This is the story of my second eting with Eve.
The night before I killed Toxin.
It was the 25th ti we had t.
Lately, the ghouls had shifted their nesting ground, making it more convenient to et near the [Error Space].
Adele, knowing about my connection with Eve, asked :
“How’s it going these days? Getting closer to the witch?”
“Not really. Not good.”
I thought about it.
Our progress had been stagnant lately.
We’d et, exchange greetings, she’d like it when I gave her a bell, and then we’d part ways.
She once gave an apple—but that was about it.
“Can I co with you next ti?”
Adele made the request.
After tagging along in the car for ten minutes every day, it seed her curiosity had grown.
“Fine. But the target is wary and sowhat aggressive. Be careful.”
“Got it.”
And so, I brought Adele up the mountain with .
She saw Eve for the first ti.
Just like I’d warned, Eve imdiately tensed up when she saw her.
But when Adele remained within the boundary I’d established, Eve gradually lowered her guard.
She still let approach, which was no different from a wild animal recognizing one human but distrusting all others.
Adele crouched about twenty ters away, watching silently.
Then, when Eve slightly lifted the ragged hood over her head, Adele’s breath caught in her throat.
‘Whoa... what the...?’
Beneath what looked like a pile of trash—practically a ghillie suit—
Sky-blue bangs.
Deep blue eyes.
Unreal levels of beauty.
So beautiful it felt... not human. Like sothing of a different species entirely.
Adele felt the sa way she had the first ti she saw a newborn baby—a friend’s child, long ago.
Human, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ yet not.
Sacred, sohow.
‘Now I get it.’
At that mont, Adele began to understand a lot.
Why even soone like Dante—usually emotionally stone-faced in front of won—ca up here so often. (It felt like witnessing a devout encounter with a divine being.)
And why so many cadets had died near Starfall Mountain.
Even a glimpse from afar was that captivating—of course they got wrecked trying to get closer.
......
Then Adele quietly observed the brief exchange between and Eve.
It was nothing elaborate.
Eve shook a pine cone.
I handed her a bell.
When I pointed to a star in the sky and said sothing, Eve tilted her head—probably trying to understand what I ant.
A simple misunderstanding, it seed.
But to Adele, sothing else was happening.
Eve tilted her head, yes—but she never took her eyes off my fingertips or my mouth.
Her beautiful blue eyes tracked every motion, as if trying to decipher my gestures.
Eventually, Adele leaned over and whispered:
“Aren’t you actually... getting pretty close?”
“What?”
“You said you weren’t close yet. But to , it looks like you’re already there.”
“...Really?”
Adele realized sothing then.
Dante had no sense for relationships.
A dense assassin who only knew killing.
So she figured—soone had to teach him.
“In my opinion... what was her na again?”
“Eve.”
“Right. Eve kinda reminds of an elephant.”
“...Elephant?”
Adele motioned vaguely in Eve’s direction.
“Big, but completely non-verbal. A neutral animal.”
“Why an elephant?”
“Because she’s so... alien. I have no idea what motivates her. Like how humans find cats cute—elephants supposedly find humans cute, too. But in this case, Eve holds the upper hand in the relationship. So she’s the elephant.”
Then Adele explained her theory of the Elephant-Human-Cat dynamic.
Elephant (Eve) – Human (Dante)
Human (Eve) – Cat (Dante)
When Eve waves when Dante approaches—
That’s like a human petting a cat that rubs up against them.
When Eve offers a pine cone in exchange for a bell—
That’s like letting a cat knead your arm.
“......”
Dante’s eyes lost focus. His face went blank.
Elephant?
“Look at her again. She tilts her head slowly, right? That’s like a cat thinking, ‘Why is the human so far away?’”
“See that? She’s looking at the bell, then back at you. That’s a cat wondering if it should return what it just brought.”
“And that mont where she lifted her hood? That’s like putting on glasses to get a better look at her kitten.”
Blankly, Dante imagined it.
An elephant, a human, and a cat—drawn on a canvas in his mind.
“...I’ve never thought about it like that. But what made you interpret it that way?”
“Instinct. If you’ve ever dealt with a stray cat, the feeling just clicks. You’re just slow on the uptake, Professor.”
“......”
Eventually, it was ti to leave.
“If you want to get closer,” Adele said, “you’ll have to communicate.”
“What do you an, communicate?”
“Right now, Dante the cat is just eting a human on the street.”
“So the cat has to be chosen by the human?”
“No, no. That’s just a saying. Really, humans choose the cat. That’s how they end up feeding them and getting played like suckers. Maybe one day, Eve will choose you too.”
I got the gist.
“...Truly a strange relationship.”
As we descended the mountain, I kept glancing back at the elephant.
Eve watched go, her vivid blue eyes quietly following my retreating figure.
And that was the end of our eting that day.
