[153]
The factory began blazing fiercely.
Something invisible exploded repeatedly, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. It seemed like windows expanding from the unbearable heat.
The pillars supporting the roof melted and the walls burned. Flames could be seen surging over the factory roof.
The acrid smell came with the blowing wind.
Yuri closed his eyes and inhaled the ash and smoke.
Breathing in that smell made him feel like a child scribbling with crayons all over the kitchen and living room.
“…Peter is late,” said Chris.
Though he didn’t frown, Chris seemed displeased that Yuri was inhaling the murky air. Otherwise, Chris, who was usually imperturbable about whether Peter was late or early, wouldn’t have made such a remark.
“Cut him some slack.”
Yuri’s gaze was fixed on the enormous fire sweeping through the printing complex.
“This is my first time playing with fire in my life.”
Chris relaxed his tight lips as if he couldn’t help it.
“Have I… done it before?”
The visible raising of Yuri’s eyebrows as he turned his head toward Chris was apparent.
Without asking why the question was phrased uncertainly, he answered:
“It would be incorrect to call it playing with fire. It was more that you were trying to help me and the fire got a little… out of hand.”
“I’m sorry.”
Chris’s expression darkened. Yuri looked up at the sky.
“Nothing to apologize for.”
The black smoke hadn’t yet reached that high, so the blue night sky was fully visible. Starlight flickered in between, as if about to pour down.
“Back then, when the landlord tried to evict us, I thought we had nowhere else to go.”
“…We were evicted?”
His memories from the time when he couldn’t distinguish up from down were hazy.
Though major and minor incidents didn’t come to mind easily, Yuri’s image was quite clear. Among the emotions Chris perceived from Yuri at that time, the most vivid was indignation.
Anger that glowed bluish beneath those purple eyes, like an unopened flower bud.
That young man grew into someone who became coldly amused when angry.
“I shouldn’t have stayed in one place for long anyway. We needed to leave. I just didn’t want to.”
Yuri turned his gaze back to the flames with his lips tightly closed.
“Thinking about it now, the fireplace in that house was probably similar in style to the one in the mansion where I lived with my parents.”
‘Yes, that’s right,’ Yuri muttered as if to himself.
“It was a pointless attachment.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
Chris suddenly spoke up.
He looked at Yuri’s profile.
He recalled going to Yuri’s hometown to trace Rosenhauser’s tracks in order to find the Thorns Order.
When asked if he wanted to reclaim that mansion, Yuri had merely treated it as a past left behind.
Saying it was a place he couldn’t return to anyway.
At the time, Chris thought Yuri had cut off his beloved childhood too decisively.
But now he understood.
Yuri had never severed the past in one clean cut.
He had slowly given up over a very long time.
“It’s no longer a pointless attachment.”
He couldn’t suddenly say it could all be reclaimed at once. How many years had it taken for Yuri to turn his back on memories with his parents?
But couldn’t he gradually change Yuri’s heart?
No matter how long it took, Chris would remain by Yuri’s side forever anyway.
“It’s okay to desire things. Who would point fingers at you for missing what you miss?”
If anyone tried to use this as Yuri’s weakness to attack him, Chris would handle them.
“You may not be able to go back… but you can have it again.”
Even as he said this, Chris looked at Yuri with half-doubting eyes.
“Right?”
“Why are you asking me for confirmation after saying it yourself?”
After speaking as if chiding him, Yuri smiled.
It was a strangely awkward smile.
“…To have it again, huh. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
Slightly frowning, Yuri quietly pondered.
He hadn’t even considered reclaiming his old home with his parents.
Why had he completely cut off that possibility?
The answer was ultimately just one.
‘I didn’t want to lose it again.’
With his obsessive nature, he didn’t want to lose something twice after claiming it as his own.
“Really quite something.”
“Pardon?”
Chris, thinking the comment was directed at him, asked in startled alarm.
Yuri fiddled with his hair before sliding his finger down to his earlobe.
Though he hadn’t done anything particularly deserving of reward, the guiding energy flowing in gradually soaked into Chris.
Looking at the platinum-haired man who instantly stiffened, Yuri spoke.
“The locksmith is here.”
Chris turned his head at those words.
As Yuri had said, a black door was visible opening.
The moment he saw the young man suddenly crossing over, Chris pondered what emotion he felt.
Whether it was regret or relief.
One thing was certain—it wasn’t gladness.
“I’ve arrived… oh. You’ve taken care of things magnificently.”
Peter whistled. Though he didn’t hide his bewilderment, he didn’t seem like he would ask why they had done this either.
