<Chapter 15>
#2. A Hamster in the Snake’s Den (5)
Angel, looking back and forth between Melty and Calix with an awkward smile, raised the corners of his mouth and waved his hand.
“Have a good trip.”
At Angel’s cheerful farewell, Melty froze on the spot. Despite not having done anything particularly wrong, Angel felt guilty seeing Melty’s shocked face with his lower lip trembling. Calix, who had been looking at them alternately, casually rubbed his chin with his free hand.
Then, still standing in place, he slipped his hand under Melty’s armpit and lifted him up lightly. Surprised by his body suddenly being lifted, Melty let out a short scream. Calix, who supported Melty’s buttocks with his arm as if carrying a child, moved forward without needing to say anything more.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
As Calix’s steps made his body bounce up and down, Melty hurriedly wrapped his arms around Calix’s neck. Calix, glancing with satisfaction at Melty clinging tightly to him, stepped even more vigorously.
“If I left you there, you probably wouldn’t have moved until sunset. As I said earlier, my schedule is quite tight and I’m busy.”
Clinging tightly to Calix for fear of falling, Melty cautiously peeked over his shoulder. Seeing the floor swaying beneath him, he clung to Calix even more tightly.
“Put me down. I can walk. I know how to walk.”
The small, whispering voice tickled Calix’s ear. Calix responded while quickly taking his next step forward, using Melty’s earnest whispers as a marching tune.
“We’re almost there anyway.”
“…Aren’t I heavy?”
“Not really.”
At Calix’s indifferent response, Melty relaxed the tension that had been in his body. He then obediently rested his cheek on Calix’s shoulder. Over Calix’s shoulder, he could see the servants and maids who discovered them wearing bewildered expressions.
Calix, looking at Melty obediently nestled in his arms, said in a voice tinged with amusement:
“I thought you’d at least struggle to be put down immediately, but you’re being so docile.”
“Even if I struggled, you wouldn’t put me down anyway.”
Although he hadn’t directly clashed with Calix many times, he had already figured out what kind of person he was. No matter how much he asked to be put down, it was obvious that Calix would just tease him and not listen. And he didn’t want to get hurt by struggling to get down and possibly falling. If the distance wasn’t far as Calix had said, it was more comfortable to just stay quiet.
“That’s true.”
Seeing him readily admit it, Melty mumbled and poured out his complaints.
“I’m just clinging like this because I don’t want to fall and get hurt, but normally you shouldn’t just pick people up without asking.”
“Yes, yes. I got it.”
Calix chuckled at the cute grumbling voice filled with resignation, and tousled Melty’s hair with the hand not supporting his buttocks. Satisfied with the softness of the hair slipping through his fingers, Calix looked down at the ball of fur that had been stimulating his arm. Melty’s tail, protruding near his tailbone, was as adorably sized as his ears.
“Ah~ really.”
Accompanied by “hmph, hmph” sounds, Melty regretfully shook his feet, lamenting the words he couldn’t fully express. With that movement, his short, chubby tail swayed slightly from side to side. Calix, mesmerized by the movement, couldn’t resist his curiosity and reached out to gently grasp the tail. Simultaneously, a startled Melty straightened his previously limp body.
“Wh-what are you doing…?!”
“Hm? Ah, sorry. It was a mistake. A mistake.”
Calix casually responded to Melty, whose face had turned red with evident embarrassment. Melty’s lips trembled at the sight of Calix shamelessly apologizing with not even 1mg of regret on his face. Smiling sweetly at Melty’s expression, Calix gently rubbed the soft ball of fur that had come into his hand before it was too late.
“Eeeek! Wh-what kind of mistake involves massaging someone else’s tail like this?”
“I thought it was your clothes. Thought it was clothes.”
Melty made a disgusted expression at Calix’s shamelessly unflinching reply and turned his gaze backward. After glaring at the mischievous hand still wrapped around his tail, he moved his own hand quickly and accurately. Only after the sound of slapping was heard more than ten times did Calix reluctantly let go of the tail he had been grasping.
“It hurts when you hit like that.”
“I hit you so it would hurt! Y-you pervert! Bad guy! Mean person! You… you…!”
Despite pouring out all the negative terms he knew, Calix didn’t show the slightest movement. Melty’s clenched fist trembled as he watched Calix responding halfheartedly with “Sure, sure.”
“You meanie-face!”
Calix’s eyes widened at the exclamation that burst out with Melty’s eyes tightly shut. He had to bite his lip hard to swallow the laughter that almost erupted. He instinctively sensed that laughing here would earn him hatred. Although teasing Melty was enjoyable due to his reactions that exceeded expectations with every light touch, Calix didn’t want to be hated by him at all, so he had to desperately hold back his laughter.
“Kuh…”
Calix’s body trembled as he buried his head in Melty’s shoulder to hide his laughing face. It was so cute and funny that an adult who had completed his coming-of-age ceremony’s desperate insult after wracking his brain was “meanie-face.”
Unaware of Calix’s situation, Melty froze in bewilderment as Calix suddenly buried his face in his shoulder. Flinching and tilting his head toward Calix, Melty noticed that the faint sound escaping was close to a groan filled with pain. He could also feel the vibration of Calix’s body trembling against him due to their close contact.
Confusion spread across Melty’s face at Calix’s reaction, who had seemed like he wouldn’t budge no matter what mean words were thrown at him. Melty’s finger very carefully tapped Calix’s arm.
“Um, excuse me…?”
“Hmmngh…”
As Calix still couldn’t raise his head, Melty, who had been fidgeting anxiously, carefully opened his mouth.
“I might have been a bit harsh with my words… Um, don’t cry. Are you very hurt?”
