Elijah turned around and suddenly made eye contact with Igrit. As if he’d been watching them from earlier, Igrit’s gaze, nailed to that spot, alternated between Rose and Elijah.
“Why, do you have something to say?”
When Rose, with his arm around Elijah’s shoulder, asked, Igrit hesitantly stepped back.
“…N-no. I have nothing to say.”
He moved away from the two as if fleeing. Elijah no longer cared at all about Igrit’s strange behavior. Was his nastiness and strangeness just a day or two old? It had already been several years since they’d ignored each other as if invisible, let alone exchanging a single word.
“Elijah.”
The rainy season they’d thought was over seemed about to return in just a few days, as thin rain began to fall.
“I have something to do, so I need to go for a bit.”
“What?”
Elijah grabbed his hand in surprise.
“You didn’t mention anything like that today.”
Since the first night they’d mixed bodies, Rose had increasingly been going somewhere alone.
“…Master asked me to do something.”
He couldn’t tell if those words were lies or truth. Elijah felt like Rose was deliberately avoiding him. He was so anxious wanting to get closer to him, but he couldn’t find the same impatience in Rose.
“Where exactly do you keep going every time? Let’s go together. It’s not like you absolutely have to go alone.”
“……”
His wet curly hair from the drizzle sparkled. Rose, who’d been staring down at Elijah quietly, shook his head.
“……You wouldn’t be helpful even if you came.”
“What can you do differently from me then? You don’t even have magical power.”
“……”
The words he’d blurted out in momentary hurt went a bit too far. Elijah, startled by his own words, gauged Rose’s reaction. But Rose didn’t seem particularly affected, just quietly gazing at Elijah.
“I’m sorry, Rose. That last part just slipped out.”
“I wish I could stay with you all the time too.”
“……”
“I truly, sincerely want that.”
It seemed he’d thrown an unnecessary fit. Elijah leaned his cheek against Rose’s chest as he quietly embraced him.
“I’m sorry, Elijah.”
“Why are you sorry… I’m more sorry. Come back quickly. Let’s stay together at night.”
Elijah pulled Rose’s cheek, disappointed by the lips that had lightly bumped against his forehead and pulled away, kissed him, and let him go. Rose, passing through the trainees who’d become busy due to the untimely rain, was tall enough to stand out even from a distance.
Not even glancing back, striding away from him with those long legs felt somehow cruel. And he felt foolish and stupid for throwing a pointless fit and sulking over something like this.
“Anyone watching would think you’re parting forever. Rose comes back at night, Elijah.”
As if he’d been watching them from afar, Daisy approached with a smile.
“…Do you know where Rose goes and what he does?”
Elijah, who’d been pouting with his lips pushed out, asked bluntly.
“Who knows? Rose always goes out alone.”
Daisy led him to where the bonfire was. As they got closer to the fire, the smell of grilled fish mixed with burnt and fishy odors stung his nose. Elijah and Daisy sat side by side in front of the fire.
“Daisy, you went out with him together before.”
Elijah had no intention of eating the grilled fish Daisy handed him.
“Ah, that time? We went out together but moved separately. Rose seemed to have something to do with Master?”
He, who’d been staring quietly at the fish skewered long from tail to body and burnt in places, looked at Daisy.
“With Master?”
“Yeah. But it seemed like really dangerous work…”
Daisy, lost in deep thought, shook his head.
“I’m not sure, but that day Rose had a lot of blood on his clothes.”
“Blood?”
Elijah asked back in surprise. Because of the illness Rose suffered from, he was sensitive about blood.
“Was Rose hurt?”
“No. It didn’t seem like Rose’s blood.”
“……”
The more he heard, the more confusing it became. They’d never directly harmed anyone in their external missions. Of course, setting hideouts on fire or binding limbs was always common… but there’d never been a time when they had to subdue someone enough for blood to splatter on their clothes.
No matter how much bigger and stronger Rose was than them, he was still someone suffering from an illness, so he couldn’t understand why he kept going out alone on such dangerous missions.
“Of course it wouldn’t be Rose’s blood.”
Then Igrit, who’d been quietly picking at his fish a little ways away, interjected. Elijah’s sharp gaze immediately turned to him. Igrit lowered his eyes, avoiding his gaze.
“Rose is different from us. He won’t get hurt or die.”
He’d said before that Rose wouldn’t live long, and now he’s saying he won’t die. It was ridiculous that the very person who’d put Rose in great danger just a few years ago was spouting such nonsense.
