Chapter 6: Invidia of Envy (Minah)

I am Min-Ah Sawada. A homunculus girl, born through the combining of genes of a Korean man and a Japanese woman, in an artificial womb…

Unfortunately for me, I was born with the personality extremity of envy, hence my codename "Invidia"...

I was, and still am, envious of my very own sisters; the girls born from the same artificial womb as me.

I envy Superbia Maeve for her pride, elegance, authority and royalty. I envy Ira Benesha for her fierce spirit, zealousness and confidence. I envy Luxuria Haniya for her angelic beauty and personality.

But I don't envy Avaritia Eliza, Gula Kayla or Acedia Mandane in the same way, because they are inferior to me. What I envy about Eliza is her wealth, and what I envy about Kayla is the fact that she leads an easygoing, hedonistic lifestyle.

Mandane is plain. There's nothing to envy her for. Well, except for her potential, maybe. I remember that Maeve herself felt apprehensive about a Mandane who performs at the best of her ability…

And I hate to admit it, but I also envy Lilith Alisha, for basically everything. I wish I was her. She has the best qualities of me and my sisters combined…

Alisha is more elegant and prideful than Maeve. More of a zealot than Benesha. Arguably more angelic than Haniya. More ambitious than me. More avaricious than Eliza. A sybarite putting Kayla to shame. And Alisha is what Mandane would've been like, if she had given everything her full effort.

She is indeed the magnum opus of the laboratory, the "Perfect Eve".

But just like Eve was granted to Adam, we girls, being that we are the first homunculi females, had a natural, predisposed inclination to be someone's special woman, too.

Benesha has Tshikuta; the man she's engaged to. And apparently, she has a younger brother. A guy named Sansula…

Alisha is engaged to him. If she deems him as a fitting "Adam", then that must be true. I trust her judgment, since she's perfect after all.

In that case, I want Sansula for myself. I want him to be with me…

Right before I met Sansula, I went on vacation to Tokyo, Japan, during winter break 2029. I went with my parents. We went to visit my grandparents and the extended Japanese family I have.

In Japan, people write my name as "美永" (Mina) in Kanji. 美 means "beauty, beautiful, pretty." It indicates having a pleasing appearance or attractive qualities. I am deserving of praise and admiration. 永 means "eternity, permanence."

So my beauty and attractive qualities are permanent and eternally deserving of praise. Yet, I don't feel that way about myself at all, which is ironic.

I always envy those above me. Because I aspire to reach higher heights, and become better. I don't feel like I'm good enough.

I sat with my nieces in a bedroom. We were doing some chit chat. Talking about my life in the Netherlands, and boys, of course.

"You're so pretty, Mina-chan!" They said. "Are all Asian girls in Holland born with light hair and light eyes, just like you?"

"Oh stop it!" I chuckled.

"Do you have a boyfriend, Mina-chan?" They asked, curiously.

"Hmmm no I do not…"

"What?! Aren't there many hot, tall and huge guys in Holland? How come you haven't pursued any?"

"I haven't come across any guy that is worth pursuing."

"What's your type?"

"Hmmm…" I had to ponder a bit, since I never thought about it before. "Someone who the best woman on earth wants to be with."

"Huh???" My nieces didn't expect such an answer. "But wouldn't that make it difficult for you to pursue him?"

"That's the point," I smiled. "It would motivate and encourage me to surpass the best woman on earth, so that I can pursue him…"

A week passed since I had that conversation with my nieces. It is New Year's Eve now. I decided to go outside with my nieces for this special occasion. All of us wore kimonos. My kimono was pink with white and blue flower print.

6.1

My nieces and I went to food stalls that offer a variety of street food options, such as yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), takoyaki (octopus dumplings), taiyaki (fish-shaped pastries filled with sweet red bean paste), Okonomiyaki (savory pancake) and Gyoza (dumplings). We ate a bunch of things.

"Dutch cuisine is nothing compared to this!" I said.

I heard a very familiar voice, but a voice I hadn't heard in ages, "konichiwa". I directed myself to where the voice came from…

There I saw Zipporah, the daughter of Nathan. Nathan is the Head Scientist overseeing the homunculi experiment. Zipporah is a woman in her late 20s. She was accompanied by a man I had never seen before.

Zipporah wore a beautiful white kimono, and a shawl over her head due to the cold. Her shawl had tassels. Her husband also wore a white kimono, with tassels on the edge below.

"Zipporah! It has been a while!" I was delighted to see her. She was eating dango (sweet rice dumplings). "Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see you in Tokyo!"

"I'm glad to see that you've grown into a fine woman, Minah," she smiled.

"And who is that guy? Your bodyguard or your boyfriend?" I asked, curiously.

"Boyfriend?" She chuckled. "Don't you think I'm too old to still be fooling around?"

"Huh?"

Zipporah raised her hand and showed me that she wore a ring on her finger. "Meet my husband. His name is Yeshaya."

"Who is this kid?" He asked, referring to me.

"She is one of the girls at the kindergarten I used to volunteer in approximately ten years ago," she answered. "I told you about them, remember? About how quirky they are."

"Ah! I remember!" He suddenly got excited. "Then this must be the envious girl! Since you told me she was Asian!"

"Correct!"

I didn't like the fact that Zipporah introduced me as the "envious girl" to people. It has negative connotations.

"It's nice to meet you!" He smiled.

"Likewise," I replied.

"So how have you been, Minah?" Zipporah asked.

