Chapter 23 Part 3: Shine’s Favorite Things

Shine and Amy came back soon.

Shine stumbled toward me, holding a bag of chips larger than her upper body.

“Shine, be careful not to fall.”

Shine, ignoring Amy’s warning, approached me and held out a large bag of chips.

The bag I took in a daze was quite heavy.

“I picked it out.”

I nodded at Shine’s proud words.

The large bag, and the picture of the snacks printed on it were potato chips.

“Thank you, Shine.”

Although I preferred salty snacks like potato chips over sweet snacks, I didn’t know Shine would know that.

My mouth started watering.

I began to open the bag, imagining the texture of the potato chips crumbling on my tongue.

My small hands began to wiggle and pull at the top of the large bag.

Thanks to the nitrogen that was filled in, it looked like I was hugging a large balloon.

“Ugh….”

I pulled at the bag with all my might.

My hands shook, and the rustling noise continued to flow out.

“Ugh!”

I squeezed my eyes shut and ripped open the bag of chips.

With a pop, a tremendous sense of liberation came over me.

At the same time, a cool breeze blew against my face.

Following that, the salty smell of potato chips blew in.

At the same time, I started to fall backwards.

My two hands, unable to withstand the strength I had gathered to tear open the bag, shot up into the sky.

The wide-open bag of chips also flew into the sky.

In the slow flow of time, the potato chips spilled out of the bag and scattered like snow.

Thud thud.

I lay on my bed and blankly stared at the potato chips scattering.

I blinked at the feeling of the potato chips falling on my face.

“Jeff.”

A cold voice came from the front door.

I urgently turned my gaze to Shine, but she glanced at the front door once and hid herself in the bathroom.

Left alone, I hastily got up from my seat.

My body was crushed on the bed, my palms were hurriedly holding onto the bed to get up.

The potato chips underneath me crumbled.

“Ugh…”

Surprised, I took a deep breath.

The remains of the potato chips falling from my palm were not important.

It was because Amy’s angry expression was scary.

“Jeff.”

“Huh?”

“No snacks in bed.”

I avert my eyes at her words.

Looking at the potato chips scattered on the bed, I carefully reach out and pick up a piece of potato chip.

Desire consumes my reason.

My body begins to move, swept up in desire without me knowing it.

The potato chip I secretly picked up heads toward my mouth.

The crispy texture, the salty taste on the tip of my tongue.

A feast of familiar flavors rushes in.

I look up at Amy with a small smile at that happy taste.

I open my mouth to hide my mistake and direct her consciousness in another direction.

If Amy eats delicious potato chips, she will definitely forget my mistake.

“Eat, Amy.”

I handed her the potato chip.

Amy sighed as she looked at me, then reached out and took the potato chip I gave her.

“Jeff. If you eat snacks in bed next time, I won’t let you watch TV.”

It was a shocking declaration.

I nodded urgently.

No snacks in bed.

I had to remember the important rule that was inputted into my head.

“Is Jeff in trouble?”

Shine, who had been hiding in the bathroom, asked, sticking her head out.

I looked up at Amy and thought.

Is this a trouble?

It seems like I just got a warning and that was it.

Kong!

At that moment, a small pain settled on my head.

“It…!”

I grabbed my head and lowered it.

Amy’s small fist slammed into my skull.

“You mean you’re sorry?”

“Sorry….”

I lowered my head and spoke.

“Jeff. If you did something wrong, you should apologize first. Got it?”

“Yes…”

I answered while patting my head.

As she said, if you did something wrong, you should apologize.

I should have.

Why did I try to cover up my mistake with a small smile?

Like a child who had done something wrong.

I acted as if I was trying to hide my mistake.

“Come down. I have to clean.”

I got down from my seat as Amy said.

I jumped down with a feeling of jumping.

My line of sight was too low as I stood on the floor.

I gaped at Amy’s size, which made me look up at her for a long time.

I realized this anew, but Amy seems very tall.

When Amy told me to stay far away from her because I was disturbing her cleaning, I sat down on the belly of a large doll in the corner.

It seemed like it would be good to use it as a sofa because it was soft and comfortable.

“Jeff. Does it hurt?”

Shine approached me carefully and asked, stroking my head.

“Huh?”

“You got scolded by Amy earlier.”

“No, it doesn’t hurt.”

I closed my eyes and felt her touch.

The small hand moving gently completely erased the small noise in my head.

“Jeff.”

“Huh?”

“Shall we draw?”

Shine asked, stroking my hair.

I opened my closed eyes and looked up at her.

“Suddenly, a drawing?”

“Because there’s something important.”

“Something important?”

“Jeff.”

Shine’s hand on my head fell away.

When the noise that had stopped started flowing again, I nodded.

Shine, who saw my answer, smiled brightly and ran to the drawer in the corner of the room.

What she took out from it were a large sketchbook, colored pencils, and crayons.

“Was there something like that?”

“Amy bought it while Jeff was sleeping.”

Since it was something I didn’t remember, it must have been something she bought while I was asleep, just as she said.

Shine came over to me and spread out her sketchbook.

Then she laid out the crayons and colored pencils around her.

Shine picked up the colorful crayons and began to draw.

I watched her drawing while holding the doll in my arms.

“Jeff.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a big house here.”

Shine began to draw a big house.

A large yard.

A big house with a pretty red roof.

“No windows?”

“Windows?”

“Yeah.”

