New Year's Event
"It's pitch black. I can't see a thing." I slowly reached out, groping for the wall. Thanks to my faintly glowing pajamas, I could barely make out the blurry shapes of my surroundings.
My body was acting strange. The moment I realized how dark it had gotten, all the strength drained from my limbs. Leaning against the wall, I tried to steady my breathing. My heart hammered against my ribs. A deep, rising dread from the depths of my chest paralyzed me.
"Haah..."
"Jeff?"
"N-nothing..."
I pulled my fluffy dinosaur hood down tight. My weak legs gave out, and I slumped to the floor.
"Are you sick?"
"No... Just... a bit strange."
I raised a hand and wiped my dry face. I was scared. Terrified. Those negative emotions kept bubbling up. Why? Without any answers, the dread only swelled. It was too dark. The shadows of Shine and Rain, flickering in the faint glow, looked terrifying.
"Ah...! Jeff!"
Just then, as if suddenly remembering something, Shine rushed over and wrapped her arms around me. I blinked, taking short, ragged breaths.
"It's okay!"
"What is...?"
What was okay? I blinked my blurry eyes, looking at Shine's face. She stared back at me with an urgent expression.
"Nothing's going to happen."
"Yeah..."
"You're not scared, right?"
My vision flickered. The emotion rising from deep within twisted and lost its shape.
"Are you scared?"
"Yeah. You've always been afraid of the dark, Jeff."
I nodded slowly. Now that she mentioned it, it felt true. I was scared. Why? I didn't know. It just felt that way. But I was fine now. The warmth of Shine's fluffy body hugging me tight chased the fear away.
"So you're afraid of the dark, Jeff?"
Rain approached with a worried look and patted my head. I closed my eyes at her touch and replied, "I think so..."
My voice trailed off weakly. I had no energy left. In that brief moment, I felt like I had exhausted an immense amount of mental strength.
"Should we rest for a bit?"
Shine asked, peering into my eyes. I nodded. I definitely needed a break. Shine, Rain, and I sat side-by-side on the floor of the drying room, holding hands.
"Since when have you been afraid of the dark, Jeff?"
"Uh..."
I frowned at Rain's question. Since when? I slowly combed through my memories. Hazy, sunken recollections began to drift to the surface. Darkness. Night. Starting from those first words, a chain of memories unfolded. Streets at night. Pitch-black alleys without a single streetlight?
"Since we were very little," Shine answered for me. "Jeff has always been terrified of the dark."
"I see. When I was little, I was so scared of dark rooms that I had to sleep with the lights on too." Rain patted my head, saying she related.
"Mmh..."
I frowned and looked around. The darkness that had felt so terrifying just moments ago now seemed perfectly ordinary. I reached my hand out into the dark, my faintly glowing dinosaur sleeve stretching forward.
"Are you okay now?"
"Yeah."
I nodded and stood up. My trembling legs had steadied, and my ragged breathing had calmed. What just happened felt so distant, almost like a dream.
"You'll be fine, Jeff. Because I'm here."
"Yeah."
I nodded and grabbed Shine's dinosaur tail. In this pitch-black darkness where we couldn't see an inch ahead, only our dinosaur tails could keep us connected. Rain grabbed my dinosaur tail in turn, and we began to walk. Lining up single file, we made our way out of the drying room and reached a dark room.
"I can't see a thing."
The surroundings were a blur. The only light the three of us could rely on was the faint glow-in-the-dark sheen of our pajamas.
"No flashlights?"
"None."
I shook my head at Rain's question. A few days ago, out of sheer boredom, I had rummaged through the drawers where Amy stored things she bought. Unfortunately, there were no flashlights to be found. Relying solely on the soft glow of our pajamas, we found the door and stepped out into the hallway.
The hallway was deserted. It was complete, silent darkness. I swallowed hard, staring into the black corridor. With Shine by my side, there was nothing to fear. Showing no sign of fear herself, Shine began to stride forward.
"Why did the power suddenly go out?" Rain asked, looking around. Every time she made a sudden movement, the fluffy tail attached to her rear yanked in all directions.
I looked around and reached out to touch the smooth wall. Shouldn't a facility this massive have backup generators? Quite a bit of time had passed since the blackout, but there was no sign of the power returning.
"Where is Amy?"
"On the lower floor."
"The place where they make support items?"
"Even lower than that."
Shine, who had been walking ahead with absolute confidence, bumped her head against the wall and immediately slowed her pace. Our movements became slower than usual. We had to creep along cautiously, like turtles. If we walked too fast, we risked slamming our heads into a wall, so we had to be extremely careful.
"Where are we?"
Shine stopped and looked around, though it wasn't like she could actually see anything. Shine and I spread our arms out to the sides and shuffled forward. We had to widen our reach as much as possible to feel our surroundings. Flowerpots, then plush chairs.
