You Two Look Good Together
In silence, I watched Celine where she leaned against the sofa, and let my thoughts drift toward everything that came next. Succubus or not, her body was human in form, so it would be something like ten or eleven months before the child was born. Abortion wasn't on the table. I had already said I would take responsibility, and once those words were out, there was no taking them back.
Money, at least, wasn't the problem. I had my military savings and the payout I'd left the service with, plus a fair amount I'd set aside on my own. One more mouth to feed wasn't going to sink me.
What worried me most was how to tell the people around us. For the time being, maybe I'd keep it a secret. Celine and I still hadn't properly sorted out what we were to each other, and everything else was a mess besides. If I was going to say something, better to have it straight first. That was the only way to keep the confusion to a minimum.
"Um..."
"Yeah? What?"
I was still following the thread of that thought when Celine's careful voice called me back. I turned my head and looked at her.
She was fidgeting with her fingers, watching my face the way someone does when they have a favor to ask.
"Can I... try the computer?"
"The computer?"
"Yeah... If I ever made it to the human world, I always wanted to try one... Is that okay?"
For someone who, not long ago, had put on lingerie and tried to seduce me, the sudden meekness was a little funny. I swallowed the laugh and nodded.
"I don't mind... but do you know how?"
"Yeah! My sisters told me how it works!"
"Go ahead, then. If you get stuck, ask."
"Thanks!"
At that, Celine gave the wings on her back a hard flap, dropped into the chair at the computer desk, and pressed the power button with awkward fingers.
I'd told her to go ahead, but a thread of unease still pulled me in behind her to see what she was actually doing.
...Doesn't look like she's about to play a game. What is she after?
Honestly, I was curious what a succubus even wanted with a computer.
"NewTu...be... this should be it... Ah! Found it."
She pecked at the search bar with clumsy hands, brought up NewTube, and swished her tail like a pleased cat.
"What are you trying to watch?"
"...Hmm... They don't have the stuff humans do on here."
"What...?"
"Hm? I was curious whether what humans do with each other is different from us, so I was going to look it up."
She turned that painfully innocent face on me, and every word I had simply left.
"...They don't let you upload that kind of thing there. You won't find it."
"Oh... really? That's a shame..."
"It's no different from what you do, so you don't need to go looking."
"But..."
She worked her mouth for a moment, reading my face, then flushed all the way to the tips of her ears and dropped her head.
"You're my first, so... I was curious how other people do it."
"...I'll show you later. Isn't there something else you want to do right now?"
"Mm... not really, besides that?"
She truly didn't seem interested. At my words she shot up from the desk, stepped aside, and looked at me.
"Then is there something you need?"
"Mm... there is, but... you said not to do it right now."
She glanced down at the waist of my pants and licked her lips. A chill ran through me, tangled with a strange pull, and I took one step back from her.
...Yeah. She was a succubus, all right.
"Can't we just once...? Honestly, ever since the first time with you... I keep thinking about that day..."
"Don't make me say the same thing over and over. Think of something else. Now that you're in the human world, isn't there anything you've wanted to try?"
She puffed her cheeks and glared at me, tail swaying while she thought it over, then looked at me and spoke with care.
"Mm... then I want to go outside."
"Out of nowhere?"
"Yeah. I came all the way to the human world and I still haven't really seen it. On the way here I was too busy looking for you to notice anything."
"You mean right now?"
"Yeah. Even just around here. Can we?"
There was no real reason to refuse, and the wish was humbler than I'd expected. I nodded.
"What about the wings and the tail?"
"I can hide them like this."
Celine snapped her fingers once, and the wings and tail at her back vanished without a trace.
"That's actually incredible... You can't tell at all."
"Right? Can we go now?"
"That'll do. Let's go."
I nodded, scooped up the jacket I'd tossed aside, and pulled it on while I thought about where to take her. The hour was an awkward one. A short trip to the park, or the supermarket, seemed about right.
We cut across one of the larger parks in the neighborhood, walking beneath the autumn color gathered along the street. They must have torn out the ginkgos recently and planted maples in their place; the road was packed with mottled red and gold.
Better than ginkgo, at least...
