DSB 160
Yutis’s feet landed on a field where small wildflowers bloomed. Although it was called a garden, there were hardly any traces of artificial intervention. The naturally grown flowers released a subtle fragrance as they swayed in the breeze.
Coming here brought peace to his mind. He couldn’t pinpoint the reason, but he even felt nostalgia. Yutis closed his eyes and took a breath. Then he suddenly felt a presence approaching from behind.
At the same time, he sensed an energy that should never be felt in the Celestial Realm.
Yutis’s body reacted immediately. He opened his eyes and quickly turned around. A man stood there. His long hair, hanging down almost to the ground, fluttered in the wind. What caught his eye most was his back.
Instead of the pure white wings that symbolize angels, something of a completely different form was positioned there.
“A demon!”
His hand reflexively reached for his sword. His entire senses were on alert.
This place was near Michael’s residence. One of the most strictly protected zones in the Celestial Realm. It was not a place where a demon would dare set foot. Moreover, Yutis had never once left the Celestial Realm. He had only encountered the existence of demons through stories he had heard.
But now, a demon was standing before him.
As the demon attempted to take a step closer, Yutis retreated. At that, the demon stopped abruptly. His red eyes wavered slightly.
“This is Lord Michael’s territory. It is a place where demons must not enter.”
“…….”
A strange atmosphere hung in the air. A gloomy silence gnawed at Yutis’s heart. He could not tell why. Yet, deep down, he felt as though he already knew the answer.
He must be driven out immediately. His reason cried out, but he asked about him.
“Who are you?”
Yutis calmly waited for the demon’s response, but there was no reply. Just then, Yutis’s eyes fell upon the man’s lips moving as if he could not bring himself to speak. Soon after, it appeared as though the man before him was biting his lip slightly.
For a moment, Yutis almost told him that he shouldn’t do that.
“I have come to see you.”
Yutis’s eyes widened. A demon coming to see him? Why? He didn’t know this demon. But it was strange. Neither his name, nor his face, nor the time they had spent together, nor anything else came to mind, yet his heart reacted first.
“…Me?”
Yutis asked cautiously. The man remained silent for a moment, then smiled briefly.
His red eyes, which had looked so indifferent, wavered slightly. It felt like he was suppressing sorrow, yet outwardly, pretended to be unaffected. The moment he realized that, Yutis’s heart ached again.
“Right, it seems you have no memory. Well, I expected that…”
It was a short murmur, as if he had already prepared himself, but within it lay an emotion that he could not dare to fathom.
“Do you know me?”
“Well. Should I say I do?”
He dragged out his words. Then, the demon stared at the tip of Yutis’s sword, which had been drawn toward him. Although he didn’t even flinch, the sight of the sword made him feel something impossible to put into words.
When Yutis saw that, the hand holding the sword started to tremble.
This is not right. His mind screamed that he must drive out the demon invading the Celestial Realm, but his body would not cooperate. Before he even realized it, Yutis had lowered his sword.
“…It seems you have no intention of causing harm.”
He felt he should not threaten him.
This demon was acting as if he knew him. That only confused Yutis further. The one before him was a stranger. It was a face he had never seen before, and no matter how hard he sifted through his memories, he couldn’t match it. Nevertheless, there was a reason he couldn’t firmly deny his connection to him.
Because there were always gaps in his memories. But that was from when he lived as a human. There was no way a human and a demon could have been entangled.
But why does my heart keep aching?
“What thoughts come to mind when you look at me?”
“…Huh?”
“Hmm, is your heart beating?”
At that moment, his heart skipped a beat. Yutis’s eyes trembled slightly. When the demon saw this, he sighed and said.
“I see. It does not.”
He maintained a consistent demeanor with a deadpan tone and expression, yet he looked wounded. Yutis didn’t know why he felt so certain of it. And his gaze kept drifting toward his face.
“Tsk. Do you not like this body….”
Should I have dyed my hair blonde? Or perhaps that body…
The demon muttered incomprehensible words. He even began glaring at his own hair as if he might burn it all away.
