By Zephyria 
I recalled the situation before I lost consciousness. I needed to, so I could at least guess why Aska was crying so sorrowfully.
But no matter how much I thought about it, it wasn’t really that kind of situation. Other than me screaming like a crazy person because I was in pain, was there anything else?
It’s not like he was the one who made me hurt… Even if Aska was the culprit who made me like this, it was ridiculous for him to feel so sorry now.
He was fine all this time, and suddenly? Or did he suddenly feel guilty seeing me in agony?
I patted Aska’s back and fell into thought for quite a while. But his crying showed no signs of stopping. It was as if his eyeballs would melt away. I was going to wait for him to calm down on his own, but I guess I should comfort him.
“Aska.”
I stroked the back of Aska’s head, which was buried in the pillow. But I was at a loss when I actually tried to calm him down. I had never comforted a crying person before.
“Should I ask them to bring some meat?”
Then I remembered how much he liked to eat, so I whispered in a soft voice. I didn’t think this would work on him since he’s not a child, but Aska raised his head and looked at me.
“What?”
It didn’t seem like he was reacting because he was happy, but because he was dumbfounded, but anyway, he stopped crying, so that was good.
“Should I tell them to bring all kinds?”
“What’s with the meat all of a sudden?”
“You like it, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about…”
His voice sounded nasal every time he spoke, probably because he had cried so much. His eyes were swollen and wet, and the tip of his nose and face were redder than usual. Even his lips were so plump that they looked like they would burst if touched.
“Meat all of a sudden… Ha.”
Aska, who was muttering as he knocked the pillow with his hand like a child whining, started crying again. I left the pillow that had fallen to the floor and tucked the hair that covered his face behind his ear.
“I’ll buy you candy if you eat it all.”
“…”
It was better for him to be annoyed than to cry, so I said it on purpose this time. I thought he would naturally get angry and ask what I was talking about, but Aska’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit.
Then, in an instant, tears welled up again and fell like a waterfall.
I had never seen anyone cry like that in my life. At that rate, it was almost like a burst dam. I stared in shock with my mouth open, then quickly came to my senses and placed my hand on his cheek.
I could feel the heat from my quickly damp palm.
“Why are you crying, anyway? Do you not like candy? Then I’ll buy you something else.”
“Don’t annoy me.”
“Why are you crying when you’re annoyed? You should just get angry.”
“Annoying bastard, you don’t even remember…”
Aska’s voice leaked out as he muttered. With a sob that burst out like a sigh, I finally stood up on my knees and hugged his head.
Then Aska hugged my waist tightly and apologized again for no reason.
“I’m sorry…”
He was annoyed a moment ago, but now he’s saying he’s sorry again. Is he bipolar? Why does he keep crying? I was frustrated because I couldn’t figure out the reason.
I need to know the reason so I can solve it for him, but he’s not even talking properly.
“Memory also because of me, that kind of… I…”
“…”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“…”
His pronunciation was slurred because he was crying, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying properly. He kept crying, so I was starting to feel bad too.
I hugged Aska’s head and stroked his long hair before asking.
“What are you sorry about now? It’s not like you didn’t know I was in pain.”
“I didn’t know it would be this bad!”
Then Aska, who had been crying weakly in a fragile state, scolded me like a general. I was startled and shrugged my shoulders.
“I clearly… I did a really good job when I fixed it back then.”
“Fixed what?”
“I knew it would hurt, but not this much…”
Unorganized words poured out haphazardly. I tried to understand as much as possible and said.
“Anyway, you didn’t know I would be in this much pain, right?”
Aska nodded at my question.
“Because you took some measures?”
He nodded again.
“And you now know that it didn’t work properly?”
Another nod.
Fortunately, it seemed like I understood correctly. I felt drained after knowing the whole story.
“Why are you crying and making such a fuss over nothing? I thought it was some big mistake.”
“Nothing?”
“It’s already in the past anyway, and it’s getting better now. You’ll keep treating me, too.”
