MIIS 10

Chapter 10

Now that I think about it, Azel is actually ridiculously handsome.

The kind of face where ten people walk past and all ten turn back to look. Honestly, it was the first time in my life I’d ever seen someone this good-looking.

That’s why I didn’t realize it.

That I was this weak to handsome men.

T-too much… it’s overwhelming.

I hadn’t noticed before because he always wore an irritated expression.

A handsome man looking at me with an intense gaze—free of disgust or annoyance—was far more dangerous than I’d imagined.

“…Azel?”

I said his name, meaning that’s enough, stop staring, but his gaze didn’t waver.

And then, an unexpected question came flying at me.

“You’re nervous.”

“…What?”

“You know you’re strange, right?”

What was this—picking a fight?

I’d heard that line plenty of times before, but hearing it now felt completely out of the blue.

If we’re talking strange, you’re no lightweight either, you know?

I wanted to retort, but the overwhelming handsome-man aura had already crushed my spirit. The timid part of me shrank pitifully.

“You approach without hesitation, but the moment our eyes meet, you freeze up from tension.”

“…!”

“Look at you now. You don’t know what to do.”

The way he murmured it sounded inexplicably dangerous.

“At first I thought it was fear. But it’s different. The people who fear me don’t make faces like that.”

“…Ah…”

That’s because you’re too handsome, sir…?

It seemed Azel had already noticed my condition.

Though somehow, he was misunderstanding it in a slightly different direction.

“That’s not it—”

At that moment, Azel’s face suddenly drew close.

Closer than when I’d jumped into the seat beside him to tease him before. At barely half a palm’s distance, his vivid red lips moved.

If this were a drama, this would be the moment people screamed, “Aaah! It’s a kiss scene!!!”

“W-why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“I’m curious.”

“A-about what?”

“What kind of relationship were we?”

His pleasant low voice dropped even further.

This time, goosebumps ran over my entire body for a different reason. I hadn’t even realized it, but his voice was completely my type.

“Why did you go that far for me? Why do you look at me like that?”

“W-wait! Time out! Time out—please step back a little—”

What kind of look do you think that is?!

I wanted to argue, but the sudden face-to-face assault left my mind in a daze.

I tried to retreat, desperate to escape, but a firm arm wrapped around my waist before I could.

Startled, I looked up—only to find red eyes staring at me as if pinning me in place.

“I was… what to you?”

What was I supposed to say?

My reflection in Azel’s eyes looked utterly foolish.

But it couldn’t be helped.

We were so close that even my face was reflected in his pupils. There was no way I wouldn’t be tense.

“And you… what were you to me?”

It felt like my heart was about to burst.

“Th-that is, so, w-we were—”

I just kept stammering like an idiot, my mind completely blank. If this kept up, Azel might notice something was off.

Please, get it together!

I was terrified I’d blurt out something wrong, my head on the verge of exploding—yet my mouth opened on its own.

“Actually—!”

At the very moment the words reached the tip of my tongue—

My mouth betrayed my will.

“…?”

My wavering gaze caught sight of something pale beside Azel’s face.

What is that?

So strange that even my barely hanging-on sanity took note of it.

Looking closer, it was the shape of a person.

Only—half transparent.

Something wearing a very intrigued expression was floating in midair, watching Azel and me.

“…!!!”

That confirmed it.

That was a ghost.

The realization struck me like a sudden heart attack.

“What’s wrong?”

Around then, Azel finally sensed something strange and asked—but his voice no longer reached me.

“Hey?”

The sudden appearance of a ghost had already knocked my mind clean out.

“Hey! Get a grip!”

Azel shouted something as I collapsed limply, but I couldn’t hear it properly.

Yes.

Sorry, but I was weak to the occult.

Azel caught the woman as she suddenly collapsed, gripping her firmly.

“Hey! Hey, wake up!”

There weren’t many ways to address a woman with no name.

So he had to call her by a word she disliked—but the unconscious woman gave no response.

Why? What happened?!

He tried several times to wake her, but she didn’t regain consciousness.

She had clearly been about to answer something.

For the first time, the woman who usually only smiled quietly at his questions had begun to speak about herself.

And then she’d clutched her chest and collapsed.

This was not normal.

“…Don’t tell me.”

The way she always subtly dodged his questions.

What if it wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer—but that she couldn’t?

A bolt of realization snapped Azel’s dazed mind awake.

A woman who knew about his identity and the regression stone.

Yet someone Azel had no memory of at all.

On top of that, she said nothing about herself.

Ominous thoughts swirled chaotically in his head. At last, the scattered clues came together into a single conclusion.

…Dark magic.

“So that’s it.”

The words she’d uttered when she first realized Azel had forgotten her.

“…All dark magic demands a price.”

What if Azel’s memories were that price?

And what if this—

What if her trying to speak about the taboo had caused this backlash?

Everything about the woman’s strange behavior suddenly made sense.

“No. No, that can’t be.”

He tried to deny it, but a clear suspicion had already taken root inside Azel.

My entire body felt heavy, like cotton soaked in water.

Did I… pass out…?

When I lifted my eyelids, the now-familiar ceiling greeted me.

I forced my heavy body upright and sat up, taking in the empty room.

It was the room I’d been staying in lately.

Even then, he still carried me back properly. What a nice guy.

I was grateful, but it would’ve been better if someone had stayed with me. Seeing a ghost for the first time was that shocking.

Damn it.

Even now, just thinking about the moment our eyes met made my hands tremble.

Even the ghost’s expression was still vividly etched in my mind.

It had been covering its mouth with both hands, wearing an excited, heart-pounding expression.

“Creepy.”

That romance-drama-fan expression was scary to think about again—

—No, wait. It’s not scary, is it? Come to think of it, why was it making that face?

The more I thought about it, the more irritated I felt.

Damn it. Too much mental stress and now I’m seeing everything.

As I muttered complaint after complaint to steady myself, a voice suddenly called out to me from somewhere.

[Are you okay?]

Instinctively, I looked up.

That was the mistake.

I immediately locked eyes with it.

“…?”

[Are you okay?]

“…???”

[…Hey. I’m asking if you’re okay. Can’t you hear me?]

By the time my mind caught up, my fist was already flying.

It was the same ghost I’d seen earlier.

“Aaaaaaaaah!!!”

Thud!

[Ughk!]

The ghost was sent sprawling backward by my punch—but that didn’t matter to me.

I’d already screamed at the top of my lungs, using every ounce of strength I had. I was completely out of my mind.

“A g-g-g-ghost!”

[Ugh! Ngh! I—I can’t breathe!]

Clutching its solar plexus, the thing rolled on the floor, looking genuinely in pain—but I was already in full panic mode.

There was no way I could notice that.

All I could think was that I had to get out of here.

“A-Azel!”

At that moment, a baseless belief surged up—that Azel would save me from this crisis.

“Azel!”

I staggered to my feet, but my body failed to keep up and I fell to the floor.

Crash!

My whole body slammed into the ground, but I didn’t even feel the pain. I just wanted to escape this haunted room immediately.

“Azel…!”

My voice, half sobbing, was no different from a scream.

“Azel! Aze—el!”

Like someone who knew only one word, I screamed Azel’s name over and over again.

Finally, the tightly closed door burst open.

“You—!”

“Azel!”

Standing outside the door was Azel, looking utterly shocked.

I didn’t care. Just—please save me.

I desperately reached out toward my savior.

Azel’s trembling gaze followed my outstretched hand, but I never learned what that look meant.