[112]
That woman was deliberately provoking Chris right now.
“I’m not feeling particularly good,” Yuri said, glancing at Meredith before adding, “Greedy hyenas are chasing after me and drooling. How could I possibly feel good? Don’t you agree?”
“When you become Platinum, you’ll have more people approaching you openly rather than just behind the scenes, right? Because they officially allow scouting.”
“Well…” Yuri licked his lips. “The dog here won’t respond.”
“Ah. Because of that Guide?” Meredith asked with a smile.
“Something like that,” Yuri replied casually.
The woman shrugged. “Guides can be replaced easily.”
“…This is truly a fascinating place,” Yuri suddenly said, as if pretending not to have heard her and changing the subject entirely.
“In the outside world, they say the bond between a Guide and an Esper is absolute. It’s precisely because of this that an Esper like him is bound to a mere loan shark like me.” Yuri gestured with his chin toward Chris.
“But everyone at the Colosseum unanimously claims that Guides are nothing special.”
As he looked at Meredith with a probing gaze, Chris instinctively held his breath.
“Since I’m neither a Guide nor an Esper, I wouldn’t know, but is that impressive bond really replaceable with just some drug?”
His feigned ignorance almost fooled even Chris.
If Yuri wasn’t a Guide, then who was?
Fortunately, Meredith didn’t notice Chris’s unease.
“Drug?” Meredith giggled. “No. What I meant is that one can experience various Guides.”
Her words left a chilling echo when she added in a whisper, “There are Espers trapped by money, so how many Guides must be trapped by money too?”
“Well, it’s better to experience many Guides. You might find one with a higher matching rate…” she added with a pleased expression. “There’s no rule saying that an Esper must settle with just one Guide.”
Yuri’s mood instantly dropped.
Such a trivial provocation unexpectedly cuts deep.
“I heard you applied for an outing permit,” Meredith whispered, noticing that the smile had disappeared from “John Doe’s” face. “You’re letting the wolf here meet that Guide before he forgets them?”
Her knowing tone was irritating, but Chris remained silent without showing his feelings.
“Have a good trip,” she said.
Yuri asked quizzically, “Wouldn’t it be better if he became interested in a Colosseum Guide?”
“Not particularly. As long as he performs well in matches, I don’t care which Guide he meets or where they’re from. At least I don’t.”
“So this whole conversation was just to test me,” Yuri’s voice had cooled down. Since he knew he’d been tested, it was necessary to show some annoyance.
“Well, I’m not sure,” Meredith stood up. “See you around.”
After the woman who had stirred up so much left, a deep silence fell between them.
While Chris kept quiet as he observed Yuri’s mood, Yuri remained silent, lost in thought.
“Are you alright?” asked Chris.
“Not really.”
“Are you concerned that there are Guides separately confined in the Colosseum?”
“That’s part of it.”
Yuri wrinkled the bridge of his nose.
While the goal was to overthrow the Colosseum, it would be good if they could rescue the Guides as well.
But there was something else bothering him.
“Between what we saw at the bar before and now… you seem to get these kinds of approaches frequently.”
“These kinds of approaches… Oh. You mean recruitment through Guides?”
Yuri nodded at Chris’s question.
It was separate from his belief in his Esper or their bond.
He had to admit now.
The reason Yuri had been so confident until now was because he’d been in an environment where he could monopolize Chris.
“And…”
He’d expected just talk about drugs, but the mention of “Guides” belonging to the Colosseum particularly bothered him.
It felt like they were switching bait since Chris showed no interest in guiding drugs.
It was like noticing water seeping in, initially dismissing it, but then finding it has stealthily risen to your ankles.
It had been too long since he left his own territory.
“I… have no intention of meeting another Guide,” Chris said in a serious tone.
Yuri momentarily froze at those blue eyes looking at him.
For a moment, he thought Chris was making a slip of the tongue, forgetting they were in the Colosseum.
“So… Master. You need to treat my Guide preciously. I have no interest in meeting anyone else.”
“Aren’t you making too much of a promise?” Yuri’s voice lowered slightly.
But it also seemed thin and fragile, like a single sheet of paper.
“Do you know what kind of Guides the Colosseum might have?”
Looking at Yuri’s lips curled up on one side, Chris replied, “I’ve never thought about looking for something better. My Guide isn’t an object… so there’s no reason to put a price on them or evaluate their worth.”
Chris carefully chose his words.
“Don’t you agree?”
