to explode. "This is boring." Shine stood up immediately and walked toward the back. It looked like she was going to fetch the ball for our ball-toss game.
While keeping an eye on Victor's reaction to her departure, I felt a strange sensation near my backside and turned around. "Jeff. Let's go." "Ah..." The source of that subtle sensation was Shine. My dinosaur tail had slipped through the gap in the chair, and Shine was gently tugging on it.
"Let's call it a day for training, then." Victor glanced our way, muttered those words, and began gathering his papers. I readily agreed with him and stood up. There was no point in wasting any more time when I wasn't making any progress anyway.
"Are you guys attending the event too?" Victor suddenly asked, as if just remembering. "The event?" When I turned back to him in confusion, he replied, "Didn't you hear from Amy?"
At Victor's words, I scanned the entire gym looking for Amy. In a far corner of the gym, a familiar pink blur was slowly swaying. *Thud! Thud!* Every time Amy's fists cut through the air, the sound of imploding air echoed out. She looked incredibly busy. Shaking my head at Victor, I said, "I haven't heard anything."
"Then I guess that means you're not going." "Going where?" "Ask Amy for the details. If she hasn't explained it to you yet, she probably has her reasons." I nodded at Victor's words. I wanted to ask Amy more about the year-end event, but I didn't want to interrupt her when she seemed so focused on her training.
Besides, playing ball came first. I ran over to Shine, who was waiting in the distance, and we started our game. The bouncing ball would often fly off in completely unexpected directions. Whenever that happened, I would channel my power to generate a weak static charge. The ball, which looked like it was about to fly far away, would curve subtly and drop straight down.
A faint blue spark crackled at the edge of the ball before vanishing. The control method Victor taught me had made my power incredibly efficient to use. It wasn't like my training was completely fruitless. I picked up the ball from the floor and tossed it to Shine. The rubber ball bounced along. Shine dashed forward and snatched my ball out of the air. She looked just like a dinosaur hunting its prey. Well, she was wearing a dinosaur hood, so that definitely helped.
"Oh, are you two already done?" As Shine and I kept tossing the ball back and forth, Amy, who had finished her training, asked us while drinking some water. When had she gotten so close? Looking up at her with the ball in my hands, I nodded and replied, "Yes."
"Shall we head back, then?" At Amy's suggestion, I looked back at Shine. When I sent her a questioning glance, she nodded obediently. "We'll go back." I set the ball down on the floor and fell into step beside Amy.
"Amy, is the year-end event being held at a separate venue?" "Huh? Yes, it is. But who did you hear that from?" "Victor told us." "Hmm..." Amy made a complicated face as she crushed her empty water bottle. The plastic bottle, flattened in an instant, disappeared into her pocket.
"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked, tugging on Amy's hand. Why had she kept it a secret? I knew she had been running around busily because of the year-end event, but I couldn't help but feel a little left out and hurt.
"I was planning on us having our own private celebration," Amy replied, looking down at Shine and me. Her unexpected answer made the tips of my ears turn red for some reason. Maybe it was because I had been running around playing ball, but my body felt flushed, and the room suddenly felt warm.
"Just us?" "Yes. Rain, Shine, Jeff, Victor, and me." At Amy's words, Shine glared at Victor. Her intense gaze lingered on him for a long time. Perhaps sensing her stare, Victor looked up and glanced in our direction. "Leaving already?" "Yes, I have a lot of work to do." "You're going to collapse at this rate." Amy paused for a moment and began a brief conversation with Victor.
"I don't want to," Shine muttered softly, still glaring at Victor. I stole a quick glance at Amy and then slowly approached Shine. It didn't look like Amy and Victor's conversation would end anytime soon.
"Shine, why do you hate Victor so much?" I asked, gently cupping her cheek. She turned her head as if avoiding my gaze and mumbled in a tiny voice, "I just do." "Shine, there's no such thing as 'just because.' There has to be a reason." I spoke softly, as if coaxing a pouting child. Finding my touch comforting, she closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against my hand.
"Mmh. But I just hate him. He hit Jeff before." I let out an awkward laugh and replied, "That wasn't hitting... it was just..." "Just?" "Just... it didn't hurt." "It didn't hurt?" "Yeah." I was grateful for how much Shine cared about me, but I didn't want her to hate Victor. Victor was a good person. He was bound to be a huge help to Shine and me someday.
"So don't hate him, okay?" At my words, Shine froze. Her closed eyes slowly fluttered open. A hollow, empty gaze directed itself at me. The intense, sticky desire swirling within those eyes felt almost palpable. "Jeff." "Yeah." To escape that overwhelming gaze, I slipped behind Shine and wrapped my arms around her from behind. The plush horns on the back of her pajamas squished against me.
"Okay." "Really?" "Yeah. I won't hate Victor anymore." Shine nodded obediently. She stared at Victor in silence. I leaned slightly to the side to check her expression. Good. There was no longer any hostility in her eyes. I smiled warmly and pinched Shine's cheeks, stretching them out like soft mochi.
"Whad'ya doing?" "Just because I like you, Shine." "I like you too, Jeff." Shine and I looked at each other and giggled.
"Sorry, our chat ran a bit long." After spending a good while waiting for Amy and sword-fighting with our dinosaur tails, she finally finished her conversation with Victor and spoke apologetically. Right before leaving the gym with Amy, both she and I said our goodbyes to Victor. And then came Shine's farewell. "Goodbye, Victor."
Victor froze at Shine's unexpected greeting. Shine had never once said goodbye to Victor before. Perhaps feeling the sheer awkwardness of her sudden change in attitude, Victor didn't react for a long moment. Seeing this, Shine raised an eyebrow and said, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to me?" "Oh... right... See ya." Victor's voice came out slightly strained. Clearly not expecting to ever receive a farewell from Shine, he waved back with an utterly bewildered expression.
Once we left the gym, I began questioning Amy about the year-end event. Thinking back on the explanation she had given me earlier, it felt like there were too many gaps. She always disliked talking deeply about her work. To be precise, she avoided anything that we might get dragged into.
"Amy, who is attending the year-end event?" Perhaps because of what Victor had said, I wanted to know the exact details. Why hadn't she told us? According to the information I gathered from Victor, there was a separate venue. I began to piece together my own deduction, organizing the clues I got from Victor alongside everything I knew so far.
With the year-end event approaching, most people had gone on vacation. That meant, excluding ordinary personnel, the only people attending the venue would be those in high-ranking positions like Amy who hadn't taken a leave. People in high positions whom we shouldn't meet. Gene, or someone else. Or maybe... everyone attending that place. "Hmm..."