"The texture is quite nice." It pushed the tentacle beside it toward Kisaragi Chiyo, a crimson tongue flickered from between its lips, curling away the cream stuck to the corner of its mouth.
The piece of strawberry cake it had greedily swallowed did not alleviate its hunger; instead, it only made its appetite grow even more voracious.
It fell into a temporary silence after being rewarded by its gasping breaths; as long as it wished, it could always feign a look of having been satisfied.
Even though it understood that no matter how much food it consumed, it was merely a substitute for a grand feast, its stomach felt as if an insatiable snake resided within; nothing could satisfy that snake's appetite, except for that one bright red, plump apple.
But it still did nothing. It stood just a step away from Kisaragi Chiyo, eyes lowered, watching the translucent tentacle it controlled being kneaded in her hands with intimacy and submission.
Even though it was a part of itself, why was it unable to touch the other as its true self?
A slight, strange emotion suddenly stirred within the heart of the dark-purple-eyed Wraith. It lifted its eyelids, the smile on its face remaining flawless, like a statue, watching the other party quietly and silently.
Destruction and protection intertwined in its heart, but in the end, it leaned toward the latter—a single sentence it had turned over and over in its meager memories since becoming a ghost.
Protecting.. cannot strike or harm..
Why did this thought occur? It pondered deeply.
Could it be related to what happened to it before it died? After wandering alone in the hallway for countless nights, it still hadn't found the answer.
*
The sensation of the tentacle being squeezed in his palm was truly strange.
If I were to describe it, it would be somewhat similar to the resilient, springy texture of bubble wrap.
His point was that the texture was actually quite good. If it were a stress-relief fidget toy, Kisaragi Chiyo felt he would likely choose to purchase it, not to mention that this thing even had a built-in cooling effect.
After a period of experience, it concluded with a result that left both parties quite satisfied.
After Kisaragi Chiyo released the tentacles, they still seemed reluctant to let go, coiling around the tip of his index finger. Finally, after rubbing against his palm through the glove, they lost their shape and dissipated into white mist.
"Interesting, isn't it?" the Long-haired Wraith seemed to be smiling all the time.
Its eyes were slightly lowered, with long bangs falling over its brow and eyes, making the emotions within those dark purple eyes difficult to see clearly. Its pale, bluish-gray skin seemed to have become a cold hue in the darkness, the style of the uniform it wore was not very clear, which only served to make its figure appear tall and slender; if one ignored its flat chest, it was essentially no different from a living being.
"Are you preparing to leave?" it asked again. Although there was a slight curve at the corners of its lips, Kisaragi Chiyo always felt that smile was somewhat strange. He couldn't quite say exactly what was odd about it, but his sharp intuition for dangerous things made him instinctively take a step back.
“Is this also a question you are unwilling to answer?”
A low laugh, as if squeezed from a chest or throat, echoed clearly through the empty hall. Kisaragi Chiyo heard a faint sound coming from the ventilation duct above his head; it was muffled, yet impossible to ignore.
Subconsciously, as if driven by something, Kisaragi Chiyo tilted her head back. The strands of hair covering her right eye slid from her forehead, in the gap between the ceiling and the ventilation duct, Kisaragi Chiyo saw a pair of dark purple eyes hidden in the shadows, staring intently at her.
How familiar.
Only then did Kisaragi Chiyo realize that the scope of Hazama was not confined to a single floor; with his strength, he was already capable of weaving this entire building into a net to ensnare his prey.
By the time he stepped through the entrance of this building, he had already entered the Hazama.
More eyes opened in the darkness, dense like the compound eyes of an insect. As they all stared unblinkingly at you, a hair-raising sensation arose from within.
At this moment, the beast finally bared its fangs.
Kisaragi Chiyo gripped the handle of the umbrella in his hand, looking expressionlessly at the smiling Long-haired Wraith across from him, reached up to brush the slightly long hair from his forehead, tucking it behind his ear.
Unlike the misty gray left eye, the right eye hidden beneath the bangs was a dark red pupil.
