“Phew.”
White breath escaped with my sigh.
The weather is chilly.
The street trees have shed their leaves and started preparing for winter.
The seasons in Korea were slowly entering winter too.
It’s almost a year already.
Time has passed quickly since meeting the Astria continent again.
My body still hasn’t grown.
Actually, by the identity I obtained in this world, I’m an adult this year. Since it’s a body initially created as about a seven-year-old girl, even I don’t know my exact age.
Roughly calculating, is my body’s age seventeen? Eighteen?
Anyway, I thought I could grow a bit more, but it seems my growth has ended here.
My frail body complained of cold even in just slightly chilly weather. Although I’m covered with a coat, I definitely felt the chill.
Swish.
The hand pushing my wheelchair from behind wrapped another coat around my body.
I buried my face in the collar of that coat.
The coat has a scent that makes me feel at ease.
Chris unnie’s fragrance.
I turned my head to look at Chris.
She was pushing my wheelchair with a bright smile, holding a bag containing groceries we bought today in one hand.
It’s fine because it’s an electric wheelchair, but she says she likes pushing my wheelchair.
“Unnie, aren’t you cold?”
“Hmm~? Not cold at all.”
I stared at Chris.
She came out with me right after leaving work and is still wearing the clothes she wore at the company.
The white shirt she’s wearing on top stands out. It makes a good contrast with her red straight hair. Though not as long as mine which reaches near my waist, her hair is quite long too.
Her nice figure is emphasized over the bright shirt. Different from my thin body. It’s a beautiful woman’s body.
Chris said she likes white, didn’t she? She said she’s a researcher at a capsule company. If she wore a white gown over that shirt, it would look really cool.
Somehow like a female researcher defying the laws of space and time.
“Unnie. Do you know Christina?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s, it’s something.”
I blushed slightly as I briefly recalled a classic sci-fi animation.
Certainly, memories of my past life remain faintly.
But now, there’s no consciousness that that existence was me.
When did that disappear from within me?
Looking back, it’s actually quite a long time ago.
The body created in the Astria continent.
Rain, newly born in the body of a small seven-year-old girl.
A soul and memories crammed into an immature body and brain.
Within the small girl suffering from identity confusion, the consciousness that ‘that’ from the past life was me gradually disappeared.
And what remained was just a timid seven-year-old girl.
Does it mean abstract memories of the soul can’t overcome the clearly existing body and brain? Certainly, it seems the human body has the biggest influence on self-formation. Though I know nothing about neuroscience.
What was needed to establish identity while my body grew in the church?
Priests and sword masters who kept disappearing and changing, drafted into the fight against demons.
Me, who accumulated mana while overworking my body, suffering from identity confusion in a colorless growth process without a single person to mentally support.
Until the church where I grew up was annihilated by demons, the hero’s growth wasn’t achieved.
Neither mentally nor physically.
And the hero who finally started growing after meeting companions later… Died there with those companions.
And what remained was the dregs that couldn’t become a hero.
Just a timid girl.
“Rain?”
“Ah, yes!”
I shook my head vigorously and looked at Chris.
Being in this world indeed makes me think about other things a lot.
Still, the reason I can avoid losing myself and shattering into scattered fragments is.
Probably because of this woman I met in the Astria continent I encountered again.
A gentle red warmth that stabilizes unstable me.
Swish.
A hand approaches. To my head.
I narrowed my eyes and accepted that touch.
Pat pat.
My chest tickles at the touch stroking my head.
No thoughts come, and my torn and tattered heart is mended.
Was this what I needed?
“Aah~”
“…Ah.”
Munch munch.
I looked at Chris with a slightly sulky expression.
“Chris unnie… I can eat by myself.”
“I told you, right? It’s just unnie’s childish whim.”
Chris smiled brightly and put egg roll in my mouth again.
Munch.
Though I complained, I still ate the egg roll that entered my mouth deliciously.
The seasoning is just right, and the texture of the appropriately added green onions is excellent too.
Unnie is really good at making egg rolls.
“Now, you eat meat well too, right?”
“Yes. I like meat.”
I took a spoonful of rice with the beef Chris put on my rice.
At the same time, my eyes widened.
It’s delicious.
I don’t know much about beef cuts, but it must be an expensive part?
Though my only luxury was delivery food, since living with Chris I often eat expensive seafood or meat.
