After Batori had more or less subdued the thugs with ease, and after we’d finished handing everything over to the police, we slipped away from the place that had gotten a little too noisy.
After all, even if E-rank heroes weren’t popular, she was still a hero who had taken down ten grown men at once.
It was only natural that attention would start gathering around her in all sorts of ways.
Up until the fight, she had been fine, but… once the situation was resolved, and people gradually began crowding around Batori and kept trying to talk to her…
She started stuttering like a computer that had lagged out.
“Huuuu…”
“Are you all right? You must have been really startled.”
“Y-yes… A lot of people suddenly crowded around me… and I didn’t know what to do…”
“Well, that’s because you did such an amazing job, Miss Batori. You dealt with them all in an instant, so everyone only acted that way because they thought you were impressive.”
“That’s… still…”
Of course, I understood Batori’s reaction.
Nearly twenty people had approached her, talking to her nonstop and saying all kinds of pointless things; in that sort of situation, Batori’s brain was naturally going to short-circuit.
At first, I hadn’t planned on stopping them… but midway through listening to everyone, her face had really begun turning white.
So I had no choice but to ignore the various people trying to talk to us and drag Batori away to a quiet park like this.
“Are you feeling a little better now?”
“Y-yes…! I’m okay. You bought me iced coffee too… and it’s quiet here…?”
“That’s a relief.”
She was improving somewhat through hypnosis, but it seemed talking to too many people was still difficult for her. Even so, as I’d said before, Batori had managed to converse with about four people to an extent that could be called a conversation.
Compared to before, hadn’t she improved at least a little?
If she kept getting better, I began to think that someday she would surely be able to talk with ten people as well.
Of course… it looked like she would need quite a lot of time.
“Hehe…”
“……”
By the way.
Just.
Why.
Had she gotten taller than me?
It was a thought that resurfaced after the situation had calmed down enough for Batori to feel at ease.
I knew the reason, but admitting it was practically the same as taking a blow to my pride, so I had no choice but to stare at Batori as she sat there.
For now, I was standing, while she was sitting comfortably on the bench, so she was below my line of sight.
Even so, I could clearly feel that she had gotten bigger.
She had crossed the 150-centimeter wall.
The reason I did stretching exercises every single day, took supplements, and went to sleep early in order to grow somehow… had been solved with a mere click of an ability.
Of course, none of it was Batori’s fault, and it was also true that thanks to Batori’s ability, everything ended without any major casualties.
But I felt a little sad.
No, very sad.
Even though I now knew the reason.
“…Miss Batori?”
“Yes, what is it…?”
While I had been standing beside Batori up until now, there had been times when I’d felt that she was a little taller than when we first met.
But back then, I hadn’t thought it was because of her ability.
I’d just thought it was my imagination, or that her shoes were different… but even that had been her ability.
“…Does your height stay fixed like that?”
“Ah, n-no, it doesn’t…! Soon… probably……? I’ll go back to normal…!”
“Aha!”
After hearing Batori’s answer, I was able to reply with the brightest smile.
Because that meant she would return to being the small, cute, precious dokkaebi girl I knew, right?
Of course, the way she looked now, much taller than usual—almost twenty centimeters taller—was also incredibly pretty, and she did have a different sort of charm from usual!
Anyway, it really was a relief.
“Is the reason you usually wear clothes with long sleeves or loose fits because of your ability?”
“Yes…”
“Your sleeves are always so big that you could easily fit another fist inside…”
Hmm. I was beginning to understand all over again.
Even taking into account her small build, Batori wore clothes that were extremely oversized, but considering she could suddenly grow around twenty centimeters taller, there was no helping it.
Rather, I even thought it was the kind of ability that could be considered inconvenient in daily life.
If she could adjust her height whenever she wanted, that would be nice…
But in Batori’s case, it wasn’t like that. Her body grew when she started receiving attention.
“Then normally, I mean… the height you were when I first met you is your base height, right?”
“Yes…”
“Hmm… I see.”
So I won in terms of base height.
Yeah, that was enough.
In any case, if Batori’s ordinary height was defined, it meant she was definitely 135 centimeters, and in that case, I was almost fifteen centimeters taller.
I set aside my unnecessary worries for now and slowly began analyzing Batori’s ability on my own.
Batori hadn’t simply grown taller; her chest, her thighs… her whole body had grown overall.
On top of that, her strength and various other aspects had also strengthened, which was why she had been able to subdue the robbers so easily. Other than that, it was an ability that dramatically increased various physical capabilities…?
That was about where I concluded my analysis.
“Hmm… Miss Batori.”