Elijah threw down the fish he was holding and confronted him.
“Who are you to say such things?”
“Who am I. Can’t I even state the facts as they are?”
Igrit raised his voice as if asking everyone around to listen.
“Have you ever seen Rose eat food with us?”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?”
“Have you ever, even once since that incident, seen a wound on Rose’s body?”
“……”
That bad guy was spouting groundless nonsense again. Of course, Rose had been called by Master more often for treatment, so the times they’d eaten together could be counted on one hand. The reason there were no wounds on his body was because there’d been nothing particular to get hurt from since that incident…
“I’m telling you out of old affection, Elijah. Don’t get too close to Rose.”
Elijah couldn’t stand it and tried to get up. Daisy grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“Hold back, Elijah.”
“Don’t just think about getting angry at whatever I say, listen seriously, Elijah. Rose is no longer the same human as us.”
“Then what is he…?”
Clover, who was beside them, asked. Igrit hesitated for a moment and frowned.
“…I don’t know either.”
“Why are you pretending to know when you don’t, Igrit. You always do that?”
Iris was displeased that Igrit was again agitating the trainees with strange words and ruining the atmosphere.
“If you can’t believe it, try cutting his body with a knife or something. Then you’ll understand what I mean.”
“Igrit! You’re going too far! None of us would do such a thing to Rose!”
Daisy, firmly gripping Elijah’s arm, got angry instead and prevented a bigger fight. Clover and Iris also joined in reproaching Igrit.
“That’s right! Do you think we’ll believe you?”
Elijah’s mood had completely sunk. The fish he hadn’t wanted to touch anyway was now something he didn’t even want to look at.
Elijah got up and left that spot. He heard Daisy calling something from behind, but he didn’t really want to care.
Along the darkened coastal cliff, a faint green light trail was drawn. Elijah, who’d activated tracking magic, walked following those traces. The sun’s red energy had completely faded, and the coastal cliff where a night studded with stars had settled rippled like a black shadow.
Elijah saw Rose standing alone in the distance, at the point where the trail ended. Rose’s face, which always had a hint of a smile when dealing with him, felt coldly distant at a glance.
Even though his silhouette wasn’t clearly visible dressed in black shirt and pants from top to bottom, he stood out alone, unable to blend into the scenery. He removed the black leather gloves from his hands and threw them into the sea, then simply rinsed his hands and face in the incoming waves.
Come to think of it, when had it started? Him wearing only black clothes.
Rose, who’d turned his head at some point, discovered Elijah and opened his eyes a bit wider. Soon a familiar smile was drawn on his face.
“Elijah.”
Elijah approached him.
“How did you come all the way here? How did we meet so perfectly.”
Rose smiled as if finding it amazing, but Elijah didn’t bother to mention the tracking magic. Transparent seawater flowed down his smooth jawline and dripped below.
Elijah silently grabbed Rose’s hand and rolled up his sleeve.
“…Elijah?”
He blew a bit of his magical power into the spotlessly clean arm and confirmed the faintly glowing mark. Rose was still Rose, and it was both a mark that he was his and the only proof.
“Why this all of a sudden?”
“Just.”
Elijah, who’d released his hand with a thud, quietly nestled into his embrace.
“…I wanted to make sure you’re the Rose I know.”
A helpless-sounding laugh came from above his head. Arms devoid of even a trace of body heat, cold and frigid, wrapped around his body. A voice tinged with slight concern asked.
“Did something happen?”
“No, nothing happened.”
Elijah shook his head and hugged him tighter. Igrit was originally just someone who spouted nonsense whenever he opened his mouth, and everything he said was nothing but groundless agitation, yet he hated himself for having doubts about Rose over such crude words.
“I just… missed you.”
Elijah lifted his head and rose on his tiptoes to kiss the tip of his chin. Along with the salty seawater that entered between his lips, he felt the fishy sea breeze. Elijah pulled down on the front of Rose’s shirt, who wouldn’t bend down to him, and kissed him.
“……”
The momentarily stiffened body soon embraced Elijah back and quietly responded to that kiss. Cautious breathing passed between their lips after exploring each other, neither long nor short, before parting.
Eyes that shone particularly red in the darkness carefully examined Elijah. Elijah, gazing at those eyes and drawing his body closer, interlaced fingers with him.
“What were you doing?”
“…Just, the same thing as always.”
“Did you eat dinner?”
“…Yeah.”
The answers that came a beat late bothered him. Elijah put aside his unnecessary suspicions and returned to the camp alongside Rose.
