Little Pink Starfish

[The Constellation ‘Love Born with Bubbles’ intervenes in your thoughts.]

[How strange.]

[That you would come all this way, just to meet my contractor.]

The voice echoed in the mind of the ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’.

A voice as smooth as raindrops sliding down a windowpane—soft, gentle.

It was none other than ‘Love Born with Bubbles’.

‘I find it foolish too.’

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ smiled faintly.

Then she wrapped a hand around her wrist.

[The Constellation ‘Love Born with Bubbles’ smiles and muses.]

[Is it a sense of kinship, perhaps.]

[You and my contractor… both bear bodies marked by fire.]

That must be it, thought the ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’.

The goddess of love—‘Love Born with Bubbles’—was a Constellation who always felt unsettling to her.

She found beauty in all things, made even impossible love possible, while tearing apart bonds that should have endured. Such was the power of ‘Love Born with Bubbles’.

She was likely observing from her divine domain.

What expression would she have worn while watching?

A smirk? Tears?

Either way, the discomfort was the same.

“Um…”

Han Iro opened his mouth toward the ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’.

“I’ve really gotten into gardening lately. I always liked it, but ever since moving into the dorm, I’ve been more serious about it. I enjoy asking the members what they think.”

Such a lovely child, she thought.

Surely beneath that skin adorned with bubbles, burn scars must be etched everywhere, and yet he could still smile so sweetly—how strange.

“Do you have any hobbies?”

<Not particularly…>

She glanced around before replying.

<I’ve been studying housekeeping lately.>

“Housekeeping?”

<Yes. Everyday things like cooking and cleaning… I didn’t use to do them, but now I have to manage myself.>

“Ah… you moved out on your own?”

<Not exactly…>

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ smiled bitterly.

She wondered how Aiden would react if he knew she was here.

Would he be jealous? No, probably not. Lately, he’d become numb to human emotion. If anything, he might find it interesting.

If he asked, “So how was it… talking to someone besides me?”

Just imagining his face asking that made her sigh.

<I’m afraid talking to me might not be very fun.>

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ spoke to Han Iro.

<I’m not very good at socializing…>

“Not at all!”

Han Iro waved his hands, dismissing the thought.

“There’s no such thing as good or bad at conversation.”

Even as he said that, she could tell—the boy must’ve sensed something alien about her. Maybe the faint glimpse of a burn beneath her sleeve helped temper that dissonance.

‘He’s sharp, this one.’

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ smiled subtly.

<There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask.>

“What is it?”

<Back at the CYB Final Stage, you revealed your burn scars. I also read the interview included with the story. It left quite an impression…>

And now, unlike your childhood—

<If you knew you’d be burned again, would you still run into the fire?>

A surprising question.

Han Iro’s eyes widened.

She knew it was a rude question.

Although she, the ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’, was a Constellation far beyond the human realm, she had studied human culture to a reasonable degree.

Even so, she had to ask.

If it were me…

I wouldn’t have jumped in. She was the goddess who died giving birth to the god of fire—a shameful death.

A Constellation could only perish by another Constellation’s hand. Yet she died while giving birth to another god. Her soul, arriving in the afterlife, was twisted and monstrous.

Even the waste discharged during the birth of the fire god became a god itself. And when she saw her own decayed body, the partner who had reached out to take her back to the mortal world ran away instead.

She fears fire with her body scorched by it.

It’s ironic how the name ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ fits so well.

“…Hmm.”

After thinking for a moment, Han Iro said,

“I probably would.”

He shrugged.

There was surely some performance in his tone.

“I don’t have much time to say everything I’d want to…”

Han Iro consciously avoided looking at her sleeve.

Staring politely, almost obsessively, he smiled.

“So I say I would jump in, but I think I’d hesitate a lot and wrestle with the decision. Still, in the end… I think I would.”

<I see.>

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ nodded.

“Is there anything you’d like me to write with the autograph?”

Han Iro asked as he continued signing.

<Not particularly. Just write whatever you’d like.>

She bowed to Han Iro after replying.

That was the end of it.

Next, she turned toward Ryu Eunyul.

“Ah…”

With a tense face, Ryu Eunyul looked at her.

“H-Hello…?”

A cautious greeting.

