Episode 6.
“What is it?”
At Sean’s dry question, Sena, who had appeared in the doorway, unconsciously clenched the letter she was holding in her hand.
“I came to see the Pastor… Is he not here?”
“He’s not here right now. If you have something to give him, you can leave it with me. I’ll be here for a while.”
There was no envelope, and Sena had no intention of ‘delivering’ this letter to the Pastor at all. Feeling inexplicably excited, she strode over to Sean, who was sitting at the piano.
“No- I’ll give it to him myself.”
“Suit yourself.”
Even though the physical distance had closed, Sean’s sarcastic reply created a mental distance of about a hundred miles.
Sena gave an awkward, sheepish laugh. But her counterpart was a New Yorker. With each word he spoke, Sena’s perceived temperature seemed to drop by one degree.
“If you don’t have any business here, shouldn’t you be going?”
Sean rose slowly from the piano bench. He didn’t even look at Sena.
“Are you stopping because of me? No, keep playing!”
The moment Sena hastily raised her hands in protest, the paper slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor with a soft thud.
“Agh!”
Sean’s move to pick up the paper that had fallen near him was merely a matter of basic courtesy.
He was assassinated.
The words, glimpsed in passing, caused Sean’s brow to furrow slightly.
“Ah, no! You didn’t see that, right?”
“…I didn’t see it.”
Not properly. As he was about to hand the paper back to Sena, Sean finally looked directly at her face. She was deathly pale.
“…What’s with your expression?”
“M-my expression? What about it?”
“Is this what you were going to give the Pastor? Why does it say ‘He was assassinated’?”
His question stemmed less from curiosity and more from the fact it involved the Pastor. It was a calm inquiry, but the response was frantic.
“You did see it!!”
“I only saw that one phrase.”
Sena’s face, which had been white, now turned a riotous red and purple.
“You… you… How many years have you been practicing your faith?”
“Why should I answer that?”
“This is a letter you’re not supposed to read carelessly!!”
A letter?
Sean tried to process the situation rationally and calmly, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. What in the world was this paper?
“Are you attending a magic school on the side? Where else would you find a ‘letter you’re not supposed to see’.”
By now, he was intensely curious about the paper’s nature and content, but he refrained from unfolding it. Instead, his thoughts went in another direction.
“Give it back!”
“I’ll give it back if you promise me one thing.”
“What?”
It seemed like a reasonably good opportunity. To push ‘Sena Lee Cruz’ out of his circle for good.
“From now on, don’t seek me out privately like this or talk to me again. You made me uncomfortable at the library too.”
Sean had ultimately been unable to throw away that problematic basket of oranges. Since he couldn’t just discard it anywhere, he’d had no choice but to take it home.
Following the mysterious pink candy box, this was the second time. He had vowed not to let such a thing happen again.
“I’m not a stalker!”
“I don’t want a third time. This is almost two and a half. Promise, and I’ll give it back.”
It’s not the three-strike rule. Sena fumed silently.
“Are you really going to be that cowardly? I’m telling you not to read the letter for your own sake.”
“What is that supposed to….”
As Sena reached for the letter, Sean held it up high in the air. The suddenly narrowed distance brought the scent of oranges rushing back. Does she just eat oranges every single day?
“Fine! Do whatever you want! If you want to see it, then see it!! Go ahead!”
Sena withdrew her arm, her face looking like she was about to cry any second.
“But I won’t take responsibility!! You deal with the consequences!”
Sean was at a crossroads. His brain reasoned that it would be better to just give it back now, but his hand held the letter firmly, and his eyes were drawn to the darkly inked words.
In this situation, could anyone in the world return the letter without reading its contents?
Sean glanced once at Sena, whose head was hung low, and slowly unfolded the paper with one hand.
This letter began in New York….
A moment later, Sean lowered the hand holding the letter. Sensing his gaze, Sena slowly lifted her head.
“I told you not to look! Don’t say anything to me, it’s your responsibility now.”
