* * *
“Ngh……! Haimar……!”
Squelch-.
Unable to withstand the peak of pleasure, Ben spurted his release from his trembling member with the same force as the first time.
Simultaneously, Haimar pulled his own cock out of the tight hole and sprayed Ben’s stomach with his seed.
Since he had forced his way in, half-coaxing and half-compelling, to claim this penetrative sex, not coming inside was a result of a slight twinge of conscience.
In the lethargy after orgasm, Haimar slowly wiped away the remaining tear tracks on Ben’s exhausted face.
He adjusted Ben’s crumpled posture to a more comfortable one and pulled him close, letting him lean against his body.
Ben could feel the sticky semen that had soiled his stomach beginning to trickle down, but for now, he liked this current comfort.
If he could, he didn’t want to move a single finger.
His wildly beating heart had calmed somewhat, and he didn’t dislike the lips that landed lightly on his forehead as the feverish heat cooled.
Unaware that he was clutching Haimar’s clothes, Ben looked up at him with a dazed mind.
…He’s handsome.
Every time he looked, he was struck anew by how handsome Haimar was.
The eyelashes that swept down, as if savoring the afterglow of their climax after pressing lips to his forehead, were always newly, strikingly handsome.
Sensing his gaze, Haimar opened his eyes and their eyes met.
Ben gave a faint smile and tried to lower his head.
“……?”
The reason it didn’t go as planned was because Haimar caught his chin just before he could look down.
The eyes Haimar met now were of a rare kind.
They seemed slightly wide, looking both surprised and pleased.
Ben didn’t realize he had just smiled unconsciously.
As he stayed still, not understanding what was happening, Haimar gave him a simple, unburdensome kiss and pulled away.
“You look less gloomy than before.”
Ben was a little surprised by the words spoken from a paper-thin distance.
He hadn’t thought Haimar would still be concerned about that.
Suppressing the tickling sensation in his chest, Ben fidgeted with the fingers clutching Haimar’s clothes.
“…I told you I wasn’t gloomy. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Was I bothering you?”
Talking at close range without their lips touching felt like sharing each other’s breath.
Ben wanted to ask why he would be a bother, but he barely held back, enduring the emotions he’d painstakingly suppressed as they threatened to seesaw wildly.
Don’t listen to it as a misunderstanding.
Secrets hardly existed in front of Haimar.
So he was curious.
It couldn’t be that he was worried about Ben’s feelings or anything like that.
Afraid Haimar would interpret it in whatever way suited him best, Ben tried his utmost to simply let it go.
Conversely, Haimar, even though Ben said he wasn’t gloomy, didn’t feel like letting it go so easily.
It seemed his Guide thought he could just retreat like a tamed dog and forget, but Haimar was originally a fierce beast who could bite and tear whenever he wished, and could satisfy any curiosity with his supernatural abilities.
That is to say, there were plenty of ways to find out even if Ben didn’t say it.
As the tired Ben rubbed his eyes, Haimar slid a hand behind his knees and effortlessly scooped him up.
Startled by the sudden feeling of being lifted, Ben wrapped his arms around Haimar’s neck and cried out.
“Wh-where are you going?!”
“To sleep. Your eyes are half-closed already.”
“But we need to wash up…!”
“I’ll clean you.”
Haimar, who had effortlessly lifted the grown man—who was certainly not light—and carried him to the bedroom in a classic princess carry, soon returned with a wet towel and meticulously wiped Ben down.
Finally, he neatly arranged the pajamas, pulled the covers up to Ben’s neck, and finished up.
“Wait. I’ll go wash and be right back.”
Once he was actually lying in bed, sleep came quickly, but at the words ‘wait,’ Ben forced his eyes open.
Watching Haimar’s retreating back as he tidied Ben’s hair, took off his shirt, and headed for the bathroom, Ben’s face flushed for no reason and he pulled the covers over his head.
Ah, shit, why does he keep being so affectionate…?
Now that he was aware of his own feelings, they could only grow stronger, not weaker.
Trying to control the direction of his heart with someone else’s will or his own rationality would only lead to trouble.
What am I going to do…?
Waiting for Haimar, Ben found himself thinking that.
“My god! Our Xenon, a kiss.”
“E, Ellyn, ma’am…! We’re outside…”
After several days spent with the woman named Elli or something similar, Xenon had learned she was an extremely cool type who didn’t hold onto personal sentiments.
She had the courage to not be afraid of Haimar and was a cheerful woman who enjoyed skin-ship.
