Chapter 45 Part 2: Raincoat

They looked at each other at eye level.

There was no need to raise their heads high, just like when they looked at Amy, or when they talked to everyone here.

“Hello.”

Shine was the first to answer.

She walked quickly toward Rain.

Her eyes continued to search her body here and there.

Rain, who had been watching Shine’s actions, jumped up and came to me.

“Ouch!”

Rain reached out and grabbed my hand.

When I let out a short scream in surprise and stepped back, she let go of my hand.

“You’re still receiving control training, right? Aren’t you finished all your training? You’re fine?”

Rain looked back at Amy, who was standing behind her, and spoke.

“It’s almost done, but there’s still a little left.”

“Huh…”

Rain started walking slowly, looking around me and Shine.

“I’ll say it again, don’t force the kids. They’re too young.”

“Okay.”

Shine and I started exploring, moving like Rain.

When Rain stopped, we stopped, and when she moved, we moved.

Rain, who was going around in circles, suddenly sat down on the ground.

Shine and I looked at each other and sat down on the ground like Rain.

Rain’s cheeks turned red at that sight.

She looked back at Amy, who was standing behind her, and opened her mouth.

“Amy? What are they? What are they? Shouldn’t you put them on our team?”

“You didn’t forget your promise, did you?”

“I understand.”

Shine and I held each other’s hands tightly.

Even so, we didn’t stop looking at Rain.

A natural wariness toward strangers.

However, curiosity toward someone who was about the same height as us.

The two emotions mixed together and enveloped our bodies.

“You said you were curious about me?”

I nodded at Rain’s words.

“What are you curious about? Amy’s childhood? Or?”

“Amy’s?”

I looked at Rain with sparkling eyes.

It felt like I could hear a story I hadn’t expected.

Amy doesn’t really tell her stories.

It was only natural that my curiosity about Amy would naturally grow.

“Be quiet.”

Thump!

At that moment, Amy, who was preparing snacks behind her, hit Rain with a slap.

Her bright yellow hair flew up, and Rain’s smiling expression collapsed.

“Ouch!”

Tears welled up slightly in Rain’s eyes.

She stroked her hair and awkwardly looked at Amy’s expression.

“I want to hear it!”

“I want to hear it!”

Shine and I looked up at Amy and talked.

Amy avoided their gazes and opened her mouth, perhaps feeling burdened by their gazes.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Nothing is impossible. Jeff. Shine. If you don’t want others to answer, there are times when you shouldn’t ask.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Because I have to.”

Amy answered firmly.

Shine and I nodded blankly at her gaze.

She really seemed to not want to answer.

I looked up at Amy with slightly disappointed eyes, and she put a large plate of cookies in front of us.

“Wow!”

Rain, who was rubbing her head after being hit by a slap, lit up her eyes as she looked at the cookies.

Her wide mouth seemed to be drooling.

Rain quickly reached out and stuffed the cookies into her mouth.

She seemed to really like the cookies.

Shine and I also reached out and ate the cookies.

“Yeah.”

I said that and checked Amy’s expression.

“Rain.”

“Yeah.”

“I heard you do the same job as Amy.”

She was taking out drinks from the kitchen refrigerator.

It was clear that she wouldn’t be able to hear me from this distance.

“How do you do that?”

“How?”

“Amy said we’re too young.”

“Um…”

Rain closed her eyes as if lost in thought at my question.

The cookie crumbs on her lips scattered to the floor.

“How old are you two?”

I looked back at Shine at Rain’s question.

As if she sensed my gaze, Shine also looked at me.

Our eyes met in the air.

“Ten years old.”

Shine answered.

I nodded.

Ten years old.

That’s right.

I was ten years old.

I counted on my fingers and nodded again.

Ten years old.

“Ten years old…?” Rain looked at us in disbelief.

“You’re so young!”

How old did Rain think we were?

I tilted my head.

Thinking about it, Amy was right.

What Amy was doing was very dangerous, and ten years old was too young.

But when you’re ten years old, isn’t it time to go out on the street and earn money?

I tilted my head at the questions swirling around my head.

“Jeff. Eat more.”

At that moment, Shine stuffed a snack into my mouth.

Ugh-

I smiled weakly at the snacks filling my mouth.

Shine smiled brightly at me.

“Here.”

At that moment, Amy came over and put down the cup containing the drink.

Shine, Rain, and I naturally reached out and received the cup.

“But why are you sitting here?” Amy asked curiously.

“When you sit on the chair, your legs can’t reach.” Rain said as if she was asking an obvious question.

“Well… It’s because you’re short…”

“It’s unstable when your legs can’t reach the ground.”

“Really…?”

Amy looked at us as she spoke.

Her gaze seemed to ask, “Are you like that too?”

Shine and I shook our heads.

We weren’t uneasy even when our legs couldn’t touch the ground.

“You, with your hunched legs, wouldn’t understand.”

Rain glared at Amy’s long, stretched-out legs.

“Do you want to grow taller, Rain?” Shine asked Rain at that moment.

Rain nodded weakly at the question.

“Yeah…”

“Then drink milk.”