Aska’s expression became subtle. I wiped his wet eyes with my hand and continued.
“I’m fine. I can understand you crying if I said I felt bad about it. But it’s pointless for you to keep crying even though I’m fine. Do you understand what I mean?”
“…”
“Okay, stop crying. If you’re really that sorry, just take good care of me from now on.”
Aska blinked and just stared at me. His face was still a mess, but fortunately, the tears that had been streaming down had stopped.
“But has something similar to this happened before?”
Aska didn’t say anything to my question. He didn’t affirm or deny it, and just kept staring blankly at me. I waved my hand in front of his eyes with a puzzled expression.
“Hello?”
Only then did Aska close his eyes tightly and sigh, grabbing my wrist.
“It has.”
“Really?”
I was about to ask if it was because of him back then too, but I stopped myself. I had a feeling Aska would cry again if I said that. He must have taken those measures and fixed it because he was the one who did it. I felt like I knew even without hearing it.
“But how did you know I was in so much pain?”
I did say my head hurt a little while ago, but I didn’t think he would feel this guilty just from that. As I tilted my head, Aska’s gaze glanced to the side.
There, a wolf with bright red eyes opened above its brow was lying down with its front paws neatly gathered.
“Why the wolf?”
“Popo has the ability to let you see what the other person remembers.”
I was surprised because it was an unexpected statement. I was surprised when I heard that it mainly ate moonlight, but not to this extent.
“Even if the person has forgotten, it’s always possible as long as the memory remains in their subconscious. It’s a way of seeing it like a dream, away from the body, so it can be a long time…”
As I listened to Aska’s words, I felt like lightning was striking in my head.
That meant he could rummage through my head? Whether I remember it or not? If this was true, there was no need for troublesome torture or threats when interrogating. He could get the information he wanted at any time just by using his ability.
In particular, the most interesting thing was that there was no harm to the person whose head was being exposed. If they were unconscious, they wouldn’t even know that information had been taken from their brain.
The value of the wolf was enormous, just from what came to mind right away. Aska, who was in the middle of explaining, looked at my eyes, which were gleaming with greed, with a dumbfounded expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What?”
I tried to play dumb, thinking I was being too obvious, but Aska’s brow was still furrowed.
“He’s an animal.”
“He’s a Magical creature, right?”
“Anyway.”
I cleared my throat and asked.
“Can you choose the information you want to see?”
Aska continued to look at me with a sullen expression and opened his mouth.
“You can’t do that, and it’s random, but it seems like it mainly shows recent events that are clearly left or memories that were intense in some way.”
“You can’t choose…”
Then it was a little difficult, but even being able to read the other person’s memories was an amazing ability. Even though it was random, knowing the past would be of great help in understanding their behavior and personality.
Besides, relationships too…
Then Aska lightly waved his hand in front of my eyes, just like I had done a little while ago.
“Do you have anything to say?”
Then he asked out of the blue when our eyes met. I swallowed once, feeling guilty for no reason.
“I won’t force you to capture him if you don’t want to. He’s your friend, anyway…”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Was this what I was supposed to ask? As I tilted my head, Aska sighed.
“I saw your memories without permission.”
“Ah… It’s okay.”
It wasn’t a problem for him to see my past that I didn’t even remember anyway.
“I only saw that, not anything else.”
“You said you can’t choose?”
“That was the second…”
Then Aska’s eyes started to turn red again as he was talking.
“Why are you crying again?”
“It came out second…”
I remembered that he said he mainly showed recent memories or the most intense memories in some way. It was true that it was incredibly painful, so it seemed like the memory at that time was intensely imprinted on me without me knowing.
“At least it’s not the first.”
“It doesn’t show them in order of ranking, it just shows them randomly from those things. The order doesn’t matter.”
I wiped the tears that had formed in Aska’s eyes as I listened to his clear words.
“Then what was the first thing you saw?”
“When we first met.”
“In the alley?”
There wasn’t much that was that intense. I nodded and understood.