Her standard for skin-ship had a very low barrier—she’d even greet someone she just met with a kiss on the cheek—and for someone she held affection for, conditions like the situation or environment were meaningless.
This was clearly evident from her boldness in expressing affection without a care for the eyes of others in a bright, crowded takeout specialty shop.
“I just can’t resist pretty things.”
While a naturally shy lover might find her grand boldness overwhelming, Ellyn, taking off her stylishly worn sunglasses instead of her regular glasses and smiling, overflowed with such mature charm that she effortlessly sublimated the pink atmosphere with Xenon into their own romantic escapade, without a hint of awkwardness.
Her overflowing nonchalance made the surrounding gazes naturally fall away.
Xenon couldn’t stop Ellyn from showering her cheek with kisses as naturally as flowing water.
She was a very difficult person to handle without a certain temperament.
Lusna had the experience and years to cover for a bulldozer style like Elgran, but it was too much for the timid Xenon.
“What shall we order?”
Since it seemed things would go on endlessly if left alone, Ben, who had been standing behind them, subtly stepped back and spoke up while pointing at the menu.
Though it was an unintentional interruption, Ellyn had already achieved what she wanted, and Xenon seemed pleased with the disruption, so both turned their attention to the menu without further comment.
“I’ll go with Set A. The mashed potato with gravy on top. That okay with you, Xenon?”
“…Yes! Sounds good…!”
“I’ll have two Loco Moco sets, please.”
Ben running into Xenon and Ellyn was a coincidence, born from the fact that the food at the Central cafeteria was particularly unsatisfying today.
The cafeteria offered a decent selection of choose-what-you-want style meals with an acceptably average taste, but it couldn’t always be to one’s liking.
So, Ben and Haimar often opted to use cafes within Central or buy their lunch on the way to work.
Today, however, Ben was running a bit late, and none of the usual Central options appealed to him.
He had stepped out briefly to buy food for both himself and Haimar when he encountered the two.
“Why… why didn’t Mr. Haimar come… with you?”
“It’s not far, right in front of Central, but… crowded places are a bit difficult for him.”
“Well, his face… is rather… hazardous, you could say.”
As Ellyn said, Haimar’s face was so striking it caused problems.
Even within Central, he had to work up a sweat to move around quietly; the outside world was even worse, not better.
The reason his face wasn’t as known as his name, despite everything, was because Haimar, who disliked noisy commotion, used mild mental manipulation as he went about his business.
But he couldn’t do that every time.
He could manage if he put his mind to it, but the surrounding whispers were optional, and there were times when people, captivated by his looks, would subtly form groups and follow him around.
The only silver lining was the unapproachable aura that enveloped him, which prevented people from casually striking up a conversation at any given moment.
Anyway, in such circumstances, even Ben, who was just observing, felt the burden; for Haimar, who could read thoughts, it must have felt at least twice as loud.
Of course, Haimar never let it show.
But still, it didn’t seem to be this bad before…
“Lately, his aura has changed, feels like the barrier to entry has lowered, so he attracts even more, right?”
“Y-yes…! It seems like he’s… a little less… scary now…”
His aura.
So that was the reason.
Perhaps because he had removed two of his control devices, Haimar’s hypersensitivity had diminished significantly.
His characteristic languidness had deepened, and an air of ease flowed from him.
Elgran once remarked, ‘Before, you’d get hit after just two words out of line; now, it takes ten.’, meaning the change was undeniable.
It was a fact Ben had already keenly felt, a truth so obvious it hurt to state.
“What was it like when you were Haimar’s Guide?”
“Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it. I was only his Guide in name; I was never in any position to actually be one.”
Ben mustered his courage to broach the subject of a past he was curious about but also didn’t want to know.
When he first heard from Elgran that Ellyn was the former Guide, his heart had sunk.
But now, seeing her feel nothing for Haimar and only utmost devotion towards Xenon, he could ask without much inner turmoil.
In fact, Ben was worried his question might be rude to Xenon, but seeing Ellyn immediately pull Xenon into a hug and dismiss the idea with a wave of her hand put his mind at ease.
“Haimar fundamentally has no matching Guide. They just attached me to him formally because they had to. In reality, the matching rate was scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel.”
Ellyn neatly summed up her near-experience of being Haimar’s Guide with the phrase ‘because they had to.’
She added that she was only assigned to him because she was a high-ranking, rare A-class Guide.
* * *