Sean just stared at Sena with his greenish-blue, brown-flecked eyes, saying nothing for a while. Finally, Sena was the first to deflate.
“…No, well, they say this could bring good luck, right? Since I bear some responsibility too, I’ll help you make the copies. I can take care of sending one or two myself…”
“…Don’t tell me you wrote these out by hand?”
Sena meekly handed over the remaining copies. Sean’s face took on a look of disbelief as he confirmed the copies, filled with tiny, forcefully written characters.
“What kind of place is New York, really? Why would anyone go to the trouble of making something like this?”
To Sena, New York was an unknown realm. Sean Frost, who came from New York, was almost synonymous with New York itself.
And with this one letter, her image of New York had become extremely negative. It seemed like the source of a plague.
Sena waited for an answer, but Sean replied with a question of his own.
“…You…”
“Yeah?”
“Your birthday is in August, right?”
“Why suddenly? No, it’s not.”
Even within the same grade, there could be nearly a year’s age difference depending on birth month. Since the American school year started in September, the youngest in a grade were almost always those born in August, unless they’d delayed entry.
“So you brought this to give to the Pastor?”
“It wasn’t to give to him! I didn’t want to give it to any of the other kids at all, I came to ask him what I should do about it.”
“Why the Pastor of all people… Ah.”
Ah…….
Sean’s voice was uncharacteristically drawn out.
“So that’s why you asked me how many years I’ve been practicing my faith….”
His voice held a faint hint of a sigh. Sena felt like a criminal and sullenly lowered her head.
“…It’s fine now. Give them all to me.”
At the unexpected words, Sena’s head snapped up.
“You don’t need to send them to the other kids. I’ll handle it, so give them all to me.”
“Huh…? But I can’t do that.”
The rules mentioned in the letter…
But Sean snatched all the papers from Sena’s stammering hands.
“Have you ever seen a believer as devout as me?”
Sena shook her head. Sean was more devout than any religious person she had ever seen. At least twenty times more so than her aunt, for starters.
“Therefore, I can handle a letter like this by myself.”
“Re, really…?”
“It’s something that could get me cursed; why else would I take on the risk?”
Hearing it put that way, it sounded reasonable. As the weight pressing on her shoulders vanished, the light finally returned to Sena’s blue eyes.
“Th, thank you…….”
Sean’s greenish-blue eyes held the reflection of Sena’s faintly smiling face.
The sound of the door interrupted the silence.
“Sean, there you are.”
It was Mrs. Joanna, who managed the chapel hall. Both Sean and Sena’s gazes turned to her simultaneously.
“Your father is here to pick you up, we got a call. You should probably head out for today.”
“…Okay.”
Mrs. Joanna smiled gently, closed the door, and disappeared. Sena watched Sean putting the letters into his bag.
“Ah, so you’re heading to the parking lot now? Great, let’s go together!”
“……”
Sean wasn’t particularly keen on the idea, but since their destination was the same, the path was shared, and going separately wasn’t an option. He gave a small, silent nod without much of a verbal response.
As he walked with Sena, Sean slowly began to realize what mistake his attempt to push her out of his circle had caused.
“Aren’t you excited for the scavenger hunt next week? Ever since first grade, I’ve always placed in the top three. The first prize this time is—”
Sena chattered at Sean like a radio with no off button. Even though Sean wasn’t giving proper replies.
The few answers he did give were almost involuntary.
“…Yeah.”
“Really?!”
Sean turned his head at Sena’s eager reaction. Her excited face was too close.
“…What did you say?”
“I said, if I win the prize, I want you to have it.”
Ha……
Sean stopped in his tracks for a moment and faced Sena, who was looking at him with a smile.
“……”
“Why?”
You don’t seem to be in a position to be giving things to others. You should look after yourself first…
Sean swallowed the thought that arose unbidden. Sena’s blue eyes sparkled as if studded with stars.
Yeah, it’s all my fault. Sean closed his mouth, acknowledging his own karmic retribution
