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I’ve been thinking about where to go, but I really didn’t have a flair for this kind of thing. In the end, after squeezing my brain dry, I settled on a meeting spot: a park near my house.

“I had no idea a place like this existed…?”

“It’s a neighborhood park, but the location is so awful that nobody comes here.”

Ageha seemed amazed that I chose such a place as our meeting point, replying, “Really?” as she looked around.

This park was less a park and more half-wild. It wasn’t very large, but it was practically a forest. It’s no wonder I thought it was odd to pick this place.

After spraying the kids with some insect-repelling—anything but nepetalactone—to keep them from getting bitten, I explained why I picked this spot.

“Well, there are cafes, but I really just wanted somewhere quiet.”

“A quiet place… sounds good! But there’s nothing to do here, right? It doesn’t look like we can really have fun.”

That’s true, but I wanted to argue that just being together and laughing would count as having fun. But deep down, I knew that was a bit of a stretch.

“If you don’t like it, we can change places even now?”

So I decided to suggest that we leave it to the kids who knew each other well, and she hurriedly changed the subject, as if thinking I was upset.

“N-no! It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just… it’s a bit unusual, so it feels foreign…!”

Yeonhwa is so considerate of others. I think it’s okay to be a little selfish sometimes.

“Right! If we were, like, 12 years younger, we would’ve had a blast in a place like this.”

Jinhyeon chimed in, maybe recalling that even playing with just sand was fun when we were younger.

“W-well, I still find that fun…”

When Jinhyeon regained his senses, Lapiz had said something strange, but upon reflection, it didn’t seem all that bizarre. With her abilities, it would indeed be fun.

Just sprinkling some around and making a whirlwind would probably pass the time decently.

“That could work! Sometimes I still collect insects, but… I find cockroaches pretty gross…”

“Alice? I don’t think this is the right time to share that story.”

“Ah… Yes.”

It seems like Ageha and Alice have a clear hierarchy because just a slight nudge from Ageha had Alice shrinking back quickly.

Right. She’s definitely a servant. Minho, even though he’s acting like a heroine, shows some care, but he stops short, probably fearing the aftermath.

Even if Seolhwa has that kind of personality, Ageha seems to have turned into this bossy type. What happened to her?

I didn’t do anything at all.

Baffled by this, I knew I wouldn’t find an answer, so I asked the quietly seated Lapiz if she could make us a bench or table to sit at.

“W-well, I could, but this is a public place…? Can we really use it like that…?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. No one is going to care. Even the park janitor won’t notice.”

When we first moved into Heros City, we used this place as a storage space, and since we weren’t caught, it seemed there wasn’t any patrol.

“Even so, it’s a neighborhood park. Is it really okay to operate like that?”

When Seolhwa asked, I told her that while other neighborhood parks might be different, this one is that lax.

“Really? Hmm… Once I earn a lot of money, I should start charity work to make places like this vanish.”

“To do that, you’d need to earn a ton of money, right? Just from what I know… how many is that? I’ve forgotten.”

Seolhwa listened to me, looking a bit surprised at how much that sounded, but she soon seemed to gear up with a “Why not go for it?” mentality.

I’m sure she didn’t mean it seriously. But I’ll cheer her on. I hope she really succeeds in the future.

Settling on a makeshift rock chair Lapiz crafted, I contemplated what to do. It didn’t seem like there was much to play with, and just coming here to stare at my phone felt a bit lame.

After thinking about whether I should legitimately play with sand or use my abilities, one rather amusing idea popped into my head.

“Since we’re doing nothing, how about we just talk about something? Like, for example… old stories! Embarrassing childhood tales, you know?”

“I’m all for that! I have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. Hehe, but… um, Miss Blanca, you do have something to share… right?”

“No matter what life you’ve lived, everyone has at least a few embarrassing moments. Don’t worry, I won’t keep quiet.”

As I said this, Seolhwa, Lapiz, Jinhyeon, and Alice all joined in. Minho only hesitated a bit, glancing around before finally nodding in agreement.

It made sense for Minho to be hesitant. He probably didn’t have any memories of his childhood in this body. From the day he possessed it, pretending to be ‘Minho’ was priority number one.

“Alright, I’ll go first. When I was a kid, I used to think cleaning cotton candy meant putting it in water. I was so confused when I just ended up with a stick and nothing else.”

