Chapter 54 Part 8: New Year Event

I didn’t realize it when I passed by the hallway, but there were many people besides Mary who were making support items.

A man carrying a large box passed by.

A cheerful smile hung on his lips.

Many other people passed by.

I looked at them and asked Amy, “Amy.”

“Huh?”

“Is this entire floor where support items are made?”

“Most of it is. Most of the items we use come from here.”

“Most of it?”

“Sometimes items come from other branches.”

I nodded at Amy’s answer.

My nose stung from the smell of iron and oil wafting from all directions.

These were not ordinary people.

They were all clearly people who had studied extremely hard and accumulated a high level of knowledge.

They were rare even in organizations run by the state.

A place where such people were gathered together.

According to Amy, there seemed to be other branches besides this one, so there must be more of them than I thought.

My vision suddenly became blurry.

I raised both hands and rubbed my eyes.

The surrounding scenery felt too big.

I reached out to that disparate feeling and held onto Amy and Shine’s hands tightly.

We walked like that for a while.

When I went back the path I had taken with Rain, I arrived at a high staircase.

It was an incredibly tall pillar, no matter how many times I saw it.

“Should I hug you?” Amy asked, looking at Shine and me, who had stopped in front of the stairs.

Of course, climbing the stairs was too much for me right now.

It would be much faster to be carried by Amy than to move my short legs hard.

But you know.

I couldn’t be carried by Amy’s arms forever, right?

“I can go by myself.”

In fact, I often climbed the stairs by myself.

If I climbed one floor, I would get out of breath and have to take a break, but Shine was the same.

“Really?”

Shine and I nodded while looking at each other.

I couldn’t show myself ashamed in front of Amy.

I took powerful steps.

One by one.

The stairs began to climb with difficulty.

“Is it hard?”

As I became increasingly out of breath, Rain, who had climbed first, looked back and asked.

A playful smile appeared on her face.

“Isn’t it hard, Rain?”

“Of course!”

Rain nodded confidently at my question.

Her bright yellow hair fluttered before my eyes.

Rain went up and down the stairs without getting tired, circling around us.

How could she move without getting tired with such a small body?

“Don’t tease the kids too much.

There’s a 10-year age difference between us, so why do you want to do that?”

Jump, jump.

Rain, who had been running around like a chick in front of me, lowered her head at Amy’s words.

Rain’s light and composed movements disappeared, and she quietly climbed the stairs.

Her ears, slightly visible from her back, were bright red.

“We’re here!”

Shine and I shouted as we climbed the stairs.

Her small chest was going up and down quickly.

Her rough, hot breath was flowing out of her mouth.

Her legs were a little sore, but not enough to make her sit down and rest.

Shine must have felt the same way, as she stood still and caught her breath.

“Please step aside for a moment~”

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice was heard from behind us.

Shine and I hurriedly turned around.

A huge square object.

The texture of cold iron.

I was momentarily taken aback by the large object.

I was able to find a person underneath the object.

The man with a large build was carrying the large square iron object on his back.

“I’ll just pass by—”

He was walking up the stairs with a friendly smile that didn’t seem heavy, asking for people’s understanding.

“Vending machine?” I muttered absentmindedly.

That’s right. The thing the man was carrying was a vending machine.

A common vending machine that dispenses drinks when you put money in.

Shine and I stepped aside to avoid the man.

However, it wasn’t just one person moving the vending machine.

The line continued.

A large vending machine and a POS machine.

People were busily moving various machines.

Amy muttered in confusion, leaving the toolbox clanking behind her.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“Isn’t it expanding another department?” Rain also muttered while looking at the line of people.

I turned to Shine with my stiff body.

She felt my gaze and nodded as she turned to me.

That’s right. I knew why they were moving things.

I wiggled my fingers and hid my arms behind my back.

“Uh… Amy… Go back quickly.”

I told Amy while moving my stiff body.

Amy asked in confusion at my voice that was shaking unsteadily.

“Jeff? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

I shook my head, biting my lip.

If Amy found out about this, I would definitely get in big trouble.

“Shine?”

Shine also didn’t want to get in trouble because she was moving in a similar way.

Anyway, Shine and I wanted to get out of here quickly.

I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief when I entered the wide hallway.

The moment my worries disappeared, I thought of something I wanted to show Amy.

Amy would definitely say my rock dinosaur was cool.

I immediately started running toward my room.

My sudden impulsive action.

Shine and Rain followed behind me.

“Jeff~! You’ll fall over~”

I ignored Amy’s voice behind me and ran straight toward my room.

I entered the room and ran straight toward the dinosaur.

It was a very colorful thing, painted with paint.

I carefully picked up the dinosaur.

Maybe it was because it had only been painted for a short time.

There was moisture on the surface.

I fixed the dinosaur by avoiding the wet side.

“That’s why you ran?”

“Yeah. Amy would definitely recognize the dinosaur’s coolness.”

“Well….”

Rain turned her head with a subtle smile at my words.

I glanced at Rain like that and then held out the dinosaur to Amy, who was belatedly opening the door and entering the room.

“Amy! Look at this!”

“Huh?”

Amy carefully extended her hand and took the dinosaur.

“Is it a dinosaur?”

“Yes!”