“Milk…?”

“Yeah.”

“But… Drinking milk won’t make you taller.”

“And you have to do gymnastics.”

“Gymnastics?”

Shine got up from her seat at Rain’s puzzled gaze.

“Jeff, get up too.”

Shine reached out and grabbed my arm.

At her urging, I got up awkwardly.

“Do you have to?”

“You want to grow taller.”

Shine started doing gymnastics.

One by one, one by one.

She looked at me, following the pose she had learned earlier.

I couldn’t help but move my body at her gaze.

I didn’t know it before, but I felt very embarrassed to show this gymnastics to others.

My cheeks were burning.

Rain’s gaze blankly looking up at us and Amy’s gaze with a subtle smile.

I avoided their gazes and lowered my head.

“Wow…”

Rain opened her mouth and took out her cell phone.

“Rain, get up too.” Shine spoke while looking at Rain like that.

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

At Shine’s firm answer, Rain got up awkwardly.

She still had her cell phone in her hand.

“Follow me.”

Like this.

One, two.

One, two.

She stretched out her arms and legs.

She raised her hands high in the air with the desire to grow taller.

“You said you wanted to grow taller quickly.”

Woof, woof.

Shine’s voice resonated.

Rain nodded blankly and started following us.

Every time Rain moved, her bright yellow hair swayed in all directions.

At that moment, Amy’s body began to shake violently.

Her face, which was covering her mouth, turned red.

She sat down as if holding back laughter.

Silent laughter.

Amy desperately held back that laughter and shook her body.

Whatever.

The gymnastics was running towards the final pose.

Spin around once more and stretch your arms and legs out.

Last time, you stretched your left leg out to the side, so this time, you stretch your right leg out to the side.

That’s the end of the exercises.

“The end!”

Shine looks at Rain with a confident expression.

“This is… gymnastics…?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this how I grow taller?”

“Yeah.”

“But I’m an adult…?”

“Adults don’t grow taller?”

“No… they do grow.”

Rain looked at Shine with a confused expression.

“You didn’t do this when you were little did you?”

“Right…?”

“That’s why you didn’t grow.”

Rain nodded with a puzzled expression.

“Huh… huh…”

Amy, who had been sitting down, was catching her breath deeply.

Then she got up from her seat and headed to the front door.

In front of the door, Amy reached into the pocket of her coat hanging on a hanger and took out a bright yellow paper bag.

“What’s that?”

“This?”

Amy waved her hand at my question.

The paper bag in her hand rustled.

“Ta-da!”

Amy unwrapped the paper bag and showed me what was inside.

A long neck.

Spotted patterns.

Giraffe?

Amy waved the giraffe in her hand back and forth.

The giraffe printed on paper danced around.

There were lines indicating centimeters drawn on the giraffe’s neck.

“Giraffe?”

Amy held the giraffe and headed toward the wall.

A bare wall.

The giraffe was stuck on it.

The giraffe’s long neck.

Amy tapped it with her hand and called me and Shine.

“Come here.”

Shine and I jogged over to it.

There was a small magnetic sticker stuck next to the giraffe’s neck.

“This is how you measure your height.”

Amy placed Shine and me side by side and put her hand on our heads.

The area her hand was pointing to was a little over 125 cm.

“126?”

Amy stuck the magnetic sticker on it.

“Is that our height?” Shine asked Amy.

Amy nodded and patted her head.

“Yeah.”

“Me and Jeff are the same?”

“Yeah.”

Shine nodded with a satisfied expression on her face.

I couldn’t tell what she was satisfied with.

I glared at the magnetic sticker on the giraffe’s neck.

Shouldn’t it be a little higher?

I raised my head and looked at the giraffe’s head.

The giraffe was smiling mischievously.

“Huh.”

I turned my head away.

“Isn’t it okay for Rain to be measured?”

Then Amy said to Rain with a playful smile.

“Me? Me?”

Rain answered Amy with a puzzled expression.

Amy nodded while looking at Rain like that.

“Yeah. Are you afraid that you might be shorter than the others?”

Amy’s provocative words.

Rain’s face instantly turned red.

Rain approached us with stomping steps.

“I’m taller!”

She said and stood in front of the giraffe.

In my opinion, her height was not much different from ours.

“Let’s see… 12… 5?”

In front of the giraffe, Rain was waiting for the results with her eyes tightly shut.

The second magnetic sticker was placed one space below the stickers indicating our heights.

At Amy’s words, who was 125 cm tall, Rain looked back at the giraffe.

Her eyes began to shake without mercy.

“Rain is short.”

I muttered blankly.

At that moment, Rain burst into tears and ran towards the front door.

“Hwaaaaang!”

Dadadot-

The sound of small footsteps echoed through the room.

Rain ran like that, opened the door wide, and left the room.

“Hugheseuu!”

Who on earth could the person with the name Hughes that came out of Rain’s mouth be?

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Amy burst into laughter as she watched Rain running away.

It seemed as if she had burst out of the laughter she had been holding in, and her laughter showed no intention of stopping.

I secretly placed a magnetic sticker while watching Amy’s expression.

127 cm.