It was pitch black, yet it had a sheen that made it look like silk. Yutis even felt the urge to touch it. Michael’s hair was long blonde, too, but he had never felt the urge to touch it.
Yet, he really wanted to touch this man’s hair. He wanted to hold it in his hand. He wanted to find out everything he didn’t know about him. It was a rather odd feeling.
He even had the ridiculous thought that perhaps demons were capable of bewitching angels.
Just then, he saw the hair touching the ground.
“…Your hair is long, so I think it needs trimming. It will get dirty.”
“Do you prefer it short? Which one? Long? Or should I trim it short like yours?”
“Wouldn’t it be a shame to trim it short like mine after all the effort you put into growing it?”
“…Which one are you talking about? Hmm, I suppose it should be just long enough so it doesn’t touch the ground.”
He remained completely nonchalant, even though this was Michael’s dwelling and that the one standing before him was an angel. The flow of the conversation was strangely calm. Yet, it was a situation that absolutely should not have been calm. Nevertheless, Yutis could not assume an attacking stance.
That alone was enough to tell he was insane.
The demon, who had let go of his hair, calmly extended his hand toward him.
“It has been a hundred years. If you haven’t recalled your memories by now, there is no reason to keep you here any longer. Come with me. Once we get there, you will remember.”
“I have no reason to go with you, a demon.”
Yutis shook his head in confusion. The demon stared blankly at him, as if he had heard something completely unexpected.
“…You do not want to come with me?”
“I am an angel, and you are a demon.”
“So what?”
“…What? I am saying I can’t follow you because I am an angel…”
“What does that have to do with me?”
The demon approached with rough strides.
His once-calm red eyes gleamed. As the distance between them grew shorter, he snatched Yutis’s wrist. Yutis was completely immobilized by the strong grip.
“You’re mine. I told you you’d never be able to escape.”
“Let go of me!”
When Yutis finally managed to shake his hand off, the man’s hand froze in mid-air. He clenched his hand tightly, searching for the warmth that had vanished.
His eyes widened. For a very brief moment, his expression contorted slightly. His shoulders, which had stood so confidently, slumped.
“Ah… I see…”
Unable to continue speaking, he nodded once. It was as if he were trying to compose himself while striving to accept the situation as best he could.
“It is a bit hurtful.”
His words were calm, but his gaze remained fixed on Yutis.
“I…”
Yutis stopped before he could speak.
He wanted to ask if he knew him from his human days, to ask what their relationship was like, even the smallest details would be fine. He wanted to say that the current Yutis remembered nothing. However, not a single word escaped his lips.
It would be foolish to follow the demon in a situation like this.
But he felt suffocated, as if an invisible hand were clutching his heart. He felt as if something would burst out if he opened his mouth, so he ultimately could not say a word.
“It’s fine. I’ll wait for you.”
No sooner had the words left the man’s lips than the distance between them narrowed. A seemingly indifferent face drew right up to his eyes. The overwhelming demonic energy reached him first.
He immediately raised his guard, but the subtle floral scent surrounding the man enveloped him. It was a familiar and soft fragrance.
Then, he felt a soft touch on his lips.
It was a careful touch; it lasted a short time and left a warm imprint on the skin. It wasn’t intense, but it wasn’t weak either.
“My dear, I’ll come again next time.”
He smiled brightly.
At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and his figure blurred.
Yutis reflexively reached out his hand belatedly, but he had already vanished. It was to the point where even the words “My dear” felt like a hallucination. Only doubts remained as to whether he had heard it correctly. Yet, he couldn’t ask. Only the wind lingered in the spot where the man had vanished.
At the same time, he felt hollow, as if the inside of his chest had been emptied. Only the vivid sensation of having lost something very precious right before his eyes persisted. Even though he didn’t know who he was or what he had lost.
He lowered his gaze and saw footprints, indicating that someone had once stood there. Yutis’s fingertips trembled slightly.
‘I have to go find him, I have to go find him.’
Even though he did not know where he had gone, Yutis spread his wings. He circled around several times, but the demon with the black hair was nowhere to be seen.
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