As expected! She recognized the dinosaur at a glance.

“Wow—It’s cute~”

She smiled and rolled the dinosaur on her palm.

The dinosaur rolled around cutely.

I was shocked by that sight.

The word cute doesn’t suit dinosaurs.

The word cool suited dinosaurs.

“Cool… It’s cool…”

Amy returned the dinosaur to me and entered the room.

I muttered blankly while holding the dinosaur.

Amy returned to the room and immediately started cleaning.

At first glance, it didn’t look like a mess, but the place where her hands passed by returned to its usual neat appearance.

“Okay, then, shall we start studying?”

I was sitting in the corner, fiddling with the dinosaur rocks, and turned my head away at Amy’s words.

It was a day when I didn’t feel like studying.

“Jeff?”

“Yes.”

I answered and dug between the dolls.

The soft teddy bears were enough to shield me.

“I have to study.”

“Can’t we do it later?”

“Later when?”

“Um… I’ll do it before bed.”

I checked my watch, just poking my head out from between the dolls.

It was soon time for dinner.

Shine was already seated, solving her workbook.

Rain sat nearby, looking through her workbook and complaining, “Why is everything we learn these days so hard?”

Rain scratched her head with a pen and sighed deeply.

“I won’t do it.”

I sat down between the dolls, placed the dinosaur on the floor, and stroked its head.

Would Victor recognize how cool this little guy was?

“Jeff~”

At that moment, Amy’s voice was suddenly heard.

I jumped up from the dolls, startled.

Bang!

The teddy bears flew in all directions with a sound.

“Why are you so tired?”

Amy smiled softly and stroked my hair.

“Huh?”

Amy, who was sitting at the desk, came closer and spoke to me, patting my head.

“Me?”

“Yeah. You looked more tired than usual.”

I closed my eyes at her gentle touch and answered, “Uhh… did you look like that?”

“Then what happened?”

Amy’s hand moved gently.

The hand that had been gently stroking my hair slowly moved toward my cheek.

I glanced down at the dinosaur rock on the floor and shook my head.

“It’s nothing.”

I grabbed Amy’s hand and got up.

I didn’t want to worry Amy over something trivial.

I followed her lead and sat down at the desk and started studying.

The workbook was no longer something to be afraid of.

The hands that moved without hesitation always wrote down the correct answers.

Amy liked how quickly Shine and I learned.

After finishing studying, I had dinner with Rain.

The same routine as usual.

But Amy, who was still busy, left right away.

Rain, who had finished brushing her teeth and was watching TV, also left.

The room was left alone for the two of us.

The faint sound of the TV slowly dispersed.

“Is Shine asleep?”

“What about Jeff?”

I asked Shine, lying on the bed.

She, who was watching TV, looked back at me as if she had no intention of sleeping.

“I don’t know.”

I couldn’t sleep.

I had used up all my computer time for today, so I couldn’t use the computer anymore.

What about TV?

Most of the animations that aired late at night were not interesting.

It was obvious that they were pushed back to this late hour because they weren’t popular.

“I won’t sleep until Amy comes.”

“Me neither.”

I wrapped myself in the blanket.

It was past one in the morning when Amy came back.

She entered the room with a tired face and said, “You two didn’t sleep?”

“Yes.”

“I waited for Amy.”

“Umm….”

Amy, who was rubbing her eyes as if she was tired, was holding a small shopping bag in her hand.

“What’s that?”

“This?”

At my question, Amy smiled mischievously.

“Ta-da!”

Amy immediately resolved my curiosity.

Her hand reached into the shopping bag and took out clothes wrapped in transparent plastic.

“Try them on quickly,” Amy said and handed me the clothes.

The transparent plastic packaging made a rustling noise.

When I looked at it with a puzzled look, she gestured for me to open it quickly.

I ripped open the package as she said.

The plastic packaging scattered with a squeaking sound.

“Huh…”

I didn’t realize it because it was folded, but the clothes I unpacked weren’t ordinary clothes.

The color was green, as if the skin of a giant dinosaur had been torn off.

And the fluffy horns sticking out from the back.

What about the long tail hanging down below the butt?

These were dinosaur pajamas.

Excited, I immediately changed into the dinosaur pajamas.

A roomy fit.

Cool ventilation.

A perfect item with functionality.

I buttoned up the pajamas and immediately put on the hood attached to the back of my neck.

The shape of the hood was a dinosaur’s head.

Shine also received the same dinosaur pajamas as me.

She sat on the bed with a bewildered look on her face, pulling the dinosaur head hood down tightly.

“Amy…”

I looked at Amy with eyes trembling with emotion.

Amy, who was drenched in fatigue, smiled brightly at me and answered, “That’s not the end.”

“Huh?”

“Okay, if I turn off the lights like this….”

Amy walked to the wall and pressed the switch, turning off the fluorescent lights in the room.

The surroundings darkened in an instant.

The bright television screen illuminated the dark room.

“Gasp…”

At that moment, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

The moment the lights went off, I saw Shine, emitting a soft light.

The Shine dinosaur was shining like a firefly from head to toe.

The long dinosaur tail moved from side to side.

The tail was also luminous.

These weren’t just any dinosaur pajamas.

They were luminous dinosaur pajamas.

“Waaaah!”