* * *
“No fever.”
“I’m fine. I just… look a bit of a mess.”
“That’s hardly something to fuss about.”
In his usual unconcerned tone, Haimar moved Ben’s arm—still held by the wrist—until his hands reached both sides of Ben’s face.
His thumbs brushed under Ben’s eyes as he examined his features one by one.
His gaze lingered a little longer on the large gauze taped to Ben’s cheek.
A flicker of disapproval passed through Haimar’s eyes as he took in Ben’s condition.
“Sorry, but could I say hello to that cute friend of yours too?”
Leaning over, Ellyn waved.
Ben suddenly realized he still hadn’t greeted her.
The heat in his ears had mostly subsided, so he gently pulled away from Haimar and, a bit awkwardly, stepped toward Elly.
“My apologies. Hello.”
“Yes, hello. You’re Ben Plaskun, right? I’m Ellisona-something-or-other, but just call me Elly.”
“…I’ll call you Miss Ellyn.”
It wasn’t exactly a normal introduction, but it seemed better to just let it slide.
Ben reached out for a handshake, but at some point the hood that had been shadowing his face slipped back.
“…?”
Still not quite grasping the situation, Ben tilted his head with his hand awkwardly extended.
Ellyn gave a light laugh, then stepped forward, leaning in.
Ah, so it’s a cheek-kiss greeting.
Even if it was surprising to get this kind of physical greeting on a first meeting, maybe it was completely normal for her.
Trying not to look startled, Ben lowered his hand and began leaning closer—only to be abruptly pulled backward.
He stumbled, nearly losing his balance.
“Whoa—”
“Let’s skip that greeting.”
“What, really? You know exactly how hard I can raise hell if someone messes with my greetings.”
Haimar had tugged him back onto the sofa so suddenly that Ben almost ended up sitting in his lap.
Barely steadying himself, Ben gave Ellyn a troubled look.
Ellyn shot Haimar a clearly dissatisfied remark, but then turned to Ben with a warm smile as if her irritation had vanished completely.
She finally drew him in and brushed their cheeks together before pulling away.
“Off-topic, but you’re my type. Way too pretty for Haima.”
If Haimar’s complaint had even registered, Ellyn didn’t show it—she ignored him entirely.
Her words and actions were far too forward for someone they’d just met, and Ben wasn’t sure at what point he was supposed to feel flustered.
“P-Pretty?”
Where?
He could accept looking shabby or worn-out, but “pretty” was something he couldn’t believe even as a lie.
And coming from someone as strikingly good-looking as Ellyn, it was even harder to pretend to agree.
“I’ve got my own Esper too, so it’s not bias. Just stating a fact.”
“Don’t push it.”
The arm loosely around his waist tightened, and Ben ended up perched on the edge of Haimar’s knee.
Mortified by where exactly his backside had landed, he didn’t notice Elly’s hand—reaching for him—get flicked away by some unseen force.
“And where’d you find such a sweet, adorable thing to wrap around your finger?”
“Not like you, who’ll devour anything that moves.”
“If Haimar ever causes you any shit, tell me. I’ll shoot him. Couple of bullets won’t kill him.”
“…Thank you…?”
Usually, conversations with Haimar ended with the other person falling silent or backing down.
Elly, however, spoke her mind without a second thought, which was refreshing.
Ben also tended to talk back, but he was a special case whose thoughts Haimar couldn’t read.
Elly, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine with Haimar reading her like an open book—like she was dangling her life from a thread.
Maybe it was because they’d known each other for a long time.
The words “former Guide” felt like proof of that.
“In that case, you don’t say thank you, Ben. You say you don’t need it.”
“Wait—”
The arm around his waist pulled him closer, shifting him from the edge of Haimar’s knee to fully sitting across his thigh.
Lips pressed to his ear, Haimar rubbed against it like he meant to bite, voice curling low and thick.
The direct vibration against his eardrum made Ben shiver and twist instinctively, but even with Ellyn watching, Haimar showed no sign of letting him go.
“Now, say it again.”
“It’s just a kind gesture!”
Seriously, stepping in to help is one thing—but this?
If Haimar kept it up, he was going to lick all the way into his ear.
