Mastore 86 - Dumpster

Magic Realm Convenience Store – Ch. 86

The drug that carries love (5)

At 8:30 in the morning, something went wrong. Not because of the office workers.

"Mom, I wanna eat cotton candy."

The streets were still quiet even after sunrise, and as I checked the POS machine thinking, What’s going on? I realized—it was Saturday? I had been living without any sense of the days recently and hadn’t noticed.

At first, I thought it would be a relief since there wouldn’t be any spilled coffee or sandwich wrappers to clean up in the morning, but today wasn't just any Saturday. It was a Saturday in May, Family Month.

Maybe that's why we had quite a few family customers, and notably, the kids were very young. Even the moms looked young.

“Boss, do you happen to have cotton candy at this convenience store?”

"We don't have any at ours."

Some convenience stores do sell cotton candy. Not made fresh with a machine, but in paper cups that come with little spoons.

If you try another store, they might have it. When I told her this, the young mom repeated what I said word for word to her child.

"Sweetie, they don't have cotton candy here."

"Nooo! I wanna eat cotton candy!"

“I’m not saying I won’t buy it for you; Boss-nim said they don’t have it here. Let’s go somewhere else.”

"No, I wanna eat cotton candy! Cotton candy!"

No, kid. Mom's not refusing to buy it, she’s saying she’ll get it for you somewhere else.

I thought I should try to help the child understand this point, but it seemed like this kid frequently threw tantrums at their mom. The mom’s sudden frustration made that very clear.

"I said I'll buy it somewhere else! If you keep throwing a tantrum, I'll leave you here!"

"No no!! Cotton candy!! Cotton candyyyy!!"

"Keep throwing a tantrum, and we won’t go to the amusement park!"

"COTTON CAAAANDYYYY!!"

Do situations like this happen often? Not in my convenience store experience. When I worked at a kids' cafe, I saw this scene every day though...

My approach back then was to let them figure it out themselves. I tried warning them to do something about their kid, and even tried consoling the kid directly, but neither method worked.

In the first case, the mom would just look at me like 'I know, but what do you want me to do?' and in the latter case... I got hit by the kid. Some of those kids had hands. Anyway.

"I'm gonna eat cotton candy. Cotton candy. Cotton candyyy..."

The kid’s volume started to drop, and their posture sank along with it. From my experience, this was the telltale sign they were about to flop onto the ground for a full tantrum.

The child's mother must have been fed up with this situation, as she said in an almost tearful voice,

“If you keep acting like this, a dragon will fly down from the sky and take you away. Mommy told you that before!”

What’s gonna fly and take the kid?

The question burned on my tongue, but I kept it to myself. Because the person in question had arrived directly.

The front door bell chimed, and in came a small child with skin tone similar to fluorescent light. Though she walked rather than flew...

“Uh…”

With amber eyes the kid glanced at me, then at the crying child and their mom, tilting their head in curiosity. For now, I responded the way I always did.

“It’s been a while, little... Hana.”

The little girl had said her name was Hana.

As soon as I greeted her, I noticed the cotton-candy kid had suddenly stopped crying. The mom’s face was painted with shock, as if her words had actually summoned something.

Though the only similarity between dragons and this little girl was a pair of small horns, apparently that's enough for this world's other races to recognize them as a dragon. After a moment, the mom snapped out of it and grabbed her child.

"Sweetie, I’ll buy you cotton candy. Let’s go."

The kid nodded, as if mesmerized, grabbed her mom’s hand, and walked out without another word. The little girl who had been watching them leave turned to me tilted her head again, and asked,

"Why cotton candy?"

“That kid really wanted some, but we don’t sell it here.”

"Aigu, that's terrible..."

"It's not that terrible. Anyway, want some candy?"

“Candy?”

I felt like I owed her for solving my noise problem. There were some uneasy parts in the process, but I could think about that later.

"But, I don't have money..."

"I just don't want to eat alone, it's lonely."

