02 In a way, a hero
Mio was a clever child.
She never forgot what she had seen once, and her calculation skills were exceptional.
Her household abilities already surpassed Jin's.
Yet she was foolish at the core.
"...How does one make friends?"
That was her question.
Around Mio had always been only Jin and Jake.
If she were to name anyone else, it would be the barbecue waitress, Sergeant—only her.
No peers existed.
Thus, she did not know what to talk about.
Her expression remained its usual blankness, but her thoughts accelerated at an unprecedented pace.
It was difficult to claim any progress.
Mio was a beautiful child.
Her silver hair was rare—many had never seen such a child before.
Moreover, her facial muscles had ceased functioning entirely, resulting in a perpetually blank expression.
She gave off an impression of a doll.
Children found it difficult to approach her.
Thus emerged a blank zone resembling the eye of a typhoon.
Mio was advancing along her solitary path.
“What’s with you, weird hair?”
Her solitary march was halted by a single boy.
"White hair?"
"...about Mio?"
She reacted a moment too late, unprepared for being spoken to.
It wasn’t just surprise—she hadn’t anticipated being confronted with such words at all.
A consequence of having lived entirely oblivious to malice.
“That’s right, white-haired.”
“It’s not white. It’s silver.”
Mio countered, a faint irritation in her voice.
Jin had called her silver hair beautiful—so it was a point of pride.
“Either way, it’s a weird color.”
“It’s not weird. It’s a beautiful color!”
Mio maintained nearly no change in expression, yet her tone grew sharper.
To an outsider, it appeared as if she were furious—other children recoiled in fear.
The boy who did not alter his demeanor in such a situation was unusually mentally resilient.
"Strange!"
"Beautiful!"
They stared at each other for a moment. Mio was the first to regain composure.
"Perhaps. If that's how you see it, then it must be so, in your mind."
She repeated the words she had once heard from Jin and Jake in conversation.
Jin paid careful attention to his language when speaking directly to Mio, but when speaking with Jake, he became slightly careless.
The day would come soon when he realized his own speech was affecting Mio.
Regardless, Mio ended the conversation with those words.
At present, Mio's primary concern was how to make friends.
The conclusion had been reached: this was no time to engage with such an incomprehensible creature.
First, attempt to speak.
Mio, having arrived at this conclusion, scanned the room, searching for someone.
——All eyes remained lowered.
Mio, shocked, wondered why.
She did not realize the moment had paralyzed those around her.
Break ended. Lessons resumed.
Mio finished the arithmetic exercise unusually quickly, left with nothing to do.
She was aware, even during class, that speaking was inappropriate.
The lunch period followed.
She ate the cube food she disliked.
Others conversed casually while eating, but she remained isolated.
She chewed the cube food listlessly, a peculiar loneliness settling in.
She was stunned—was solitary eating truly this devoid of meaning?
Perhaps...
Mio fingered her hair, lost in thought.
Jin had said her hair was beautiful, but was it truly unusual in the eyes of society?
The thought passed through her mind.
The words she had just spoken to the boy now echoed back at her.
She was only thinking that way about herself.
Perhaps that was the truth.
Regardless, Mio thought, cube food was never delicious, no matter when it was eaten.
The earlier thoughts about her hair had already vanished.
Her mind was full of resentment toward the cube food she chewed and swallowed.
She idly played with her hair, still touching it.
She had heard meals were served every day.
That meant lunch from now on would be cube food every day.
She wanted Jake’s food.
Mio thought about it with genuine longing.
The prospect of every lunch from now on filled her with dread.
She lowered her eyebrows slightly, exhaled.
Her expression was as if she were brooding over the color of her own hair...
"Ah, um... Hijō-san!"
Unable to stand it any longer, one girl finally stood up.
"I— I think Hijō-san's hair is really beautiful!"
Mio did not understand why, all of a sudden, she was being told this.
She did understand, however, that she was being praised, and felt a simple, unguarded joy.
Her nature was uncomplicated.
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's like a snow sprite from a picture book..."
"Wait— is that like a penguin?"
"Eh? A penguin...? No, that's not right..."
Mio realized her mistake.
Snow, she had thought, meant penguins—but apparently, there were others.
She remembered everyone's face, their names, their introductions.
"Tell us more about the snow sprite, Hasegawa-chan."
Mio looked steadily into Hasegawa-chan’s eyes as she made her request.
Hasegawa-chan, slightly overwhelmed, nodded with a blush on her face.
"Yeah. Of course!"
◆ ◆ ◆
"So you made a friend, huh?"
"Yeah! Hasegawa-chan!"
Jin, having heard Mio’s story, smiled broadly at the news of a new friend.
...Why had that led to bloodshed?
"So, Mio. Why did you end up with a nosebleed?"
"Well..."
Mio began hesitantly, continuing her account.
◆ ◆ ◆
The fifth period ended. It was time to go home.
Mio walked alone down the path she had walked with Jin the day before.
Hasegawa-chan had gone a different way, waving goodbye with a "See you later!"
"Hey, don't follow me."
"You're the one who shouldn't walk in front of me, Mio."
Correction—she wasn’t alone after all.
A boy heading in the same direction — exchanging unfriendly words with the one who had teased him during break time.
Mio, told not to follow, quickened her pace and passed the boy.
She turned back and said:
“Don’t follow me, Mio.”
Unaware of it herself, the statement was pure provocation.
The boy’s face flushed; he quickened his pace and overtook her in turn.
He said in return:
“Don’t follow me.”
Once that began, momentum carried them forward like a stone rolling downhill.
One overtaking the other, then being overtaken — a cycle repeated.
Eventually, both were sprinting at full speed.
“Don’t follow me!”
“Don’t come after me!”
Their speed matched exactly.
The onlookers smiled as the two raced past, as if in a game.
To the participants, it was a battle of absolute seriousness.
“The tree over there! First to touch it wins!”
“The loser becomes the winner’s subordinate!”
Neither participant fully understood how it had come to this, but it had.
Mio’s run was ideal.
Her form was already complete.
Every motion devoid of waste, achieving seamless motion.
By contrast, the boy’s form could hardly be called refined.
Yet he still ran, displaying extraordinary physical ability.
His body compensated for inefficiencies.
The result remained a stalemate.
They ran side by side toward the goal tree.
No—Mio was slightly behind.
She could not win.
Mio calculated that she would lose if things continued this way.
The elements required for victory.
The equation for winning.
She solved it.
And found a single thread of opportunity.
“Nyaaah!”
With a cry that made no sense, Mio leapt forward.
The boy, overconfident from his lead, could not react in time.
Still moving forward from her leap, Mio surged past the boy—and reached the goal tree.
Face-first.
"Whoa, wait—Sōgo! You okay?!"
"Mio wins!"
"No, winning's not the point here… you're bleeding from the nose, aren't you?!"
"Toya-kun, you're Mio's subordinate from now on!"
"Got it, just pinch my nose already! You're ruining my clothes!"
◆ ◆ ◆
Apparently, sprinting had caused her to overheat and bleed from the nose.
She said she'd won, so Jin had thought they’d fought, but no—Jin was relieved.
"Mio won, so Toya-kun is Mio's subordinate."
Where exactly is she heading now? Jin rubbed his temples.
Well, the subordinate thing was Toya's idea, not his—but...
Still, this counted as making a friend, right?
…Probably.
A flicker of unease stirred in Jin about Mio’s future relationships.