By Zephyria 
The flow of the water, which had been still, changed while I couldn’t take my eyes off the suffering mass. Surprised, I looked up, and a dark shadow fell over the surface.
What is that?
The moment I wondered, my body floated up. Unlike the water, which felt like it was made of death and silence in liquid form, the outside was full of trees and grass. The brilliant sun, floating in the clear blue sky, fell onto the surface and shattered into pieces.
―Screee.
A sound that seemed familiar yet strange struck my eardrums. A giant eagle with steel-like feathers all over its body was flapping its wings and landing.
With each gust of wind, the grass lay flat on the ground, and the trees bent as if they would break. I could see it tightly gripping several corpses that already looked dead with claws bigger and thicker than my forearm.
It looked like a mother bird bringing food to its chicks in the nest.
And the moment I closed and opened my eyes, the scene changed in an instant, just like when I first came here.
The surroundings were noisy, and the sunlight falling from the sky was surprisingly hot. The air was dry and loud, filled with the smell of various mixed foods.
A child covered in a drab-colored cloth was holding a balloon in one hand. Every time he put a skewer full of meat towards his face, three or four pieces disappeared, and soon only the wooden skewer remained.
He threw cards and sat in the shade of a tree, drinking an unidentified juice of unknown taste.
Clearly, at first, I was watching from a few steps away, but at some point, I was eating something myself. It was so hot and humid that I kept sweating.
But when a thin breeze entered the cloth and tickled my skin, all the annoyance evaporated in an instant. I washed my hands, sticky with sauce, in lukewarm water and wiped them haphazardly.
‘Don’t wipe them on my clothes.’
It was the first human voice I had heard.
I tried to see who it was, but I couldn’t because my shoulder was suddenly grabbed and turned. When I looked up, Aska, looking incredibly angry, was looking down at me.
My wrist was roughly grabbed and pulled. It felt like being rescued from drowning in a swamp.
The moment I opened my eyes wide, a thunderous shout struck my whole body.
“What are you doing!”
“…….”
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t say anything for a moment. I just blinked slowly to grasp the situation and looked at Aska’s face.
“I told you it’s dangerous, so don’t do it recklessly!”
I felt like I had drunk a lot of alcohol and was drunk. The world was spinning, and I felt sleepy and hazy. I couldn’t even stand properly, so I shook my head several times before losing consciousness at some point.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
How long has it been since I woke up in pain?
Come to think of it, it doesn’t seem that long ago, but I had forgotten all this pain because I had been living comfortably. When I was in pain every day, it was bearable, but being in pain after not being in pain felt like I was going to die.
“I told you to watch when I can’t, didn’t I?”
―Screee!
“Don’t talk back!”
It was so noisy that I slowly opened my eyes. I was too weak to even call Aska, let alone groan. I barely rolled my eyes to look ahead.
―Weong…….
“That’s why I told you not to go stealing strawberry cake! Not that far!”
A bird and a cat were standing side by side, being severely scolded by Aska. Next to them, a wolf was holding its front paws up and shedding tears.
“…….”
A wolf with such a scary face shedding tears while being punished……. It was so big that it looked like a tower or a statue when it stood on two feet.
Is this a dream? Thinking that I was seeing things because I was in too much pain, I closed my eyes again quietly.
“Hey! Hold your hands up straight!”
Let’s just sleep.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
After sleeping soundly, I was fortunately a little less in pain than before. After wriggling in the blanket, I opened my eyes and looked for Aska first.
“…….”
No, there was no need to look.
He was sitting in the chair right next to me, staring down at me. He was leaning against the backrest, crossing his legs, and folding his arms, wearing such a serious expression, which made me nervous for no reason.
“How’s your body?”
His voice was lower and more hoarse than usual.
The face he had made when he was angry before I lost consciousness came to mind, and I said weakly.
“So-so…….”
If I pretended to be in too much pain, it would be obvious soon, and Aska was quick to notice, so this time I pretended to be moderately okay.
At my words, Aska slowly got up and came to me.
“The fever has gone down.”
A cool hand covered my forehead. Worry was mixed in his voice. As expected, when lying, it was most effective to mix in some truth and keep it at a moderate level.
“Does your head hurt? Are you dizzy?”
“…….”
Just as I was about to say that I was feeling so-so in a weak state again, my vision became dizzy. Suddenly, I heard a beeping sound and reflexively closed my eyes tightly.
“Don’t move your head, lie down slowly. Slowly.”
