Serdin stared at Kert’s dazed face, then waved his hand. It was a silent order to evict him from the glass greenhouse. At the eviction order delivered to his face, Kert, who had been hesitating, soon let his shoulders droop.
He should have just pretended not to know until the end. If he had done that, he wouldn’t have been driven out like this as if he had become a worthless burden.
“I will… be going.”
After showing courtesy to Serdin and Formo, Kert trudged out of the glass greenhouse.
Formo stared blankly at Kert’s retreating figure, which somehow felt lonely. Formo, who didn’t take his eyes off him until Kert left the glass greenhouse, asked quietly.
“Was it a secret?”
“Hm?”
Serdin, who asked back in a puzzled tone, soon realized the intention of Formo’s question and shook his head.
“No way. Kert just got scared on his own and decided to keep his mouth shut.”
“But if it really was a secret……”
“Pipi, there’s no way I’d make such a secret.”
Serdin replied resolutely and pulled Formo into his embrace. At the warmth provided by the small body that fit snugly in his arms, his heart, which had always beaten at a constant rate, creaked and ran wild as it pleased. When he was experiencing a sensation for the first time in his life and it wouldn’t be enough even if he went around bragging about it to everyone, a secret? That was preposterous talk.
Serdin buried his lips on Formo’s round forehead and let out hot breath.
“If I was going to keep our relationship a secret, I would have hidden Pipi tightly inside the bedroom.”
“……What?”
“I wouldn’t have given other bastards any chance to see you.”
At Serdin’s chilling words, Formo’s shoulders trembled slightly. Even though he knew well that the target Serdin was referring to wasn’t him, he felt unfamiliar and scared every time like this. Formo glanced at Serdin, who still had his lips pressed against his forehead, then buried his face in his firm chest.
The familiar body scent flowing from Serdin lingered at the tip of his nose.
“Pipi, shall we go out to play outside the castle?”
“That place we went to last time?”
Formo recalled Senita Street in the capital Terba, where he had gone with Serdin. When he recalled the street bustling with beastmen, he already felt distant. If possible, he wished to go to a place quieter than Senita Street where beastmen didn’t frequent much.
As if reading Formo’s wish, Serdin answered in a gentle voice.
“No. Today I’m thinking of going to a quiet place.”
“A quiet place?”
“Yeah.”
As long as it was quiet, there was nothing he couldn’t go to. Since he had been confined to the large castle as if trapped due to various matters overlapping after going out to Senita Street, he had been feeling a bit restless even if he couldn’t show it. At such a good opportunity that had come, Formo’s eyes sparkled.
“I want to go!”
Formo, who shouted in an excited voice, quickly escaped from Serdin’s embrace. Then, without giving him time to stop him, he ran busily toward the bedroom. Serdin, who had been standing while capturing in his eyes the sight of Formo’s white hair disappearing in an instant, burst into laughter and shook his head.
“We have to go together, Pipi.”
The voice speaking as if scolding was mixed with plenty of affection.
* * *
Formo’s face sitting in the carriage was full of discontent. Formo looked at Serdin sulkily, then let out a deep sigh. It was because he wondered how his life had become so troubled and sad like this. He turned his head toward the window and recalled what had happened in the bedroom.
It was good up to the point where he had fluttered from the glass greenhouse to the bedroom because he was so excited. It was also understandable that Serdin, who followed behind, had picked out clothes according to his taste. The problem was what came after. That wretched jaguar stripped him completely naked without warning under the pretext of needing to examine the condition of his calf wound.
‘H-aak!’
Serdin took advantage of the gap when he was dumbfounded from suddenly becoming naked and examined every part of his body. Very greedily at that. His eyes were excessively glistening as if they had been oiled and also looked joyful. Moreover, that wasn’t all. He should have just quietly examined the wound, but what was with kissing the top of his foot, ankle, and calf in succession while looking up at him?
And even after doing such things, Serdin’s face was excessively fine. He, who had suddenly been kissed on the legs, had been blushing his face to the fullest extent. Formo was irritated precisely at that point. The fact that he was the one who was embarrassed, not the wretched jaguar who had taken care of his private interests very shrewdly, hurt his pride.
“……Wretched jaguar.”
At the title he uttered after a long while, Serdin burst into laughter. That appearance looked so leisurely as if telling him to throw stones as much as he wanted, making Formo even more irritated.
“You can laugh right now?”
“What can I do about Pipi being cute?”
