“You said it looked red too.”
“That was just the sunlight. I was seeing it wrong.”
His voice was full of conviction. Had the sunlight really made the egg appear red? Kan fell into thought. Ollie, seeming to have found his confidence again, ignored Kan and brought over the basket.
“Here. Asel. Don’t touch the glass bottles — let’s eat some fruit. You seriously don’t give me a single peaceful day.”
The child let out a delighted giggle, then picked up a plum. And held it out toward Ollie. Ollie looked at him with a dopey grin and took a bite of the plum.
“Ollie.”
“Isn’t he such a good kid?”
The look on Ollie’s face — bashful yet bursting with pride — left Kan without words. Even if that child were Ground Clan, his habits were different from an ordinary Ground Clan member. Ground Clan members gained their independence not long after hatching from the egg.
Of course, the fact that a child who couldn’t have been born long ago appeared to be about two or three years old by human reckoning was evidence the child might indeed be Ground Clan. But……
“Ollie. So you’re saying you’re going to live together with that child?”
“……I’m going to live with him.”
“Ha……”
Resolute, without so much as a crack to slip a needle through. And with no plan whatsoever. He figured Ollie was digging his heels in simply because he didn’t want to be alone.
“Stop being stubborn.”
“Asel said he wants to be with me too.”
“Really?”
“……”
Despite his words, Ollie couldn’t immediately follow up. The child called Asel stayed glued to Ollie’s side, blankly staring at Kan. Deciding there was no getting through to him, Kan resolved to take a firmer approach.
He stepped forward and reached out toward the child. He slipped his arms under the child’s armpits and lifted him up. Suddenly separated from Ollie, the child opened his fruit-smeared mouth and wailed at the top of his lungs.
“Waaah!”
“Kan!”
Startled, Ollie reached out to take the child back, but once Kan turned his body there was no way to get to him. Ollie stamped his feet and pounded Kan’s back with his fists. It was a spirited pummeling, but unfortunately it didn’t cause Kan even the slightest pain.
“Asel! Asel! Kan, what do you think you’re doing! Put Asel down!”
“Oliver! We need to take him back to where the egg originally was.”
“No! Give him back!”
Just then — Kan felt a searing pain and jerked back in shock, trying to pull the child away. But whatever had latched onto his shoulder wouldn’t let go, and only when he yanked with the kind of force he’d use against prey did it finally come free.
“Asel!”
The child’s mouth was smeared with blood and flesh. At the sight, Ollie lost his mind — he beat Kan relentlessly, and while Kan was reeling from the pain, Ollie snatched Asel back.
“Asel! Are you okay? Kan! What did you do!”
“Oliver! I’m the one who got attacked.”
“What? What do you mean…… Asel?”
Perhaps because of the shock in Ollie’s eyes, the child quickly wiped at his mouth. But his unsteady little hands only spread the blood and flesh further across his chubby white cheeks.
“He’s not Ground Clan, Ollie. They don’t have an aggressive nature.”
“……He was startled. You suddenly picked Asel up. Anyone would attack if someone was hurting them.”
“Oliver, please……. I understand what you’re thinking, but you can’t do this.”
“……What does it have to do with you.”
“Ollie?”
Holding Asel tight to his chest, Ollie raised sharp eyes. And glared at Kan. The look in them was far from ordinary, and Kan faltered slightly.
“You’re not family, you’re nothing — so what does it have to do with you!”
“……Oliver. We’re friends.”
“Friends, he says. When you always put family first.”
The unexpected coldness of those words left Kan with nothing to say. As Bes’s delivery drew near and Matthew had gone off hunting, Kan hadn’t been able to leave her side. Around that same time, Ollie had happened to get bitten by an insect and suffered a bad fever. Seeing Ollie stumbling through the village, Kan had known something was wrong — but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to leave Bes’s side. That must have been what Ollie was referring to.
“I’m sorry, Ollie. Back then……”
“I know. Matthew wasn’t with Bes. But what did that have to do with me? You always put Bes first. Now I have family like that too. So…… you can’t take Asel away from me.”
“……”
Leaving Kan with no easy reply, Ollie turned away. He carefully wiped Asel’s thoroughly dirtied face with his sleeve. Whether the touch felt sorrowful, the child pouted and whimpered.
“Ollie……”
He called his name helplessly, and over Ollie’s shoulder, the child’s pale face peeked out. Those clear, spotless eyes were fixed directly on him. For some reason, Kan felt an inexplicable unease at that gaze.
In the end, he had no choice but to leave Ollie there — who never once looked back at him — and trudge home, clutching his throbbing shoulder.
* * *
“Um…… Masa. You know……”
A small, deflated voice echoed through Masa’s house. His hesitant manner, so unlike himself, made Masa set down what she was doing and move toward the chair where Ollie was sitting. In her hands was a cup with steam gently rising from it. Ollie followed the trail of that steam. For some reason, his mouth wouldn’t open.
“What’s got you brooding like this, so unlike yourself. You’re not exactly the type to take things seriously.”
“I can be serious when I need to be.”
“Then stop making a big deal of it and just say it. Jackson will be here soon. Won’t it be awkward to run into him?”
“What? Why are you only telling me that now!”
The fact that he’d already snapped back to his usual self made Masa feel oddly relieved.
“Right. Go on then, say it. Is something bothering you?”
Masa studied him quietly. Warmed by the gentleness she felt in that gaze, Ollie set his unease aside for a moment and opened his mouth.
“Masa, how do you think you’d feel if I had a family?”
“Family? Is there someone you’ve taken a liking to?”
“No! Ugh, it’s not like that…… I mean like, what if I had a child……”
Ollie wasn’t the type to talk nonsense. Masa knew that well. She set the steaming cup on the table and wrapped Ollie’s hand in her large ones.
“Ollie. Tell me from the beginning, whatever it is.”
“……It’s exactly what I said. I…… have a family now.”
“What kind of family? Are you saying you have a child?”
“Yeah……”
After slowly nodding, he glanced up from beneath his lashes to look at Masa. Even as she read the anxious look on his face, Masa didn’t press him and continued gently.
“Can you tell me more?”
“So…… um, I found an egg…… and…… a child was born from it.”
“Do you know what clan they are?”
“Yeah. Ground Clan.”
“……”
No further words came. Ollie straightened his shoulders — which had been curling inward — and said,
“Don’t worry! He’s growing up well. Eating well, and, um…… he can read? I taught him.”
Even with the brightness in his voice, Masa’s expression didn’t change. That gentle upward curve at the corner of her lips slowly fell.
“Masa……”
