“Huh? Huh?”

“Can you see this?”

Levian’s fist tapped a circus advertisement flyer barely clinging to the wall.

“I’m going to sell you off cheap to a traveling circus like this. I’d be grateful to get even five copper coins for you.”

His thick index finger pointed to a part of the ad. Though faded, it showed a colorfully painted lion tamer next to a lion with a lush mane.

“I hear there are a lot of lunatics among circus directors. You might be hired as the lion food handler. No, maybe you’ll become the lion food itself? The moment you enter the lion’s cage, they’ll lock the bars behind you.”

Goosebumps rose on Egru’s nape. Levian smiled maliciously.

“Who knows? A demon hybrid might make an excellent delicacy. Crunching on you bones and all…”

“Y-you said you’d give me more time to pay back.”

Egru whimpered, terrified. Levian picked his ear, feigning indifference.

“Did I? I don’t remember.”

“Y-you promised not to tell about D’Élysée either. W-why did you lie?”

“Ah, that. It just slipped out while drinking. What’s done is done.”

“B-but you promised, so I…”

“Shouldn’t you be the one reflecting?”

Caught off guard by this unreasonable scolding, Egru asked bewilderedly.

“W-why should I?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to go near the Papal Headquarters?”

“Y-you ordered me to go…”

“Still, damn it, you should have waited until I told you directly.”

It was nonsense. Levian changed his words as often as eating bread. It was impossible to gauge which tune to dance to.

“T-the vice guildmaster…”

Egru said, his face on the verge of tears.

“He said he was going to see D’Élysée…”

“What? That bastard vice guildmaster did that? Doing things I didn’t even order.”

The more Egru became agitated, the deeper Levian’s smile grew.

“I’ll teach him a lesson. No, should I let you slap him a few times yourself?”

“N-no thanks…”

Egru turned his head and buried his face in Levian’s shoulder. Levian chuckled with the remaining humor.

“Hey, are you sulking?”

“……”

“You are sulking. Sulking. The ugly one is good at sulking too. Give it up. You’re not cute no matter what you do.”

Silence.

Usually, there would have been some kind of rebuttal by now.

Levian played with Egru’s hair, plucking a few strands from the back of his brown head. It was as if he was seeing how long Egru could endure without reacting.

Sting, sting. Despite the endless teasing, Egru stood firm like a statue.

Chomp.

But the moment cool teeth bit near Egru’s green nape.

“!”

Goosebumps rose all over. Though it was a light touch, all the hair on his body stood on end. Egru finally raised his head.

“Y-you don’t have a single kind bone in your body. You’re bad through and through.”

“What are you saying? Shut up. I’ll pluck out a chunk of your hair. People will hate you even more if you go bald.”

Egru’s eyelids trembled tearfully.

“Hey, don’t cry. You’ll get even uglier.”

“S-stop saying mean things.”

“You’re the one making me want to curse.”

Egru pressed his lips tightly together.

“…Wait, look at this?”

Levian, looking over his shoulder, suddenly had a face trying to hold back laughter.

“How are you going to compensate for this?”

“F-for what…?”

“This is a really good shirt, you know? You couldn’t buy one of these even if I sold a dozen of you. Should I just add it to your debt?”

On Levian’s shirt shoulder were the marks of Egru’s eyes, nose, and mouth. The bloody bite mark from earlier was also clearly visible. Egru’s green pointed ears were now completely flattened down.

“Hey, hey.”

“……”

“Can’t you take a joke? Cheer up. I’ll buy you some flour bread. You like that, right?”

“……”

“I’ll buy you two.”

Only then did Egru give a small nod. Levian arched his eyebrows with an amused expression.

“I’m in a good mood. Should we go to the amusement park as a sign of reconciliation? You like amusement parks with the lights off, don’t you?”

“N-no. I prefer them with lights on, but I like them off because I can’t get close otherwise.”

“So you’re saying you don’t want to go?”

At the suddenly cold voice, Egru lowered his gaze.

“N-no, I want to go.”

“Now you’re talking sense.”

“D-do I not have to pay back the money? It’s already p-past midnight…”

“I’m the guildmaster who handles that stuff anyway.”