"I think we're near the cafeteria," I said, roughly figuring out our location from memory.
"Hey, can't you and Shine just use your abilities?"
"Ah..."
Rain spoke up quietly. Her words hit me like a physical blow. Of course. Shine and I had electric abilities. Creating a small light to see our surroundings was the easiest thing in the world. I immediately channeled my power.
Crackle!
Blue currents of electricity began to gather into a sphere. The control methods Victor had drilled into me were finally paying off.
"Whoa..."
The blue sphere floating above my hand cast a bright glow, far outshining our pajamas and illuminating the entire area.
"It'll sting if you touch it."
When I warned Rain, who was staring wide-eyed and reaching out to touch the sphere, she flinched and quickly hid behind Shine.
"Aren't you going to do it, Shine?"
"No. Jeff can handle it alone."
"But I want to see~"
Rain, eager to see Shine's power, clung to Shine's back and yanked her fluffy tail in all directions. But Shine had no intention of giving in to Rain's pleas. Pouting, Rain trudged over to me and grabbed both my tail and Shine's tail in her hands.
"Let's go."
Our marching formation changed. Holding the electric sphere, I took the lead, with Shine and Rain following close behind. Our turtle-like pace returned to normal, and before long, we reached the stairs. The stairwell was completely empty. And right at that moment—the instant we stepped onto the landing, the pitch-black darkness vanished. Blinding light flooded the area from all directions, forcing me to pull my hood down over my eyes.
"Ugh!"
Rain and Shine also slumped to the floor, rubbing their dazzled eyes.
"Looks like they fixed the blackout," I said, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the sudden light as I scanned our surroundings. It had taken quite a while, but they seemed to have resolved the issue. I immediately dispersed my power. The crackling sphere vanished in an instant. The three of us quickly scurried down the stairs. With Rain leading the way since she knew where Amy was, we found her in no time.
"Amy!"
Shine and I immediately ran into Amy's arms. She had been sitting in a chair, staring seriously at her phone, but she tossed it aside to hug us. Snuggling my face into her chest, my jaw dropped at the sight of the massive spread of food laid out nearby. Pizza, fried chicken, spaghetti, and countless other dishes were radiating warmth and delicious aromas. It reminded me of our last Christmas party. My mouth instantly began to water.
Sitting across from me, Rain looked around and asked Amy, "Huh? Where's Victor?"
I also looked around, searching for Victor, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Jean called him, so he went upstairs for a bit," Amy replied.
"We didn't see him on our way down, though?"
"Maybe you missed each other?"
"I guess?"
Amy picked up her discarded phone and began tapping on the screen. Tap, tap, tap.
"He says he'll probably be late."
"Are we starting without him?"
"Looks like it. The kids seem hungry anyway."
Amy looked at me and smiled warmly, her fingers gently running through my hair.
And so, our little year-end party began. There was delicious food, and we even got a tiny taste of fizzy champagne. Shine scrunched up her face, stuck out her tongue, and spat it right back out. Meanwhile, Rain, sitting next to her, was chugging wine. As the bottle emptied, her face grew increasingly red.
"Make me glow in the dark too!"
Completely wasted, Rain faceplanted into a slice of pizza and yelled at Amy. Her words were slurred and mumbled, but Amy had no trouble understanding her.
"Glow in the dark?"
"That!"
Rain pointed a finger at me. I was sitting with my dinosaur hood pulled down, twirling spaghetti around my fork.
"I guess Rain wants a pair of pajamas too."
"Should I buy one for Rain as well?"
Rain, thoroughly drunk, let her unfocused gaze wander for a moment before mumbling something and passing out cold.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot."
Chuckling at the sight of Rain, Amy clapped her hands as if remembering something and pulled out two small envelopes from her pocket.
"Here! These are for Jeff and Shine."
The small envelopes looked quite luxurious. I stuffed the twirled spaghetti into my mouth and tore open the packaging.
"Ah...!"
What came out of the envelope was a small card. In other words, an identification card. A citizenship card.
"Grade 3...?"
It was vastly different from the citizenship card Amy had first given us. The fields that had been left blank were now filled in with a birthday and an address.
"It's a present."
Startled, I dropped the card from my hand. The citizenship card landed on my clean, empty spaghetti plate, shining a brilliant white.
Name:Jeff
Date of Birth:[Registered]
Address:[Registered]
The first citizenship card we received was Grade 5. But this one was Grade 3. How many people could possibly raise their citizenship grade in such a short amount of time?
Shine, showing little interest, tossed her card aside and focused on her fried chicken. Dinosaur Shine had already demolished over three whole chickens.
In the end, Victor never made it to the party. According to Amy, he had been named the prime suspect behind the facility's blackout and was currently disciplined.