“Y-yes…”
“Shall we try raising your hero ranking faster?”
“……Pardon?”
After finishing my thoughts, what I said to Batori concerned her hero grade.
It was a somewhat out-of-the-blue remark.
No, from anyone’s perspective, it was bound to sound sudden, but I couldn’t help it.
If anything, I said it for Batori’s sake.
“Miss Batori, you’re an E-rank hero right now, aren’t you? The lowest-ranked kind of hero. Of course, you’ve been gradually rising lately… but you’re still E-rank.”
“Th-that’s true…? But I don’t really understand why I have to raise my ranking more… Could you maybe explain it a little more?”
“Of course.”
I had no intention of simply telling Batori to raise her ranking and leaving it at that.
Naturally.
“Basically, Miss Batori, your ability can be seen as… a change in the size of your body. That’s how it can be summarized, right? It’s a transformation-type ability called Eoduksini, but it also has the condition of people’s gazes and attention.”
“Yes…”
Batori’s ability conditionally changed her body, and her physical abilities strengthened along with it.
I didn’t know what its limits were.
But that much was true, and in Batori’s case, rather than only one part of her body growing, her entire body grew overall, so it was bound to be very inconvenient.
“Even when you buy clothes, you always have to think about your ability, and even while wearing clothes, you can’t help but worry, right?”
“That’s…”
“If you wear clothes that are somewhat tight, they might tear, and you might end up exposed.”
“…Yes.”
“But starting around C-rank, the Hero Association begins providing heroes with costumes. Clothes designed so they won’t be inconvenient while using their abilities, or to create a special identity.”
“Um… could it be…?”
As I explained about costumes, Batori also seemed to realize what I was trying to say.
After I had explained this much, she couldn’t help but understand.
It wasn’t particularly difficult to grasp in the first place.
And from the perspective of the person actually experiencing the inconvenience, she had probably often thought about her ability in everyday life, especially regarding clothes.
“You raise your ranking to C-rank, and then apply for a costume.”
“Th-that… wouldn’t that be too hard? I’m still… only E-rank…”
“Yes, you can do it. I think you’ll definitely be able to manage it, Miss Batori. What you showed today was really cool, and if you become more accustomed to your ability, your ranking will surely rise with ease.”
“……”
“Of course, there’s also the option of asking a company instead of the Association… but that usually requires money.”
Unless a company separately sponsored a hero.
The easiest way for a hero to obtain a costume in general was to raise their ranking, which was why I recommended it to Batori.
“I’m sure you’ll really be able to do it. Just trust me.”
Could she actually do it?
Or could she not?
In truth, that wasn’t such an important question.
The reason I was saying this was, in a way… to create a sense of purpose. So that the girl named Batori could work even harder while carrying out her hero activities from now on.
And finally, I thought it could be a way for Batori not to be so swayed by people’s attention while doing hero work, like she had been today.
“Yes, of course.”
Considering Batori’s personality, it would be difficult in many ways, but…
If she gained a goal important enough that she wouldn’t be swayed by people’s gazes, that would be enough.
“I believe you’ll be able to do it, Miss Batori.”
I simply affirmed everything.
What Batori needed right now wasn’t technical support or financial support, but merely the existence of someone who believed in her.
If she could slowly move forward like that, that would be enough.
“…Okay, I’ll trust only your words, Manager……!”
“Huhu.”
By the way, as we talked like that and I calmed Batori down, after about thirty minutes had passed since Batori’s body had grown…
Batori’s height, chest, and thighs slowly began to shrink.
Watching her body gradually get smaller, like air slowly escaping from a balloon, felt somehow fascinating.
On top of that, even her horns—the one part of her grown appearance I could wholeheartedly approve of—changed back into something small and adorable.
“Ehehe……”
“It really is a fascinating ability.”
Personally, I had seen all sorts of ability users, but this was definitely not an ordinary kind of ability.
It was unusual.
A truly dokkaebi-like, mysterious ability.
A variable-type dokkaebi who could have a tiny, adorable appearance, and also a curvy appearance.
Because of that trait, if Batori became more active from now on, continued her hero work, and steadily raised her ranking, I thought her popularity would surely increase just as much in the process.
It would certainly influence her ranking naturally as well.
If she started properly drawing people’s attention at D-rank… I even began to expect that she might rise to C-rank more easily than I’d thought.
“Hmm.”
I was a little regretful that she had gotten taller than me, but…
Batori’s appearance after growing through her ability truly was attractive.
Even I, who had been shocked and fallen into despair at the sight of her being taller than me, couldn’t help but nod in agreement.