53. Everything Follows Fate
53. Everything Follows Fate
-Splash.
The bathtub in the hotel room.
Airi submerged herself in the cold water she'd drawn, sinking her head beneath the surface as she became lost in thought.
A chill seeped deep into every corner of her body. She'd hoped it would cool the heat that filled her head, but instead it only made the feverishness more vivid.
'Wh-what came over me, to say something like that in front of Hyosung...'
Yes, no matter how much you try to ignore reality, time still flows on.
Even if the words had slipped out without thinking, if she'd run away the moment she said them, she could have pretended nothing had happened for the time being.
Yet following him into this hotel, didn't that make it seem as if she herself wanted it too?
'D-do I... really... such a thing...'
The visions she'd constantly seen through prophecy were now becoming reality.
Just imagining it, she felt a shudder run through the body she was caressing beneath the water.
As if her womanly instincts were awakening, as if in preparation for what was to come.
'G-get a grip, Airi! No matter how flustered you are, you can't lose yourself!'
Airi pulled herself out of the bathtub and steadied her heart, trying to deny such wishful thoughts.
Then, as if rebelling against those feelings, she resolutely left the bathroom, changed into light indoor clothes in the dressing room, and emerged into the living room.
It was at that very moment that he returned from outside.
"Airi, I bought something to drink..."
"Ah, Hyosung."
Airi called his name as she towel-dried her hair.
She'd steadied her voice to hide her earlier turmoil as much as possible, but for some reason, she felt his gaze stiffen as he faced her.
"...What's the matter?"
"Ah, no... well, I bought something to drink. Would you like to have some together?"
"Ah, yes. Alcohol..."
It wasn't unusual for him to bring alcohol when they spent time together.
But Airi couldn't help but feel considerable wariness toward the bottle he'd brought.
After all, according to the predetermined future without variables, an incident had occurred while drinking with him.
"...Actually, I think I'd prefer juice over alcohol."
Yes, whatever the case, she absolutely couldn't let alcohol cloud her judgment.
"Ah, yes. Juice, you mean?"
"Yes, I'm a bit of a lightweight... If you'll give me the bottle, I'll go swap it for juice."
"What? Dressed like that?"
"Huh?"
Hyosung asked, alarmed.
At those words, Airi blinked in confusion and glanced down at her own body.
It was just comfortable sleeveless indoor wear; just what was the problem with this outfit?
"Ah, no. I-I'll go. I'll go."
Hyosung quickly fled the room as if even looking at her was uncomfortable.
Left alone, Airi stared blankly at the spot where he had looked, then soon stopped dwelling on it and let herself sink down onto the bed.
She guessed that since the progenitor's power still remained, his judgment wasn't entirely sound either.
'He's certainly not in his right mind, but he hasn't completely seized control yet.'
Though she didn't know the progenitor's intent, the power was weak enough that she couldn't say his reason had been completely lost.
At best, it was like being somewhat drunk on alcohol or drugs. The resulting actions might be extreme and rash, but their basis was highly likely to stem from the person's own memories and instincts.
In other words, while there was some instigation, the fact that he'd asked her for 'such a relationship' meant it was tinged with his true feelings to some degree.
'Hyosung thinks of me as...'
The moment the sensation of her hand on her chest became clearly felt through the thin clothes.
'He really, from the very first time he saw me, looked at me that way...'
The heat she'd tried to cool in the cold water began to intensify again, along with a pounding heartbeat. In that moment,
Airi felt the thumping of her heart grow louder along with it, lowered her flushed face, and sank into reverie.
'It's not that I dislike him.'
There was no way she could.
In a world as chaotic and dangerous as this, the simple fact that he bore her no malice was enough reason for her to harbor goodwill.
That impression of him was so deeply imprinted in her mind that she could never forget, and every time she thought of him, she felt her esteem for him growing.
'But... is this really okay?'
Such ruminations had made her utter an unconscious affirmation, leading to this situation, but they were still just short of crossing the line.
If she could change things, the chance was only now. The future can be changed, but the past that's already gone cannot.
Perhaps this one and only opportunity shouldn't be left to mere chance—she needed to reach a proper resolution.
"Airi, I've brought the juice."
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
Having made her decision, Airi accepted the bottle he offered when he returned.
Afterward, the two sat side by side on the bed, drinking their respective beverages in silence for a while.
She had juice, and he had alcohol.
