Episode 8
“I just like you, Calisten. As a person.”
At that, he turned around, wearing an expression I’d never seen before.
“You.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t even think about watching me wash.”
“Ah… okay….”
It sounded like a joke he’d said to tease me, so I laughed without thinking. But his expression darkened noticeably. Maybe it hadn’t been a joke after all.
The shower room was nearby, so we didn’t walk for long.
It was a place that operated 24 hours a day.
As soon as we stepped inside, the lights throughout the shower room turned on. Calisten walked in as if he were used to it, moving as though he hadn’t been badly injured at all.
“You.”
“Yeah?”
“Sit right there and don’t move.”
“Huh? But you’re hurt, so washing—”
He shot me a quiet, warning look. Of course, I had no intention of actually helping him wash. That would’ve been awkward. I’d only asked out of politeness.
“So… I just stay here?”
“Yeah.”
In the middle of the shower room was a circular stone platform, meant for placing belongings.
When I sat on it, he started stripping off his clothes without hesitation. Thinking I shouldn’t look, I covered my eyes with my hands.
Then I heard a strange, breathy snort, like he was holding back a laugh. My ears felt like they were burning, and I couldn’t lift my head.
“How do you usually wash, then?”
He said it teasingly. Normally I kept my eyes half-lidded so I could barely see anything. Honestly, I didn’t want to see other men’s bodies.
Besides, most of them had large scars, which scared me a little.
He took off his top and handed it to me. I hadn’t noticed until it brushed against my arm. I opened my eyes just a little and accepted it.
What I saw of Calisten’s body through my barely opened eyes was, honestly, perfect.
Perfectly divided pectoral muscles, well-defined abs. Despite barely eating, he had the lean, low–body-fat build of an athlete.
If he was Z-rank, even without awakening, his physical abilities would naturally be exceptional.
Feeling like I couldn’t bear to look any longer, I lowered my head even more.
“That guy earlier.”
“Felix?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he really A-rank?”
“Huh?”
Calisten stepped closer as he spoke. When I lifted my head, his chin was so close it was almost touching my nose.
“An A-rank shouldn’t have that much mana.”
“Uh…?”
“Be careful. Sometimes researchers infiltrate from the inside.”
Come to think of it, I’d heard that they sometimes did things like that to break the bonds between high-rankers. The unfortunate thing was that not all researchers were non-powered. Some had once worked outside, then became researchers to avoid injury or disposal.
Those people often tried to sow discord among high-rank subjects.
Especially since Z-ranks getting close to each other was directly tied to whether the institute survived or not.
“Calisten.”
When I called him, he turned back. For a moment I stiffened as his broad back—boasting perfectly shaped deltoids—turned to face me.
“Yeah.”
“Thank you for worrying about me.”
At that, he frowned deeply and walked into the shower stall.
Soon, the loud sound of water hitting the floor filled the room.
I needed to prepare a towel and a new lab uniform. There were plenty nearby, stored by size in the cabinets next to the shower.
I checked the size of the clothes he’d been wearing.
“The biggest one…”
Once again, I realized just how much larger he was than me.
He really was huge—like a bear.
I took out a uniform in his size, grabbed a towel, and went back to where I’d been sitting earlier.
The sound of water had already stopped, and he was walking out casually.
His jet-black hair was wet, and his vivid red eyes shone like gemstones. Without realizing it, my gaze was drawn to them.
“Towel.”
“H–huh…!”
I was supposed to hand it to him, but instead I covered my eyes and curled up where I sat.
Even though I shut my eyes tightly, his image was already clearly imprinted behind my eyelids.
“S-sorry!”
“Aselia.”
“Huh? Huh?? Huh???”
“Towel.”
He said it flatly, but I couldn’t calm down at all. Just the fact that he’d come closer and was standing beside me made my heart feel like it was about to burst.
“Towel.”
“Ah….”
With my eyes squeezed shut, I handed him the towel.
I heard a strange sound in his breathing, as if he were laughing. Then he gently took the lab uniform from my hands as well.
I heard the soft rustling of fabric.
