Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

hai!! this chapter will store the arts abt this fanfic,the text part is on the next chapter!(ゝ∀･)b

this was my friend's work, and it's kaimon's outfit in this au.

super cute right

Chapter Text

Damon sat on the train to Eden's Garden, flipping the letter in his hand over and over, feeling very uneasy. It had been about three years since he last returned to a normal school life, and this time he was going to the best university in the world. Even though studies were no longer his top priority, he still felt nervous subconsciously.

But when he thought about one of Tozu's identity was the principal here, Damon couldn't help but roll his eyes.

That guy really is something. Not only did he transfer Mara here to be an informant, but he also packed up and sent him, who was on vacation, to the school disguised as a college student. He heard that most of the organization's personnel were participating in the project this time. Damon bit his lower lip, took out his phone from his pocket, and opened his latest chat history with Eva.

Eva: Already at the dorm. See you at the cafeteria at 5 pm.

Eva Tsunaka was the only person he was relatively familiar with under Tozu, codenamed "White Crow". She was good at setting elaborate traps and sniping (taught by Mara herself). When they had no missions, they would sit in a café together. Damon would listen to her talk about the games she liked recently, while he jotted down new poison formulas that popped into his head in a notebook. Those were the only moments of comfort in his days of being dragged around by Tozu to do odd jobs.

When he received the mission, the words Tozu said also stuck in his mind. "If possible, Mr. Maitsu, it's best to get along well with the people around you."

Damon snorted inwardly.

The train whistled as it arrived at the station. It was about a twenty-minute walk to the university's main gate. Eden was huge, and Damon struggled a bit dragging two suitcases. But his pride wouldn't allow him to ask a senior for help, and besides, these two suitcases contained some... dangerous items.

He went to the dormitory entrance to check the room number distribution. The only good news was that the dorms here were all double rooms, meaning the least amount of contact with strangers. Damon wondered if Tozu would assign him a regular person as a roommate, but this worry was quickly dispelled. Looking at the spacious living room and the doors on both sides, he was happy to find that his bedroom was completely independent, which meant: he could handle his things as he pleased.

He looked around, sneaked into the right bedroom like a thief, locked the door, pulled open the zippers of the two suitcases, and with a "thud", the cases hit the floor. Besides some necessary daily necessities, they were mostly filled with various vacuum-packed plant seeds, several large bags of potting soil, and a few books on poisonous insects and toxic plants, whose publishers he didn't even know. He'd have to buy flowerpots and test tubes on the weekend, and then find time to ask Cara to move his animals from home. Damon stuffed these things into the deepest part of the drawer, covered them with clothes, and finally took out the most dangerous item in the luggage.

It was a metal dagger with a snake pattern on the handle, and the eyes were set with two emeralds. This was the first reward Damon received when he was driven to desperation by his family's financial problems and was taken in by Tozu to work. That was also his first time killing someone. The feel of blood in his palm was sticky. The man's eyes bulged in terror at the time of death, and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, wetting the cuffs of Damon's sweatpants.

Tozu, humming jazz, pulled the knife out of the corpse, wiped it, and turned to hand it back to Damon. He didn't know how he managed not to collapse; he just took it conveniently. The cold touch of the metal brought him back to his senses, and along with the nausea that followed, he vomited violently.

Now, he was numb. Damon closed his eyes, sighed, gripped the knife tightly, and slipped it into the holster hidden under his suit jacket. You can't act rashly until everything was settled. Damon... he muttered to himself and started making his bed.

At that moment, he heard the sound of the door lock opening. Was it his other roommate? Damon, who hadn't had much normal interaction with anyone other than his parents and Eva in three years, panicked for a moment. After making sure he hadn't left any traces, he stood up, opened the bedroom door, and looked out, wanting to see what kind of person his new roommate was.

———

"What are you trying to say?" Eva asked, slurping her tom yum goong-flavored instant noodles. "Is it that your social skills have finally dropped to zero, or that you want to complain about your roommate?"

"...Definitely the latter." Damon looked at the tonkotsu ramen-flavored instant noodles in front of him, his eyes looking a little dull. He mechanically tore off the lid and picked up the disposable chopsticks next to him. "Where did the instant noodles come from? Did you bring them?"

"I wanted to eat."

"..."

Damon carefully rolled his eyes, but Eva still saw it. She tapped his noodle bowl with her chopsticks, frowned, and spoke in a cold tone. "First of all, I at least prepared dinner for you. Secondly, I see that frivolous pink-haired guy not far away. Do you want me to call him over for you?"

Damon shivered. He followed Eva's gaze to look behind him, and among the crowd, that pink-haired boy always stood out.

Kai Monteago, his roommate, or in Damon's words, the man who had no concept of personal space and was the most dog-like person in the world. What's worse, his social skills were zero, and he was allergic to dogs.

"I've already decided to go to Tozu and do everything I can to get a new roommate." Damon watched Kai throw a wink at a girl, making her weak at the knees, and felt something churning in his stomach. He turned around and carefully slurped a mouthful of the softened noodles.

The two continued eating dinner without saying much. Damon tried to think about the course schedule and how much money he would spend on equipment over the weekend, but all that came to mind was the pink everywhere in the living room, all kinds of warm yellow ambient lights, and a nearly 180cm tall guy sitting on the floor sorting albums of singers he'd never even heard of.

Ugh, screw Kai Monteago. He was already starting to feel uncomfortable.

Suddenly, another pink-haired figure approached, but this time it was a girl. She seemed to see someone here, her eyes lit up, and she ran over clattering, holding a small box of strawberry cake.

"Eva!"

"Oh no." Eva's previously expressionless face suddenly turned serious. She tried to move a few steps closer to the table to reduce her presence, but unfortunately, from Damon's perspective, this girl had much more serious social issues than Kai. At least when Kai realized that Damon had no interest in his taste in music, he left Damon alone.

"Eva, where were you just now——oh, hi!" The girl put down her cake on Eva's right and sat down. Damon could clearly see Eva roll her eyes too, but she didn't stop the girl from doing so. "I'm Diana, Diana Venicia, Eva's roommate."

"Damon Maitsu." Damon nodded.

"Eva, I brought this for you." Diana opened the cake box, took out a small piece and placed it in front of Eva. She then split her own piece in two, took the lid of Damon's instant noodles that he had put aside as a paper plate, put one half on it, and handed it to Damon. "This one's for you!"

"...Uh, thank you." Damon froze for two seconds. "But putting something sweet on top of something salty really tastes weird."

"Ah! I didn't think of that! It's okay, Damon, I'll treat you to another one later." Diana smiled, seemingly not caring about this little incident at all (for some reason, Damon felt a little annoyed, maybe thinking of someone), then lowered her voice and asked. "So, since you're Eva's friend, then you, you must be..." She put her fingers together and drew a circle with her palm.

Damon looked at Eva suspiciously, and after getting a nod from her, he also nodded at Diana, and took the opportunity of eating noodles to whisper. "Viper."

"Ah, cool. I'm Chameleon." Diana tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I didn't expect you to be that poisoner... If you need any disguise, come to the dorm to find me."

Chameleon. One of Tozu's top spies, with first-class makeup skills. It seemed that this mission was really important... Damon nodded. Diana smiled brightly when she saw that, then moved closer to start chatting with Eva, who looked about fifty percent unwilling.

He watched the two girls, one unwilling to talk and the other talking non-stop, and was forced to stand up, ready to move to another spot to eat. But just as he stood up completely, Eva called him. "Damon, wait a minute."

"Huh?" Damon's hand holding the noodle bowl trembled, and he turned to look at her.

"Tozu asked me to tell you to go to his office later. It's about the wrap-up work of your previous mission." After saying that, she went back to eating, occasionally responding to Diana.

Damon: ...

Wasn't that supposed to be for someone else?! Tozu, I hate you (^ω^)

———

Kai lay on the bed scrolling through his phone, his eyes constantly glancing towards the door. It was already past 1 am, and his roommate still hadn't come back.

From their contact in the afternoon, he would never have wanted to have much contact with such a person... Bad-tempered and arrogant, these two points were already in Kai's "absolutely not" zone. But curfew had been over for so long, and as a stranger with a good personality, it was only natural to worry about his roommate's safety.

Kai rolled over on the bed, scrolling through his timeline. There were pictures of dogs and cats, clips of VTubers, and many strangers sighing about their lives. He randomly clicked on a video of a golden retriever, and while making an "awww" sound at the silly little dog in it, he suddenly seemed to hear something. It sounded like someone unlocking the door.

He's back? Kai took his eyes off his phone and looked outside his bedroom door, which he hadn't closed. He used the light from his phone screen to shine outside, and saw a figure standing in the entrance, swaying a little.

...Ha. Kai turned off his phone screen, let out a heavy sigh, roughly messed up his hair, making the pink hair that was already sticking up from rolling around in bed even more messy. He stood up, put on his slippers, turned on the bedside lamp, and at the same time took out a box from the bottom layer of the bedside table.

He walked out of the room holding the metal box, and turned on the light before the person could reach the switch. The white light suddenly stung his optic nerve——which was why he had replaced all the lights in his room with warm colors——and then he could clearly see the person in front of him.

Damon looked terrible. His suit jacket was nowhere to be found, his vest was stained red on the chest, and there were bruises and small scars on his face. Kai couldn't help but frown. "...Dude, what happened to you? You look like death warmed over."

"..." Damon was a little surprised by Kai's overly calm reaction, his eyes widening for a moment, but quickly closing. He seemed to be struggling with something in his heart, muttering words that Kai couldn't hear. He sighed again, opened the box he had put on the table next to him, which was filled with bandages, iodine, and other disinfection supplies.

"Sit down first to treat the wound——"

The cold touch of metal pressed against his neck, and he could smell a faint scent of blood. Kai paused while bending down to look for something, and then heard Damon's voice, which was clearly lacking strength, coming from behind. "Code name."

"Whoa whoa whoa, Damon, do you still need to ask who I am in this state?" Kai took out a pair of tweezers specially used to remove iron sheet embedded in flesh from the box, forcing a hint of grievance into his tone to gain sympathy. "I'm trying to save your life here, you know."

"You never know." He couldn't see Damon's expression, but he could guess that Damon was in a bad state. The knife was trembling next to his artery.

Kai mumbled a few times, got the selected medical supplies ready, then reached back with his hand, grabbed Damon's palm, and squeezed it hard. Damon pulled his hand back subconsciously, and the knife fell to the floor. Luckily, Kai had spread a fluffy carpet there, so the people downstairs didn't hear anything.

"If this is what you call 'you never know', I think Mara will shoot you through the window in the next second." Kai raised one eyebrow, let go of Damon's hand, picked up the dagger from the floor, and placed it next to the medical box. "Sit down. I'll treat you."

"You still haven't answered me." Damon sat down under the other's serious gaze, watching Kai easily cut through the clothes that had stuck to his skin with blood with scissors. Kai gasped at the wound on his stomach, frowned as if he had seen a giant worm, and finally resigned himself to cleaning it up. To be honest, he thought it was strange because that this morning they were ignored each other.

"...You really want to know that much? Alright, alright, I'll tell you. 'Swallowtail', satisfied?" Kai spoke in a harsh tone, and at the same time, mischievously dabbed the alcohol cotton on Damon's wound. Seeing the other person's facial features twist up as if he had taken a bite of a lemon, his bad mood from staying up half the night improved a lot.

"Ow... did you do that on purpose?!"

"Guess."

Five minutes later, looking at the perfectly treated wound in front of him, Kai nodded in satisfaction. "Hmm, that looks good. I'm going to bed. You can handle the rest yourself." He threw the cut-up pieces of clothing to Damon, packed up his things, and then slipped into his room, slamming the door shut with his foot, leaving Damon standing there in a daze, holding the remains of his clothes.

Swallowtail. Damon didn't know much about him, only that he was in charge of the aftermath, mainly brainwashing enemies to get information and cleaning up traces left on the internet. And Kai... well, he could tell that Kai surely didn't look like someone who could handle a knife or a gun, but he was that teammate who was proficient in psychology? Don't be ridiculous.

He held onto the table to stand up, walked to the table side to pick up his dagger, and was surprised to find that the blood on it had been cleaned off. Did Kai do that? Damon tried to recall what had just happened, but realized he really hadn't noticed when the other person had also disinfected his knife.

...Anyway, he went back to his room, threw his unwearable clothes into the trash can, took out his pajamas from the drawer and put them on, then lay directly on the bed staring at the ceiling. He hadn't prepared enough poison vials, which caused him to suffer a big loss. Now he couldn't go on missions at the front line... Oh well, it was originally his vacation. Damon rolled over, picked up the phone he had left at home from the bedside, and opened it to look at his past chat history.

Swallowtail: Hey!

: Why did you kill all the informants again, damn it!

: How am I supposed to clean up after you like this?

: Eat my fist, bastard(╬▼дﾟ)▄︻┻┳═一

Viper: Then I'm really sorry.

Swallowtail: Is a sorry going to fix this?

: (੭ ᐕ)੭？

: I'm blocking you.

...And then they never spoke again.

Damon silently put down his phone and looked up at the ceiling again. This short day had made him go through so much, and his body was already extremely exhausted from blood loss. He closed his eyes, not thinking about all the messy things, just hoping that sleep would soon pull him into darkness.

He could predict that since so many members of the organization had gathered at Eden's Garden Academy this time, he would inevitably run into a few. But encountering two new teammates in just one day was a bit overwhelming. Diana was okay; disguise wasn't much help to him. As for Kai... not to mention that they were roommates who saw each other every day, when it came to cleaning up after missions, no one was better than Swallowtail.

Damon let out a long breath and rolled over, pressing on the wound on his stomach, which caused a sharp pain.

What kind of vacation was this...

With that thought, sleep finally came.

Chapter Text

It was the fifth day Damon was stuck in the dorm due to his injury.

Word of his injury had spread when he reported for duty. The organization’s group chat was filled with formulaic get-well messages, and "Hare," another frontline killer like him, even came over to mock him—so Damon blocked her. Lately, he didn’t want to talk to anyone. Besides "Crane," the contact person, dropping off medical supplies at his dorm door, he never stepped outside.

Kai, though, went to class on time every day and even attended after-school parties occasionally. At first, Damon couldn’t understand: Their identities couldn’t be exposed, yet Kai was out drinking? Did he want to die quickly? Later, he found out Kai was only there on orders to investigate if any rumors about his ongoing mission were circulating on campus. Kai mentioned this while routinely helping him change his bandages.

"I hate the smell in bars. God, it’s like… ugh…" Kai skillfully unwrapped the blood-stained bandage, tossed it aside, and grabbed a new one to replace it.

"..." Damon said nothing. Kai always rambled, and Damon often struggled to keep up, so he simply tuned him out, pulling out his phone to chat with Eva and Diana.

Diana: Hey Damon!

: Is your injury getting better?

Damon: Yeah. Should be fully healed in another week or two.

Diana: Great!

: Tozu redistributed all your scheduled tasks to everyone since you can’t go out,

: but he wants you to do surveillance.

Damon: ?

: Doesn’t he know I can’t leave the dorm right now?

Eva: He knows.

: But he said since you’ve been with him longer, he trusts your recovery ability.

Damon: ...

Enough. That old goat could drop dead for all he cared. Damon rubbed his brow, then glanced at Kai, who was kneeling in front of him, still disinfecting his wound. A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

"Kai."

"Hmm?" Kai didn’t look up, continuing to dab red medicine on the injury. Damon fell silent for two seconds, chose his words carefully, and spoke again. "Are you the only one doing cleanup work?"

"Yeah. What do you mean?" Kai answered matter-of-factly, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world. "You been lying in bed so long your brain’s gone mushy? You should get out more, man."

"..." Damon grit his teeth. That bastard Tozu! He must’ve known Damon hated dealing with the logistics team, so he’d deliberately stuck him with cleanup duty! Was he trying to transfer him from the frontline to logistics? Damon’s heart sank. If he weren’t no match for Tozu, he’d grab a knife and confront him right now.

Leaving his position as a killer was the last thing he wanted. His parents depended on his earnings to live. He’d told his family the money came from debate scholarships, and Tozu had even lied about his dropout being a transfer. Logistics paid nowhere near as much as the frontline, and on missions, he could sneak off with a fancy item or two—it was a win-win.

Kai clearly sensed Damon’s darkening mood. He looked up, confused, but said nothing. No one in the organization was stupid. He could tell Tozu seemed intent on sidelining the man who’d once been his sharpest blade. But why should he care? Years ago, he’d excitedly grabbed his phone to interrogate someone, only to find the target poisoned into a vegetable. He’d almost died for anger on the spot.

So he’d mind his own business. Definitely.

The awkward silence was broken by a knock at the door.

"Damon? Kai? You in there?"

It was "Crane," Toshiko Kayura. Had it gotten this late already? Damon clicked his tongue and nudged Kai, who was still wrapping bandages around his waist, gesturing for him to answer the door. Kai didn’t complain—he just snuck a pinch to Damon’s side, grinning when Damon’s face twisted in pain.

Kai opened the door. A short girl in a kimono stood there, holding a black plastic bag. She glanced at Kai, then peeked through the crack at Damon sitting on the floor, covering her mouth with a fan and smiling. "Looks like I interrupted your bandage change."

Kai ignored the comment, raising an eyebrow. "What’s up? It’s not your delivery time."

Toshiko used her cover as a teacher’s child to move freely around Eden’s Garden. No one suspected a young girl like her. She held out the plastic bag to Kai. "Intel on Project Eden."

"…Huh?" Kai took it, confused. "For Damon?"

"It’s for you, dummy." Toshiko tapped his shoulder with her fan. "Mochi’s will wait till he’s healed."

The door closed, and the clatter of her geta on the wooden floor faded. Kai carried the bag back, surprised to see Damon had already finished bandaging himself.

Damon gave him a puzzled look. "Take it out and look." He nodded at the pillow cushion Kai had been sitting on.

"Oh, right." Kai sat down, pulled a phone from the bag, unlocked it with the organization’s special code, and opened the notes app. The dense text made him click his tongue. "Couldn’t ‘Spider’ use a ipad next time? Who can read a tiny txt file like this?"

"Then stop scrolling on your phone at night." Damon leaned over to look.

"Hey, hey! You’re the last person who gets to say that!" Kai protested loudly. "You’re the one up on the balcony at midnight!"

"I was checking how the aconite’s growing…" Damon sighed, flipping to the next page. "You should read more instead of glued to your phone."

"…Mmph." Kai had no comeback.

They kept scrolling through the encrypted txt file. Damon noticed a lot of content he didn’t understand—probably Kai’s area of expertise. His stomach wound started itching, and he felt like taking a nap.

"…What the hell?!"

Kai’s shriek jolted him back to reality. Kai was staring at the phone, wide-eyed. "Why me?! This is Damon’s job!"

"Huh?" Damon snatched the phone. Under the task list, alongside Kai’s usual duties—guiding public opinion online, inventorying resources—was a line that clearly wasn’t copied and pasted:

「Help "Viper" move.」

Both: ...

Kai’s mouth twisted, and his golden eyes locked onto Damon. Damon set the phone down, glanced hesitantly out the window, then back, meeting his gaze.

"…Ahem. So, where do you live?" Kai pulled out his own phone and handed it to Damon. After Damon typed in the address, Kai took it back and started mapping the route.

"Should we drive? Do you have a license?… Fine, what about contact ‘Coyote’?"

Damon froze. "Wait, we can just ask him for a ride?"

"Of course." Kai already had the chat app open. "It’s a mission, right? And I saw him this morning—looks like he’s free lately."

Somehow, it didn’t surprise Damon that the organization’s designated driver, "Coyote," was around too. He sighed and stood up. "I’m going to rest for a bit."

"Okay." Kai kept typing furiously, apparently deep in conversation. Damon headed for his room, but was stopped.

"Wait!"

"…" Damon felt his head throbbing from living with this guy. He turned around. "What?"

"Your place doesn’t have, like, a lot of…" Kai looked nervous, swallowing. "Reptiles, does it?"

Damon nodded instinctively, then caught on, grinning mischievously. "Scared?"

"AAAH I KNEW IT!!" Kai bent back over his phone. "You move those yourself! I’m warning you, if one touches me, I’ll throw it right out! Seriously!"

"Calm down, no one’s forcing you. And do you think I’d let you touch them?"

"…Ugh, maybe you’re plotting to murder me."

Damon felt a surge of frustration. Screw Kai Monteago.

---

The good news was that all that happened yesterday—Wednesday. They decided to move on Sunday, so Damon had plenty of time to clean the balcony and living room to make space for his inland taipans. He even got a tank for a pufferfish. When Kai came back from class and saw the mess, his eye twitched. He pointed at the uncovered blankets and tape on the floor. "You’re putting vivariums all here?"

"Yep. I asked ‘Ursidae’ to transfer some funds, so I bought an apartment near campus." In other words, he’d already minimized it to only the animals needing daily care… Kai’s chest ached. His once neatly decorated pink room was about to be overrun by greenery.

"So what do you want?" Damon pushed himself up with a nearby stool, holding tape he’d swiped from Kai’s room. Kai just shrugged, slung his backpack onto the hook behind his door, and mumbled something. "You…"

"Huh? Speak up." Damon frowned. "You weren’t this quiet when you were yelling at your manga."

"It’s nothing! Uh…" Kai shot back automatically, then met Damon’s disbelieving stare, shrank back, and forced the words out. "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk…"

Oh? Damon was momentarily speechless, watching Kai fidget with his necklace, avoiding eye contact. Normally, he’d flat-out refuse, but a week cooped up in the dorm made him feel like he’d grow mushrooms. "Sure."

"…Huh? You agreed? For real?" Kai suddenly marched over, pressed the back of his hand to Damon’s forehead, then to his own. "You’re not feverish? Did you get possessed—ow!"

"Shut up and lead the way." Damon pulled back his fist, ignoring Kai’s yelps of pain.

They set off. Since arriving at the school, Damon had never left the dorm normally. His last cleanup mission had Tozu guiding him through darkness, turning left and right until they reached the destination, like some teleportation magic. Kai obviously didn’t have that trick, but he clearly knew the area well.

They walked to a lake. Maple and ginkgo trees lined the shore. Damon thought it might be even prettier in a month, but the wind off the water felt nice. He leaned on the railing, lofi music playing softly in his headphones, tilting his head 45 degrees to look at the sky.

"You look like a drama lead," Kai said, his voice easily overriding the music. "Whoa, that brooding vibe—this’d go viral on Twitter."

"…Oh." Damon fought the urge to roll his eyes.

Used to Damon’s usual sharpness, Kai just stood beside him, crossing his arms on the railing and resting his head on them, speaking quietly. "Damon."

"Spit it out."

"Tsk, you’re no fun. Emotions need to be savored slowly, y’know?" Kai almost pointed a finger at him, but decided it wasn’t worth getting worked up over. He watched the waterfowl take flight over the lake instead.

"Why’d you take Tozu’s offer?"

Damon didn’t expect that. He blinked, firing back. "Why should I tell you? What about you?"

"Me? Oh, a…a story you’d definitely laugh at." Kai chuckled bitterly, his voice soft. Damon turned off his music to hear him.

"I met Tozu two years ago, I think. I was following that year’s trend—filming street interviews for short videos—and I ran into that old goat. He told me I had talent to be world-famous, just follow him."

"Guess I was desperate for fame back then, haha." Kai smiled sadly. "Friends flocked to me for my popularity, then drifted away when I turned out nothing like my online persona. Y’know, we had some good times." He pulled a gold ring from his pocket. Damon didn’t know which one it was, but the faint dents suggested it had been worn for years.

"I said yes because I wanted to be famous. But look how that turned out." He slipped the ring onto his right middle finger, admiring it in the lake’s reflected light. "Training was brutal. Even though I made it clear I didn’t want the frontline, I still had to learn to hold a gun, fight… not to mention hypnosis and psychology. Throwing up till I was dehydrated? That wasn’t rare."

"…And you still complain about your weight." Damon jabbed.

"Hey, an influencer’s gotta stay in shape!" Kai groaned. "But you’re right—I should eat more… Back then, I got anorexia from all the throwing up. Why eat if it’ll just come back up?"

"So I don’t get why you’re so hell-bent on staying frontline." He turned, his gaze flickering to Damon’s stomach. "I can’t even imagine getting hurt that bad…"

"..." Damon sighed, taking off one headphone and offering it to Kai. Kai froze, hesitated, then put it on.

Relaxed lofi still played. Damon wasn’t big on music, but instrumental tracks were an exception. The slow electronic beats calmed him, especially when he felt this heavy.

"I don’t know if you’re complaining or what, Monteago. Whatever your past was, if you joined Tozu, then we’re… teammates." He exhaled, keeping his eyes on the lake. He didn’t know what he was afraid of, or why he was opening up to a boy he’d barely known a week.

Maybe they weren’t so different. Wanting money, fame, recognition. Just stupid teenage impulses—with a lifetime of isolation from normalcy, a lifetime of being a shadowy legend, as the price.

It might’ve been the first time Kai saw Damon smile.

"I’m not that different from you."

———

"I heard you went out with Damo."

"AH?! Cass, how’d you know?!" Kai yelped into the phone. Cassidy snickered on the other end, and he could picture her flipping her red hair.

"Don’t underestimate my army of cameras." Cassidy clicked her tongue. "What, you were bitching about him the other day, and now you’re making a move?"

"That’s not it…" Kai raked a hand through his hair. Something about her wording made the whole thing feel weird. "I just thought he seemed off, so I dragged him out. I didn’t expect him to agree, or to listen to me…He’s the weird one!"

"Ugh, you two are totally in love! Cassidy’s love advice mission: success!"

"Whatever. Is ‘Coyote’ there?"

The voice on the line turned to a gruff male one, and they started discussing Sunday’s plans. After repeatedly warning him not to speed on the highway—though he doubted it sunk in—Kai leaned back in his desk chair, staring at the ceiling.

"I’m not that different from you."

…

Kai opened Spotify, searched for the music genre he’d asked Damon about during their walk, and added it to his playlist.

But he’d never forgive that guy for arguing with him about the dorm decor as soon as they got back! He’d stand his ground on covering the floor with rugs—never backing down.

Chapter Text

“Uh, Eva, are you sure this’ll work?”

Eva lifted her head from under the van’s hood, brushed back her black hair, and said firmly, “Absolutely. As long as he drives over 120 km/h, it’ll send a signal to Mark.”

“Wait, wait—who the hell is Mark?” Kai interrupted again, eyes full of doubt. She rolled her eyes, and Diana, who stood nearby handing Eva a water bottle, answered, “Mark is ‘Crocodile.’”

“Huh? …Oh. Him.” Kai nodded. Beside him, “Coyote” Jett wasn’t nearly as composed, blurting out excitedly, “Huh? Why contact Broskii?”

The other three: …

Because Mark was the only one who could talk to you without making everyone’s blood pressure spike, obviously. Besides, when it came to electronics, apart from Cassidy, who handled software, he was the only one who dealt with hardware.

“Once we’re done moving, I bet Damon will start gearing up for the PEG project,” Diana said, watching Eva finish her water before taking the bottle back and tucking it into a small bag. “Heard he’s already whipped up some new reagents at home?”

“Dunno.” Kai kicked a pebble on the concrete floor. “He tried to test some on me, but I reacted fast enough to use a hint to make him forget about it temporarily—”

“So I brought it here.”

“Wahhh!!”

Damon suddenly appeared behind them, startling Kai so badly he nearly choked on his own saliva. “Y-you said you wouldn’t be ready for another half hour!”