He seemed to have been drinking even before meeting her, but even so, his gaze showed no unsteadiness.
Was he a strong drinker, in keeping with his innate mental fortitude?
"Um, Airi."
Yes, since his mental fortitude was that strong, he would soon recover his senses as long as the instigator wasn't beside him.
As if proving her prediction correct, she felt his voice stiffen, a far cry from his earlier boldness.
"Somehow we've ended up in this situation, but... well, I'm asking just in case—are you forcing yourself to go along with what I said earlier, out on the street...?"
"Shh."
Guilt stemming from belated realization.
She closed the distance, covered his mouth with her finger before he could continue, then looked up at him and whispered softly.
"Just be quiet for a moment, please. I'll explain everything."
"Explain, you say?"
"Yes, I'll explain everything about why I accepted your proposal, Hyosung."
Airi withdrew her hand, faced him quietly, and spoke again.
Dressed only in thin indoor clothes. In a situation where shedding just one more layer would make it natural to proceed further, she hardened her resolve and fixed her clear, open eyes on him.
"...Hyosung."
She called his name, which she had never once forgotten.
To continue what could be called a resolution, made while he was briefly away.
"I know a lot about you. You've probably guessed that already, haven't you?"
"Ah, yes. Since you knew my name and everything I was doing from our first meeting..."
"As you said, I have the ability to read the past of people I meet. I can't learn about your previous world, but from the moment we met, I can broadly grasp what you've been through since arriving in this world."
She knew his name was Woo Hyosung, and how he'd fallen into the plight of a Foreign Worker after entering this world.
Furthermore, she knew he'd faced countless life-threatening dangers while attending to the heroes, and that his survival wasn't due to luck alone.
And she'd felt her estimation of him rise over time.
Because with each moment she kept thinking of him, unable to forget, she'd immersed herself more earnestly in his past.
"I... think you're an amazing person."
There was no lie or pretense whatsoever in the assessment she arrived at.
Those feelings had only grown stronger now, when her heart fluttered just from facing him.
"Ah, no. Amazing is..."
"No, Hyosung is an amazing person. Unlike powerless me without prophecy."
Look at her now.
The intervention of a single Transcendent had clouded the God of Destruction's judgment, and she hadn't been able to properly handle the incursion that happened in that gap, leading to this very situation.
Even now, she could barely manage to keep her composure, and she still couldn't use the Haven clan's power.
Through this situation they'd unintentionally created together, she realized just how powerless she was without her prophetic ability.
"So, when I saw a future where we become bound together..."
So she resolved to at least acknowledge that feeling.
"B-bound together?"
"Whatever the form, I sometimes... thought that perhaps the result itself was accompanied by my own true feelings."
Having spoken such honest feelings in a firm voice, she clenched the bedsheet fiercely.
"That they might be feelings not just as one person to another, but as a woman toward a man..."
-Thump, thump.
Her heartbeat grew louder.
It couldn't be from mere anxiety.
For, if she looked only at her honest, pure feelings, she even felt a sense of anticipation in this moment.
"Th-then. Airi also......"
"But I'm sorry, Hyosung."
And because of that, Airi felt guilt toward him.
Even though she felt herself being emotionally drawn to him... not yet.
She couldn't shake the thought that it was still too early to act on those feelings.
"I should have responded more calmly, but to let things come this far and then say this..."
"...Is this a rejection?"
"It doesn't mean I dislike you. It's just that, I have a mission."
Yes, the whole reason she'd come to this Empire was to prevent the destruction prophesied by the first ancestor.
To that end, she'd been evading the guards and telling fortunes for passersby, searching for the one born with the destiny to save the world.
Even if she regarded him specially among them, she too bore the mission of reviving her clan, and could not impulsively commit to giving herself to him.
"So just a little..."
If she violated that principle and gave in now, the future that awaited them later would surely bring results they'd both regret.
If, after being bound to him, she were to follow her mission and become bound to another man, it would be no different from betraying him, who had given his heart to her.
"Just a little, could you give me some time?"
So for now, they had to wait and see.
Believing it was the right course if this relationship felt premature, she intended to step back. Then he, who had been silently listening to her words, smiled bitterly and lowered his head.
"I understand your feelings well, Airi."
"...Hyosung."
"Of course, if you have circumstances, you'd want to focus on them. The fact that you came into this room and accepted my unreasonable request must also be because your feelings for me aren't trivial."
