Chapter 1021 Do it the right way.
Having a proper conversation about Amy's condition should've been done with all of our new members present but it since it came to this, I'm gonna trust that everybody else who was present in this moment to properly relay everything they've heard and just tell them to ask me instead if they had any further questions.
Amy had been here for a few months and everybody else was already made aware of her condition, and doing just that would be much, much better compared to hiding her in a lonely house because it wouldn't be any different to her past life.
Granted some people would still give her looks of pity and whatnot, Amy had been living with Marisha's support all this time—including having the most thoughtful friends she could ask for—so even if some people would treat her an unpleasant or a dismissive way, she had the support system to make up for it.
But yeah, the moment we finished the conversation and went outside, we found Amy sitting in her wheelchair while Mimi, Nancy, Zeus, and some of the kids were by her side though a little bit of misunderstanding seemed to be going on.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, ain't no way you're 26 and you're 19! You're definitely the same age as us! I-I'm even taller than you two!"
I already knew where this line of questioning would lead to—because I've been with Mimi for a few years and I've heard every single thing that was said about her frame—but aside from my college friends knowing how to properly conduct herself in front of a bunch of kids, Nancy seemed to have another method of establishing this new pecking order.
"Y-Yeah, it was my fault that I was this small even though I'm 19, y'know?"
"I knew it! You should've done something baaaad!"
"W-What did you do though?"
"Oh~ That… I was a really bad kid and was really mean to my friends that's why I n-never grew… I'm really nice now and I always am but it seemed like the curse would allow me to grow—"
Hearing her say that was already making my internal eyes roll to the back of my head but this might just work for 8-year-old to 12-year-old kids who'd just believe about anything they heard from the grapevine.
"W-What?! T-That's crap! I-I never heard of t-that!"
"I live in the mountains, alright?! I-I don't wanna scare all of you but since you've already talked to me, we're now sharing the curse—"
"W-WHAT?!"
"YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD US!"
"M-M-MOMMY!"
"Ah— I'm sorry! Don't cry, don't cry! This is still really good though!"
"HUH?! You cursed us and you're saying that it's good?!"
"W-What are we gonna do!"
"H-How do we remove it, please!"
Nancy let out this very evil smile as she leaned closer, "Here's what I learned, okay? Sometimes, we just can't help ourselves doing something bad like forgetting to make our bed or not helping our parents in the house—or much worse, saying mean things to other people!"
"Just tell us what to do!"
"Don't scream at her! You'll be that height all your life!"
"A-And?! W-What else is there?!"
"So, to counter that, you need to do one good thing for every bad thing you do to you know, cancel it out…"
'This is gonna bite us in the ass—'
She continued, "BUT! Deliberately doing something bad then doing something good to fix it wouldn't fly for the curse! The bad thing you do should be accidental o-or something you didn't mean to happen! Trust me, I thought I outsmarted them by doing just that but the curse knows!"
"I-It's that smart?!"
"Noooo!"
"T-That's so scary!"
"So, the real way to go is just to try and do as much good as possible because if we count the accidental mistakes we make plus the ones we definitely did, we'll be on the losing side! It won't just balance out and you'll be the same as me!"
'She didn't count the good things we also do "accidentally". Huh?'
"S-So… That's it? W-We just try to do good things to cancel it out?"
"P-Pretty much, yeah…"
"Huh. Is that maybe why grandma's short? She did a lot of bad things when—"
"Ah— S-She could also be s-short from the start, no?"
"Wait a second… T-Then how do we know if we're actually cursed or short from the start?!"
'And this is where she gets bite in the ass—'
Then Nancy threw a hail-mary, "That's just it! You— We never know! That's why it's a curse! What do you think would happen if you're already short and you keep doing bad things?! What happens then—"
Then I had to cut in, "Guys… There's a very simple way for this, alright? Kenny."
"Y-Yeah?"
"What would you say or feel when I tell you that you're good-looking and very, very good at parkour?"
"Wait, really?! I'm good at parkour?! I'm so happy~!"
I chuckled as I continued, "Pretty great, right? But what would you say or feel if I told you that I lied and said you look like Pinocchio was turning into a real boy but stopped halfway there?"
"WHAT?! Are you crazy?! I'll be half-wood?! THAT'S EVEN MORE INSANE!"
'He's too optimistic…'
I tried to turn it the other way again, "You're very happy, right? What if I told you that you really suck at parkour then?"
He looked like he had the shock of his life, "T-Then… I-I'm gonna work on it more! I'll get better! Surely!"
I almost facepalmed at my failed attempts to bring him down, "B-But you still felt upset from that, right?"
"U-Umm… I-It's kinda t-true though… B-Because if I do too much my f-fingies hurt…"
"But you still felt kinda sad or something, right?"
"Y-Yeah, I guess so…"
"Then that's what Nancy and Mimi felt when you told them that they're really short."
"H-Huh? It's not the curse?"
I just glanced at Nancy and mouthed, "See what you did?" before turning back to Kenny:
"We don't know actually but you made them a little upset from that, no? Even if you didn't mean to, you still hurt them. And yeah, you can't control what anyone else could feel from our actions but it's best to do something about it, no?"
"W-What should I do t-then?"
"We've done a lot about it earlier but you should say you're sorry, like we mean it, right?"
"Sorry? Oh. OH! Right! That works too!"
In any case, Kenny and the rest of the kids offered a sincere apology to the two and Nancy just couldn't believe how simple it was to simply get to the root of the issue and resolve it like normal people should. It was because she went on this long tirade of a "curse" affecting her instead of just telling them straight-up that they shouldn't bully someone because of their appearance.
Granted not all of the kids could be reasoned with like this, but they could, so it was a win-win for both parties.
But yeah, we still had a bit of time before lunch so we decided to look for everyone else we came with for a smaller tour of what this place could offer.
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