Reference Point
Na Sehee seemed thoroughly taken with her newly acquired dress. She wandered about the room, occasionally spinning in place just for the pleasure of it.
Watching her, I found myself plagued by the pure white body seared into my mind. Beside me, the crow shot me a thoroughly unimpressed look.
Did you enjoy that, Master?
"Of course I did. Prettiest body of any woman I've ever seen."
Honestly. Skalaje is one thing, but the way you just stood there calmly picking things out while openly staring was something else entirely.
It had only been possible because I'd desperately mind-controlled myself into treating it as a work of art.
Though the fact that Na Sehee's body truly was beautiful enough to warrant that treatment certainly helped.
After touring every classroom on the second floor, we came to the last one. Framed against the sunset beyond the window, Na Sehee sat barefoot in a white dress on a solitary chair in the center of the room, lost in thought — so perfect she could have been computer-generated and I would have believed it.
...Whether thinking that is actually objective, I have no idea.
I pressed hard on my furrowed brow, barely suppressing a libido thrashing hard enough to give me a headache.
As always, I chewed a chocolate bar as a substitute for appetite.
As I said earlier, Master. Always be careful. Even if you resisted the Blood Attraction this time, there's no telling how long that will keep working.
"I know. From now on, even if I bleed out, I won't so much as look at blood."
Even if she uses a honey trap like last time?
"Well, I can just wipe the blood off her lips first."
.....
That unimpressed look was growing colder by the second. I stood my ground. It wasn't like I'd forced anything — it was mutual. What was the problem?
The crow sighed softly and continued.
There's another thing to watch out for. There's no guarantee your reason is completely intact.
"What the hell does that mean?"
Your will to judge and think may be fine, but her influence might still be seeping into the smaller things.
Things like emotions, for instance. Or a sense of familiarity.
That's probably why she can call you a friend with such certainty. She's taken measures to ensure you can't harm her.
"...Are you sure?"
No one but the parties involved would know the exact degree, but the fact of it itself is certain.
I watched Na Sehee in silence.
Picked one. A room.
As expected. This is the best. The view here.
I glanced at the notebook and answered.
"Glad you like it."
For now, she was a guest. I'd let her rest.
The questions I needed answered could wait until tomorrow.
I woke up in the morning intending to head to the gym, then scratched my bird's-nest hair and went upstairs instead.
Unlike the first-floor book café, the classroom had no heating whatsoever. Na Sehee was dozing on a sofa, nodding off in the cold.
The sofa had been brought up from the second-floor lounge and was large enough, but nothing could stop the midwinter air from turning it ice-cold.
I watched her through the crack in the door for a moment, then finally sighed and went in.
Sitting down beside her, I draped the padded jacket I'd brought over her shoulders. Only then did she blink her eyes open and look up at me.
She glanced at the jacket on her shoulders, then showed me her notebook.
I did it. Don't need it.
We don't feel. Cold.
"I know. I haven't forgotten what I heard yesterday."
Sitting on the sofa, staring straight ahead, the gloomy city outside the window filled my vision.
Aren't you going to ask?
I glanced at the notebook, looked back out the window, then spoke.
"Too much of a hassle. Asking."
Lie. You care. While writing.
"Yeah, well. Someone's messing with my emotions however they please."
Denial. Not like that. Extremely minor level.
"Saying that doesn't make me believe it any more."
What I want. From you. Only one thing. Affection. Mutual.
I stared at the writing, then said something.
"So the affection I'm feeling right now is fake, then?"
She met my eyes without a word.
Can't. Be certain.
Feelings toward the opposite sex. No one can.
"...For an alien, you sure know how to say sentimental things."
Na Sehee smiled with her eyes at my curt remark and looked back out the window. I turned my head as well and took in the view.
Then I got to the point.
"I heard from the crow before bed. You don't need to eat, either?"
Affirmative. Just the taste. Sensation.
It was good. The snack. That pitch-black one.
"But that doesn't mean you don't need any nutrients at all."
