Out of Sync
When Luke opened his eyes, a familiar pair of violet irises filled his vision.
The moment he realized whose eyes they were—and why their owner was here—heat flooded his face with pure embarrassment.
Muttering a lament under his breath, he yanked the blanket up over his head.
At least that way he could escape the gaze for now.
"…In the end, I called for you after all…"
To summon my guardian over a feigned illness I never even wanted… What a nuisance I've become.
With the blanket pulled all the way over his head, only a pair of pointed triangular animal ears stuck out. Yerna took one look and let out a soft snort of laughter.
"Feeling any better?"
"I was fine from the start. But why are you here? Didn't you say the hunting week had you busy…?"
"Well. I was busy. Shall we head back now?"
"Head back?"
Luke asked blankly. Yerna answered,
"School finished ages ago, Lu. It's eight in the evening."
"What…?"
Just how long had he slept?
Normally he would have woken somewhere in the middle. Why not this time?
Was the bed simply too soft? Had the surroundings been too quiet? Or had he actually been that exhausted?
Luke was still turning it over in confusion when—
—gurgle…
His stomach's clock kept perfect time.
Yerna chuckled at the sound.
"Luke, how about we grab a bite before we go home?"
"…V-very well."
"…"
Yerna found herself replaying the monologue the school nurse had passed along earlier.
I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, you know, the nurse had said.
She also handled student counseling, so the things Luke had mumbled in his sleep had been far too concerning to simply ignore. The nurse had carefully transcribed every word onto a small memo slip, not missing a single syllable.
At the time Yerna had brushed it off—just something from a book Luke was reading—but now…
She angled her body so Luke couldn't see and unfolded the memo.
The words stared back at her.
I miss those days. Specimens like you were rare.
Specimen… So there had been another child in the same situation.
Of course there had. Anyone conducting human experiments for a purpose would never stop at a single victim. Expecting otherwise was pure optimism.
Haa… If only I could go back to then.
Regret. Perhaps the most natural reaction of all.
A clear wish to return to the time before the experiments.
If only I had been more perfect back then, you wouldn't have had to die like that.
Poor thing.
Luke seemed to believe the death of that other child—someone who had shared the same fate—was his own fault. Perhaps it was the same child he had once recalled at Daiton's house.
Back then Luke had smiled, but deep inside something must have festered into a wound that could never fully heal.
People were always most emotional when they were hurting.
"Yerna? What are you looking at so intently?"
"Ah—nothing! Nothing at all!"
Startled by Luke's question, Yerna hastily shoved the memo into her pocket.
The motion looked odd to Luke, but he simply nodded.
If she said it was nothing, there was no reason to press.
He decided to spend that mental energy on the meal set before him instead.
Steam rose in gentle curls from a plate of fried meat.
Just looking at it seemed to transmit the promise of a perfect crunch; he swallowed hard.
Luke took up the knife and carefully sliced through.
Inside lay perfectly cooked pork and cheese—
the cheese oozing out as if determined to announce its presence.
He cut a suitable piece and blew on it. Hoo, hoo. How long did he need to wait before it stopped being too hot? Ever since this body, he had never handled heat well.
Cooling it thoroughly would be ideal… yet the dish's allure was simply too seductive.
His patience ran out almost at once.
He dunked the still-warm piece into the sauce and popped it into his mouth. The batter shattered with a crisp crack, and the cheese within stretched chewy and rich against his teeth.
It's truly delicious…
Did the people of this era truly live on food like this every day?
How had anyone ever thought to put cheese inside fried meat?
The first person to invent this dish had to have been a genius.
How was it that every new dish he discovered brought an entirely new kind of joy?
The heat no longer mattered much.
He swallowed.
Perhaps the oil from the dish had greased the way down his throat; in the blink of an eye the meat was gone.
"Haa…"
How long had it been since a meal itself had felt this pleasurable?
Such rich texture… this was the finest dish of his life.
Watching the brilliant smile bloom across Luke's face, Yerna grinned.
"That good, huh?"
"Absolutely magnificent…! W-what did you say this was called again?"
"Cheese tonkatsu."
"Ooh, cheese tonkatsu…! It really is delicious!"
Luke beamed—then suddenly glanced at Yerna's side of the table.
Nothing sat there.
Since Yerna couldn't eat meat, the only thing she might have ordered in a place like this was a cabbage salad… and she hadn't even ordered that.
"But Yerna, are you truly all right not eating?"
"Don't worry about me. I already ate before I came."
A lie.
She simply had no appetite.
A sudden wave of guilt rose in her chest.
To a kid who enjoys food this much, all I've been giving is canned stuff…
"I'm sorry. I feel like I never fed you properly this whole time."
