“Unni, wake up! I’m telling you, wake up! We have to go to the academy. Aren’t you going to see Mari unni?”
Pushing up her heavy eyelids, through blurry vision she saw brown hair shaking her awake.
“Jieun… I’m so tired.”
“That’s why—who told you to wander around with Mari unni until so late? If you come home early, that unni can rest properly and sleep well too.”
“Mmh… but yesterday was fun.”
As Yuri mumbled and tried to bury her face in the pillow again, the blanket covering her was yanked away.
“If you keep this up, you won’t see Mari unni this afternoon.”
“No. Help me wash up… I can’t move.”
“What do you mean, help you wash up? Hurry up and get up!”
Jieun was not her blood sister. Five years ago, right when Yuri had just awakened her ability, she had rescued a child from the ruins of a collapsed building. They had lived together ever since, and that continued to this day.
Though she was an ordinary twenty-year-old without a single special ability, she was family more precious than anyone else.
And to be honest, though her nagging was a bit much, without Jieun in this house, it was obvious they wouldn’t even manage to eat.
Twenty-year-old Jieun, twenty-two-year-old herself, and twenty-four-year-old Mari unni. Even their ages were pretty, consecutive even numbers. There was no doubt that they were destined.
“I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere and stay home. It’s dangerous outside.”
“There’s nowhere for me to go anyway. Unni, don’t cause any trouble and come back quickly.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Today, the sky was exceptionally clear.
Under a cloudless blue sky, street tree leaves fluttered in the wind. Yuri adjusted her bag strap and walked with light steps.
Arriving at the academy, she sneakily peeked through the window before opening the door. As expected, Mari unni was sitting in her seat.
Yuri ran her hand straight down through her brown hair—which was disguised with magic—and opened the door with a delighted expression.
“Mari unni!”
“Oh, Yuri. You’re here?”
Though her voice was affectionate as always, Yuri could see Mari’s brows furrowed in displeasure.
“What are you looking at so seriously?”
“Sigh… because of the morning article.”
As Yuri put down her bag and sat, leaning in, Mari silently showed her phone. A bold headline filling the screen caught Yuri’s eye.
[Exclusive] S-Class Hero Jo Mari Fails to Capture Pink Witch! Downtown Rooftops Covered in Sparkling Powder… Special Cleanup Companies on High Alert! Continued Waste of National Tax?
“Ah…….”
The culprit was none other than herself, sitting quietly right here in this very spot.
Feeling a bit sorry for the cleanup company workers who must have struggled all night peeling off the adhesive glitter, she rolled her eyes awkwardly, let out a dry “heh—” and smiled before taking her seat.
“If she gets caught, she’ll really get it. I won’t let her off easy.”
At Mari’s voice, cold as ice, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Yuri’s nape.
Yuri blinked her eyes as if she knew nothing on the outside, but inwardly vowed that she absolutely must not get caught.
“Ahaha… seems like something big happened this time too. If even you couldn’t catch her, unni, she must really be amazing.”
Bearing the cold aura radiating from beside her, Yuri carefully opened her mouth. Mari narrowed her brows as if asking what she was talking about and answered firmly.
“No. A villain can’t be amazing. She’s just… a bothersome existence, that’s all.”
“I suppose so…? I only have the ability to make pink gum, so I don’t really know.”
When Yuri sullenly disparaged her own ability, the stiffened Mari flinched in surprise and hastily offered words of comfort.
“…No! Abilities can improve the more you use them, and you never know how they might upgrade later. Cheer up.”
At Mari’s clumsy consolation brimming with sincerity, Yuri formed a faint smile.
Where on this kind, soft person did everyone look to gossip that she was iron-blooded or cold-blooded?
Of course, Mari’s appearance in front of cameras had been cold. Thinking about it, she only gave stiff answers to questions, so it was understandable that she was misunderstood.
“But I’m attending the academy because my abilities are lacking, trying to get into the Association’s administrative staff through recommendation. Why are you attending here, unni? You’re an S-Class Hero. And you enrolled right after I registered, too.”
“Huh? Th-that’s right. I have a lot of personal time left over anyway, and there’s no end to learning, haha.”
