#13

Returning to the hotel room, Tennessee called the child over.

The child stared at the sweat-drenched Tennessee before trotting over. He noted that Tennessee’s cheeks and neck, still radiating heat, were exceptionally red. Because of his pale skin, it hadn’t been obvious before, but this flushed, sweaty look suited him.

His black clothes were already soaked. Tennessee gripped the chest of his T-shirt and roughly wiped his forehead.

“Hand.”

Despite the sudden command, the child obediently held out his wrist. While the child scrutinized Tennessee’s face, which had not yet cooled down, Tennessee looked carefully at the child’s wrist.

Only about eleven days had passed, but unlike the thin, skeletal appearance from the beginning, he now felt more elongated. It was a change that Tennessee quite liked.

Tennessee unwrapped the bandage and checked the wound. The marks that had been bruised pitch-black had almost disappeared. It was a miraculously fast recovery.

“Say ‘ah’.”

True to his age, the child opened his mouth wide, revealing lips full of healthy color. Tennessee checked the inside of the gums where new teeth were growing.

“Thank you,” the child said, looking into Tennessee’s eyes, and Tennessee nodded.

“Those guys from before—what did they do to you?”

As he asked, the child thought that if he touched Tennessee’s back right now, he might get burned. Snapping out of his daydream, the child shook his head.

“……They’re dead, right?”

Tennessee nodded. They were just insignificant thugs. Having a particular talent for firearms, Tennessee knew exactly where he had shot.

“What if it turns out they didn’t die, and they come back later as villains?”

“…….”

The child seemed quite serious. He needed to stop watching Netflix.

“Don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

After letting his imagination run wild, the child breathed a sigh of relief at a single word from Tennessee. Tennessee found the child strange. Shouldn’t he be less relieved by a simple “don’t worry”?

A little smart-aleck. He had been so wary and distrustful at first, yet now he trusted so easily.

Standing up, Tennessee opened a drawer and found something rustling in the corner. It was a plastic bag. Tennessee untied the tightly knotted string.

Inside was the child’s jacket. He had bought it shortly after they met. He wondered why he had put it here after folding it neatly, but then he noticed dirt and dust falling from it.

It was the clothing the child had worn when he was dragged away by the gang; the traces of rolling on the alley floor remained. It was better to buy a new one than to pay to have this laundered.

“Ah, that’s mine.”

“I know.”

Tennessee tossed it into the trash can, bag and all. The child’s mouth hung open in dismay.

“Are you throwing it away?”

“I’ll buy you a new one.”

“…….”

It was a dirty garment anyway. Even though he offered to buy a new one, the child’s expression didn’t brighten. It had been a long time since Tennessee encountered such an incomprehensible reaction.

“Don’t throw it away?”

“……Yes. I wish you wouldn’t.”

Answering honestly, the child pulled the bag out of the trash. With a rustling sound, he retrieved the jacket covered in dirt, dust, and all sorts of filth.

The droop of the child’s eyes bothered him. The child tried to shake it off, but it was useless.

Unable to stand the sight of such misery, Tennessee picked up the hotel phone. He pressed the button that connected directly to laundry services. After stating the type and number of items, a staff member agreed to come and collect them.

“Put it here.”

Pointing to the basket, the child, realizing the situation, placed the jacket inside. His eyes sparkled like a puppy receiving a treat. Then, Tennessee took a general look at the child’s attire.

It wasn’t noticeably dirty since it hadn’t gone completely unwashed, but there was no harm in sending things like this out once in a while.

“Take off your T-shirt too.”

The child awkwardly rubbed his bare shoulders but placed his top in the laundry basket. Not a single shred of doubt.

It was a completely different reaction from before.

Tennessee couldn’t tell if the child was stupid or naive. Perhaps he was both. Feeling irritated, Tennessee lit a cigarette.

“Put those in too.”

As he commanded, Tennessee gestured with his eyes toward the lower half. The child’s hand hesitated over the buckle before he slowly took off his pants.

Now, the child was wearing only a single piece of underwear. Although he was dressed casually, he seemed conscious of being in front of the fully dressed Tennessee and avoided eye contact. At this point, Tennessee found it truly absurd. Even people who had known each other for years would be cautious.

“That too.”

At Tennessee’s word, the child’s hand reflexively moved toward his underwear. Gripping the waistband, the child hesitated and glanced at Tennessee.

Surely he won’t take that off. Just as Tennessee was about to speak, the child’s undergarments slid down. That was when Tennessee’s irritation spiked.

“Are you an idiot?”

