Ah, is he feeling shy right now?’

It was only now that she realized that Lakis’ red ears back then might have not been due to anger.

Lakis thought Yuri was a little unfair. He also know what Yuri meant.

The reason was unknown but whenever the two of them touched each other, there was an inexplicable phenomenon that occurred between him, Yuri and the parasite. So Yuri seemed to enjoy coming into contact with him.

Lakis also noticed that every time Yuri held his hand, he could feel a sense of liveliness rising in her face. Just like a young plant that almost withered from the drought but revived from a breakthrough rain, Yuri seemed to feel a sensation like she was regaining something she was missing when she touched him.

In the end, that was all Yuri wanted from him. Even now, she wanted to just hold his hand and sleep. Lakis didn’t want that.

“…Aren’t you curious?”

Soon, a low voice came from Lakis whose head rested on Yuri’s shoulder. And he slowly lifted his head. Lakis’ eyes looked straight at Yuri from above her.

“It’s nice to hold hands like this but…”

His finger caressed her skin amid their entangled fingers and the ticklish sensation caused Yuri’s fingertips to tremble with a start.

“What if we do something else?”

It was the most blatant temptation so far. Yuri even forgot to blink for a moment.

Lakis’ free hand touched her hand. His hand was ticklish as it trailed her face like he was tracing her facial features.

Yuri found herself thinking Lakis might be right. Ever since she held his hand for the first time, she began to crave his warmth more and more. So if, by chance, she did something more like he said, she might want to do more next time. Honestly, she felt a little afraid because that was uncharted territory for her.

But on the other hand, it was true that she felt a little curious. Honestly, in theory, she was practically an expert, but personal experience was a different thing.

“Something else…like what?”

So maybe she was brave because she didn’t know.

Not knowing the meaning of permission, Lakis’ gaze instantly changed.

“For example…”

Then his lips slowly parted.

“Like this.”

The moment Lakis’ head leaned to the side, a warmth touched her lips. At first, it was just softly planted on her. But as Lakis started to lick and bite her lips painlessly, she gradually began to feel strange.

Then the moment he burrowed between her slightly parted lips, Yuri unconsciously gripped his hand tight.

“Ng…”

Hot steam swept through her mouth and as he slowly entangled his tongue with hers, she felt a shiver rush down her spine.*

It didn’t seem like they’d done much, but she was strangely out of breath, really fast. Yuri was a bit surprised and taken aback by this oddity.

“Wait…mph.”

She tried to say it was enough now, but her lips were quickly covered by Lakis again. The kiss that followed was even more intense, as if he was saying his gentle movements before were merely just tasting.After her lips were bitten till they were a bit sore, her mouth was overwhelmed with heat and her tongue was fondled till it tingled.[1] Even when she tried to push him because she couldn’t breathe, Lakis didn’t budge. Instead, he kissed her without reserve till she was almost tired.

After a while, Lakis moved away and looked at Yuri who was breathing hard then he said.

“There are a lot of other good stuff too…”

The hand stroking her face tapped her moist red lips.

“But for now, you’ll have get used to this first.”

Yuri wanted to reply that she didn’t need to but again, her words were eaten up by Lakis.

The night was long, and as Lakis put it, it was enough time to get somewhat used to it. After that night, Yuri thought Lakis wasn’t called the king of the night for nothing. From what she could tell from his skillfulness, although he was a beast who didn’t know love, he obviously had a lot of experience with women.[2]

Of course, this was a misunderstanding that would make the parasite in Lakis speechless, but it was only a little later that Yuri learned the truth.

* * *

“I’m bored…krreung.”

Leo wandered around and left the monastery.

As always, Siren was sleeping to restore her body. It wasn’t long that she threw the hair growth solution that Yuri gave her, but later brought it back and secretly applied it on her wings. Still, it was effective in a way, so Siren seemed to be in a better mood.

In contrast, while Siren was busy working on her wings, Leo was very bored. Although he was now living in the hideout with someone, it didn’t mean Leo and Siren were doing stuff together. To be more exact, they were not interested in each other.