"You don't have to worry about being lonely anymore, I'm here."

“True. Guess I worried for nothing.”

Still, she declined the candy saying she had no money, so I just bought it and stuffed it in her mouth. She looked startled but quickly succumbed to the sweetness of orange-flavored candy.

"I'll eat it well, Mister."

After this little girl leaves, I should stock up on some bags of hard candy. I can just claim it was free promo candy and she didn’t need to pay for it.

I sat her in the chair behind the counter, chewing on the candy, then dragged one of the customer chairs over for myself. After confirming the street outside was quiet, I asked the little girl.

“Hana, what’ve you been up to these past few days?”

She couldn't go out for two days because of the pollen, that's what I'm guessing. I just don't know why she couldn't go out after that.

"Umm, staying home and Mommy's company..."

“No kindergarten?”

"Eh… Pollen’s a big deal. Mommy said to stay in for a while longer, so yeah."

Well, children's health is the most important issue for mothers.

Even if the TV says the pollen situation is resolved, a mom who’s been outside to feel the air for herself can't help but feel anxious. Keeping their kid home for a few extra days seems perfectly understandable.

Hana mentioned staying either at home or in her mom’s office lounge, so I assumed her mother hadn’t handed them a phone. Honestly, it was a blessing she hadn’t reached out to me.

"Then you probably haven't talked much with other kids either."

This little girl could see into the minds of other species. Through her horns.

But for reasons unknown to me as someone from another world, kids don't like this little girl. Whenever those kids looked at Hana, their emotions turned pitch black, and this little girl was taught that black things are bad.

Because of this, Hana struggles to talk to others and struggling to make friends. I felt bad for her, so I erased the magic myself. That was also when I found out I could remove magic by touching someone else’s body.

If things had gone normally, there might’ve been some progress by now. It must have been hard not being able to go to kindergarten because of the pollen...

“I did. Talk.”

“Oh, really?”

"Yes. Played with toys and played in the sandbox too."

What’s that. That sounds like a pretty full experience to me.

"But... the kids... um..."

“Was there a problem?”

"Their faces."

Their expressions weren’t good. It felt like they didn’t enjoy playing with Hana.

This seemed to be the little girl's own interpretation, but I see it differently. Not in 3D.

"Maybe, did the kids immediately give you toys when you asked for them? Like, if you asked for specific toys, they’d hand it over right away?”

"Eh, how did you know?"

"I have my ways."

It's a way called life experience. For example, when a big kid at school asked to borrow my notebook, I would give it right away. Why? Because they're scary.

In this world, dragons are treated like those “big kids.” Dragons. Scary person.

Even that mom who was just here, the one with the crying kid, said: ‘Keep throwing a tantrum, and a dragon will come and take you away’.

It was meant to scare the kid. After all, would a child be afraid if she said, ‘A cat or hamster will come take you away?’ In this world, they must have mentioned dragons because that's what scares kids.

Moreover, if you were to assign a color to fear, it would definitely be in the dark spectrum. Maybe pure black, even. It's an emotion harder to control than hatred or dislike.

"Did I do something wrong...?"

“No, it’s not your fault.”

It wasn’t Hana’s fault, which was a relief. But it also made the problem bigger. Because now it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Being afraid isn’t a crime.

And because it’s not a fault, it can’t be fixed. It has to be overcome. By 7-year-old kindergarteners.

“…It’s not your fault, but I do have an idea of what you can do.”

"Something I can do?"

"Well... like having a talent..."

I wasn’t telling her to be a clown. The idea was to shift attention elsewhere.

For example, if this little one knew card tricks. Wouldn't they focus more on the cards than the horns then? Even better if they think someone who shows them such things couldn't be bad..

"Or, maybe find some common ground.”

“Talent? Common ground?"

“Sorry, I asked a difficult question.”

This needed to be explained better. Realistically, asking this kid to learn some kind of skill was a bit much. Finding common ground seemed like a better approach….

“...Mister.”

“What.”

“Thank you.”

