By Zephyria 
Is he unwilling to talk about this too?
I waited a bit longer, but he didn’t seem inclined to answer, so I changed the subject.
“Won’t your hair get all wet if you go in like that?”
At my question, Aska gathered his long, trailing hair in one hand. Then, he made a strange sound.
“Should I cut it?”
It was so out of the blue that I was momentarily speechless. If he was going to cut it so easily, why did he grow it out in the first place? Did he just not cut it because it was a hassle?
It wouldn’t look strange if he cut it short, but it was a waste to cut it just because it might get wet when he had grown it out so nicely. I reached for the string tied around Aska’s wrist.
“Just tie it up with this.”
I untied the small knot and took the string that was wrapped around his wrist. I examined it closely and touched it, but it was just an ordinary string with nothing special about it.
Does he just wear it because he likes black? I handed it back, but Aska didn’t seem inclined to take it. But it didn’t seem like he didn’t want to tie his hair up either.
I wondered if… I reached out very slowly and carefully and touched his hair. I touched the soft, slightly cool hair with my fingertips, then plunged them deeper.
“……”
“……”
It felt like a fragrant breeze blowing on a nice day, tickling between my fingers. I used all my senses to feel it as much as possible, leisurely touching it, and then gathered the hair together in both hands.
I made my fingers like hooks and combed through it a few times, feeling his scalp. It felt strange, like I was digging into his flesh. The delicate white skin behind his ears, the sculpted auricle, the nape of his neck loosely wrapped in black cloth…
I slipped my fingers inside his clothes and pulled. It happened before I even realized what I was doing. The moment I saw his prominent wing bones and straight back through the gap, Aska belatedly slapped my hand away.
“What are you doing?”
“……”
I was also surprised and widened my eyes. Aska was clutching the back of his neck tightly, his face contorted in a frown.
“Oh, I thought there was hair stuck in your clothes.”
I made up an excuse, but Aska’s expression didn’t seem to soften. He looked more bewildered than angry.
No wonder. I wondered why he was covering it up like that…
“I’ll tie your hair up again. Come here.”
“……”
His eyes were full of distrust, so I cleared my throat and said again.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
It wasn’t an intentional act. Before I knew it, I just… If I had known he had so many scars, I would never have done that.
“You tie it, then.”
I was embarrassed and handed him the string, but Aska didn’t take it. He stared at me for a long time, then came and stood with his back to me.
I ran my hands through Aska’s hair again and gathered it together.
“……”
It was clearly the same situation as before, but the feeling was completely different.
Where did he get hurt so badly? Judging by the size of the scars, he must have been seriously injured. It looked like lightning marks on a struck tree or cracks in a parched, drought-stricken ground.
Is it all healed? Could it be that he has such severe scars all over the places he’s covering up?
With a slight sense of guilt and great suspicion, I twisted Aska’s hair high and tied it up. Of course, it was my first time doing it, so I was clumsy and a few strands were sticking out.
“I’m done tying it.”
At my words, Aska turned his head and looked at me.
“Tie yours too.”
His expression was still sullen, so I obediently pushed my hair forward. It wasn’t long enough to tie up, but if it would make him feel better, I could give up my hair as much as he wanted.
Aska took out a string from inside his robe and grabbed my hair tightly. I was a little taken aback by his unexpected strength. But it didn’t hurt, so I didn’t show it.
“But why are you tying it there?”
“Just be still.”
“……”
Usually, if you’re tying it up because it might get wet, you should tie up the back of your hair, right? Why is he tying up my bangs…? It would probably look ridiculous, but since there’s no one to see it anyway, this much is fine.
After tying up my hair, we entered the bathroom, which was filled with thick steam. Aska’s attire wasn’t suitable for bathing someone, but I left him alone because of the scars.
I took off my clothes and sank into the bathtub filled with hot water. I could feel my stiff body relaxing. I closed my eyes for a moment and melted my cold body, then turned my head.
Aska was staring at the shelf full of bath products with a serious expression.
“Just grab anything.”
“Don’t you have anything unscented?”
He’s not looking for something with a good scent, but something unscented? I wondered if I had misheard for a moment and asked again.
“What?”
“Something that doesn’t smell at all.”
