Chapter 51 Part 5: New Year Event

I waited for the paint to dry while admiring the dinosaur’s magnificent form.

“What’s Rain doing?”

“Just this and that.”

Shine began to ask questions as if curious about what preparations Rain was making for the New Year’s event.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Um… Preparing gifts for the employees…and events…”

Rain mumbled, wiggling her little fingers. As I watched her, I started asking about Amy.

“Is Amy doing the same thing?”

“No. Amy is busier than me.”

“Where is Amy?”

“Um…”

Rain took out her phone in response to my question. She tapped the screen here and there before nodding as if she understood.

“Is she downstairs?”

“Downstairs?”

“Yeah, she’s right downstairs.”

Shine and I looked down at our feet at Rain’s words. It didn’t mean we could see Amy, though. Amy was closer than I thought. I immediately jumped up from my seat.

“Jeff?”

Shine looked puzzled by my sudden movement. I looked at Shine and Rain and said, “We’re going to Amy.”

“But Amy said she was busy.”

“So we’re going.”

Question marks floated over their heads. I confidently answered while watching them.

“We’re going to help Amy!”

“We?”

Rain made a nervous expression at my words.

“Yeah!”

“Good idea, Jeff.”

Shine seemed to have the same idea as me and jumped down from his seat. Shine and I stood side by side and looked at Rain.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

Rain let out a small sigh as she watched us.

“Do you know where the path is?”

“I don’t know!”

Since she said it was on the lower floor, we could just go down the stairs and look around the entire floor. However, Rain answered my answer with a suspicious look.

“Do you know how big it is?”

“Isn’t it similar to here?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Rain, tell me!”

I said, shaking my body. Rain, who was sitting on the chair and groaning, flinched at my words.

“Okay.”

Rain, who had been thinking for a while, jumped down from the chair with a small sigh. The three of them left the room together and walked down the hallway.

“Didn’t Rain go on vacation?”

“Yeah.”

I asked Rain while looking at the empty hallway.

“The team members are on vacation, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t Rain go?”

“Because I’m the team leader.”

“Can’t the team leader take a vacation?”

“That’s not true…”

Rain answered my question with a puzzled expression.

“At least one team member needs to be inside the base.

Last year, I took a vacation, so this time, the team members decided to go.”

That’s all. Rain’s expression as she spoke.

For some reason, it felt like an enormous discrepancy between Rain’s appearance and her answer.

I unconsciously reached out and stroked Rain’s hair. Her soft blond hair tangled around my fingers and gently scattered.

“Rain is amazing.”

Rain, who had received my touch, mumbled and lowered his head.

The tips of Rain’s ears were slightly red. But he didn’t reject my hand.

After walking for a while, I was able to arrive at the stairs.

The number of people passing by the stairs had decreased even more than before.

“There are a lot fewer people.”

I muttered quietly while looking at the sight, and Rain answered.

“A lot of people go home around this time every year.”

“Home?”

“Yeah.”

“Everyone had a house…” I muttered, looking around with renewed eyes.

I met the same people every day. I thought they lived here like me, but they had their own houses. It was a bit shocking.

House. House House. I was lost in thought as I went down the stairs.

When I think of home, all I can think of is a house with a pretty red roof.

A place with a wide fence, a yard covered with green grass.

“Um…” I glanced at Shine’s profile. Shine was walking forward without thinking about anything.

Her white hair was scattered in front of my eyes.

“Shine.”

“Huh?”

“Where is my house?”

Shine, who had been walking well, stopped at my question.

When she stopped, Rain stopped walking as well, and so did I.

“Home…?”

“Huh.”

No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.

I can’t remember anything else besides the house.

I started to recall the area around the house, relying on my vague memories.

A road. Was there a road? A city view near the house.

However, there was a sense of incongruity.

It was as if I had pieced together the city views from somewhere in my memories, and I felt a sense of rejection.

“Jeff.”

“Huh…?”

“You forgot?”

My gaze on Shine wavered. I flinched at her words as if they were blaming me.

“Uh…. Yeah…”

“Come here.”

At my appearance, Shine spread her arms wide and smiled.

Her hands trembled. I walked slowly and buried my head in Shine’s arms.

I let out the breath I had been holding as Shine’s hands slowly stroked my back.

“Jeff.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t forget. They took it away.”

When Shine spoke of them, did she mean the people at the lab? I nodded slowly.

“Yeah. I guess I forgot.”

“Shall we think about it again?”

