Chapter 2
Part 1
-We were in a lot of trouble.
There was nothing we could do, no rescue in sight. We were hopelessly in trouble.
"W-w-w-w-w-why are you people in my room?!"
Because, with her usually porcelain-white cheeks dyed a deep crimson, none other than Luviagelita Edelfelt stood before us.
To make things worse, my master had gone completely stiff while standing in the open, heavy copper doors. If it was possible, he surely would have wanted to just close the door and leave it at that, but with his arms as weak as his, that wasn't possible. Perhaps more importantly, his opponent's attitude didn't seem like one that would allow him to just run away either.
Perhaps she had been just about to go to bed, as she had changed into white negligee. Of course, it was also made of the finest silks, and its price would no doubt send eyes popping, but either way, it looked cute. Even with its bordering-obscene number of frills, the design in no way harmed the image of her slender figure.
...also, it may have just been my imagination, but it seemed as if the instant the door had opened, Luvia had hurriedly hidden some sort of dog plush behind a nearby pillow.
If I recalled correctly, it was a character from a kids' TV show that liked cooking, but when push came to shove, would become a knight in shining armour to protect his princess. It was truly a thing meant to make little girls' dreams come true. It was something I had seen on the TVs placed in the dorm after I came to London. Of course, I definitely didn't think in that moment that I wanted one of my own. And I most definitely did not leave space in my schedule every week specifically to watch it on TV either.
"Why are you here?! If you have an excuse, spit it out already!"
Her determination to keep her stuffed animal hidden was enough to bring one to tears...or rather, it was enough to bring her to tears. If she had just let it slide then my master probably wouldn't have even noticed, but it seemed like in doing so she might lose something even more important.
(...what should I do?)
My thoughts raced furiously. It was the first time I had thought this hard over something since I came to London. The girl before us now was too different from the one we met in the lobby. She seemed like a completely different person.
Who exactly was it that had been arguing against that monster-like old magus just a few hours earlier?
"...err, please, uh, wait a second..."
Rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache, my master spoke up.
"Oh, I'll wait. Indeed, let's wait, Lord El-Melloi II! To think there was a Lord who would barge in uninvited to a maiden's personal chambers! You are a disgrace to the entire Clock Tower!"
A terrifying magical power began to well up in the area around Luvia.
(...oh, that's bad...)
My instincts went off.
Even if this was a completely different person, that magic was the real thing. Most likely it was at a level my master wouldn't be able to resist. I understood the fact he was so second-rate he couldn't be considered even at the level of a dropout. If he was struck by real, first-class magecraft, there was no guarantee there would even be cinders left of him.
"I'm saying, it's not like that! I just went to the room bearing my Angelic Name like I was told!"
Pulling out his envelope, he desperately cried out. On the front of that envelope, the word 'Mihael' had appeared. Like the Castle of Separation itself, those faint, indistinct letters seemed somehow...unreliable.
"...I see."
Luvia carefully examined the envelope my master was holding.
"But the Angelic Name for this room is 'Michael,' is it not?"
"What?"
My master once again inspected the plate near the door. As Luvia had mentioned, the word 'Michael' was inscribed on it - the C was certainly there. By the way, the one who had pointed out this particular room was myself.
"...that certainly seems to be the case."
"S-sorry. It looks like I...made a mistake."
I'm sorry, master. It looks like your life ends here. If at all possible, please don't hold it against me.
"Of course, that means you're prepared for the consequences, correct?"
The pressure around her arm continued to grow. Even the air around it began to spiral around it, at ever increasing speeds. As that pressure was on the verge of being released, my master shouted.
"W-wait! This is a Shemhamphorae!"
"...?"
Hesitating for an instant, Luvia nodded.
"I see. I couldn't tell from just looking at my Angelic Name, but it was something like this after all. So the magecraft behind the Castle of Separation uses Kabbalah as its foundation."
(...shem ham foray?)