I could see something strange in Shine’s drawing.

The house drawn so beautifully had no windows.

“Does a house have to have windows?”

She asked me an unexpected question.

I hesitated to answer her question.

Windows.

There are houses without windows, of course.

But it was common sense that houses built like this would usually have windows.

“Yeah.”

Shine changed the crayon and drew a window.

The house that was completed looked somewhat familiar.

“Are you done?”

“No, now I’m going to draw Jeff and me.”

She said and drew herself in the yard.

The girl with long white hair was wearing the white gown she had been wearing in the lab.

And the girl drawn next to her was the same girl.

She was also wearing a white gown.

“This is Jeff.”

“Me?”

I looked closely at the drawing she had drawn.

A drawing of a white girl, nothing more than a child’s playful doodle.

“This is our house.”

“House….”

Shine said, pointing to a large house.

House.

My house and Shine’s house.

“Yeah…”

“We lived here.”

“Lived?”

“Yeah, we lived.”

Shine whispered quietly.

I just nodded blankly to her words and answered.

I was living with Shine.

Were we living?

With Shine?

“Yeah. Jeff lived with me.”

I blankly looked down at the picture.

At the same time, scenes came to mind.

The scene of Shine and I playing in front of the large house flashed before my eyes.

In front of the large, pretty house with a striking red roof…

Shine changed the crayon.

A green crayon drew inside the large fence that marked the yard.

The crookedly drawn grass filled the inside of the fence.

The empty yard was filled with green.

“Grass…”

“Yeah. Jeff. We played here.”

“Playing…?”

“Are you drawing and playing?”

At that moment, I heard Amy’s voice, which broke my thoughts.

Coming to my senses, I closed my gaping mouth and looked away.

“Amy.”

“I’m done cleaning.”

The bed, which had been covered with the remains of countless potato chips, was now clean.

“Don’t disturb Amy.”

“Did I disturb you?”

“Yeah.”

Picture.

House.

Large garden.

Words that came to mind connected and created a scene.

Play.

Shine and I often ran around and played in the large yard.

“That’s right.”

“Jeff?”

I held out my hand as if possessed.

I felt the firm texture of the crayon in my hand.

My hands moved quickly and drew on the wide drawing paper.

What kind of weather is good for playing?

Morning.

Or maybe daytime?

The wind should blow coolly.

I drew the sun as if hanging it on the edge of my sketchbook.

Clouds drawn in the sky.

Blue wind drawn underneath.

“That’s right, Jeff.”

Shine, who was sitting across from me, came closer to me and said.

I nodded.

That’s right.

It was like this?

The picture Shine drew was a white space where nothing existed around the house.

I moved my hands diligently to fill in the empty space.

A familiar street came into view.

A large park and a huge clock tower.

A neatly organized road.

The crooked pictures continue to be drawn.

And so, a single picture is completed.

The picture I completed with Shine is engraved deep in my mind.

“Where is this?”

“Jeff and my house.”

“Yours?”

“Yeah.”

Amy picks up her sketchbook.

“Do you remember where this is?”

“No…”

I put down the crayon I was holding.

My head is dizzy.

I don’t remember.

Where was this place?

And what did Shine and I play in the yard?

I opened my mouth with difficulty and asked Shine.

“Shine.”

“Yeah?”

“What did we play?”

“At home?”

“Yeah. At home.”

The blurry scene begins to become clear.

Warm sunlight.

A wide yard.

I was facing Shine, feeling the cool breeze.

“We played ball.”

“Playing ball…”

A small ball lands between me and her.

A ball.

What kind of ball?

Soccer?

Or basketball?

Or baseball?

“The ball game we played at the gym.”

A voice lingered in my ears.

The shape of the ball between her and me became fixed.

“Amy. Give me back my sketchbook.”

Shine got up from her seat and held out her hand to Amy.

Amy looked around the sketchbook, took out her cell phone, took a picture of the drawing, and returned it to Shine.

The clicking noise echoed throughout the room.

I got up from my seat with a start.

It felt as if I had just woken up from a brief nap on my desk.

Shine, who was watching me like that, closed the sketchbook that Amy had given her back.

“I’ll stop here for today.”

“Don’t draw anymore?”

“Yeah. Jeff seems sleepy.”

Just as Shine said, I did seem a little tired.

I rubbed my eyes and sank into my seat.

Shine organized the crayons and colored pencils and put them in a drawer in the corner of the room.

“Jeff. Are you sleepy?”

“…I think so.”

I answered yes to Amy’s kind voice.

“Shine?”

“I’m not sleepy.”

As Shine said, I started to feel sleepy.

However, sleeping alone somehow felt like a defeat.

I put strength into my heavy eyelids to keep them from closing.

“Shut up.”

While I was fighting against my heavy eyelids, Amy lifted my body.

The height of my eyes suddenly increased.

The hand that dug between my armpits firmly fixed my body.

My short legs shook.

“Amy?”

“You should sleep in bed.”

Amy, who had picked me up, walked over to the bed and carefully placed me on it.

The fluffy blanket hugged my back.

In an instant, I was moved to the bed and desperately got up.

I don’t want to sleep alone.

It’s not even night yet…

My body moved slowly.

My hand reached out and touched the fluffy pillow.

The soft blanket that wrapped around my entire body seemed to have an irresistible magic.

Shine, looking at me through blurry eyes, smiles slightly.

“Good night Jeff.”