Episode 99
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 99
Elysia, wearing an apron over her blue skirt, glanced around. Evan, noticing her bewilderment at the sight of nothing but trees and grass on either side, answered before she could ask.
“This is the right way.”
“Wow, there’s really nothing out here.”
“The man who lives in that house is a bit, um…”
As Evan hesitated, unable to voice the crude rumors he’d heard, Adrian spoke up for him.
“He’s one of the biggest assholes around, is what you were going to say.”
“…Yes, that’s it.”
Adrian glanced at Elysia, who was walking beside him, then looked back at Evan, finding his refusal to use slang rather peculiar.
“How does someone like you end up with…”
“Ack! A mud puddle! Son of a b—”
“…someone like her? It’s one of the great mysteries of our time. Truly.”
Having accidentally stomped into a puddle of rainwater, Elysia was muttering curses when she caught the verbal jab thrown her way. She glared and shot back.
“I’ve cut back a lot, you know?!”
“Yes, yes, I know. You’ve gotten sooo much softer. I’m always so proud of you. You used to be the type to throw a punch before anyone could stop you, but now you’re studying hard… At this rate, you’re practically a model student… Huh?”
Adrian, who had been chattering away, suddenly stopped in his tracks. Evan and Elysia naturally halted as well, turning to him with puzzled expressions.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did something just fall on me?”
“What rain? The sun is shining. Did a bird poop on you?”
“Elysia, don’t say such gross things. No, I’m telling you, I felt a raindrop!”
“The sky is so blue, what are you…”
Swoooosh…
As if waiting for those very words, rain began to pour from the clear sky. The three of them stood there, stunned, getting soaked by the downpour before they started scrambling.
The morning sky had been so bright that none of them had expected rain. In an instant, their clothes were drenched by the impossibly thick raindrops.
Plink, plonk. Elysia stared at the drops soaking her sleeves, then noticed the two men whose white shirts were now plastered to their bodies, revealing the skin underneath. Something clicked in her mind.
I’d forgotten. Now that I think about it, the effect that happens during this summer event is…
“You’ve got to be kidding me. So this is how they’re increasing the capture targets’ exposure…”
“What?”
“Hah… those crazy bastards, seriously…”
She ground her teeth and looked up at the sky, which seemed to smile back at her mockingly. It was a sunshower, falling on a beautiful day. The brilliant blue seemed to be saying, ‘So what?’ Was my persecution complex really that far gone…?
In a fit of anger, Elysia picked up a stone from the ground and reared back to throw it, but she lost her balance as Evan suddenly pulled her into his arms. Their soaked clothes made a wet squelch as they touched.
“This way. Let’s wait here until the rain stops.”
Leading her off the path and under the largest, most lush tree by the roadside, Evan quickly shrugged off his jacket. It was already sopping wet and didn’t come off easily.
The muscles beneath his now-transparent white shirt flexed as he moved. Feeling as though she’d seen something she shouldn’t have, Elysia started to turn her head away. It was then that she noticed something that bothered her.
“That…”
Her lips parted, then pressed tightly together. Evan, not seeing her uncomfortable expression, draped the jacket over her shoulders.
She stared down at his meticulous hands as he fastened the buttons one by one. Now bundled up like a swaddled baby, she frowned.
“Senior, your shirt is see-through.”
“You’re also wearing a white blouse.”
“What?”
“If mine is see-through, what do you think yours looks like?”
Only after hearing his calm reply did she realize why he had been in such a hurry. Elysia froze, her eyes darting up to the left side of his face. He cleared his throat lightly and subtly looked away.
Elysia’s own face flushed, and she turned her head in the opposite direction. They had seen each other naked for the sake of medical treatment, yet just by redefining their relationship, they had become this awkward. Love is a strange thing…
“Where’s Adrian?”
“…He said he’s going to take his shirt off and wring it out.”
“Ah.”
She had brought him up to escape the awkward topic, but it had only made things more embarrassing. Elysia let out a small chuckle at the stilted atmosphere, then finally burst into laughter.
The rain poured down in a refreshing torrent. A breeze, stirred up by the sudden storm, caressed their wet hair. Amid the coolness, she would occasionally feel a flash of heat, and when she turned, she would find him hastily averting his gaze.
She plopped down on a tree root and gestured for him to join her. Evan simply stood there, looking down at her intently.
“You should sit too, Senior. It looks like it’ll be a while.”
Evan slowly knelt on one knee, bringing himself to her eye level, and simply watched her. He studied her for a long, persistent moment, as if slowly painting a portrait on a canvas.
He gently wound a strand of her brown hair, dripping with water, around his fingertip. Perhaps it was the clarity of the air, but he could see a shade of blue, like the surging sea, within her silver-gray eyes.
“Talk about a bolt from the blue. It’s just ridiculous… Ah, what’s taking Adrian so long?”
