* * *
“Still, I wanted to be the one to say it! Damn twins… they don’t understand the concept of a mood, I swear.”
Rather than not understanding, Ben would bet money the twins just couldn’t stand to watch Elgran strut around like that, so they blurted it out first.
Either way, a brag is a brag—but the marking was something Elgran had desperately wanted, so Ben offered genuine congratulations.
“Congratulations. Looks like you finally got what you always wanted.”
“Exactly! Now I’ve got nothing to worry about. This glorious feeling of not having to care about other Espers! The old, jealous me is gone for good!”
His nose was so high now it could pierce the sky.
Honestly, it hadn’t been that envy-worthy to begin with… and considering this happened less than a week after the incident, Ben couldn’t imagine how much sweet-talking it took to get Ruth to agree.
Best not to dwell on that.
“Love always has its trials, you know! I—”
“Hmm. If it’s bragging you want to do, should I do it for you?”
“…Eh? What?”
Elgran’s triumphant speech was abruptly cut off by Haimar’s voice—not the expected sharp retort, but a surprisingly mild tone that threw him off.
“Did you beg him to swallow everything after you went down deep enough for three good sucks?”
“Uh—wha?! Wait a sec?!”
And just like that, Haimar unleashed a flood of X-rated filth.
The sheer mismatch between his crescent-moon eyes, angelic smile, and the obscene words spilling from his mouth was enough to cause whiplash.
“‘Wait a sec,’ my ass. Even if it was a private room, you whined like a spoiled brat about wanting to fuck until you got marked. Isn’t that what you wanted to brag about?”
“Uh… I mean, that’s… not wrong, but—”
His voice carried a razor-sharp edge of mockery, twisted just enough to make it sting.
For once, Elgran stammered, caught off guard by hearing his own brag come out of someone else’s mouth.
Ben, meanwhile, sat in stunned silence before the delayed wave of embarrassment hit him full force.
The people actually involved in the conversation didn’t even bat an eyelid, but just hearing it was enough to make him, who had nothing to do with it, feel embarrassed.
The corners of Ben’s eyes tensed involuntarily.
Sure, if it weren’t Haimar, the words coming from that lascivious cat in human skin would have been unthinkable—but either way, it was trouble all the same.
Elgran didn’t seem at all inclined to shut Haimar up, and Haimar showed no sign of stopping.
Unable to stand it any longer, Ben clamped his hand over Haimar’s mouth.
“……”
At that, those prettily folded eyes lifted again, melting into a gaze like sugar dissolving on the tongue.
His face from earlier had been beautiful enough, but the smile now turned toward Ben was thicker, sweeter.
Haimar caught Ben’s wrist, pulling his hand down, and like a feline rubbing against a hand for attention, pressed his cheek to Ben’s palm.
That sly smile lazily brushed against his skin before pulling back, the look in his eyes saying, as if in mock innocence, ‘Hm? What’s wrong?’—and Ben could only mutter:
“…Please, just stop.”
“I was just sparing you from something annoying I was about to say. Wasn’t that overly considerate of me?”
“Oh, wow… Your personality… It’s gotten so much worse since your restraints came off.”
Before Ben could respond, Elgran snorted like an angry bull and grumbled in protest.
Apparently, the embarrassment that had been simmering in Ben earlier had now transferred over to him.
“What the hell was that just now? That damn beast acting like a fox, seriously—”
Elgran’s face twisted as if he’d seen something he’d rather forget. He muttered under his breath, the last bit almost sounding like a curse.
But even then, he didn’t entirely forget himself in front of Haimar—he swallowed the rest instead of letting it spill out.
Still, he kept muttering about how crazy, changed, and completely messed-up Haimar had become, fuming like he couldn’t contain himself.
“So, you planning to keep your mouth shut now?”
“Shut it! I am shutting it! I’ll shut it, happy?”
Pouting, Elgran turned as if suddenly sensing something, his gaze shifting toward the door.
“Oh shit, footsteps outside. It’s Ellyn.”
