episode_0040

The central square basically serves as a commercial area. Because of the highest floating population within the main building, many stores are located there.

As I was looking around with a glass of fresh fruit juice that I had bought at a nearby teahouse, I noticed a purple woman sitting sadly not too far away.

“Okay, drink.”

“… … .”

I approached Elijah calmly and handed him some juice. According to the menu, it was a mixed drink made with three or four light-colored fruits, like apples and oranges.

Although he didn’t taste it, Elijah accepted the cup obediently, even though he was sobbing.

And looking at the way he was sucking the straw in his mouth, I thought it might be edible. But his eyes were still a little red.

I scratched my cheek, wondering if I had bothered you too much, and sat down next to you, but Elijah, with his eyes wide open, came out and put some distance between himself and me.

It seems like we naturally ended up sitting next to each other at the end of the bench.

“Ahem… … .”

I cleared my throat and readjusted my position once more, cautiously, cautiously, as if I were approaching a sensitive wild cat.

“… … Mr., don’t come.”

“… … .”

And then I was rejected. Elijah looked at me with an unusually fierce gaze, and that one snarl left me unable to move any further.

I had no choice but to sigh and open my mouth in a hesitant manner.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was joking, I was joking. I went a little too far.”

“… … Evan, did you know that a frog in the river could die from a stone you carelessly threw?”

“… … No, why are you doing that again?”

The words that were about to refute Elijah’s awkwardness were blocked by Elijah’s prickly gaze.

I coughed again, and Elijah chewed his straw irritably. She turned to face the road ahead, grumbling and groaning.

“That’s evil, really… … . How can a person do that? He even noticed that I was paying attention to that matter back then, and he mentioned it on purpose.”

“Sorry. The reactions were too funny. ”

“That’s what makes it inconsiderate… … !”

Elijah Reuben suddenly shouts ‘Kwang!’ while drinking his beverage. Is his face bright red from anger or embarrassment?

Without really looking into it, I guessed that the expression was a mixture of those two emotions.

I raised my hand slightly to the height of Elijah’s head with an awkward smile.

“… … What is it?”

“… … .”

Elijah furrowed his eyebrows slightly at the unexpected gesture, but did not respond.

I didn’t take it any further than that, I just wiggled my fingertips in an awkward position.

There was a brief silence. Elijah flinched as if he had noticed something, and his face turned red for a completely different reason than before.

I was worried that I might get even angrier─.

“… … Huh… … .”

Fortunately, my prediction was not wrong. Elijah quickly turned his gaze away and secretly adjusted his position to rest his head on my hand.

Thump. There was no special movement after the light touch, but it was my turn next.

I laughed and gently patted her head, like I was comforting a child.

Perhaps it’s because it’s small, but when I stroke it like this, it feels just like that.

“Don’t treat me like a kid… … . That’s not what I’m doing.”

“… … .”

My eyes shook slightly at the sudden words that struck me. Elijah shifted his gaze and glared at me.

I replied a beat late, feeling sorry for myself.

“I didn’t treat you like a child. Why are you like that?”

“… … That was exactly the expression on his face as he thought about it.”

“Um… ….”

With a small groan, I exercised my right to remain silent. How on earth did you know?

He was a sharper guy than I thought.

“Stroke me more… … .”

In the meantime, my hand stopped for a moment and I pushed my head in further. I burst out laughing and moved my hand helplessly. What can I do if they ask me to do more?

For a while, I spent my time patting Elijah. At some point, I noticed that the liquid in his glass wasn’t decreasing, but I didn’t feel like picking on him.

‘hmm.’

Sometimes, whenever I made eye contact with other candidates passing by, I would get looks from them as if they were trying to see all sorts of strange combinations.

Elijah didn’t even notice their presence with his dazed expression, and I’m not the type of person who cares much about what other people think.

“What are you looking at?”

“… … No, nothing.”

When I asked that question with a vague nod, they all disappeared without a trace.

I didn’t hold on any longer either. To be honest, I felt like it was strange to be stuck with Elijah like this.

If I had seen this painting last year, what would I have felt? I would have shuddered, almost like a human witnessing the Outer God.

When I actually thought about it seriously, I wasn’t that embarrassed. In the first place, my feelings for Elijah Ruben were not hate.

‘Rather than that, what should I say… … . Should I say it’s an instinctive roughness? It was really uncomfortable to always be tangled up with the goal of divine traits.’

That aside, Elijah was one of the few candidates out of the dozen with whom I didn’t feel terribly uncomfortable, along with Lethe.

This guy’s personality, which was the same on the outside and inside, was… … at least much more friendly than those guys who looked down on me as a commoner.

Besides, didn’t you even get some serious advice and help last time?

The impression I have of Elijah now is closer to affection. Sometimes he shows a very useless and cute side.

Perhaps it could be expressed as permeating.

“… … Elijah.”

As I thought about it that way, I realized that I had known this guy for quite some time.