"Hana. This isn't something you should thank me for."

“Then?”

“This is something other people need to apologize to you for.”

Seven years old. It’s crucial, and yet I can’t help but wonder what the kindergarten teachers and the mother are even doing. Do they think this is just something time will fix on its own?

No. It is true that time will improve things.

Just as I grew older and realized that people with big heads were scarier than those with big body, these kids will eventually mature and understand that being afraid of someone just because of their appearance or species is meaningless.

But... childhood doesn’t come back. If you write it off as something inevitable, who will make up for this little girl's childhood that will disappear without any memories?

"I don't really understand, but... um..."

“What. Are you wondering why this ‘mister’ is going out of his way to help you? Is that it?”

“....”

I just said what came to mind, but there was no answer. I must have hit the mark.

It was a bit of a sensitive topic, so I hesitated to say it outright. But after thinking for a moment, I just let it out. Hana would probably forget it someday anyway.

"I didn't have friends either. At your age."

For similar reasons, too. Problems you can’t overcome on your own. Fear, family finances.

I know it sounds irresponsible and indifferent, but… a seven-year-old isn’t to blame for their family being poor.

I was born no different from others, could play soccer and basketball too. But everyone would say, ‘How’s a kid wearing hand-me-down sneakers supposed to play soccer or basketball?’ It got to the point where I seriously considered learning shoemaking.

I wasn't even as well-behaved as this little girl back then.

I went crying to the teacher saying 'Those kids won't play with me,' and cried to my mother asking if we really couldn't afford even shoes.

Then, during the homeroom, the teacher said something like, 'I hope you don't discriminate against someone just because they're poor.' Was that the right thing to say? Was it appropriate for a teacher to tattletale like that?

And my mother... said nothing. She just left early for work the next morning.

Now, looking back, none of it really matters. How many people still hang out with friends they played with at seven, and how many even remember such things?

Except me. I remember. I just can't forget it.

I can't forget the feelings I had back then, so I live by the memories.

“I didn’t have any friends, so I wished someone—anyone—would help me. A grown-up.”

“...... .”

“And now… I guess I’ve become that grown-up.”

When I was in the same situation as her, I struggled. She must be struggling too.

I felt like I was saying things Hana wouldn’t understand, so I redirected the conversation.

"It's just self-satisfaction, so don't worry too much about it."

“...Mister.”

“What.”

“Mister, my friend.”

“We can call it that if you want. But wouldn't it be better to make better friends than me?"

Not some random old guy, but bright, cheerful kids your own age. How would I know the current trends in 7-year-olds' pretend play, or how to jump rope well?

“But, sir, I really like Mister....”

“Why, thanks. But how are your horns now? Are you still seeing people’s hearts?”

The little girl looked like they wanted to say more, but nodded. Then she added that when she woke up the next morning, she could see her mom’s heart again.

"What time did you wake up?"

“Eight o’clock.”

Since I erased the magic at 10 a.m., it seems it can last up to 20 hours. Unless there’s some condition like needing sleep or something.

"I'll do it once more, so let me see your horns."

“Mister, I’m not going to kindergarten today...”

"I know. I know, but right now the timing is good here." (Idiom. The water’s fine now, meaning the timing is good.)

There had to have been over ten families with kids this morning alone. They say even a sturdy tree will fall after ten strikes, so if Hana tries talking to every kid that comes, wouldn't we succeed at least once?

If I helped her find common ground with her, it would be much easier. Since I can clearly see what the kid wants, I can give hints about toys or snacks.

“The water is good?”

“It means there are a lot of kids your age coming into the store right now. It’s almost nine, so….”

We could probably get about 5 families during the one-hour shift change. As I thought this and looked outside the front door, there happened to be a customer about this little one's age standing at the door.

After a moment, this customer started scratching at the front door with their front legs. I went to open the door and spoke.

“No, Doggy. Why are you here now....”

“Kiiii....”

“Why are you making dog noises instead of talking like a person?”





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