Ever since Arachne said she could stop searching for Odin’s whereabouts, she had stopped manipulating birds to look for him. So this time, she planned to change targets and find out where Leo was and what he was doing. And if Leo was doing something bad, she could rat him out to Arachne!
Siren gave a wicked smile and focused her senses. Her heart pounded at the idea of catching what would get Leo away from Arachne.
* * *
Clack.
Lakis habitually opened the window like usual. He put his foot on the window frame and pushed half of his body out of the window then paused at the voice coming from his head.
—By the way Lakis, can’t you stop going through the window and looking pathetic now?
“…”
Lakis’ hands on the window frame abruptly froze.
The bug was right.
Yuri had already caught him using the window to go outside and back.
~
‘Why don’t you use the door?’
~
For a moment, he recalled Yuri’s face looking at him expressionlessly as she said that. Lakis unconsciously frowned a little.
Yuri said she wasn’t angry…
But then what was the feeling he got from her yesterday? When he first came back home, there was an odd atmosphere around Yuri as she stood alone but it was difficult to describe. Even after that, she didn’t say anything but…
Somehow, Lakis felt he had to comfort her when she was like that. Furthermore, he was strangely bothered by whatever Yuri was going to say but ended up not saying.
As Lakis continued to worry about what happened yesterday, he pulled back from the window.
Whoosh.
That very moment.
The wind blowing from the side swept over Lakis’ face. His cold blue eyes gleamed sharply between his wind-blown hair.
‘This smell…’
—Ah, that sonuvabitch’s smell!
The voice in his head seemed to sense the same thing and shouted. This beast’s smell definitely belonged to that mutant they met at the slave market.
Was it nearby by any chance?
Lakis furrowed his brows.
He already knew there were a few mutants attached to Yuri’s side. Even the white bird that came to the house a while back, he heard that was the winged-mutant woman who was with Yuri at the slave trade last time.
Of course, his source was Odin who seemed ready to even lick Lakis’ shoes these days.
In the end, Lakis turned around and did not head to the door. Instead, he jumped out of the open window. And the beast’s smell pricked his nose even more.
The direction the smell was coming from was…
‘Next door?’
Lakis narrowed his eyes, looking at the traces left on the window next door. This house was certainly the house of that woman whose memory he erased and then dropped off in front of her house.
His cold blue eyes fell on the tightly shut window.
In that manner, he stared at Anne-Marie’s house for a few moments, then he moved away.
* * *
And that night, Lakis stared at the closed door in the dark with narrowed eyes.
—Hey, Lakis. This woman said she wasn’t angry, but this is definitely an angry person’s reaction, isn’t it?
The house was so quiet that the voice rang out even louder in his head. The lines on Lakis’ forehead deepened.
—You know what I think? I think you’re f**ked![1]Isn’t she hurt because she found out you’ve been acting like a patient here when you’ve actually been going outside and running around?
He didn’t want to hear the bug’s rambling but honestly, Lakis agreed to some extent.
Ever since he came home yesterday and encountered Yuri, her attitude was strangely chilly. Of course, the change was very small…
But it was an obvious change for Lakis who paid attention to Yuri’s every move, every day.
—Haa, isn’t this why I said you should do your ‘acting weak’ in moderation? Even without that, every time you act all coy in front of that woman, my goosebumps just…!
‘F*ck you, stop pouring oil on a burning house, once is enough. Don’t piss me off.’
But was it really like the bug said? Most of all, after what happened in the bedroom yesterday, Yuri hadn’t brought Lakis to her room. But still, for a while these days, she allowed him to come in every night to hold hands and sleep with her.
“…”
Lakis looked at the door to Yuri’s room with dim eyes. Somehow…he felt a little anxious. He had the urge to knock on Yuri’s door right now and see her face.
Tok-tok.
Right then, a faint sound came from the window. It sounded like a bird tapping on the window with its beak. Knowing the source of that sound, a cold light flashed through Lakis’ eyes. He focused his attention on the closed door but perhaps fortunately, he couldn’t sense any movement in Yuri’s room.
In the dark, Lakis’ body moved slowly. He silently rose from the sofa and moved to the window where the sound just came from. And he quietly pulled away the curtain.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom With that, a crow sitting outside the window came into his sight.
It was a bird sent by Odin.
He had originally planned to secretly leave the house tonight and go somewhere with Odin. But since Lakis didn’t appear at the promised location, Odin obviously sent a crow to find out what was going on.
Lakis placed his finger on the window frame. Then blood from his fingertip slipped through the gap under the window frame and made letters at the crow’s feet.
[Change of plans. Later.]
Understanding the phrase, the crow nodded and flew away.
Lakis took back his blood which made the letters. He glanced back at Yuri’s room, but the door was still tightly shut and the house was still as quiet as before.
Lakis lowered his eyes and quietly let down the curtain. His moonlit view was once again darkened.
* * *
The next day was Yuri’s day off; she didn’t have to go to the coffeehouse. But Yuri didn’t stay at home and went out.
For some reason, whenever she looked at Lakis face, she was filled with an unknown feeling and it pricked her. But Yuri was truly not angry with Lakis. After all, Lakis hadn’t done anything wrong to her.
But she didn’t know why she was having this strange feeling and it made her more uncomfortable.
‘I have to get Anne-Marie a present to celebrate her new job anyways.’
And so, Yuri went to shopping district, avoiding Lakis simultaneously. There were many people on the streets of the shopping district today. Yuri walked along the street, wondering what kind of gift she should get Anne-Marie.
Then her feet suddenly stopped in front of a store. It was a pet shop with many animals displayed beyond the window.
She had always walked past this place when she came to the shopping district but today, Yuri stopped in front of it for the first time. In this world, unless it was through someone you knew personally, they didn’t seem to have the concept of home pet sales.[2]So people usually stuck to buying and raising house pets at such stores.
Yuri’s gaze stayed on the white puppy that was wagging its tail and looking at her from the window.
‘…maybe I should I raise a cat or dog.’
She didn’t know why she suddenly had such a thought. Sometimes when she saw Anne-Marie, she remembered her puppy, Coco from her previous life but she had never thought of having a pet at home in this life.
But she suddenly felt impulsive.
The emptiness she felt when she came back to an empty house yesterday abruptly came to her mind. Before, even though she was alone, she never once felt like her house was empty. It seems Lakis’ presence was bigger than she thought.
This was probably why they say you don’t know when they’re there, but you know when they’re gone.[3]
“Please come in and look around.”
When Yuri remained in front of the store looking at the animals, the door opened, and the owner of the store stepped out to usher her in.
“No, thank you. I’m just passing by.”
But Yuri firmly refused.
And she began walking again after her brief stop. It might just be her bias or maybe she had some qualms because of her past life memories but she didn’t want to buy an animal from something like a pet shop.
In addition, it was terrible idea to recklessly bring a pet into her house without any preparation simply because her house felt empty. And the most critical reason was that the house Yuri currently lived in banned keeping pets.
In other words, she couldn’t get one now but later. Only
After she got more money and moved to bigger house, she felt it would be nice to quit working at the coffeehouse and get a puppy or cat to live with.
Like that, Yuri planned for her possible future and began looking around the shopping district for a gift for Anne-Marie again.
Translator’s Corner:
[1]I would have translated this as [You know what I think? I think you’re ****!] because I have no idea what the censor is supposed to say. But this time, I had to put in something otherwise, it doesn’t read well.
[2]I don’t really understand this. I don’t know anyone with pets.
[3]The saying is self-explanatory, but it means you don’t realize when something/someone is around but when they’re gone, you notice it.
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