The Gift
"...Senior."
After a moment, I quietly opened my mouth. My voice came out calmer than I expected.
I lightly tugged on the collar fastened around my neck. As I applied force, I felt the leather pull taut.
"Something like this."
I pointed to the collar as I spoke.
"Something like this, I could break anytime I felt like it. Same goes for this warehouse door."
I continued, looking straight into her wet eyes.
"I'm sorry, but... with your strength, Senior, you can't keep me locked up in here."
At my words, Senior Bella slowly raised her head. Sorrow still filled her eyes, yet she did not deny what I had said.
"...I know."
She answered weakly. She had seen me face high-rank monsters with her own eyes, after all. No matter how strong she was, she knew she could not suppress me by force now.
A heavy silence settled between us. Even knowing she could not confine me, had she still wanted to protect me with this clumsy method?
I let out a deep sigh.
...This is exactly why I was going to erase Senior's memories.
I had planned to ask Master to wipe away every memory connected to me. That would have let her live a far safer, more peaceful life.
But...
After hearing words like that, how could I possibly do such a thing?
She had learned everything, and now she was anxious and grieving because of me. It was truly bothersome.
And yet, at the same time, a strange warmth seemed to fill a corner of my heart. The simple fact that someone worried about me this much, that someone feared losing me...
To be honest...
I was feeling a little satisfied.
This contradictory emotion—guilt that my very existence had become a burden to her, and simultaneous satisfaction at the attention and concern that burden brought—made me wonder if I really was a selfish villainess, or something even worse.
I put on the softest smile I could manage, as if everything were fine. Then I slowly stepped to Senior Bella's side and gently took her trembling hand.
"Senior."
Her hand was cold, yet the warmth held within it came through clearly.
"Thank you. For worrying about me this much. But..."
I gave the hand I held a light squeeze and went on.
"I have things I must do. I can't just sit still here like this."
At my words, Senior Bella's gaze wavered again. She looked straight into my eyes and asked, resignation and a trace of resentment mixed in her voice.
"That 'thing you must do'—in the end, it isn't for yourself, is it? It's for other people again. Am I wrong?"
"……."
I could not bring myself to answer. She was right.
Taking my silence as affirmation, Senior Bella snorted and spoke.
"Then how about this?"
She shook off my hand and stepped back. Her voice had grown a little firmer than before.
"If you fall into danger, all of humanity could be in danger. So for the sake of the very people you want to save, you need to stay somewhere safe right now. Isn't that the wiser judgment?"
Her logic itself was plausible enough.
"Haa..."
I sighed once more.
"Senior, do you really think hiding here means they won't find me? Three ducal houses are after me at the same time. This is just stubbornness. A temporary stopgap, nothing more."
At my pointed remark, Senior Bella seemed at a loss for words. She dropped her gaze and stared only at the floor in silence. She must have known it too—that this little warehouse could never be an eternal refuge.
I soothed her in a gentler voice.
"And don't worry so much. The kind of thing you're imagining won't happen."
"…?"
She lifted her head and looked at me questioningly.
"Master has left, so the seat of 'Guardian' in Tera is empty right now. Before long, a new Guardian will descend from the Spiritual Realm. I don't know who it will be, but that Guardian will protect me. I'm Master's disciple, after all. So I just have to hold out until then."
Of course, whether that "new Guardian" would look kindly on me the way Master had was still an open question. But right now, this was the only way to put Senior Bella at ease.
She gave no answer. She only looked at me with a complicated expression.
Once again, a heavy, drawn-out silence settled between us. I could not tell whether she believed me or whether the anxiety still clung to her.
"...I'll get stronger."
Suddenly, as if she had made up her mind, Senior Bella clenched her fists and raised her head. Her eyes burned with a fierce will unlike anything before.
"What?"
I asked back, puzzled. What was this all of a sudden?
"I said I'll get stronger!"
Senior Bella nearly shouted. Unshakable resolve rang in her voice.