“Do you think that makes sense?”
Formo glared at Serdin while fuming.
“How could you do that!”
“Do what?”
“Examining the wound was just an excuse……! You only examined the wound very briefly and after that you k-kissed my foot and ankle, and also my calf…… Anyway. How could you do that!”
Serdin, who had been quietly watching Formo demanding answers with his face thoroughly flushed, replied.
“I did it because I liked it.”
“Be-because you liked it……”
Formo muttered in an exasperated tone, then sharply turned his head. The tips of his round ears were flushed red. He couldn’t understand at all. No matter how much you liked someone, could you kiss even the tops of their feet and ankles? How could you do it in such places……
Above all, he couldn’t forget Serdin’s eyes looking at him while kissing those places. How could he forget those eyes where indescribable emotions gathered together and boiled? Formo rolled his lower lip and bit it while looking outside the window.
He tried hard to focus on the passing scenery, but he kept being conscious of Serdin. Added to that, since he could feel that Serdin was looking at him, even when he tried to ignore it, he felt ticklish. His nape actually felt a bit ticklish too.
“Pipi.”
At Serdin’s call, Formo, who had been silent for a moment without answering right away, replied quietly.
“……What.”
“Did you dislike it?”
“Wh-what.”
“Me kissing the tops of your feet, your ankles, and your calves.”
At that question, Formo turned his head to look at Serdin. He was sitting with a face no different from usual. When their gazes met, his words suddenly got blocked for no reason. Honestly, he didn’t dislike the act itself. Rather, he liked it and it also gave him a strange feeling. In the middle, his heart pounded so excessively that he wondered if something was wrong with his heart, but that was a separate issue.
Formo pondered what to answer, then opened his mouth.
“I didn’t… dislike it.”
“Then was it good?”
“Go-good……”
Startled, Formo stammered. Saying explicitly that it was good was very embarrassing. Also, he was concerned whether Serdin might tease him using that as an excuse. Hesitating, Formo recalled a passage contained in <Confession of a Good Sparrow> that he had read in the greenhouse.
‘Cherenika, who was flying freely, happened to hear a conversation between a father and son sparrowhawk sitting on a tree. The large sparrowhawk who appeared to be the father told his son that a bird who clearly expresses what it feels and thinks is truly brave and bold.’
Formo thought about how brave and bold a long-tailed tit he was. Right. Just because it’s embarrassing doesn’t mean I should back down. Clearly expressing his inner thoughts was precisely what demonstrated valor and dignity. Formo, who clenched his fists tightly, parted his lips.
“It was very…… good.”
At that honest answer, Serdin’s pupils shook slightly. He had asked half-intending to tease, but he hadn’t thought an answer filled with sincerity would come back from Formo. But that was only for a moment. Serdin’s lips, unable to contain their satisfaction, began to twitch.
Formo, who revealed all his inner thoughts that he had been hiding tightly as soon as he acknowledged his feelings, was very cute and admirable.
Serdin, who covered and uncovered the area around his mouth with his large hand, asked with a slight smile.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll have to try harder from now on.”
“Wh-what?”
“I’ll do my best, Pipi.”
Formo looked at Serdin, who said he would try hard, with puzzled eyes, then averted his gaze. Most of what he said was utterly incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, the carriage stopped. When the cheetah beastman Williot opened the carriage door, Serdin got out first and extended his hand to Formo. Formo, who grasped the large hand, got out of the carriage with Serdin’s help. It was an act he had become quite accustomed to now.
Formo, who had stepped on the ground and stood properly, looked around. The place they had come to this time had a different feel from Senita Street.
“Where is this?”
“It’s Femos Street. It’s quieter than other streets because it’s mainly composed of inns and coffeehouses.”
As he said, it had a distinctly more serene atmosphere compared to Senita Street. The steps of the beastmen walking the streets were mostly leisurely and relaxed. The destination of the beastmen walking slowly was mostly lodgings or coffeehouses.
“Coffeehouses also sell tea and have a wide variety of desserts. It will definitely be a place Pipi will like.”
Since Formo had developed quite a taste for desserts after becoming a beastman, he wanted to take him to a coffeehouse all the more. Though they could taste high-quality desserts in the palace too, it would have a different feel. And above all, the coffeehouses on Femos Street were famous for their good skills.
Sure enough. As soon as he finished speaking, Formo’s eyes sparkled and he swallowed his saliva.