"Can you tell me your name?" The handsome Long-haired Wraith maintained his friendly gentlemanly demeanor; even though the atmosphere between them had become tense and hostile, he still made an effort to offer Kisaragi Chiyo a smile.
It raised its right hand to its chest and bowed to Kisaragi Chiyo.
“I forgot, although I don't remember much, but according to human etiquette, shouldn't I start with a self-introduction?”
It winked playfully at Kisaragi Chiyo, its deep purple eyes swirling with intense color and darkness.
“ Hagi”
You can call me 【】
It said so.
Author's Note:
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Thanks to all the little angels for adding this to your collection, mwah everyone 0300V0
Chapter 7
Bright red blood slid down his fair, slender, well-defined fingers to the ground, like scattered red plum blossoms that did not belong in this season.
Kisaragi Chiyo tilted her head back expressionlessly, looking at the Long-haired Wraith who was very close to her. Red, twisting characters were tightly coiled around the other's throat like chains; they should have brought a burning agony, yet the other's face showed no sign of any expression related to pain.
He kept his eyes half-lidded, his long, thick eyelashes like the wings of a black crow, concealing a pair of mesmerizing dark purple eyes beneath them that stared at her, unblinking.
An unusual sense of tranquility and restraint was visible on his pale, handsome features, which were no different from a marble statue. His bloodless, thin lips were curved upward; despite being a wraith, he looked more like a martyr undergoing suffering, baring his neck for slaughter, possessing a strange sense of sanctity.
"Not going to continue?" His voice carried a faint hint of amusement, as countless dark purple pupils, similar to his own, opened and rolled in the darkness.. like fruit blooming on twisting, winding vines. A cold, faint fragrance seemed to possess its own consciousness, constantly burrowing into every pore of his skin, disrupting his ability to think.
If someone with trypophobia were to witness this scene, they would probably faint on the spot from fright, wouldn't they?
Although Kisaragi Chiyo was relieved that he didn't suffer from such a condition, being stared at by a dense mass of eyes was not exactly a pleasant experience.
Kisaragi Chiyo said nothing. He closed his eyes, his fingers, hanging at his sides, twitched. The red characters that had been wrapped around the Wraith's neck retreated swiftly like swimming fish, crawling across Kisaragi Chiyo's skin until they had all returned to his right eye.
“You really aren't an ordinary person.” The Long-haired Wraith, having regained its freedom, spoke with certainty, its gaze naturally falling upon Kisaragi Chiyo's hand, which was still bleeding after having removed its glove.
A wound that could hardly be called deep appeared starkly in the other's palm.
"This is truly.." Struggling to maintain his sanity, the Long-haired Wraith suppressed the surging waves in his heart once again.
Heaven knows how hard he had to work to control himself, preventing his entire body of tentacles from immediately coiling around and surrounding the other person the moment he caught that rich fragrance.
He used almost all of his patience and restraint to crush the thought that had surfaced in his mind—the thought of entangling the other's limbs and dragging them into the darkness, where they could only look at him, their entire body and mind controlled by him, until they could only gaze vacantly as he slowly savored them from head to toe.
***It drove the longing born from the depths of his soul, but in the end, the dark-purple-eyed Long-haired Wraith merely lowered his head, burying it deeply within his palms, his tall frame slumping as if he had finally lost all strength. The countless eyes open in the darkness slowly closed, casting one last look at Kisaragi Chiyo with a hint of resentment and reluctance before dissolving into a spreading white mist.
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
“So, have you gotten the answer you wanted now?” Kisaragi Chiyo's expression could almost be described as calm; there wasn't even a single wrinkle in his haori. A confrontation that should have been tense and fraught with hostility had come to an end in such a dull manner, with the other party choosing to forfeit.
"Mm.." The handsome Long-haired Wraith struggled for a long while before composing himself, raising his head once more to look at Kisaragi Chiyo. He remained silent for a long time, then nodded before shaking his head.
"I'm coming with you." The Wraith who called himself 【】 made such a decision arbitrarily.
Kisaragi Chiyo: "?"
Kisaragi Chiyo couldn't understand what kind of experience or thought process the other party had gone through to finally reach this decision.