"Right now I might not be enough to protect you. But just watch. One way or another, by any means necessary, I'll become strong. Strong enough that you never fall into danger again—strong enough to protect you perfectly at your side!"
…What?
I stared blankly at Senior Bella for a moment. I had no idea how to react to her sudden declaration. It was moving and I was grateful, of course, but at the same time it was just so...
"Pfft..."
In the end I could not hold it in, and laughter burst out.
"No, Senior. What's with that all of a sudden...? It's a little cringey. You sound like the protagonist of some novel."
At my teasing, Senior Bella's face flushed scarlet in an instant. Flustered and not knowing what to do, she averted her eyes.
"Sh-shut up! I mean it!"
"I know, I know."
I still held back laughter as I soothed her.
"I can tell you're serious, so don't say it so dramatically."
I wiped the smile away and looked at her with genuine feeling.
"...Thank you, Senior."
Her heart, her sincerity, came through intact. I was happy. The fact that someone thought of me this much, that someone said they would grow stronger for my sake—it was a warmth that filled, even if only a little, the empty place Master had left behind.
And yet, at the same time...
I was afraid.
...
"Here... come here. I'll take it off."
Senior Bella reached toward the collar around my neck, her face still faintly red.
Hmm...
"Oh? You're taking it off already? That's a little disappointing."
For daring to try locking me up, a little teasing was fair game, right?
"I didn't take you for the type, Senior. Do you... enjoy this kind of play?"
"…What?!"
Senior Bella, left with nothing to say, only flushed deeper and floundered. The sight was so cute I almost laughed again.
"No, but did you really need to put something like this on me? You could've just said it."
I eyed her playfully, as if I suspected her of something, and added,
"Hmm~ You didn't have some other intention, did you?"
Senior Bella looked as if cold sweat were breaking out under my gaze; she hurriedly shook her head.
"Don't talk nonsense! I just wanted to keep you from running away...!"
"Aww, fine, fine."
I cut her off with a snicker.
"Then before you take it off, should I specially do a dog impression for you?"
I dropped onto all fours and crawled around her, sticking my tongue out.
"Woof! Woof woof!"
Senior Bella stared at me with an expression of pure disbelief.
That was the exact moment.
Whip—!
All of a sudden Senior Bella yanked hard on my leash!
"Ghk! Cough, cough…!"
The unexpected pull choked me; my breath caught. I sank to the floor, hacking.
Huh? Wait... this... feels weird?
Along with the pressure of the collar digging into my throat, a dense, dangerous kind of pleasure began to crawl up from low in my belly.
I lifted my head and looked at Senior Bella. She was staring straight through me with eyes full of heat, as if she hungered for something. Those eyes looked like a starved predator's.
Danger!
I felt the crisis instinctively. This atmosphere, this gaze—it was no longer a joke.
"S-Senior! I was kidding! I'll stop! I'll really stop!"
I cried out in a panic and scrambled backward.
Senior Bella seemed to waver for a moment at my words; she bit her lip hard, then let out a deep sigh. The dangerous heat from a moment ago drained from her eyes.
Without a word she came over and undid the lock on the collar.
"Ahem."
To break the awkward silence, I deliberately cleared my throat. Then I picked up the dog collar that had just been around my neck and now lay on the floor.
"……?"
Senior Bella watched me pick it up with a puzzled look, as if she could not understand why I was taking it.
This...
I ran my fingers over the collar in my hand.
I felt it while I was wearing it earlier too—the effect is pretty good.
That thrilling pleasure the pressure around my throat gave me. The sensation of becoming someone's possession, stripped of every right and will, reduced to a wretched thing that only waited for its owner's disposal...
I rather liked it.
For later, when I want to use it...
No...
I'll use it later, for training.
"I'll just keep this as a gift."
I pocketed the collar as naturally as I could, pretending nothing was amiss.
Senior Bella's expression hardened for an instant. She looked as if she were suddenly holding something back, and once more she fixed me with that dangerous gaze—more intense, more nakedly hungry than before.