The ragged Cinderella was a terrifying scientist. Flash— When the thick syringe needle gleamed in the fluorescent light, Naru trembled.
“…Naru hates needles!”
While Naru loved many things in the world, she hated needles. Because they were sharp and stinging. They said Naru had suffered from a terrible fever while in her mother’s womb. The illness was quickly cured thanks to her family’s efforts, but as a precaution, Naru had to have some blood drawn and sent to the laboratory every year. That was also why Naru disliked science.
“Eek!”
While Naru was trembling at the sight of the terrifying scientist, the ragged scientist Cinderella laughed wickedly and said.
“I’m someone who uncovers all the world’s secrets. Of course I have hints about the ancient Babylonian treasure. But I can’t give them away for free. You must become my assistants.”
The ragged scientist was troubled by many problems. She was looking for assistants to help with scientific research and truth-seeking, and it would be great if these children who happened to visit could help with experiments.
“…Okay!”
Hina answered enthusiastically. Hina thought helping with experiments would be fun. But Naru and Cecily frowned.
“Naru hates science…!”
Naru hated science. Science felt cold and seemed full of stinging needles. Naru hated science because it felt like cold, emotionless scientists with glasses would stare at her lying on an operating table without feeling.
“I’m not interested in science either.”
While Cecily didn’t particularly hate science, she just wasn’t interested in studying. However, Cecily, who had rolled around in mud at age 7, had matured somewhat and felt that studying might not be so bad. After all, knowledge was like a hidden jewel in a safe, even if invisible.
The ragged Cinderella said.
“There are problems written all over this laboratory. If you solve them all, you can get hint fragments. Don’t forget to carefully examine the boxes.”
So the children decided to search for boxes in this 5-story building. There were many boxes in this building. The locks on the boxes had special devices installed that would display strange messages when manipulated.
「Question. What element does the symbol ‘Na’ represent?」
A science question! Naru felt her hair standing on end. But if they didn’t solve this problem, they wouldn’t be able to find dad’s treasure. Then all of Naru and her sisters’ hard work today would be meaningless.
“Ugh…element symbols…Naru remembers learning them…but science is so rigid and difficult…but to face it properly…”
What could Na be?
“Na from Naru? Was Naru actually Na/Ru? Since half of Naru is dad and half is mom…Na must be dad!”
Naru wrote ‘dad’ as the answer. Beep— It was wrong, of course.
“Eek!”
Brigitte, the scientist’s assistant who was watching this process, had many things she wanted to say but stayed quiet. Today was a day for the children to solve problems and overcome challenges with their own strength.
Rustle—
Having lost confidence, Naru crawled under a box to hide. Cecily discovered Naru’s legs sticking out.
“Naru, do you know what 2731 times 271 is?”
“740,101!”
The answer came in less than 5 seconds. Cecily hadn’t calculated it but instinctively knew Naru’s answer was correct. Naru was actually the smartest of the three sisters. But she was a sister who typically wasted her talent by not ‘trying’. Of course, Naru had her reasons.
“Science…! It’s scary! If science advances too much…researching science will put the world in danger! Mom and dad might have to separate again!”
Naru vaguely remembered an accident that happened in a laboratory long ago. A memory of having to separate from mom and dad. Seeing science kept reminding her of that memory. A memory from very, very long ago.
Actually, it was the same for Hina and Cecily. As Hina and Cecily grew older, they recalled many things. Some memories were incredibly sad and painful. When Cecily caught the bird of paradise while covered in mud today, she remembered rolling around in mud and forest paths long ago. It was a memory of roaming through the dark forest with her friend Melody.
“It was a scary memory but also kind of fun.”
Cecily said. Then Hina, who was playing with a glass marble nearby, peered into the marble. When she touched this marble, Hina recalled quite a lot. Memories of struggling through the cold city’s back alleys. Though they were sad and difficult memories, like Cecily said, she recalled many fun things too. Meeting Horohoro and visiting the underground where villains gathered.
“Naru, you must have…lots of good memories too…”
Hina and Cecily pulled Naru’s legs to get her out from under the box. Naru emerged with her face covered in dust from under the box and looked at the problem again, encouraged by her sisters. The element symbol ‘Na’ represents. Naru slowly traced back her memories.
“When read in alphabet it’s ‘Na’…”
Naru’s memories gradually went back to the distant past, to a garden bathed in warm sunlight. Naru was sitting in the garden, nodding off while receiving lessons from someone.
━Naru can be written as Naru in alphabet. And there are four element symbols hidden in your name Naru, want to try guessing them? 1 ━Brigitte, isn’t element symbols too early for 6-year-old Naru? ━No, Naru is smart. Right?