I never thought the day would come when I would truly think this woman was cute.

I couldn’t believe it, but it was true. I gently ran my fingertips through Elijah’s bangs, and she looked back at me, her eyelashes fluttering.

“Why are you calling… … ?”

“… … .”

And I was silent for a moment at the question that came back. Instead, I stared into Elijah’s clear eyes. So much so that she felt burdened.

In fact, Elijah’s pupils started to dilate on his own when he saw that my gaze was not showing any sign of leaving.

Was it because her hands had always been the first to jump out whenever something like this had happened? She seemed incredibly tense and ready to raise both arms to block at any moment─.

“You.”

What I was trying to say was simple.

It was a simple confirmation.

“I like it.”

“… … .”

It wasn’t even a question. It was a statement that seemed almost certain, and Elijah’s expression hardened as if his breath had stopped.

I wasn’t expecting an honest answer anyway, but I figured this way I wouldn’t have to say anything negative.

Elijah just kept opening and closing his trembling lips.

It’s a reaction as if they’ve been caught on something they didn’t want to be caught on. But I think they’ve been too blatant about it these past few months.

“No matter what, you avoided me so blatantly.”

I continued talking with a snicker.

“Every time you meet her, she blushes, and if you try to talk to her, she runs away. Even if you chase her, you can’t have a proper conversation… … .”

“… … Ah, ah. That’s it.”

“I guessed that was probably the cause because that was the exact day when his attitude became strange. Now that I look at it, I think I was right.”

Elijah’s face was red, and when I tapped her forehead, she turned into a statue. I quickly grabbed the drink she was holding because it seemed like she was going to drop it.

More than half of the contents still remain.

I clinked my glass and glanced at Elijah.

“Aren’t you going to drink it?”

“… … .”

“I eat it?”

And before I could even hear the answer, I sucked on the straw to taste it.

“Hmm.”

It was definitely a hybrid of various fruits. Apple, orange… … and banana? It was sour and had a hint of pineapple.

It was a taste that wasn’t too bad, so I was sucking it up. Anyway, I figured that Elijah would need some time to collect his thoughts.

dump!

“Yeah… … ?”

It was a misjudgment. My body froze at the sudden sound of someone kneeling.

He lowered his head creaking, feeling a chill run down the back of his neck.

There… … . Elijah was there, down from the bench, holding onto the hem of my pants.

‘What is this?’

Seriously, my cognitive ability couldn’t keep up with the sudden development of the situation. I stupidly opened my mouth that was biting the straw, and Elijah trembled palely in the shattered atmosphere.

“Mi, sorry, sorry… … . I was wrong.”

“?”

And that seemed to be the first thing he said.

I had a full brain freeze.

Apple? Why, why all of a sudden? What is this?

Of course, whether I was extremely flustered or not, Elijah started rambling in a state of meltdown, unable to see through my emotions.

“Don’t worry about that. I won’t be presumptuous. I, I will never come between you and Lete. I won’t be a troublemaker.”

“… … No, what? Wait a minute.”

“Please don’t hate me. I, I know my place. You don’t have to worry. I won’t, really, okay.”

There was no time to stop him. Elijah grabbed me with a face that looked like it would burst into tears at any moment, and a hand that looked like it would lose its strength at any moment.

If I were to shake off that touch, I felt like I would faint right away.

Her eyes were wet. The gaze she gave me was so earnest.

“You can call me a slut… … . I’ll just be a slut. I’ll sort this feeling out soon. Oh, it’s okay if you don’t pat my head from now on. I won’t even expect it. That’s why, that’s why… … .”

“… … .”

“So please don’t stay away from me, Evan… … .”

And then, bang. Elijah finally couldn’t hold on to me any longer and let his weak hands fall down.

Both eyes were shaking so dangerously that it wouldn’t have been strange if they had lost their light at any moment.

rustling-

Also, the sound that followed was not even Nana or Elijah’s. Suddenly, the sound of someone stepping on a branch was heard from behind… … .

“… … Mr. Evan? What the hell is this.”

I looked back hastily, and there stood a woman with shining blonde hair.

Her beautiful eyes, as if they contained the sunset, looked at me with shock and disbelief.

Isabel Cedent. My benefactor’s closest friend, and as such, the only special-class heresy inquisitor of the Solar Cult, whom I have known since childhood.

I couldn’t figure out why she had to show up on the trail behind me now, but I couldn’t understand why I kept running into her like this.

From her perspective right now, how would I appear at this moment?

A guy who makes a girl of quite a young appearance get down on her knees and beg for mercy─. A guy who sits on a bench like a bastard and calmly sips juice?

“… … .”

“… … .”

About ten seconds of silence passed like that. I tried to shake it off, sweat dripping down my face.

“No, no, Ms. Isabel. That’s not it. Seriously.”

“… … Mr. Evan… … .”

My best excuses were useless. She looked at me with eyes that seemed to hold me in contempt.