<Chapter 130>
#15. Epidemic (4)
What Melty brought up was powerful enough to completely wash away Calix’s drowsiness. Thanks to this, Calix, now fully alert, firmly gripped Melty’s shoulders and said.
“What are you talking about? Why would you meet those people?”
“No, well…”
“Don’t say such nonsense.”
As if he had no intention of listening to Melty’s explanation further, Calix firmly drew the line. This was a disease for which not even a cure had been developed yet. He didn’t know why Melty had such a thought, but it would be troublesome if he somehow got infected while talking to them.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind that Melty could be in danger, Calix felt his hair stand on end and his blood run cold. Impulsively, he embraced Melty and squeezed his eyes shut. It was truly something he didn’t even want to imagine.
“Just listen to me!”
Melty shouted, pushing against Calix’s chest with both hands. At his cry, Calix barely loosened his arms that had been wrapped around him. Meeting Calix’s eyes directly, Melty took a deep breath. Then he continued with what he couldn’t say because Calix had interrupted him.
“Do you remember the day of the landslide?”
“…Why bring that up?”
“Tsk! I’m asking if you remember.”
Seeing Melty taking a short breath and putting force into his eyes, Calix reluctantly mumbled, “I remember.” Only then did Melty’s expression relax as he continued his explanation in a soft tone.
“At that time, the old man regained consciousness after eating what you and I brought. He eventually passed away, but…”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember how surprised Johaim-ssi was then?”
“I don’t remember.”
Why would I care if that guy was surprised or not?
Calix frowned as he answered, but at Melty’s “Tsk!” sound, he readily changed his words to “I think he might have been.” Satisfied with Calix moving as he wanted, Melty smiled brightly and continued his explanation.
“I think what that person wanted was a final conversation with his son.”
“……”
“I don’t know if I’ve told Calix-ssi before… I think my gift is probably one that tells me how to make others happy.”
“You make them happy?”
At Calix’s question, Melty’s head moved vigorously up and down.
“So maybe… if I use my gift on someone with a strong will to live, we might see a treatment. Since I remember all the combinations completely, we could solve this faster, right?”
Calix pressed his lips together at Melty’s explanation. Theoretically, what Melty said was highly persuasive. However, that was only when emotions were set aside and examined theoretically.
“Rejected. Still not happening.”
“Ah, why not!”
Despite the explanation being sufficiently convincing, Calix’s firm “No” felt spiteful to Melty. Calix’s lips quivered at Melty’s gaze, full of indignation.
“…Want me to be honest?”
“Were you planning to lie? If you’re going to say no, explain clearly why it can’t be done!”
Calix, who smiled bitterly at Melty’s huffing voice, reached out and lightly touched his hair and his ears that were always cute.
“Honestly, whether tens or hundreds of people die, I don’t really care.”
“Eh?”
“It’s none of my business. Why should I care if they die because their life span is only that much?”
For Melty, who had been watching Calix struggle to prevent a greater disaster, this was a confession he couldn’t have imagined. Calix chuckled at Melty, who was blinking with a bewildered expression. Tapping Melty’s plump cheek, Calix continued.
“Anyway, as much as they are people I’ve accepted, I have a responsibility and duty towards them. So I’m just doing what I can. Because I don’t like being incompetent.”
“Um… r-really?”
Calix smiled brightly at Melty’s awkward answer, who still hadn’t fully grasped the situation. It couldn’t be helped if Melty’s image of him changed significantly because of this. Calix was never an altruistic person to begin with.
He had done what he could, but he had no intention of acting “desperately” or “going to extremes.” He merely “did as much as he could.” Braiante, knowing that Calix had a tendency to move with responsibility and duty, had essentially passed on the heavy burden of acting family head to him just as he had become an adult.
“Yes. That’s why it’s even more out of the question.”
“Eh?”
Melty, who still hadn’t properly grasped the ongoing situation, made a dumbfounded sound. Looking at even such a question from him as cute and lovely, Calix whispered with a deep smile.
“If I were to weigh human lives, you are more important to me. So even if all those people die, I absolutely cannot let you be in danger.”
It was a statement filled with Calix’s sincerity, but it was also an embarrassingly direct line. As if drowning in his serious golden eyes, Melty forgot to breathe for a brief moment. Calix’s face slowly approached Melty’s lips as if he was about to give him a deep kiss.
“Hic. Hup.”
At the hiccup sound that completely ruined the mood, Melty hurriedly moved his hands to cover his lips. However, such hand movements couldn’t stop the hiccupping sound. Calix, deflated, laughed softly as Melty’s body kept jerking with hiccups.
“What’s this? Why are you hiccupping? Don’t you want to kiss me?”
“N-no…! Hic! J-just embar…hic, rassed.”
“You must have been very embarrassed.”
Calix’s laughter deepened at Melty’s words, which could have been either an excuse or the truth.
“It’s not like you’re startled, just embarrassed. I’ll make them stop.”
There was no need to ask “how” explicitly. Before Melty’s round eyes could express curiosity, Calix cupped his cheeks with both hands and pressed his lips against Melty’s.
The sound of Calix sweetly sucking on Melty’s dainty lips echoed with a “chu” sound. Then followed movements exploring deeper inside through the parted gap. With the wet sounds of intertwined saliva, Calix persistently savored the other half he had not faced in a long time.
Although Melty’s hiccups quickly subsided, Calix’s intense kiss hardly ended. By the time Calix finally separated his lips with an obscene “smack” sound, Melty’s cheeks were beautifully flushed.
Calix narrowed his eyes as he looked at Melty, who was looking up at him with cheeks and eyes excited by heat, breathing heavily. He wondered if Melty looked delicious because he hadn’t seen him in a while, but he knew better that wasn’t the case.
Melty Crosel had never been anything but tempting since capturing his heart. Apart from his mind turning completely blank at the absurd proposal Melty had made today, just the small touch of his hand firmly gripping Calix’s clothing instantly improved his mood.
– Y-you were looking at me with your mouth watering like you wanted to eat me up.
– I-I was looking with my gift!
The image of Melty raising his voice vehemently with a frightened expression on the day they first met flashed through Calix’s mind.
– I think my gift is probably one that tells me how to make others happy.
Simultaneously, Melty’s resolute voice from just moments ago echoed in Calix’s mind again. And without even realizing it, he could acknowledge Melty’s gift.
What he had said was right. Calix Kuse Padrian, who had been living alone proudly, was clearly becoming happier day by day since the appearance of a person named Melty Crosel.
“…Why are you smiling with such a bewitching face?”
With a blushed face, moving his head around as if he had nowhere to place his gaze, Melty asked while glancing at him. And at Melty’s question, Calix burst into laughter.
“Are you being bewitched by me?”
“A l-little bit.”
Judging by his expression, it wasn’t “a little bit” at all. Calix, who was gently stroking Melty’s hair, whispered with his favorite smile on his lips.
“Then while you’re bewitched… I’ll do whatever it takes. No dangerous acts. Got it?”
“…But…”
“Got it?”
With Calix’s lips descending on his cheek and nape, Melty’s body stiffened, and he eventually had no choice but to nod obediently as Calix wanted. Having finally heard the answer he wanted from Melty, Calix smiled brightly as he kissed Melty’s neck and moved his hand inside his clothes.
“Yes. Good job.”