“……Huh? You, you told me to take it off.”

“Are you just going to strip everything if I tell you to?”

“Not exactly, but since it’s Tennessee……”

“What about me?”

Tennessee stood up. The child took two steps back, intimidated by the sudden pressure.

“Are you going to spend your life doing everything others tell you to? I told you not to trust people.”

“But,”

“What did I say?”

“……Not to trust people. But,”

“Are you talking back?”

“No…….”

Tennessee pulled out one of his own tops and threw it to the child. Since he didn’t throw it hard, the child caught it easily.

Only then did the child hurriedly pull the clothes on. Because of the difference in their build, Tennessee’s T-shirt reached down to the child’s buttocks.

He has nothing to wear. He felt he would need to buy more jackets and clothes.

Just then, the staff member coming for the laundry rang the bell. Handing over the clothes the child had stripped off, Tennessee rubbed his head in inexplicable fatigue.

‘Not exactly, but since it’s Tennessee……’

It was unbelievable. What had he done to make the boy obey so meekly? How long had it been since the child had been so guarded? The funny thing was that the child remained completely oblivious. Even now, he was sitting haphazardly, watching TV.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t washed up since exercising. Tennessee stripped off his sweat-soaked clothes. He intended to cool his head in the shower, but that gaze fell upon him again.

Despite being the one in the wrong, the child was pouting his lips.

“Stop looking at my body.”

“You’re the one putting your body in my line of sight, Tennessee.”

He felt it time and again—the child’s habit of talking back had increased.

* * *

Since the clothes were ruined by that incident, he had to buy new ones. To help the tense child relax and to get new clothes, Tennessee took him to the mall. It was a large-scale mall, but they didn’t have time to see everything. Checking his watch, Tennessee let the child loose and tossed out a single instruction.

“I’ll give you thirty minutes. Pick some things.”

Naturally, the child headed toward the cheaper stores within the mall. It was a shop that sold clothes at low prices, often taking over stock from other shopping malls.

Walking briskly, the child’s gaze caught a sports apparel specialty store on the right. For a very brief moment—so short that anyone other than Tennessee wouldn’t have noticed—the child’s footsteps stopped. Then, he naturally continued walking.

“Do you want it?”

The child hesitated and shook his head. Only when Tennessee stopped and stared did he give a small answer in the affirmative.

“But it’s expensive.”

That was the muttered remark. It was just a shopping mall. Tennessee was someone who could buy as many clothes as he wanted even from luxury shops where staff lined up. Why was this a concern?

“Buy it.”

“……Really?”

The reason Tennessee had bought the child’s clothes at Walmart or Target until now was simply because they were the closest, not because he was stingy. At a nod from Tennessee, the child excitedly wandered around.

Sitting in a chair in the center of the store, Tennessee watched the child scurry about.

“This one.”

Not forgetting the thirty-minute limit, the child returned with something shortly after. It was a sleeveless T-shirt with a black logo on a white background.

“Is that enough?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you don’t need anything else?”

“This is enough.”

“I clearly said you could buy. It’s your loss.”

As Tennessee stood up, the child urgently shouted, “Wait a minute!” Tennessee silently sat back down. After waiting another ten minutes or so, the child picked five items and narrowed them down to two.

“Now it’s really enough.”

As if satisfied with just those, the child’s face even flushed.

“I’ll take these too.”

When Tennessee pointed to the remaining three the child had set aside, the child’s face lit up like a switch had been flipped. Throughout the checkout process, the child bounced and spoke rapidly. He looked exactly like a kid his age.

Tennessee looked around the mall. Young children holding their parents’ hands, teenagers flocking together, elementary students walking and talking far behind their parents. He felt that if the child were pushed out there now, he would blend in with surprising naturalness.

“Do you need anything else? How about these shoes?”

The clerk approached and suggested. The child shook his head, but Tennessee’s eyes drifted downward. Right, he had grown longer. He seemed to have grown at least an inch.

“Please measure his shoe size.”

The clerk quickly seated the child.

“Are we buying those shoes too?”

“Yes.”

The child knew that Tennessee hadn’t checked the price of the clothes once.

“But this place is really expensive. Do you have that much money?”

The child whispered quickly so no one would hear. Tennessee chuckled.

And so, the child ended up with three T-shirts, two pairs of shorts, a pair of basketball shoes, and a pair of sneakers.

“Thank you.”

The child thanked him all the way out of the mall. It was the first time Tennessee had seen the child so excited.

“Thank you. I love them so much.”

It made him wonder why he hadn’t done this sooner, considering how simple it was.