It seems they had come to some sort of understanding, but I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.
Kabbalah of course was one of the more famous lineages of magecraft. Founded upon Judaism, it didn't necessarily denote the use of Mysteries as in magecraft, but when magi spoke of it they mostly spoke of the portion of it relating to magecraft. I had also heard that the Orders of the Clock Tower were fundamentally based on it.
However, whatever 'shem ham foray' meant, and how they had reached that conclusion from this conversation, was still a mystery to me.
"I know it doesn't really count as an apology, but is that enough information to let me escape for now?"
"..."
After thinking over what my master had said for a short period, Luvia opened her mouth.
"...I guess that's barely a passing grade."
"Barely passing is passing enough for me. Though I thought at this age I was done being graded."
Pulling out a handkerchief, my master wiped away his cold sweat while he spoke. Somewhat awkwardly, as if he was a marionette being controlled, he stepped out of the room. After taking a single step, Luvia extended a single finger.
"
."
I saw a light.
No, I only thought I saw it.
In the next instant, immediately beside the sleeve of my master's jacket, a deep black hole opened up in the air. The effect of the accumulated curses had an effect similar to a heat ray.
"You understand, right? If an outrage like this happens again, assume that same curse will be roasting your heart," Luvia said with a sweet smile.
Without a word, she slammed the door shut.
It seemed somehow that as far as brute strength, even this girl was one-up on my master. I was conflicted as to whether that meant I should praise her, or admonish my master.
Anyways, as the two of us were now alone in the hallway, my master spun to face me.
"What's wrong, Gray?"
"...uh, I...just have a lot on my mind at the moment."
"Friction between magi is an everyday occurrence. You can't afford to get hung up on it every time it happens."
I felt like what just transpired had a bit of a different nuance than a spat between magi, but I decided not to bring it up. I didn't think he really understood what had happened either.
"Anyways, add that to your notes. On the rough map of the Castle, we can add Edelfelt's Angelic Name."
"Ah...right."
Luckily for me, even if I wasn't all that smart, I wasn't so bad at getting a grasp of the terrain. Using the notebook my master had given me, I recorded the information as instructed. When I started to fumble around for the correct spelling of 'shem ham foray,'
"-It's Shemamphorae."
My master said as he pointed a finger at the space I was writing. After doing so, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Let's take this chance to organize the information that we have."
Whatever he was thinking, that was what he said. Speaking up once again, he began to recount the events that had happened a few hours earlier in the lobby.
******
-Time is wound backwards.
"...oh ho, the problem is with your filthy blood, Luviagelita Edelfelt."
"You honour me."
Orlocke and Luvia shared a smile.
In this case, those smiles resembled the tossing of a glove symbolizing a knight's duel. Without the slightest blemish or imperfection, it was done specifically to definitively hurt only their opponent's pride.
"..."
To be honest, my head felt a lot like a punctured tire. As I mentioned before, in the last two months, the number of people I had spoken to could be counted on my fingers. Suddenly being thrust into a situation where everyone was so strongly individual, it was kind of expected that it made my brain want to scream.
Flue.
Heine Istari.
Orlocke Caesarmund.
Seigen Tokitou Jiroubou.
All of them were magi with a character that would be hard to forget, but the girl who had just appeared seemed somehow even more striking.
"Luviagelita Edelfelt. It seems another extraordinary person has shown up," my master said with a moan.
"Do you know her?"
"She's from a large family of gem-magic users who have taken up residence in Finland. I heard the previous master had retired early and his daughter was showing up here and there...I see this is what they were talking about."
"Oh ho, even our unexperienced Lord knows her."
The old magus in the wheelchair gave a happy laugh at having heard my master's words.
"Of course. Known as the most elegant hyenas on Earth. They came into power in the Renaissance Era, and earned that nickname for their shamelessly intervening in conflicts unrelated to them around the world, picking and choosing the most prized examples of magecraft from the ruins for themselves."