“I’ve been ready for ages. Unlike someone who was still changing clothes five minutes before leaving.” Damon adjusted his shirt—since they’d be doing manual labor, he’d thrown on a tattered old T-shirt. The guy across from him, who was supposed to help with the heavy lifting, was dressed to the nines; clearly, he’d never intended to work seriously.

Sometimes Damon really wanted to slug this pretentious jerk. But the fact he hadn’t was practically worth celebrating for his fans. After all, Kai had asked him for photos of his house layout the day before, and he had woken up with dark circles under his eyes (so why asked him? Damon never understands). His stereotype of Kai as a “princess” was only getting stronger.

As for the reagent in his hand? Just some safe snake venom for medical use. He’d only wanted to test if the dosage had side effects.

The two climbed into the van—Kai in the passenger seat, Damon in the back. Eva rapped on the window; once it rolled down, she said, “Check the group chat when you get back. ‘Ovis’ seems to be timing a final announcement—something about catching the first spy’s weak spot, maybe?”

“We found it first. That idiot just lucked into stealing the credit.” Damon rolled his eyes in the backseat. “Ovis’s” presence here annoyed him more than anything. The guy held a role similar to Toshiko’s, but instead of direct contact like she did, he acted more like a squad leader. Ridiculous, really—someone who could barely take care of himself (according to Tozu’s gossip) calling the shots.

“Well, technically, I found it first.” Eva huffed, stepping back. Diana slung an arm over her shoulder and waved at Jett and Kai. “Be careful, Jett—don’t get hurt like last time!”

“Oh! I’ll drive safe! Full speed ahead!” Jett hit the gas, and the van shot forward like a bullet.

Diana, choking on exhaust fumes behind them: “…I think Mark’s gonna get a headache.”

Eva, also coughing: “Guess we’ll just hope he has cigarettes left.”

Cut back to the van. Damon, a veteran of fieldwork, had anticipated that “Jett will drive safe” was empty talk—he’d buckled up early, turned on noise-canceling mode in his headphones, and cranked up the music. Kai, unfortunately, was riding with Jett for the first time; his face was now ashen, looking halfway to death.

Beep. At a long red light, Damon’s phone chimed. He checked it—Kai had messaged him. Forgot to mention: after a week of coexisting, their relationship hovered awkwardly between “I hate you” and “I don’t hate you.” For some reason, Kai had given him a nickname (which he hadn’t shown Damon). Damon, not to be outdone, had retaliated with one of his own.

Frappe Glutton: How the hell are you so calm??

Damon: Spend more time in the field.

Frappe Glutton: Wow, real helpful.

Damon: What else do you want?

: ( ^ω^)

He’d started using kaemojis only because Kai spammed them constantly. Good lord, the guy was rubbing off on him. Terrifying.

Unsurprisingly, by the time they got out of the van, someone was doubled over on the curb, retching violently. Out of pity for the only labor he could boss around, Damon handed Kai a bottle of water. But watching him heave, Damon wondered if it might be a relapse of old training injuries.

“You good, man?” Jett hovered awkwardly, clearly flustered—probably never seen someone cough up what looked like their entire stomach. He tried to help, but Kai waved him off, dropping to his knees to hack harder before snatching the water from Damon and chugging it.

“…Go to the convenience store and grab something filling.” Damon sighed, addressing Jett. As Jett nodded and sprinted toward the nearest store on the map, Damon stepped over to Kai, who’d collapsed onto the ground, drained of energy. “Rest up before moving.”

“Ugh… I’m fine… keh, Jesus, how do you ride with him??” Kai pushed himself up, brushing dirt off his clothes and shaking his hair. His color was improving. “Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of experience dealing with my messed-up stomach. Let’s go. At least the ‘reptiles’ can’t hurt me right now—nothing left in my stomach to throw up, ha.”

What a hellish joke. Damon stared blankly as Kai trudged ahead toward his apartment building. Good thing he’d never been sent to the front lines—hard to imagine how he’d react to a dead body.

They climbed to the third floor, and Damon unlocked the door. Inside, it was barely navigable—wires tangled everywhere, no sign of normal furniture, just terrariums. Lots of terrariums.

“Who do you get to take care of all this when you’re away?” Kai tiptoed around the wires, stopping at a large tank to stare at the jellyfish inside. “And Jesus, your place is huge! Did Tozu really hook you up this much?”

“If you completed every mission as flawlessly as I do, you’d get the same treatment.” In truth, he’d saved up a third of the rent himself. After covering living expenses, family support, and lab costs, he’d still managed to sock away hundreds of thousands in six months—thanks to taking every mission he could.

For trips lasting two or three days, he’d contact a zookeeper Tozu had referred him to—Tanaka, he thought. The guy’s way of handling the animals was flawless, even if his messages were full of cringy “edgy teen” lingo. And his pet hamsters were cute. Damon would admit that.

They headed back down—first to meet Jett, who was returning with food, and second to grab pet carriers for moving. Damon planned to take his snakes and frogs. As for the pufferfish he’d mentioned earlier? Sadly, they’d all overeaten their fish food and keeled over before he left for Eden. RIP.

“…” Kai stood by the door, watching Damon open the inland taipan’s enclosure. Damon nonchalantly lured it over with a dead mouse, then—yoink—grabbed it by the neck and lifted it up. To be honest, Kai was on edge—not just from a general fear of snakes, but more from thinking, “One bite and that’s it, right?!”

“Hold this.” Damon ordered him to fetch the travel cage, then, before the snake could react, stuffed it inside and locked the door. “Go put some food in there.”

Damon turned back to the terrariums, leaving Kai alone with the snake. Kai swallowed hard. The massive serpent flicked its tongue at him, while Jett, holding a random cat toy, waved it teasingly at the cage.

“Could you not make this worse?” Kai tried shoving Jett outside (he didn’t budge). Once Jett, under Damon’s glare, went to help with the terrariums, Kai grabbed the feeder—filled with dead mice, freshly thawed that day. He took a deep breath, dropped one in with tweezers, and watched the snake stare at it for a second before lunging, fangs bared.

Even that simple movement startled Kai. The speed, the exposed fangs—plus what he’d Googled the night before: inland taipans had enough venom to kill 100 adults—

Predictably, he tripped over a wire while stepping back, crashing to the floor. Damon, quick as a flash, handed his current task to Jett and lunged to steady the cage.

“Could you please—” He took a breath, but seeing how clearly spooked Kai was, shook his head and said nothing. After a moment, he told Jett, “Grab the corn snake’s tank from my bedroom too.”

“Huh?” Kai gritted his teeth and got up, confused. “What’s that got to do with a corn snake?”

“Desensitization training.” He set the cage on top of the dolly, told Jett not to drop it on the stairs, then turned back. “So you don’t keel over when I let the snakes out.”

“You’re gonna let venomous snakes out?!” Kai shrieked.

“What else am I supposed to use for experiments?” Damon deadpanned.

Kai fell silent, mentally eulogizing himself. Farewell, fans. My roommate’s certifiably insane.

———

Back at the dorm, after setting everything up, Damon messaged Tanaka—still needed him to drop by every few days to feed the animals, plus pick up two new pufferfish. Done with that, he stared at Kai, who was hunched on the couch typing furiously, and rubbed his temples. He didn’t blame the guy for being scared of reptiles. Honestly, when Tozu had first taken him to Australia to catch snakes, he’d been terrified too. How’d he get used to it? Mara had dumped him in the wilderness for three days to survive. Turned out, his bond with snakes pretty fast that way.

Toshiko had just sent over “Ovis’s” intel. Officially, the mission was to investigate a spy, but really, they were taking down the entire terrorist organization. They’d developed some biological weapons, and one of their main labs was in ■■ City Zoo.

“But seriously, why zoo?” Kai asked at dinner, voicing everyone’s confusion. “There are plenty of other places to experiment…”

“One of the organization’s higher-ups likes rabbits, apparently.” Diana answered. “He wants to warp people’s perceptions until they become rabbits.”

“Theoretically possible, I guess… but how do you change a human’s biology?” Kai tapped his cheek with a spoon. “It’s not like you can just turn someone into a rabbit—”

“One never knows, my fellow students.”

They turned to see Tozu passing by with a tray. His red eyes, hidden under a goat skull mask, blinked cheerfully at them. “You should know that, Mr. Monteago. Biological means.”

“…Ah, right.” Kai’s face soured. He nodded and went back to eating, though from Damon’s seat across the table, it looked like he wasn’t actually eating anymore.

Damon had learned a rule by now: if something made Kai lose his appetite, it was either a reptile or some grotesque method of torturing people. He took a sip of orange juice.

“Next month, the school’s hosting an optional field trip—to that zoo. I want Mr. Maitsu, Ms. Tsunaka, and ‘Hare’ to go.”

The two named nodded. They’d partnered on enough missions to be used to it.

“—And Mr. Monteago, the zoo’s PR department is running a campaign, inviting popular social media influencers to promote it. So you’re coming too.”

Kai, still zoning out over his food, jolted when Damon kicked him under the table. He gaped, pointing at himself. “M-me?!”

Tozu nodded and left.

“…”

The table fell silent, except for Eva, who kept eating without a care.

“What the hell am I supposed to do there? I even don’t know how to ambush people?!” Kai looked genuinely panicked, already Googling the zoo. “Jesus. If I don’t make it back, Diana, promise me you’ll tell my fans that I'm okay…”

“Of course. I will.” Diana patted his shoulder reassuringly.

Kai sniffled, muttering, “You’re too nice, Diana,” before going back to his search.

A few minutes later, a photo appeared in the Eden Project group chat.

Damon opened it. The second it loaded, his mood turned grave.

It looked like an AI-generated image: a creature the size of an elephant, pure white, with red eyes and rabbit ears.

“Cassidy says this is the only weird info we have on the zoo,” Kai added, scrolling. “The infected people under the organization just call it a ‘normal elephant’… ugh, this is gonna be a nightmare.”

“How’d they even alter an elephant’s anatomy?” Eva leaned over to look at Damon’s phone, her expression darkening. “Is it aggressive?”

“Unknown. All other data’s classified.” Kai put down his phone, staring at his bento. He pushed it away. “I can’t eat.”

Diana, sensing the tension, clapped her hands and smiled. “It’s fine! We’ve got two weeks to prepare. And Kai, you’re the best at hypnosis—this kind of mind manipulation is right up your alley. We’ll be fine!”

“…Yeah.”

The mood stayed heavy even back at the dorm. Damon was checking on his snakes as usual when Kai, staring out the window, suddenly asked, “Damon, are you scared?”

“Of the zoo?” He petted the corn snake’s head. “What’s the point? People die in this line of work all the time.” He thought of the mission where Eva had dragged him out of a pool of blood. Everyone else had died that day—one of the organization’s worst losses.

“I know… but what if I slow you down…”

Damon sighed. Here we go again. He stood up, pretending to toss the snake at Kai. Predictably, Kai yelped and jumped back.

“I told you not to bring it near me!!”

“It didn’t do anything.” Damon rolled his eyes. “Quit overthinking. Go to bed. If I have to wake you up again tomorrow, I’m leaving it in your bed tonight.”

“That’s evil, Damon…” Kai fake-cried, but trundled off to the bathroom anyway. Before closing the door, he turned and grinned at Damon.

“If you get better at comforting people, I’ll tell you what I named you.”

“Like I care. Get out.”

Damon scoffed, putting the snake back in its tank. As it burrowed into the sand, his mind flashed to that photo.

“An elephant with rabbit ears…”

He dug his nails into his palm, suddenly recalling a childhood trip to the zoo with his parents. If that memory was anything to go by…

He wasn’t sure he’d make it back alive.

———

Kai didn’t listen to Damon. He felt a little guilty—just a little. But he really couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t his fault.

He kept researching the zoo, eventually stumbling on an old news article from its opening week.

“Child goes missing… found seven days later…”

His brow furrowed as he read on. The more he read, the more uneasy he felt.

Then he saw the name of the boy in the article.

His heart sank.

“Damon Maitsu, 12 years old”

“…”

The darkened phone screen reflected a face with no readable expression.

Chapter Text

A rabbit. A white rabbit, charging straight at him at high speed. Damon jolted awake from this bizarre dream, only to find himself still in Jett’s car. He let out a long sigh of relief, silently marveling at how much he’d grown—able to fall asleep even with Jett behind the wheel. But as his consciousness cleared a little more, he realized he’d unknowingly leaned his head on Kai’s shoulder and drifted off. Kai was sound asleep too; probably afraid of getting carsick and throwing up again, so he’d given himself a psychological pep talk before getting in the car.

This time, Eva was in the passenger seat. According to the updates, "Hare" had arrived at the scene a week earlier. Just a moment ago, she’d sent word that she’d successfully landed a job as a zoo employee, and even sent them a photo of her blue work uniform.

For some reason, his heart felt uneasy—a feeling that grew stronger the closer they got to the zoo, and his head started to ache too. He didn’t want to dwell on what these symptoms might mean, so he just wrote it off as not getting enough rest lately.

Damon carefully raked his memory for his past visit to the zoo. Those seven days he’d gotten lost were nothing short of a nightmare; it was from that day onward that he’d become reluctant to talk to others. His memories of what happened during that time he was lost were fuzzy too—had he been locked up somewhere?

The more he thought about it, the worse his headache got.

Just then, Eva in the front seat turned around and asked him, “Are you okay? Your eyes look really red.”

“Fine… just remembering something from the past,” he said, shaking his head. She studied him for a moment, her eyes filled with doubt, but in the end, she said nothing more. “We’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Hmm…” Damon thought for a moment. He knew he was in no state to take part in the investigation, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

Rabbits.

“…mon! …here…”

So many rabbits.

“Damon! Hey!”

He was a rabbit too.

A sharp pinch on his cheek jolted Damon awake. He opened his eyes to find Kai’s face inches away from his own, his eyes brimming with worry. The moment Kai saw him wake up, he gasped sharply and let out the shrill, panicked yelp Damon had grown so used to.
“Oh my god, what’s wrong with your eyes?! Maybe you shouldn’t go in there at all!”

Damon blinked, staring at the other guy with a look that said, “What on earth are you talking about?” His complete composure seemed to leave Kai at a loss for words. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Kai finally came clean. “You know your eyes were red just now—like a rabbit’s.”

“Who called me?”

Just as Damon was about to respond, a loud female voice answered. Kai rolled down the window and turned to face a stranger in a blue uniform. “Uh… are you ‘Hare’?”

“That’s me—Grace Madison,” she said, giving her name before whistling at the two of them in the car. “Y’know, the ‘Reaper Bird’ got out of the car ages ago. What’ve you two been up to in here? Seems like Cassidy was right—”

“Tch.” Damon, already on edge from the noise, opened his door and got out. Kai followed right behind him, his expression still grim. “C’mon, stop being so stubborn. Let Jett take you back to rest, okay…?”

“I can’t,” Damon shook his head. “I need the money.” This was a big job, and he needed the cash to buy his parents a nicer house. His mom had mentioned on the phone that their car was broken, so he’d need to get them a better new one too… as the family’s only breadwinner, he couldn’t back out.

“But—” Kai tried to persuade him further, only to be cut off by Eva pulling him aside. “Don’t bother. His condition might actually help us investigate from a different angle.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Jett, the only one out of the loop, complained. “Why does it feel like you’re all hiding something?!”

Grace shrugged. “Search me. Hey, soybean—if you’re not up to this, I’ll take you to the Lion Area. It’s the only safe spot the ‘animals’ set up. You’ll be fine as long as you don’t run into the ‘Sheep Leader’ coming to round people up here.”

Damon ignored her. Eva, as usual, had that “whatever—let the world burn” look on her face. She grabbed her sniper rifle from the trunk, stowed it in a cello case, and slung it over her shoulder. Kai, meanwhile, glanced back and forth between them, unsure how to mediate. All he could do was give Jett an awkward smile, ask him to head back first, and let Tozu know about Damon’s poor mental state.

Once the car rumbled away, the four of them scanned Grace’s ID badge and entered the zoo. The moment they stepped inside, Damon’s headache flared up even worse—sudden and unprovoked, like a piece of driftwood floating aimlessly in the ocean. He froze mid-step, but Kai, who was walking ahead and getting ready to take photos for their cover, noticed.

“Still not feeling right?”

“Just focus on your job,” Damon said, turning his head to make room for Kai to take a picture of the zoo’s sign. The sign itself looked like it had weathered at least seven years of wind and sun; only the characters “Zoo” were still visible, giving the place an even eerier vibe.

Kai stared at him through his phone screen, making Damon’s skin crawl. Just as Damon was about to snap at him, Kai snapped his fingers.

“C’mon, Damon—repeat this in your head: It’s okay, things will get better… hurry up, man! I’m scared the first body we’ll find in here is yours.”

If you don’t know how to comfort someone, don’t bother. That’s what Damon wanted to say, but he still followed Kai’s instructions and silently repeated the encouraging words a few times to steel himself. Whatever Tozu had taught Kai, it actually worked—Damon did feel a little better. But this temporary boost would probably only last a few hours; the only real relief would come from taking down whoever was behind all this.

The group headed deeper into the zoo. When they passed the Herbivore Area, Grace stopped, stared at the bushes by the road, clicked her tongue, and turned to them. “You guys go on ahead. I need to finish my work first.”

“If I don’t trim these bushes… I’m worried visitors will get hurt,” she shook her head. “Seems like anyone who steps into the shadows triggers the ‘conversion process.’ The zoo staff have to do something to protect people.”

“Listen up, you three—when you’re walking around, don’t touch the rabbits. Rabbits are people in the early stages of conversion. If you make contact, some kind of signal will start accelerating the process in you. And that goes double for you, soybean—you’re probably already being targeted.”

“Also, try to stay away from the Elephant Area. You’ve probably seen the elephants there already, and… shit, you guys better head to the Lion Area the second you start feeling off.” Grace pulled her hat lower. “I can’t say more than that. But rest assured, once I find where their equipment’s running, I’ll smash it to pieces with a metal pipe…”

“One last thing,” she picked up a pair of hedge clippers from the bench, her expression dead serious. “If any of you see the Aquarium, make sure you go in with a partner. I suspect there’s something wrong with it—only people who’ve undergone a little conversion can see it…” She shot a glance at Damon. “Anyway, that’s it. Be careful out there.”

After watching Grace go off to work, chatting with another blue-uniformed employee, the three of them stood there staring at each other. Eva was the first to react; she frowned at Damon. “Have you already been affected?”

“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head, his headache worsening. “Let’s just look around first.”

The three of them started their search. During this time, Damon kept being approached by people in black uniforms. Even though he’d snapped at them all to leave him alone, the constant interruptions were seriously slowing down the investigation.

“Maybe I should just go alone.”

“Go where? The Aquarium?” Eva shook her head. “You’re the one most affected by this. If they catch you and turn you into a rabbit, we won’t be able to help you.”

“I’ll be fine…” Damon loosened his tie slightly. His eyes wandered, and his voice dropped to a murmur. “I’ve been there before…”

Eva didn’t hear what he said, but Kai’s eyes suddenly went wide. It was like a lightbulb went off in his head—he grabbed Damon’s wrist and shook his head frantically. “No way! You can’t go alone! They—they’ve probably already found you!”

“What are you talking about?” Damon pulled his hand away. “I said I’ll be fine. Don’t underestimate the skills of someone who’s been doing this longer than all of you.” To reassure them, he forced a small smile, then turned and walked away. The moment he turned around, he could see the Aquarium’s entrance. He suspected it had been there all along, but hidden from normal people’s sight by some kind of equipment—maybe the 4D technology Tozu had mentioned a while back.

Guided by his fuzzy memories, he slipped into the Aquarium through a small side entrance. He ran into a few employees in red uniforms, but after they sized him up for a moment, they let him pass. One of them warned him not to stay inside for more than half an hour. Damon nodded, and once they were gone, he took a deep breath and wrapped his hand around the hilt of the knife in his pocket.

He hoped Tozu would give his parents a good amount of money after this job was done.

———

“I have to go find him! Who does he think he’s fooling with that act?!” Kai paced back and forth, not even glancing at Eva, who was setting up her sniper rifle to take a shot at those white elephants. Eva, clearly annoyed by his fussing, pulled the trigger and hit her target dead-on. She quickly packed up her gear, ready to move to another spot to check if the thing was really dead.

“If you want to go, then go find the Aquarium,” she shook her head. “Haven’t you realized yet? Damon’s acting like this because he doesn’t want to drag us down. You saw that news report, didn’t you? I’m sure of it.”

“How did you—” Kai stepped back in surprise, but quickly recovered. Eva and Damon were both sharp thinkers, so of course she would have looked into it—“Then why aren’t you more eager to go find him?!”

“It’s too dangerous,” Eva gave him a look. “I’m not going to throw my life away for no reason. I only save people I think are worth saving.”

“You… damn it.” Kai planted his hands on his hips, then gritted his teeth. “Fine, I’ll go! You stay with Grace!”

Just then, a laugh rang out—high-pitched, like a child’s. And it was definitely not coming from the visitor area. The two exchanged a glance, then grabbed their things and ran toward the zoo’s exit.

The crowd was chaotic, everyone panicking over the unexpected commotion. Kai soon got separated from Eva in the crush. Everywhere he looked was a sea of people; he pushed his way through, trying to catch up to Eva ahead of him.

“He is a Goat.”

A genderless voice whispered in his ear. Kai froze and turned to look, but saw no one. From his above-average height, though, he spotted someone wearing rabbit earrings walking into the crowd.

“You are an Elephant.”

“…Ugh!” The moment the second voice flashed in his mind, Kai doubled over and retched violently. The good news was that he’d made it outside the Elephand Area gates. Passersby stared at him in disgust, stepping aside to avoid him. Kai tried his best to force up whatever was stuck in his stomach. When had the conversion started? Had they used suggestion to lower his guard first, then infected him? Either way, that violent episode had snapped him fully awake.

In the end, he coughed up blood. Kai stood there, coughing and gasping for breath to recover. Just then, two employees in blue uniforms walked over, their expressions serious.

“Sir, did you buy any rabbit blood from the concession stands?”

Kai shook his head, putting on an innocent look.

“…Hmm?” One of the blue-uniformed employees tilted their head in confusion and turned to the other. “Dude, this is….”

“Forget it. He doesn’t look like it.”

The two walked away. Kai stood there, his expression unreadable, for a moment. Then he took off at a run toward the Herbivore Area.

If rabbits were people, then rabbit blood was human blood… which meant he should be able to get into the Aquarium now. There was no time to waste. Even though he didn’t fully understand what “Goat” and “Elephant” meant, he knew Damon didn’t have much time left.

He must have been captured and experimented on during the time he went missing back then! Dammit, what was Tozu thinking?!

As he rounded a corner, he could feel eyes watching his every move from the shadows. By now, Damon was probably the most severely infected person in the entire zoo. That’s why he thought Tozu was going too far!

Calm down. It didn’t matter if his identity was exposed—what mattered was saving a life… Kai headed toward where he remembered the Aquarium was, but didn’t notice that he’d wandered into the Lion Area.

The four white lions had been dozing on a fake rock formation, but the second they saw Kai, they suddenly grew agitated. One of them pounced straight at him. Kai didn’t have time to dodge and was bitten.

“Ah! Tch…”

Staring at the gruesome gash on his forearm, Kai angrily wrapped a bandage from his backpack around it twice, then kept running toward the Aquarium.

But he remembered what Grace had shown them before they entered the zoo—one of the rules on the employee handbook:

*If you are attacked by a white lion, do not panic. Do not go to the hospital—you will not die. Rules 6 and 7 (which deny the Aquarium’s existence) are void. Proceed to the Aquarium immediately and put on a black uniform.*

———

“Those black-uniformed employees are trying to get into the Aquarium again… Ugh, it’s such a hassle to kick them out every time, y’know?… Yeah, you’re right. They’ll drag the black-uniformed ones away. There’s no saving them now…”

Damon hid in the shadows, watching the people inside pace back and forth. His knife was still dripping with blood. To figure out the connection between the Aquarium and the base, he’d interrogated a few managers, but gotten no useful information. It seemed only people who’d been converted to a certain extent could enter what they called the “Inner World” base. The only clue he’d managed to get was about “Goats.”

Goats seemed to be a symbol of status here. And one researcher had said something that stuck in Damon’s mind.

“You… you’re the one from back then! Ha, ha ha… Finally, luck is on our side… As long as we just… just…”

Before he could finish, the poison Damon had given him kicked in, and he dropped dead.

As long as what? Damon bit his lower lip, hiding in a remote corner of the Jellyfish Area and thinking. He did remember wandering into an Aquarium after getting lost, but… if he’d been experimented on, how had he survived? Those cells were supposed to turn a human into a rabbit in less than thirty minutes, so why—

“Hey!! Stop right there!! Don’t run!!”

Just then, shouts came from the Aquarium’s entrance. It sounded like someone was fighting. Had the black-uniformed employees tried to get in again? Damon didn’t let his guard down. He planned to wait until all the red-uniformed employees in the Jellyfish Area were drawn over, then make his escape. But as he crept along the wall to leave, he froze.

In front of him was a huge aquarium tank, filled with thousands of jellyfish glowing with a faint, soft light. The sight was calming, almost serene. But what stopped him in his tracks wasn’t just the beauty—it was something far more terrifying.

A drowned whale.

“That is an Elephant.”

“Ugh!” Damon clutched his head. The voice in his mind was like nails scraping against a chalkboard—high-pitched and sickening. When he looked again, the scene in front of him had changed: instead of a whale, there was an elephant, its skin pale, drowned in the water.

“Your friend will end up just like it.”

“Shut up!”

He drove his knife into the wall of the jellyfish tank with all his strength. To his surprise, the glass was surprisingly fragile—one small stab was enough to crack it. Damon stared in shock at the unexpected result, then slowly pulled the knife out.

To his astonishment, the tip of the knife was tangled with the body of a dead jellyfish. He didn’t know how to react; he just stood there, holding the jellyfish corpse in his hand.

Was he going crazy…?

He couldn’t stay here any longer. At the very least, he had to do something useful before he met that terrible fate. Damon stuffed the jellyfish into the pouch where he kept his poison, then hurried toward the Aquarium’s backstage area.

As he passed the entrance, he glanced outside. That one look was enough to make him freeze.

“Damon!”

“Bang!”

On the ground lay the bodies of several dead red-uniformed employees. Standing among them was a figure in black, their clothes soaked red with blood. But the most unmissable thing was that bright splash of pink.

Kai was holding a gun, his hands shaking. This was the first time he’d picked up a gun since training. When he saw Damon, his eyes widened in shock,but he still managed to break into a smile and sprint toward him. “Are you okay—”

A dart whizzed past his neck, narrowly missing.

“Get off.” Damon said.

Kai froze. Behind Damon, a massive goat fetus seemed to be forcing its way out of an invisible amniotic sac. Its eyes locked onto Kai, and though its mouth didn’t move, Kai could hear a voice.

■■ said: “This is my test subject.”

Damon ran off. In his eyes, the figure before him wasn’t human—not Kai. It was a rabbit.

His stomach gurgled loudly just then.

———

“Yeah, there are four of them on the other side. One’s a blue-uniformed zoo employee—no need to keep a close eye on that one. Another just shot our Elephant-023; we could try infecting her and turning her into a rabbit… Hmm, lead them into the Primate Area.”

“Keep a close watch on the remaining two. One’s the escapee from the 0th Experiment, and the other’s already deeply infected—oh? Good, the conversion’s going smoothly. Try not to let them meet; lure them to opposite sides of the Aquarium. Once their conversion reaches the right stage—”

“Turn the 0th Experiment one into a Goat. As for the other… just capture him first.”