Without even needing a moment to hesitate, Kisaragi Chiyo rejected the request without a second thought.
"It wasn't a request." The Long-haired Wraith flashed a slightly wicked smile; even though it was an illegal request to tail her, it responded so self-righteously after being rejected.
Oh? You're saying the other party is a ghost and human laws don't apply to them? Then never mind.
Kisaragi Chiyo thought, her expression remaining completely unchanged.
After his refusal proved futile, he naturally lacked the ability to control the other party's actions. The only reason he had been able to trap the Long-haired Wraith just now was thanks to the other party's kind consideration in standing still, remaining motionless and willingly acting as a living target for Kisaragi Chiyo.
Although the Long-haired Wraith, in its true form, had no way to touch Kisaragi Chiyo, the white mist controlled by it could condense into a physical form. Even though it could be dispersed with specialized bullets, it was quite lacking when it came to the financial aspect.
"I agree." Kisaragi Chiyo changed his mind quickly; after weighing all the factors, he accepted the other party's request without any hesitation.
Of course, all of this was predicated on Kisaragi Chiyo's certainty that the other party had no intention of harming him for the time being.
The Long-haired Wraith blinked slowly, trailing off the end of his words, as if he hadn't expected Kisaragi Chiyo to change her mind so quickly.
I had originally prepared other lines of reasoning..
For example?
“As compensation for you planning to use me as material in your novel.”
"Tch." Kisaragi Chiyo tilted her head and let out a sound of dissatisfaction.
"Are you a voyeur?" Those were a few lines of inspiration Kisaragi Chiyo had jotted down in a notebook while trapped in the repeating stairwell.
"You can't blame me for that." The handsome Wraith spread his hands toward Kisaragi Chiyo, a hint of innocence appearing in his dark purple eyes.
This entire building belongs to the domain of Hazama, so it is only reasonable that every corner is within my sight.
The other party's words quickly made Kisaragi Chiyo realize something; he narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the Wraith, who maintained a composed expression, with a gaze that carried a hint of danger.
Including the situation inside the room?
The Long-haired Wraith with dark purple eyes did not say a word; he simply answered Kisaragi Chiyo with a silent smile.
"I understand." Kisaragi Chiyo took a deep breath, ultimately unable to stop herself from cursing inwardly; what a perverse fellow.
Even though everything was under his surveillance and control, he still insisted on playing pranks on those entering the Hazama; he was just as bored and childish as an octopus that kicks a passing fish in the sea for no reason at all.
"Are you angry?" The Long-haired Wraith slowly crawled over. He blinked, the fragrant, sweet scent surrounding his nose was suddenly tinged with a trace of spice that was hard to detect. It felt as if one had suddenly bitten into a peppercorn or cardamom in the middle of a dessert, causing him to flinch in confusion and accidentally entangle the tentacles he had just re-condensed from the white mist behind him into knots.
“I am not.” Kisaragi Chiyo denied without the slightest hesitation.
“..”
The Long-haired Wraith's floating movement paused for a second, but he soon resumed following Kisaragi Chiyo's side as if nothing had happened. Although not much memory remained in his head after dying and becoming a ghost, even if he couldn't clearly remember the social graces of human society, he could still tell that at this moment, he should go along with the other person's words rather than directly exposing them.
"That's right, you didn't." The Long-haired Wraith pursed his lips and struggled to maintain a serious expression, trying to make his words sound more convincing.
You're not angry, you're not just being stubborn.
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
"You'd better just shut up." Kisaragi Chiyo squeezed her eyes shut tightly and opened them again, barely suppressing the urge to pull out her revolver and feed the other person another bullet.
"Fine." The Wraith shrugged, manipulating the tangled tentacles to untie them.
Just as Kisaragi Chiyo was about to step out of the building's main entrance, she heard the Long-haired Wraith's voice drift toward her lightly from the darkness once again.
“So, was your behavior just now a case of being humiliated into rage?”
Kisaragi Chiyo did not tell him to shut up this time; instead, she fiercely threw the glove she had taken off right into his face.
Author's Note:
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Thank you, little angels, for the collections! Mwah everyone 0330