That being said.
The girl in question only glanced sparingly at the magi that were attempting to gauge her.
Nodding to the number of servants that followed her, she stepped deeper into the lobby of the Castle of Separation on her own.
"Caesarmund, you old bag," she whispered.
Just the sound of her voice would surely drive an artist somewhere to trembling. Not just her looks, she was full of qualities a normal person would be hard-pressed to come across. Call it an aura, or the Holy Spirit. Those were the words countless critics had ascribed to art, attempting to name that quality that words can't describe.
And she was only 17 or 18 years old.
She was still the same age as a high school student, so why did she possess such a quality?
"I appreciate your assessment. If I may say so in respect to the Edelfelt Lineage, we are a family who won't be stopped by anyone or anything in the pursuit of the taste of good fruit. If I may be so bold, I would say that the word 'Hunter' has a more pleasant ring than hyena. Or even better, the French word Le Chasseur sounds nice, too."
Her words, the epitomy of arrogance, didn't infringe on her gentle air at all. Rather, she spoke with a dignity and gravity that compelled one to simply nod in agreement. Even I, who had no knowledge of either the Edelfelts or the great magi families in general, could feel my skin tingling from just listening.
Like, even if a common person couldn't even guess the true value, they could still feel the symbolic authority of a precious jewel.
"But if you've come all the way out here, is there some deficiency in your Magic Crest?"
"...Ha. What nonsense are you on about, corpse fisher?"
"Oh, you don't know?" the girl inclined her head to the side. "Of course, it wouldn't match someone like the Caesarmund family, but I had heard that especially old Magic Crests begin to mould, as it were. Indeed, it takes a great deal of time to cultivate a magus' lineage, but once you've passed a thousand years, it starts to become problematic, no? Even the highest grades of wine can only last a little over a hundred years, you know."
The girl's lips turned into a smile as she chuckled.
Even among this group of magi, each individually well outside the laws of common sense, Orlocke was a monster on a whole different level. And despite this, Luvia stood up to this authority of the Clock Tower without conceding a single step.
"No doubt, that's why you were relying on Geryuon Ashbourne, the Master of Restoration, no?"
A bizarre noise echoed throughout the lobby of the Castle.
Even Heine, who had displayed such brilliant magecraft earlier, raised an eyebrow revealing his sense of concern.
"...Master of Restoration?"
"That's the master of the Castle of Separation. Of course he was high ranking as a magus, but he also had a slightly different side."
Responding to me mindlessly repeating the words I was hearing, my master whispered this to me.
"Another side?"
"Yes. You've heard about Magic Crests, correct?"
Of course I had.
Magecraft is, in essence, Mystery. However, since the beginning of the Common Era, human history has been in the process of systematically expelling Mysteries. To the same degree the light of science expands, the darkness of Mystery recedes. No matter how magi resist this fact, this law remains unbent. The Mysteries of the Age of Gods have become so distant, that even realizing them temporarily in the current world is next to impossible.
Magic Crests are the magus' answer to the problem posed by the flow of time, a "fixated Mystery."
"Generally speaking, a Magic Crest is distilled over the course of hundreds of years, and is similar to a new organ. Because it functions like an organ, it can only adapt to those of the same bloodline, and the interference possible from outsiders is extremely limited. The old magi families are able to throw their weight around largely based on the authority derived from these Magic Crests."
My master's words fell into a pleasant rhythm, similar to his lectures at the Clock Tower. Even in this high tension situation, it seemed that quality of him remained unchanged.
"However, there are exceptions," he added. "And one of those exceptions is the lord of this castle. Ashbourne was known to be able to restore a damaged Magic Crest, and so he came to be known as the Master of Restoration. As expected, the Edelfelts know even that much of his history."
Saying this, my master turned to watch the confrontation between the two before us.
In an aggravated manner, the old magus was picking at his armrest with a finger, as if he was trying to pry off the old leather. He then raised his gaze.