Aska put his hand on the back of my head and said in a calm voice. It was as if someone had put me in a large container and was shaking me up and down, left and right.
“Why are you so dizzy?”
“It’s temporary, so stay still without moving. Don’t open your eyes.”
The feeling of goosebumps and dizziness kept repeating, like I was on the verge of losing consciousness. Unable to bear it, I groped and put my hand on Aska’s shoulder and said.
“Kiss me.”
It wasn’t because I wanted to, but because I was really dizzy, so it was a request for treatment purposes.
I had my eyes closed, but I could feel his face coming close. I could feel his breath, but no matter how long I waited, nothing touched my lips.
Puzzled, I slightly squinted and saw his soft lips finally touching mine. He rubbed and caressed, and then his tongue came inside. My head still felt like it was going to break, and I was still dizzy, but I regained my peace of mind.
“But this doesn’t work either.”
Aska whispered. His breath tickled because our lips were still touching, so I opened my eyes again.
So what…….
I pulled the back of his neck and kissed him even deeper. Every time I tilted my head to lick inside his mouth, the world turned upside down, and I got goosebumps. It felt like I was kissing him almost at the risk of my life.
“Ah.”
Then, when I couldn’t take it anymore, I finally let out a curse and parted my lips.
“Why am I so dizzy?”
I grumbled in annoyance, but Aska didn’t say anything. We had just kissed passionately, but what’s with this atmosphere? The air was cold, and I had a bad feeling.
“I told you it’s dangerous, so don’t do it recklessly. Why don’t you listen?”
“…….”
When did he say that? I thought about it carefully, but I had no memory of hearing those words. Did he say it when I was distracted by the wolf’s ability? Did I miss it because I was daydreaming?
Even so, I felt somehow wronged to be scolded while I was in pain. Aska sighed as I frowned.
“Were you curious about what kind of relationship we had?”
“…….”
“Because I kept not telling you?”
“…….”
That too, and I also wanted to know exactly what it felt like to see someone else’s memories. The biggest reason was that I was curious about what kind of intense memories were left in Aska.
“Haa…….”
I heard a long sigh. It seemed better to get angry when crying, but now that he seemed really angry, it seemed better to just cry.
His white, pale face looked tired, so I said casually.
“I’m okay now?”
“…….”
It was a bit hard, but I really felt much better than before. Occasionally, my focus blurred, or I got goosebumps, or my vision turned upside down, but I wouldn’t die from this anyway.
Just as I was about to ask if he was angry, Aska, who had been staring blankly at me with bloodshot eyes, spoke first.
“I’m not angry.”
Does he have mind-reading abilities too? But it didn’t sound very convincing.
“I’m not angry, I’m just feeling pathetic.”
“Me?”
“Me.”
Aska said with a sigh, covering his face with his hands.
“If I had known it would be like this, I would have just told you from the beginning.”
His voice was full of regret. The atmosphere was too heavy, so I asked cautiously.
“Am I going to die?”
“You’re not going to die. Don’t say unlucky things.”
Aska said fiercely, taking his hands off his face. The way he glared at me was so fierce that I coughed involuntarily.
“But why are you so serious all by yourself?”
“You keep making mistakes.”
When I asked what kind of relationship we had, he joked like he was doing a riddle, so it seemed like it wasn’t a relationship he couldn’t talk about after all. If it was a problematic relationship, he wouldn’t have joked like that in the first place.
“You can make some mistakes while living. I’ve made a lot of mistakes too.”
At my words, Aska’s expression softened a little. He was still sulky, but the sharp atmosphere had disappeared.
“But why didn’t you tell me? Just because you really wanted to joke around?”
“Aren’t you going to ask what kind of relationship we had?”
Aska’s eyes widened as if the question was unexpected. Seeing that, I nodded.
“Probably a die-hard relationship.”
“…….”
Aska’s shoulders twitched at the immediate answer.
The exact name of the relationship might be different, but I had already noticed that we had a connection. Wouldn’t it be stupid if I didn’t know? It was more surprising that he was surprised like that.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
When I asked again, Aska hesitated and avoided my gaze, staring at an empty corner.
“We were…….”
“We were what.”
His eyes were gradually turning red. What on earth was he going to say that he was taking so long to say with that face? I prepared myself firmly, thinking that something huge was about to come out.
Aska moved his lips and mumbled without looking at me until the end.
“I was wondering if you would like me even if we weren’t anything…….”
“…….”
It seemed like I wasn’t prepared enough, and my heart shattered.