Watching Mari laugh awkwardly, creaking like a robot, Yuri tilted her head. Well, however it was, she was just happy she could see her unni beside her.
But class was boring as expected. Even the instructor lacked energy and limply dragged on.
Yuri had long been looking not at the blackboard, but only at the seat beside her.
Bathed in sunlight, Mari's black hair sparkled in every strand.
“What are you looking at?”
“Your hair, unni. It’s amazing how smooth it looks, and it’s pretty.”
“Haha, what’s with you?”
“I’m serious.”
In truth, it wasn’t just her hair that was pretty.
Her sleek, soft-looking hands moving during class, and the way her brow slightly furrowed and shallowly wrinkled when she was thinking about something.
Everything looked beautiful.
Why on earth is Mari unni attending here, really?
Yuri scratched her cheek as she looked at Mari, blinking blankly toward the blackboard. No matter how she looked at it, Mari didn’t seem to be concentrating on the class.
It had already been nearly a year since she started attending here. If she only considered the classes, she should quit right away, but Yuri planned to gauge how long unni would attend and quit together when she did.
Still, there were additional joys.
Talking outside of class was more fun than class time. It was the only moment when Mari unni, who was usually a bit taciturn, expressed her emotions most honestly.
“That rocket-shooting villain from before was really tricky. He shot so recklessly, all the heroes were so focused on blocking the missiles rather than catching the villain to prevent civilian casualties.”
“Wow, there must have been a lot of missiles.”
It was a pattern where Mari talked and Yuri listened with great interest.
“Don’t even mention it. They were the size of millet grains but disgustingly numerous. And he kept making more with magic power, so it was practically catchball.”
Mari shook her head as if disgusted and gulped down her iced coffee with floating ice cubes. Yuri followed suit, sipping her sweet chocolate smoothie and grinning bashfully.
“But you eventually caught him and sent him to prison, right? Since our unni was dispatched.”
“Of course. I have several team members supporting me. No matter what, one can’t defeat many.”
Mari’s expression looked nonchalant, but a subtle pride seeped through it. Yuri observed that expression quietly and then asked with a deliberately curious face.
“Then what about Pink Witch?”
For a moment, Mari’s facial muscles stiffened slightly. Yuri giggled inwardly but outwardly continued with an innocent tone.
“That villain causes an even bigger fuss when other heroes swarm in, so you’re the only one dispatched exclusively for her. And because you’re the only S-Class.”
“She is… hmm.”
As if a throbbing headache was surging in, Mari pressed her temple firmly with her finger, then sucked down the remaining coffee with much rougher vigor than before.
Clack.
Setting the empty cup down on the table with an audible sound, Mari opened her mouth with a subtly twisted expression.
“Pink is an S-Class villain, but truthfully, there’s something ambiguous about calling her a villain. And Pink Witch is completely outside the ranking system. Because no matter what, she doesn’t get caught.”
“That’s a relief. That such a troublesome villain doesn’t harm innocent people. Ah, though there was exactly one exception, wasn’t there?”
Yuri held the straw in her mouth and broached the subject with an innocent face.
Three years ago.
It was the day Yuri was secretly watching Mari fight another villain and was caught for the first time in her life.
Dodging Mari’s attacks, which were excited from the battle at the time, Yuri had desperately fled only to places without people. But ultimately, a single blow from Mari, who had completely failed to control her strength, caused an entire old neighborhood on the outskirts to disappear entirely.
The next day, the media announced it as Pink Witch’s terrible terror, and Mari remained silent about the truth. Only the two of them knew the truth hidden within that horrific ruin.
“…Let’s go, Yuri.”
Watching Mari pick up her bag with a stiff face, Yuri secretly swallowed a bitter smile.
The stubborn and upright Mari still seemed to feel a heavy burden over the fact that she had entirely shifted the blame for her mistake onto a villain.
But Yuri, the person actually involved, didn’t care at all.
So what if she received some of the world’s blame in her stead? If only her unni’s heart could be at ease, that would be fine. Her unni, too, really could let it go by now.
No, perhaps even feeling that sense of responsibility was so like her.
A stubborn and upright person.
That person who lived bearing her mistakes alone.
Perhaps that was why she liked her even more.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Yuri picked up her bag and quickened her steps toward Mari’s retreating figure.