"...then what about you? If you came all the way out here to meddle with Ashbourne's will, then is there not some problem with yours as well?"
"My, how rude! Do I look so skilless as to bring damage to my own Magic Crest?"
Raising the corners of her mouth, the girl picked up the skirt of her dress. As expected, it looked less like a curtsy and more like a knight's salute.
"However, to let such a valuable skill be lost would be nothing short of cruel. As such, I have come here to give it the lowest seat in my collection."
She spoke from the height of arrogance. She never said that the skill was necessary for her, just that it was precious, so it was perfectly normal for her to put it in her warehouse. With the innocence of a small child she made such an absurd statement.
It was no wonder her family had been given the name of the most elegant hyenas on Earth.
If things continued like this, it seemed likely the two would break out into a full on duel. At the very least, Luvia seemed to have that intention, and the old magus was giving no indication he would turn her down. Of course, even I knew such altercations between magi were anything but rare.
But.
The number of people who were invited - or rather, the number of people who were going to arrive - did not end with Luvia.
"Oh?"
The first one to turn and look was Flue. Through the lobby, up on the second floor, pale fingers resting on the handrails made of English Oak, a woman looked down on the rest of us.
She was wearing glasses. Her hair, much longer than Luvia's, was black as midnight, and stretched down to her ankles. Decorating the woman's figure was a strange looking, long sleeved, vibrantly flower-patterned garment.
(...some sort of traditional clothing?)
"
Yuzen sleeves, was it?" my master muttered, putting a hand on his chin.
It was a word that sounded as if it came from the Orient. As I learned later, apparently it was something that came from the same Japan that Seigen Tokitou Jiroubou came from. 'It seems my fate is completely tied up with that country,' my master complained later.
"I apologize for making you all wait."
The woman spoke as she pushed her glasses back into place. The butler who had been tending the front entrance of the keep now also stood by the woman's side.
"I am the designated executor of Geryuon Ashbourne's will, from the Faculty of Law of the Clock Tower. My name is Hishiri Adashino."
Once again, the magi in the lobby snapped to attention.
The words "Faculty of Law" had that much meaning to them. I could even feel my master's presence become coloured by a uncharacteristic nervousness.
Looking down at them, Hishiri pulled out a single letter.
It looked very similar to the invitations given to my master and the others, but beside the seal of the Ashbourne family, the seal of the Clock Tower's Faculty of Law was also present.
"Well then," the woman spoke.
"Let us make public the will of Mr. Geryuon Ashbourne."
*****
*****
Within the Clock Tower, there are twelve Faculties. Twelve abysses overseen by twelve Lords.
The majority of magi began their study of magic within the Faculty of General Fundamentals - a Faculty which dealt with the common ground between lineages of magecraft and basic study of the Earth's Pulse and Mana. From there, they would continue into the study of Individual Fundamentals, Spiritual Evocation, Mineralogy, Zoology, Anthropology, Botany, Astrology, Creation, Curses, Archaeology, or Modern Magecraft Theory. The forms and tendencies of these different Faculties all varied wildly, but fundamentally they all still pursued the study of Mysteries. According to my master, magi were living things that existed to seek after the "Spiral of Origin," so this structure was a natural result.
But.
Within the Clock Tower, there was one Faculty that didn't have any direct relation to the study of Mysteries. They were a group who used the Clock Tower's magecraft and authority to intervene in common society, or for the internal regulation of the Clock Tower itself. They were truly an indispensable group.
The Faculty of Law.
They weren't those who studied law and politics - they were a Faculty of governance. Ignoring the calling of all magi to pursue the "Spiral of Origin," they were a heretical faction that sought only to develop the stability of the Clock Tower itself.
My master liked to say they were like the shadow within the sun, or the sun within the shadow, as necessitated by the concept of the Ying Yang.
I had never seen a magus from the Faculty of Law, but now there was one staring down at us from the second floor of the lobby.