Luke shook his head firmly.
"That isn't so, Yerna. The canned food you bought was truly delicious. In fact… I liked it so much I snuck a few extra cans when you weren't looking."
Yerna pictured Luke quietly rummaging through the drawer in the middle of the night, cracking open cans by himself.
That must have been adorable.
She smiled softly.
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. And here you were wearing such a serious face over something so small? There is absolutely no need to feel sorry about that."
"Ah… right. Yeah."
It wasn't only that which had hardened her expression… but it wasn't something she needed to burden Luke with either. She kept quiet.
A smile was enough for now.
"Go on and eat. It won't taste as good once it gets cold."
She had never actually tried this kind of food herself, so she wasn't entirely sure whether it really did lose flavor when cold—but she had heard that was the case.
After one particular battle, Yerna and Daphne had reached the same conclusion.
There was definitely something behind Luke.
That led them to decide they needed to apply for the Witness Protection Program.
Whether from the experiments or the trauma, Luke's memories were incomplete, so he wasn't a direct witness… but at the very least they couldn't register his identity as a non-human species.
Even the examining officer, Rachel, had been stunned when she saw the test results.
She had expected simple traces of a beastification procedure. It was nothing of the sort.
Thanks to that, Luke's official status was now "beastkin hybrid."
And if he ever asked, every trace of his current life could be erased so he could start completely anew somewhere else.
If that happened, he might have to leave Yerna—his temporary guardian.
"Lu… if there's ever anything later…"
Luke, who had been rubbing his full stomach after the meal, looked up at the sudden call.
Yerna's expression was heavier than words could describe.
"…If you ever have something you want to say, tell me. Unnie will always be on your side."
She forced a smile that looked almost painful.
Worry? Regret? Pity? Every emotion tangled together in that single smile.
"…Is that so? Thank you."
Luke had no idea why she was acting this way. He turned it over carefully in his mind.
Did I look as though I had something I needed to say…?
Come to think of it, his stomach had felt uncomfortably heavy for a while now.
He had simply eaten far too much greasy food.
A child's stomach really was too small.
If he wasn't careful, it might come right back up.
So I looked that miserable. How embarrassing…
Being caught struggling with overeating was mortifying enough that he avoided Yerna's eyes.
Cold sweat even broke out from the shame.
A bead of it ran down his forehead and into the corner of his eye, stinging. He rubbed at it, and when he looked up again Yerna was watching him with an even more pitying expression.
"Yerna…?"
"Hm?"
Just as Luke was about to ask why she kept looking at him like that—
Urgh.
The price of overeating finally arrived.
This is maddening. From now on I absolutely must not overeat.
"…Excuse me a moment. The restroom…"
"Huh…? O-okay. Go ahead."
Luke rose with a deathly pale face and bolted for the restroom.
Meanwhile, seeing that white face, Yerna slammed her forehead against the table and cursed her own big mouth.
But earlier… he really did look like he had something he wanted to say.
Yet he had hesitated and fled.
She had been far too careless.
He was still just a child. Of course he couldn't bare his heart the moment someone said something like that.
She had wanted to help Lu… and it always ended up like this.
"…I really wanted to do better this time…"
She had hoped this time would be different from before.
She hoped Luke would never end up the same way.
He's definitely crying in the restroom right now.
Yerna shot up from the table.
"Right."
This was the moment an adult needed to go comfort him.
Imagining Luke crying alone, she stepped into the restroom—and froze in shock.
Lu isn't here.
No locked stalls either.
Luke had completely vanished.
"Lu? Where are you?"
Had he run away?
Because of what she said?
Had she put too much pressure on him?
Yerna dashed outside.
Shaaaa…
Rain still fell through the night. Where could a child have gone without even an umbrella?
She had to find him. No matter what.
"Haa… I feel human again."
Luke was quite satisfied with how much lighter his stomach felt.
Still, what he had first taken for a simple well turned out to be a toilet.
Every time he used one, the strangeness of it made his face heat up.
He was washing his hands at the faucet when a man walked in, startled, bolted back out, then returned a moment later shouting,
"Hey, kid! You can't come in here—this is the men's restroom!"
Ah. So even restrooms in this era were divided between men and women?
Those strange symbols on the door must have indicated gender.
"My apologies. A genuine mistake. I am truly sorry."
After repeated apologies he returned to the table—only to find Yerna gone.
She left her phone and bags… so she must have gone to the restroom as well. Well, she'll be back if I wait.
Luke sat down without much concern and waited.
Tick. Tock.
But even as the restaurant reached closing time, Yerna never returned.