Squeak-
When I heard the sound of a door opening with the key, I imdiately stood up.
I was getting bored so I was happy that he ca back. I put down the book I was reading and ran over to Yves. To be honest, I was rolling around and was just about to ask if I could eat the two unopened bags of snacks in the corner.
Yves stared as I ran over to him with a bunch of snacks in my arms with a strange look on his face.
It looked kind of sad, kind of anguished. The one thing that I was sure of was that he looked a lot more tired than before.
"……."
Yves always liked to play with my hair. He followed the curls of my hair and twisted it accordingly. When he saw my fingers fiddling in his sight, he would play with my fingers. We didn't have much conversation going between ourselves, but Yves always had those strange quirks of his.
I looked at Yves and began to speak, watching as he cautiously played with my hair with an exhausted look on his face.
"Are you okay?"
It was obvious from a glance that he wasn't okay. I regretted asking as soon as the question left my mouth.
"Shushu. Wait."
Yves, who had just continued to watch without a word, pulled towards him. Then, he carefully hugged and apologized with a curt "Sorry."
It was so sudden, and from soone that I hadn't expected, that I was surprised. But I stayed still because he really looked like he was struggling.
He felt like just another boy instead of the proxy leader of a giant guild. I felt worse for Yves thinking that he was a few years younger than myself in the past. I was always ready to fight against Hylli, but I was strangely weak against Yves. Oh, I thought I was kind of weak against Cory, too. I was reminded of the ti I hugged him last ti.
"Why does this feel strangely comforting?"
Yves muttered to himself and hugged tighter.
Weird, he repeated to himself in a mutter.
On days that are rough, there are tis when you just miss the warmth of another person. I had days like that too. Days when I just wanted to close my eyes and hug soone without a single thought. I thought Yves felt like that too.
I didn't know what had happened with the guild leader, but seeing how he was right now, I was sure that there was an incident that had ssed with his emotions.
I patted his back softly. Yves seed to jolt slightly, then buried his face into my shoulder. He hugged as if he was trying to chase after . I almost lost my balance. I was only able to catch him because I was in my adult form. If I was in my normal appearance, I would've fallen down.
Yves stayed like that for a while. Then, after seemingly calming down, Yves let go.
When I saw his face, he had put on a cold expression once more. He looked at , sighed, then opened his mouth.
"Shushu, let's go undercover one more ti."
At his suggestion, I nodded without comnt.
Then, with a calm expression on his face, he returned back to his seat and continued working on what he had been working on before he left.
Yves tried to sign a few docunts, but he couldn't grab his pen properly. A few of his fingers had been horribly bent out of shape. Even when the bones of his fingers had been broken, he tried to force them to move.
He casually cursed and muttered the leader's na. It had to be excruciatingly painful, but Yves was so casual about the amount of pain he was in that I didn't even realize that he was hurt before he dropped his pen.
When I saw Yves' broken fingers, I stared, dazed. I ground my beeth.
Yves' treatnt towards changed slightly as the days passed. He was still cold towards , but unlike before, it felt like he was shielding .
The way he looked at felt, hmm. It was hard to explain but if I had to compare it to sothing, it was like how sobody looked at their beloved pet.
Even when I wasn't needed, Yves took with him. He took with him to the nearby store to buy sothing he forgot, and tried to stick by all day. Of course, I had no complaints because he paid just as well for that.
If he wasn't going to give work, then I would've gladly gone ho, but it didn't seem like he had any intentions of sending ho.
After hugging that last ti, Yves seed to stick to like glue.
When he hugged the first few tis, he always asked for permission, but when I gave him permission the first few tis, it just beca a daily habit. Now, he just popped up and gave a hug without asking.
Whenever Yves beca anxious, he ca looking for . The expressions on his face as he dragged into a hug were always a sight to see.
There were tis when he had murder in his eyes, tis when he looked completely empty, and others when his expression was so cold that even I could feel the chill.
Every ti that happened, I felt so scared that I thought I was going to die, but I knew that Yves' emotions weren't towards . I just quietly pat his back without a word whenever he hugged .
Oh, but it's gotten annoying these days so I'd started rebelling just a bit. Even though it was useless.
It felt strange and awkward to get hugged by Yves, who was a total stranger, but I bore it anyway. If it was for Yves' peace of mind, then, well. It just ant that he had opened his heart that much towards , then.
Anyway, Yves asked to do one more undercover shift with him. He told that if we succeeded with this job, everything would be over.
Our eting location was an area in the capital city.