This time she answered with a small nod instead of the notebook.
And I didn't bother asking what that nutrient was. I already had a pretty good idea.
As if gauging my thoughts, Na Sehee fiddled with her notebook before writing something down.
You don't have to give it. If you don't want to. No need.
Even if you get it. From somewhere else. Doesn't matter.
"How do you know there's somewhere to get it?"
Did she know blood packs existed? Or...
Your enemies. Anyone.
"...Forget it. You don't eat junk food."
I rolled up my sleeve and started to raise my arm, then stopped and asked one thing.
"If something happens, will you promise to help me unconditionally? With those abilities of yours?"
I told you. Always. Most important. Friends.
Her expression remained as blank as ever, so I couldn't gauge the truth of her words.
But even if this affection was fake or real — for now, I'd choose to believe it.
I moved to press my forearm to her lips the way I'd seen in movies and dramas, but she shook her head and gently pulled away.
No. I'm. A beast.
"Then how are you planning to feed?"
What I did. Last time.
"...Last time?"
She nodded, then elegantly swept her messy hair back.
Then she looked at me and closed her eyes, and I finally understood what she meant.
Blood droplets beaded on her closed eyelids like tears, and without looking she wrote something and showed it to me.
Do you need it too?
"...Why would I need your blood?"
Good for the body. In many ways.
"Yeah, right."
I shook my head and sank back into the sofa.
The bloody tears vanished on their own, and she switched genres from horror movie to romance as she slowly raised a hand to touch my cheek.
I'd expected it to be cold. I felt nothing at all.
Cold. Colder than me.
Amazing. Really. You are.
That's why I claimed you. By force.
She crossed out the last sentence the moment she wrote it, as if deciding it was wrong — but it was already too late.
Not that it mattered. It had no particular effect on my self-control, so I didn't feel like dwelling on it.
Though of course, if the being next to me had been another man, I'd have torn him limb from limb and ground him through a gear wheel long ago. Being a woman did earn her some leniency, I won't deny it.
Whether she knew I was thinking such vicious thoughts or not —
I brushed away the finger that had drifted from my cheek to tap my lips and asked.
"So how exactly are you planning to drink the blood? Bumping lips together doesn't make blood come out instead of saliva."
Obviously. Naive. Sijun?
"...That's why I'm asking how. Or should I go grab a cup for you?"
Not bad. Not a cup. A glass would do.
But not right now.
"Then hurry up and finish. I need to go work out."
"Kya-u."
That little cry, laced with laughter, felt like she was calling it a funny joke.
But I wasn't joking. Lust was lust. Growth was growth.
There was no telling when that mummy bastard might pop up. If I wanted to punch him in the face, I needed to get stronger every second I could spare.
Waiting.
"For what?"
Snow.
At that, I turned my head back toward the window.
And there it was — slowly, gently, a single snowflake drifting down from the sky. The first of many.
The whole world began to turn white.
It was a dream. In my past life.
Looking out the window. Snow falling. Kissing. With a lover.
In the end, she never got to. The world fell apart first.
The smile that had seemed so carefree and untroubled looked somehow forlorn.
Not bad. But.
Doing it. Instead. With a friend.
"...Real friends don't do that kind of thing."
Lie.
We're people who know each other's hearts and feel affection for each other. How could we not?
Her eyes asked me that as she wrote one last thing and showed it to me.
Nice to meet you. Friend. Of this new world.
Looking forward to it. From now on.
Before I could even answer, her lips covered mine.
Those faintly pointed fangs bit into my lip, and her tongue licked up the blood that trickled out.
I couldn't tell if this counted as a kiss or a meal. I stayed still, then pulled my gaze away from her closed-eyed face.
Then I looked out the window and wrapped my arms around Na Sehee's waist.
A ruined world. Overcast weather with not a sun to be found no matter how hard you looked.
A second kiss with an alien, beneath a cascade of snowflakes.
It wasn't bad.
It wasn't.