Siren didn’t like Leo and Leo didn’t want to play with Siren either. So he couldn’t stand his stiff muscles and left the monastery while Siren was asleep. Afterward, Leo wandered around Ferret Street where Yuri lived; it was like a habit. He scoured through alleys where people rarely entered and shook his tail in satisfaction after getting his smell everywhere, like an animal marking its territory.

“Huh?!”

But then, unfortunately, he once again encountered the girl he had locked eyes with at the previous festival.

It was of course, Hestia.

She had also been too bored to stay at home while Anne-Marie was working at the clinic and decided to take a walk. Then she was filled with childish curiosity and began exploring the alleys near her house then found Leo.

“Kyi!”

Leo was so startled he almost jumped out of his skin. Again, he quickly turned around to get away, but Hestia hurriedly called out to him.

“Wait! Don’t go! I’ll give you something yummy…!”

That very moment, Leo’s movements came to a halt. Hestia’s last sentence froze Leo’s feet. He hesitantly looked back at Hestia.

“Something yummy…?”

Seeing the positive reaction, Hestia’s face brightened.

“Mn! We have so much yummy food at home! I’m the only one around right now!”

Leo was briefly conflicted, then he slowly took a step forward and approached Hestia.

And so, the two of them left the alley together.

* * *

“We meet a lot these days.”Yuri looked at the man she was meeting once again and thought to herself.

‘You keep coming here so of course, we see a lot.’

But then again, this was certainly not a meeting at the coffeehouse. The person in front of her right now was Kalian Crawford.

The store started running low on things to make sandwiches today and Gilbert asked her to help him with getting some from the food store, so Yuri was just coming back.

“It seems we do. You must be working?”

Yuri asked out of politeness and Kalian nodded.

“Yes, the work I was handling before hasn’t finished yet.”

Hearing that, Yuri frowned slightly. When he said ‘the work I was handling before’…did he mean the missing persons case? Maybe it wasn’t resolved when he found the children at that slave trade.

“I see. I hope it’s sorted out okay.”

Yuri said and tried to leave.

“That looks heavy, let me help you.”

“It’s not heavy.”

Kalian offered but Yuri flat-out rejected him. And Kalian seemed to also sense that. He looked at Yuri silently for a moment, then suddenly threw a fastball.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?”

“Yes, sort of.”

Of course, Yuri sent it right back. At that, Kalian laughed. He didn’t really seem offended by her words, actually, he looked a little pleased. Afterwards, he promptly took a step back.

“Alright, I’ll go on ahead then. See you next time.”

“Bye.”

Like that, Yuri and Kalian separated. Kalian’s gaze remained on Yuri retreating back but Yuri never turned around. Soon after, Kalian looked away and began walking in the other direction.

He followed Genos Sheldon’s advice and asked Anne-Marie to care for his grandfather, Bastian, so he figured the illness would get better this time but…

He wondered if it might be more effective to find ways to heal wounds of the heart instead of physical wounds.

And so, Kalian walked down the streets alone in his thoughts as the sun began to set. As his thoughts deepened, so did the length of his shadow.

* * *

“…What is this?”

A small utterance left Lakis’ mouth. The gently breeze blew his hair softly in the air. Lakis stood on the roof of a cathedral, serenely placed against the broad orange sky. From where he stood, you could see the entire bustle of the streets in one glance.

Lakis’ gaze was currently slightly chilly. The two people in his line of sight were definitely people he knew.

—Eh? It’s that woman and Kalian Crawford, isn’t it? Last time, they were fighting each other, why are they together now?

The East’s Crawford and Yuri.

However, why were they together?

Translator’s Commentary:

[1] If this sentence doesn’t make sense to you, I’m sorry.

[2] Side note: I think people usually think their first kiss is good. Mainly because they have nothing to compare it to. Not saying Lakis is a bad kisser or anything. I wouldn’t DARE.