“Heh-heh-heh… Now it’s really over for those two.”
My mom was sitting on the couch in my room, enjoying herself. She had a glass of wine in one hand. On the table in front of her were some snacks I had made. She seemed pretty happy that Ruchika and Leonie had fallen into her trap and was celebrating with one glass after another.
“Don’t drink too much, okay? You know you can’t hold your alcohol.”
“Oh, let me off easy, just for today. Especially now that it finally seems like I’ll be rid of those thorns in my side.”
Brushing off my warning, she took another sip from her class. I let out a sigh and left a glass of water on the table next to her wine bottle.
“You’re real happy just to get rid of them, huh?”
“Of course I am. They don’t deserve to be here. Only prodigies in body and mind like you should be allowed to become heroes.”
“‘Prodigies,’ huh…?”
If she was talking about people with innate skill, then Ruchika’s fighting sense could definitely be called a natural gift. And it wasn’t only her. Leonie’s bright intellect and noble ambitions were, in a way, like a talent bestowed by the heavens. I couldn’t help but feel repulsed that their talents would be wasted and lost because of this bullying.
“Did you have to go about it this way? If they really didn’t deserve to become heroes, then they would flunk out even without—”
“Danita, you don’t have to worry about any of this. Just focus on your own path to becoming a hero. There’s no need for you to pity those dropouts.”
It wasn’t pity. I was just judging them objectively. Ruchika’s strength and Leonie’s smarts were real talent. I’d much rather give them a fair and square fight and prove I was better than them on my own terms instead of letting my mom’s underhanded tactics get them expelled.
“Oh, right, I wanted to give this to you.”
Saying this, my mom took out a smallish roll of paper from her breast pocket and handed it to me. I opened it up to see it was some kind of magic scroll.
“What’s this?”
“A summoning scroll. There’s a powerful monster sealed in there. If you use it, you’ll be able to control it at will.”
A monster? Why is she givin’ this to me?
“What am I s’posed to do with this?”
“Use it during the proficiency test. I don’t expect Ruchika and Leonie will get anywhere close to passing, but just in case they do, this will take care of them—”
“Mom!”
I cut her off. I couldn’t listen to this anymore.
“You can’t do this! You’re obviously goin’ too far!”
“Going too far? But we must make those unworthy of being heroes take their leave as quickly as possible.”
“But if they are able to finish the exam, that means they do got a shot at becoming heroes, right?! So it’s wrong to go out of your way to get rid of ’em like this!”
“Danita…”
Mom set her glass down on the table, stood up, and walked over to me. Her face was flushed from the alcohol, and she had a strange look in her eyes. She looked like she was about to give a lecture to a badly behaved child. And I hated that look.
“Think of what your mother is doing as…cleaning.”
“‘Cleaning’?”
“That’s right. I’m cleaning up to create a worry-free environment for you and your prospective comrades who will also become heroes someday. I’m doing this for your sake.”
She hugged me. I wondered when I had stopped being happy to feel my own mother’s warmth. To me it, the sensation was more like some kind of mud or mucus clinging to me.
“Danita, you don’t have to think about anything. Just listen to what I say. If you do that, then you will become a hero. A splendid hero, just like your father was.”
We separated, and she looked at me as she told me this. I knew she wasn’t really seeing me. She was always chasing an illusion—the illusion of my dead father. That fact made me feel unbearably lonely.
“Hey, Danita, I’m out of the bath now, so— Oh, I didn’t know you were here, Professor Aliza,” said my roommate. “Good evening.”
“Don’t mind me, I was just leaving. Good night, then, you two.”
“…Night.”
“Good night!”
As I watched my mom leave the room, I looked down at the scroll she had left in my hands. Use this thing “just in case”? She didn’t even ask me to take them down myself. That meant she was afraid of Ruchika and Leonie. She knew they were stronger than me.
“How many times…is she gonna make a fool outta me…?”
“Danita? What’s wrong?” asked my roommate.
“None of your business!”
“Whoa! What’s with that reaction? Someone’s in a bad mood.”
“…My bad.”
There was no use taking it out on her. That just wasn’t cool of me.
“Hey, so…if your parents gave you somethin’ you didn’t need, what would you do with it?”
“Throw it away behind their backs, I guess?”
“That’s what I thought.”
If only I could just throw this thing away. But knowing my mom, she’d probably check my belongings before the test started to make sure I still had it. And if she found out I didn’t, who knew what she’d do to Ruchika and Leonie instead? I needed to hold on to this thing. I squeezed the scroll in my hand.
…Why doesn’t anyone just believe in my strength…?