The hot, stinging trail left behind brought an almost indecent kind of sensation, making Ben nearly let out a sound.
His skin prickled, the soreness in his legs made them tremble on their own.
He could swear this used to be more bearable, but maybe the constant physical contact was making his body more sensitive by the day.
A blessing for Haima, but a curse for him.
“Go on.”
“You really need to stop being so damn pushy…!”
Ben bit down hard on his lip, fingers digging into Haimar’s side.
He’d recently realized that Haimar’s methods of getting the answer he wanted always involved sensations Ben could hardly endure.
In bed, it reached its peak—so he figured he had to break this habit now, before it got worse.
Unfortunately, Ben’s flushed face and glassy eyes—on the verge of letting out a moan—only seemed to spur Haimar on, not deter him.
Ben shot Ellyn a silent plea for rescue, but she just folded her arms, eyes gleaming behind her glasses, fully in spectator mode.
Give her popcorn and she’d be the perfect audience.
[The little fox has grown up.]
“Asshole, you mean?”
At Haimar’s sharp reply—spoken after pulling away from Ben’s ear—Ellyn’s orange eyes went wide.
It wasn’t the mind-reading that shocked her, but Haimar’s choice of words.
She stayed uncharacteristically silent for a moment, looking genuinely puzzled.
“Forget that thought.”
“It’s just a thought. Don’t be so touchy.”
Haimar’s next retort was sharper, as if Ellyn’s mind had gone somewhere personal.
This time, Ben wasn’t particularly curious about what she was thinking.
One look at her sly smile and glinting eyes told him it probably wasn’t anything wholesome.
“So the things Elgran or the twins said about you weren’t exaggerations after all.”
“Hey! Do I look like someone who exaggerates?”
“When it comes to the Lusna family, you’re the biggest exaggerator there is.”
“Leave Rus out of this!”
Huddled in the corner of the sofa, Elgran—who’d been fuming over the scene—snapped at the mention of Lusna, but Ellyn brushed him off without a glance.
Her attention was still fixed on Haimar and Ben.
True to form, Haimar’s personality was as nasty and cold as ever—like black ice in the dead of winter.
But when it came to Ben, he melted like a snowflake touching the ground.
They say when a person suddenly changes, it means they’re close to dying… Could it be?
Ellyn found this Haimar strangely unfamiliar.
Of course, change wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
In fact, Ellyn liked the first guide she’d seen more than Haimar’s second.
First of all, the slightly downturned almond-shaped eyes, paired with those spotless, clear green irises, gave off a calm and neat impression that appealed to him.
And the hazelnut-colored hair—soft as silk thread as it wound around his fingers—was delightful.
His frame was on the thin side, so at first glance he might seem ordinary, but upon closer inspection, his skin looked pale and soft to the touch.
And right now, thanks to Haimar, the corners of his eyes were tinged with a peach-blossom blush, the kind that just begged to be touched.
Ellyn felt a sudden urge to make him cry just once, or poke him somewhere just to see the reaction.
His personality also seemed upright and earnest, so if you put him together with Ellyn’s esper and spoiled them both, it’d be nothing short of paradise.
[If it weren’t for that beast of a guy, I’d dote on him more.]
As if catching the impure thought, a faint sharpness hovered in the air around Ellyn.
Even so, the way that guy acted sweet as a puppy only to his guide—while being so shameless about it—made Ellyn want to grab a snapshot of Haimar Eilec from the past and shove it in Ben’s face.
But instead of doing something so life-shortening, Ellyn decided to get to the point.
“Anyway, I’ve got a lot to talk about, including your return to Integra. You know we’ve got a briefing with the director later, right?”
At the mention of “return,” Ben, who had been nestled against him, perked up his ears.
With the restraints gone and the cause of Haimar’s absence resolved, he’d expected that returning was a matter of time.
And after the last incident—where the rules and procedures were tossed aside and not one but two of his restraints had been released—he’d figured there’d be talk.
The incident had been big enough that no one had said much yet, but there was still a chance someone would nitpick, so Ben felt uneasy for no reason.
As always, the person at the center of it all acted bored, as if it were someone else’s problem.
* * *