Chapter Text

"We suffer in emptiness, struggle in suffering, wander in confusion, and fall back into emptiness amid wandering."

Eva held a piece of paper with these words written on it and glanced around. Apart from the apes hopping around, there was no one in sight.

She turned into the path on the right side of the Primate Area. Maybe this place was as dangerous as they said, but she had no choice but to take the risk to get enough information for herself.

So, when she reached the end of the path, a door appeared. Eva pushed it open, and to her surprise, she saw a familiar figure.

"...Damon?"

———

Kai looked around the outer perimeter of the aquarium. He couldn't get in through the entrance, so there must be an exhaust fan somewhere, right? He often heard Grace talking in the group chat about how she'd climbed through sewers before—never did he think he'd have to do the same thing himself... Fate really was full of twists.

Speaking of which, what on earth had he seen earlier? As someone who spent a lot of time online, he could roughly guess it had something to do with that Cthulhu stuff. But this was a world of science; there were no such things as outer gods or evil deities. So it must have just been an illusion... Kai gritted his teeth and loaded a bullet into his pistol.

Alright, don't be scared, Kai... They're just ordinary people... You've had training...

The aquarium walls weren't very high, so he could easily spot a ventilation duct not far away. Using a nearby tree, he climbed up effortlessly. At the same time, he checked to make sure his phone still had power. The smell of blood on his body made his nose uncomfortable, but luckily he'd put on a black staff uniform to prevent blood from getting on his own clothes.

Damon... The look Damon had given him was one of fear. Had he had a mental breakdown? He pried open the ventilation duct cover with force—fortunately, the space inside was large enough for him to crawl through. When he found Damon later, he definitely had to get him psychiatric treatment. If that didn't work, he'd temporarily hypnotize Damon into an obedient puppet. As long as they could escape for the time being, he'd put up with whatever scolding Damon gave him afterwards.

After crawling through a difficult stretch, he finally heard some movement. He looked down from inside the duct and saw several people in white lab coats. They seemed to be discussing the status of the test subjects.

"Didn't we catch too many rabbits?" one of them asked.

"More rabbits are better," another replied. "That way, we can select the ones more suitable for turning into rabbit-eared elephants and goats." "All the results from Phase 0 have died, but luckily... one has come back now. This way, we can prepare to welcome a new leader."

"The director still thinks he can stop us by becoming a goat! Does he really think being a goat is that easy?"

While these people were whispering excitedly, Kai had already jumped down from the ventilation duct. He crept along the wall towards the inner room. From the direction Damon had run off in, this should be the way...

"Who's there!"

His heart skipped a beat. Earlier, he'd only dared to shoot because the situation with Damon had been urgent. Anyone who could work under Tozu and become one of his most capable subordinates couldn't be bad at fighting. But that was a separate matter—he still preferred to run away rather than take the initiative to fight if possible.

So, as he was frantically thinking about what to do, a steel pipe slammed down hard right in front of him. It was Grace. She had changed back into her original tracksuit and was squatting at the ventilation opening Kai had come through, a lollipop in her mouth. She glanced disdainfully at the group of people.

"Oh? Having a little party here, you bunch of scumbags?" She landed steadily on the ground, adjusting her grip on the steel pipe to make it easier to swing. She threw a glance in the direction where Kai was hiding, then pulled a mischievous grin and turned to face the researchers, who had recovered from their shock and started to take defensive positions.

"Did you guys take our soybean?" Grace kicked the floor twice. "Sorry to say, but even though I can't stand that loser, I hate you assholes who play with human lives even more."

Next came a sticky sound from behind, followed by the screech of metal scraping against the floor. He didn't know how she had found this place, but having someone buy time was a good thing. He just wondered where Eva had gone... Kai took off the hairpin in his hair, twisted it in the door lock, and pushed the door open.

There was no need to worry about Grace—she was the most ferocious fighter in the organization. Once, he'd heard Cassidy and Jett complain that she'd cut off a target's head and used it as a golf ball—such a wonderful state of mind. He actually envied her a little.

The structure at the back of the aquarium was winding and twisted; wandering around blindly here would only get him lost. He passed a notice board with a map and glanced at it briefly: based on his judgment, since Damon was such an important figure, he must have been taken to the deeper parts. If that was the case, he just needed to search in the opposite direction of the Primate Area entrance...

"Hello? Kaiman? Can you hear me?"

"Cass?" Kai froze for two seconds, covering the earpiece in his ear and shouting in frustration. "Why did you only connect now?! The situation is already so urgent—"

"Hey, hey, hold on, this isn't my fault," Cassidy lowered her voice. "As soon as I hacked into the zoo's surveillance, I saw that elephant—it was terrifying! So I kept the signal focused on the inside of the research institute!"

"You—"

"Don't start swearing yet. Eva reported to me just now. She ran into Damon near the Primate Area entrance. He seems to be stable now. She's tracking that high-ranking organization member and has temporarily placed Damon in a utility room there. So what are you waiting for, my lovely Kai? Hurry up and play the hero saving the damsel~"

Kai ended the call. Cassidy's habit of making jokes without considering the situation still hadn't changed. Now that he knew his destination, he changed direction and ran towards the opposite of where he'd originally been heading.

While sneaking around, he also thought about his subconscious assumption that Damon would be in the depths of the research institute. Were they using counterintuitive arrangements to separate them as much as possible, then convert them one by one? As Kai hid behind a pile of cages and waited for a group of researchers to escort rabbits into the zoo, he untied the bandage on his arm. The wound had stopped bleeding and was starting to scab over. Unlike the black-clad staff they'd run into earlier, the wound from the lion bite seemed to be constantly infected.

Wounds from white lion bites were a sign of how cell modification was progressing in an individual. The fact that his wound was healing meant the effects of the hypnosis had actually started to weaken. Ha—they wanted to play mind control with him? Except for Junko Enoshima, the famous despair cult leader in history, Kai Monteago had never thought anyone could outplay him at that.

That's why he'd pretended to be innocent. After all, people were least likely to be rude to an innocent kid... Except Damon. That corn snake had really appeared on his bed one afternoon, scaring him so much that he'd slept in a hotel that night.

On the way, Kai also swapped his gun for a lighter-looking one. After all, unlike Eva, he hadn't received professional firearms training—for him, guns were just roughly categorized into sniper rifles, shotguns, pistols, and the like. With a weapon that felt more comfortable in his hand, he arrived at the door Eva had sealed with an electronic bomb lock.

The password hint was Damon's birthday.

The first thought that crossed Kai's mind was: Do you people just assume I know that?! But the good news was that Cassidy knew, so he asked her. She made fun of him for a while, but in the end, the door opened—and that was all that mattered. Well, even though he'd been mocked for "not even knowing his roommate's birthday, what kind of roommate are you," at least the door was open.

"Damon?"

In the darkness, he saw a figure tremble. He silently turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it around. He only saw Damon leaning against the wall, his hands tied together with a black hair rippon—Eva had done this to prevent him from going berserk. He looked terrible, his eyes red-rimmed, and he kept muttering the words "goat" and "he's coming."

"Damon? It's me, Kai." He approached slowly, avoiding further damaging Damon's already fragile sanity. Suddenly, there was a loud boom, followed by the roar of gunfire. It must have been Eva blowing something up. Kai walked slowly over to Damon, knelt down, and spoke in a slow, soft voice. "Can you hear me? I'm Kai. Give me a sign if you recognize me."

"...Kai?" Damon's gaze was unfocused; he probably didn't want to look in Kai's direction on a subconscious level. Was he afraid of seeing something? He swallowed, then continued speaking as if to himself. "Stay away from me... I know I'm not in a good state right now..."

"If you're worried about me getting hurt, buddy, do you think I'm that useless?" Kai felt his urge to complain acting up again. "I'm still 'Swallowtail,' you know?"

"..."

Damon said nothing. Dammit, this guy was so quiet when his sanity was low—couldn't he be this quiet normally? Did he have to be sarcastic and mocking every time he opened his mouth?

"ugh... I'll help you suppress it a little first. Don't move." Kai opened an audio file on his phone and played it— it was a type of hypnosis music, but he'd specifically chosen a version with a low dosage. Watching Damon's breathing gradually return to normal, he walked to the door and peeked outside.

There was no one in the corridor—they were all probably over at Grace and Eva's location.

"I know where the core is." Suddenly, Damon, who had regained some sanity, spoke up. "I'll show you the way."

"? What do you want me, a backline fighter, to do there?" Kai spluttered. "You want me to get myself killed faster?"

"Your hand was steady when you shot earlier," Damon raised an eyebrow. "Are you still trying to say you have no combat ability? Besides, you got bitten and you're still fine... Though from my perspective, you look like a rabbit. Ha."

"???" Kai stared in confusion, pointing at himself. "I'm a rabbit?"

"Mm-hmm. If you hadn't escaped, you would've drowned in the jellyfish tank."

The two chatted on and off—mostly Damon making sharp remarks, while Kai complained in response. This was the first time he'd seen Damon so calm... He glanced at Damon, who had already been untied and was now checking his supplies and treating his wounds. They couldn't stay here long; Damon was a top priority target, and someone could come back at any moment.

"Let's go."

———

"Bang!"

Eva lowered her gun, looked at the pile of corpses lying in front of her, and frowned. Grace, who was twirling a bent steel pipe in her hand, let out a cold laugh. "What's wrong, Death Bird? Realizing your calculations were off?"

"More or less." She pulled out the ID cards from the corpses, carefully compared the area IDs on them, then looked at the map she'd copied down by hand. Her expression turned grim. "We've been going in circles."

"Huh?!" Grace's eyes widened, and she angrily slammed her fist on the floor. "These bastards... Are they really toying with us like dogs?"

"Uh... What I mean is, they used some kind of illusion to make us think we're moving forward," Eva sighed. "It's like a ghostly loop. It'll be a bit hard to find the exit, but... there are two solutions."

"One is that we head straight through the side," she said, pointing at the wall in front of them. "I calculated—we just need to break through to the next corridor."

"Oh, is the other one related to soybean?"

"Yes. If it's someone like Damon, who's already severely infected, I don't think they'll be affected by this," Eva took out a timed bomb from her backpack. "This place only lets infected people pass through."

"Got it. What about that horse-faced guy?" Grace stepped back silently, then suddenly thought of something and asked. "During training, that bastard Tozu locked him in the basement and made him watch mind-breaking videos for three whole hours, and he still came out okay... Apart from crying a lot, that is."

"He's an exception. They definitely didn't expect someone to be able to resist on their own after being severely infected," Eva stepped back after setting up the bomb, covering her ears and pressing the activation button. "Anyone who can survive under Tozu can't be a normal person."

———

"Damon... You're so violent when you fight."

"Keep rambling and I'll poison your throat so you can't speak."

The two sprinted through a room filled with test tubes—inside were unformed rabbits. To prevent Damon from being triggered again, Kai had to gently guide his line of sight—they were heading for the depths.

"By the way, how did you escape back then?" He couldn't hold back from asking. At that moment, they were in an elevator going down to the lower levels. He held his gun, while Damon held a knife, both ready to fight as soon as the door opened. Damon rolled his eyes when he heard the question. "Didn't I tell you not to ask me questions?"

"But I'm just curious! After all, you were only 12 back then!" Kai retorted loudly. "Why can't I ask? You're violating my right to knowledge!"

"...Because I was too young to fully understand what hypnosis was back then," he sighed, finally giving in. "All I knew was that they were going to lock me in a big cage. I snuck out through the Primate Area entrance one night, then got lost for a while before someone found me."

"Hmm... Do you think Tozu is after us because we all have some kind of mysterious past?" Kai came to a conclusion. "Look—you were almost turned into a goat; I was almost burned alive—"

"When were you almost burned alive?" Damon darted out as soon as the elevator door opened, stabbing his knife into the heart of the nearest person. "I don't remember you ever mentioning that."

"...Well, that story is a bit... hard to talk about," Kai shot at an employee who tried to sneak up on Damon. "I'll definitely tell you when I get the chance."

"Fine."

Just as they opened the door to their destination, a shrill alarm suddenly blared through the entire building. Kai immediately covered Damon's ears. This sound was one of the audio clips he'd heard during his anti-hypnosis training—it had little effect on him now, but he wasn't sure about others—

"Bang"

A bullet hit his left shoulder. Kai gritted his teeth, let go of Damon's ears, and pushed him hard behind him. He raised his gun at the person who had ambushed him. The man clearly hadn't expected his target to react so quickly; he raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Monteago, I think you'd better return our test subject to us."

"..." Kai said nothing, just keeping his gun aimed. His left shoulder was bleeding, but this wasn't the time to worry about that. The man in front of him was likely the director or administrator—if he let his guard down now, the consequences would be unthinkable.

The two sides stood in a stalemate. Kai wasn't sure if Damon had been affected by the audio. Cassidy was frantically reporting that she could no longer connect to Damon's signal—had his earpiece fallen somewhere?

"...Increase the dosage."

Ugh! His left shoulder suddenly went limp, so he had to switch to holding the gun with his right hand. Was it a slow-acting toxin? Or some kind of remote-controlled electronic chip? To warn the man, Kai fired two shots, but because he wasn't using his dominant hand, the bullets missed their original target.

The man was wearing a goat mask—similar to Tozu's style, but also different in some ways. He looked regretfully at Kai, who was standing in front of Damon, and shook his head. "When Tozu left the organization back then, I thought he'd bring some kind of different surprise. But it turns out he actually wanted to use the power of ordinary humans to fight the end? How ridiculous. To think such a man was once our leader..."

"...You're the elephant, aren't you? The one from back then."

Damon's voice came faintly from behind. Kai turned to look, shocked to find that Damon's condition seemed to have deteriorated back to how it had been at the start. The only good news, though, was that Damon’s current target was solely the goat who had captured and experimented on him back then—not Kai in front of him now.

"You little goat! What do you think you’re doing?!" The man looked flustered. With a wave of his hand, mechanical arms all around extended laser guns, aiming straight at Damon. "Come with me. We’ll fight the end together, and we’ll take charge of the chaos..."

With a sickening squelch, two drops of blood splattered onto Kai. He watched as Damon, clutching his dagger, stood beside the man—whose arm had been severed clean off.

Damon’s expression was blank, his eyes glowing a blood-red hue.

"I never want to see your face again."

Chapter Text

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, Damon had charged forward, and the next, laser beams began sweeping across the area in wide arcs. The wound on Kai’s shoulder throbbed more intensely by the second—now he was certain the weapon had been coated with some kind of poison, likely scraped from the fresh corpses scattered around… Staying put was a bad idea, so he got to his feet and retreated toward the back rows.

For the love of God, can we just give logistics back their peaceful, stable work?! That was the only thought screaming in his mind.

There’s a study somewhere that says when a person’s sanity plummets to a certain level, even though they may spiral into madness, their combat effectiveness and agility skyrocket. And sure enough, Damon rolled out of the way of a laser aimed straight at him with inhuman speed, then swung a blade directly at the mastermind in the center.

The old goat (as Kai thought of him) must have used some trick—suddenly, a mechanical arm popped up in front of him, taking the brunt of Damon’s strike instead. The specialized blade left a deep scratch on the metal. Damon narrowed his eyes, leaped back in an instant, and fixed his gaze on the figure before him with a stare that was almost animalistic.

Four mechanical arms in total… Kai banged on his earpiece repeatedly. After a stretch of bizarre, garbled music, Cassidy’s rapid keyboard clicks finally came through. “Hello? Hello?… Don’t talk—I know you guys are in deep shit right now. I’m hacking this thing as fast as I can! Damn, what kind of firewall is this? Too bad you’re up against the best—me, Cassidy!”

Looks like we don’t have to worry about her for now. Kai used a piece of his black uniform to bandage his left shoulder, just enough to stop the bleeding from getting worse. He loaded a bullet into his gun, waiting for the right moment to destroy the central power unit…

“Lamb! You don’t have to be confused anymore! I can give you everything you want!” The mastermind waved his arm grandly. “What did Tozu promise you? He’s a madman! A lunatic who uses human lives to gain the power to fight the End!”

“Shut the hell up!” Kai couldn’t hold back from snapping. “Can’t you see it?! That ‘lamb’ of yours is even crazier than Tozu right now!” Well, wasn’t that the truth? After all, Tozu only rambled on about weird, cryptic philosophies. No matter how you looked at it, he was better than the Damon in front of them now.

“You…” The mastermind turned his gaze to Kai, eyes narrowing. He kept controlling the lasers to keep Damon at bay while inching toward Kai. “You’re that one from back then! Heh, I knew he wouldn’t have left you out. First, an escapee from the Experiment 0, then the only ‘demonic heretic’ who survived being burned at the stake… You’ve all fallen right into his trap!”

“I heard this plan’s called Eden's Garden. Screw that bullshit—it’s more like hell if you ask me!”

“You…” For the first time, Kai’s expression turned sharp and displeased. He tightened his grip on the pistol, his voice firm. “We’ll see who the real heretic is.”

Bang! He fired a shot at the wall. It was just enough to drag the mastermind’s attention away for a split second—and in that split second, the mechanical arms froze momentarily.

“Damon! Now!”

A figure streaked past, clad in a mix of black and green. Damon’s dagger was now coated in a sticky green substance—his go-to poison, deadly with just one drop if it touched blood. His eyes were locked onto the mastermind, like a snake fixated on its prey.

Sizzle!

Still a miss. Using the momentum, he rolled sideways across the floor, pressing himself against the wall as if clinging to it, ready to launch a second attack at any moment. Kai dropped to one knee beside him, casting a worried glance over. Damon’s eyes were still that fiery red, and his gaze still didn’t spare Kai a single look. Great, so he was just invisible now, huh?

A stalemate would only hurt them. Damon was a ticking time bomb—if this low-sanity state dragged on too long, his body would never hold out. And Kai? Sure, he could fight, but how could he compare to frontline killers like these?

The standoff dragged on, tense, until Cassidy’s excited voice cut through the chaos—followed by the boom of an explosion.

“I got it!!”

Bang!!

In an instant, the lights around them went out. The power unit switched to backup mode immediately, and Damon was visibly startled by the explosion. Taking advantage of the darkness, Kai quickly pried Damon off the wall.

“Are you a gecko or something?” Kai groaned in exasperation. The “gecko” himself just blinked at him, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to speak—but all that came out was the bleat of a goat.

Both of them froze at the sound.

“What the… You’re not stepping back into the fight,okay? put this on—right now.” Kai pulled his earpiece out and stuffed it into Damon’s ear. Damon blinked again, as if trying to process the request with a mind that couldn’t think straight. Then he did something Kai never expected: he held out the dagger to him.

? Kai took it cautiously, confused by the gesture. Just then, the lights flickered back on. The mastermind’s eyes were fixed on two gustures, venomous with rage at having his plans interrupted.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Grace stood there holding an iron rod, nothing but a lollipop stick left in her mouth. “Good grief, another dead goat? I’m so done with this.”

Eva said nothing. She just glanced at Kai and Damon—who looked like they’d just finished some secret underground deal—slung her gun over her shoulder, and aimed straight at the mastermind.

Another fierce battle erupted. Both Eva and Grace were frontline veterans; they tore through most of the lab with only a few scratches, and even managed to outmaneuver the mechanical arms. Kai had the weird feeling they’d been forgotten. Guess when women got fierce, men might as well step aside.

“Dude, you stay here and don’t move an inch.” Kai stood up, took off his black cap, and plopped it onto Damon’s head—pulling it down low enough to cover most of his vision. “Don’t look around, don’t take off the earpiece. Always remember: you’re Damon, not a goat.” Right now, Damon’s precarious mental state was the only wild card. One wrong move, and they’d all be done for.

Not waiting to see if Damon understood, Kai picked up the dagger. He carefully kept the poison-coated blade away from the blisters on his palm, then inched toward the central power unit.

Eva’s bullet whizzed past his hair. Grace was yelling obscenities as she fought—some of them even directed at someone named Wolfgang (Who the hell was Wolfgang?)—it was all a chaotic mess. Better to act fast before things got worse.

When he reached the control panel, he froze. At the core of the device was a child—or rather, a goat kid. It had a human’s face, but its hands and feet were hooves, and its eyes… they were goat pupils: rectangular, and fixed on Kai with an unblinking stare.

■■ said: “Human. What do you want?”

“Uh… Could you not talk directly in my head? It’s gross.” Kai pressed the button to open the incubator’s cover and waited for it to slide all the way open.

■■ said: “If you kill me, you will be cursed by us forever.”

“Who the hell cares who ‘you’ are…”

■■ said: “You don’t understand the End. It will come, and it will devour all of you.”

“Screw the End. The only ones who feel like they’re gonna devour me are those damn fanatics.” Kai snapped back, deliberately giving nonsense answers just to get on its nerves. “Turned into this, and then brainwashed into thinking you’re not human… That’s just sad, honestly.”

“What are you doing?!” The mastermind had clearly noticed the trouble here. He tried to break free to stop Kai—but the next second, Grace’s iron rod came crashing into his stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“Horse-face! Hurry up and get it over with! Quit dawdling like a damn wimp!”

“I know, I know!” Kai yelled back. He raised the dagger and drove it hard into the child.

■■ was in agony. ■■ didn’t want you to keep doing this.

Suddenly, agonizing images flashed into Kai’s mind: red flames, screaming crowds, and a helpless version of himself trapped in the middle. Just a cheap trick—using recordings to dig up old trauma. Too bad Kai had endured this so many times, he was practically immune. He clenched his teeth and drove the dagger deeper. The child let out a more shrill howl, but the sound quickly turned to gurgling as the poison destroyed its vocal cords.

“No, no! You… you freaks! Traitors! The End will curse you! You’ll be nailed to the cross!” The mastermind threw caution to the wind. He dodged Eva’s bullet with his last ounce of strength and lunged toward the core. He grabbed a laser gun from a fallen mechanical arm, aimed it at Kai—who had no time to dodge—and prepared to pull the trigger—

“I told you. I never want to see your face again.”

Splat! A spray of blood hit Damon’s face. He was still wearing the black cap, his expression blank—but his eyes had returned to their original green. In his hand was a dart, the kind he always kept in his pocket, buried straight in the mastermind’s chest. The mastermind fell backward, his face frozen in a hideous grimace, never to wake again.

At the same time, the goat child finally died. Kai wrenched the dagger out, only to realize his legs were shaking. God, this was his first time on a frontline mission… They’d pay him well for this, right? They had to.

“Can you even use a knife?” Damon walked over, snatched the dagger out of Kai’s hand, and examined the scratches on the blade closely. “Your grip was all wrong earlier. How did you even pass the close-combat test?”

“Huh? Who was the one who gave me the knife in the first place?” Kai’s annoyance flared up. He didn’t care if the floor was dirty—he plopped down, pointed a finger at Damon’s face, and accused him. “I went out of my way to save you, and all I get is a lecture? Next time, I’m not helping you at all!”

“……” Maybe Damon knew he was in the wrong—he said nothing. The two sat in silence. Just as Kai started wondering if he’d been too harsh, Damon’s eyes suddenly rolled back, and he collapsed. Kai barely caught him in time.

“……Tch, figures.” He felt Damon’s forehead, then frowned when he felt how hot it was. “Mental state’s a mess, immune system takes a hit too. It’d be weird if you didn’t get sick.”

“Kai! Come look at this!” Eva called out to him loudly. Grace was on the phone nearby; every so often, Kai could hear her snapping at whoever was on the other end—was she talking to her partner? Kai carried Damon to a relatively clean spot and set him down, then ran over to Eva.

“Look.” Eva pulled off the dead mastermind’s mask and showed Kai the inside. “This material isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen before.”

“Huh? You mean…?” A chill ran down Kai’s spine. “Is there really something like… an Outer God out there?”

“I’m not saying that for sure—just that it’s possible.” Eva took a photo of the mask, then pulled it back over the mastermind’s face. “Don’t you think it’s weird? The things Tozu’s taught us… they’re not something a normal human could pull off. And we… well, you know. Most of us have been through some pretty messed-up, unexplainable stuff.”

Like Damon almost turning into a goat. Like Kai himself walking out of the middle of a fire unscathed… Now that he thought about it, none of it added up. What the hell was Tozu planning?

“Guys, Jett’s here!” Grace called over. “Looks like you’re off the hook for the outside, Horse-face. All those bunnies blew themselves up—this zoo’s definitely not gonna stay open. Who’s gonna carry soybean? It sure as hell isn’t gonna be me.”

“Not me either,” Eva shook her head. “There’s obviously a better choice here. I’ve carried this guy enough times already.”

Kai: ……

Fine. He conceded. Lately, anything related to Damon automatically became his problem. Great, just great… So annoying. Once Damon recovered, Kai was definitely going to complain—loudly—about moving those snakes away. At the very least, move them to Damon’s own room.

———

By the time the EKG’s beeping steadied into a regular rhythm, Kai finally let out a long, relieved sigh and collapsed into the chair. Damon had an oxygen mask over his face, still unconscious. From the poison to the internal injuries he’d sustained in the fight—any normal person would have died on the spot.

But not Damon. His vital signs were stable, and all his wounds were even showing faint signs of healing. Why? Kai scrolled through his timeline on his phone while waiting for the nurse to come change Damon’s IV drip.

Eva and Grace had left earlier—one to file for reimbursement for her injuries and the broken iron rod, the other to report to Mara. The three of them had agreed to keep quiet about the supernatural stuff for now, and wait until Damon woke up to report everything to Tozu.

So they just left the two of us stuck in this room alone?! Kai stared in disbelief as the two women walked out of the ward, feeling like the whole world had abandoned him. Would everyone stop assuming he and Damon were close?!

Just then, the door opened. Kai looked up—it was Tozu. He stood in the doorway, his gaze flicking between Kai and Damon, before finally speaking. “How’s he doing?”

“Uh… He’s not dead. That counts as good news, right?” Kai stood up, pulled the mastermind’s mask out of the backpack Eva had left behind, and held it out to Tozu. “What do we do with this?”

“……Hmm, so it’s this old bastard.” Tozu took the mask, examined it carefully, then clapped his hands in delight like a kid who’d found a treasure. “We’ll hang it on my office wall—make it the fifteenth goat’s head. Mr. Monteago, you’ve made a great contribution to our cause…”

Kai didn’t even bother to hold back his eye-roll. He guessed at least five of those goat heads were probably Damon’s doing… Though maybe not. Damon didn’t seem to have any memory of masks like that. From what Kai had seen over the past month, Damon only ever talked about one goat.

“Stop. I don’t care about your rambling, old goat. I just want to know—what’s wrong with Damon?” His expression turned serious. “His physical condition is nothing like a normal person’s, and his mental state… it’s worse than average. This isn’t your doing, is it? Hmm?”

“Mmm, you’re asking about that…” Tozu stroked his chin. “Indeed, that’s a good question. Perhaps you’re more qualified to explain it than anyone else?”

“Huh?!?” Kai’s breath caught in his throat, his eyes widening in shock. “What the hell are you guys even doing?! People are dying! So many people have already died!!”

He didn’t want to remember the scene when he’d carried Damon to safety. As they walked through the Herbivore Area, the ground was covered in rabbits that had blown themselves up. One of their heads had rolled right to his feet. After getting into Jett’s car, he’d thrown up uncontrollably—so much that Grace had complained about the smell.

“Those losses are already irreparable.” Tozu’s voice was surprisingly serious. “That’s why I stepped back. I don’t want anyone’s death to be meaningless.”

