Chapter 58: First Outing

Victor, who was under probation, was unable to watch our training during that period.

Thanks to that, I had free time.

I used that time to run to the PC room in the shelter.

“Jeff. This isn’t fun for me.”

Shine, who followed me, kept whining, but that wasn’t important to me right now.

I immediately opened an internet window and accessed the homepage of the animation company that was producing The Little Witch’s Great Adventure.

I took my citizenship out of my pocket and accessed the event page.

Among the numerous events in progress, I clicked on the banner located at the top.

Special effects occurred as the screen flipped.

The blue background darkened in an instant and bright stars rose around it.

I moved the mouse and clicked on the largest star.

Click-Lucy appeared with a small noise.

She fell down wearing a large witch hat.

“Oh…” I opened my mouth in admiration.

It was obvious that they were pushing it with care because it was the company’s flagship work.

“Wait a minute, it’ll be over soon.”

I quietly said to Shine, who was sitting next to me and pulling my arm.

After hearing my words, she puffed out her cheeks and slumped down on the desk.

Shine’s face was filled with sorrow.

I quickly typed on the keyboard.

After selecting my name, where I live, and the level of citizenship, I entered the serial number written on the back of my citizenship.

Then a small message appeared on the screen.

“Please insert your citizenship card into the scanner.”

I inserted the citizenship card I was holding in both hands into the small scanner attached to the computer.

The higher the level of citizenship, the more benefits there are.

The same goes for the 3rd class citizenship I received this time.

3rd class citizenship had a higher chance of winning in the event application than the general citizenship.

And there were even special prizes that could usually be received from the 4th class or higher.

I held my pounding heart and waited for the citizenship scan to finish.

Tiring!

At that moment, a cheerful sound was heard from the scanner.

With that pleasant sound, my citizenship came out through the scanner’s entrance.

“Are you done?”

“Yes. I’m done.”

I scrolled down the page and checked the prize details written below.

I wasn’t interested in the 1st and 2nd place prizes and the special prizes.

What I wanted was a blanket that looked like Lucy’s cloak.

“Do you want Shine too?”

“Me too?”

“Yeah. They said that if you apply for this, you can get a prize.”

I showed Shine the list of prizes.

But she just looked at me with an uninterested look.

“Jeff wants one, right?”

“Yeah… To be honest, yes.”

“Then let’s apply for mine too.”

Shine said that and handed me her citizenship card.

“Thank you!”

I hugged Shine’s body and immediately applied for the prize again in Shine’s name.

It was clear that one of us would win.

With a third-class citizenship, I could probably get a blanket, right?

As I thought about citizenship, I began to question the home addresses written on my and Shine’s citizenships.

It was an address in a district I had never seen before.

Judging from the number 3 in the beginning, it was definitely in District 3.

When you have a question, you have to solve it.

I immediately opened another Internet window and entered the address written on the citizenship.

As I entered the address, a large map and a message appeared on the screen.

[Access denied. You need a citizenship card that matches your rank.]

Simply entering an address requires a citizenship card.

If so, then the address written on the card is not accessible to ordinary people.

I scratched my cheek and inserted the citizenship card into the scanner.

Tiring-!

Immediately after the citizenship card was scanned, the map changed.

The message disappeared and the screen returned to the address I entered.

A large mansion appeared on the screen.

A vast, endless garden.

The combined size of the house and garden was as large as an ordinary town.

I looked around the screen with a bewildered expression.

I couldn’t see the inside of the house, but I could see the surroundings well enough.

The wall separating the house from the outside was so high that it seemed impossible to see the sky.

And the front door of the house, a huge iron gate, and a person standing guard in front of it.

The photo of a man in a black suit told me that this was no ordinary house.

“Where is this?”

At that moment, Shine, who was lying on the desk rubbing his cheek, came close to me as if interested and asked.

“Maybe this is my house?”

I muttered as I turned the viewpoint here and there.

The road near the mansion seemed too wide.

It felt strangely foreign.

As I stared blankly at the road, I could see why.

There wasn’t a single car parked on the street.

That was why the road seemed wide.

After showing Shine the mansion, I pulled out the card from the scanner and left the PC room.

“Is that our house?”

“Let’s ask Amy.”

Shine and I ran straight to the room where Amy was resting.

She had been busy at the end of the year, but she had a long vacation right after the event.

“Amy! Amy!”

Shine and I opened the door and rushed to Amy.

She was sitting on the bed watching TV, and she fell over the bed while Shine and I were being held.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah!”

I rolled over on the soft bed and took out my citizenship card from my pocket.

“Amy. Is the address written here our house?”

“Oh? That?”

“Yes!”

“Yes. It’s yours.”

“Wow!”

Shine raised both arms and ran around at Amy’s answer.

