Victor Valentine's Card story – Past Encounter

[kozvme]

Jay: Yeah, yeah. I've brought you food today, guys.
Here, eat lots, get biggerー

Victor: It is best not to feed them recklessly or you will disrupt the ecosystem.

Jay: UWOAH!!?



Victor: ......

Jay: ... A k- kid? Do kids in the neighborhood come here to play?

Victor: My name is Victor Valentine. The research institute has taken me on as an apprentice this term.

Jay: Apprentice... You're a researcher in the bud, then? Just- how old are you?

Victor: 13.

Jay: 13... Wow...
You'll be working for HELIOS research department lab, where specially selected scientists all over the world gather, right? A kid like you must be something to get inー

Victor: Are you not planning to introduce yourself?

Jay: Eh-? Ahh, right... my bad. I'm Jay Kidman.
Like you, I just joined HELIOS, but as 7th gen. hero.
I’m looking forward to working with you as fellow colleagues, Victor.

Victor: ... The Special Service department is quite far away, so why do you come all the way here?

Jay: To recharge my batteries.
Don't you find the garden here is beautiful? Especially this pond. It has so many rare, well-tended fish.
I often come here when I want to take a break, sunbathe or hear myself think.

Victor: Is that right...
But it is probably better if you just gaze at the fish. This is an artificial pond in the first place and the quality control of the water is performed scrupulously. It is also possible that the food ends up becoming garbage, making the water muddy.

Jay: Wha-... that's no good. I love fish, but it seems I didn't know much about them.

Victor: You love fish?

Jay: Yeah. I've always liked going to aquariums, watching them swimming underwater.
Now that I started working as a hero, I'd like to eventually buy a fish tank and keep fish.

Victor: Hoh, that is a fascinating ambition.

Jay: How about you come over here so we can watch them together, Victor?

Victor: Why should I?

Jay: I mean, watching the fish swim is fun. It was particularly exciting when I was a kid...

Victor: ......

Jay: Look! There's a huge fish over thー

Victor: I believe you should do something about that bigoted stereotype before it is too late.

Jay: Huh...?

Victor: Are you not under the assumption that everybody likes gazing at the fish like you do?

Jay: T- That's...

Victor: Let me rephrase: that all "children" like gazing at the fish?
You have been uttering the word "child" many times for a while now... Well, I might look like a child to you, I give you that.
However, if you are only basing that on the fact that I am 13, then that is what I would call a bigoted stereotype.



Jay: What the...?

Victor: That is what may fall into the concept of a 13-year-old for you, but not for me.
As a matter of fact, I am on an equal footing with older researchers... No, I can hold a discussion far better.
You might already know about this, but this research institute has another 13-year-old apprentice researcher: Nova, Dr. Oswald Summerfield's son.
Although he looks and behaves like a child, his achievements as a researcher can hardly be said to be those of a "child".

Jay: E- Err... In short, you're telling me not to treat you like a kid, right?
You're right. I judged you by your age. I'm sorry about that. 
When I was 13, I was at the height of puberty; I was at an age when I wanted to bite off more than I could chew.
I borrowed my father's hairstyling products to arrange my hair, was somehow embarrassed to say I liked donuts... Haha, the good old days.

Victor: I do not think like that.

Jay: Yeah. Looks like I was a bit narrow-minded. I apologize if that hurt you.
You're amazing. In such a short time you made me realize a lot of things. Thanks, Victor.

Victor: ......
I have no hard feelings against you. Everybody is constrained by stereotypes.
I am no exception... I am very close with a 1-year-old infant, and observing him made me realize that my thoughts might have been bigoted as well.

Jay: A 1-year-old b- baby?

Victor: Yes. I thought a crying infant was usually an indicator of hunger, excretion, sleep or the physiological desire to express unwellness.

Despite the fact that I accounted for all those factors, he still cries frequently.

Jay: And why's that?

Victor: That I do not know. The more I thought about it, the more puddled I became, so at last I stopped thinking about it.

Jay: W- What...?

Victor: Considering the situation, no matter how much you struggle, you cannot comprehend what an infant who cannot talk is thinking about.
While coaxing smiles out of him, Nova says he is just throwing tantrums, but it is just a guess, a phenomenon virtually beyond human understanding...

Jay: You're truly something... I've never seen a person who'd think that deeply of a baby...

Victor: I am not. It's just that my deeply engrained habit of pursuing the truth logically.

Jay: That so...?
Haha. I'm the type of person who acts on instinct, so I can't think like you do.
No wonder you were accepted into the research department at that age. I honestly respect you!

Victor: ... Respect?

Jay: Oops... It's already this late. Gotta go back to the central.
Hope to meet ya again, Victor. Let me hear about your hobbies and things you like next time. See ya ♪

Victor: ......

ーA few weeks later.



Victor: ... Gh.

(I am so vexed... Why did I not expect this to happen?
How could I think I would rocket over to Oswald after attending an academic meeting once...?
I did not even realize there was such a flaw in the essay...
I am certain everybody was waiting impatiently for this. In time, even those who have been friendly with me will change their attitudes.

... They simply pretended. Inside, they must have been mocking me, calling me a foolish child.)

Haah...



Jay: "ーI honestly respect you!"

Victor: ......

(We simply talked about a crying infant...
And yet, because he praised me for such a thing... I am currentlyー)



Jay: Ooh, there you are, Victor!

Victor: !?

Jay: W- Why are you that surprised...
Wait... you were crying?

Victor: !!

Jay: W- Wait, Victor!?

What the heck...? Maybe I shouldn't have called out to him? Hmm...
Still, he cries too, huh. He finally acted his age...
No, that's not it. I feel like I saw glimpses of human emotions in him.

Hehe. I'm looking forward to the day that we can meet here againー