# Chapter 21
“Have you been ignoring me this whole time?”
Once again, Cal’s arrow was aimed at Rite. Whether he disliked Rite joining in late or if there was something only the children knew that adults didn’t understand, Cal always responded sharply to Rite alone.
“Go away.”
Nevertheless, Rite turned his head away, avoiding eye contact. Seeing this made my chest feel tight. Why couldn’t he speak up just once? I unconsciously stood up from my seat, but Pini stopped me.
“Watch a little longer, Arden. See if Rite can resolve it himself, and if he asks for help, it won’t be too late to step in then.”
“But…”
“Trust me. I’m the robot who raised you too, after all.”
I had nothing more to say. Pini had more experience with childcare than I did.
“Cal, stop it. Something must be going on with Rite today.”
“Why do you always take his side?”
When Ea approached to intervene, Cal seemed to get even more agitated. Rite pulled down the edge of his hood, wearing it low and bowing his head. Was he crying? As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I grew anxious, but Pini sat there without reacting.
I couldn’t just keep still anymore. I don’t know about Pini, but I couldn’t do it. This was a child who had lived with just me until now. Could such a Rite resolve conflicts in immature peer relationships? What if this incident left him with emotional scars?
As I took a step forward, Rite, who had been looking down at the ground with his head bowed, suddenly looked up. He immediately looked in our direction where Pini and I were, then strode over. Both Cal who had been angry and Ea who had been trying to pacify Cal quietly watched Rite. Rite, who had now approached me, took my hand.
“Arden, I want to go home.”
Looking past Rite’s back, I could see the children’s faces. Ea with her still indifferent expression, Cal glaring with his face distorted in anger. Those gazes seemed to be directed at me, making my heart race.
If it were Plin, rather than thinking about that, another thought came to mind first. If I were Rite, what would I have wanted Plin to do? The answer came easily. I would have wanted him to take me away from here and go back home. Having decided, I took Rite’s small hand in mine. It was warm due to his higher-than-average body temperature.
“Let’s go, Rite.”
* * *
Upon returning home, Rite immediately went up to the tree house. Pini, seemingly worried about Rite, followed us home instead of returning to the station. Thinking Rite needed some time alone, I didn’t call him down. Instead, I mixed the orange jam Pini had brought with warm milk, placed it in front of the tree house, knocked, and came back down. I hoped he would drink it before it got cold.
Taking a sip of the milk I had prepared for myself, the fragrant scent of orange lingered at the tip of my nose. Though I had smelled it so many times before that I never thought it special, it felt different meeting it in the Winter Forest. Like someone experiencing nostalgia for their hometown, I was sipping the milk when Pini sat down in the chair across from me.
“The train? Still have time?”
“Yes.”
Pini answered concisely and stared at me intently. The warm drink seemed to be relaxing the tension in my body. Feeling a bit languid, I fidgeted with the cup and opened my mouth.
“He wasn’t usually like this. From the first day, he got along quite well with the kids.”
“Rite didn’t seem to be in a good mood since this morning.”
I didn’t have much to say in detail about what happened this morning. I didn’t know much either.
“…He used to be a child who forgot things quickly.”
“…”
“Is he shy around strangers?”
“To be precise, he was avoiding eye contact.”
Pini corrected. Avoiding eye contact? Hearing it put that way, I realized that today he had frequently been looking down or avoiding gazes. He didn’t do that with me, but seeing that he wouldn’t even look at Pini, whom he had known since childhood, it didn’t seem like simple shyness. Is it puberty after all? Does that mean Rite is already about 15 years old, not 11? But he hasn’t grown that tall.
“After observing humans for over 20 years.”
I stopped my thoughts and looked up at Pini’s sudden words. The two eyes that appeared on Pini’s display panel were directed at me.
“There was never an action without a reason.”
“What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“I mean there must be some reason why Rite is acting like this too.”
“Should I ask him?”
“There’s no one correct answer to that question. Probably if it were Plin…”
Pini tapped the table with his blunt finger. Though it was an unnecessary action, Pini often imitated humans in quite specific ways.
“He would have just left it alone. ‘Just let it be, Pini.’ That’s what he would say.”
Pini mimicked Plin’s way of speaking. A weak laugh escaped between my lips at the sight.
“I must have been like that when I was young.”
“Of course. Young Arden was a child with extremely sensitive sensibilities.”
“Sensibilities? That’s the first time I’ve heard such a thing.”
Though I hadn’t received a pointed answer, somehow my anxiety had largely subsided. Was it because of the tangy orange scent? Scents can both calm and excite humans after all. Thinking of various things, I finished the milk containing orange jam. Until just a while ago, I had thought it strange that Pini had come all this way just to bring a diary and jam, but somehow I understood a little now.
If not because of the scent, perhaps it was because I had opened up to Pini. Maybe Pini was also lonely being alone at home and had made an excuse. As I looked up while making such speculations, I saw Pini displaying the basic expression on the screen.