“…Huh?”
“She’s here. Pervert.”
The unfamiliar name made Ben glance toward the back door.
He couldn’t hear a thing, but judging from Haimar’s lack of reaction, the guest was probably exactly who Elgran had said.
A few seconds of silence later, the so-called Ellyn—the “pervert”—opened the door and stepped inside.
The first thing Ben noticed was the height.
Then the short hairstyle—sides neatly shaved, the rest swept to one side.
Bright orange eyes, the same shade as the hair, scanned the lounge one by one.
Striking, clean features; a glittering chain attached to their glasses; a look so androgynously alluring it was almost disarming.
“Should I have knocked?”
The voice was right in between—too low for a woman, too high for a man—and pleasant to the ear.
Gender was impossible to guess at a glance, but the strange, enveloping aura made it irrelevant.
Only the slight mismatch between that aura and the cute-sounding name “Ellyn” caught on Ben’s mind.
“No.”
Haimar slowly released Ben’s hand and rose from the sofa.
“Well, you knew I was here anyway, right? Been a while.”
Sweeping back a few loose strands of hair, Ellyn waved to Haimar, then lightly pressed each of their cheeks together in turn.
A gesture so familiar, so natural, it flowed without hesitation.
Cheek to cheek.
With that Haimar Eilec.
Ben couldn’t believe it.
It was over in seconds—not even minutes—but for him, it felt like a slowed-down video, every frame deliberate.
At first he thought he’d imagined it.
But you can’t imagine something that vivid.
It was exactly what it looked like—a cheek kiss, the brief brushing of skin before parting again.
In the North, it was a traditional greeting.
Yes, just a greeting.
A sign of familiarity.
Which meant… Haimar and Ellyn were familiar enough to greet each other like that.
Something heavy pressed down in Ben’s chest.
He forced himself to dismiss it—it was just a light, friendly greeting between old acquaintances.
If only Elgran hadn’t dropped the next line like a bomb.
“Same old Ellyn.”
“[Integra], right?”
“Yeah. Haimar’s former Guide.”
Former Guide?
It felt like a stray shell had landed right in his lap and exploded.
The soundless blast tangled his thoughts beyond recognition.
Ben didn’t even know what to call this feeling.
Surprise? Confusion? Or something else entirely?
“Well… more like, almost became his former Guide.”
Even if it was surprising, there was no reason for confusion or anything beyond that.
Ben clung to reason, piecing together the most logical explanation.
Before meeting him, Haimar must have spent a long time searching for a compatible Guide.
There was nothing strange about this.
He was the current Guide—Elgran was only talking about the past.
And yet, his emotions refused to follow his logic.
He didn’t want to imagine what Haimar and Ellyn had been like in the past.
A contradictory tug-of-war twisted inside him, his heartbeat pounding erratically.
He wanted to know, but he didn’t want to know—especially about the memories they’d shared when Ellyn was almost Haimar’s Guide.
He hated it.
Just those two words defined the feeling, shoving Ben into a whirlpool of messy emotions.
Heat surged to the tips of his ears.
You’ve lost it, Ben Plaskun. Why?
It was nothing more than a story from before he ever showed up.
Still, his ears burned, buzzing faintly.
He thought he heard them exchange a few more words, but none of it registered.
For once, he was grateful for his hoodie—pulled tight around his head, it hid the redness at his ears.
“What’s with you, spacing out like that?”
Elgran waved a hand in front of his face, snapping Ben out of his thoughts.
If Elgran hadn’t spoken, Ben might’ve reached the point of being disgusted with himself.
Trying to look unaffected, Ben lifted his head slightly and glanced around.
That was when Haimar approached with a questioning expression and reached for Ben’s hood.
“W–What?”
Haimar loosened the drawstrings and started pulling it back, and Ben quickly caught his wrist—he didn’t want him seeing his flushed ears.
Instead, their foreheads bumped, their faces suddenly much too close.
The way his runaway mind snapped straight back into his body was almost violent.
* * *
