“Blaine, I’m begging you! Don’t you feel even a little bit sorry for me? Huh?”
“N-no, it’s just—hngh!”
“Th-that just now… you said yes, didn’t you? You did, right?”
Jin’s face brightened as if flowers had bloomed across it, while Blaine went pale as a ghost. To avoid meeting the aphid’s eyes as he crept closer and closer to the bed, Blaine pulled the child in his arms tightly against his chest, hiding Hurel—only for a sweet, warm breath to brush teasingly against his nape. His body shuddered in a purely physiological response, and without meaning to, he clenched down hard.
That was how it happened. An uncontrollable tightening, followed by an utterly mortifying little moan that slipped out.
“Blaine! How can I ever repay this kindness?! You’re truly the most benevolent, compassionate, and kind-hearted honeybee I’ve ever met!”
“N-no, that’s not it, I didn’t say I would—”
“Blaine! Is there anything you need for your journey? Anything at all! Just say the word—I’ll prepare everything!”
“Hwaaang! O-okay, fine! I get it! I’ll do what you want, just please get out now! Please! Pleaseee!!”
Hwaaang. Hwaaang, seriously?!
Was he insane? His head spun, thoughts tangling into a mess, Blaine left stammering wordlessly like he’d been struck in the back of the skull. With nothing left but desperation, he issued an earnest—no, downright frantic—eviction order. The final plea came out closer to a howl than a sentence.
Startled by the sharpness of it, Jin flinched. Still, having gotten what he wanted, he offered a cheerful good-night in a much lighter mood and exited with a spring in his step.
What did I just do…?
Only after the immediate crisis passed did regret come crashing down on him. No matter how desperate things were, why on earth had he made that promise? You idiot! Yet mercilessly, Blaine didn’t even get the luxury of wallowing in self-reproach.
“Ah—ngh—Hurel, please, don’t move—hnngh!”
“Mmm—”
Arms wrapped around him from behind, pulling him close without a single gap, a face nuzzling into the hollow of his neck. Hot breath brushed against sensitive skin over and over. He felt like he was going to die. Blaine called Hurel’s name repeatedly in a pleading voice, but the spider didn’t budge at all.
Who’s the one who can’t sleep properly, huh?
Eyes stinging with unfairness, Blaine finally clung tightly to the warm body in his arms and, sniffling softly, forced himself to sleep.
***
I’m ruined.
That single thought filled his blank mind when he woke up in the morning. He couldn’t even remember how he’d tidied the bed, washed up, and ended up sitting there eating breakfast. His body must have been moving on autopilot.
“Aphids really eat well in the morning, don’t they? What a feast.”
No doubt the meal had been prepared with some ulterior motive involved. But the honeybee, who neither felt the need nor had the energy to explain, simply kept stuffing noodles from the steaming soup into his mouth.
“Is your stomach feeling okay, Bee-Bee?”
“I could still eat more. Why?”
“N-no, it’s not that…”
It doesn’t hurt, does it?
With that unspoken question, Hurel widened his eyes and inspected Blaine’s body closely. Blaine just nodded weakly. Ever since the stinger had been removed, Hurel often asked questions like this. Given that nothing about the situation was normal, maybe it made sense.
After slurping down the rest of the soup, Blaine set his chopsticks on the table with a clack. Only then did his mind clear a little. As he let out a long sigh, a sudden wave of panic struck him.
Come to think of it—he’d been using chopsticks to pick up noodles far too smoothly for someone who’d supposedly only been here a day. H-how was he supposed to explain that?
Sneaking an anxious glance at Hurel, Blaine saw only a blissfully unconcerned expression. Looks like the idiot spider hadn’t noticed after all.
Sometimes being stupid really is a blessing.
Clatter—
“Eek…!”
His heart, already on edge, dropped straight into his stomach when the door suddenly flew open. Startled, Blaine nearly shouted, Why do you keep barging into people’s rooms without knocking, you lunatic?—only to remember, a beat too late, that this was technically Jin’s room. He didn’t really have a leg to stand on.
“Blaaaiiine—!”