This was true. It was a story from before I ended up in this body.

At that moment, I really felt like my heart was breaking. I put the cotton candy in water, and poof, it just disappeared.

The kids’ reactions showed they weren’t sure if they should laugh or not, looking both amused and sympathetic at the same time.

“If it’s funny, it’s okay to laugh! Looking back, I can’t help but chuckle. Hehe.”

“Ah, no. If I laugh at that, I’d feel like a terrible human being… Haha!”

Yet, despite the awkwardness, the kids couldn’t hold back their laughter.

Except for Minho, who seemed in doubt whether it was true or not.

“Well, I shared mine… next is Ageha. Got any embarrassing memories?”

“M-me? Not at all! But… I can’t pass this up, so if I had to think of one… maybe this?”

Ageha blushed a little and decided to share an embarrassing childhood memory.

“When I was little, I once cried my eyes out at home because I couldn’t buy something I wanted from a toy shop… Yup, that’s everything. My parents didn’t even scold me about it!”

“You said there was nothing embarrassing, yet it seems like something was indeed stepped on.”

“Yet somehow… it’s so lady-like that it doesn’t even make me want to tease you…”

“Yeah, right. It seems a bit cute… that kind of vibe…”

The girls added their commentary, enjoying that Ageha was the same back then as now.

“If we’re doing it like this, I’d like to call on Yeonhwa! Come on, Yeonhwa, got an embarrassing story?”

Yeonhwa, chuckling awkwardly, said she had many, and then confidently shared one.

“When I was a kid, I accidentally walked into the boys’ bathroom!”

Now that’s certainly an embarrassing story, but isn’t she being a bit too proud about it? When I asked what was so glorious about that, she replied confidently that no one caught her.

Plus, she claimed she didn’t realize it was the boys’ bathroom back then.

“So that doesn’t mean it’s not embarrassing, right?”

Ageha made a fair point, but Yeonhwa insisted that looking back now it’s embarrassing, so that makes it okay.

Well… I guess that is a fair point…? Being embarrassed about something makes it embarrassing.

“Seolhwa, do you not have any embarrassing moments?”

When Seolhwa felt the arrow turn towards her, she effortlessly began spinning a tale without showing any reaction.

“As a kid, it was too hot, so I made ice in my blanket, but it melted while I was sleeping, and my mom and dad teased me about wetting the bed. I felt so embarrassed I could cry.”

When the pee story came up, Lapiz looked a bit caught off guard but pretended nothing was wrong and moved on.

“That was a bit harsh from your parents.”

“I thought so too. That’s why when they both retire, I plan to cut down their allowance.”

“Um… is that so?”

Ageha seemed lost on how to respond, awkwardly chuckling as she tried to move past it. Yeonhwa seemed put off by how dark it suddenly became, giving a hesitant smile.

“…I’d be able to overlook it if they apologized, but since they seem unwilling, next up, Lapiz.”

“M-me? Uh, um…”

Lapiz made me curious too. There had to be some stories in there.

She contemplated hard on what to say until finally arriving at a shareable moment.

“Uh, once when I was playing hide and seek with my grandma and mom, I hid in a closet that only opened from the outside… Ah, I cried for help in there… I could’ve smashed my way out with my ability, but I just froze in fear…”

Her finally sharing a funny, embarrassing tale prompted everyone to burst out laughing like they’d been waiting for it. It wasn’t serious like mine or cold like Seolhwa’s.

“Then it’s Minho’s turn!”

“Is it really already my turn? I mean… I guess. Umm… oh yeah! Once at an amusement park, I bought a popsicle but spilled it all after tripping.”

“That’s more sad than embarrassing, right?”

Jinhyeon pointed that out, and Minho looked puzzled, trying to think but couldn’t come up with anything else, looking a bit awkward.

“You don’t have much to share either, huh?”

Minho casually pointed over to Jinhyeon, who also seemed to have nothing to contribute.

“Well, there’s that…”

“Boo, this is boring!”

Someone piped up, expressing dissatisfaction with the lack of entertainment.

And so, my aim to find particularly memorable stories ended in failure.

After all, it wrapped up just like any other day, ending with a “Let’s do this again tomorrow!” kind of meeting.

 

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