It was almost a provocative question.
“You’re bound to me ultimately because of that Guide, right? There must be a reason. Not just guiding, but maybe a handsome face… night skills or lingering affection.”
Yuri deliberately chose harsh words, despite talking about himself.
It’s common to settle for a relationship that began without choices.
Yuri found it difficult to understand Chris’s blind loyalty.
But if it was attributed to imprinting from a young age, he could understand.
“No,” Chris shook his head.
“I’ve never weighed good and bad. I didn’t need to measure what’s more precious or worthless. It was you who put a price tag on it in the first place, Master.”
“…”
Yuri was speechless for the first time in a long while.
I had a price tag on me?
And I was the one who assigned that value to myself?
It was shocking because he’d never thought of it that way.
“I’ve never been curious about anything else. It just seems… that’s the kind of person I am.”
Yuri barely moved his lips.
“…How boring.”
His tone was scolding, but his expression resembled a satisfied cat.
“So please treat them well.”
“How much better should I treat them?”
Yuri was incredulous.
Of all things, did he have to be told by his own dog to take care of himself?
“While I’m unavoidably away. Don’t let them value themselves. They don’t need to be kinder to me. No need to provide more guiding… or spend unwanted nights together.”
Yuri was struck speechless again.
Had he ever given his hand or mixed bodies as if paying for Chris’s devotion?
It was hard to deny outright.
But the sudden realization that Chris had never once calculated in all those moments came as a shock.
Life was simpler when it was a series of transactions and revenge.
“Isn’t that much simpler?”
Chris, who had been by his side from the beginning, was a dog who would bark or bite on command. A very convenient and capable dog at that.
Yet this beast thought more complexly than Yuri and dug deep into emotions Yuri had buried.
So who truly was the beast and who was human?
“…You’re quite good at indirectly saying it can’t be bought with money.”
How could he say such embarrassing things so confidently?
And with such boldness in the heart of enemy territory.
“I-is that so?”
At Yuri’s remark, Chris’s face instantly turned red.
His expression showed he hadn’t thought of it that way at all.
“Fine. If you have no intention of abandoning that Guide…” Yuri muttered as if talking to himself before adding, “Then I should keep a tight hold on the leash.”
A smile that felt almost vicious lingered on “John Doe’s” lips.
“I have no intention of handing over a beast with intact limbs who fights well to someone else.”
“That’s a relief,” Chris replied, looking steadily into Yuri’s purple eyes.
“Truly.”
***
“To think Chris is in a place like this.”
Peter wrapped his arms around his shoulders, feeling a chill.
He had just arrived at the arena after receiving Hannah’s research results.
Since meeting in places without cameras was difficult, he came to the spectator stands for the rendezvous.
Peter, who had barely managed to get tickets using several different names, had arrived early and found his seat with some food.
But whether it was just this area or if all illegal gambling arenas were like this, there was a strange glint in people’s eyes.
Those who were visibly drunk were actually better.
Humans clutching pieces of paper with numbers written on them, lips tightly shut as they stared at the arena.
Spectators already worked up about matches that hadn’t even started, cursing the players, the gods of competition, the arena, and even the weather, saying they should all just die.
There was even someone staring intently at the nachos Peter had bought.
“At least they’re not asking for them,” he thought.
When he discreetly put his cup on the floor, the person looked in that direction, like a bull that had seen red.
“A drug addict,” Peter cleanly concluded.
“You shouldn’t look around too much.”
“Huk!”
Peter was so startled by the familiar voice that he would have jumped out of his seat if the other hadn’t pressed down on his knee.
Sitting in the seat next to him was a man holding a hamburger and beer.
Because of his clothes and the food he was holding, Peter hadn’t recognized him as Yuri at all.
“Why… why are you eating that?”
“What a strange question to ask.”
Why, is he asking why now?
Peter was flabbergasted. Looking closely, Yuri even had a small telescope neatly hanging around his neck.
How was anyone supposed to recognize him dressed like this?
This wasn’t about Peter being strange; it was Yuri who was strange.
“Chris would agree… No, no. That man probably wouldn’t think anything of whatever Yuri does.”
Yuri opened the can of beer, took a sip, and frowned.
Well, he did look like someone who would prefer wine.
“It’s gone flat,” Yuri said.
“So it was you…”
Yuri’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“You didn’t come here for idle chat, I assume.”
Even under the light of the scoreboard, that purple color was intensely vivid.
“State your business.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