Shine whispered while gently stroking my hair.

At her gesture, the cityscape near the house disappeared in an instant. A white space remained.

The red-roofed house built on top of it was an unchanging fact. I was there.

I leaned against the fence and stretched out my hand. Towards the wind.

Wind. Was the wind blowing?

“Jeff. Focus.”

I nodded. I followed her words.

The cityscape spread out in the white space.

The vast, stretching roads and tall buildings.

Familiar streets, familiar places. Familiar scenery. And a familiar house.

Not a house with a red roof. An ordinary single-family home. A house with a fridge full of beer.

But the appearance of that house began to change.

Twisted, torn, and empty. A house with a red roof came down on top of it.

“How is it? Jeff. Our house was there.”

I nodded absentmindedly.

“It’s probably not there anymore.”

She was right. The city must have changed a lot during the time I was dragged to the lab.

So it wasn’t strange at all that our house wasn’t there anymore.

Shine grinned and slowly pulled away from me. Two steps. Shine stepped back and clapped her hands.

Clap-!

At that moment, the thoughts that came to my mind flew away in an instant. I jumped up in surprise at the sound of the clapping.

“Ouch!”

It seemed that Rain was the same, as he quickly closed his mouth that had been open blankly and looked around.

“What are you two doing?” Shine said with a playful face.

I touched my cheek and answered, “That’s strange… What were you doing?

I’m sure we were having a conversation about something. I don’t remember.”

What was it?

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who had experienced a strange phenomenon earlier, and Rain also looked around with a strange expression.

“Let’s go!” Shine smiled at us and grabbed our hands.

My body was being lightly led. One step, two steps.

I stumbled down the stairs due to Shine’s touch. The further I went down the stairs, the more my doubts subsided.

I shook my head and shook off the distracting thoughts.

Right after we had all come down the stairs, Shine and I looked back at Rain.

“Where’s Amy?”

Rain still had a blank expression. I puffed out my cheeks at her appearance and approached her. Her soft cheeks caught my eye.

“Rain~”

I reached out with both hands and grabbed Rain’s cheeks and pressed them. The feeling of her soft cheeks.

A subtle smile came to my face at the sight of her soft, rice cake-like appearance, just like touching Shine’s cheeks.

“Uh… huh?”

Rain blinked as if she had finally come to her senses.

“Amy.”

“Amy?”

“Where’s Amy?”

Rain avoided my touch and stepped back. She was playing with her cheek, then took out her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen.

“This way!”

As if she had confirmed the location, Rain extended her hand and pointed in a direction. The end of a long hallway. A brightly lit light.

“Over there?”

“Yeah.”

What could they be?

I put aside my momentary doubt and started walking in the direction Rain pointed.

“What is this place?”

I looked around and asked Rain. The hallway felt completely different from where Shine and I lived. The cold smell of metal wafted in. There was even the occasional grumbling sound of hammering.

“This is where we make support items.”

“Support?”

“Yeah.”

Support items. Mechanical devices that assist superpowers.

I thought back to when I first met Amy. She was wearing a suit that covered her entire body.

I nodded slowly.

“I see…”

“What’s a support item?”

Shine seemed interested in the support item and asked Rain with sparkling eyes.

“It’s a mechanical device that assists those with abilities.”

“Assistance?”

“Yeah. Something that strengthens abilities or compensates for weaknesses.”

“You can strengthen abilities?”

Shine grabbed Rain’s hand with sparkling eyes. Rain nodded, carefully pulling away, perhaps feeling burdened by Shine’s actions that had gotten too close.

“Yeah.”

A bright smile appeared on Shine’s face at Rain’s answer.

“Zeff~”

Shine’s gaze shifted. From Rain to me. She looked at me and held out her hand.

“Let’s go quickly!”

I held out my hand and grabbed her hand. A gentle squeeze. Shine looked satisfied at my appearance.

The three of us started running. Since Shine had run, Rain and I had no choice but to run to keep up with her pace.

Shine, whose white hair was fluttering like a tail, stopped walking the moment she reached the end of the hallway.

The end of the hallway. A large entrance and a slightly open door. A familiar voice came through the gap.

I walked closer to the door and looked through the gap.

“It’s Amy!”

Familiar pink hair. Arms crossed, talking to someone. It was definitely Amy.

“Amy!”

I called Amy, knocking on the door. Knock knock knock.

The noise made by small hands. Amy, who had been talking, looked at us in surprise.