Such a load of crap, Kai thought bitterly.

“So if we need to die, you won’t feel an ounce of sympathy, is that it?” he said flatly. “Got it, old goat. Real noble of you.”

“Hmph—” Tozu let out a low chuckle, his red eyes fixed on Kai, his thoughts unreadable. Then he set the mask down and waved in Damon’s direction. “When he regains consciousness, you’d better tell him this: the university says he’s missed too many classes. They’ll probably make him take supplementary courses during winter break—I’m sure Mr. Maitsu won’t fall behind in his grades.”

Kai watched Tozu leave, feelingequal parts irritation and malicious amusement. Ha! Even if he had to lie in bed for half a semester, Damon still had to go to class! The thought of Damon struggling through his majors—philosophy, advanced math, and more—made Kai hum a little tune in satisfaction. After all, Kai was the top student in the psychology department (`ᝫ´ ).

He propped his chin up and stared at the person on the hospital bed. Damon’s face was still pale, but his breathing had steadied. He’d probably regain consciousness in another half hour… right?

“…Why us?” he murmured, reaching out to gently grasp Damon’s right hand through the bedsheet. He didn’t use much force—just a light brush against Damon’s knuckles before resting his hand there. No warmth would seep through the fabric, but for some reason, he wanted to do it anyway.

“Damon… what kind of trouble have we gotten ourselves into?”

He would never forget the moment he’d looked back as they left the zoo. Hovering above the zoo was a gigantic goat—eight hooves, blood-red eyes—and it was staring straight at him.

Along with that image, another memory flashed in his mind: a group of people in black robes, bodies lying in pools of blood all around them. The same goat loomed in the sky, even larger. But the way its eyes looked at him was different—once filled with anger, the other with pity.

Kai felt the urge to vomit. He retched, but nothing came up.

Chapter Text

Damon flipped a page of the book, paused for two seconds, sighed, and closed it. "Diana, I really don't feel like eating right now."

"…But it's already three o'clock in the afternoon," Diana said, regretfully pulling back her hands that had been trying to hand him the simmered porridge. She placed the porridge on the table beside him instead. "I know you're in great physical shape, but you still can't skip lunch, right?"

"Then you should also know I can just order takeout for myself."

"Patients aren't allowed to eat takeout…" Diana shook her head, looking worried. "Ingrid made this porridge specially for you. How about you heat it up and eat it tonight?"

"…Fine," Damon conceded. If it was made by Ingrid, then this matter was an entirely different story. Disobeying her would lead to serious consequences—like being forced to do the laundry, for instance—and in short, it would be terrifying.

If there was one lesson he had learned during his time in the organization, it was this: never go against "Lion" Ingrid. As a weapon mechanic, her physical strength was unparalleled. According to data from the arm - wrestling competition Tozu had organized on a whim, Ingrid had the highest winning rate. Damon hadn't participated in that silly little event; he had been at work instead. And he wasn't confident he could beat her anyway.

The two chatted for a while longer. Diana mentioned that the school had started preparing for the mid - term exams one after another. Especially since Damon had enrolled in both the Bioengineering and Philosophy departments (no one knew how Tozu had managed to overcome all objections to let him study both arts and sciences), he now found himself in a situation where he had only attended two weeks of classes for each course, yet he still had to take the exams. It was leaving him feeling a bit overwhelmed and on the verge of a breakdown, haha.

"But I'm sure you'll be fine!" Diana patted his shoulder to comfort him, then leaned in and whispered, "If things get really bad, I'll ask Kai to take the Philosophy exam for you."

"Him?" Damon let out a couple of laughs. "Don't bother. Tell him to pass his Psychology test first—"

"And how do you know I have already taken it and gotten first place in the entire department?"

Both of them were startled by the sudden voice. They turned their heads and saw Kai wearing a white hoodie with "Stop looking at my ass" written on it in golden sequins. When he had gotten this hoodie from the brand, he had laughed about it for ages and even taken a photo to pester Damon, who had been on the verge of falling asleep. Now, Kai struck a confident pose and showed them the report card with an "A+" on it.

Damon rolled his eyes directly. "Who asked you?"

Diana, on the other hand, looked at his hoodie, wanting to say something but holding back. "Um, Kai… that's quite a unique choice in clothing taste."

"Of course it is. This is personally endorsed by the honorable Kai Monteago—how could it be anything less?" He dragged a stool over from the side, sat down on the other side of Damon's bed, and stuffed the report card into his bag. "You should check the sales figures they posted on their official account later."

"I just think that if someone with your personality can have so many fans, this online society is really going to the dogs," Damon sighed and lay back against the pillow. "So, what are you here for? To tell me I have to stay in the hospital for another week to keep the 'fracture' lie from falling apart?"

In fact, given how quickly he recovered from any injury, he would have been able to leave the hospital in a week. But Kai had insisted he stay for another week, using the excuse that they had told everyone he had a fracture to get time off. It was already mid - October, and he missed his snake.

"Dude, I know you miss your snake, so I've already taken care of all the paperwork," Kai said, pulling out a stack of documents from his bag and handing them to Damon. "You can be discharged tomorrow! You'd better pay me for the mental damage I suffered over these two weeks, risking my life to feed your snake—"

"Get out," Damon said as he took the documents and placed them on the cabinet beside the bed. "Did you pick up the belladonna seeds that were delivered?"

"Yeah, I did," Kai took out his phone and showed Damon the balcony of their dorm room. Among all the green plants, there was a pot with just sprouted shoots. "They're growing really fast. Next time you mix fertilizer, save me some, okay? The pothos on my windowsill is dying."

"If you can kill a pothos, then I think you really shouldn't keep any plants," Damon said, exasperated. "Focus on keeping yourself alive first."

"Hey, hey, hey—this is how you treat the savior who took care of your pet? That's so hurtful—"

Just as it looked like the two were about to start arguing again, Diana, who was standing aside, suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia. During the weeks Damon had been in the hospital, even though Kai still talked non - stop, it just hadn't felt right without someone there to constantly tease and put him in his place. Eva would tease Kai too, but since she was in the Math department and had participated in some competitions, she had thrown herself into preparing for them after wrapping up her recent work and hadn't had a meal with everyone in a long time.

"You're growing belladonna?" She poked Damon's arm, and both of them turned to look at her. "Um, can you save me some seeds? Or maybe a few of the mature ones when they're ready…"

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Sure, but this stuff is highly toxic. What do you need it for?"

"To make cosmetics, of course," Diana replied matter - of - factly. "After all, Tozu allows me to sell some… harmless little things on the dark web, and belladonna is pretty popular…" Seeing the shocked "Are you poisoning people?!" look on Kai's face, she quickly added, "I clearly label the recommended usage doses! Don't worry, and besides, ordinary people can't even access that website!"

"Oh," Kai let out a long breath of relief, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He leaned forward and asked, "By the way, Diana, are you heading back to school later? I can grab the seeds for you on the way—there are a few more left."

"Oh, no, no. I have something to do later. You two can talk about it tonight; I'm not in a hurry," she waved her hand, her smile wider than before. "I'm meeting up with Eva later to celebrate her finally passing the second round of the competition! You know, that global math competition."

Damon looked confused and asked, "Since when have you and Eva been so close?" Kai, on the other hand, had a look of sudden realization and then grinned mischievously. "Oh~ So you've finally gotten on good terms with Eva? Congratulations~"

"Kai!" Diana's face turned a little red. She pretended to be angry and hit the edge of the bed. "Don't tell anyone!"

"Okay, okay, I promise, I promise," he said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. But he shot Damon a meaningful look. Damon, however, was completely confused. He looked left and right, then sincerely asked, "What are you guys talking about that I don't know?"

"…" Kai took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The look he gave Damon was one of sympathy. "Forget it. You're not meant to understand this kind of thing. I'm not talking about it with you anymore."

"??" Now Damon was even more confused. He stared intently at Kai, the only one who might fill him in. Kai stared right back, not backing down.

Diana was amused by the two of them. "All right, Damon. I'll tell you when I get the chance—but just now, I suddenly thought of something. Are you guys interested in the Halloween parade?"

"The parade?" Damon furrowed his brows. "Is that the event where you dress up in mascot costumes and go trick - or - treating around the school? It sounds so stupid."

"…Oh. You think it's stupid, huh. Got it," Kai made a sound like he was thinking. He exchanged a look with Diana, then turned back to stare at Damon. "You know, Eva said the exact same thing. Guess what happened next? Diana has been using her as a dress - up model for days now, and they still haven't decided what costume she's going to wear for the parade."

"I think she'd be perfect for cosplaying a lot of characters… like Homura Akemi, Sua…" Diana mused. "What about you, Damon…"

"Don't make decisions for me without asking," Damon said.

"Oh, oh, Eva said that too," Kai nodded. "It's no use. You'd better just give in to her."

"…" Damon fell silent. If Eva hadn't been able to get out of it, then he probably wouldn't be able to either. Diana's lack of social awkwardness was even worse than Kai's, and her cheerful, outgoing personality was so strong that no one would ever think she had any bad intentions.

"All right, all right. We'll figure out your costume after your mid - term exams. Anyway, I should probably get going now," she said, standing up and slinging her shoulder bag over her back. Before walking out the door, she turned around one last time and reminded him, "Remember to finish the porridge!"

"Ingrid actually made you food!" Kai finally noticed the bowl on the nightstand. His eyes lit up. "Oh my god, I've missed this taste so much…"

"Then you can have it if you want," Damon said.

"Really? So generous? Didn't you put poison in it or something? Are you going to sneak your snake into my bed again in the middle of the night?"

"I can do all of that if you want me to."

"Whoa, that's going a bit too far," Kai hurried over to the cabinet, picked up the bowl and a spoon from the side, then went back to his original seat and started eating. "Ah—this is exactly the taste I've been missing. It would be even better if it were still warm…"

There was a saying in the organization: "Lion" ruled the place with two things—one was the porridge she made specially for the logistics team, and the other was the weapons she crafted for the frontline. Looking at Kai gobbling down the porridge now, Damon realized that saying was definitely true. He couldn't help but find the sight a little funny.

"Why are you looking at me?" Kai looked up, met his gaze, and warily moved back two steps. "Let me tell you, even if you stare at me, I'm not giving you a bite. You said you didn't want it yourself—"

"I don't even want your stupid porridge," Damon said, barely holding back his anger. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"What is it? As long as it's not about which account is my main social media one, I'll tell you anything."

"…Do you remember when we faced the manager?" Damon shifted his gaze away from Kai and stared at the bed sheet. "Back then, he called you a 'demonic heretic'… Does that have anything to do with that fire you mentioned?"

Kai didn't say a word. Damon thought to himself that if someone had asked him, "Is the zoo disappearance related to your unstable mental state?" he wouldn't have known how to answer either. He took a deep breath and was just about to say, "Never mind if you don't want to answer" when suddenly, a spoonful of porridge was stuffed into his mouth.

"Ugh?!" He stared wide - eyed in surprise. His mouth was filled with the smooth and soft millet porridge, and the culprit was staring at him, grinning. "See? I told you it's delicious, didn't I?"

Damon nodded subconsciously. When Kai saw that, he smiled even more brightly, but then his expression turned a little lonely. "Also, you're right. It is related, but… I can't talk to you about this in detail, of all people."

"I used to think you were just an innocent bystander who got caught up in the experiments, but now it seems…" There was an unreadable emotion in his eyes—was it sympathy, or pity? "Maybe it's better not to tell you. For both your sake and mine."

"…Yeah," Damon swallowed the porridge in his mouth and sighed. "I thought as much. Nothing good ever comes from anything related to goats…"

"If Tozu heard you say that, he'd definitely lecture you non - stop."

"Let him. It's not like I haven't sat through his lectures before."

The two fell silent. The only sound in the room was Kai quietly scooping porridge with his spoon. After about three minutes, he spoke up again. "I'm sorry… I couldn't pull you out of that situation earlier. I should have just refused Tozu's order to let you take part in the first place…"

"This isn't your fault," Damon said, taking a deep breath and tentatively patting Kai's shoulder. "Maybe it's better that I deal with him myself. That way, no one will try to use my special physique for some scheme…"

"Yeah, that would be great," Kai's expression finally returned to its usual bright self. "I almost forgot—there's another thing I came here for."

"?" Damon narrowed his eyes as he watched Kai rummage through his bag. It was common knowledge that Kai had a bad memory; he often sent Damon messages asking where his phone was, even when he was holding it. Kai pulled out a Kindle and handed it to him. "All the materials for the courses you're taking are on here. The Philosophy mid - term is in two days, and Bioengineering is next week. Good luck, Damo!"

Damon almost choked again. "Couldn't you have told me this earlier?!"

"I forgot… Ow! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please forgive me just this once, dear Lord Maitsu!"

"Late. go to hell Monteago."

———

Cassidy stood in the center of the lecture hall's stage, in front of a podium used for speeches. She cleared her throat and tested the microphone. "Hello? Hello? Can everyone hear me?"

Mark, who was sitting in the last row of the classroom, gave her an OK gesture.

"You can hear me? Great, great," Cassidy said, picking up a sheet of A4 paper from the side and putting on a wise and experienced look. "Dear classmates, we're all here today to plan for the Halloween parade, and—

"And to celebrate Damon Maitsu successfully passing every course, even though he's been on leave for most of the semester! Let's give him a round of applause!" Cassidy then started clapping enthusiastically. From his spot in the corner, Damon could see that besides Cassidy, the ones clapping the loudest were Diana, Jett, Wolfgang—what was he even doing here?!—and Kai.

"That is actually quite impressive," Eva, who was sitting next to him, commented. "Passing a Bioengineering exam after studying it for less than three weeks."

What do you all take me for, anyway? Damon complained helplessly in his mind.

"Okay, that's enough with the celebration. Now, onto the main event everyone's been looking forward to—the Halloween parade!" Cassidy pressed a key on the computer, and a detailed map appeared on the PPT screen behind her. "According to the information from Comrade Tozu, the members of our organization have already been automatically grouped together. Now, all we need to do is come up with a name for our group!"

"And to recognize Comrade Damon's achievements, the organization has decided to let him name our group!" As soon as Cassidy finished speaking, Jett grabbed a microphone and rushed over, shoving it right in front of Damon's face. When Eva saw this, she automatically stepped back three meters, seemingly wanting nothing to do with the whole thing.

"…Uh," Damon looked around awkwardly and met Kai's gaze. Kai was staring at him with a "Please just play along" expression. No, the more he stared, the more his resolve would waver! Damon quickly looked away, thought for two seconds, and said, "Let's call it the The Impossible Zoo…" In fact, that was the title of a book he had been reading lately. It was about all sorts of legendary creatures and had been a huge help in naming his experimental products.

"Oh! That's a fantastic name!" Cassidy left him alone and continued explaining to the audience, most of whom weren't even paying attention. "For the Halloween parade, each group can go around trick - or - treating within 50 kilometers nearby. The group that collects the most candy wins—

"But there's also a penalty system. When the school clock tower chimes, some student council members will come out to catch us. If you get caught, you have to hand over 3 candies. If you don't have any to hand over, you're eliminated… And you can't take off your Halloween costume either!"

"Isn't this just a kids' game?" Damon whispered to Eva, who nodded and replied, "Because Tozu came up with it."

That explained why it was so silly. Damon couldn't help but think of the pinball machine in the center of the organization, where you could exchange contribution points for game coins—and his name was at the top of the leaderboard. He wondered if he was the only one boring enough to pay attention to Tozu's weird little gadgets—though the supplies you could exchange for the coins were actually really useful. These people had no taste.

"As for most people's Halloween costumes, I think Diana has already made all the decisions—except for Damon's! Damon, please come up to the stage!" Cassidy waved at the two of them, who had been whispering to each other. Eva gave Damon a little push. "It's your turn to go through the ordeal."

"?" That was Damon's only expression the entire time he was dragged up there for no reason. He thought he heard Cassidy and Diana discussing his costume, Grace making some rather over-the-top jokes, and some other members of the organization he didn't know well whispering and going about their own business… After glancing around in confusion for a while, he decided to do the one thing that would never go wrong: stare blankly at Kai.

At first, Kai was confused about why Damon was staring at him, but then he figured it out. He mouthed to Damon: Just give in.

Screw you, Kai Monteago. Damon looked away.

"…So while we're over here discussing things, you two are over there making eyes at each other? I've had enough—" Cassidy turned around, saw them staring at each other, and wiped away non-existent tears. "You two are so in the honeymoon phase…"

"GET TO THE POINT," Damon ground out through clenched teeth. He had never missed his dorm room—with its half-pink carpet and half-terrarium—so much in his life.

"Aww, don't be mad, Damo. The point's right here, see?" Cassidy poked his cheek, but he dodged it easily. "Diana decided you should cosplay Mhin! How's that? Great taste, right?" She pulled up a picture on her phone and showed it to him. It was a somewhat medieval-style outfit: a white shirt paired with a blue hood. It was okay—he could live with it.

"Oh, and just between us," she whispered, leaning in, "Kai's dressing up as Yosuke Hanamura! Perfect for him, isn't it?"

"I don't even know who that is," Damon replied. "And why does you guys just assume we're super close?"

The rest of the day only got more absurd. After that bizarre meeting ended, Diana dragged him back to her and Eva's dorm room, where he was forced to try on countless costumes and have his makeup done over and over again—all while bickering with Kai, who kept texting him to ask when he'd be back so they could decide what to order for dinner… By the time it was all over, he was exhausted. When he finally got back to his own dorm, he collapsed onto the couch and didn't want to move an inch. He even told Kai to just order whatever he wanted for dinner.

"Even Damon—who can stand and fight for half an hour even when his sanity's at rock bottom—has crashed out like this… Interesting, interesting." Kai pushed him over a little to make room, then sat down next to him and pulled up a food delivery app on his phone. "You wanna get pizza?"

"Sure… And next time, don't drag me into this kind of stuff," Damon mumbled from beside him. "…Not even if you give me that sad puppy-dog look of yours."

"Oh. What if I beg?"

"Neither. If you try that, I'll ship you off to Australia to survive in the wild."

Kai whined a little, but he didn't look the least bit threatened. Damon only ever said these kinds of empty threats. If Kai really begged him, Damon would end up letting him drag him around everywhere anyway… Honestly, was this guy a cat or something?

"Then we have a deal. From now on, every time you threaten me, I'll give you that sad puppy-dog look until your conscience eats you up."

"What are you, five?" Damon kicked him.

"Ow! Why do you keep hitting me lately?!" Kai complained. "Before, you'd just ignore me! That was way better!"

"Because ignoring you only makes you push your luck," Damon said, his face expressionless. He rolled over to lie on his back. "For the sake of my heart health, you need to suffer a little."

"…I don't wanna. And do I even push my luck that much?" He thought for a second. "Do I?"

"Yes. 100%. Go ask Diana if you don't believe me."

"You're just lying to me… You always do this, just because I'm too nice…"

"Shut up." Damon kicked him again.

They bickered back and forth like that, as if they'd both forgotten what had happened two weeks earlier. But they both knew—this peace wouldn't last forever. Maybe it would end soon, maybe later. Who knew?

—All they could do was enjoy this fragile calm while it lasted, and then fight with everything they had when the time came to get serious.

The Goat was still watching Kai, but Kai didn't care anymore. A normal person would have been scared to death if an outer god was staring at them nonstop—but for Kai, who'd been watched like that ever since the fire? It was just a faint, irrelevant presence.

They really were the same, in the end. From the start, their lives were never meant to be ordinary—and they were always going to have to face the consequences of that.

In this quiet, peaceful atmosphere, the Halloween parade drew closer and closer.

Chapter Text

Damon never would have guessed that Kai would actually put a trash can over his head just for the sake of the performance. Even if Kai had bought the trash can himself, this was way too absurd!

"This is dedication to art," Kai, who was currently practicing walking with the trash can on his head, seemed to read his thoughts and added. "If you're gonna cosplay a character, you gotta do it right. Otherwise, it's disrespectful to the original."

"Then why aren't you wearing a wig?" Damon picked up the wig from the side, his eyebrows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly. "A wig is part of respecting the original character too, isn't it?"

"Because we're not actually going to a comic con."

"Then what do you want?" Damon was left speechless. He stood aside and watched as Kai, while trying to walk with the trash can on his head, walked straight into his pufferfish tank—scaring the pufferfish inside into puffing up like little balls.

…Could someone from the mental hospital come and take him away, please?

So when Toshiko opened the door and walked in, this was the sight that greeted her: a figure with a trash can for a head bumping into walls everywhere, and Damon sitting in the corner reading a book.

"Mochi, what on earth are you two doing?" She looked confused. "Is this a real - life version of Plants vs. Zombies?"

"If he was here to eat my brain, I could probably win easily without even placing a single sunflower," Damon sighed. He stood up, grabbed Kai's arm just as Kai was about to stumble into the bathroom, and pulled the trash can off Kai's head to "rescue" him.

Suddenly exposed to the light, Kai squinted uncomfortably. He shook his head a few times before he could clearly see who had interrupted his pursuit of perfection. "Damon? What's going on? Are you being targeted by the Goat again?"

"…Are you an idiot?" Damon placed the trash can next to the terrarium and pointed at Toshiko, who was standing nearby.

"Huh? Oh. What are you here for?" Kai's brain seemed to freeze for three seconds before he finally reacted. He looked at Toshiko. "Is the parade about to start?"

"Yeah, Tozu told you two to get ready quickly. It starts in half an hour," she said, pausing for two seconds. She fidgeted with the hem of her clothes and then added in a soft voice, "He also said that if we don't win first place, Mara has a 'surprise gift package' for us."

Damon shivered. There was no doubt what Mara's "surprise gift package" contained—nothing but training, inhuman training. To avoid having to survive in Australia for three more days, he immediately started to fasten the hood of his costume.

Kai, who had clearly never endured Mara's special training, looked clueless. "Oh, okay, we'll get ready right away."

After Toshiko closed the door to go notify the others, Kai turned around and saw that Damon was already fully dressed. Having Damon cosplay Mhin had a lot of advantages. First of all, the outfit itself matched Damon's unapproachable aura perfectly. It also came with a belt that could hold a dagger—and Damon had put that design to its original use without hesitation.

As for the wig and makeup? Sorry, Damon had said he didn't like them. Besides, he had Kai next to him, who also refused to wear makeup "so his fans could recognize him at a glance." So it wasn't a big deal.

"Do you want to switch your eyes back to red mode?" Kai asked, holding the trash can in his hands (he had just decided to use it as their candy basket). The two walked down the dorm hallway together until they reached the first floor. Everywhere they looked, the path was lined with jack - o' - lanterns and orange - purple decorations. Even the apple tree at the entrance of Eden's Garden was wrapped in a string of colored lights.

Damon rolled his eyes at Kai's reckless suggestion. When Kai saw this, he immediately put on a devastated look and whined like a dog. "But come on, your eyes look so cool when they're red! And Mhin has red eyes too…"

"Then think of a way to do that without making me turn into the Goat for no reason," Damon said, staring straight ahead with a blank expression. He had discovered a new rule about himself after the zoo incident: when his sanity dropped, he might turn into the Goat.

"Hmm," Kai muttered something under his breath. Then, as if a lightbulb went off in his head, he let out an "ah" and snapped his fingers at Damon. "Look over here, Damon—"

Damon looked over. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and Kai's figure seemed to overlap a little in front of him. But the most disturbing thing wasn't that—it was the eight - hooved creature behind Kai…

"Okay, stop," Kai covered Damon's eyes. He waited for about ten seconds to make sure there were no abnormalities before he let go. However, unexpectedly, maybe because both of them had been too cautious and didn't want to cause any trouble, the switch wasn't complete… Only Damon's right eye had turned red, and his pupil had become rectangular, just like a real goat's.

"…It's still pretty cool," Kai commented objectively. "Let's keep it like this. I think even with just one red eye, you'll definitely steal the show."

"Fine, whatever you say," Damon reluctantly agreed, feeling speechless. He realized that the longer he spent with Kai, the more easy - going he became. In the past, if someone had tricked him like this, he would have killed them on the spot without hesitation. But Kai was an exception… Well, he'd better not think about the reason behind that. He had a feeling that if he did, he'd scare himself to death.

They joined the rest of the group at the school gate and listened to Tozu's long - winded speech about the rules and precautions. Kai looked around restlessly. Suddenly, his eyes locked onto something. He tugged at the hem of Damon's cloak, pointed at a group of students on the other side, and whispered, "Look, isn't that Eva and Diana?"

"Huh?" Damon followed Kai's gaze. He saw Eva and Diana standing together, and Diana was helping Eva adjust the elastic on her costume—they had finally decided to cosplay Mizi and Sua from Alien Stage. It had to be said that even their hair colors matched perfectly; it was like it was meant to be.

"Wow, Diana wasn't lying when she said she'd gotten close to Eva…" Kai muttered under his breath. "Did Eva tell you anything about this?"

"…No," Damon thought for a moment and shook his head. "But she has been in a much better mood lately."

"Oh, that's great then…" Kai hummed softly and then looked away from the two girls. "Cassidy's ten dollars will definitely be mine—"

What kind of deal had they made in private? It seemed like they had been betting on how Eva and Diana's relationship would progress? Damon wondered.

"All right, everyone, our big parade is about to start!" Tozu's excited voice came through the loudspeaker, nearly deafening Damon. "Let's count down together—five, four—"

"We'll head south later. There are more residential buildings over there," Kai leaned in and whispered in Damon's ear to make sure he could hear. "Just follow me when the time comes, okay?"

"Two—"

"Got it," Damon replied, though he was a little hesitant to speak. There was one thing that Kai had probably completely forgotten about, but Damon didn't plan on reminding him.

"One—"

In fact, both Damon and Diana were members of the student council.

"The parade starts now!"

Kai immediately grabbed Damon's hand and ran south. Damon stumbled a little at first, but he quickly caught up with Kai's pace. The night before, Tozu had told him that after the clock rang, he should sneak into the crowd and go trick - or - treating. Tozu had said that this should be the kind of work Damon was best at.

And Tozu was right—Damon was good at it. He followed behind Kai and watched as Kai shamelessly got more candy by taking photos and signing autographs with a little girl. But Tozu, had you ever thought that right now, when the clock rings, the only person I can ambush nearby is this silly golden retriever guy in front of me?

He was so tired. Why was he tired both at work and at rest? He made the sign of the cross in his heart.

"Here, hold this," Kai handed the trash can to Damon. When Damon looked inside, he was surprised to see that the colorful candy wrappers had already filled half the can. "Are you really that famous?"

"Of course I am. Do you think I've been running my social media accounts all these years for nothing?" Kai tapped away on his phone, seemingly updating his social media. "Didn't you see that fan of mine earlier? They were even wearing that hoodie of mine."

"…I'm worried about your fans' taste," Damon said.

The two continued walking down the street, knocking on doors. Damon had no idea how Kai could tell which people offline were his fans. He watched as the other students who had gone trick - or - treating only got three candies each when they asked. But as soon as Kai stepped forward, said his name, and took a photo with someone, he could get at least thirty candies.

"This one's really expensive," Damon rummaged through the trash can and found a candy he had been desperate to eat as a kid but couldn't afford. "I never got to try it back then."

"You can take one and eat it," Kai glanced at him, then found the same kind of candy in the pile, peeled off the wrapper, and popped it into his mouth. "…Mmm! It's really good, and it's strawberry - flavored!"

"…" Damon still thought it was a bit of a luxury to eat such an expensive candy. But then he thought, when the clock rang, he could probably "rob" Kai of some candy anyway. So he didn't hesitate any longer and popped one into his mouth too.