We’re having dinner quite late today because we went for a park walk after grocery shopping with Chris.
After eating, I should wash up and go to sleep right away after digesting a bit.
Chris, who was having dinner with me while making light conversation, suddenly said in a passing tone.
“If Rain is okay with it, I’d like to go on a trip, or something like that, with Rain later.”
“A trip?”
At the word ‘trip’ that Chris suddenly brought up, I expressed surprise while stopping eating.
“Yes. A city with lots to see, or the beach, or a famous domestic resort. Ah, an overseas trip would be good too.”
“Hmm…”
A trip.
With Lee Seulbi’s body?
There are many places with pretty scenery in the Astria continent too.
There’s no need to travel with an inconvenient body in this world.
“I.”
I was about to open my mouth to express refusal, but swallowed my words again.
Rain with 100% synchronization rate can vividly feel all sensations of that world.
The pleasant sensation of water touching feet, the feeling of fresh wind blowing, even changes in temperature according to seasons.
But what about Chris unnie?
Unlike Rain, ordinary users will feel much more of a game feeling than a sense of reality in the ‘Astria continent’.
No matter how well-made the world is, the constraint of synchronization rate comes greatly to Chris.
If I think of Chris unnie, I can’t insist only on the Astria continent.
I shouldn’t think only of myself.
My inconvenient body in this world might be okay if I’m with Chris unnie.
I steeled my heart and opened my mouth.
“…Okay.”
“Hm? Really!?”
Chris’s face, which had been dejectedly scooping rice after seeing my displeased expression, brightened.
I set a condition with a firm expression.
“But it can’t overlap with schedules for early stages of dungeons with expensive bus fees, or new dungeon trials.”
“Yes, yes! Of course! Unnie is busy after new dungeons open too!”
Chris clenched her fists and nodded vigorously.
I chuckled at her childlike reaction.
Is she that happy to go on a trip with me?
“Then, when should we do it. Hmm~ Since Rain is sensitive to cold, winter is definitely a bit… Summer beach? Or an overseas trip to a warm country even in winter would be good too.”
“Overseas travel is a bit…”
I shrank my body slightly.
Going far is burdensome.
“R-right? It would be good to go when spring comes! Hmm, mountains would be a bit inconvenient? The beach after all…”
“Unnie can choose. Anywhere is fine if I’m with unnie.”
“Alright! Don’t worry!”
“It’s getting late so I’ll go in first.”
“Okay! Hehe, sleep well! Surely, there’s a resort owned by Klaus Corporation on the southern coast…”
Whirr.
Leaving Chris behind as she searched for travel destinations on her smartphone with a happy smile, I moved my wheelchair to my room.
“Haah.”
I sighed softly and prepared to wash up.
Even though it was just a walk while sitting in a wheelchair, my body got a bit tired.
Lee Seulbi’s body is definitely too weak.
It would have been nice if I could use Rain’s body here too.
I took off my clothes and entered the bathroom attached to my room.
Shhh.
After turning the wheelchair to shower mode, I received warm water streams on my naked body and glanced at the bathtub.
In my spacious bathroom, there’s both a shower booth and a bathtub.
I want to fill that bathtub with water, soak my whole body and take a full bath with just my head out.
A half bath is meaningless. I wanted to soak my entire body in water.
But my body is small and inconvenient.
Since my lower body has no strength, if my upper body slips I’d sink right into the bathtub bigger than my body.
I could hold onto the edge with my arms, but it would definitely be uncomfortable.
Should I ask Chris unnie to help me bathe?
After finishing a simple shower, I lay down on the soft bed and checked my smartphone.
The only messenger app I have is one linked with ‘Astria Online’.
This is enough. The most important communication with Chris is possible with this.
[Yin-Yang Master ‘Chris’ (Offline)]
-Rain, sleep well! Let’s run buses together tomorrow!
-Yes thank you. Good night to you too unnie 🙂
I had a brief conversation with Chris with a smile on my lips and closed the chat window.
The messenger main page was full of friend requests.
Shaking my head, I pressed bulk cancel.
But.
“Oh.”
One didn’t get deleted.
[Direct Message]
[Hana Games Corp. Team Leader Han]
[To ‘Drizzle Rain’]
Thump.
My heart pounded.
The company that services the ‘Astria Online’ game.
From there, to Rain.
They sent a message.