“When ability users use their powers, their ability wavelength gets all messed up, right? Then their condition completely falls apart. All their senses become hypersensitive, so even small sounds become noise, even trivial smells feel unbearable, and even the slightest things in their field of vision feel too intense.”
“I’ve heard that story before.”
“And that tuners can stabilize it?”
“I also know that ability users treat tuners really well and pamper them a lot. Like Matiel does.”
When he spoke teasingly, Piyod shot him a glare with a slightly reddened face. Still, he didn’t look displeased.
“Anyway, that’s why ability users usually like their tuners. But it’s not necessarily romantic feelings, you know. Sometimes they like them like a younger sibling, or an older brother or sister.”
“So Piyod likes Matiel in a different way?”
“…W-well, that’s true, but don’t say it out loud like that….”
Piyod’s cheeks, as he averted his gaze, were tinged with a peachy color. Is this what it feels like to have a younger sibling? Kaniel found Piyod quite adorable.
“Why don’t you confess?”
“H-how could I do that? If I get rejected… I feel like I’d never want to kiss Matiel again….”
“…Kiss?”
“Yeah. We usually kiss when tuning. Just physical contact works for tuning too, but it can’t compare to when mucous membranes touch.”
Kissing even though they’re not dating!
Kaniel, who had never been in a relationship, felt a huge culture shock. Kissing even though they’re not in a relationship!
…Does Taeyon also kiss when tuning?
At the thought that suddenly surged up, one side of his chest felt cold. At the sensation similar to pain, Kaniel unconsciously rubbed above his heart.
“What’s wrong? Does your chest hurt, hyung?”
“Mm. No, I just… was thinking how open beastkin are.”
“This isn’t even being open.”
Piyod turned around, confirmed that Matiel and Taeyon were far away, and whispered softly.
“I heard there are cases where they even have sex for tuning even though they’re not dating.”
“R-really?!”
“That’s what I heard.”
“Whoa….”
His head spun at the shocking information.
“But I haven’t seen Taeyon… doing anything like tuning….”
“That’s why he doesn’t use his ability.”
“Huh? But he does use it?”
“He does? I clearly heard that he can’t even use his ability because he can’t find a compatible tuner…?”
“Uh… maybe he just endures it while using it?”
At the bewildered voice, Piyod waved his hands.
“That’s impossible! If you keep using your ability even when your ability wavelength is a mess, you’ll go berserk. Uh, I mean, you’ll go crazy and attack anyone indiscriminately.”
“…Then did he secretly go get tuned?”
Otherwise it didn’t make sense. Because Taeyon didn’t hesitate to use his ability. Especially when he’d been kidnapped by Winged Tribe kidnappers and then rescued, he’d dropped an enormous amount of lightning and eliminated all the monsters that had swarmed them.
“Secretly? That couldn’t be possible….”
His heart ached again. An unidentifiable sense of betrayal and anger followed. Kaniel clenched his fists tight without understanding at all why he was feeling this way, why he was angry.
It was around then that the group reached the lakeside.
“Oh, Lord Azram!”
Azram? Who’s that? At Piyod’s bright voice, Kaniel lifted his head and was so startled he nearly fell backward. If Taeyon hadn’t rushed from behind to catch him, he surely would have tumbled over.
Kaniel grabbed onto Taeyon and pointed at the Winged Tribe man standing by the lakeside, trembling.
“Taeyon, those people again….”
“No. That person isn’t like that.”
“He’s… not…?”
At those words, calming his surprise and looking again, Piyod was greeting the Winged Tribe man cheerfully. Matiel, who had been following from behind, also ran over greeting him with “Hyung.”
“Welcome. You’re a bit late.”
“Yeah, Taeyon was dragging his feet a bit.”
“Taeyon was?”
The man turned to look this way. Confirming that face, Kaniel unconsciously felt relieved. And for good reason—the Winged Tribe man standing there didn’t look at all like someone who would kidnap or torment anyone.
No, more precisely, he didn’t look like someone who could do such things. Especially looking at his skin so pale it was almost white, his light blonde hair, and wrists so thin you could only see bone.
Having always met only robust beastkin until now, Kaniel was flustered because that appearance was so unfamiliar. A frail beastkin?
“That person is the eldest son of the Winged Tribe lord. He was hyung’s friend.”