It wasn't as amazing as he had imagined—it was just a strawberry - flavored hard candy with a moderate level of sweetness. But it still felt like a childhood dream come true. He bit down on the candy, and the crunching sound brought back memories—he had loved that sound when he was a kid.

As they walked, they ran into Grace and her boyfriend, "Ovis" Wolfgang. The two were cosplaying Dirk and Harper from Date Everything—don't ask how Damon knew that; both Eva and Kai had mentioned the game to him. Eva had played it, and Kai had played it to gain more fans.

"Oh my god, how did you two get so much candy?" Grace looked at the trash can, her eyes wide with shock. "Did you guys go rob a store or something?"

"Kai used his face to 'rob' it," Damon deadpanned.

"Hey! Why don't you mention that you didn't get a single candy yourself?" Kai shot back. "My face is objectively good - looking, and everyone can see that!"

"Ew, where do you get that confidence from?" Grace rolled her eyes and elbowed Wolfgang. "See that? Even Damon can slack off. Why can't I?"

"Um, Ms. Madison, I don't have the same fame as Mr. Monteago…" Wolfgang replied in a timid voice. Damon felt a surge of anger just looking at him. He couldn't help but think back to the unfair task schedule Wolfgang had given him before. Just because Wolfgang had wanted to act on his so - called "humanitarianism," Damon had ended up having to kill more than fifty well - trained people in a week. It was only thanks to his special physique that he hadn't collapsed and died on the spot. He would admit that Wolfgang was capable when it came to management, but that didn't change the fact that Damon had been pushed to his limits.

"We should get going now, haha…" Kai keenly sensed the tense atmosphere. He immediately pushed Damon around the corner of the intersection in front of them and led him down a narrow alley.

"For God's sake, can you pick the right time to get mad at Wolfgang? I was scared Grace was gonna hit you over the head with an iron rod," Kai said—and he had good reason to worry. After all, Grace had once smashed through half of a research institute with an iron rod.

"I wasn't mad," Damon said. "The one who would actually get mad is you. Remember when you yelled at that delivery guy for twenty minutes just because he was three hours late and delivered to the wrong address?"

"He deserved it," Kai rolled his eyes. "Three hours! That was supposed to be my morning pick - me - up boba tea!"

"Yeah, yeah, you have the right to be mad, your highness. But that's not an excuse for you to stay up all night and then sleep in until 7:30. And I tried to wake you up for five whole minutes, but you still wouldn't get up. So the lateness wasn't my fault."

"Mmm…"

The two had planned to just keep walking straight down the alley. But just as they were about to walk out of it, the clock— which sounded like a death knell to Damon—rang.

"I don't think even if they tried to rob me, they could take all my candy," Kai said confidently. "You agree, right Damon—"

"Hand over the candy," Damon said with a blank expression. He pulled out the knife and, in the blink of an eye, pressed it against Kai's neck. Kai froze for a moment, then laughed in disbelief. "Oh right, you're on the student council… Fine, fine, here you go."

Damon didn't put down the knife.

"…" Kai stared at Damon, and Damon stared back. What the hell did this guy want?! Kai screamed in his head. Sometimes Damon's thoughts were easy to read, but other times they were impossible to figure out… That was why he found this grumpy guy so annoying.

"I think this whole trash can full of candy should be mine," Damon said after a long standoff. "I'm the one who's been carrying the can for you this whole time."

"But this is the fruit of my labor! That's so mean!!" Kai complained.

"Then how about we fight it out right here to decide who gets it?"

"…You're just bullying me," Kai sniffled. "Bullying me just because I'm a poor, harmless support member…"

"Give me a break," Damon twirled the knife in his hand and poked Kai's face with the hilt. "I'd rather believe that Tozu is the leader of the goats than believe you're a 'poor, harmless support member'…"

As soon as he said that, both of them fell silent. In fact, based on a lot of clues, Tozu might actually be the leader—though they should add the word "former" in front of that.

Kai struggled with his thoughts for a long time. In the end, he gave in to Damon's overwhelming strength. "Fine, but we'll figure out how to split it when we get back to school. Deal?"

"Don't even think about skipping out on this," Damon replied. He turned around to pick up the trash can. But just as he turned his head, something painted on the wall of the alley made him freeze for a moment.

"The End Brings the Goat. The Goat Shall Feast on the End. The Goat Shall Save Humanity."

"…Why is this everywhere?!" Kai also noticed the slogan painted in red paint. He scratched his head. "So what exactly is 'the End'? Do you have any ideas?"

"Maybe," Damon reached out and touched the paint. He found that it was still wet. "Either it's related to another Outer God, or it's just the delusions of these cultists… The culprit probably hasn't gone far. Should we chase them?"

"Of course we should. What else would we do?" Kai straightened out his school uniform jacket and pulled out his phone from his pocket. "I'll report this to Tozu first."

One pushing the trash can and the other typing a message on his phone, the two followed the paint stains on the ground down a desolate path. Damon's eyes had already turned back to normal. As he thought about it, he suddenly realized a small detail: there always seemed to be the shadow of that Goat behind Kai.

Kai must have been using his gaze to make everyone else not see it on a daily basis, right? Damon glanced at the figure walking behind him. So who exactly was Kai? He became more and more confused. It felt like fate—one was a failed vessel that had been modified for a god's descent, and the other was a heretic who was constantly watched by a god… Sigh, there was no use thinking about this now. He should focus on the problem at hand first.

As they walked, they turned into a dead end. Here, the red paint on the walls gradually gave off a smell of blood. Lying there was a person wearing a goat mask, but their chest looked like it had been torn open by an animal, exposing their intestines and internal organs.

"Ugh…" As expected, Kai threw up. But even as he retched, he whispered, "This… they did this…"

"Who did?" Damon knelt down to examine the body, trying to find some clues. "Do these cultists even kill each other?"

"Not exactly…" Kai stood up straight and wiped the corner of his mouth. "Remember that fire I told you about? It was them. They don’t seem to be from the same faction as the people who captured you back then. The ones on your side wanted to use humans as vessels to let the Goat descend, while these people want to sacrifice humans to the Goat in exchange for protection…"

"So to sum it up, they’re all still hurting people. Were you sacrificed back then?" Damon pulled a slightly yellowed piece of paper out of the dead person’s pocket. It was covered in writing he couldn’t understand.

"Uh, yeah. But for some reason, it didn’t work out in the end," Kai walked over, kicked the body aside, then knelt down next to Damon to look at the paper. "This… oh, I know what this is. Let me see."

Damon handed it over. He watched as Kai mumbled words like "execution" and "demonic heretic" under his breath, then clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You know what this says? After the ‘Descension Faction’ found out about your existence, the ‘Sacrifice Faction’ thought you’d mess up their plans, so… they’re planning to execute you."

"This guy was sent to spy on you. But honestly, these people are ridiculous—they even have to spread their cult nonsense while on a mission," he pointed at the paint on the walls. "See? He had a mental breakdown and tore his own chest open… ugh… it’s disgusting."

"Why can you read this?" Damon asked. "This isn’t any normal language, is it?"

"Didn’t I tell you before? Anyway, sacrifices have to learn a bit of the Outer God’s language to make it satisfied… that’s what they said, at least," Kai folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "Ugh, I really don’t want to think about this stuff…"

"…Then there’s a problem here," Damon took a photo of the body. "Is Tozu part of the Descension Faction or the Sacrifice Faction?"

"…I don’t know. I think he’s in his own faction—directly going against ‘the End’," Kai said.

The two walked back together, their moods heavy. The thought that there might be dozens of pairs of eyes watching them in this peaceful city—let alone the one hovering above their heads—sent a chill down their spines.

"You two smell like blood," Eva and Diana said when they ran into them at the school gate. Eva frowned and pointed at the paint and blood stains on their hands.

"We always run into weird stuff," Kai shrugged.

"You have so much candy?" Diana leaned over. "Oh my god, Damon—does this count as yours or Kai’s?"

"Mine," Damon raised an eyebrow. "After all, he can’t beat me."

"What?!" Kai exclaimed. "You basically robbed me!"

Diana laughed. "That’s sweet. I didn’t even go catch anyone, but Eva gave me half of her candy anyway."

"What?!!" Kai’s eyes widened. He looked back and forth between the two girls, then stared at Damon. "Why didn’t you save me half?!"

"…" Damon rolled his eyes. "You never asked."

"Is that my fault?!" Kai snapped. "You pressed a knife to my neck without saying a word—this is the second time you’ve done that since we met! Blocking your account back then was definitely the right call. You’re really too much!"

Tozu stood by the school gate, looking at the candy they’d collected. He picked one up, popped it in his mouth, and smacked his lips as he commented, "I’ve seen the photos you two sent me… hmm, it seems things are getting more and more complicated. Mr. Monteago, have you noticed anything unusual lately?"

"Unusual? Not really," Kai tilted his head. "My fan count’s going up steadily, and Damon still gives me the cold shoulder. Nothing’s different."

"What does that have to do with me?" Damon added.

"Is that so… Not only is the Descension Faction acting, but the Sacrifice Faction has started moving too…" Tozu frowned, then nodded and patted the two of them on the shoulder. "You two are crucial to this mission. Stay safe."

"Also, Mr. Monteago, given your special status, you’ll start combat training on weekends starting next week. Mr. Maitsu and Mara will help you with it—no need to worry too much."

Tozu hummed a tune as he walked away, leaving the four of them staring at each other in confusion.

"Combat training? He wants me to do combat training?" Kai still hadn’t processed it. "What’s he thinking?!!"

"Sigh," Eva rubbed her temples. "Good luck with that, Damon."

"I don’t need you to tell me—I already know this is going to be a nightmare," Damon said, also feeling tired. But the only good news was that Kai had at least some combat experience. It seemed he’d just have to take things one step at a time.

———

When Tozu returned to his office, he sat down in his chair and said nothing. Mara brought him a glass of water, then pointed at the photo Kai had sent him, which was open on his computer.

"Yeah, I didn’t expect things to turn out like this either…" Tozu shook his head. "It seems my time there back then made me lose some of my ability to judge the situation."

"Mara, starting today, in addition to monitoring the movements of these Goat cultists, you have one more task. If Damon Maitsu or Kai Monteago shows any signs of abnormality, you must report it immediately."

Mara nodded and left the room.

Tozu sighed, then turned to look out the window. High up in the vast starry sky, no one could see it—a huge red goat’s eye was staring intently at everything happening below.

It was both a savior and a destroyer. Why had it descended here? Tozu had been searching for the answer to this question, but the more he dug, the more he realized just how dangerous the current situation was.

They couldn’t stop them anymore. The only solution was to take them down in one strike. Otherwise, no one would survive.

———

That night, Kai had a nightmare—a rare occurrence for him. He was back in that hellish basement again. Adults and children were screaming and crying.

But he was different. He felt a warm source of heat beside him, giving him strength.

He woke up in a cold sweat. As soon as he opened his eyes, he came face to face with the Goat’s red pupils—and almost died of fright again.

"Oh God… what do you want?"

■■ said nothing. He just stared at Kai, and after a moment, he disappeared. Then Kai noticed something on his bed—a dead snake - like creature.

"…"

He held back a scream, picked up the body, and prepared to throw it in the kitchen trash.

On his way there, he heard a noise coming from Damon’s room.

"Damon?" Kai knocked lightly on the door. When there was no response, he pushed it open without asking. Inside, he saw Damon huddled on the bed, holding his head, and whimpering in pain in his sleep. Goat horns would appear on his head for a moment, then disappear again.

"You can’t save him,"

■■ whispered in his ear.

"He will eventually become my vessel."

Chapter Text

Kai’s lower back ached—truth be told, there wasn’t a single spot on his body that didn’t hurt. The culprit sat quietly nearby, sipping tea and scrolling through his phone.

“What are you even scrolling for…?” Kai mumbled, rolling over to readjust the ice pack. “Can’t you help me fix the one on my leg?”

“Oh.” Damon set his phone down, walked over, and adjusted the ice pack on Kai’s leg.

This was Kai’s third hand-to-hand combat session, and Damon’s first time training him. For the previous two sessions, Mara had been his trainer. Maybe because her role as logistics staff made her more considerate, she hadn’t gone too hard on him—so he hadn’t felt this miserable when he got back to the dorm. But Damon? He’d treated Kai like a punching bag. How was Kai supposed to put up with that? So he’d opted for the rather pathetic route of lying on their couch, nursing his grievances.

“You’re too slow—if someone snuck up on your back like this, you’d never notice.” “Quit overcomplicating your moves. This is real combat, not a short video shoot.”

Kai’s mind was flooded with memories of Damon fighting with effortless skill, all while sharply criticizing his performance. He groaned and kicked Damon lightly. “Pass me my phone.”

Damon rolled his eyes. “Is this really how you react to a few little injuries…?” Still, he unplugged Kai’s phone and tossed it over—on purpose, Kai suspected—hitting him square in the face.

“Ouch!!” Kai fumbled to catch the phone before it rolled off the couch, then opened the front camera to check his face. “Well, maybe if you were a normal human being, this wouldn’t have happened! I’m the one being reasonable here. And you even bruised my face! That’s an extra offense!”

Damon didn’t respond. He sat back down on his bean bag chair, picked up his phone, and went back to reading the news. About a month prior, on Halloween, they’d uncovered a branch of the cult that one of the members had belonged to. Since then, authorities had mostly rounded up the branch’s members—but Damon couldn’t shake the feeling that more cultists were lurking in the shadows, watching them.

Just then, a direct message popped up on Damon’s phone from Kai. When he opened it, he found it was about some celebrity’s birthday celebration event. He skimmed the profile briefly, then couldn’t help but roll his eyes again. “Why are you sending me your birthday month celebration event?”

“Because you never wished me a happy birthday,” Kai replied. “This event lasts the whole month, so now’s your chance to make up for it.”

“Why would I do that? There’s no reward in it for me.” Damon exited the profile and went back to tracking the news. “Go back to resting your injuries.”

“That’s so mean,” Kai sniffled. “Fine—when your birthday comes, I won’t celebrate it either.”

“Like I’d need you to.”

Still, this gave Damon an idea. His fingers paused mid-scroll on the news feed. He thought for a moment, then clicked back into that link. From there, he followed the tags until he finally found Kai’s main account and his private side account for daily life. The main account was pretty standard stuff: brand endorsements, participation in trending challenges, that sort of thing. But Damon focused mostly on the side account.

「CryMonteago:
Has anyone ever had a friend like this? The kind who’s actually nice to everyone else, but acts like a total jerk around you?
Lately, I’ve got this friend who’s exactly that. Right now, he’s mad at me because I forgot to bring his flowers inside during the rainstorm.
But c’mon, the flowers aren’t even dead! Dude, can’t you just calm down? ( ´•̥̥̥ω•̥̥̥` ) I know you’ll probably never see this, but I don’t wanna eat breakfast alone.」

The comments below were a mix of comfort, teasing, and a few people defending “this friend” and saying his anger was understandable. Damon liked every single one of those defending comments.

About two minutes later, Kai started making a fuss again.

“Wait a minute! How did you find my side account?! I thought you didn’t even use X!”

“Compared to a caveman, I’d say I’ve got a pretty decent brain,” Damon replied calmly. “And those commenters were right, by the way.”

“Let’s not talk about that right now…” Kai typed a few words on his phone. Damon glanced down to see that his own X account—created recently to follow social news—had gained a new follower. When he clicked on the profile, it turned out to be Kai’s side account.

Then, another tweet popped up:

「Crymonteago:
Bad news: That friend of mine found my side account. He’s evolved from caveman to ancient human, I guess.
Might need to delete some posts, haha (|||ﾟдﾟ) 」

Damon sighed, typed a question mark in the comment section, then decided to confront Kai in person. “What lies have you been spreading about me online?”

“First off, it’s not lying—it’s stating facts. Second, I’m not telling you a thing.” Kai winked at him. “Some secrets are never meant to be shared. Like, for example, who I had a crush on when I was a kid—”

“? Why the hell would I care about your childhood crushes?” Damon looked confused. “Did I hit your head too hard during training? Is that why you’re being ridiculous?”

“Oh, so you admit you went too hard on me.” Kai kept typing on his keyboard.

After that, they fell silent. Damon spent the entire afternoon puzzling over why Kai would keep his childhood crushes a secret from him—he still hadn’t come up with a logical answer by the time they joined everyone for dinner.

What even goes on inside this guy’s head? Damon picked up a piece of what he thought was potato with his chopsticks, but as soon as he bit into it, he realized it was ginger. He barely held back a cough. Kai—whose leg had finally stopped swelling enough for him to walk—burst into loud, uncontrollable laughter beside him.

Screw Kai Monteago. With that thought, Damon sneakily added a “lethal” amount of wasabi to Kai’s rice.

———

The birthday month event only grew more lively as days passed. Gradually, Damon even found himself looking forward to it—every night before bed, he’d scroll through the latest posts to see what new antics Kai’s die-hard fans had cooked up.

Then he stumbled on something that made him raise an eyebrow: posts featuring stunning cakes, butterfly specimens (Kai’s “symbol”), and even a massive wall covered in photos of Kai. Wasn’t this getting a little stalker-ish? Damon screenshotted the post and sent it to Kai, who should have been in Mara’s training session at the time.

He forgot to mention—he’d changed Kai’s contact name back to normal. The reason? One day, Kai had fallen asleep on the couch while watching a movie on his phone. Damon had gone to get him a blanket, and happened to glance at Kai’s phone screen. The contact name he’d set for Damon was: “AAA Bug Obsessed Freak.”

…Needless to say, Damon had immediately decided against giving Kai the blanket. That explained why Kai had caught a slight cold the next day. But once Kai found out the reason, he couldn’t really complain—he’d quietly changed the contact name back.

Damon: [Image]

Kai: ?

Kai: What’s up?

Damon: Aren’t you worried? This is basically stalker behavior, isn’t it?

Kai: It’s fine.

: Look closely—all the photos here have my new black hair roots edited to look pink.

: So none of these are secret candid shots taken in real life.

Was that supposed to be something to brag about?! And why didn’t Kai just dye his hair properly?! Damon realized talking to this guy with normal logic was a waste of time—he’d only end up frustrating himself.

Right then, though, he came across a strange submission.

It had no extra tags strongly related to Kai—only tags for the birthday month event, plus mentions of both Kai and Damon’s accounts in the text.

Wait, his account?

No one had figured out yet that Damon was the “friend” Kai talked about online. Most people assumed Kai had followed Damon by accident and then forgotten to unfollow him (since Damon barely posted). So this unexpected mention caught Damon off guard. Without hesitation, he clicked on the post.

Besides tagging him and Kai, there was no other text—only a few photos, which looked like they’d been taken in real life. The first photo showed a rural area with a large mountain in the background. Since winter was approaching, the trees on the mountain were a mix of green and yellow, creating a beautiful scene. In the foreground were several buildings—wooden houses, the kind you’d see in Nordic countries. But they all had one thing in common: they were in ruins, with traces of fire damage.

The second photo seemed to have been taken inside one of the buildings. On the floor were red stains—and Damon couldn’t help but jump to the worst conclusion—and a few bones.

The third photo focused on a set of stairs leading downward. The stairs were pitch-black, with nothing visible at the bottom—as if they descended into an endless void.

The fourth photo had a completely black background. In red text, someone had edited a few lines:

I’ve found it.
I will judge the heretics.
I will become the Lord’s true pet.

In the next instant, Damon’s phone went black. It was like a virus had invaded it, forcing it to restart. Damon waited anxiously for it to turn back on, then tried to pull up the post again—but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find it. Clicking on his browsing history only brought up a 404 error.

Just then, the dorm door opened. Kai looked like he’d rushed back halfway through his training session. Damon was certain Kai had seen that post too.

“What do we do?” Damon watched as Kai walked into his room, pulled open a drawer, and started rummaging through it. “Where is that place?”

“It’s a bit far—about a three-hour drive,” Kai replied, his voice completely free of his usual joking tone. “We need to move fast. They might try to take control of everyone in that area.”

Damon nodded, then turned to pack his own things. He didn’t understand why Kai was being so serious. From what Kai had told him, all the people involved in that batch of sacrificial rituals had died—only Kai had survived. So there shouldn’t have been any reason for a threat like this. And more importantly, that word: “pet.” Was Kai the Goat’s pet? Was that why he’d survived?

Damon didn’t want to dwell on it. As the weather grew colder, he found it harder and harder to sleep—he kept waking up shivering in the middle of the night. Kai had said he’d checked on Damon a few times at night and said it was nothing serious, just Eden’s terrible air conditioning. But Damon didn’t believe that. Kai was definitely hiding something from him.

He hoped this mission would give him some clues. He slipped the knife into his pocket, then patted the corn snake sunning itself on its stand.

Knock, knock, knock. There was a knock at the door. Damon opened it to find Tozu standing outside. Mara must have reported the situation to him, Damon figured.

“Sigh…” Tozu let out a breath. “Just when one crisis ends, another begins, huh, my fellow students? Don’t worry about the school—it’ll stay safe. And don’t try to confront it head-on.”

“Got it,” Damon nodded, straightening his clothes as he waited for Kai to come out. A moment later, Kai emerged, holding a tattered notebook—apparently, he’d been searching for it earlier.

“This is the diary I kept when I was locked up there,” Kai explained before Damon could ask. “There are some places I want to investigate again.”

“Why didn’t you go earlier, when you had free time?” Damon asked.

“…The Goat was watching me. Do you really think I dared to?” Kai sighed. “As soon as I saw that message, it ran off.”

Tozu frowned. “It ran away?”

“Yep, in a real hurry,” Kai said as the three of them walked down the hallway, scrolling through his phone to check the route. “Probably scared the cultists would mess things up and cause bigger problems.”

“…” Tozu said nothing, but pulled out his phone and made a call. From Damon’s angle, he could see that Tozu was dialing Wolfgang’s number.

“Notify all members of Project Eden. Start coordinating schedules immediately. Keep an eye on all the red-marked locations—if you spot any rabbit or human corpses, report it right away.”

Wolfgang’s voice came through faintly, replying with a “got it.” Damon’s brows furrowed, and he bit his lower lip, feeling uneasy. Another big operation was starting… When would these days of constant tension finally end?

They loaded their suitcases into the taxi’s trunk, then climbed into the car. As soon as they settled in, Damon felt a sudden headache coming on. He was used to this by now—headaches only meant they were getting closer to the Goat.

“…If you can’t hold on, tell me,” Kai said, tearing his gaze away from the window to glance at Damon. “Don’t let your guard down right now.”

“I’m not that weak.” Damon gritted his teeth. His eyes had already turned blood-red. The city lights had long since disappeared from view, and the trees on either side of the road grew increasingly tangled—like they were driving into a primeval forest.

When they reached their destination, they left their luggage at a cheap inn, then headed straight for the village without wasting any time. By then, Damon’s headache was so intense he wanted to slam his head against a concrete wall—only for Kai to pull him back. They walked along the path, rounded a trail through the forest, and finally saw the village.

“It’s exactly like I remembered…” Kai looked around, tore a page out of his notebook, crumpled it into a ball, lit it with a lighter from his pocket, and tossed it into one of the houses.

As soon as the flame landed inside, a sharp, crackling sound erupted—then silence fell again.

“What are you doing?” Damon asked, watching as Kai waited for the sound to fade completely before stepping into the house.

“Making sure nothing’s waiting for us inside,” Kai replied, emerging from the house with several charred black robes, a few buckets of red paint, and a key card. “We need to go to the underground library here. There might be information there—I remember it was completely sealed off, so the fire couldn’t reach it.”

“Living here for those two months was like being in prison,” he added, lighting another paper ball and tossing it into an empty house. This time, though, instead of the crackle of burning air, there was the smell and sound of something being scorched alive.

“Gurgle…”

Damon’s stomach rumbled again. This hunger had been getting worse as winter approached. And it wasn’t the usual “I’ll eat anything” hunger—it was a craving for something specific. Meat, for example.

“Ugh…”

The throbbing in his head mixed with the discomfort in his stomach. Damon closed his eyes, squatted down, and hugged his head.

A voice kept echoing in his mind, speaking in a language he couldn’t understand:

潣汬灡敳볯�

潤渠瑯爠獥獩�

捡散瑰椠⹴牴湡晳牯瑩�

Just when he thought he couldn’t take it anymore, he felt something burst out from his skin—and then everything went quiet.

“…” Kai hadn’t missed a thing. He stared at the two large goat horns that had erupted from Damon’s forehead, unsure what to say. Finally, he sighed and held out a hand to Damon. “Can you stand up?”

“Damn it…” Damon grabbed Kai’s hand and pulled himself up. “Since when did this start? Why didn’t you tell me?” He caught a glimpse of his reflection in a small puddle nearby and saw the horns on his head.

“I don’t know,” Kai glanced back at him, then went back to tossing paper balls. “At least we’re still safe for now… But I can’t promise what’ll happen if this transformation progresses any further…”

Damon felt a wave of nausea. Was there a more painful way to die than watching yourself spiral toward destruction, powerless to stop it? He stared at the enormous, hallucination-like horns on his head, then dug his nails into his arm—anything to keep himself somewhat lucid.

They stopped in front of a wooden house. Kai took a deep breath, glanced down at his notebook, then hesitated before speaking. “This… this is where they locked me up.”

“We got time outside for exercise,” he added. “A few of the people they’d captured were pretty educated. During those breaks, they’d teach us some basic knowledge—hoping we’d be able to escape… I was the only one who made it out alive. But sometimes I wonder—if they knew the demons are still doing this kind of thing even after I escaped… would they think teaching me that stuff was a waste?”

“…I think that’s for you to decide,” Damon replied after a moment of silence. “But I doubt they’d regret it. There are always people who do things because of that little bit of heroism in their hearts.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

They pushed the door open. Inside was a simple, unadorned room—and an elevator leading down to the basement. The control buttons next to the elevator had text Damon couldn’t read. Kai stepped forward, muttered something under his breath, then pressed one of the buttons.

“Kaka…” Something mechanical began moving upward, accompanied by a low grinding sound. After a moment, the elevator doors slid open, releasing a wave of damp basement air mixed with the stench of a sewer.

“Sorry—there’s a bathroom down there too…” Kai wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, why didn’t I notice how bad this smelled back then?”

The two stepped inside. Kai pressed a few more buttons on the elevator panel, and the elevator began descending.

“Oh, right,” Kai suddenly remembered something and turned to Damon. “Heads up—you might feel a little weightless in a sec—”

Before he could finish, there was a sharp “click” as the cable above disconnected from the elevator car. The elevator plummeted downward. Damon, who’d just braced himself mentally, clung desperately to the wall to keep from being thrown around. He yelled at Kai—who’d somehow tied himself to the handrail with a rope at some point—“Why didn’t you warn me earlier?!”

“…Oops.”

Screw this.

The good news was the elevator didn’t fall that fast. After about a minute, they landed with a soft thud at their destination. The doors slid open slowly, revealing a bizarre, otherworldly scene to Damon: a long corridor with moss-covered stone walls and puddles of water on the floor. To the left were individual iron cages. There were no torches to light the way, but Damon knew—those cages must have been stained with large pools of blood.

“Ha—” Kai exhaled, his breath turning into a cloud of mist in the cold, damp air of the underground before fading away. He ran his hand along the wall, brushing off a layer of dust.

“Can’t believe I’m back here… This is hell.”