Calix had to bite his lip even harder at the gentle touch that patted and stroked his arm as if trying to comfort him. The dam of laughter he had barely contained threatened to burst again.
Struggling with the agony of having to pretend something funny wasn’t funny, Calix finally composed his expression through past experience. Only after taking several deep breaths did he calm his mind and raise his head. Guilt spread across Melty’s face at the moisture accumulated around Calix’s eyes from holding back laughter. Although he had thought his words were justified when he was throwing harsh words at Calix, now that the other person was crying, feelings of regret also welled up.
“I was too harsh with my words. I’ll apologize for that.”
“You admit your words were harsh?”
Melty’s head nodded obediently up and down at Calix’s question. Seeing him become so much more docile than before, Calix felt mischief welling up inside him, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
“What was harsh about it?”
“Well… calling a person a ‘meanie-face’…?”
While fidgeting with his interlocked fingers and gauging the situation, Melty narrowed his eyes at Calix’s face. The corners of Calix’s mouth, which had definitely been crying until just now, kept twitching upward. Behind that, his eyes, though definitely wet, appeared glossy. His eye area also looked clean for someone who had been crying.
Melty quickly and accurately scanned Calix’s face after grabbing his cheeks with both hands and pulling him close. Calix, thinking ‘Eek, I’ve been caught,’ tried to hurriedly pull his face back, but Melty wouldn’t let go easily.
“You… you tricked me?!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about~.”
Calix spoke in a composed tone while hurriedly closing the remaining distance to the carriage. Realizing that what remained on Calix’s face was shamelessness, Melty’s face reddened with anger this time. He quickly found the best way to express his anger. Then, grabbing a handful of Calix’s navy hair, he pulled with all his might.
“You liar!”
The waiting coachman turned around with a surprised face at Calix’s scream of “Aargh!” However, Melty wouldn’t easily release the navy hair in his hand. It was truly a revenge from an enraged hamster.
***
“I clearly told you. I’ll get angry if you cross the line.”
Having tasted the fearsome wrath of a hamster, Calix obediently nodded while sitting in his assigned seat. He had thought Melty was docile, but when he saw him pulling at his hair, he was unmistakably a Crosel.
He had pulled so much that Calix’s hair was stuck here and there on Melty’s clothes. Rubbing his still-aching scalp with his hand and narrowing his eyes, Calix looked at Melty, who had crossed his arms and turned his head sharply to the side.
“Why are you staring at me so intently?”
“I was just thinking, so you really are from the Crosel family after all.”
“I told you I am.”
With his anger not completely gone, Melty shot back at Calix and raised his nose. With a laugh, Calix nodded lightly and leaned back in his chair. Melty, who had been glancing at him, carefully asked:
“But which part of me was Crosel-like?”
“You’re curious about that?”
“I c-could be curious. You always said I didn’t seem like a Crosel whenever you saw me. Of course I’m curious when you suddenly say I’m like one.”
Melty glared at Calix while attaching excuses here and there. Calix stroked his chin with a gleam in his eyes at Melty’s glance. He had been disappointed that his plan to travel in a harmonious atmosphere inside the carriage had already been disrupted. Planning a mood reversal, Calix extended his hand toward Melty. Looking at the outstretched palm in front of him with a bewildered expression, Melty hunched his body.
“Why are you suddenly holding out your hand?”
“If you’re curious, let me see your palm.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t you say you were curious about which aspects of you are Crosel-like? Forget it if you don’t want to.”
Calix had extensive experience with social activities including face-to-face interactions. He knew very well that pushing too hard in such situations would yield nothing. Acting as if he wouldn’t miss anything even if Melty didn’t give his hand, Calix caused the hesitating Melty to hurriedly grasp his hand.
“I-I didn’t say I didn’t want to!”
The corners of Calix’s mouth curled up at Melty’s hand readily coming into his. Quickly erasing his smile before Melty’s gaze could catch it, Calix examined his hand with a serious expression.
He had felt it when looking with his eyes, but holding hands like this clearly revealed the difference in size between their hands. Melty’s hand was warm and soft enough to believe it was a child’s hand. The soft, squishy touch was so addictive that it felt like it would stretch like rice cake if lightly bitten. Calix let out a loud fake cough at the suspicious gaze fixed on his face and hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Look at this. You don’t have any calluses at all.”
“What about not having calluses? Should I have them?”
“Normally, you should. If you’re a Crosel.”
Finally removing his glaring gaze from Calix, Melty lowered his head to look more closely at his hand that he had given to Calix. Even to himself, his white hand looked quite soft and squishy.
“Really…?”
When he thought about it, his brothers and sisters all had calluses on their hands. Completely forgetting that he had asked about similarities rather than differences, Melty looked at his hand with a disappointed face.
Calix, glancing at the gloomy Melty, examined the warm and soft hand from various angles. If he had to be precise, there were many aspects of Melty that didn’t match being from the Crosel family.
‘This one pulls hair when angry, but they go for the neck.’
The people of the Crosel family were experts at infiltrating undetected and snapping people’s necks with a “pop.” It required a lot of money to hire them, but they had never failed a request. He had faced them a few times for business reasons, but he couldn’t forget the terrifying aura they had. Compared to them, Melty was soft in appearance, skin, personality, and speech.
“How do calluses form?”
Curious eyes full of expectation sparkled as he asked. Feeling somewhat pressured by his gaze, Calix let out a fake cough. He wanted to help willingly if Melty wanted it, but he was against calluses forming on these soft hands.
“It’s not possible. You’ve probably never even held a knife. Starting training suddenly now…”
“A knife? I’ve held a knife before!”
Confused by Melty’s proud declaration, Calix stared at his face blankly. At Melty’s spirited appearance with a triumphant expression, Calix asked slowly:
“You’ve… held a knife?”
