“P-please… be gentle with me.”
“All I’m going to do is touch your horns. I’ll only touch them lightly. You don’t need to tremble so much.”
“Y-yes…!”
Unexpectedly, subtly, more than I’d thought.
The girl named Batori was easy.
After all, just by continuing to say that I wanted to touch her horns—asking about four more times—she really did give me permission.
Even I wondered whether it was right to allow someone you’d only met five minutes ago to do that… but putting that aside, I seriously wanted to touch them.
So, with nothing but gratitude in my heart, I reached out toward the girl who was offering her head to me—or, more precisely, offering her horns.
…Though saying I reached out toward a girl sounds a little dangerous.
It was the truth, though.
“H-hi, hyaah… eek, u-um, heh….”
“Are they very ticklish?”
In any case, the sensation of the horns I touched was smooth.
There was no roughness at all. They were just smooth, so pleasant that I found myself wanting to keep stroking them.
Of course, they didn’t seem like they’d be very suitable for combat… Anyway, they were quite fascinating.
But what I learned while touching those horns was that there were nerves in them too.
“I-it’s the first time someone else has touched them, so it feels really, hyak, strange….”
Judging by the way Batori let out little groans as though it tickled terribly, and the way her face flushed, they seemed to be rather sensitive organs.
I’d never had horns myself, so I wouldn’t know.
No, in the first place, I’d heard that while the sensation varied among beastfolk with horns, most of them were usually dull there, so I hadn’t paid attention.
I hadn’t expected them to be this sensitive.
“Aha, it must have been a sudden request. I’m sorry. Please sit back comfortably now.”
“Y-yes….”
“Hmm… Before we get into the main discussion, I’ll ask you a question.”
“Y-yes!!”
“…You don’t need to be so startled. Just answer comfortably. To begin with, I’m only here for your welfare, Miss Batori.”
“Still, um….”
“Hehe, hmm… The first question is about your ability. According to our file, your recent concerns seem to be about using and developing your ability. What exactly is your ability, Eoduksini?”
Up until just a moment ago, I’d been playing around by touching her horns, but now it was time to get down to work.
After all, I had come here to resolve the problems of the girl named Batori.
If I followed my heart, I wouldn’t have minded spending more time touching her horns, but I still had a job to do… and if I did my work half-heartedly, the team leader would definitely tear into me.
“Um… when I receive attention, I get bigger, and my strength gets all bulging and powerful…? I think that’s how I can describe it.”
“…Pardon?”
“L-like, literally… When people pay attention to me, I become stronger.”
“…….”
After hearing Batori’s words, I was a little flustered, but I slowly thought it over.
Eoduksini.
A dokkaebi, or perhaps a yokai close to one.
Digging deeper into my memory, I slowly recalled what sort of being an eoduksini was.
Originally, it was an extremely small creature, but it reacted to people’s gazes, and if a person kept looking at it, it would gradually grow larger.
To put it simply, it was a dokkaebi that absolutely loved receiving attention.
The more attention it received, the stronger it became, and in the end, it attacked the person who had been staring at it—or something like that, I think.
“I see. I don’t know exactly how much stronger you become, but with an ability like that… you must have a lot to worry about.”
I had roughly grasped the ability called Eoduksini.
It could be briefly summarized as becoming stronger when there were many people watching, or the more people there were cheering for her, and I could understand what Batori was troubled about.
“After all, there aren’t many people who watch the combat scenes of E-rank heroes. Unlike C-rank and above, who are dispatched and receive the spotlight directly, E-ranks mostly just deal with neighborhood punks….”
Naturally, it would have been difficult for Batori herself to accurately grasp the extent of her ability.
She was a transformation-type ability user, but in detail, her ability was one that strengthened under certain conditions… so it would have been hard for her to know how far her power could rise.
If she hadn’t been E-rank, she probably would’ve been able to understand her own level better.
And on top of that, she had only debuted recently in the first place, hadn’t she?
“Hmm… Personally, considering your ability, Miss Batori, I think you could simply wait on a street where lots of people pass by, and if a criminal appears, try fighting there….”
In the end, I thought the best method would be to receive proper, overwhelming attention.
So I began saying that.
“Eek….”
“Especially in busy districts, most people tend to cheer earnestly even for E-rank and D-rank heroes.”
“Eeeek……!”
“So if you keep waiting in a place like that and draw attention properly just once….”
“Eeeeeek……!!”
“…….”
“I-im-im-im-impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, im-im-impossible…….”
“…….”
She shook her head from side to side like crazy.
The dokkaebi girl, whose already small body seemed to shrink even further, reacted as though there was absolutely no way she could do it.
I hadn’t said anything harsh enough to make her cry, yet seeing her begin to shed tears little by little on her own actually made me feel sorry.
“Ah….”
This girl… Her ability and personality were completely, truly, severely incompatible.
She had seemed to have a bit of low self-esteem earlier too.
But this was only hearing a suggestion to try it, not even actually doing it, and she was already crying like this….
“…Haha.”
