This was a child, an innocent child, a child with amnesia. He couldn't get angry, couldn't! Jason couldn't bear it anymore. How could the illustrious Red Hood accept such slander?
Jantice: ...
She started sweeping and mopping the floor expressionlessly, as if everything was normal. But her eyes held glistening tears.
Seeing her obedient appearance, Jason's anger dissipated. Why did he become such a pervert? Did he even know what being a pervert meant? It was just a little tap on the head, right? He even felt like he went easy on her.
He could be called heartless, ruthless, and cruel, but he absolutely refused to accept the label of a pervert who liked young girls.
"Keep cleaning. I'll go get something," Jason said.
After fixing the door lock, regardless of whether she meant it or not earlier, perhaps she didn't even know what she was saying, Jason quickly calmed down.
"Remember not to open the door for strangers," Jason reminded her.
Jantice knew she had spoken out of turn and understood that he was looking out for her. She obediently agreed.
Jason's absence wasn't long. He returned to the safe house to gather some essentials. He would definitely come back here, but the girl wouldn't know what he was doing, and he probably wouldn't involve her in the future.
When he returned, the sound of the key unlocking the door made Jantice alert, but she relaxed when she saw it was him.
Considering her young age, Jason didn't expect her to clean the two-bedroom apartment on her own, and he couldn't just leave everything to her.
Jantice had no memory of cleaning, but she knew she had to clear away the dirt in the house. Jason looked around and didn't find any tools tall enough for her to reach the ceiling. He asked, "How did you do it?"
Seeing him ask, Jantice stepped back a few steps, gathered her strength, and rushed towards the corner of the ceiling, using both hands and feet to support herself against the wall when she reached her destination. She hadn't even put down the cloth in her hand.
Jason's understanding of her abilities was refreshed. He sighed, feeling complicated. "Get down."
For a child of just ten years old, such behavior was undoubtedly dangerous. But she wasn't ordinary, and he had no right to tell her not to do dangerous things now. She did everything with ease.
When Jantice loosened her grip on her hands and feet, she jumped down from a height of more than three meters without making a sound.
She was a bit puzzled by Jason's expression, but he quickly sent her to tidy up the items in the room.
Jantice found Jason's thoughts incomprehensible as she stared at the bedsheets, feeling puzzled about how to handle them. She had no memories of cleaning.
Jason came to check her progress and saw her earnestly contemplating how to deal with the bedsheets. He sighed and resignedly stepped forward to tidy them up. Jantice watched him in surprise as he worked.
He was relieved to see that she was quick to learn, tidying up the other room's items neatly.
He casually praised her for doing a good job, and he saw joy in her eyes.
At night, Jason instructed the girl not to open the door for strangers. If someone broke in...
He wanted to tell her to escape through the window. Considering the height of the second floor, she should be able to run away. But when she heard this, Jantice ran into the kitchen and came out with a knife, expressionless but with a hint of sharpness in her eyes. She said calmly, "I'll protect this place."
Jason: ...
"No, don't worry about it. If something happens, just run," he instructed repeatedly.
Jantice reluctantly agreed.
Jason covered his face, hesitated for a moment, and eventually convinced himself to relax. She had been living in Gotham for so long without major problems; there shouldn't be any issues.
Jason had something dangerous to do. He had known it all along, but now he needed money.
Where would the money come from? Those organized criminals and thugs would probably be willing to help him raise a child, or else he'd send them a few bullets, which received unanimous praise.
Today, he hadn't encountered any trouble from Batman, but Jason still inevitably got hit by a stray bullet. After treating his wound in the safe house, Jason returned to where the girl was.
When he took out the key to open the door, he saw the small sofa had been dragged to the front of the door, and the girl was lying on it. Upon hearing the noise, she immediately tightened her grip on the kitchen knife in her hand.
Jason fell silent for a moment. He didn't know what the girl had experienced to make her so cautious even at home, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Maybe it was because of what he said when he left last night.
He handed her breakfast with a gentle voice, "Eat and then go back to your room to sleep."