Egru lowered his gaze, then raised it again. His small, mumbling lips finally parted.

“W-why are you being so nice today?”

“What do you mean?”

“Giving me healing potion, bread, and the amusement park…”

Though his gruff attitude was the same as usual, he was exceptionally attentive outwardly. Even saying he’d take him to an amusement park. Wasn’t that a place completely unsuited for Levian?

‘C-could it be…’

Maybe he was showing a last act of kindness since he was going to sell him off tomorrow. Egru couldn’t hide his unconsciously sinking feelings.

“Well, I wonder why.”

Levian said while massaging Egru’s nape. There was a bruise on the green skin, but it was clean without any bite marks. Not only that, it was thin and soft enough to fit in one hand. As if it might break if he applied too much force.

“By the way, is this being nice? You’ll pass out tomorrow.”

“T-tomorrow? W-why? What’s going to happen?”

Egru asked, swallowing dryly. Whether he knew about Egru’s troubled feelings or not, Levian narrowed his eyes mischievously.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll find out soon enough if you wait.”

As his light footsteps turned sharply, Egru staggered greatly. Levian, unconcerned, said with a smile.

“Let’s buy some flour bread first and go have fun after a long time.”

***

“B-but Levian. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t come for a few days?”

“Plans changed.”

“Really?”

“Do you think it’s really? Fuck, of course it’s because of you.”

Levian’s rough hand ruffled Egru’s messy hair.

“Do you know how much the spatial portal fee cost? And I get terribly motion sick too. I rushed here on your debt. Be good to me from now on.”

“W-why are you taking it?”

Egru asked, looking even more shabby than before.

“What?”

Levian tore off a piece of the flour bread that Egru had been just holding in both hands.

“Wow, it tastes better than I thought. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had anything bland in a while.”

Levian, stuffing the flour bread into his mouth, sucked his thick thumb.

“If you’re not going to eat, should I eat it all?”

“No, no. Why would you eat it all…”

“I bought it with my money, so should I eat it while being considerate?”

“Y-you said you’d give both to me…”

“I said I’d buy two. I didn’t say you could eat both, did I?”

Levian grinned. He loved wordplay very much. He devoted most of his daily routine to teasing Egru. As one side’s mischievous smile deepened, the other’s sullen face deepened as well.

“The flour bread, it’s my flour bread…”

Egru mumbled, sniffling. Flour bread was the cheapest food with the largest quantity. The fermented dough is stuck to the inner wall of a cylindrical oven and baked. This creates a flat and dry leaf-shaped bread.

Usually, it’s eaten with soup or meat, but for Egru, it was one of the few food items available. He would cut it into several pieces and eat it over a long time, but mold often grew except in winter.

That’s because he usually bought discounted bread that was about to go bad. He only occasionally got to see freshly baked, warm bread. Even then, he quickly lowered his gaze, not daring to look long for fear of being rude to the owner.

So he could only taste such freshly made bread when Levian occasionally bought it for him.

“You’re just looking at it without eating. Since you seem to be done eating, I’ll take this too.”

“N-no! I said no!”

As Levian reached out his hand, Egru whimpered, hiding the flour bread behind his back.

“I-I need to save it because I don’t know what will happen in the future… Ah!”

But due to the difference in arm length, it was snatched away in an instant. Soon, Egru was left with only one piece of flour bread. Levian clicked his tongue and sighed.

“Look at this. If I had known you’d be this crazy about food, I should have never let you taste cheese. It was truly the mistake of a lifetime.”

Egru looked up at Levian with a dumbfounded face. Levian asked with a mischievous smile.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want to eat what’s in my mouth?”

“Y-yes. Give it to me. I’ll eat it.”

Egru retorted, driven by stubbornness.

“Alright. Here.”

Levian really stuck out his tongue, grinning.

“What are you doing? Take it.”

“Ugh, it’s dirty. I won’t eat it…”

“Why? Eat it. You said you would. I’m telling you to eat it?”

“I-I won’t eat it.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Levian swallowed the remaining flour bread in his mouth and smiled.

“Don’t be greedy for no reason. From tomorrow, you won’t even be able to look at things like this.”