SWNOVELXO Chapter 11
**Chapter 11**
A quiet alley.
A girl left all alone there sits blankly.
With no real will to live and little desire to do anything.
She blinked her dull gray eyes and savored the silence that filled the surroundings.
It was quite a help to have moved to a place with the boy whose name she now knew.
Even during the bright daytime, she could sit blankly and pass the time.
The children didn’t come up to throw stones, and adults avoided her, keeping their distance from the girl.
The almost deserted alleyways suited her just fine.
So, the girl would now pull out the candy she had hidden away during the day and eat it.
She carefully peeled off the rough package and delicately placed the round, colorful sweet in her mouth.
It was sticky.
So sweet.
The candy rolling around in her mouth felt perhaps pleasantly warm.
As she ate, she became more and more dazed.
With her eyes closed, she felt as if she was floating.
Before she knew it, the candy vanished like vanity.
But the memories that surfaced made her tremble.
“… Ain.”
Unknowingly, the girl called out the name of a boy.
“Ain.”
Though the sweetness of the candy had faded, her memories became vivid again.
“Ain.”
Stacked, piled, endlessly piled.
“Ain.”
Her heart, which had been empty and hollow, suddenly filled up.
“Ain.”
The hazy, gray eyes sparkled for just a moment.
“Ain.”
Repeating, again repeating.
“Ain.”
Swelling, further swelling.
“Ain.”
Before she knew it, she had raised the corners of her mouth.
“Ain.”
Ain.
I’ll be good today too.
So don’t abandon me.
********
Winter at nine years old.
Today is a day just after the new year.
The lingering taste of my mom’s bad but special food from the new year’s celebration hasn’t faded yet.
After a peak time in the grocery store, I sat there dazed with just the uncle.
“Uncle.”
“Why, again? I already gave you a new year’s gift.”
He gave me a rather useful pair of winter gloves, saying that he was giving it because I was still a kid.
However, what I was about to ask wasn’t about the new year’s gift, but something else.
“No, that was really appreciated. But, um… is there any leftover construction material at the store that I could…?”
“Haha, you’re really an ungrateful little thief. I’ve given you new year’s gifts and started paying you well. Just how much more do you want to take, Ain?”
“No, well… I just asked because I saw the wooden planks and ropes left in the storage…”
I had been keeping my eyes on the wooden boards, ropes, and nails that had been piled up in the storage for over a year without ever being used, thinking it should be okay to take them.
The uncle chuckled at my greedy appearance.
“I’ve been wondering if taking you on as an employee was the biggest mistake of my life. What do you think, the one who’s been taken on?”
“Hey, that can’t be true. How much money have I brought in for you?”
It couldn’t be a mistake.
Even if you take away my salary and other miscellaneous expenses, sales had doubled since then.
In short, considering the sales increase after I started working, the uncle could afford to raise another child.
Although he was already raising three, it wouldn’t be bad to have one more kid for patriotism.
Thinking that way, I smiled at the uncle, and he shook his head and spoke.
“Ugh… just take the materials and head home. It seems you want to make a doghouse for your precious mutt, anyway.”
This uncle knows me too well now.
“Well, I don’t necessarily treat it as precious, but since you insist, I can’t refuse.”
“Ain, if you’re going to speak like that, just get lost!”
“Thank you! You’re the best uncle!”
“Kuhuhu, you cunning little rascal. Don’t just take the materials, grab the hammer and saw in the corner too.”
“Okay!”
Nodding, I quickly cleaned up the shelves and floor of the store and staggered out with the wooden boards, hammer, and saw.
Man, this is heavy.
“Looks tough. Do you want me to help carry it?”
“Um… I’m fine. I just need to make a few trips back and forth.”
“Hm, okay. It might be hard, but it’s not a bad idea to do it yourself.”
No matter how kind the uncle is, I could imagine what kind of reaction he would have upon facing a gray child.
So, I decided to get it done with my own strength for now, not knowing what would happen later.
Shit.
“Ah… life….”
I thought maybe I should’ve just shamelessly asked for help.
What gray perception?
Someone almost died.
Thinking like that, I dropped the last wooden plank and flopped down on the board where the gray girl was sitting.
Even in winter, my back was soaked with sweat, so it was inevitable I’d become so limp.
“Ah….”
“….”
As I caught my breath and looked up at the sky, the girl’s face soon blocked my view.
Her gray eyes, blurry and unfocused, somehow felt like they were piercing through me.
As she gazed intently at me, she tilted her head and then spoke first.
“Are you… okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Her pronunciation was still awkward, but it had improved somewhat.
Her voice was ordinary, no longer breaking as before.
Those things made me unintentionally smile a little.
“… Ah.”
The witch, watching me, widened her eyes and placed her hand on my mouth.
“….”
“….”
The silence that lay between us and the warmth of our skin.
If someone were to see this moment, it would likely look like a scene from a romance, but alas, I could do nothing but voice my thoughts.
“You really need to wash now.”
You smell.
Even with the winter chill making my nose tingle, there was still a smell.
“….”
She blinked her round eyes, blankly turning them away and gently withdrawing her hand.
Thus, the gray girl’s gaze turned away from me and up to the sky.
The ears peeking through her fluttering hair seemed slightly red.
As afternoon transitioned into evening.
Thock- thock-
That sound reverberated through the alley for quite some time.
In that scene, I laboriously hammered away, doing something I had never done in my entire life combined, tilting my head repeatedly.
“Is this right…?”
The form was taking shape, but to me, it looked incredibly awkward and clumsy.
“I’ve used almost all the boards, hmm….”
Since there was no material to make another if this one flopped, I tilted my head again while repeating that process.
Still, it was somewhat of a proper rectangle, and it was reasonably packed with hardly any gaps.
Isn’t this enough for a house?
“….”
I don’t know, shit.
What am I supposed to do, it’s my first try at this.
I thought that and stopped talking, setting the roughly constructed wooden house on the board where she was sitting.
Even so, when I set it upright in its place, it felt moderately effective at blocking out the sunlight and wind.
“Well… they say nobody starts off perfect, so I’m satisfied with this for now.”
“… Yeah.”
Looking at the witch as she slowly nodded, I started filling the gaps of the makeshift house again.
Thock-
The rhythmically ringing sound.
My hands were covered in wounds from several mistakes, but that didn’t stop me from hammering away.
So that the rough winter wind wouldn’t pass through.
So that this winter could pass a little warmer.
I was pouring a childish wish I shouldn’t have into the clumsy, shabby wooden house.
As the sun began to set, the thock-thock sounds came to an end.
The makeshift wooden board that had been put up at the end of the alley.
A shabby waterproof sheet draped over it to block out the rain and snow.
The interior filled with boards bearing mold and an old mat.
In that scene, I quietly gazed at the gray girl sitting still, as always, and spoke my farewell.
“I’ll come again next time.”
“… Okay. Thanks….”
So, we both waved each other off, now quite used to saying goodbye.
The monthly meetings ended like this, and another day for both of us came to an end.
But in reality, my day doesn’t end there.
“Oh my, son! What happened to your hand…! You’re hurt so badly!”
“No, well… I was just playing like a kid would…?”
“I can’t deal with this! Quickly go wash up and come to the living room. Let’s put some antiseptic and ointment on it, and we might need to go to the hospital tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“Enough with the excuses!”
“Okay.”
Unlike the gray girl, my day only truly ended after hearing my mom’s fuss.