“I don’t think we have anything like that…”
I straightened up again, sighed, and said. My body was more tense than I thought, and as my muscles began to relax, an insane drowsiness washed over me.
I let out a few more sighs that sounded like exclamations and dozed off.
I suddenly woke up from my sleep without any warning and opened my eyes wide.
“Just sleep.”
At the same time, Aska said softly, as if whispering. My ears were still ringing, so I barely heard him and asked.
“What are you doing?”
At my muffled voice, Aska pulled his hand out of the water. The sound of the splashing was so clear that my body shivered.
“I warmed the water.”
“With magic? Isn’t it super difficult to warm it just right?”
I heard that it’s easy to make it super hot or super cold, but it’s difficult to adjust it to the right temperature. Fortunately, Aska warmed the water to just the right temperature that I would feel good.
“Were you with me that day? The day the dimensional gate or whatever opened in Actan.”
I asked Aska, who was untying the string that was tying up my bangs, as if he was going to wash my hair.
“Yeah.”
Aska, who hadn’t said a word when Abyss and Sakira were around, answered readily when it was just the two of us. I was still half asleep and asked again with a dazed mind.
“Did you get hurt then?”
That’s not what I was going to ask. I was going to ask something that would allow me to guess his identity.
Ah, I don’t know. I was so sleepy that it was hard to keep my eyes open.
“Something like that.”
“If you got hurt then, you got hurt, and if you didn’t, you didn’t. What do you mean, something like that?”
I frowned, lifting my heavy eyelids, and Aska covered my eyes with his large hand. I felt like I was falling into a swamp as I felt the weight of his wet hand.
“You’re a Wizard, right? Can’t you heal the scars on your body?”
A soft touch brushed past my cheeks and neck. It was a careful touch, but all his movements were clumsy, as if he had never been waited on by anyone in his life.
“Did it hurt?”
“Not really.”
“Don’t lie. If you say it didn’t hurt when the scars are that big, then you’re not even human. Oh, you’re not human…”
I realized it as I was speaking and muttered to myself, and I heard a low laugh. I tried to squint and look at his face, but it wasn’t in focus.
“How did you get hurt? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No.”
“Then? Did a monster do it?”
What on earth could have hurt him so badly? Aska says it’s nothing, but at that level, he must have barely survived after going through several near-death experiences.
Or was it nothing to him because he’s a monster? I thought it would be fortunate if that were the case.
It was only a fleeting moment, just the blink of an eye, but the horribly gruesome scars were hammered into my vision like nails and wouldn’t go away.
“It’ll get better with time. It’s getting better.”
Aska’s voice was faintly heard, as if whispering from afar.
It’s not like he’s dead, so of course it’ll get better with time. But that’s a different issue.
“When it’s all healed, there won’t be any scars left.”
Who the hell did that?
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
Inside the lush green Greenhouse, the shadows created by the intense sunlight were bustling.
Next to the swimming pool filled with cool wind and clear water, there was an incongruous pile of stones. A half-read book, clothes turned inside out, a pillow and blanket, scattered slippers, leftover snack crumbs, several well-used wooden swords, and paper full of scribbles in various colors…
Among the messy clutter, the most noticeable thing was a spotless glass bottle.
Inside were a bird’s feather, leaves, pebbles, flowers, and a few unknown small red berries.
―Cheep, cheep.
I opened my eyes at the high, clear cry that came on the breeze.
“……”
I stared blankly at the ceiling, and then I heard the sound again.
―Cheep…….
It was an even smaller and fainter sound than before. I turned my blinking eyes to look in the direction of the sound.
―Peep, peep.
“……”
A bird smaller than my palm was burying its face under my pillow and rubbing against it. I watched the scene for a while, then gently lifted the end of the pillow.
―Peep.
The bird took the black string under the pillow in its beak and hopped out. Following its steps, I saw white hair that occupied a large area on the blanket.
Aska was sleeping next to me with his hair disheveled.
Next to him was a three-tailed cat and a gray dog or wolf that I had never seen before… A huge dog that looked like it would be taller than a person if it stood on two legs pricked up its ears and looked up at me.
Looking at its face, I realized it wasn’t a dog, but a wolf.
“What are these clumps of fur…”
The cat must have woken up too, because it raised its head, opened its small mouth wide, and yawned for a long time. It was like a zoo.