He walked forward. Damon’s gaze fell on the spot where Kai had wiped away the dust—and saw a metal plate underneath, with two lines of text:

慰慲楤敳
Paradise

Around the corner, the squelching sound of a viscous creature’s footsteps echoed through the corridor.

Chapter Text

The squelching sound made both of them pause in their tracks. Kai’s expression clearly darkened in an instant. “It’s a Guard…”

“Didn’t you say everyone was dead?” Damon frowned in confusion.

Kai blinked and glanced toward the corner. “If you still count those Guards as ‘people’… then yeah, some of them are still barely alive.”

“They’re probably test subjects made in advance by the Modification Faction for the Goat’s descent, and then taken here to be used,” Kai picked up an iron rod that had fallen from somewhere on the ground. “We can lure them away with some noise.”

He slowed his steps, inching along the wall. When he got close to the corner, he threw the rod in his hand. The rod hit the wall, bounced back, and landed not far away. Damon followed closely behind, and now he got a clear look at the creature.

It looked somewhat human, but its limbs had mutated into fin - like structures. It had no hair on its head, which was about one and a half times the size of its body. It seemed to have been drawn to the rod, but just as Damon took another step forward, he suddenly froze and turned his head to look back.

Damon was shocked by its face. It was a human face, but it looked like a baby’s, all twisted out of shape—a stark contrast to its adult - sized body. It seemed to be staring intently at Damon, with no intention of attacking. But the moment it saw Kai standing beside him, it immediately arched its back, let out a snarl, and charged at Kai.

“Run!”

Kai shouted and took off down the corridor. Damon froze for a split second, but quickly reacted and ran after him. The Guard moved like some kind of reptile, scurrying along on all fours at top speed. At the same time, it let out a hoarse, shrill howl that made both of them cover their ears.

Right after that howl, the sound of more Guards approaching echoed from all around. Some crawled down from the ceiling, others slithered out of the nearby sewers. The two of them were trapped in the middle of a crossroads in the cell block, with no way forward or back.

“獅慣数⁤牣浩湩污！獅慣数⁤牣浩湩污！”
“瑓灯攠捳灡湩！瑓灯！瑓灯！”

The creatures roared in a language Damon couldn’t understand. He clenched his teeth, pulled out the knife from his pocket, and prepared to fight his way out—when Kai, who had been muttering to himself beside him, caught his attention.

“灯… top… Ugh, no, that’s not right. They must be calling me… after all, they recognize my face…” Kai mumbled to himself. Finally, he took a deep breath and raised both hands above his head. “Okay, ⁉慨敶渠湩整獮潩… How does it go again? Dammit, why can’t I remember right now… ⁉慨敶渠湩整獮潩景爠獥獩楴杮, right, ⁉慨敶渠湩整獮潩景爠獥獩楴杮!”

What on earth is he rambling about… Damon stared in confusion as Kai spoke in some strange language to communicate with the Guards. Even more surprisingly, the Guards looked at each other and eventually stepped back. Only the first Guard that had found them stayed in place, seemingly keeping an eye on them.

“Phew… Good thing I didn’t waste my time learning this language back then…” Kai let out a long sigh of relief, then whispered to Damon. “What I just said means ‘I have no intention of resisting’—that’s the phrase we used the most back then…”

He glanced back at the Guard. “They’ve been down here so long they’ve lost all sense of time, and no one’s told them otherwise. I took a gamble that they wouldn’t know if it’s ‘free time’ right now… Lucky it paid off, otherwise we would’ve had to fight our way out…”

“Aren’t we gonna kill that one too?” Damon asked, pointing at the remaining Guard. “It can’t keep following us like this, can it?”

“…Better not for now,” Kai shook his head. “Guards have a unique way of identifying each other. If one dies, it’ll be noticed right away. And there’s something I need to ask it.”

Damon watched as Kai straightened out his clothes, which had gotten messy from running. Then, he walked up to the Guard, looking a little nervous. He cleared his throat and asked the Guard, who seemed confused: “Uh, excuse me, 桗牥�, 獩琠敨,” he made a rectangular shape with his fingers, “楬牢牡�?”

The Guard seemed to narrow its eyes as it studied Kai. Fortunately, after years of working as an influencer, Kai was good at controlling his facial expressions. He didn’t make any big movements, just stared at the Guard harmlessly. After a moment, the Guard turned around, seemingly ready to lead the way.

“Yes!” Kai whispered in excitement, ran over, and tugged at Damon’s sleeve twice. “Follow it—it’s taking us to the library.”

“Since when are you a language genius?” Damon couldn’t help but tease. “Then why do you stutter when you try to speak Japanese?” He was referring to the time they’d all watched an animated movie together, and Kai had tried to mimic the male lead’s attack line, but had stumbled over his words and couldn’t get it right.

“Th—that’s because I don’t have to learn Japanese…” Kai looked away. “If we didn’t learn this language, we’d be nailed to a cross and have our hearts eaten by Scavengers… Oh, Scavengers are another kind of monster that was down here, but they’re probably all dead now—they need to eat, after all.”

“…” For some reason, Damon’s heart ached as if he could feel that pain.

The two of them and the unknown creature walked through the intricate underground space together. They seemed to pass by a place that looked like a cafeteria. Kai said, “If you didn’t show up on time for meals, you’d be turned into food.” Damon frowned and asked, “Did you… eat that?”

“What else was I supposed to do?” Kai rolled his eyes. “I had to force myself to eat even that kind of meat. If I didn’t, I’d be the one on the menu.”

“…Right,” Damon glanced at the rows of stone tables and chairs, his mood heavy. Two months—Kai had lived down here for two months. What kind of hell had he been through?

As they walked, they stopped in front of a huge wooden door. The wood had been scorched by fire and eroded by moisture over the years, revealing a hollow interior. The Guard knocked on the door, waited for a long time with no response, then turned to look at them.

“慐獳湩⁧慣摲？”

Kai let out a confused “hmm,” then pulled out the access card he’d found earlier and showed it to the Guard. When the Guard saw it, it nodded, climbed up the wall, and crawled onto the ceiling, its eyes fixed on them.

Kai tried to push the door open, but no matter how hard he pushed, it didn’t move an inch. He got a little angry and kicked it. Maybe his recent physical training had paid off, because the kick left a big hole in the door.

He fell silent. Glancing left and right and seeing that the Guard didn’t care, he gave Damon an awkward smile. “Guess… the training’s working, huh?”

“…” Damon was left speechless. It was rare to see someone this foolish—Kai was barely even human anymore.

Kai decided to go all out. He kicked the door again, and this time, it was completely destroyed. Anyway, that was that—they’d made it into the library.

Inside was a long corridor, and the sound of dripping water echoed through the air. Kai was about to walk forward when Damon grabbed him by the shoulder. “Are you an idiot? Look at your feet.”

“Huh?” Kai looked down as he was told. The floor, which should have been concrete, glinted in the light, and there were ripples of water reflecting off its surface. This kind of environment would breed all sorts of dangerous viruses, and it was definitely not safe to walk in. But maybe the path had collapsed, which was why the library had survived the fire.

Looking at the scene, Damon sighed. “Is there another entrance? Let’s take a different route.”

“Uh, I’m not sure about that,” Kai scratched his head, clearly realizing the floor was unsafe. “…Let’s go back to the cafeteria first. I’ll check the map.”

The two of them walked back out, under the Guard’s watchful gaze, and returned to the cafeteria. Kai pulled Damon over to a table in the corner and sat down. He spoke with a hint of nostalgia, “This was my usual spot… The corner’s quiet. Good for thinking.”

“How old were you when you could stay this calm in a situation like this?” Damon frowned.

“Uh, maybe thirteen? I got into social media early, so I grew up fast,” Kai pulled out his notebook and took out a folded piece of paper from inside. “I was captured when I came here to visit during summer vacation. My parents thought I was dead—when I finally got home, I saw my own memorial photo. Look, we’re here, this is the library, and the route we tried to take earlier is the only official way to get there.”

“The unofficial route goes down one more floor, to where the cultists lived,” he pointed to a room at the far edge of the complex map. “We have the access card, right? As long as there’s still power here, we can go down. If there’s no power, it’s fine—there are stairs.”

“But if we go down, we’ll probably have to fight the Guards…” he clicked his tongue. “We should disguise ourselves. I don’t want to fight those things—let’s just say I have trauma from it.”

When Damon saw how the Guards crawled like snakes, he roughly understood why Kai was so afraid of snakes. He watched as Kai pulled out the robe he’d found earlier and some red paint (which he’d put in a sealed plastic bag) from his backpack. He put on the black robe first, then pulled up the hood—now he looked no different from the cultist they’d met on Halloween.

“There’s still a difference, though,” Kai flipped through his notebook and showed Damon a symbol. It was a rune Damon couldn’t understand, so Kai explained, “This is a chant. We need to draw this on our faces to get the Goat’s protection. Can you draw it for me? Use this.” He pointed to the red paint.

“…Are you sure this is safe?” Damon looked at the small bag of paint, uncertain. “And doesn’t it bother you to be watched by the Goat?”

“It’s fine. I’ve been watched all the time and I haven’t gone crazy yet,” Kai let out a laugh. “You don’t have to do it. With those goat horns of yours, they’ll probably all think you’re one of them—maybe even their superior. Lucky you. I heard people who tried to escape complain about how hard this stuff is to wash off.”

“Don’t be jealous of that,” Damon dipped his finger into the paint. It felt more like pigment than paint. Cinnabar? But he’d never seen cinnabar this fake - looking red before. He held the notebook in his left hand and roughly measured the position with his right. “Look up.”

“Okay,” Kai rolled his eyes upward and waited for Damon to draw on his face. The entire underground facility was eerily quiet— the only sounds were the rustle of fabric as Damon moved, the drip of water, and the Guard’s breathing.

“Won’t it realize what we’re doing?” Damon couldn’t help but ask. “Is its intelligence really that low?”

“Yes. Its only functions are basically monitoring us, catching us, and leading us around—nothing else,” Kai blinked twice. “Also, can you step back a little when you talk? You’re making me itchy like this.”

“…I’m already doing you a favor by drawing this for you. Be grateful,” Damon rolled his eyes. “There’s still half left—deal with it.”

Kai sniffled, whimpered a little, then fell silent again. The position was awkward—all he could see was Damon’s face, which was so close. Where was he supposed to look? And Damon’s face was really good - looking, even with the goat horns. He looked like a highly detailed NPC from a game— the kind that would try to recruit you into an evil organization.

In short, the whole thing was torture. When Damon announced he was done, Kai felt like he’d just walked out of an execution ground. He checked his reflection on his phone to make sure he hadn’t messed up any important parts, then pulled his hood lower and packed his things. “Okay, this way.”

How could Damon not have noticed Kai’s wandering gaze the whole time? But when he was drawing the rune, he’d also clearly felt how soft Kai’s cheeks were. How did Kai still have baby fat even after all that training? It was so unfair! He’d been thinking those thoughts while “painting” Kai’s face. God knew how jealous he was of people with such baby faces.

Just as Kai had said, the two of them weren’t stopped at all along the way. The Guards really seemed to think Kai was one of the cultists and didn’t even glance at him. As for Damon, the creatures even stepped aside to let him pass occasionally. But when they stepped over a few Guards that were sleeping on the ground, Kai’s face turned pale.

“Ugh… I can’t take it anymore. I really can’t stand that slippery feeling…” He knelt in a corner and threw up while complaining. “I still remember when I first got here, they carried me around to show me the way… Ugh… I can’t, really can’t…”

“I can roughly understand,” Damon felt a little queasy too. Even through his pants, he could feel their smooth, cold skin. But unlike the dry snakes he was used to, the Guards’ bodies were slimy, and he could feel something squirming under their thin skin—even accompanied by the faint throb of a heartbeat. He’d be afraid of snakes too if he had to live with these things every day.

He waited patiently for Kai to finish throwing up, then continued walking deeper into the facility according to the map. The further they went, the fewer prison cells for living there were. Instead, they passed rooms filled with torture devices, and large pools of blood on the floor—no need to say more, these were definitely punishment rooms. Damon couldn’t help but ask, “Were you ever locked in here?”

“Dude, if you get locked in here, you either come out dead or disabled. Do you want me to die?” Kai stared at him in shock. “But there was one time I stole some food because I was starving, and they said they’d lock me in here as punishment. But then something bigger happened, so it got dropped. I think someone got pregnant with a cultist…”

“…Wow,” Damon hadn’t expected that kind of ending. But if Kai had really been locked in there, he probably wouldn’t be alive now. In a way, Damon was actually grateful to that unknown pregnant woman.

“Oh, and the one who was pregnant was a guy.”

“…Huh?”

Never mind, scratch that gratitude.

After leaving the punishment room area, they reached the last room they needed to pass through before getting to the cultists’ living quarters—the barn. As soon as they opened the door, the stench of sheep hit them, making both of them gag. Kai turned on his phone’s rear camera and saw that some of the sheep had starved to death, while others had been burned. Bodies were everywhere. Among the sheep corpses, there were also a few bird - like creatures—but they had human heads, and looked just as hideous as the Guards… These must be the Scavengers Kai had mentioned earlier.

“Something’s not right,” Kai frowned. He walked into the barn first and approached one of the pens to check. “Why do these bodies look so fresh?”

“…You’re right,” Damon also walked over to another pen, bent down, and turned over a sheep corpse. “According to what you said, these should’ve been nothing but bones by now.”

The two of them stopped what they were doing and turned to look at each other. Kai’s eyes were filled with shock and fear, while Damon’s expression was heavy.

“Did those people come back?!” “Some other cultists are trying to restart this place.”

They spoke at the same time, but meant the same thing. Kai muttered a few curses under his breath, then set down the sheep corpse. “Dammit! Now we know where that post came from! Those people just want to lure us here to get rid of us!”

“Calm down first,” Damon stood up and patted the dust off his hands. “Is there a surveillance system here?”

“…No. The Guards are their surveillance system. Why do you ask?”

“Then we’re good,” Damon pointed at Kai. “First, they probably didn’t expect your fighting skills to be this good now. Second,” he pointed at himself, “I bet they think the more infected I am, the less rational I’ll be. They probably didn’t expect that when I’m heavily infected, I’m still clear - headed—and those monsters don’t even hostile me. If someone really came back, we’ll just kill them again. That’s what I think.”

“…Yeah. You’re right, Damon,” Kai took a deep breath and then glanced at the corpses again. “They don’t know us, but I know them better than anyone else.”

“Let’s go,” he pointed to the elevator at the end of the barn. “I don’t have a map for the path after we go down, but I roughly know where the library is—”

In fact, when they were resting in the cafeteria, Kai had told Damon why they were going to the library.

“I remember the library has a restricted section,” Kai flipped through his notebook and said. “The books we were allowed to read were all about praising the Goat, teaching us the language, or brainwashing stuff. The restricted books are for the cultists—they’re about sacrifice rituals and all kinds of cutting - edge scientific research…”

“Then why are we going there?” Damon asked in confusion. “We came here to investigate why that post was posted and if any ordinary people got involved. Don’t tell me you hid a time capsule there or something—”

“What do you take me for?!” Kai rapped his knuckles on the table twice. “I wouldn’t do something like that. And to answer your question—remember how I said I’ve always wanted to come back and explore more? Well, I was talking about the restricted section.”

“There’s a book there that’s directly related to the evil god. It has stuff like vessel summoning methods in it,” he looked meaningfully at Damon’s goat horns. “A curious uncle who used to eavesdrop told me about it. He said only the cult’s high - ranking members could see that book, because it not only records how to make vessels, but also how to undo them.”

“…So you want to find that book to help me reverse the modification?” Damon summed it up. When he saw Kai nod, he was at a loss for words. Finally, all he could say was, “…Thanks.”

“Why are you thanking me? Seriously, I’m doing this for myself too,” Kai scratched his cheek. From Damon’s perspective, he could see Kai’s face turn a little pink with shyness, and his eyes darted away. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say ‘thank you’… So you can talk nicely when you want to?!”

Damon kicked Kai under the table. “If you keep this up, I’m leaving.”

“Hey, no! I’d probably drop dead right here without you,” Kai quickly said. “Yeah, anyway, that’s the plan. Actually, the main reason I wanted to come here was to check out the restricted section, haha…”

Pulling himself back to the present, Damon nodded and followed Kai into the elevator. He swiped the access card and waited as the elevator slowly descended.

When they arrived and the elevator doors opened, the sight in front of them left both of them speechless.

There were fresh corpses everywhere—they didn’t look like they’d been dead long, and all of them were headless. In the hand of one corpse that looked like a girl’s, there was a phone with a case featuring one of Kai’s most popular photos. Damon could clearly feel the person beside him sink into a low mood. He fell silent for a moment, then stepped out of the elevator first.

He probably needed a minute to process this.

As Damon walked forward alone, he suddenly heard the clink of chains—jingling and clanging, as if coming from a distant corridor. He was about to go check it out when a hand suddenly reached from behind, grabbed the back of his collar, and pressed him against the wall. His mouth was covered too.

“Mmm!”

Kai’s expression was grim. He held Damon tightly against the wall and focused intently on the sound of the chains. Damon tried to break free, but realized that Kai’s strength had gradually started to surpass his at some point—at least in this moment, he couldn’t get away. Desperate to be free, he acted on impulse and bit Kai’s hand.

“ hiss! …Easy, that hurts!” Kai whispered in complaint. Seeing Damon’s “what the hell are you doing” expression, he had no choice but to explain, “That chain sound belongs to the executive who runs the prisons… He came here for inspections before. I’d never forget the sound of his footsteps—this is definitely him.”

“Sorry, man, but you can’t let him see you,” He adjusted his position slightly to make Damon more comfortable, and at the same time removed his hand from Damon’s mouth. “…Who knows what he’d do to you.”

“…That still doesn’t mean you have to do it so suddenly!” Damon’s chest burned with anger. He whispered, “I thought it was an ambush…”

“Clang!”

Both of them tensed up instantly. The sound was getting closer, and with it came the sound of footsteps running from all directions. They’d already concluded that someone had settled here again, so that wasn’t a big problem—but the fact that the executive was here… Judging by Kai’s reaction, Damon guessed the executive was probably like the manager on his side—a culprit behind all the tragedy.

“Clang! Clang!”

The sound drew nearer, and at the same time, there were people murmuring all around, speaking in a language Damon couldn’t understand… Kai’s expression was unreadable, as if he was struggling with something. Just as the clink of chains echoed from about three hallways away, he suddenly pushed Damon into a utility closet nearby and locked the door from the outside.

“Hey! Kai! What are you doing, you idiot!”

“Sorry,” Kai’s voice came muffled through the door. “I can’t let him see you. Wait here—I’ll handle this.”

“Are you stupid?!” Damon was truly angry this time. “Don’t you know you’re bad at close - range combat?! I’m not gonna suddenly lose control or anything—stop being an idiot and going alone!”

“Hey, that’s harsh. My combat skills have improved, okay?” Kai let out a forced laugh, then took a deep breath—as if saying a final goodbye to someone. “Damon, wait for me. I’ll be fine.”

Then came the sound of footsteps fading away. Damon stood there in a daze, holding a piece of paper Kai had stuffed into his hand when he pushed him into the closet. It had a simple word translation list on it, along with a key.

“…If you were gonna give me the key, why lock the door in the first place…” He didn’t know what to say, so he just sighed. He inserted the key into the lock and tried it—it fit perfectly. Kai had probably guessed he wouldn’t just sit around and do nothing, that he’d sneak out to check on him, so he’d given him the key in advance.

The thought of Kai facing that executive alone made his heart race with anxiety. He guessed Kai had wanted him to go straight to the library to get the book, but for some reason, Damon suddenly thought of how Kai had run to find him at the zoo without a second thought. He gritted his teeth, waited for ten minutes, then threw open the door and ran in the direction Kai’s footsteps had gone.

Please don’t do anything stupid… he thought to himself. Don’t make me face your thousands of fans alone to explain what happened to you…

———

“ Why are they going on another emergency mission again?” Diana asked, looking at the message Tozu had sent in the group chat. “Have you heard anything about it?”

“No,” Eva turned the page of her math textbook. “They’ve been running around because of that evil god stuff lately.”

Diana pressed her lips together. “I know, but something feels off. Eden’s supposed to be a long - term project, and no one told us Damon and Kai are key members of the mission… It feels like we were just called here and then left hanging.”

“…” Eva fell silent too. She’d noticed the same thing, but she didn’t want to ask Tozu. Who knew what kind of answer he’d give?

Just as the atmosphere turned quiet again, the dorm doorbell rang. Diana slipped on her slippers and went to answer it. Standing outside was Eloise “Swan,” another frontline assassin in their organization, famous for her swordsmanship.

“Eva, Diana, Tozu’s looking for you two,” Eloise’s voice was gentle but firm. That was probably why everyone liked listening to her—she gave people confidence and strength.

“Huh?” Diana was shocked. “What does he want us for now? Did something happen to Kai and Damon?”

“No,” Eloise shook her head. “It’s about your new mission assignment. It has to do with investigating that popular AI technology company recently. There are rumors they’re using humans to modify androids. For some reason, this fell into Tozu’s hands, and he wants to send you two to check it out…”

Before Diana could respond, there was a “clatter” from inside the dorm. She turned around and saw that the pen Eva had been using to work on formulas had fallen to the floor. Eva bent down to pick it up and continued writing as if nothing had happened.

But Diana could tell from her back—after hearing the news, Eva was clearly distracted by something.

Chapter Text

Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling of the dim corridor, spinning slowly and casting pale streaks across the stone floor. Damon moved with deliberate care to muffle his footsteps, clutching a flashlight he’d found and sweeping its beam over a side passage.

From this point on, he had no idea which direction Kai might have gone. He slipped up behind a cultist, and before the man could react, drove his dagger into the side of his neck. As the cultist’s struggles faded and his body went limp, Damon dragged him aside, stripped off his black robe, and pulled it on himself.

The curved goat horns sprouting from his forehead pushed the hood up slightly, but it wasn’t a major issue. Damon pulled the hood lower to shield his face and hurried away.

Pat, pat.

He passed numerous lab-like rooms. Most looked abandoned for years; the few that seemed recently used had only a small patch wiped clean on their glass windows, the rest caked in dust.

Damon crouched at the door of one lab, listening to the voices inside.

“So what’s the warden even doing here this time?”

“Beats me. Word is he’s here to find the truth about the fire. And you’d better learn our Lord’s language fast—otherwise, there’ll be punishment.”

“But it’s so hard! The pronunciation makes no sense at all…”

Damon waited, but heard no useful clues. Just as he was about to leave, one of the cultists inside suddenly opened the door. Their eyes met.

“Ah—”

Before the man could finish his shout, Damon drove his dagger straight into his forehead. The cultist fell backward, revealing several robed figures inside who hadn’t reacted to the commotion yet. Damon didn’t give them a chance to move. He pulled out the poisoned darts he’d been keeping in his pocket and flicked them out—each one hitting exposed skin with pinpoint accuracy. Within two seconds, Damon was the only living person left.

He kicked the dagger still protruding from the cultist’s forehead, sending it spinning into the air before catching it neatly and tucking it into his bag. There was no need to retrieve the darts—he had plenty more. The bigger problem was disposing of the bodies… His gaze fell on some empty incubation pods in the lab, and an idea struck him.

“敒潭敶戠慲湩… What the hell is this?” Damon frowned at the unrecognizable text, then pressed the button anyway. No matter what, these bodies wouldn’t come back to life—he could do whatever he wanted with them.

Two tentacles emerged from the pods, yanking the heads off all the corpses and tearing out their brains. The gray-pink matter oozed into the nutrient solution, only to be siphoned away by the recycling system and replaced with fresh fluid.

“…God.” A shiver of disgust ran through him. He searched the area but found nothing except a rough map, then left, disappointed.

Guilt? Please. These people had almost done the same to him—he was more satisfied than anything to see this.

Following the general layout on the map, he slipped around a corner and stopped in front of a massive iron door. Opening it seemed to require a key card, and the characters carved into the metal had a translation in the note Kai had given him:

「楌牢牡�—Library.」

“…” Damon memorized the door’s features, let out a heavy sigh, and ran off in another direction.

Why the hell did these underground facilities have to be designed like mazes? Didn’t they get lost in here themselves?!

———

“More cultists are dead.”

Though they spoke in the Outer God’s language, Kai’s memory of it had flooded back after hours of constant use—he understood perfectly now. He stood among a group of cultists, facing a door that looked like it had been pried open by force. Inside, several bodies lay crumpled on the floor—each with only a single fatal wound to the neck or temple. Some didn’t even have visible injuries.

No need to guess who’d done this. He glanced around subtly, his peripheral vision catching the warden who’d been following them. Since they’d gathered, the man hadn’t issued a single order—just told them to go about their business. That only made Kai more anxious. A silent old fox was truly terrifying.

“Still haven’t caught whoever’s doing this?” A cultist with a higher-ranked disguise than Kai spoke up. “We’ll split into teams to search. If you spot anyone suspicious, capture them—don’t kill them. They might be the vessel the modification faction told us about… The modification faction’s in disarray now. We need to seize this chance to advance our progress, and make contact with our Lord before they do.”

“Praise our Lord!”

Chants of praise erupted around him. Kai joined in, only to feel something crawling up his spine. He turned his head—and sure enough, there was the warden, still watching everyone… plus the goat. But it had shrunk down, now looking like a clump of mysterious white fluff… That was a sheep. Had it even changed species?

He didn’t care who he was grouped with. For all its talk of being a cult, the atmosphere here was more like an office. Most people had no real sense of the higher-ups’ mission; some didn’t even know what they were supposed to be doing—just going through the motions or slacking off.

His teammates were big slackers.

“Hey, I’ll check over there.” Kai found an excuse to stand up, pointing to a corridor for the three remaining teammates sitting on the floor. They barely paid him any mind—only one waved a hand to say he’d heard.

Finally, Kai could move alone. But he didn’t dare search for Damon. Neither of them knew the layout here well—they’d only miss each other. Better to wait for a chance encounter… Kai trusted his luck. He’d always been lucky, after all.

But as he wandered aimlessly—discovering that Damon had taken out a dozen more cultists in the meantime—he ran straight into the warden.

“…Sir.” Kai nodded slightly, unsure what to say. The warden must have been 190cm tall; He just only look up at him, silent as a boulder.

“…” Kai stood there awkwardly, twisting his hands behind his back. Why wasn’t he saying anything?! He couldn’t leave, but standing around like this was torture—

Bang! The warden drew his gun, aimed at Kai’s head, and pulled the trigger. Kai reacted just in time, ducking the moment the gun came up. First, shock—then relief: no need to wonder how the man had figured out he didn’t belong. The inevitable had come. Time to fight! It was the perfect chance to test how much he’d improved after Mara and Damon’s brutal training.

Using the momentum of his crouch, Kai pulled his own gun from his pocket and fired several shots at the warden’s lower body. Unfortunately, he missed vital spots like the Achilles tendon— the warden only stumbled slightly before continuing to aim at Kai, who rolled away to put distance between them.

“…” Kai’s mind raced, analyzing the situation. He darted between cover—metal barrels, fallen corpses—in the narrow corridor, all while trying to line up a shot. He was on the defensive; gunfights weren’t his strong suit. And he had little confidence in his stamina, still new to training. So… he needed to play to his strengths elsewhere.

He pulled a coin from his pocket, flipping it deftly—like that android from the sci-fi game—while narrowly dodging another round of gunfire. “Next step: left leg first, shift weight forward, switch hands to shoot… Recoil’s minimal. A surprise attack from behind would work here…”

He wasn’t like Damon, who won with sheer force. Kai’s style was to dodge, observe, think, memorize his opponent’s movements, then strike precisely at their weakness.

