By Zephyria 
Kyle turned to look at me at my sudden words. Then, he abruptly pulled off the hood I was wearing. My stuffy vision cleared, and cool air touched my skin.
Kyle stared at my eyes for a moment before asking,
“Shall I kill him?”
It was truly an unexpected thing to say. I was so dumbfounded that I was speechless.
“Out of the blue?”
“It wouldn’t be difficult.”
“No, why kill him?”
“He treated you badly, didn’t he? Without even giving you money. I guess it’s better to just kill him.”
Warm palms cupped my cheeks. At the gentle touch, my eyes closed without me realizing it. I rubbed my cheek against his palm for a moment, then mumbled,
“Let’s just go.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t tell you to kill him for me. I just remembered something from the past…”
I couldn’t let Kyle get blood on his hands because of someone like that. If I really wanted to kill him, I would have done it a long time ago. It’s all in the past anyway, and now the memories are faint. Because Kyle got angry for me, even the slight resentment that remained scattered like smoke.
“Then, instead of killing him, should I go back and break a few bones? You look so sad that my stomach suddenly aches.”
“I wasn’t sad?”
“Then what kind of expression is that?”
Watching Kyle frown, I burst out laughing. Since Kyle had taken off my hood, it meant there was no one around anyway. I lowered my head and rubbed my cheek against Kyle’s cheek, then buried my face in his warm neck. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs, and hugged Kyle’s body.
As if he had been waiting, Kyle hugged me back and muttered lewdly,
“Was it a horny expression?”
“……”
At the vulgar tone, I slowly raised my head. Seeing my distorted expression, Kyle smiled innocently. Then, he grabbed both my cheeks and gave me a series of short kisses on the lips.
Each time his soft, tender lips touched mine, I felt like someone was hitting my heart with a sledgehammer.
“Why is Aska so cute? It must be like some absolutely unchanging rule of the world that Ophelia talked about. Aska is always and everywhere unconditionally cute and pretty. Like this.”
“……”
It was a strange way of speaking, as if he was just reciting his inner thoughts. Unlike me, who was disgusted, Kyle had a serious expression…
That’s when it happened. I couldn’t help but turn my head at the faint sound coming from afar. Soon, I saw an eagle rapidly crossing the sky.
—Piiiii.
“Isn’t that Pipi?”
Kyle quickly recognized the eagle’s identity as well. Pipi circled above us, then quickly descended and landed on my head.
—Came! Came! Came!
“Ugh, noisy. Get down.”
Kyle shuddered and reached out his hand to Pipi. As if he had been waiting, Pipi instantly shrunk in size and sat on Kyle’s palm.
—I was good! And I didn’t eat anyone. Chichi couldn’t resist and tried to eat someone, but Popo and I stopped him. And Sakira gave me cake, so I was so happy. But she said if I eat too much, my teeth will rot. She said I’m a Magical creature, but Abyss kept treating me like a bird, which was funny. How can a Magical creature’s teeth rot? But it didn’t feel that bad.
At the rambling words, Kyle said with a grimace.
“You’re still talkative. Anyway, you’re saying you’ve been doing well?”
—Yes. I’ve been doing really well. I was so happy. And suddenly I couldn’t feel Aska’s energy, so I was a little sad, but Sakira gave me cake, so I felt better again. Chichi, Popo, and I kept looking for you.
When we were in the Primeval Forest, Pipi didn’t seem to know where I was at all. As Kyle gently scratched the top of his head with his fingertips, Pipi’s expression gradually melted.
“You’ve been with Sakira the whole time? Chichi and Popo too?”
—Piiing… Piiing. Piiruk…
A sound that was neither an answer nor a groan flowed from Pipi’s beak. I understood how Pipi felt because my muscles relaxed and I felt dazed when Kyle touched me, too. But I didn’t feel good about watching it for so long, so I just moved Pipi to my hand.
“You’ve been with Sakira the whole time?”
—Yes. And Sakira found out what Chichi was saying.
“So?”
—Popo tried to erase her memory, but I stopped him because I thought we’d get in trouble.
At those words, Kyle stroked Pipi’s small crown again as if he had done a good job.
—Piiruk piiruk.
“Let’s go now too.”
“……”
Is what we were doing earlier over like this? We couldn’t continue with Pipi here anyway. I haven’t been able to relax and touch him as much as I wanted because we’ve been moving around so much lately.
I was annoyed, but I thought I would be treated like a child again if I got angry over something like this, so I just swallowed it and put my hood back on.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
Has it been about five years since I first went to the Primeval Forest? No, it’s been almost six years. When I just went out to look around the birch forest, no one knew that I wouldn’t be able to come back for so long.
“Kyle-nim! Aska-nim!”
Whether Pipi had told them in advance before coming to us, quite a few people gathered to welcome Kyle. Everyone had a happy expression, but Sakira looked like she was about to cry.
They were still living in the mansion that I had almost destroyed before. Perhaps they couldn’t move rashly because Kyle would come here if he ever came back.
“Nothing happened, right?”
Kyle, who seemed awkward with the welcome, asked with an embarrassed expression as he looked around.
“Where are Zero and Abyss?”
“Zero started researching the Ruins at an organization under the Imperial Family four years ago. He was promoted and has been working at Jihad since two years ago.”
“Jihad?”
“Yes, Your Majesty personally saw the thesis Zero wrote…”
While the two were talking, I took out the pearls I had picked up from time to time while crossing the sea by boat. Then, I handed them out one by one to the people who had gathered.
“What is this?”
“Keep it as an emergency fund.”
“Thank you. I still have the one you gave me six years ago.”
“Aren’t you going to buy the peanut cookies again? They were so delicious.”
As someone mumbled, a dull sound rang out. When I turned my head, the person who had talked about the peanut cookies was holding their head and pouting. Next to them, another person was holding up their fist and scolding them fiercely.
“You should just say thank you and accept it. How dare you complain?”
“No, it’s not a complaint…!”
“I’ll buy them if I go nearby later, so don’t fight.”
“I’m really sorry. My younger sibling is still immature.”
There were more people than I thought, so the pearls weren’t enough, and I had no choice but to take out the other jewels that I had been carrying around. I handed them out one by one as a memento for meeting after so long, and finally approached Sakira.
Whether the six years had been quite long, Sakira’s face was much more mature than when we parted.
“Aska-nim. Thank you so much every time.”
I gave Sakira two especially. Kyle looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and asked.
“When did you buy that again?”
“I didn’t buy it, I picked it up. In the sea.”
“The sea? You went into the sea? When?”
“When you were sleeping.”
The mermaids always secretly followed me when I went to the sea, I don’t know how they knew. It probably wasn’t because the first needle was somewhere in the sea. Maybe they were bound by a mission like me.
Anyway, I had decided not to find my memories, so I couldn’t know the details.
“Where’s Abyss?”
At Kyle’s question, Sakira said.
“Abyss is now… Ah, he’s coming over there. Abyss! Lala!”
Sakira waved her hand, looking behind Kyle. Both Kyle and I turned our heads in that direction. I didn’t recognize him because of the beard he didn’t have before and the child he was holding, but it was Abyss.
“Kyle-nim! Aska-nim!”
He ran towards us with a happy face. Before Abyss could say anything, Kyle asked with a bewildered expression.
“Who’s that?”
Kyle’s gaze reached the small girl. Before Abyss could say anything, the child spoke first.
“I’m Lala?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m me?”
At the cheeky words, Abyss shook his upper body and said to the child.
“How can you speak so rudely? Say hello quickly.”
“Hello?”
“No, that’s not it…”