"...anyhow, if the Faculty of Law is involved, that makes any division made here absolute," my master whispered softly.
After all, that was exactly the purpose of the Faculty of Law. If Geryuon Ashbourne, who had passed away a month ago, had named them to execute his will, that made his will absolute.
To say nothing of the woman herself. Just to look at her made all your blood try to rush backwards. Unlike the dripping sinister aura of Orlocke Caesarmund, or the ferocious beauty of Luviagelita Edelfelt, she had a smile that overflowed with a kindness and coldness that seemed to suck you in. She gave off an illusion like she was gently stroking your spine from the inside.
(...she's a snake.)
I intuitively thought that.
To look at her coldness and lustre, it seemed like one was looking at a reptile. Her strange looking, long-sleeved kimono added to the impression of a snake shedding its skin.
"...oh man, the Faculty of Law of all people..."
"...It would be those apostates..."
Flue and Orlocke both muttered to themselves.
While at first these two might have seemed like a rare pair to agree with each other, the "Heretics of the Clock Tower" known as the Faculty of Law seemed to have already lined up a fair number of enemies for themselves.
In comparison, Hishiri Adashino gave no indication of paying them any mind, and instead opened the envelope in her hands.
"Within the will are only three statements."
Continuing, she read those three statements.
"'Ask for the Angel's names.'"
Her tone faintly changed.
The memory of the previous Lord of the Castle of Separation Adra, Geryuon Ashbourne, was in this moment reawakened. I had never met him before, and had no way of knowing whether she had met him either, but even so the image of an old man nervously raising the upper half of his body from bed still arose before my eyes.
"'Those who are asked and unable to answer shall, in all cases, be torn apart by Angels.'"
The words continued.
The sound of scratching began to permeate the lobby. Scratch scratch, scratch scratch, scratch scratch, the noise continued. It was as if the old master's words were a spell, awakening the Angels he had gathered into this castle. The illusion of invisible Angels gathering like bubbles on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling wouldn't go away.
"'Those who can take hold of the Angels will be granted my inheritance.'"
With that, her voice stopped.
"...is that it?" Flue asked.
Stroking his stubbled chin with a filthy hand, he asked the kimono-clad Hishiri Adashino.
"Yes. No particular time limit has been established."
With a nod, Hishiri closed the letter.
Combined with her garb, it was a scene reminiscent of a Far Eastern poem. I had the feeling I had read somewhere about the custom of writing a love letter as a poem and sending it, but I didn't know if that was a custom which matched the nationality of her garb.
"In addition, one hint has been given to each of you. Please take a look at your invitations."
My master lifted up the invitation we had received. In a space that was blank only moments earlier, gold lettering had appeared. It seemed a similar phenomenon was occuring with the invitations of the others present, which he confirmed covertly.
"That will be each of your 'Angelic Names,'" she whispered.
"I see. The lettering surfaced in response to the natural wavelength of the magical energy in the area. Simple, but very effective," my master said with admiration.
It seems his curiosity had been provoked. At times like this, his expression was like that of a cat's with its favourite toy, but it was unclear whether he was aware of it or not. Tracing the letters on the envelope, he narrowed his eyes slightly.
"'Angelic Name,' huh? Is that something like a
?"
Some groups of magi would claim names to differentiate themselves from the common names of their ancestry. It seemed that in it was a matter of simplicity, making a personalized name that could then be associated to the specific magecraft they studied. It wasn't always specifically a name to refer to themselves either, sometimes being a claim of their beliefs or a favourite motto.
It seemed these kinds of names were generally referred to as Magical Mottos. However, being that most magi lineages associated with the Clock Tower had long since decided to give themselves up to the pursuit of magecraft, it seemed there weren't any common examples of it happening recently.