It meant he was a different class from those who had tried to kidnap people.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
When they hesitantly approached the lakeside, Azram, the Winged Tribe member, waved his slender hand in greeting. Then, as he naturally tried to pat his head, Taeyon swatted it away as if annoyed.
“Nice to… You’re so mean, Taeyon.”
“I’m not a child anymore.”
“And this is?”
“This is my friend Kaniel.”
Kaniel hid his tension and greeted him with a smile.
“Hello.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you, Kaniel. You can call me Azram.”
The man with a gentle smile was astonishingly beautiful. He was the first person he’d ever seen who looked like this, man or woman.
Had he been caught staring a bit dazed? Taeyon lightly tapped his cheek. Kaniel shook his head slightly and denied it, but honestly he didn’t really know himself what he was denying.
“I just came out for a short walk, so don’t mind me and have fun.”
As if waiting for it, Matiel scooped up Piyod like pulling a radish.
“Ah….”
“Now, you have to play with me from now on. Piyod.”
Matiel, with Piyod on his shoulder, ran to the small dock without even listening to his answer. The flustered Piyod reached toward Kaniel, then soon gave up and went limp. He shook his head from side to side, but a smile settled on his lips.
“Kaniel, you come with me. Then we’ll see you later, Azram.”
“Yes. Have fun.”
Azram smiled brightly. The moment Azram’s gaze turned toward him, Kaniel felt an inexplicable creepiness and flinched. However, when their eyes met again, there was nothing in Azram’s eyes but kindness and gentleness.
“Kaniel?”
It was Taeyon’s call that brought the confused Kaniel back to his senses. By then, Azram had already walked toward the manor house.
“Um… oh, it’s nothing. Let’s hurry and get on the boat! Okay?”
The small boat the two boarded was painted white. The white boat on the blue lake was astonishingly pretty, and the wind sweeping across the wide lake was colder than expected. Kaniel grabbed tight the cloak Taeyon had draped over his shoulders and grinned broadly.
‘I must have been mistaken because I was almost kidnapped by the Winged Tribe.’
There was no way the person who was hyung’s friend would have looked at him unpleasantly.
Kaniel shook off the unpleasant thoughts and gazed at the calm lake with flushed cheeks, his eyes sparkling.
When Taeyon rowed, the boat moved forward astonishingly fast. Before long, they had gotten close to the boat Piyod and Matiel were on.
Kaniel, about to try saying something, was startled and covered his mouth when he saw Matiel leaning against Piyod while pretending to stagger. He whispered something in Piyod’s ear, then kissed him on the cheek.
‘He kisses like that but asks if it’s romantic feelings?’
Matiel’s eyes were clearly romantic feelings no matter how you looked at it. And that was proven several times while they enjoyed the outing.
Matiel constantly pecked Piyod, and when he disappeared for a moment, he came back with an incredibly gorgeous flower crown and placed it on Piyod’s head, and when eating the lunch box they’d brought, he fed him each bite. He suddenly knelt down and gifted him earrings with pink sparkling jewels.
Each time, Piyod would just accept it obediently with a flushed face. He was a spirited and strong-willed squirrel, but when it came to romance, he seemed timid.
Kaniel leaned toward Taeyon and whispered softly.
“Taeyon, is that normally…?”
“Mm.”
“When an ability user meets a tuner, is that really normal…?”
“Yes.”
Would Taeyon also fuss over a tuner like that? When Kaniel gloomily put down the sandwich he’d been eating, Taeyon poured ginger tea into a cup and handed it to him. He didn’t feel like drinking it, but he couldn’t not accept the cup Taeyon was offering.
When he sipped it and put it down, this time the sandwich touched his lips.
“Eat more, Kaniel. You only took a few bites and stopped.”
“I don’t have an appetite….”
“You promised to behave well in exchange for coming to the lake.”
Kaniel pouted his lips in displeasure and had no choice but to eat all the sandwich Taeyon gave him.
Kaniel, who had fun playing all day, started getting feverish again when evening came. His excited face showed no signs of difficulty, but Taeyon knew that once the excitement wore off, he would collapse in bed.
“You should sleep back at the mansion.”
“I want to camp too.”
“You have a fever. No.”
At the firm refusal, Kaniel made a disappointed expression. He looked at Piyod hoping he might help, but Piyod also had a stern expression just like Taeyon.
