<Chapter 47>
#5. The Throb of Excitement (2)
When Calix had just whispered in a voice dripping with sweetness, Melty hadn’t properly registered his words. With a dazed expression, Melty belatedly understood what he had said.
Unable to hide his flustered feelings, Melty’s face turned bright red as he hurriedly retrieved his hand from Calix’s grip. Calix watched with a satisfied expression as Melty covered his face with both hands, not knowing what to do.
His fluttering movements were so cute and lovable that Calix couldn’t take his eyes off him. With his face still covered, Melty turned his body and squirmed busily as if trying to run away. Calix, who had no intention of letting him go so easily, quickly wrapped his arm around Melty’s waist. After pulling him into his embrace, he lightly kissed Melty’s ear, which was trembling nervously.
“Eek!”
“Where are you running off to, hiding that cute face?”
“W-why are you kissing me there? A-and you didn’t say that yesterday.”
Wanting to see his blushing face more clearly, Calix moved his head this way and that, but each time, Melty tried to turn his head in the opposite direction and covered his face. Calix eagerly leaned forward, pursuing Melty as he tried to escape.
“What did I not say?”
“…Y-you know, that you l-like me.”
“What exactly is this ‘you know’ thing?”
Still unable to look directly at Calix, Melty fidgeted, shaking his outstretched legs. Though it should have subsided by now, the red glow on his face hadn’t faded at all. Though Calix knew he shouldn’t play mischievous tricks, he couldn’t help teasing him because the way Melty fluttered about trying to escape was so cute and lovable.
“That you like me!”
As if he couldn’t hold it in anymore, Melty pushed Calix’s face away with the palm of his hand. Calix, who had willingly backed off from the plump palm pushing with all its might, laughed softly. Then, facing Melty who was glaring at him with sharp eyes, he answered:
“When did I not say it? I was going to, but you stopped me.”
“W-when did I do that?”
“Hmm… how can you not remember when you blocked me with these sneaky hands?”
Calix’s hands captured Melty’s hands. As he gently shook the captured hands up and down, Melty’s hands, which had no strength in them, fluttered.
“I wouldn’t date someone I don’t like. Right?”
“…We’re not dating yet.”
At the word “yet” mentioned in Melty’s statement, Calix raised the corners of his mouth. Whether he knew what he was saying or was speaking without any awareness, “yet” implied that it “could” happen someday. He had thought Melty wasn’t considering him as a dating partner at all, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Calix had no intention of pointing this out and making him react sensitively. Instead, he pulled Melty tightly into his embrace and asked the question he couldn’t ask yesterday.
“By the way, I heard you were looking for me yesterday? Did you have something to say?”
At his voice asking Melty to quickly speak if he had something to say, Melty kept his mouth firmly shut. The things he had originally wanted to confront Calix about had already been sorted out long ago when he was thinking alone in the garden. After Calix’s sudden confession, it wasn’t his fault that Calix arbitrarily appeared in his mind, looking handsome and then disappearing. So he couldn’t snap at him saying, “Why do you appear in my mind as you please?”
The next thing that came to mind to ask was “Why did you only say you want to date me and not that you like me?”, but that had already been resolved by what he had just said.
“Really nothing?”
Calix asked as he gently shook Melty’s hands up and down. Melty, who had tilted his head back slightly to look at Calix, asked cautiously:
“…Why do you?”
“Hmm? What reason?”
“You know, the reason why you s-suddenly say you l-like me…”
Despite it being Calix who had confessed that he “liked” him, Melty was particularly embarrassed by that word. Barely swallowing his laughter at the mumbling voice that grew smaller and smaller, Calix overcame the urge to kiss Melty’s forehead. After lightly pinching Melty’s nose and letting go, Calix smiled and said:
“I don’t know about that.”
“I knew it was a joke, right?”
“Who makes a confession as a joke? Do I seem like such a terrible person to you?”
Melty, startled by Calix’s openly shocked expression as he asked back, quickly shook his head from side to side. Due to a series of events that felt so unreal, he had ended up snapping at Calix, but he hadn’t really meant it.
“But you said you don’t know.”
“Yes. I simply told you I like you because I like you. If you ask for a reason, I have nothing to say. What reason is there for liking someone? Do you have a reason for liking your family?”
“…No.”
Having lost words at Calix’s sharp question, Melty answered while nibbling on his lips. There was no room to refute his words. He didn’t like his family for any special reason. Melty thought of his always kind and warm brothers, sisters, and parents.
Looking at him, Calix grinned. Melty always talked about his family. From the stories he shared—”My brothers did this,” “My sisters did that”—it was clear how well he had been raised in the Crosel family. And whenever he talked about his family, his brightly shining face instantly revealed how much he loved them.
“It’s the same for me.”
