"……."
"Miss Batori?"
"……."
"…Um, are you alright?"
I asked, genuinely worried about the black-and-white-haired girl sitting across from me.
There probably wasn't any special reason… or so it seemed.
It was just that, right when I was introducing the mentoring with Ms. Saran, she had gone completely unresponsive, like a computer that had bluescreened and shut down because its memory had been suddenly yanked out.
I hadn't even told her anything particularly special.
Quite literally, I had said a few words about the mentoring with Ms. Saran, then shown her some documents containing a brief—really, extremely brief—explanation about her.
A decent photo of Ms. Saran's face was attached, and… roughly that she was a Snake transformation-type Awakener and a veteran hero.
That was the end of the explanation, yet….
"Miss Batori? You are alright, right? That's what this is, right…? Could you answer me?"
"Uh, u-um, h-huh, a-ah…?"
"……."
She was broken, no doubt about it.
I hadn't known her for long, but seeing Miss Batori so thoroughly broken left me a bit flustered.
I hadn't expected her mind to grind to a halt over just this much.
I knew Miss Batori struggled with people, but I had never imagined she would react so foolishly to this extent, so I was at a loss.
"Miss Batori, is it… very difficult for you? I prepared this thinking it might be of some help."
"Ah, i-it's… even so… y-you're too scary…."
"Scary?"
"She looks scary…."
"…?"
Was she?
After hearing Miss Batori's words, I quietly stared at the photo of Ms. Saran's face inside the documents.
It had been taken against a dark background, and the lighting was on the dim side as well, so it wasn't exactly a bright and cheerful photo, but even so, Ms. Saran didn't look so frightening that you couldn't even talk to her.
If anything, didn't she strongly give off the vibe of a cold urban beauty, a cool woman…?
How should I put it—like during school days, the type that's in every class, prince-like, handsome yet pretty, but with a solemn, heavy atmosphere…?
Was it the serpentine, slit-like eyes or her sharp features that came across as frightening?
Or perhaps because the photo had been taken with too expressionless a face?
It was quite difficult to relate to on many levels, but since Miss Batori didn't seem to be trying to refuse the matter entirely, I let out a very small sigh and prepared to speak up.
After all, it was always my job to break the ice.
"I know Miss Batori is a bit frightened, but Ms. Saran is absolutely not a bad person. She's just a little taciturn…?"
"B-but she looks so terrifying, like she could effortlessly snap someone's neck, and if I said something even slightly wrong, she'd drive a metal needle into my temple and kill me, and if I asked a needless question, she'd strangle me just because it's annoying, and since she's a snake, she probably has fangs too, so she'd poison me until I got paralysis in my limbs or cerebral palsy and kill me—how can you say she's not a bad person, h-how…?"
"……."
Oh, Batori, Batori….
She was… a much ruder child than I thought…?
The words firing out of Miss Batori's mouth like a volley left me unable to react for a moment.
Of course, it was probably something that slipped out without passing through her brain because she was frightened, but… I had truly never expected Ms. Saran to come across that way.
"Miss Batori? Please, try to calm down first. She really isn't a bad person. If she were a bad person from the start, she wouldn't have been working as a hero for six years, right?"
"T-that's…."
"She really isn't a bad person. On the contrary, she always does her best whenever work comes in. So, just once… I'll arrange a very light, really light meeting. How about just exchanging a few words?"
"If… if you insist that much, ma'am…."
…I took her hand to calm her down entirely, then reeled off a string of persuasive words.
After that, I continued to tell her about the various benefits she could gain through mentoring.
As a result.
Both Miss Batori and Ms. Saran accepted each other, and naturally, I began coordinating the schedule… and of course, the meeting place was the usual café.
"……."
"……."
Perhaps it was because neither of them had fixed routines.
After all, being a hero was a job with a bit of a freelancer feel to it… and unless a dispatch request came in, there wasn't much work.
The two were sitting in the room even before I entered, and naturally, they weren't exchanging a single word.
Since it was exactly what I had expected, I smiled and greeted them.
"Did you both arrive early? Was the trip here alright? Today, um… there was some event going on nearby, so it was quite chaotic; no issues?"
"I-I'm fine… I arrived an hour early…."
"Not particularly."
"……."
Hmm.