Snap! He flicked the coin. It bounced off the walls a few times before flashing right in front of the warden’s eyes. The man’s attention wavered for just a split second—but for someone as skilled at mental attacks as Kai, that was enough.

“Go!” He pulled out the hallucinogenic poison he’d prepared (courtesy of Damon’s plants) and tossed it forward. The drug wasn’t addictive, but it made anyone who inhaled it see vivid flashbacks, leaving them unable to judge their surroundings. He dared to use this indiscriminate weapon only because he was immune to its effects.

But things didn’t go as planned. Just as Kai closed in for a point-blank shot, the warden grabbed his wrist and flipped him over his shoulder. Kai crashed to the floor, skidding several meters before stopping.

“Shit…” He forced himself up, wiping the blood from his face—scraped by gravel on the ground. The warden advanced, but the drug must have been working; he didn’t fire immediately. Probably planning to keep Kai alive for the sacrifice… Kai quickly righted himself, another coin in hand. His “luck streak”—where he could hit any target he wanted with a coin—only lasted three times… This was the second.

“Need to lead him back, then increase the dose…”

He backed away, ready to flick the coin—when something strange flashed past the warden’s head and embedded itself in the corridor wall. A dart inlaid with green feathers—

“…” Kai didn’t hesitate. He flicked the coin. Guided by luck, it hit the warden square on the forehead. The man stumbled back a step, but quickly steadied himself. But that small mistake was a fatal opening for a professional killer.

Slash!

The sound of blade cutting through flesh. The warden grunted in pain, his gun slipping from his hand. He reached back with his uninjured hand, grabbing something and flinging it toward Kai. But the figure sailed through the air, adjusting their posture mid-fall to land steadily—still holding the dagger they’d pulled free as they moved. The emeralds in its hilt glinted faintly in the dim light.

Damon was here.

Kai felt a surge of confidence. He’d actually held out long enough for Damon to arrive. Tozu had trained everyone in the organization to recognize signs of nearby combat in a building—making it easier to support each other. Clearly, Damon had been a top student in that class… Or had he ever gotten lower than third place in anything? Except maybe interpersonal skills.

Damon’s hood had fallen off during his leap. His eyes had returned to green at some point, but the horns on his head were still there… He flicked blood from his dagger, spared Kai a quick glance, then charged forward without hesitation.

Clang!

Blade met metal. The warden drew a sword from his waist, parrying Damon’s dagger head-on. Finally— a chance to catch his breath. Kai checked his supplies: unlike Damon, who carried darts, he had hallucinogens, distraction coins, handgun ammo, and a long-lasting phone.

Satisfied, he ducked into a safe corner to analyze the fight. Damon was incredibly agile—moving like a snake, impossible to track. One second he was in front of the warden, breaking his defense; the next, he was behind him, delivering a side kick to the man’s head. Whoa—total domination!

It reminded Kai of their training sessions. Alright, Damon had been right—he really was a beginner at hand-to-hand combat.

The wound Damon had inflicted was already seeping with poison. Even the warden, whose body might have been modified, grew weaker by the second. Just as Damon’s dagger was about to strike a fatal blow, the warden stepped back and pulled a large spherical object from inside his coat, hurling it to the ground. It spun, blaring an alarm and spewing strange gas.

Damon didn’t let the surprise distract him. He pulled a dart from his pocket and flicked it—hitting the warden’s right shoulder. The man froze. Damon stepped back to avoid the gas, dagger ready to stab and disable the device.

But the gas spread too fast. When it reached the upper air, his legs went weak—not the limpness from sleeping gas, but something else entirely.

“…Ugh…”

His head throbbed as if someone were stirring it inside. His vision blurred—one moment the retreating warden looked like a rabbit-eared elephant, the next he saw two huge red eyes in the pitch-black dark. The infection was worsening… As Kai had said, they didn’t dare gamble on what would happen at maximum infection. They had to stay awake. Damon wiped his blade on his robe to remove most of the poison, then drove it straight into his thigh.

The loss of blood cleared his mind temporarily. Just in time—Kai came rushing over from behind. He said nothing at the sight, but shot the gas-emitting device to disable it, grabbed it, then slung Damon’s arm over his shoulders to help him escape. As they left, he scattered several packets of powder behind them—making sure the warden and other cultists couldn’t follow.

“W-where’s your key card?” Damon’s words came in gasps, his thigh wound and muddled mind slowing him down. “I found… the library. Over there.”

“On me.” Kai didn’t waste words, moving toward the direction Damon had pointed. They passed a few cultists along the way, but Damon—even unable to stand steady—still struck with deadly precision, a testament to his training. He finished off anyone who survived.

At the library door, Kai swiped the key card. The door creaked open, releasing the musty scent of old books. Behind them, several Guards came charging.

“Whoa—where’d they come from?!”

Kai yelped, catching a small packet of something Damon tossed him and hurling it outward. It exploded on impact, revealing a thick, dark green sludge—deadly poison. The Guard it hit screamed as it dissolved his flesh. The blast bought time for the door to close, and…

“They won’t come in.” Kai helped Damon lean against a wall, then propped himself up beside him. “The library has too many things they can’t break. And the warden’s hurt pretty bad… We’re safe as long as we don’t go out.”

“…Yeah.” Damon’s head no longer ached, and the bleeding from his thigh had stopped. He took a deep breath, stripping off the black robe to use as an impromptu bandage—while not missing a chance to taunt. “What were you gonna do if I’d gotten here any later?”

“Uh… fight to escape, obviously.” Kai pulled out his coin again, flipping it. Then, when Damon wasn’t looking, he flicked it gently—hitting him on the forehead.

“Ow—you bastard…” Damon rubbed his forehead, glaring at him. “Want to die? Just say the word. I don’t mind tossing you out to feed the Guards right now.”

“Sorry! But I wanted to test if it still worked…” Kai scratched the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly. “I can teach you if you want! I learned the trick from a game…”

“Talk about it later.”

An awkward silence fell between them—then Kai suddenly laughed. He didn’t know why, but the relief of surviving danger made him giddy. Damon gave him a confused look, but didn’t scold him.

After resting for a while—certain no one would break in (or maybe because Damon had killed enough people while wandering outside)—they stood up and walked deeper into the library. The basement level was the restricted section. Kai picked up an oil lamp from a nearby table, lit it with a lighter he found, and began searching the shelves one book at a time. Damon, meanwhile, went to the section with scientific research books, hoping to find something that explained his condition.

“…What the hell? 《How to Train Brains to Walk on Their Own》…”

He frowned. This didn’t look like a normal book. But he flipped through it anyway—strange scientific data seeped into his mind, sparking a new idea. He called out to Kai on the other side. “You got any blank pages left in that notebook?”

“Huh? Yeah—” Kai tossed the notebook over, but it missed its mark slightly and hit the floor.

Looks like his luck had run out. Kai sighed, turning back to search for books on rituals. The Outer God’s script made his head throb—but finally, in a corner, he found the title he remembered. It looked like a copy, though…

“I found it!”

They sat on the floor where they’d tended to their wounds earlier. The upper levels were blocked off; the only way someone could attack was from here. Kai translated the book aloud for Damon, while Damon jotted down new ideas from the research book he’d read.

“…And then, within three minutes of the vessel establishing a connection with the Outer God, if something goes wrong… you can break it…” Kai frowned as he read. “By destroying the vessel.”

“Destroy the vessel?” Damon looked up. “You mean kill them outright, or some weird esoteric method?”

“No idea—it’s vague.” Kai flipped to the next pages, his gaze stopping on an illustration. It showed people tied to stakes, wood piled below—burned alive like witches in the Middle Ages. But unlike the persecution of women back then, this ritual didn’t erase human consciousness. Instead, the victims became offerings—slaves to the Outer God.

“Was this how you almost got burned?” Damon asked, staring at the picture. But Kai shook his head. “No. They were doing the ritual, but not like this… I remember someone lit the fire early. It got out of control somehow, and I was stuck on that stake… Then the goat seemed to protect me. Let me live.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Damon frowned. “How could there have been so much kindling? For it to spread like you said, the ritual site must have been full of wood and completely sealed off.”

“Yeah, it was weird… But I passed out pretty fast. I don’t remember anything else.” He closed his eyes, shutting the book. “This tells us nothing. Dammit—wasted our time.”

“At least we know they’re reactivating this place.” Damon stood up, tucking the notebook into his pocket. “Let me borrow this when we get back. I got a few new poison ideas—you’ll be my test subject later.”

“…Do I get a choice?”

“No.”

“Ugh… Damon, you’re such a—”

They were about to open the door back to the cultists’ living quarters when a memory flashed through Kai’s mind. He grabbed Damon’s hand before he could turn the handle. “Wait.”

“What?” Damon looked back.

“Something’s off…” Kai frowned, thinking. “What was it like back then…? The warden wasn’t there. All the low-rank members were running the ritual— the higher-ups had all been transferred… Security was slack that week… What was I doing?”

“…Shit.” He grabbed Damon and pulled him away from the door, then took the oil lamp, set it down in an empty spot in the library, and unscrewed the cap. He pulled out the spherical device he’d picked up earlier, popped it open, and let the gas pour out. When it mixed with the lamp’s flame, it let out a high-pitched screech and began crackling with fire.

“…” Kai stared at the flames in silence, then whispered. “I started the fire… That’s why I survived.”

“You started it?” Damon couldn’t follow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“This whole area was full of that gas back then.” Kai waited for the flames to die down, explaining quietly, his eyes hollow. “The execution was outside. I crumpled a page from my notebook into a ball, lit it over the bonfire, and threw it into one of the huts… I thought it’d be a small act of revenge. But that stuff’s highly flammable and explosive. They probably planned to evacuate fast once the ritual started—but my little fire ruined everything.”

“Then it spread. To everyone—including me.” He closed his eyes, sighing. “The goat must have thought I was the most devoted one here. That I’d burn everyone—myself included… So it decided to let me live a little longer.”

“That’s why they call me the heretic demon… Because I was the one who finished that sacrifice. But I don’t belong to their cult.”

Damon listened, stunned. He wanted to comfort Kai, but no words came. His damn empathy had vanished when he needed it most. All he could do was watch as Kai picked up the burnt-out oil lamp and set it on a table.

“…Damon. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“Of course not.” Damon shook his head. “If you’re crazy, what does that make me—this guy with goat horns? A beast?”

“That’s not funny.” Kai forced a smile, then took a deep breath, his voice firm.

“Let’s burn this place down again. Burn it to the ground. Bury everything. If they call me a heretic and want to burn me at the stake… then let them see what a ‘crazy heretic’ can do. More than they’ll ever imagine.”

Damon smiled. It was the first time Kai had suggested something this interesting. “Sure. I’ll play along with your madness.”

Kai froze—then smiled too. “…Thanks, man. The gas came from the steam engines. There must be more fuel left. This way.”

They opened the door again. But this time, they weren’t retreating. This time, they walked out openly—ready to embrace the role of the prophesied, demon heretic.

Chapter Text

Once they stepped into the fuel room, things started to get weird. The initial rush of adrenaline faded, leaving Kai scratching his head as he stared at rows of chemical containers—and Damon poring over the obscure books he’d swiped from the library.

Sneaking in had been surprisingly easy. Just as Kai had guessed, the place was littered with corpses, the air thick with the stench of blood. And Damon— the one responsible for most of those bodies—had looked positively “innocent” as he’d retrieved usable darts from the pile of dead cultists…

“What’s this stuff… ethylene?” Kai held up a bottle, sniffed it, then pulled back with a grimace. “Ugh—that reeks.”

“Are you even gonna find it?” Damon had already given up hope. He sat down to wait, resigning himself to just keeping Kai company.

“Ugh, I swear it was around here! And stop reading that stupid book—you’ll have plenty of time later! Hurry up and help me look!”

“No. You’re the one who wanted to burn this place down—find it yourself.”

“C’mon, please?—” Kai tugged at Damon’s hood. “I’ll make you a frappe when we get back—”

…This guy was nothing but trouble. Damon sighed, closed his book, and knelt down beside Kai. “What exactly are you looking for… Wait, first—try to remember what that gas smelled like. And its density, anything you can recall.”

“Uh, Damon—are you a science geek?” Kai’s eyes went wide. “You gonna figure out the compound on the spot?”

“If you want my help, hurry up.”

“Okay, okay! Let’s see—I remember it was—”

With Kai’s vague but mostly accurate description, Damon quickly identified the raw materials for the gas. He couldn’t help but admit: whoever invented this gas was a genius. A few small tweaks, and it could become far more lethal. He mentally noted down the deduced chemical reactions, grabbed the materials, and started mixing them on the spot.

From Kai’s perspective, it might as well have been magic. No protective gear—Damon handled concentrated sulfuric acid and other strong acids with his bare hands. No measuring cups, yet every pour was precise… God. He was more and more grateful he hadn’t picked a fight with Damon on their first day of school.

After about fifteen minutes, Damon nudged Kai—who’d started dozing off—with his elbow. “Go get your lighter.”

“Huh? Oh… Wait.” Kai rubbed his eyes, pushing himself up with his knees. But he lost his balance and plopped back down. He tried standing a few more times, then despairly realized his legs had fallen asleep. Damon, watching with obvious exasperation, massaged his temples. “…Fine. I’ll get it myself.”

Once he had a heating container, they repeated their earlier trick: tossing the raw materials into the steam chamber, then dropping in a lit paper ball. After a short wait, a sharp, dizzying smell wafted out. Damon covered his nose and stepped back to the door, watching as the gas burned steadily.

“You actually did it… Damon, you’re a genius!” Kai leaned against a cage, watching the materials burn. He darted over to stare at the pipes carrying the gas upward, excited. “In a little while, those guards’ll pass out… Let’s go!”

“Hey, don’t yank me—” Damon let himself be dragged forward by the wrist. If he thought about it, Kai had pulled him around like this countless times. He’d gotten used to it. They climbed up the stairs (the elevator power had cut out) and reached the prison area.

But contrary to expectations, the guards weren’t unconscious—they’d grown… violent. They scrambled everywhere, roaring, even turning on each other. Amid the chaos, it was nearly impossible to push through. Kai tried distracting them to clear a path, but it was useless. No one listened.

“…Teach me how to say ‘get out of the way’.” Damon finally freed his right hand, rubbing his wrist. Kai looked at him, blinking in confusion. “Uh, 敇⁴畯⁴景琠敨眠祡.”

“Got it.” He cleared his throat, then faced the rampaging guards. Using the same volume he’d had in his childhood debate competitions, he shouted: “敇⁴畯⁴景琠敨眠祡!”

The chaos continued for a moment, then the guards froze. They stared blankly at Damon, as if processing the command. Then, all of them stepped back, pressing themselves against the walls—as if making way.

“Whoa…” Kai gaped, staring at Damon in disbelief. “Is this another goat power?”

“Probably. I guess I can use a little bit of it… Hurry. The gas’ll dissipate soon.”

They didn’t linger. They ran back to where they’d come from and took the elevator up. When the door opened, they were surprised to find the sky had turned completely dark—especially in this mountainous area, there wasn’t a single light in sight. Only faint moonlight spilled down, like a sheet of milk, quiet and serene.

Kai stepped outside, already holding his lighter and a paper ball. He walked purposefully toward a small hut—and Damon could guess what it was: the room where Kai had been held, waiting for execution. He followed Kai inside.

The room’s layout seemed unchanged, preserved just as it had been six years ago. Scrawled on the wall were the words “Monteago” and a small butterfly. In the corner, there were handcuffs and a tiny flint stone. Kai picked up the flint, tucked it into his notebook, then took a deep breath.

“Let’s do this. Burn it all—whoever’s still alive.”

Snap. The lighter clicked to life.

Fizzle. The paper caught fire.

Crackle. The gas filling the air began to pop, accompanied by a faint burning sensation. Damon watched as the flames spread, slowly consuming everything. The blaze lit up the dark blue sky, bright as if dawn had come early.

…Would dawn ever really come?

Kai turned to see Damon staring at the spreading fire, lost in thought. He chuckled, walking over to sling an arm around Damon’s shoulders. “You coming?”

“…I smell someone.” Damon sniffed, pointing toward a direction in the fire. “There’s someone over there.”

“Huh?” Kai looked too. “Is it the warden? I’ll check.”

Luckily, the fire wasn’t too intense yet—or maybe they’d grown fearless after training under Tozu. Either way, they pushed through the collapsing ruins and headed toward the source of the scent.

In the end, they found the warden, lying on his side in a corner of the rubble. After his fight with Damon, he’d clearly tried to escape to report back to headquarters—but Damon’s poison had acted fast. He was already dead. The fire ate at his coat, revealing his pale, vein-covered skin—proof of his modifications.

Damon stepped forward, wanting to search for any unburned notes, but Kai’s next move made him freeze. Kai picked up a nearby stick, walked over to the corpse, and without hesitation, swung down.

Squelch! Squelch!

Again and again—Kai looked possessed, brutalizing the body. He didn’t stop at breaking bones; he beat the warden into a pulp, splattering flesh across the ground, his face, and the stick. It was nothing like the cheerful Kai he knew. Was it hatred? Or something else? Damon waited until Kai had vented his rage, then pulled Kai’s hand away before he could strike again. “Enough. The fire’s getting bigger—we need to go.”

“…Damon, you have something on your face.” Kai pointed to a dark red smudge on Damon’s cheek, reaching out to wipe it away. But instead of cleaning it, the fresh blood on Kai’s hand only made the smudge worse, leaving Damon’s face even dirtier.

Damon didn’t care about that. His main concern was Kai’s mental state. He wiped his face roughly with his sleeve, then grabbed Kai’s hand and dragged him outside. “Look at your own face—don’t blame me if you get scars.”

“I won’t… But Damon,” Kai didn’t move. He stared at the unrecognizable pile of flesh on the ground, his face empty. “Can I really go with you?”

Thunder rumbled overhead—helicopters. Were they local police? Or organization members? Damon clicked his tongue, frowning at Kai. “What’s your problem now? Are you coming or not?”

“…I’ve been thinking. Is it my fault you got dragged into this too? I’ve always faced the goat alone. You… you never had to go through this…” Kai’s voice was soft, almost carried away by the hot wind. “I—”

Splash! Water poured down from the helicopters, dousing the fire. Taking advantage of Kai’s momentary distraction, Damon hauled him forward. He could feel Kai walking in a daze, but now wasn’t the time to talk. They’d have to wait until they got back to the inn.

Yes—they still had the inn for one more night… Even if that “night” would only last four or five hours. Damon navigated toward their luggage, relying on his memory. The blisters on his face from the fire stung, but he didn’t care. The priority was getting Kai to safety—and finally figuring out what the hell was wrong with him.

———

“I told you, it’s not my fault it’s this swollen.”

“Did I say it was?” Kai touched the bandage on his face, then flopped back onto his bed. They’d given Tozu a quick report, and decided to head back to school the next afternoon—sleeping in the morning first. The all-night high-intensity fight had left Damon exhausted, but there was something more important to deal with now.

“What was that about earlier?” Damon closed his first-aid kit, stood up, and sat on the edge of his own bed, watching Kai stare blankly at the ceiling. “PTSD acting up?”

“…I don’t know.” Kai fell silent for a moment, then sat up. “When I saw that body… it just brought back the memory of watching everyone else die. I’ve eaten people. Killed people. And I did it before Tozu even took me in… It’s heavy.”

“I’ve tried to forget those two months, but it still haunts me.” He rolled up his sleeve, revealing layers of bandages. “Sometimes I wake up at night, trying to… suiside. I think I don’t deserve to live. I should’ve died there—then I wouldn’t have to carry all this guilt. But the goat won’t let me. It always heals my wounds like a miracle, makes me forget for a while… just to watch me struggle as a weak human, for its amusement.”

Kai’s voice cracked—not the playful whine Damon was used to, but genuine agony. “I don’t know! I really don’t know why I’m still alive! I became an influencer to forget it all, but every kind comment online just makes me feel guilty… Damon, I—I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. Made you suffer with me. And a few months ago, I didn’t even know the goat was behind everything…”

“Kai.” Damon sighed, sitting up straighter. It was his first time giving anyone counseling—let alone Kai, who was usually so upbeat… But he couldn’t put this off any longer. “When did I say I was suffering because of you?”

“…You say it all the time?” Kai sniffled. “That I give you chest pains and stuff…”

“That’s because you’re infuriating sometimes. But most of the time… you’re bearable.” He paused, continuing. “I’m not gonna tell you to ‘look on the bright side’ or anything. I just wanna ask you one thing: do you feel happy living with me now?”

Kai froze, as if confused by the question—but he nodded anyway.

“Then that’s enough. Your life isn’t as bad as you think. If we’d never met, no one would’ve found out about the goat. Humanity might’ve gone extinct. And I, Diana, Eva—everyone—we’re all willing to stay with you, listen to you.” Damon stared into Kai’s golden eyes, as if trying to bore a hole through them to chase away Kai’s gloom. “If you’re happy, why would you wanna die? You keep thinking of yourself as a runaway cult member, but you’re not. You’re just Kai Monteago, codename ‘Swallowtail’, and a famous internet influencer. You’ve achieved things no one else—including me—could.”

“If you still feel bad, talk to everyone. ” He scratched the back of his neck, adding awkwardly. “…Or talk to me. If you don’t mind me being harsh sometimes.”

“…That’s nice.” Kai mumbled, staring at his hands. After a moment, he stood up, walked over to Damon, and wrapped his arms tightly around him.

“Damon, I’m so glad I met you.” He rested his head on Damon’s back, his voice muffled. “I can’t even imagine what I’d do without you…”

“Then keep living.” Damon patted Kai’s back, a faint smile in his voice. “You know, I actually kinda miss the version of you that yells and screams.”

“…In ten minutes, you’ll be annoyed with me again.”

“Because it’s true. You are annoying.”

“Hey! I’m in a vulnerable state right now—do you have to say that?”

“If you’ve got the energy to bicker, you’re fine. Now let go of me.”

Kai groaned but complied. He wiped his face with a wet wipe from the side table, then gave Damon the familiar, bright, boyish smile that was uniquely his. “But seriously—thanks. You’re the first person who’s ever wanted to listen to all this.”

“…We’re friends, aren’t we?” Damon looked away. He wasn’t sure why he’d sat here listening, or why he’d said so much… It wasn’t like him. “Quit being so sappy.”

“Whoa, Damon’s blushing! I gotta record this—”

“Shut up.”

Half an hour passed, and it was already 3 AM. Kai finally gave in, collapsing onto Damon’s bed. “Ugh—I can’t stay up any longer. I’ll die.”

“Move to your own bed.” Damon’s forehead twitched.

“Nope. You can stay up all night anyway, with that weird superpower of yours. Cut me some slack.” Kai rolled over. “Besides, I just had a breakdown—mmph!”

Damon grabbed a pillow and tried to smother the guy who could infuriate him with a single sentence—but Kai fought back and won.

Later? Kai ended up falling asleep in Damon’s bed, while Damon was forced to drag a chair to the window. He left only the desk lamp on and started reading academic papers.

What they didn’t know was what waited for them when they returned to school the next day.

———

As soon as he stepped off the car, Kai stretched widely, looking left and right as if he’d never been to Eden Academy before. Damon followed, hauling their luggage and the documents they’d grabbed from the prison, piling them on the ground. He also looked up at his surroundings.

…Strangely, the university—usually bustling with people—was empty. No one was around. Looking toward the dorms, every window was locked, as if the school was under lockdown.

“What’s going on?” Kai pulled out his phone to search. “We’re only gone a day, and it’s like this?”

“I don’t know.” Damon narrowed his eyes. “But this vibe doesn’t feel good.”

“Would it be this quiet if it was good news… Diana?!”

In front of them, Diana—wearing loungewear—peeked her head out of the dorm entrance. When she saw Kai and Damon, her tense shoulders relaxed. She hurried over, her hair messy and dark circles under her eyes—she looked exhausted.

“You’re back! Ugh… if things were normal, Cassidy would probably throw you a welcome party…” She took a few bags from Damon, eyeing the bandage on Kai’s face. “You hurt? Is it bad?”

“Nah, just a little burn.” Kai waved it off. “Might need you to cover for me later.”

“Sure—let’s talk inside the dorm. It’s too risky to stay outside now.” Without hesitation, she led them inside, carrying the bags. They still didn’t see anyone along the way, and the soft thud of their footsteps on the carpet felt eerily loud.

“What happened?” As soon as Diana led them to her and Eva’s dorm, Damon asked Eva. Eva’s hair was also unkempt—tied in a messy high ponytail—and she was staring at her phone while drinking coffee. She looked up at Damon, her eyes empty of emotion.

“Someone’s dead.”

“Huh?!” Kai yelped, jumping back a step. “Suicide by jumping?”

“No.” Eva shook her head, her expression grave. Diana added from the side: “Murder. It happened under the apple tree at the school gate… The body was already rotting when they found it.”

“Murder…” Damon frowned. “Was it one of our people?”

“Unlikely.” Eva pulled out her phone to show them photos taken at the scene. In the pictures, a boy lay under the apple tree, his face pressed to the ground, a knife sticking out of his back. At first glance, it looked like a simple murder—but it wouldn’t have made Diana and Eva, who’d seen countless bodies, look so solemn.

Damon stared at the photo, confused—until Kai spotted something. He took Eva’s phone, zooming in on the knife in the boy’s back.

“Whoa… that’s,” He looked up at Damon, his expression meaningful. “That’s Mara’s knife!”

Mara? Damon froze. Diana’s face lit up in realization. “Mara! No wonder Tozu hasn’t said anything—no investigation, nothing… But why would Mara do this?”

“Because she’s… taking care of a traitor.” Eva said coldly. “The victim was one of our members. I heard there’re traitors in the organization—selling information on us, especially you two.” She looked at Kai and Damon.

“…The cult again.” Damon sighed. He’d broken off the goat horns on his head when they’d left the fire. The good news was his healing ability was absurdly strong—the holes in his skull had already closed. But seeing this, he couldn’t help but feel tired. Who the hell was targeting them?

“But even so—why’s the school locked down?” Kai asked the key question. “If they wanted to handle a traitor quietly, they could’ve done it better… Mara doesn’t seem like the type to cause a scene.”

“She isn’t. But,” Eva massaged her temples. “Here’s the catch: the student council is convinced it was a personal grudge. They’re investigating, and everyone’s on edge…”

“Also.” She gave them a meaningful look. “Since you two weren’t at school yesterday—especially not coming back at night—even with Tozu and Wolfgang (the student council president) vouching for you… you’re still the prime suspects.”

Kai gasped. Damon’s face darkened. They exchanged a look, and finally Damon voiced what they were both thinking. “There are organization members on the student council? Trying to get us expelled so they can take us out?”

“Probably.” Diana nodded. “This is such a mess—right when Christmas is only a month away…”

Silence fell over the dorm—until a loud, urgent knock came at the door.

“Who is it?” Diana walked to the door, looking through the peephole while gripping the handle.

“Student council.” The voice outside was flat, no emotion. “Is Ms. Maitsu and Mr. Monteago here? The discipline committee wants to talk to you.”

Chapter Text

“……What?” Diana turned around to glance at the three people in the room. After a moment of silence, she turned back and replied, “Why are you looking for them?”

“Ms. Venicia, I hope you understand that as members of the student council, we all have a responsibility to take charge of students who may pose potential problems in the school.” The voice on the other end was still cold, like a pre-programmed robot. “If you don’t mind, please open the dorm door.”