On the way ho, I mumbled the words Adele had left behind:
“The elephant holds the upper hand in the relationship...”
And for a brief second, Adele’s gaze lost all focus.
“...Which ans I’ll just have to wait. Since I’m neither cute nor good at being clingy, like a cat.”
“Sorry—what?”
“Hmm?”
“What did you just say?”
“About the elephant.”
“...Elephant? What elephant? What does being clingy like a cat even an...?”
“......”
It was only then that I realized sothing important.
‘So this... is what the Curse of Forgetting feels like.’
***
After killing Toxin, several unusual things began to happen in my life.
First—Gray stopped auditing my lectures.
‘She vanished all of a sudden. Why?’
Probably just her being fickle.
It was a good thing.
Her presence constantly kept on edge.
Soday, I would have to put a bell on that cat’s neck—but there was no need to rush it now.
Second—a sudden reward appeared.
┃ Main Quest: [First Accomplishnt]
┃ Reward: Starlight Fragnts × 20
Just like that, I was handed twenty Starlight Fragnts, and I was baffled.
‘What kind of accomplishnt...?’
Well, I wasn’t going to complain. But I didn’t understand it.
Twenty fragnts was a lot.
< Owned Starlight Fragnts: 114.5 >
An “accomplishnt” in this context must an a cadet’s achievent.
But I hadn’t trained anyone directly yet.
No one under had shown that kind of growth.
‘...Is this a bug?’
Judging from the [Error Space] in Starfall Mountain, bugs clearly existed.
Might as well take the win while I could.
I just hoped they didn’t try to take it back.
Anyway, it was ti to go see Eve.
Our 27th eting.
The season had fully turned to autumn.
It was one of those days with a sharp, cold wind.
Eve’s cheeks were slightly red from the chill.
“A few days ago, I sent a letter to the Baron Lemontree household—your family na. This morning, I got a reply.”
“......?”
“Want to see it?”
I pulled out the letter, just in case she could read.
But it seed she didn’t know how to read.
“To summarize, they were very suspicious. Asked who I was, and told to go away if I was after money. Said the Lemontree family was already ruined.”
“......?”
“I haven’t ntioned you yet. But I intend to keep corresponding. I’d like to find a clue. About who you are. Why you’re here.”
Still that sa tilted head.
In frustration, I gently pinched her cheek.
It stretched easily. Her skin was cold.
She didn’t avoid it. Just stared at quietly.
“...Also, I might not be able to co here for a while. A major crisis is coming to the Academy. It probably has nothing to do with you, but I’ll be busy. And if things go badly, I might get injured. I might be gone for quite so ti.”
Strangely—this ti, she reacted differently.
Eve didn’t tilt her head.
But the corners of her eyes... sagged a little.
“......”
She might not have understood the words,
but she clearly sensed this was different from usual.
Maybe because I’d spoken more than usual.
I was trying to convey sothing.
And Eve—had picked up on that effort.
“...The moon’s bright tonight.”
I looked up at the sky.
Eve looked up too.
It wasn’t actually the moon. It was the largest of the 33 stars known as the “Transcendent Constellations✯.”
The ancients thought it was different from the others, and passed the idea down through generations as “the moon.”
As I gazed up at it vacantly—
—I felt a faint weight settle on my arm.
The unfamiliar sensation made glance down.
And I was a bit surprised.
“......”
A few days ago, Adele said Eve was like an elephant.
That Eve approaching was like an elephant approaching a human.
It sounded ridiculous—but the thought had stuck in my mind ever since.
Eve (Elephant) – (Human)
Eve (Human) – (Cat)
Just as Adele said, the dynamic between us had always been one-sided.
I had never seen her fight, but her potential rating of [3.0] guaranteed overwhelming power.
If she rejected , I’d be left completely helpless.
Just like a cat before an indifferent human—or a human before an indifferent elephant.
So then—
What was she thinking now?
Why had this “elephant”... leaned her head on ?
In silence, I slowly lowered my hand.
Then carefully tried to place it atop the ragged hood covering her head, to help her rest more comfortably—
—but sothing stopped .
It was Eve’s hand.
I thought she was rejecting my touch again.
But no.
Eve took my hand and guided it to her cheek.
The night air was wintry. Her cheek was cold.
But maybe my hand was warm.
She moved her small face slightly against it, feeling the warmth evenly.
It was unfamiliar.
The firmness of her jawbone under my fingers.
The tip of her nose brushing my thumb.
And the softness that occasionally touched my palm—was that her lips?
All of it—was new to .
And at the sa ti, it was remarkable.
From the first ti I saw her, watching from afar...
To when I broke the scope.
To giving her a bell.
To receiving an apple.
To her learning a wave.
To sitting at her burial mound and watching the stars.
After 27 etings—
We had co this close.
***
Eve quietly watched “the human.”
Until he had walked far enough to vanish from sight.
“......”
Reviews
All reviews (0)