<Nice to meet you. I’ve been wanting to see you.>

She smiled and extended a hand.

<Could we… shake hands?>

“Ah, y-yes. Of course.”

Ryu Eunyul clasped her hand.

Aiden would never admit it, but if this were the Aiden of old, he’d probably have liked Ryu Eunyul.

Perhaps the reason Aiden now bristled at Eunyul was precisely because of that—because the boy stirred the echo of a long-lost memory.

When the past is forcibly stolen from you, the urge to destroy what resembles it can become overwhelming.

It wasn’t about recreating the memory—it was about reclaiming control. And sometimes, if you have the chance to relive something once lost, you’d rather destroy it yourself than have it taken again.

<Haven’t we met before?>

She asked.

Ryu Eunyul tilted his head.

“No… I don’t think so?”

‘He doesn’t recognize me.’

Well, of course not. That was her true form then.

More than that, Ryu Eunyul seemed to carry a strange fear of her question.

Why, she wondered.

<Do you have any hobbies, Mr. Eunyul?>

“…Hobbies?”

Ryu Eunyul pouted slightly.

“These days, not much besides reading poetry on the move.”

He smiled shyly.

“…Our schedule’s pretty packed, so.”

<What kind of poetry do you like?>

“I tend to like works by female poets. Minimalistic styles… They inspire my lyrics a lot.”

So he’s the same, too.

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ smiled.

Her talk with Ryu Eunyul was the perfect chance to confirm Aiden’s hostility. Undoubtedly, the two would clash in the end.

Spending time among humans was wearing her down.

After finishing her conversation, she turned to leave the art hall.

[The Constellation ‘Love Born with Bubbles’ reaches out again.]

[I don’t want to let you go smiling so easily.]

[Sweet child, our conversation isn’t over yet.]

As she wandered through the city, avoiding crowds, the voice of ‘Love Born with Bubbles’ continued in her mind.

‘You’re persistent.’

She responded silently.

[The Constellation ‘Love Born with Bubbles’ retorts that she has no choice.]

[The Original Sinner is watching your every move.]

[And his brother, long separated for nearly eternity, is involved now too.]

[They both…]

[Don’t want to overlook what you and your contractor are planning.]

[The ‘Savior Who Is One and All’ believes that no Constellation should interfere with the birth of a new one.]

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ nodded.

The ‘Savior Who Is One and All’ had decreed that no other Constellation should meddle in the emergence of a new one. If things went as planned, Aiden would become a Constellation before long.

[But the ‘Star Hated by All’ and the ‘Archangel Who Cast Down the King of Hell’—they won’t sit back.]

[Unlike me, those two are much more aggressive.]

[Which, in its own way, makes them… charming.]

[The elder brother incarnated himself to make his contractor the national champion.]

[The younger also incarnated to help restore Enoch’s sins.]

The ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ acknowledged that too.

If the ‘Savior Who Is One and All’ were to disappear, the two brothers would become rulers of the world.

It seemed almost intentional—the way the Savior entrusted both the bottom and the top of the world’s order to the brothers.

And so, she couldn’t predict what either brother would do next.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

She walked faster and replied.

‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help my contractor achieve what he wants. Even if it’s wrong…’

[That’s no longer the act of a patron.]

‘I know.’

She admitted easily.

‘I’m no longer just supporting him. I want to be with him. A Constellation is one who walks through life with their contractor. If my contractor falls into the mire, then feeling that despair alongside him—that too might be a kind of salvation.’

Saying so, she suddenly—

Turned to look behind her.

In Gangnam, you’re met with countless stares no matter where you go.

Gazing around at the crowd that had gathered around her, the ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ smiled.

‘Why don’t we call it here, goddess of love. I opened my thoughts out of fondness, but if we keep talking, I might truly be in trouble.’

[The Constellation ‘Love Born with Bubbles’ is expelled from your thoughts.]

The flat tone echoed in her mind.

And the ‘Mother Ever Ablaze’ turned and disappeared into the crowd.

[That is not salvation, goddess of earth who hates humanity.]

A voice no one could hear—‘Love Born with Bubbles’—whispered into the winter wind.

[It is not salvation, but love born from desire.]

[And that’s what makes you beautiful.]

[A Constellation who loves their contractor with desire… Truly…]

[Truly, that is beautiful.]