At this calmly delivered statement, Melty’s face, which had just returned to normal, flushed red again. He struggled with all his might to escape from Calix’s embrace. Calix willingly let him go to avoid hurting him, and gave his most confident smile to Melty who was looking at him while clutching his burning cheeks.
“And I have something to ask too. Why did you leave Naru behind when you went out?”
In place of Melty, who was just opening and closing his mouth while earnestly consuming air, Calix readily changed the subject. Though pressuring relentlessly was a basic hunting tactic, if the goal wasn’t to end his life but to seduce him, it was necessary to give him enough time to think.
“…Huh?”
At Calix’s words, the wariness in Melty’s body dissolved as he belatedly remembered Naru with a blank expression. Calix sighed as he confirmed that his shoulders, which had been raised high, had dropped back down. He reached toward the side table and grabbed Naru, who was coiled up there, then placed him between himself and Melty.
Naru, already dejected after being severely scolded by Calix for not protecting his master, crawled toward Melty with all his might. When Melty lowered his hand toward the eagerly moving Naru, he settled familiarly on Melty’s wrist. He didn’t forget to show affection by rubbing his face against his wrist diligently, as much as he had worried about him while he slept.
“Ah, I’m sorry. Were you worried?”
Melty apologized and extended his other hand to Naru. Naru obediently entrusted his face to his hand. Naru had his tail wrapped around Melty’s finger all the way to the tip. The way he was wrapped around his arm more tightly than usual seemed like he was showing his concern about being separated.
Calix, who was watching Melty and Naru’s dramatic reunion with a nonchalant expression, let out a low sigh. Only then did Melty realize that he hadn’t answered his question and said cautiously:
“I forgot to take Naru with me because I thought I’d just be going out for a moment.”
In truth, it was more like he had run away because he didn’t know what to do about the image of Calix that kept appearing in his mind, but he couldn’t readily admit that. At Melty’s mumbling answer, Calix covered his mouth, which kept trying to crumble into a smile.
From the moment Calix realized Melty was in danger, his nerves had been on edge. Though it wasn’t Melty’s fault, he was definitely angry about the fact that he had been put in danger by not taking Naru with him.
Whether it was anger at himself for having been reassured just by giving him the rare species Ollua, or anger at Melty’s lack of safety awareness for wandering around the garden looking for him late at night, he wasn’t sure. But certainly, up until this morning, he had intended to give Melty a stern talking-to.
‘But now the desire to say that has disappeared.’
It seemed that in this state, with the corners of his mouth all crumbled, he wouldn’t look intimidating at all no matter what he said. Melty, unaware that Calix was trying hard to manage his expression, watched him cautiously as he covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his gaze.
“…Are you very angry? I’ll make sure to always go with Naru from now on.”
When Calix first introduced Naru to him, he had clearly said, “Even if it’s inconvenient, please take him with you, at least for the time being.” Though it wasn’t intentional, that was essentially his first directive as a boss.
“Why are you watching me? I wasn’t angry, I was worried.”
Having managed his expression with a cough, Calix removed the hand covering his mouth and barely maintained his composure. Just looking into those brown eyes watching him made his heart tingle.
‘Just looking at him, why is he so breathtakingly pretty…’
Though he had often thought Melty was cute before, perhaps because he had spoken the words “I like you” out loud, Melty looked even more lovable than usual. Diagnosing his own serious visual condition, Calix swallowed a sigh and opened his mouth.
“As I told you before, our family has quite a few people who are wary of us. Especially during events like the Exchange Meeting when there are outside visitors, there are often those who look for opportunities.”
At Calix’s words, Melty nodded with all his might. Satisfied with how attentively he was listening, Calix added in an affectionate tone:
“So I’m telling you to be careful. Because I’m worried.”
“…I will.”
The gap between what he had only heard from Calix and what he had directly experienced was quite large. Even though it was already in the past, just briefly recalling it made his fingertips feel like they were freezing. Calix, glancing at Melty’s stiffened appearance, subtly extended his hand and covered the back of Melty’s hand. At the warmth felt from the back of his hand, the tension left Melty’s frozen body.
As if waking from a dream, Melty blinked and raised his gaze. Calix had lowered his posture slightly to match Melty’s eye level, and his golden eyes curved gently.
His eyes felt as warm as the heat from their touching hands. Though it was clearly different from that time, the feeling was similar to when he had been held in Calix’s arms as he fled desperately in the darkness. Looking at the dazed Melty, Calix smiled softly and opened his mouth.
“Then let’s go eat the food you like now.”
An ordinary, everyday conversation flowed from his lips. Melty, who had been nodding his head unconsciously, blankly watched Calix’s back as he prepared various things, saying they should change clothes.
Thump.
And from somewhere inside Melty, a small pulsing sound rang out.