Jantice woke up. Nothing suspicious had happened last night, but she seemed accustomed to being vigilant.
Jason took the knife from her hand and returned it to the kitchen. Jantice sat at the dining table, calmly eating breakfast. Jason put the sofa back in place.
Sitting across from her, Jason took a bite of his sandwich to calm his empty stomach and asked her about her plans for the future.
Jantice swallowed her food and said softly but without much emotion, "Learn the language here."
"Very wise decision," Jason agreed. If the girl couldn't understand the local language and had communication barriers with the people here, she would be helpless. Not everyone understood multiple languages.
Jason began to think about where she should start. He could teach her, but his time was limited, and she couldn't wait for him to come back every day to study.
So she had to either self-study or find a teacher who understood Japanese to teach her English. The former required effort and talent, while the latter required money, which was not a problem.
Jantice asked, "Can I do both?"
Jason understood her eagerness to understand the world and assured her that it was completely fine.
While Jason searched for a suitable teacher or tutoring class through educational institutions, Jantice began her self-learning journey, starting with the twenty-six letters and then moving on to phonetics.
The day they received news about a suitable teacher, Jason was teaching her to recognize the furniture and appliances in the house. He sighed with relief when he saw the message. The girl wasn't foolish; in fact, she was quite smart, and she learned new knowledge quickly. However, she liked to explore things she didn't understand.
If not stopped in time, she even wanted to dismantle the microwave or refrigerator because she didn't understand their heating principles.
Having a curious spirit was a good thing, but Jason clarified that he didn't have enough money to let her dismantle things like that. If she could put them back together exactly as they were, that would be another matter.
Jason gave her a cellphone with a few trivial features added, which she wouldn't notice. Despite her curiosity about the phone surpassing that of the microwave and refrigerator, she was sternly forbidden from dismantling it. Instead, Jason taught her how to use it, mainly for sending messages and making calls. There was only one contact in it—him.
As for the internet, she could explore it herself.
Furthermore, Jason used illicit means to obtain identification for her, so she wasn't an undocumented immigrant anymore.
The girl didn't seem to care about this, but Jason thought about sending her to school in the future, so her identity needed to be legalized.
The educational institution recommended an English tutoring class. The teacher could speak Japanese, and there were only a few students in the class, all younger than Jantice and with worse foundations. She was the oldest and had the weakest foundation among them.
However, Jason didn't set high expectations for her. As long as she passed the basics of listening and speaking, it would be enough.
Jantice didn't mind attending classes with other students or the surprised looks she received because of her hair. She only cared about what she could learn here.
At night, Jason would go out for his business. Sometimes he returned in the early morning, sometimes at dawn. If he returned in the morning, he would bring breakfast for Jantice, then send her to the tutoring class and give her pocket money to buy lunch herself, which helped improve her speaking skills. After waking up and doing some chores, he would pick her up in the evening and cook dinner for both of them.
After midnight, while Jantice reviewed what she had learned during the day and did her homework, Jason would go out again.
Jantice wouldn't go out at night. After finishing her homework, she would take a shower and lock her door before going to her room.
She held the mirror, looking at her clear reflection: white hair, black eyes, features not as deep as those of the people in this city. But when she closed her eyes and opened them again, the black eyes disappeared, replaced by a pair of eerie red eyes.
What was most peculiar was that within those red eyes, there were three black tadpole-like entities spinning in a circle, red and black intertwining, yet distinctly contrasting, seemingly representing some kind of ominous presence.
This happened a few days ago when she heard Jason's door opening while she was asleep in her room. Alert, she got up and saw her altered reflection in the mirror.
At first, she was indeed startled by herself and didn't know how to retract it. Now, when she closed her eyes, her clear black eyes returned.
Jantis didn't know what this was, but she had a premonition that she shouldn't let anyone know about it, even though she didn't yet understand the purpose of these eyes.
Just as Jason had concealed her true hair color by claiming her white hair was dyed, she would also keep this secret hidden.