Once again, I couldn't help but realize that my MBTI was E.
I had to admit that both of them were truly people of few words.
"You arrived a whole hour early, Miss Batori? There was no need to come that early; why were you here so soon? Did you have other business?"
"Ah, n-no, it's not that… I just thought, if I wasn't here when you arrived, ma'am, you might be disappointed…."
"Aha… that wouldn't happen. Besides, I only arrived right on time myself? Being a little late to an appointment can happen to anyone. You don't need to worry so much."
"E-even so…."
What could I say.
It was so… pitiful that I almost felt sorry myself.
Anyway, I had to keep the conversation going.
Yes, I suppressed the various words rising to my throat and decided to proceed.
"Thank you both so much for coming today. Honestly, this must be a somewhat difficult setting for both of you, so I really can't help but express my gratitude. Hehe."
"Ah, not at all…! Since you went out of your way to prepare this for us, ma'am…."
"Mm."
"Shall we get straight to the main topic then? As I mentioned before, this is mentoring. You've all heard of it during your school days, haven't you? I've never personally done it either, but literally, it's about becoming a mentor and a mentee. In this case, we're thinking of proceeding with Ms. Saran as the mentor and Miss Batori as the mentee."
"What exactly am I supposed to teach?"
"You're a veteran who debuted as a hero six years ago, right? In contrast, Miss Batori is a rookie hero who hasn't even been at it for a few months, so she has much to learn. Aside from abilities, I think you can teach her close combat, battle tactics, and various other fields."
"Mm."
"Miss Batori? She really is a good person, so I recommend learning from her without worry."
We had already spoken about this once, but… I was truly worried about Miss Batori.
For Ms. Saran, it seemed like the start would be a hassle, but once she got into it, she'd probably do fine. However, for Miss Batori, even that starting point seemed too difficult, so I couldn't help but speak to her more than usual.
"A good person?"
"Yes, someone like Ms. Saran is an incredibly good person, isn't she?"
"Hm."
As before, Ms. Saran did have somewhat random sides to her, but still?
The conversation continued, and most of it inevitably concerned the schedule.
Neither had a fixed schedule every week, so we inevitably had to talk about it, but… that alone wasn't why the conversation grew long.
The real reason the conversation dragged on was none other than me.
"C-Couldn't you sit in and watch with us, ma'am?"
"…Excuse me?"
"…I, being alone with her is… too, um, I think it would be difficult… so if, if possible… if you could attend the session together…."
"……."
She had been like this before, but….
I had thought that if she met Ms. Saran face-to-face, she might get a little better.
But it seemed Miss Batori was still frightened of Ms. Saran.
The only way such a Miss Batori could start and continue mentoring was with me.
Did she want me to play some kind of mediator role, or did she simply want to avoid being alone with Ms. Saran, who felt scary to her…?
It was a statement that gave me much to think about, but….
"I'm not close with her either. Charlotte, I think it'd be better if you came along."
"…Is that so?"
Even Ms. Saran had said this, so I had no choice but to nod.
Usually, I met with the heroes under my charge about once a week, so I didn't have many business trips in a week.
But lately, the number of trips I had to take seemed to be gradually increasing, which was becoming a concern.
Of course, writing reports and documents wasn't very difficult, so the team leader would smoothly permit me to go out for afternoon site visits, and the results were coming out positively for now.
Thinking this was something that could help the two of them more than it was a worry, I began discussing the schedule in earnest.
Twice a week in total.
We wrapped things up by setting a separate schedule from the once-a-week counseling meetings we'd been having until now.
For Miss Batori, I would meet her once a week, plus two additional mentoring sessions.
For Ms. Saran, weekday evening meals and weekend outings, plus two additional mentoring sessions.
"……."
It was becoming a rather tight schedule.
But I usually worked with a very light schedule, and spending time with cute, pretty beauties like them wasn't so bad.
Especially since just the thought that I could be of help to them was enough.
I decided I could push myself a little.
Well, if it got too hard and I felt I couldn't continue, I could just hand it over to another employee who had relatively more free time, right?
Of course, I had a sense of responsibility, so I intended to help as much as I could, but….
"Hm."
Still, it was true that the schedule was slowly becoming a bit tough.
I felt like I ought to demand a bonus from my team leader for working me into the ground like this.