She seemed quite happy to have a house.

“Really? That big?”

“Big? That?”

“Huh?”

I stared blankly at Amy’s face.

Does she really not think that mansion is big?

Blink, blink—As I blinked, Amy smiled and patted my head.

“You need a house to match the 3rd class citizenship.

I registered it temporarily, but I’ll buy you a better one next time.”

Amy’s words about buying a house so easily, as if she were buying snacks at a convenience store, filled me with an inexplicable sense of awe.

I was so surprised that I opened my mouth.

“Amy! When can I go home?”

“Um…”

Shine’s eyes sparkled and she clung to Amy’s arms.

It seemed like she wanted to go there now that she had a house.

“It’s hard right now. If I go outside, I’ll be in big trouble.”

“Big trouble?”

“Yeah. There are still bad people looking for you.”

“That’s right. There are bad people.”

Shine nodded to Amy.

I wanted to go there too, but I didn’t feel like I wanted to take the risk.

More than anything, it would be more accurate to say that I didn’t have any particular thoughts because I didn’t really feel like the mansion was my home.

Knock, thump, thump!

Then suddenly a knock was heard from beyond the door.

[Amy! Shine! Jeff!]

A familiar voice.

It was Rain.

I got up from the bed and ran towards the door.

“Rain!”

“Ta-da!”

Rain, who had been standing beyond the door, entered the room as soon as I opened the door, spread her arms wide and started showing off her clothes.

Bright yellow chick pajamas.

The chick-face hood on her head dangled, showing off her appearance.

“You finally bought it?”

“How is it? How is it?”

Amy smiled slightly as she watched Rain.

Rain’s chick walked bouncy and circled around the bed.

It matched Rain’s image well.

I awkwardly smiled and answered, “It’s cool.”

“That’s right!”

Rain, who had shown off her chick pajamas to her heart’s content, went to sit on the chair next to the table.

Shine became interested in Rain’s appearance as she broke away from Amy’s arms and approached Rain.

Round and round.

Shine, who had been circling around the chair Rain was sitting on, reached out and pointed at Rain’s butt as she muttered, “Rain has a short tail.”

“That’s why she’s cute.”

Just as Shine had said, the tail on the chick pajamas was short compared to a dinosaur tail.

The bright yellow feathers that were slightly sticking out fluttered with Rain’s movements.

“Are you here to show off?”

“Oh! No. I brought something Jin asked me to give you.”

Rain shook her head at Amy’s question and rummaged through her clothes.

The chick’s bright yellow arm reached into her pocket and took out a small letter and a square seal.

“A letter? And Jin?”

“Yeah. Jin told me to give it to you.”

Rain stretched out her short arm and held out the letter and seal to Amy, who was on the bed.

“Take it!”

Flapping, fluttering—Rain waved her short hand wildly.

She couldn’t reach Amy, but she didn’t seem to want to get up.

Amy laughed in disbelief at that sight and got up from her seat and approached Rain.

Amy, who accepted the letter, sat down on the chair next to Rain and ripped open the envelope.

“You little punk…”

Amy’s expression crumpled as she checked the contents of the letter.

Rain seemed to be used to Amy like that, so she jumped down from her seat and headed to the refrigerator.

“Wait… I’ll go out for a bit.”

Amy put the letter she was holding down on the table, took the square seal, and left the room.

It happened so quickly, and Amy’s mood was so bad that I couldn’t catch her.

Shine and I stared blankly at each other.

I picked up the letter on the table.

The content of the letter was simple.

[Holiday. Please take care of Amy.]

What was Jin asking Amy?

“Here!”

At that moment, a bright yellow chick handed me ice cream while I was holding the letter.

It seemed like she had gone to the fridge and taken out some ice cream earlier.

I flinched at the cold and muttered blankly.

“Ice cream?”

“You’re going to eat some too, right?”

“But Amy said I could only eat one a day.”

I had already eaten all of today’s ice cream.

However, my fingers were twitching.

My mouth was starting to water, and my gaze was fixed on the ice cream, refusing to leave.

I shook my head with difficulty, recalling the taste of sweet and cold ice cream.

“Amy will be late.”

Rain put the ice cream in my hand as if she was used to this situation.

I couldn’t refuse and ended up holding the ice cream in my hand.

The cold chill running down my fingertips made my heart pound.

“You won’t know if you eat it secretly.”

The little chick whispered, with such delicious temptation.

Slurp slurp.

At that moment, Shine, who was sitting next to me, put the ice cream in her mouth without a second thought.

The sparkling pink ice cream bar was sucked into Shine’s mouth.

“It’s delicious. Jeff eats it too.”

I wiggled my fingers and shook my head, offering the ice cream to Rain.

“Not eating it?”

“1… Grape flavored…”

I answered quietly with my head down.