[ㅇ ─ ㅇ]
As if a robot would feel loneliness. Even to me, it seemed like an absurd thought.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”
Pini didn’t ask further, and I didn’t speak up either. No one spoke, but strangely, I didn’t feel awkward.
* * *
The relationship between Cal and Rite, which had always seemed on the brink, finally erupted. Rite had been continuing to act coldly towards others. The more Rite avoided eye contact, the more emboldened Cal became, raising his voice, and Rite ignored that too.
There were many things that peculiarly irritated me today. Like Rite’s reaction speed being slower than usual, or his movements being sluggish. Very small elements combined to make me uneasy. It was something that could only be explained as intuition. Today too, Rite was playing with the other children, and I, having finished my work, was waiting while watching Rite play. This had become a frequent situation lately.
I started to notice something strange when Cal pushed Rite’s shoulder. Cal had approached Rite first and said something, and Rite seemed to be responding. As the conversation lengthened, the surrounding children approached the two, and at that moment, Cal pushed Rite’s shoulder.
In that instant, my heart sank, fearing Rite’s hat might come off. Fortunately, Rite’s hood only fluttered but didn’t come off. Just as I was about to feel relieved, Rite approached Cal and pushed him in the same way.
Unlike Rite who had only staggered a little, Cal fell straight to the ground. Sitting on the roadside watching, I immediately stood up at the sight. Cal too quickly got up and was approaching Rite.
But that wasn’t the problem. Rite’s hood had been continuously fluttering since earlier. I had put a hat on him large enough to hide the silhouette of his horns, but something was moving inside the cloth covering his head.
“Cal, stop. Rite, you too…”
“Let go.”
Ea was holding Cal back and trying to intervene, but Cal shook her off and approached Rite. Cal, who was tall, stood close to Rite and looked down at him.
Rite also didn’t back down and glared back, but his right hand kept twitching. I couldn’t just keep watching. We needed to go home. I went straight to the children, grabbed Rite’s right hand, and pulled.
“Rite, let’s go.”
“Keep talking, you little bastard.”
“Cal. You calm down too.”
Rite didn’t say anything in response to Cal’s provocation, but something was off. Rite’s whole body was visibly trembling. If I hesitated any longer, something might happen.
My heart beat rapidly with anxiety. It felt like only the sound of my heartbeat remained in the world.
Thump thump. Thump thump.
The loud sound completely engulfed me. The only thought in my mind was that I needed to hide Rite in a safe place.
I picked Rite up. Rite struggled, but I held him tightly and headed out of the village.
“Yeah, run away, coward.”
Cal sneered and shrugged his shoulders at Ea. Ea turned her head without any particular response. Rite’s struggles became more intense. “Let go, Arden!” Rite shouted over and over, but I pretended not to hear and headed home.
After entering the forest, my strength couldn’t keep up. It was a challenging task to carry a child with the physical development of an 11-year-old while ignoring his struggles. As soon as I put him down, I had to hold back the child who tried to go to the village, and only after coaxing him for a while could we finally make it home. He was so strong that I was almost dragging him along.
Even after closing the front door, I stood with my back against the door, looking at Rite. It seemed like Rite might dash out to the village even now. Rite’s chest continued to rise and fall with rough breaths, still not calmed down.
“Rite…”
“I said I didn’t want to go! But why do you do whatever you want? Why did you carry me like a child?”
“Rite, calm down.”
“This makes it look like I lost!”
“Damn Cal, I’ll break his nose.” Rite muttered these harsh words repeatedly. I had no idea where he learned such expressions, and it gave me a headache.
But before criticizing his language, there was something more important. Rite’s body was still trembling abnormally. His hat had long been off since entering the forest, and his horns seemed to have grown larger than usual. Was it my imagination? I lowered my body to match Rite’s gaze and repeatedly stroked both his shoulders.
“Rite. You’re too excited right now. Just calm down a little, and tell me what happened.”
Rite trembled, shaking off my touch. Still, I didn’t give up and held onto Rite.
“Why are you so angry?”
“He said I’m strange. That bastard Cal keeps saying I’m strange whenever he sees me.”
“What’s strange? Your eyes?”
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded urgent. Did he discover the horns? I anxiously waited for Rite to speak.
“He says my eyes are strange, and it’s strange that I live with just Arden in the forest. He says it’s strange to live without a mom and dad…”
“That’s not strange. Rite, I told you. I took you when you were alone in the forest…”
“I told him everything! But he still says it’s strange. He says it’s strange that I don’t have parents and don’t even have a real birthday!”
I was relieved that the horns weren’t discovered, but separate from that, Rite’s words pierced my heart. I couldn’t help but understand Rite’s feelings. I had grown up hearing such words myself, so I knew as well as Rite. Because of that, the thought that my child had also heard such things made my head go blank. The world was still this narrow-minded.
“He says it’s obvious looking at the fact that someone like Arden is taking care of me. He says my parents and I are birds of a feather. His dad said… that bastard Cal…”
“Rite?”
I could feel a strong heartbeat from the shoulder I was holding. Rite’s chest was pounding incessantly.