“Yes yes…! Naru is smart…”
Stroke- Stroke- Stroke— Naru vividly remembered the hand that patted her head. It was a memory of the day Naru learned about ‘science’ from her mom. Dad was also watching Naru from beside her, she remembered.
Naru hated science but loved science. Science took mom and dad far away, but science also kept mom and dad together with Naru. Thinking that way, there was nothing to fear anymore.
“Element symbols…’Ar’ is Argon, ‘Ru’ is Ruthenium…and U is Uranium…! ‘Na’ was Sodium! Naru’s name has many aspects! Science has many aspects too!”
Grab— Raising her hand, Naru wrote ‘Sodium’ on the box’s lock. Then the box opened with a click— Inside was something that could be called a fragment or piece about the size of a palm.
“Let’s open more boxes!”
Naru was now enthusiastically solving the science problems written on the boxes. When they gathered lots of pieces that way, Cecily and Hina put the pieces together. The completed pieces formed what could be called a large picture or photograph. It was a scene of the setting sun.
Naru, Hina and Cecily remembered seeing this scenery. After playing hard with the children and when the sun was setting, the red sunset looked just like this on the way home holding dad’s hand. Each holding an ice cream or cotton candy, they would noisily talk about what happened that day on their way home, and there was always a delicious dinner waiting at home.
“Let’s go!”
Naru shouted. Soon Cecily and Hina chased after Naru towards the outside of the building.
Snow was falling white in the world. Though it was cold enough to see their breath, the running children didn’t feel the cold. Finally arriving at the park like that.
Perhaps thanks to the white fallen snow, there weren’t many people in the park. Among those few people, Naru, Hina and Cecily could find a familiar face and rushed to hug him.
“You’re not as late as I thought.”
The man, Judas, hugged the children with the setting sun at his back. It was like a scene from a picture.
“What about the final test?”
“There isn’t one. Three was it. More importantly, look at the setting sun. Now is just the right timing. Don’t you feel like─today is ending like this too?”
At dad’s words, the three children looked at the setting sun. Though it was pretty, there wasn’t really anything special about it. But perhaps because they had spent all day walking around the city, the children’s hearts were full of mysterious experiences and adventures.
“Today was fun!”
Cecily nodded readily at those words.
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.
“It was quite an adventure. Though it felt a bit easy for me, Cecily who has turned seven…!”
“……”
Instead of sharing her thoughts, Hina looked around. Because she was curious about something.
“…So there’s no ancient kingdom treasure in the end…? The treasure is the memories in our hearts…?”
The adults who awkwardly acted for the children today and the adventure. Those memories were worthy of being called a treasure that would nicely decorate a corner of a frame. Just as they were thinking the treasure map might have been for these memories, Judas said.
“No, treasure means shining gold and jewels. Or things like this.”
Swish— Judas pulled out a key from the air. It was quite a large key, about the size of Naru’s palm.
“This is the 「Shadow Key」. You can insert it anywhere there are shadows and use it like a door. And when you go through that door…”
When Judas inserted the key into a nearby wall, a door appeared in the air. Click— When that door opened, there was a fairly spacious area inside.
“It’s a cabin! It’s huge!”
Naru shouted as she went inside. The strange cabin-like interior had windows, and beautiful stars twinkled beyond those windows. Hina and Cecily also came into the cabin. All the sisters felt somehow nostalgic.
Slide— Hina carefully placed the glass marble she got today on the table. Then she brought a chair and wrote her name on it with the throwing star.
“This is Hina’s spot.”
“Ah! Naru wants to pick a spot too!”
Naru also brought a chair and carved her name in a corner. Cecily silently sat on the sofa placed by the window. They all acted so familiar it didn’t feel like their first time in this house.
“Since you’re all 7 now, I thought you should have your own hideout. Only people with the key can enter here. This dimensional gap is your own space.”
The children weren’t listening to Judas. They were busy unpacking in their spots. The man now slowly turned his gaze to look at the stars shining outside the window. Just as he was thinking that three shooting stars more brilliant than any others were in this cabin, the children said.
“Thank you Dad.” “It’s a wonderful gift.” “…I’ll never forget today.”
Judas was startled by the unexpectedly mature and beautiful voices and turned his head. There were very adult-like women who had somehow grown up, smiling like brilliant stars at Judas.
“What!?”
The highest level of princess power, SSR. No, it seemed to surpass even that brilliance. Could this be the rumored UR grade?
“…What is this!?”
The startled Judas rubbed his eyelids with his fingers. When he opened his eyes again after massaging them for a while, the children had returned to their 7-year-old forms and were walking around inside the cabin. It was quite mysterious.
Footnotes
1. In alphabet here refers to them being writtewn in latin alphabet, compared to well, korean lol. /genesisforsaken