I’d been so tense that my palms were drenched in cold sweat.
“Aselia.”
“Y-yeah….”
“Open your eyes.”
At his words, I slowly opened them. Calisten, now neatly dressed, was looking at me.
“Wow…”
“…”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you this clean.”
He looked a little flustered by what I said.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Huh? Um… I didn’t see anything!”
“…Right.”
His expression stiffened subtly before he spoke again.
“Let’s go back.”
“Okay.”
It was unusual enough to be alone with him outside at dawn, but to have been together in the shower room too…
“Calisten.”
“Yeah.”
“Could you stop resisting the researchers so much?”
As we were almost back at his room, I blurted out what I’d been holding in.
“Why?”
“I don’t like seeing you get hurt. I told you before—I want to get along with you.”
Because it would be a problem if you destroyed the institute and killed me.
If possible, couldn’t you just destroy the institute and let me go?
Looking into his eyes as if making a wish, I spoke earnestly.
“I mean it.”
He answered with a much gentler expression.
“I’ll think about it.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Maybe Calisten really had decided to behave, because when I came to bring him food again, the only restraint left on him was the collar around his neck.
Still, perhaps because of the awakening inducer, his eyes looked unusually unfocused.
“Calisten.”
When I called his name, he finally lifted his head. Even while looking at me, he seemed to be seeing something else entirely.
With the awakening inducer in his system, his ability would only manifest if there was “stimulation.”
For someone as high-ranked as Calisten, ordinary stimulation usually wasn’t enough to trigger awakening—that was the problem.
For someone like me, an A-rank, even if I awakened, the ability was often useless. On the other hand, awakening itself wasn’t that hard. And sometimes people didn’t awaken at all, but their mana increased over time and their rank changed later.
That was why I hadn’t been disposed of immediately after being judged A-rank.
Among the A-ranks I worked with, one had an awakened ability that erased graffiti—if you wrote something on paper with a pen, he could erase it. Since he could also remove stains from laundry, he mostly worked washing the researchers’ coats.
“Aselia.”
“Yeah.”
“Aselia…”
The way he kept calling my name made my chest ache a little.
Still, it seemed I didn’t make him as uncomfortable as before.
“Do you want me to feed you, or will you eat by yourself?”
Calisten looked like he was thinking. His hands were free, but I asked because of the state he was in after taking the inducer.
“I want to feed you, Calisten.”
I said it carefully, so as not to hurt his pride.
“…Okay.”
At his loose reply, I brought the tray over and sat close beside him. He shifted and sat about half a step away.
That small, very human gesture made me smile without realizing it.
“Today’s food is actually pretty good.”
“…”
“Today we have potato salad.”
I said that because he’d mentioned before that he hated sweet potatoes the most. I thought I saw a faint smile flicker across his face, and I stared blankly at him.
He, in turn, stared blankly back at me.
His jet-black hair was neatly brushed back today, and the lab uniform he’d changed into yesterday looked clean, without a trace of blood.
“Your friend.”
“Felix?”
“Yeah.”
“How close are you?”
“We help each other with work sometimes. Come to think of it, he looked fine when we got our meals earlier, so don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Mm.”
Thinking he was just embarrassed, I absentmindedly reached out and stroked his hair. Halfway through, I realized what I was doing—but he accepted the touch quietly.
The drug’s effect really must have been strong.
“Shall we eat now?”
“Yeah.”
I scooped up some potato salad and brought it to his mouth. He accepted it with a blank expression, chewing slowly. It felt like feeding a bird. Watching him swallow, I found myself thinking his throat looked really nice.
His neck was thick.
His collarbones were straight, his shoulders squared.
His body was clearly well-muscled.
“Ah!”
My thoughts wandered somewhere strange, and when I suddenly tried to stand, I was caught. I had to stay seated. The hand that had been holding the spoon was now held by him, and the tray that had been on my thigh had already been moved aside.
Even before awakening, he was this fast.
“Aselia.”
“Huh?”
He said my name and then rested his head against my shoulder.
“It’s strange. When I’m with you, I feel calmer.”