‘Well. He must have accumulated quite a bit of ill will toward the Thorns Order too.’
Chris lowered his eyes.
“Anyway, if our arrival here is discovered, it’s better to hide what we did.”
Chris’s lips twitched at the sight of Yuri speaking as if it were entirely for official reasons when he had played with fire purely for personal emotions.
Turning his head slightly, Yuri was seen giving an uncharacteristically playful look.
His face appeared brighter, unlike his formerly somewhat rigid expression.
Though the atmosphere was certainly unfamiliar, it was somehow welcome.
“I understand. A fire of this scale could spread farther.”
“Chris.”
“Yes.”
Chris closed his eyes slightly and drew up his power.
At first, Peter didn’t know what Chris was doing. Telekinesis was an invisible force until it exerted physical power.
But then something ‘appeared.’
“The wind…”
More precisely, the wind within the burning factory complex had stopped.
He had completely blocked the flow of air.
“…How?”
Peter muttered in a half-hoarse voice.
Instead of Chris, who was concentrating, Yuri answered.
“He created a hemispherical invisible barrier with telekinesis and blocked the inflow of air. Once all the oxygen inside is consumed, the flames will subside.”
Peter looked at Chris with eyes mixed half with wonder and half with fear, as one would look at someone who had performed a miracle.
Honestly, the method itself was simple.
But how easy was it to wrap telekinetic barriers around such a wide area?
And to maintain the barrier until all the oxygen inside was consumed?
The massive flames they had been gazing at gradually began to subside.
Finally, when even the embers completely disappeared leaving only ashes, Chris exhaled deeply.
“Whew…”
He almost got lost in his own power for a moment. Honestly, if he had loosened this tension and gone wild only to die alone, it would have been fine.
But Yuri was here, wasn’t he?
Despite surely detecting Chris’s anomaly quickly, Yuri remained calm.
Far from running away, he wrapped his hand around Chris’s neck and pulled him close.
Drawn in until their faces were almost touching, Chris merely trembled his eyebrows.
Between tension and surprise.
The unexpected new stimulus reined in Chris’s agitation.
“Slowly. Breathe in, then out.”
Peter, who had been turning away thinking they might kiss, finally noticed the beads of sweat forming on Chris’s temples.
But otherwise, he was just sweating a little and looking somewhat pale.
Suddenly, a strange thought crossed his mind.
‘Is he really an Esper like me?’
Peter was also someone who used his powers freely. But this was only for short distances, when moving a small number of people.
He had heard many rumors about the monster of the Winter Continent, but this was the first time he’d actually seen Chris fighting and rampaging. In Peter’s opinion, Chris’s reputation seemed rather underestimated.
‘…Isn’t he excessively strong even compared to a typical S-class Esper?’
Having taken several deep breaths by now, Chris gradually regained his composure.
“Thank you.”
Yuri lightly pressed his forehead against Chris’s before slowly pulling away.
“Let’s go back now. You need to rest.”
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
Peter, quickly gathering his thoughts, threw open the door.
Chris made a strange face at the unfamiliar fatigue weighing heavily on his shoulders.
‘I thought I could do it.’
Now that he had actually succeeded, he felt an enormous weariness as great as his sense of achievement.
It wasn’t actually that his body was heavy. Chris’s physical form was more robust than he himself understood.
Then where was this tired sensation coming from?
Chris tilted his head in puzzlement.
Yuri whispered softly.
“…Stupid face.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying don’t overthink things when there’s no need to be scared.”
“Ah.”
So that was it.
At Yuri’s rebuke, Chris finally understood his own feelings.
He must have been unconsciously worried. Normally when Chris used power beyond his limits, people around would be shocked or distance themselves from him.
‘I don’t usually think deeply about things.’
Having used great power after a long time, it seems he was reminded of the past.
Honestly, considering he had tried to collapse the underground Colosseum, this wasn’t such a dangerous act.
“Um, Chris.”
As Chris strode toward the door, Peter whispered to him.
“Could you lend your strength for our underground waterway construction? It would tremendously reduce the time and resources needed for reconstruction.”
Peter’s eyes sparkled.
Chris made a strange sound, somewhere between a groan and a sigh, before swallowing it.
His blue eyes looking at Peter emitted a cool light.
“…Baekyah doesn’t accept those kinds of requests.”
Then what kind of requests do they accept?
But Peter couldn’t bring himself to ask that question and gestured instead.
“Haha. The door is open. Let’s cross over.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