A crestfallen heart, and regret laced in his voice.
That meant he too had been looking forward to what would happen, but felt the same unease she did, and that he naturally couldn't accept it either.
So he too would surely handle this situation carefully.
"S-so then... we'll pretend what just happened never happened, right?"
"No, that's impossible."
"Huh? What do you... Eeek!"
Her body collapsed onto the bed with a sudden shove.
Though she tried to resist after that, the thought that she could win against the shadow looming before her was soon erased.
Because overcoming the strength of a man tempered by labor was, after all, impossible for her who had lost her prophetic ability.
"Hy-Hyosung, please calm down! You're not this kind of person!"
"As if I can calm down! You've been openly seducing me all this time and now you tell me to wait a little more! Who are you messing with?!"
"Sed-seducing... I didn't! I've never even had such thoughts...!"
"What do you call wearing such thin clothes and lying defenseless on the bed, if not seduction!?"
"What? B-but this sort of clothing is normal indoors!"
"It's lewd! You have no self-awareness at all, so it felt even lewder!!!"
"Eh-EHH!?"
Though a blunt remark flew at her, there was no way she had any such self-awareness.
She had lived only as an astrologer, the successor of the Haven, and had no awareness of how her true appearance looked to others.
She'd never brought a man into her room to stay, so she had no idea how her preference for comfortable indoor clothes appeared to someone else.
"Please develop some self-awareness. That you, Airi, are an attractive woman, and that I am a man who can't be trusted."
Conversely, the one before her was unmistakably a man starved of sexual desire.
No matter how high his mental fortitude, if a situation is created this blatantly, his patience is bound to be tested.
His patience had been enough to keep his reason against the vampire's bewitchment, but knowing for certain that she didn't reject him had snapped even the last restraint he should have held.
"I-I don't know about that sort of thing."
So, no matter how sincerely she spoke and appealed to his better nature, things coming to this point was inevitable the moment the two of them entered this room alone.
Even realizing that, Airi ultimately only turned her gaze away from him, as if fleeing reality.
"It's my first time entering the same room as a man like this too, so I-I don't know what to do..."
"It's true that you don't dislike it, isn't it?"
Her voice cut off abruptly at the question that suddenly followed that small resistance.
Then, holding her breath, she glanced at him and quietly gave a small nod.
-Haaah, haaah.
The quiet breaths flowing from each other's lips mingled, intensifying the heat in the room.
As that heat mixed with the intoxication of the alcohol and clouded their minds, he finally forced out the words.
"...I'll take responsibility."
They were baseless words.
Lightly spoken, nothing more than the words of a man who loathed his own weakness, buried in the desire of the moment.
"Whatever responsibility Airi bears, whatever mission you carry out, I'll bear it together with you."
But even if he couldn't handle it, he wouldn't run.
He knew what he was saying, and he was prepared to shoulder all the resulting responsibility himself.
"Hyosung..."
"So don't leave."
Because he'd kept letting them go.
Because he'd been unable to handle it, he'd constantly sent away the people who had given their hearts to him.
"I don't... want to let the people beside me go, anymore."
The helplessness he'd felt each time had soon become a dagger, leading to a desperate longing for this opportunity.
No matter how short their time together, whatever destiny lay ahead—he'd think about it after seizing this chance that would never come again once this moment passed.
'...Ah, great ancestor,'
But how could that be called a sin?
To call him foolish for waiting for her answer without reaching out, even while he felt desire—when she herself, whose heart fluttered in this moment, was all the more shameful.
'Though I bear a mission, it seems I too am, after all, merely one human being.'
Yes, she did not refuse.
The past already passed cannot be changed, and the present unfolds with such a past as its root.
To stop just because she had to keep her distance due to her mission—the two of them knew all too well the feelings they held for each other.
"Airi?"
"Please, don't say anything."
He, who'd resolved to live on even in such a world, would always hunger for people;
and she foresaw a future where she could not forget such a man, bearing a mission too heavy for her alone.
"I'm not shameless enough... to come this far and tell you to do nothing..."
The moment she realized this, her hands, which had been guarding her body, slowly loosened.
Finally, revealing her body defenselessly, she spoke quietly.
"So, for now, don't say anything..."
"Let's just... focus on following each other's destiny."
The future she had feared so much until now.
She realized vividly that it had become reality by none other than her own will.