I told Zipporah about my final years in primary school, and my start in middle school. How I experienced it all. And that I'm close to graduating.

"What university do you recommend I go to?" I asked.

"Have you heard about the new school the government is building in the City of Utrecht?" She asked. "I've heard of it. I'm indeed planning to apply to that school," I answered.

"Great because I'd have recommended you to apply to Utrecht Metropolitan Self-Development School," she said. "I'll be a homeroom teacher there, alongside my husband. The Headmaster of the kindergarten will be the principal. And your sisters also applied to the school. So it will be just like the good ol' days!"

"That sounds fun, but also very challenging," I said.

I just realized that my nieces understood literally nothing of our conversation, since they can't speak Dutch.

"Oh I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" I apologized to my nieces.

"No no! It's okay!"

"Ah my bad," Zipporah excused herself in Japanese. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Are you her nieces?"

"Yes ma'am," they replied.

"I could tell. You're all pretty, just like her," she smiled.

I said goodbye to Zipporah and her husband. And continued exploring the streets together with my nieces.

6.2

My nieces and I came across a tree that had candy apples hanging from it. My nieces quickly ran up to it to grab the last remaining ones. There was one candy apple left, so I hurriedly went to the tree in order to take it.

Only to come face to face with a man, wearing a beautiful black kimono with white flower print. He was also intending to grab the last candy apple.

The two of us stared at each other for what felt like forever. "Minah?" I heard a familiar voice call my name. My sister, Ira Benesha Badila, came up to the scene. She wore a beautiful purple kimono.

"Benesha!" I exclaimed. I was surprised and happy to see her.

"Do you know my sister?" The guy asked.

"Why don't we share this candy apple?" I suggested with a smile.

I had a chat with my sister Benesha and her younger brother. "What are you doing here in Tokyo?" I asked.

"We are here for the cozy, amusing and beautiful atmosphere during New Year's Eve," she answered. "And to watch the performance of Asaliy. She will have a guest performance for that one show…"

"Kohaku Uta Gassen?"

"Yes! That one."

"I'm happy to see you, Benesha," I smiled. "How have you been?"

"Good," she said. "Yourself?"

"I've been fine."

Another dark-complexioned man in a kimono walked up to us. "This is my fiance," Benesha introduced him. "His name is Tshikuta."

"Fiance? Wow you're already engaged! Congratulations!"

"Nice to meet you!" He said. "Are you a friend of Benesha?"

"We are more like sisters. I've known her since kindergarten. But I haven't seen her in a while."

"Oh then you're just like Haniya and Mandane!" He said.

"What?" I was surprised that he knew of them. "Did Benesha tell you about us?"

"He had met them," she replied.

I gave the remaining part of the candy apple to Sansula. "You look just like your sister," I smiled.

"I know right?" He returned the smile. "My name is Sansula by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise!" I smiled. "By the way, Benesha. You won't believe who I just came across."

"Zipporah?"

"How did you know?"

"I came across her too. In fact, I was just talking to her. I left because she wanted to speak to someone one-to-one."

"To who? Her husband?"

"No… To…"

"Look at you two, eating an apple from a tree…" That voice… Lilith Alisha, wearing a green kimono, walked up to us. "This must be a bad omen," she continued.

"My parents adopted her," Benesha sighed. "And she's engaged to my brother."

"Really?" I asked. "Why him?"

"Because he's everything I long for in a man," Alisha replied.

"In that case, I'm going to snatch him away from you," I openly declared.

"Huh???" He couldn't believe his ears.

"Oh my!" Alisha exclaimed. "That isn't love. What even is it?"

"For you to choose Benesha's brother should mean that he's something special," I said. "So I want him."

"You don't even have any feelings for him."

"Love is something that will develop over time."

"All of you girls are ridiculous," Alisha chuckled. "No wonder why your qualities are all sinful."

"No, you are wrong," Benesha chimed in. "What we possess aren't sins, but traits of success."

"Let's see how successful those traits will make you in life…"

We all went to the hall where Kohaku Uta Gassen was to take place, for the performance of Asaliy or Ashley.

It was very crowded. As to be expected from the most up and coming popular musician of our time.

Asaliy appeared on stage to sing her very first song written in Japanese. It was, however, a terrifying song. That made me envision a global disaster, causing the deaths of many loved ones…

Anyway, more than half a year has passed since. The first day of Utrecht Metropolitan Self-Development School was upon me. I took my suitcase, said goodbye to my parents, and headed to Utrecht from Leiden by train.

When I went beyond the entrance gates, I came across my sisters; Benesha, Mandane, Haniya, and Kayla…

"Minah!" Haniya went up to me and gave me a warm embrace. "I have missed you so much! How have you been?"

"I have missed you all too," I hugged her back. "And I've been good. How about you all?"

"Same here," Benesha replied. "Can't complain," Mandane followed up. "I've been... well..." Kayla didn't finish her sentence. She appears to be troubled.

"I've been doing great!" Haniya smiled.

"Yeah?" I asked. "I've not seen Benesha since December. But I haven't seen the rest of you since ten years ago…"

"We should indeed do some catching up!" Haniya said.

"Isn't it a good idea to wait for Eliza and Maeve to arrive?" Kayla asked, worriedly.

"That's true," I agreed.

"Nah skip that!" Haniya disagreed. "Or maybe we should start with summaries and elaborate further when everyone is here."

"Will you go first then, Kayla?" Haniya asked.

"There's something I need to tell you all about Lilith..."