Gone was the grief-stricken mess from last night. Jin came sprinting in with a bright smile and wrapped Blaine in a tight hug. The sudden affection was surprising enough—but what followed nearly made Blaine’s eyes pop out of their sockets.
Jin’s small body slammed hard into the gleaming marble wall.
“Kuhk!”
“H-huh…?!”
Frozen for a moment from sheer shock, Blaine quickly checked on Jin as he slid down coughing. As his eyes swept the room, trying to understand how this disaster had happened, they suddenly went wide—and his whole body stiffened.
Standing there was a creature he’d never seen before.
W-what… who is that?
From head to toe, the figure was cloaked in sickly black smoke, like a sculpture carved of pitch-dark ice. The air around him was frigid, unnaturally cold. More than anything, those two black pupils—like staring down into a bottomless well—sent a chill straight down Blaine’s spine. Cold sweat trickled along his backbone as his body trembled.
“W-who are y—”
“How dare you…”
“H-Hurel…?”
“How dare you lay your filthy hands on him?”
The voice was so low Blaine couldn’t even tell if it had been a question. No—of course not. His head felt like it was splitting open, his face flushed bright red, and only then did Blaine realize he wasn’t breathing at all. The harsh, clicking sound echoing in his ears was his own teeth chattering uncontrollably.
It was instinct—prey instinct, carved deep into his body.
The aphid clinging tightly to him began sobbing even harder, snot and tears flooding down his face. When Jin grabbed at Blaine’s collar, the cold grew even more intense.
“I told you not to touch him.”
“H-hk…! W-what is that thing?! Blaine, help—!”
“It seems cutting off your wrist would be the best solution.”
Cut—what?!
Without realizing it, Blaine shoved his hands behind his back, hiding them protectively. Jin, eyes brimming with tears as if Blaine were his last lifeline, stumbled after him, step by step.
Thud. Thud.
The predator advanced slowly—unhurried, yet brimming with menace. Flinching, Blaine and Jin pressed themselves flat against the wall.
Slam—
The spider grabbed Jin by the back of the neck and dragged him across the floor, stomping down hard on the aphid’s thin arm. With eyes cold as ice yet strangely sensual in their stillness, he lowered himself onto one knee and tapped the wrist scraping weakly at the floor.
Even with fear numbing his mind, Jin stared desperately at his own hand.
It’s really going to be cut off… what do I do? Anthony… Anthony, save me…
“Hurel, calm down—calm down! Why are you doing this?!”
“Stand back, Bee-Bee. Your turn comes later.”
Mine too?! Am I getting my wrist cut off as well? Why?! Did you decide to become some kind of wrist-collecting maniac?!
The wrists still attached to him throbbed sympathetically.
Blaine had no idea what had set Hurel off this time, but one thing was clear: a fight breaking out here would be very bad. Granted, the part of Blaine’s brain that thought this situation qualified as a “fight” might itself be questionable—but regardless, among the three of them, it was still the closest thing to rational judgment.
So Blaine lunged forward, determined to calm the spider down somehow. His brilliant idea of “subduing” Hurel was grabbing him by the waist and forcing him down beneath himself.
Instead, Blaine barely managed to swallow a strangled “guw—” as he felt an impact like smashing chest-first into a concrete wall.
The thing he collided with didn’t move an inch. If anything, his bones felt sore just from the attempt. All that happened was that Blaine ended up hugging the spider tightly.
“What is this?”
Blaine had nothing to say in response.
“…Just because you act cute doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you.”
Blaine could only gape wordlessly. Had this spider eaten something weird for breakfast? He’d been acting strange all morning, and now he was saying strange things too. Come to think of it, Hurel’s body had felt suspiciously warm last night—did he have a fever?
Forgetting the danger entirely, Blaine reached up and gently felt Hurel’s pale face, worry plain in his eyes.
Even with rage clouding his vision, Hurel let out a hollow sigh. He’d declared so boldly that he wouldn’t go easy on him—and yet, thanks to the honeybee running over and clinging to him, his anger was already melting away. That alone was absurd enough.
But seeing Blaine check his temperature so earnestly, it felt like soft clouds and searing magma surged up together from deep within his chest.