"There has been a room prepared for each of you which matches with your Angelic Name. A plate bearing the name has been affixed to each room, so please confirm the correct room yourselves. Also, it seems that the Ashbourne family's personal servants shall be preparing meals and so forth for you for the duration of your stay."
The butler from before gave a bow.
It seemed some of Mr. Geryuon's servants had stayed behind after his death. I didn't know whether they simply had that kind of loyalty, or they still had contractual obligations to upold, but the thought of them remaining here after their master's death sent chills down my spine.
"Until the successor has been decided, I also plan on staying within the castle. I look forward to working with you."
*****
-And so, time returns to the present.
Within our room.
The faint light of a candle lit the room that, as expected, was filled exhaustively with angels. From the paintings on the walls to the engravings on the closets, to the dolls on the shelves and the glass covers on the lamps, angels were everywhere. It seems that the late Geryuon Ashbourne's obsession with angels was quite thorough.
I was sitting on the bed. After walking around the castle for a few hours, and the incident with Luvia earlier, we finally managed to find the correct room - engraved with the Angelic Name Mihael - and were able to catch our breath.
"'The one who takes hold of my angels will become my successor,' huh?"
My master muttered while sitting on the sofa. Taking off his coat and jacket, he began to massage his exhausted legs. While doing so, he pulled a cigar from his cigar case and put it in his mouth. The smell of the smoke quickly permeated the room, saturating the valuable-looking furniture. It was probably something I should have gotten upset about, but I decided not to mention anything.
Because by smelling that scent, I felt like I was back in my master's apartment like always.
Being careful to hide my inner thoughts, I took a deep breath and slapped my cheeks. At the sound, my master turned to look at me, so I spoke.
"...Master, do you understand the meaning of those words?"
"Well, it doesn't seem to me that there are too many candidates. After all, this place is literally overflowing with angels."
He was one hundred percent correct. The lobby, this room, the hallways and staircases...angels were lined up everywhere to the point it was claustrophobic. If you wanted to count them seriously, just the amount we saw would easily exceed a hundred. If you wanted to consider how many were in the entire castle, I wouldn't even be able to imagine it.
"Even if that isn't the case, as a general theme the history and types of angels in this castle is too wide. If you collect this many symbols in one place, the focus will begin to blur. For example, how do we tell where the angels related to magecraft end, and those that are here just out of his collecting hobby begin?"
"Ihihihihi! Once you have to leave behind your stockpile of book smarts, your incompetence really starts to show through doesn't it!"
From around my right hand, a voice called out. This time, however, my master wasn't going to let it slide.
"Gray, could you please bring out Add for me?"
"Certainly."
At that, the third voice suddenly began to panic.
"W-wait, Gray! You're not planning on selling me out, are you?"
Ignoring the complaints I flicked my hand, unfastening a hook within my cloak, causing a long, thin cage to fall to the ground. Inside that cage was a shape made up of numerous small cuboids. It looked similar to the Rubik's Cubes I had seen since coming to London, but on top of being much more finely detailed and much more complex, it also had an engraving of eyes and a mouth on the front surface.
Those eyes rolled as if they were looking at me.
"Y-you! Even if it's just temporary, I've been your friend for 10 years now! You don't have any other friends, so you should protect me a bit, or at least hesitate! I deserve at least that much sympathy, don't I?! Wait, it's not too late! Please reconsider! Put me away! Hide me! HIDE ME!!"
The mouth spouted off busily.
This was the true nature of the third voice that was always interrupting us.
-Add.
A kind of Mystic Code I received when I was still in my home village. I hadn't seen that many Mystic Codes, but it still seemed to me that one that talked was pretty outside the norm.
Rather than being alive, it was more like the 3D Animation I learned about after coming to London. For me, he had been there since the day I was born - it hurt to admit it, but he really was my first friend - so I didn't realize the strangeness of it at all. However, when my master first saw him, he was incredibly surprised, to the point seemed likely to try and take him apart.
Now, it was like this.