Ginkgos are hardy, and the leaves are pretty enough in their own way. But that one smell is enough to make you forget every virtue they have.
"Whoa......"
Celine stared at the maples gone red and yellow, gasping as if she couldn't believe any of it, craning her head this way and that.
I would have liked to just stand there and gawk with her, but the stares from everyone around us were too blatant for that.
Maybe I should have put a hood on her.
White hair and red eyes are rare enough in Korea, and on top of that Celine was beautiful. Young and old, men and women—every eye swung toward her.
"...Wow. I've never seen anyone that pretty."
"Right? Think they're filming a show or something?"
"...The guy next to her looks kind of scary, though... Is he her manager?"
The muttering, and the open staring, must have tipped her off that she was the one they were looking at. Celine's face tightened, and she edged a step closer until she was pressed against my side.
"Why are they like that..."
I couldn't tell whether the complaint was meant for me or for them. She turned her gaze toward the trees stained with autumn.
"If anybody out here offers to buy you something tasty and tells you to come along, do not follow them. Ever."
"......Do you think I'm a little kid?"
I said it like a joke, a warning, and she bristled, glaring hard. Her cheeks were puffed so round it was honestly cute, and a laugh was just about to slip out of me when a dog's sharp bark cut through from somewhere nearby.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
It didn't sound threatening, but you never know. I stepped in front of Celine and scanned the area.
"Hey! You rascal! Stop right there!"
Far off, a big golden retriever with its leash undone was charging straight at us like it had lost its mind, and behind it the owner, leash in hand, was sprinting after it in desperation.
"Eek......!"
A dog must have been an unfamiliar creature to her. Celine plastered herself to my back and sucked in a breath.
The thought flickered through my head—can a succubus really be afraid of a dog?—and then the retriever was right in front of me. I fixed it with a steady glare.
Don't come any closer.
"Whiiine..."
Maybe it understood. The retriever had been barreling toward us, tongue lolling, tail high with joy; now the tail drooped, the paws stopped, and it collapsed at my feet with a whimper, rolling over to show its belly.
"Doesn't seem like a bad dog."
From the look of it, the thing had spotted us from way off and come running to play, then stopped cold at the way Celine and I reacted.
"Whoa......"
Celine peeked out from behind my back and looked from me to the retriever as if she couldn't believe it.
"You handle demonic beasts too?"
"...That's just a dog."
I answered her and gave a few pats to the soft-looking belly of the cowed animal, which was watching my face.
"...Huh. The belly feels a little swollen."
Too firm to pass off as fat. I tilted my head and kept rubbing the belly and the fur under its chin.
"Woof!"
The dog seemed to like it. It stayed on its back, tail going hard, pouring on the charm.
Watching that tail wag, Celine's red eyes sparkled with envy.
"......I want to try too."
"Go ahead. Just in case, don't reach for the muzzle."
She nodded, and with careful hands she fiddled with the dog's fluffy belly. After a moment her eyes went wide, as if something had startled her, and then she broke into a shy little smile.
...She really is pretty.
"Whoa...... it's warm and soft... It's kind of amazing."
"Hah—hah......! I-I'm so sorry!"
While Celine and I were still petting the retriever's belly, the owner finally caught up, gasping, and stopped in front of us.
"Gum got stuck in the fur at her neck...... I undid the leash for a second to peel it off, and she bolted in that gap."
The owner kept bowing, face gone white as a sheet, looking the two of us over.
"You weren't hurt anywhere, were you?!"
"No, we're fine. She's a gentle one."
I answered calmly, still stroking the dog's belly, and only then did the owner breathe out in relief and laugh, sheepish.
"Thank goodness...... She hasn't really run since she got pregnant, so today was strange."
Pregnant. At that word Celine's hand froze, and she stole a glance at me, something peculiar in her eyes.
The retriever's owner looked the two of us over for a moment, then drew a business card from a bag and held it out.
"I run a little cafe just up ahead. If you stop by sometime, it'll be on me."
"Ah, yes. We'll come by."
I took the card and gave a light nod. The owner clipped the leash back onto the retriever and smiled brightly.
"You two look absolutely wonderful together."
At those words, the tips of Celine's ears—she had been stroking the retriever's cheek—flared red in an instant.