Yves told to change my appearance when we t. To a girl who looked about nine or ten years old. I didn't know why, but he said the uglier I was, the better it would be.
Shapeshifting magic took a lot of mana, so I needed a magic stone. So Yves gave a stone that glowed golden and felt familiar.
The golden stone he gave held an incredible amount of magic. When I thought of who could make such a powerful stone, I rembered one person I knew.
Was this Cory's magic stone? I didn't know how Yves had Cory's stone, but it was a welco sight.
Anyway, change my appearance? How exactly was I supposed to change it?
I didn't know who I should shift to, so I just began the shift without thinking. I didn't have an appearance in mind, so it would be chosen at random.
Once the shift completed, I looked at the mirror. I was shocked.
The reflection in the mirror wasn't strange at all. A familiar round face and East Asian eyes. Long, straight black hair and black eyes. Round, but slitted eyes. And the familiar mole right under my eye.
The form that the magic changed into was my forr self. Even though it was a younger version of myself.
When I didn't have a particular form in mind, it seed like the magic had drawn sothing based on my unconscious thoughts. I looked at myself in the mirror and turned, smiling slightly.
This was right before my parents had passed, during the happiest part of my life.
I stared at the mirror a bit longer, lost in the mories of my childhood, before heading out to where Yves and I were supposed to et.
When I walked around the streets in my forr childhood appearance, it grabbed a lot of attention from passersby. My appearance was pretty different. It was a pretty rare sight to see Asians here. I regretted my thoughtless shift slightly and put my hood on. I didn't have any more stones so I couldn't change my appearance again.
When I walked through the streets to find Yves, I found Hylli and Cory.
Thinking back, I had promised to hang out and play with them today. It was a promise I had made at the beginning of break. We promised to search for good food and place bets on who would win prizes from street stalls…..
I lanted at how stupid I was for forgetting our promise. I had been too busy recently.
Hylli and Cory seed to be waiting for in the city.
Hylli was wearing a hood to cover his face because he was a prince while Cory was wearing a comfortable-looking casual outfit. Cory was leaning on a wall, watching people as he ate a lollipop, and Hylli had his arms crossed on his chest as he talked crap about for being late. Seeing how the two of them were the sa made smile.
I should probably tell them that I can't play with them, right? Because they'll keep waiting. I approached Hylli and Cory.
"Um, excuse ….. Are you the people looking for Shushu unni*?"
I looked around ten years old, so I had to match my speech accordingly. They looked older than , so. I decided to use the fake innocence I had gained while I was with Yves.
When I approached and began speaking to them, both of them turned to look at .
Hylli observed and began to speak first.
"Yeah, that's right. The brat promised to co out and play and isn't coming. Did sothing happen? But who are you?"
Hylli, this brat, he always called Shuraina but called Shushu behind my back. This dishonest, cute brat. My heart ward at Hylli's worried tone.
Cory wordlessly continued to watch . I looked at the two of them back and forth and smiled as I responded.
"I'm Ye-an, I'm working under Shushu unni. Shushu unni said that she had a problem that suddenly ca up and told to tell the two of you that she won't be able to co……"
'Ye-an' was my na in my previous life. My past na slipped out because of my current appearance.
"Ye, Ye-an? That's hard to pronounce. Are you soone from the Eastern continent? But anyway, to make such a young kid work under her……. If Shushu is exploiting you, you can tell us. If you need money, I can provide you a safe and stable job."
I stared at Hylli as he spoke and barely swallowed my annoyance. Did I look like soone who would exploit other people? I glared at Hylli but decided to let it go, knowing how much he had changed.
When I first t him, he always spoke with prejudice and without thought, but now he accepted a child from a foreign continent and treated them equally.
I felt proud. Kind of like a mom raising their child, or an older sister teaching their younger brother. It wasn't a bad feeling, at least.
Anyway, when I told them the situation, they nodded and understood. Hylli kept poking his elbow into Cory's side, saying that they could play on their own. Cory continued to look at . Without looking away from , Cory agreed with Hylli.
Hylli began to walk away with large steps, but Cory continued to just stand in front of .
Cory had been strangely quiet throughout our eting. Cory watched and sighed.
When Hylli saw that Cory wasn't following him and was about to turn back, Cory ca closer.
"…….don't do anything dangerous."
With those parting words, Cory walked away. It seed that Cory had realized who I was. Well, I was using Cory's magic to change my appearance, so it made sense that he would figure it out.
T/N: Unni/unnie ans older sister. It's primarily used by younger sisters for their older sisters!
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