Grabbing the front face of the cage, he put all his strength into shaking it up and down like a cocktail shaker.
"Agyagyagyagyagyagyagyagya!"
Add let out a scream. Knocking the box inside the cage all over the place, when he finally decided he had punished him enough, my master tossed the cage back to me.
"Good. Anyways, the two of us should work together to investigate the castle and plug the holes in our understanding."
"...Um, me too?"
"If you don't come, who'll be my body guard? And just to be clear, if we get into a fight between us and the other magi, the only one that'll die will be me."
Puffing out his chest, he attempted to show off how powerless he was. Of course, his claim lined up perfectly with my previous assessments, but I wished he would try to hide it a bit more.
Maybe that feeling was showing on my face, because...
"I'll leave the pretentious, false shows of force to my younger self, thank you," my master said.
-his younger self.
What did he mean by that, exactly? I didn't really have a good grasp of the concept of 'youth,' but I wondered if my master had had a time like that. Looking at my master as he was now, puffing out cigar smoke, I couldn't imagine anything except him being born the way he was now. It was even a little vexing.
Maybe it was because of that, but I suddenly felt a desire to ask him about something.
"Why
do you want the inheritence of the Castle of Separation, master? I heard you had quite a debt to the El-Melloi family, so is it just to repay that?"
"Aren't we feeling straightforward today?"
With a wry smile, my master raised an eyebrow. Touching a finger to his now short cigar, he narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Of course, I do want to repay the debt. But if the rumors that the inheritance of this place has something to do with Magic Crests, then Reines and I have a much more important stake in this fight."
"Miss Reines too?"
I hadn't expected his step-sister's name to come up in a place like this, so I spoke a little louder than I had intended. But, when I thought about it, it was thanks to Reines' request that my master was here in the first place. After meeting all the other magi and learning about the inheritance, I had completely forgotten, so when the topic suddenly shifted back I was caught off guard.
"In short, it's the reason I was granted the El-Melloi name," he said, placing his cigar in the ash tray. The thin cigar, its purpose now fulfilled, gave off a small trail of smoke that quickly vanished. In the same way, it seemed that conversation had come to an end.
"-Well, let's get some sleep. Today was a little exhausting."
Rolling his shoulders, my master lay down on the sofa.
"Master?"
"You can go ahead and use the bed. It would be too much of a pain to go to the servant's quarters, and I prefer the sofa anyway."
Saying this, he closed his eyes without waiting for a reply. Without even so much as showering, he had done nothing to prepare for bed but take off his jacket. It was for things like this that Reines was always giving my master such murderous glares, but I raised my voice for a different reason.
"But, Master."
I said this, and then stopped.
He was already asleep.
Unexpectedly, it seemed his comment about the sofa being more comfortable wasn't a lie after all. It was quite common to see him sleeping on sofas in his apartment or laboratory. I had seen him enough times to get fed up with finding him asleep on the sofa with a game console in his hands.
But, now-
"..."
Keeping quiet, I looked down at his face. Maybe because he was always scowling, he had faint wrinkles between his eyebrows. They were this well-defined now, so in time they would surely become deep enough to seem like scars. Maybe that's what they mean when they say that getting older scars you.
Both visibly, and invisibly.
Stretching out my hand, I stopped it just before my fingers touched his cheek. There were only centimeters between us now, but I still couldn't touch him.
"Hihi! What's wrong, Gray? Did you fall in love just by looking at his sleeping face?"
"..."
I felt no need to respond.
Grabbing the cage firmly with one hand, I begin swinging it around as hard as I could.
"Hagyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
After hearing his pitiful scream, I felt somehow refreshed.
"...thank you."
Saying this, I bowed my head in the direction of the sofa.
I dove into the bed and pulled up the blankets, which smelled faintly of cigar smoke. It was far from unpleasant.
It took only a few minutes before my mind drifted into the warm darkness of sleep.
Originally Posted by aldeayeah
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