As if trying to avoid the awkwardness, Elysia’s lips kept chattering on about nothing. But she wouldn’t tell him what he wanted to know unless he asked. In that case, he would have to be direct.
He lightly bit his lip, then released it and raised his head. His gaze, carried on the humid air, was hot. The man’s voice was low and husky.
“I want to kiss you.”
“…”
“Can I?”
The man’s face drew closer, a strained smile on his lips that feigned nonchalance. His unique, fresh grassy scent, deepened by the rain, tickled her nose. As their eyes met, their hands naturally found each other.
His green eyes, usually so placid, flashed with a new light. The hesitant woman slowly tilted her head. Their breaths mingled in the damp air. Just as their faces were about to merge, their noses about to touch…
“Aaaaaahhh!!!”
With the sound of splashing mud, a shirtless Adrian came sprinting toward them like a madman.
Startled, Elysia shoved Evan away and quickly pretended nothing was happening. Evan, for his part, shot Adrian a look of profound annoyance.
“What is it?”
“A gho…”
“What?”
Adrian, panting for breath, scurried behind Elysia, who was staring at him with a blank expression.
“A gho… a ghost…”
“Give me a break…”
Shaking her head in disbelief, Elysia stood up and raised her hand to smack Adrian on the back. Adrian, as if used to it, caught her wrist and stomped his feet frantically.
“No, it’s true!!! Did you know? There’s a cemetery over there. You can even see where animals have dug things up, and, ugh… Aaaack!!!”
Elysia, who had been unconcerned, flinched. The corners of her mouth began to twitch. Adrian, failing to notice, shivered violently.
“Ugh, and the cemetery is completely… it looks like it’s been abandoned, totally overgrown with weeds… so there’s no one around… but I heard… I heard crying coming from there…”
When no reply came, Adrian’s eyes widened, and he tapped her on the shoulder.
“Elysia? Elysia?”
“…”
“D-Don’t tell me you’re scared too?”
“As if! Scared of what? Am I you? You probably got spooked and misheard something.”
“Then do you want to go check it out together?”
A heavy silence fell. Neither Adrian, who had made the suggestion, nor Elysia, who had received it, spoke a word. They both just stared intently at Evan, the only one of the three who remained calm.
Unable to bear their piercing gazes, Evan sighed and got to his feet.
“You want me to go check, is that it? Let’s go, El.”
“Wow, are you really going to be so heartless?! You’re going to leave me here all alone?”
“You little shit… Just be quiet for a second.”
“What do you mean, ‘be quiet for a second’? You want me to scream louder?”
“Just shut up!”
Frightened by Elysia’s more-sensitive-than-usual reaction, Adrian quietly closed his mouth. For a moment, Evan was seized by a very uncharacteristic impulse to abandon the junior who had ruined his moment in the woods and take his lover somewhere, anywhere else.
But he was a man who understood responsibility. Evan dutifully gathered them both and began walking slowly in the direction Adrian had come from.
Just as Adrian had described, a long-abandoned cemetery came into view. The tombstones were so covered in moss that the inscriptions were illegible. The only sound was the noise of the rain, which was gradually tapering off.
Elysia, who had been tense, finally relaxed her shoulders and punched Adrian’s arm.
“See? There’s nothing here. God, you’re such a coward.”
“No, I swear I heard it! From over there, I definitely heard a woman crying…”
At that moment, all three of them heard it clearly. A sobbing sound, faint and carried on the wind. The grief and rage laced within the cry sent a shiver down their spines.
Adrian, his face a mask of stunned horror, pointed a finger into the empty air and managed to stammer.
“…I said? And I can still hear it… E-Elysia, did you hear that?”
“Nope, didn’t hear it, I’m covering my ears.”
“Stop running from reality!”
“Agh! Don’t shout!”
Startled by their own noise, the two of them scrambled behind Evan and clung to him, whimpering. Evan noticed Elysia’s hand gripping his waist tightly and let out a pleased laugh disguised as exasperation. He covered her hand with his own and slowly walked forward.
“S-Senior? Where are you going? Let’s just go home.”
“Yeah, let’s go back like Elysia said, Seniooor!!!”
The two cowards whined, unable to even lift their heads from the ground. Evan spotted a woman huddled at the base of a large tombstone. He wrapped an arm around the shoulders of Elysia, whose face was buried in his back, and said.
“It’s not a ghost, El.”
“…?”
“It’s the person you were looking for.”
“The person I was…”
Zenia?
Elysia’s head shot up, and she strode past him. Evan, momentarily pushed aside, just shrugged and forced himself to tear his eyes away from her wet hair, which shimmered in the returning sunlight.
Without a second thought, Elysia knelt on the dirty, muddy ground and gripped the disheveled woman’s shoulders.
“Zenia.”
“…My… lady…”
“Look at me.”
Not waiting for an answer, Elysia cupped Zenia’s face in her hands, forcing her to look up from where she was desperately trying to hide. Elysia’s expression hardened into stone.