It seemed Batori was… well, um.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I was born, I’m sorry I was born with an ability that needs attention even though I’m scared of receiving attention, I’m too scared to slit my stomach open and die, so I’ll just quietly curl up and live like nothing. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…!”
“Um, first… could you calm down a little…? I don’t actually intend to force you, Miss Batori. There are plenty of other methods that don’t have to be that extreme.”
“Th-there are…?”
“Of course. Just trust me, Charlotte, the ace of the Hero Welfare Department. Hehe.”
…She had an extremely timid personality.
And truly, truly, to a severe degree.
But because of that, I also thought it might actually be better.
In the end, the psychological issue took up a large portion.
And resolving those psychological issues was one of the things I was best at, so rather than worrying too much, I decided to think positively.
“Miss Batori.”
“Y-yes….”
So I moved over beside Batori, who was still all shriveled up.
The café was quiet overall and easy to talk in, but… it would be a bit uncomfortable to lie down and spend time here….
And since it was still outside, it would be uncomfortable.
“First, would you like to come sleep at my place for a bit?”
“…Pardon?”
I made that proposal to the dokkaebi girl.
.
.
.
“Um, excuse me… Miss Caseworker…? Why exactly are we going to your house… and what do you mean by sleeping…?”
“It means exactly what I said. Please just sleep for a little while and then go.”
“Yes…?”
As soon as we got out of the taxi, Batori asked me another question.
I wanted to answer her right away, but the name of my ability drew attention in all sorts of ways, and if I said it confidently outside, people would treat me like some kind of weirdo.
So I decided to give her a proper explanation once we got home.
“Once we arrive, I’ll explain everything to you one by one.”
“Ah, b-but….”
“Just trust me, Miss Batori.”
“Y-yes….”
By the way, even in my own opinion, this honestly felt a little dangerous.
Yet Batori, who was following me, continued to follow while being extremely suspicious and worried, and honestly… that worried me.
Seriously, if someone said they’d give her candy and asked her to go do something nice with them… I felt like she’d follow.
“…….”
Well, I could resolve that too in a little while.
In any case, that was how I ended up entering my home together with the shriveled-up dokkaebi.
It was a one-room apartment, so it was on the small side, but Batori had a small build, and I was also on the small side, so it wasn’t particularly a problem.
“I’ll explain why I brought you to my house like this.”
“Y-yes…!”
“You don’t need to be so nervous….”
Since someone she’d only just met had suddenly told her to follow them home, of course she couldn’t help being flustered.
She’d been fidgeting constantly since earlier.
“First, I couldn’t say this outside because it’s troublesome to talk about there. Now I’ll explain properly.”
“Yes, Miss Caseworker…! I’m ready to listen…!”
“My ability is hypnosis. Literally hypnosis. But that doesn’t mean I can use it without any conditions, nor can I truly control people however I want.”
“A-and so…?”
“I’m going to hypnotize you, Miss Batori. So that even when you receive people’s attention, you can be at least a little more okay with it.”
“…Is that possible?”
“Of course. I’m only changing your attitude, just very slightly.”
“Gasp…….”
Hypnosis.
Honestly, just hearing the name made it sound like an incredibly overpowered ability, and like something that would be used in a somewhat perverted way.
But unfortunately, just a little unfortunately.
I wasn’t actually a strange person… but unfortunately, it wasn’t an ability on that level.
It was closer to a kind of suggestion.
And even that was an annoying ability that required a fair amount of preparation before I could hypnotize someone.
“To use my ability, your mind and body need to be stable. You need to be comfortable—literally comfortable enough to fall asleep—and we can’t do that outside, can we? And lying down is much more comfortable for the body than sitting.”
“So that’s why….”
“Yes, that’s why.”
Fortunately, after hearing my words, Batori seemed convinced and nodded slightly.
Well….
Even if I hadn’t explained, considering she’d followed me home like this, she probably would have believed me easily anyway.
At any rate, after that, it was simple.
We shared a warm cup of tea and had a suitable conversation, and when her body began to grow drowsy after about thirty minutes, I laid Batori down on my bed.
“Somehow… it smells really nice….”
“Does it? Since I lie here every day, I can’t really tell.”
Lying on my bed, Batori had an extremely comfortable expression on her face.
Watching her, I turned off the room light and began lighting one of the candles lying around the house.
It wasn’t something I used often, but it was an attempt to create a somewhat relaxing atmosphere, and turning on the ceiling light would be far too dazzling.
“Somehow, the mood is really… nice.”
“Hehe, is it?”
“Yes, it feels like I came to receive a really good massage…. Though I’ve never received one before.”
“It does have that sort of feeling.”
Her expression gradually became languid, and I could see her tense shoulders loosening.
It was probably about time now. It seemed all right to do it.
“Then, I’ll begin.”
“Yes. What should I do?”
“Just… stay comfortable.”
You won’t remember it anyway.
The small dokkaebi girl looked at me, and I lightly snapped my fingers in front of her eyes.
Along with a small but crisp sound, the girl’s eyes completely clouded over.