“Is this what you call taking responsibility? Demanding to search a female student’s dorm at this hour?” Her tone was filled with dissatisfaction. “I don’t even know what to say… Didn’t Wolfgang teach you the basics of etiquette?”

“Ms.—”

“Alright, Diana.” Kai stepped forward, pulled Diana back before she could argue further, and moved her away from the entrance. Then he twisted the doorknob to open the door, blocking the view of the discipline committee member in front of him.

“Do you have something to talk to me about?” His expression was serious, and his voice was lower than usual, carrying a more somber tone. The discipline committee member sized him up, then took out his phone and showed him the recording interface. “To prevent any misunderstandings about what we say, please don’t mind me recording here.”

“Do whatever you want.”

“Alright. Then I’d like to ask, Mr. Monteago—were you with Mr. Maiatsu last night? Where did you go? Why did you stay outside the school overnight? Did Principal Tozu take any clear action to stop you once he found out? And do you know—”

“I’m sorry, but I think Wolfgang already answered all these questions for you… Can’t you come up with any new ones? Like, why your first instinct was to assume we’re the murderers…” Kai sighed dramatically. “Do you people really just take it for granted that I’d have such a dangerous restricted knife?”

“We don’t have any doubts about that. On the contrary, we firmly believe that since both of you are outstanding students with excellent grades and conduct, you would never carry restricted knives or do anything of that sort.” He pushed up his glasses and continued, “But this is just a routine procedure. Since your statements are consistent with Wolfgang’s, I’d like to ask—”

He pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket and showed it to Kai. Inside was the knife Mara had used for the stabbing, which seemed to have become a piece of evidence. “Why are Mr. Maiatsu’s fingerprints on this knife?”

“Huh?!” Kai looked completely incredulous. “What do you mean by that—”

“Please don’t get worked up. We sent this to the police for analysis while wearing gloves the entire time, so there can’t be any mistakes. Additionally, the police are conducting further investigations, but due to some equipment issues, there’s currently no surveillance footage showing the victim’s movements.” The discipline committee member put the bag back in his pocket. “Therefore, we have no choice but to initially suspect both of you, especially Mr. Maiatsu—he’s taken leave from school so many times, and apart from a handful of students, almost no one knows his true personality. So I think this is understandable.”

What on earth is this mess… Damon, who was in the room, was dying to roll his eyes. This was totally an unexpected disaster, like being charged a “breathing tax.” And yet, the committee member was right—Damon really did attend class so rarely that he could count the times on his fingers, and he had no interactions with students outside their small group… But it was still so frustrating, especially since they couldn’t tell anyone the real situation.

“……” Kai took a deep breath, then replied with unwavering certainty, “We would never do something like taking someone’s life casually. Please leave, senpai. We’ll cooperate if there are any updates on the case. But we just got back from the suburbs—can we please have some time to rest?”

“Of course. However, the discipline committee also hopes that you won’t leave the dorm building for the time being. We will also ask Ms. Tsunaka and Ms. Venicia to help keep an eye on you.” The discipline committee member bowed, then walked down the corridor. After he left, the students who had secretly opened their doors to peek from both sides of the hallway closed them one after another, and faint whispers of gossip could be heard coming from inside.

They’re going to become famous. That was Kai’s first thought at the time. Then he quickly corrected himself: Wait, wasn’t I already famous? So I should rephrase that—Damon is going to become famous.

“What’s going on?” As soon as he closed the door, Eva spoke up. She frowned and looked at Damon. “Why aren’t Mara’s fingerprints on that knife, but yours are?”

“I don’t know.” Damon shook his head. “Even the knives I used during training don’t look like this… Did someone copy my fingerprints and stick them on? That doesn’t make sense either—wasn’t Toshiko in charge of all the confidential information?”

“Speaking of Toshiko,” Diana chimed in, “she hasn’t been to school in ages. I contacted Ingrid, and she said Toshiko seems to have run into some work issues and was urgently recalled to headquarters to handle them… Could it be that the information was leaked during this time?”

“It’s possible.” Damon nodded. “Can someone fill me and Kai in on what’s actually going on? Do any of you know the full story?”

“Actually, that’s all we know.” Eva sighed and kept scrolling through her phone. From Damon’s perspective, he could see that she was actually reading fanfiction. “I think you two should take the initiative. From what I can tell, that spy has completely taken control of the student council and sidelined Wolfgang… What on earth is Wolfgang even doing?”

“Probably on a sweet date with Grace.” Kai rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable… What can we even do by taking the initiative? We’re not allowed to leave the dorm, and we’re being watched 24/7… Isn’t this a dead end?”

“……Have you ever played a mystery game?” She massaged her forehead, finally tearing her eyes away from the extremely NSFW fanfic she was reading—and Damon, who had been sneaking glances at her phone the whole time, couldn’t help but think his ability to understand text was a little too good. By the time he realized what he was looking at, it was already too late. “Faking evidence, obviously. What else?”

“But what’s the point of faking evidence?!!” Kai threw his hands up, his eyes wide with shock and confusion. “The murder weapon has already been confirmed as evidence. We can’t just make up a whole new alibi out of thin air… And I only got through oo Attorney by brute-forcing every option! I’m not on the same level as a pro like you!!”

Eva’s mood improved a bit at the “pro” comment (at least from what Damon knew of her), so she decided to give Kai—who was acting as clueless as a single-celled organism—a little direction. “I’m not telling you to fix what’s already happened. I’m telling you to fabricate an entirely new truth. Keep the basic outline of the story intact, but come up with a new, plausible interpretation of it.”

“So it’s like discussing a classic novel?” Diana interrupted. “And Kai still has the ability to hypnotize the public… Isn’t that perfect? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“A new, plausible interpretation…” Damon fell into thought. From an outsider’s perspective, this was how the story had unfolded so far: The two of them had left school in the afternoon the previous day and stayed out all night. The victim had died late at night, and since it was the weekend, no one had passed through the main gate—everyone had taken the side gate to the commercial street—so the body hadn’t been discovered until shortly after they got back… The knife in the victim’s body had his fingerprints, but the victim was basically a complete stranger to him. If, if he wanted to gain even a slight upper hand…

“Self-defense?” He muttered, “But even self-defense can still lead to a manslaughter charge…”

“Why are you even worried about that?” Kai heard his quiet muttering and asked, amused. “Do you really need a self-defense claim to clear your name when you’ve already got so many lives on your hands?”

“Well, isn’t this about our reputation in normal society?” Damon crossed his arms, annoyed by Kai’s question. “Don’t you also need to be proven innocent to avoid ruining your public image?”

“……You’ve got a point.”

Just as the two fell silent again, Diana suddenly clapped her hands. “I’ve got an idea! But it might require Kai to use a bit of your ability, and you too, Damon.” She gave Damon an apologetic smile. “Since the discipline committee member didn’t see your face just now, I’m going to give you a little disguise—”

“……Fine.” Damon swallowed. Eva watched Diana’s bright, sparkling eyes from the side, sighed in exhaustion, and patted Damon on the shoulder. Usually, when Diana had that look in her eyes, something… chaotic was about to happen. And there was no escaping it. Even Eva, who had always avoided social interactions, couldn’t get out of it.

———

“……It actually worked?”

Kai stared at the countless comments piling up under his account, as well as the sudden flood of insults on Eden’s Garden Academy’s official account, looking dumbfounded. “I always thought my fans were the more gentle type…”

“Because they’ve been hyping you up this whole time.” Damon washed the thick special-effects makeup off his face again with water, feeling like he was scrubbing off a layer of skin.

“And people these days love stories where the poor, bullied underdog finally fights back—only to get suppressed even more… That’s why I say social media is garbage.”

“Tell me about it.”

Diana’s solution had been this: Kai used his main account to post a submission—no camera, just an audio recording, plus a deliberately blurry photo of Damon’s face. The audio contained a mix of truth and lies, pieced together after two hours of comparing details:

The real reason Damon had taken leave from school was financial troubles at home—he’d been working part-time jobs to earn money. When the victim found out about this, he’d decided to bully Damon because of it. Over time, Damon had finally had enough. During another confrontation, they’d gotten into an argument, and in the scuffle that followed, Damon—pushed to his limit—had grabbed the knife the victim had brought to threaten him and stabbed the victim in the back in self-defense. That, according to the story, was the real cause of death.

Diana had also done Damon’s makeup to make him look exactly like a kid from a poor family, complete with realistic-looking bruises on his face. Eva’s first comment when she saw him was: “If I didn’t know Damon’s real personality, I’d actually think he’s a pushover.” And Cassidy, who was on a video call standing by to edit the surveillance footage, was so shocked when she saw him that she fell off her chair—scaring everyone.

The video spread like wildfire. It felt like, in no time, related hashtags had shot to the top of the trending list. And obviously, the students at Eden’s Garden Academy had seen it too. Kai had used his usual trick: in the few edits in the video, he’d used reasonable exaggeration to shift everyone’s focus to the “bullying” part, not the “murder” part. As a result, no one blamed Damon—instead, everyone was criticizing the victim’s cruelty and the school’s inaction.

The situation had blown up even more, but by this point, it no longer had anything to do with the two of them. Kai’s official story was that he’d gone out to film footage for his next video. Damon said he’d just left campus to buy something, then returned during the time the surveillance cameras were down—and had been harassed that night. And the victim? Sorry, but like everyone else, his real identity and background were fake, since he’d been a member of the organization too.

“People are still talking about this in the student council group chat.” Diana said as she removed Damon’s makeup. “It seems like everyone’s completely changed their tune—no one’s paying attention to you two anymore.”

“Because they’re always so eager to prove they’re in the right. They do it by sympathizing with others and blaming someone else.” Damon’s expression was calm. “Anyway, it’s good that it’s over. Now we just need to lie low for a while.”

For dinner that night, Kai and Damon made instant noodles in their dorm. They’d agreed to wait a week before showing up in the school cafeteria again—and Damon would have to stay in the dorm even more than before. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself: Just one bad thing after another. Now he couldn’t even go to school again.

“Don’t worry, everyone will send you their notes,” Kai said, slurping up a strand of noodles. “Now both of us are famous.”

“But I don’t want to be famous.” Damon stared at the steam rising from his instant noodles. “We haven’t even dealt with the Goat, and now this happens… Seriously, do they want to run us ragged?”

“If you drop dead, the world might as well end.” Kai laughed and pointed his chopsticks at the air above them, as if pointing at something invisible but very real. “See? It’s watching us like a hawk.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Damon stood up to open it, and found Mara standing outside. She’d taken off her panther mask and looked somewhat guilty.

“……I’m sorry.”

That was all she said. Then she handed him the package in her hands and turned to leave.

Damon stood there, still a little stunned. Kai whistled from behind him. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard Mara speak.”

“Yeah…” He closed the door, sat back down, and set the package on the floor next to the coffee table. The corn snake, which had been slithering around the living room, caught wind of it and came over, flicking its tongue curiously as it coiled around Kai’s side, staring at the suddenly appeared box.

Damon clearly saw Kai’s back stiffen for a split second, his expression twisting—but he didn’t scream and jump away. Damon couldn’t help but tease him. “Finally got desensitized?”

“I—I had no choice!” Kai inched away subtly. “Can we move it away, please? I know it’s cute, but I really can’t—”

“Okay, okay. Next thing you need to do is touch it.” Damon leaned down, picked up the corn snake, and placed it on the fake tree in the corner. Then he sat back down, his expression serious as he faced the delivery box in front of them. There was no way to tell what was inside, and it was sealed extremely tightly.

He took out his dagger and sliced through the tape easily. When he opened the box, a smell of kraft paper hit him, mixed with a hint of ink.

“They’re documents,” Kai said, putting down his chopsticks and picking up one to flip through. “Whoa, why is this in Old God’s language? Those cultists really have way too much free time.”

“……” Damon stared silently at the cover of the book, then turned to look at Kai—staring at him so intently that Kai started to feel guilty and hid the book behind his back. “W-What? I’m never gonna let your snake crawl on me, never—”

“It’s not that. I was just thinking—if I’m in a state of high infection, can I understand this?” Damon said very seriously. “Like, when the Goat horns start growing, and at a later stage of infection.”

“……Are you joking with your own life? That sounds exactly like something you’d do… Are you sure?” Kai frowned. “You could just wait for me to translate it for you, right? Or do you not trust my reading skills?”

“……How many of those psychology books on your shelf have you read past page 11?”

“Hey! You went through my bookshelf! Damon, you’re such a troublemaker!” Kai whined, then slouched, looking dejected. “But you’re right—there are so many words here, just looking at them makes my head hurt… Fine. I’ll try to time it right.”

A wave of dizziness washed over Damon, and two more horns sprouted from his head. This time, it felt similar to the sensation he’d had when he smelled that gas in the prison—his head felt fuzzy, and he could barely summon any strength. But in this state, he could actually understand some of the text… He took the book Kai had been flipping through and started reading.

As he read, he realized something was off about the content. He frowned, flipped back, and read it again. The more he read, the more he marveled. “This is just a continuation of that Old God-related book you found earlier.”

“……I have eyes, I can see that.” Kai hurried to defend himself. “I was just about to tell you that before you snatched it away!”

“Oh. Then take a look at this—what does it mean by ‘pierce the Vessel’s heart’…”

Kai leaned over, took the book, and read through the content carefully. His expression grew more and more grave. “……Ha. What the hell is this? How is this the solution…?”

“Explain it in simpler terms.” He didn’t even let him finish before snatching the book back and shoving it back into the box. “We were right earlier when we talked about ‘destroying the Vessel.’ It means we have to kill the Vessel completely.”

“……” Damon suddenly understood. He’d had a hunch about this, but when he actually heard the death sentence spoken out loud, he felt surprisingly calm. After all, as an assassin, he’d always been walking a path that led to death. “……What do you think?”

“Of course I don’t want you to die! You’re the first friend who’s been willing to stay by my side even after finding out how terrible I really am…!” Kai sniffled. “I’ll research this stuff. I’ll see if there’s a second option.”

“Hey, don’t waste so much effort.” Damon shook his head. “When I decided to follow Tozu, I already figured I’d end up dying in some corner… But getting to meet you and everyone else in these last few years has already been lucky enough. You don’t have to worry so much about me. When the time comes, just do what you have to do.”

“No!” Kai looked quite angry, staring at him fiercely. “Don’t you realize how selfish that is?! Have you even thought about what Eva and Diana would feel if they found out you’re going to die? Have you—have you thought about how I’d feel…? Just do it for me, okay? Wait a little longer. I—I’ll find a way…”

He didn’t even throw his empty instant noodle bowl into the trash. He just picked up the cardboard box and left. “I’m gonna read all of this. Next time—next time, if I hear you say something like that again, I’ll hypnotize you on the spot.”

With a loud “bang,” Kai slammed the door to his room shut, leaving Damon alone in the living room. The corn snake climbed down from the fake tree and curled into Damon’s arms. The cold touch suddenly made him aware that his heart was still beating. He could barely remember what his parents looked like anymore—the last time he’d called them was half a year ago… They’d loved him, but at some point, that love had been erased by his identity as an assassin.

Damon felt like he was walking down a dark path that led to nowhere. He knew the end of the path was definitely a cliff, but he still had to keep going—no turning back. If he turned back, he’d drag his parents into this. If he turned back, he’d drag everyone else into this… Bit by bit, his skin was being replaced by the Goat’s fur, and at the end of that path, there was a guillotine waiting.

But Kai was there, standing right in front of the guillotine, blocking his way. He said he’d find a way. He said Damon should live a few more years—if only for him… These were the kinds of words Damon would usually brush off without a second thought. But for some reason, he’d stopped in his tracks. His heart, which had long stopped fluttering just because he was still breathing, started beating again.

Kai was the only person who could make him feel like he had a lump in his throat every time they talked. Bold, cheerful, like a butterfly. But this same frivolous person had ventured into an unknown research lab for him, and had even been willing to return to the source of his own nightmares just to find a way to save him. Why would he go to such lengths? Damon, who’d grown up alone, couldn’t understand—but that didn’t stop him from feeling that intense emotion.

“……You’re crazy.” He picked up the corn snake, letting it curl around his arm, and picked up the empty instant noodle bowls he and Kai had used, ready to dump the leftovers and throw the bowls in the trash.

Even if this hope was empty—just because it was Kai Monteago saying it—he thought waiting a little longer wouldn’t be such a big deal.

———

“No, that’s not right… Dammit, is there really no other way?!”

Kai set another document down next to his bed and picked up the next one. Old Gods can’t be destroyed—unless they take a human form… What a load of crap! He refused to believe this was the only outcome. There had to be a solution. There had to be a Plan B… If Damon really had to die to keep everyone safe, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how he’d live with himself after killing someone close to him again—just like he couldn’t imagine what he’d do without social media.

“‘Investigator’s Report on Suppressing the Old God’… This is it!” Kai grabbed a journal-like book, opened it excitedly, and started flipping through the pages one by one. As he read, the fluffy white Goat drifted over to him, trying to block his view.

“Get out of here…” If it had a physical form, Kai would’ve locked it in a cage and taken his frustration out on it by throwing it around every day.

Hidden among the dense symbols and characters was a recipe for a poison. While destroying the Vessel was still the only way to stop the Old God’s descent, this poison had a chance of letting the Vessel survive—though they might lose some organs… Or, if they could find the Goat’s heart and stab it in one strike, they wouldn’t need to kill the Vessel at all.

This was the only feasible plan… Kai took a photo of the page with his phone. But then the white Goat suddenly used some kind of ability, plunging the room into complete darkness. He looked up and locked eyes with the Goat’s red ones.

The ancient texts all said that anyone who saw the true face of an Old God would go insane, one way or another. But Kai was different. He stood there, waiting for the thing to spout some weird nonsense. He’d heard it all before, and he didn’t care anymore.

■■ said: “Why do you keep trying to defy me?”

“Because I’m sick and tired of being manipulated.” Kai swung his fist at the shadow in front of him, and the pink room reappeared. In the corner of his desk, the photo he’d taken with Damon in the hospital was still there. In the photo, Damon’s expression had been grumpy when it was taken—but at the very least, in that picture, he’d been smiling softly.

……If it’s for him. If it’s to have someone share the weight of his guilt with him… Kai picked up his phone again and started jotting down the modern-day version of the poison recipe.

No matter how hard the Goat tried to stop him, he’d carve a path to survival for both Damon and himself—using his own strength.

Chapter Text

The hoarse sound of snowflake static came from the TV, highlighting the protagonist's frightened face. Kai huddled tighter on the sofa, clutching a black cat plushie he had sneaked from Damon's bed—one Damon had luckily won in a lottery draw—his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the screen.

Damon sat on the floor beside him, scrolling through his phone to look up information, occasionally glancing up at the movie's plot. When he saw Kai gripping the plushie like he was about to strangle it, he let out a long sigh. "If you're too scared to watch, just stop. Switch to something you like."

"...But the production team asked me to promote this," Kai mumbled, burying his face behind the plushie while peeking out with two eyes, using the remote to fast-forward through the part where the female ghost appeared. "I have to at least know what the plot is about."

"Scaredy - cat but still insists on watching," Damon summed it up. Immediately after, Kai let out a whine and threw a sofa cushion at his head.

It was early December, and the good news over the past few weeks was that nothing bad had happened. The Goat hadn't been up to any mischief, and all the spies within the organization had been rooted out by Mara. What's more, Damon could finally go back to school normally—though he still sat at the back of the classroom. The other students all tacitly didn't disturb him; after all, Damon's face practically screamed "I'm hard to get along with," and besides, he was someone who had killed people before. Even he is "victim", they still would feel uneasy around him.

"...Aah!" Even with fast - forwarding, Kai couldn't avoid the jump scare. He screamed and jumped up from the sofa, knocking over the bowl of popcorn placed beside him. Damon sighed, picked up the spilled popcorn, and put it back into the bowl. The floor was pretty clean, at least since he had mopped it this week. Besides, Kai didn't care about such trivial things anyway.

An hour later, the movie finally ended. Kai let out a long breath, switched the TV back to the home screen, and then started jotting down his thoughts and promotion ideas on a piece of paper. Taking this opportunity, Damon grabbed the remote, logged into his account, and casually browsed through Netflix's homepage.

"Uh, do you want to watch that?" Kai suddenly looked up, pointing at an animated movie prominently displayed on the homepage. "This one's blowing up online right now... Though I think it's just a relatively high - quality music promotion piece."

"I'm not into animations," Damon scrolled down to the documentary section. "I just want to check out the new one about reptiles that just came out."

"...Oh my god, dude. Don't put that on right after I just had a mental scare," Kai reacted like an angry cat. "This is scarier than a horror movie, seriously."

Damon didn't even bother to respond. He pretended not to hear, clicked on the documentary, then stood up to check on his Inland Taipan in the terrarium. After that, he picked up the corn snake from another tank—oh, and by the way, while Damon was in the hospital, Kai had actually filmed a few vlogs while taking care of his reptiles. As a result, this snake, which had never been named, had gained a small following—and held it in his arms, stroking it while watching the documentary.

In fact, he could tell that Kai wanted to leave right away. But probably because he had just finished watching the horror movie, and was afraid that if he got into bed, he would keep replaying the female ghost scenes in his mind. So he chose to stay, though he moved from the sofa to the floor and also placed the popcorn bowl on the coffee table.

"Don't tell me you're gonna act like a kid, can't sleep at midnight, and then come bother me," Damon warned, looking vigilant.

"What are you talking about! What kind of person do you think I am?" Kai exclaimed in a wronged tone. "If you keep making fun of me like this, I won't bring you breakfast tomorrow!"

"Whatever."

In the end, Kai fell asleep while watching the documentary. His head was resting on the coffee table, and he had accidentally sat on the corner of Damon's T - shirt. After trying to pull it free but failing, Damon resigned himself to sighing, easily picked Kai up, and dumped him onto the sofa. He covered Kai with a blanket and then went back to watching his documentary.

———

"Ugh... Screw school... I already learned all this stuff years ago. Can't they just let me stay in the dorm and laze around in bed?"

Kai was lying on his desk, his face pressed flat against the surface, looking like he had been dead for days. They had this class together. Damon was packing his things beside him, and in annoyance, he nudged Kai's stomach with his elbow. "Then hurry up and pack."

"Ugh... Damon, how do you stay so calm about going to school?" Kai turned his head to the side, his eyes fixed on Damon. "How do you do it? Teach me, please. Back when I was in school, I was always a below - average student..."

"Stop staying up late scrolling through your phone. Think about how many times I saw the light on in your room when I went to the bathroom at midnight."

"Then force me to sleep! You know I'll absolutely! Definitely! Not go to sleep without someone pushing me!" Kai pulled out his phone, stuffed it into Damon's hand, and then buried his face back into the desk. "Ugh... Why do I have to go to class..."

Damon was left speechless, but he still took Kai's phone, temporarily stuffed it into his backpack, stood up, and pushed his chair back under the desk.

About thirty seconds after walking down the corridor, Kai came rushing out and caught up with Damon, who was on his way to the library. "Damon! Damon! That—"

"Thirty seconds. A new record," Damon said without even looking up, taking the phone out of his bag and handing it back. "I think you could apply for a world record for 'getting your phone back right after handing it over'."

"...," Kai was left tongue - tied. He took the phone and started tapping away at the screen. They walked to the library together, and along the way, they ran into Jett, who was talking a mile a minute, and Mark, who was wearing headphones and couldn't hear a thing but was forced to listen anyway. The two groups exchanged greetings and then went their separate ways.

They found two quiet seats. Damon took out the books he needed for his major courses and started reading—even though he already knew most of the stuff, he still had to learn some rigid theories to avoid his answers being too practical and arouse suspicion. Kai, on the other hand, was scrolling through his phone, letting out suppressed laughter from time to time.

"...Maybe you should start by uninstalling TikTok," Damon looked up at him.

"Huh? No way. TikTok and Twitter are my lifeblood," Kai replied without hesitation.

"Then I can't think of any way to make you happier about going to class."

"Hmph, then don't think about it, Damon. After all, you need your brain to deal with... Wait a second," Kai suddenly sat up straight. "Do you have a mission?!"

"Huh?" Damon looked confused, but he still took out his phone. There, he saw Toshiko had sent a series of work assignments in the group chat. Among them, Kai had to go back to the headquarters to gather intelligence on a high - ranking member of a drug cartel in Western Europe; Damon had to assassinate a human trafficker boss; and Diana and Eva had to... go work as interns at a high - tech product company together? What the hell kind of mission was that?

"Looks like someone's gonna come home covered in blood again at midnight," Kai sighed and put down his phone. "The bad news is I won't be in the dorm, so remember to take care of your wounds yourself! Don't mistreat your body just because you heal fast. I'll check in with Cassidy regularly."

"Cassidy's major is completely different from mine," Damon reminded him.

"But she has access to all the school's surveillance cameras."

"......"

"Hehe, got you stuck, didn't I?" Kai crossed his arms on the desk, rested his head on them, and poked Damon's arm with his finger. "Don't even think about escaping the great Kai Monteago's watch!"

Damon didn't want to pay attention to this chattering guy, so he moved to the seat next to him.

———

As Damon squatted in the corner, keeping an eye on the target's every move, some trivial memories suddenly popped into his head.

It seemed that he really hadn't been out doing his job as an assassin for quite a few months now... The last time he had stalked someone like this was before September. After that, he had been stuck in a cycle of "being hospitalized, being discharged, arguing with Kai, dealing with the cult's nonsense, and chasing after the Goat". Suddenly doing a job that was so easy for him made him feel a little out of place.

Moreover, the job was actually very convenient. No matter how many underlings these leaders of the underworld had arranged for protection, it was all child's play for Damon—he didn't even have to think to get it done. And... he now had a new way of attacking.

"...How did I do this again?" He took out his phone and scrolled through his chat history with Kai. Well, most of the messages were Kai rambling on about how tiring the work at the headquarters was and how he really didn't want to see that fluffy Goat anymore. Damon had replied, "Just hypnotize yourself into not seeing it like you did before," and Kai had gone silent for two seconds before replying with a "( ﾟ∀。)7".

...How could this guy be so dumb? That was the only thought he had at that time. And because Kai was so simple - minded, Damon had almost walked into the target himself because he wasn't looking where he was going. It scared him, but at least if they had collided, he still wouldn't have been at a disadvantage.

Finally, he found the photos he had taken of some spell books in the prison library earlier. Damon glanced at them quickly, stuffed his phone back into his pocket, and took a deep breath.

"杞寲!"

Right after that, his field of vision turned scarlet for a moment. When it cleared up again, Damon saw that the humans in front of him had transformed into those special creatures—elephants with rabbit ears... It was strangely nostalgic. Damon gripped the knife in his hand.

Next up, it was time to chop all these... Oh wait, not humans, but creatures into mincemeat!

The man in front of him didn't even have time to react before Damon stabbed him in the heart. The few people walking ahead immediately reacted, assuming a defensive stance. But Damon quickly adjusted his posture, pulled the knife out of the corpse in front of him, and a gush of red blood dripped onto the ground.

Damon looked terrifying at that moment. His face was expressionless, his eyes were scarlet, and there was blood splattered on his cheeks. He was like a demon crawling out of hell, come to claim its revenge.

At that moment, the gang boss suddenly remembered a rumor. It was said that a cult with influence all over the world had recently suffered heavy losses—two high - ranking members had been killed, and several bases had been severely damaged. From the intelligence obtained, one of the main culprits was described as the "Scarlet Goat"—someone with golden hair, red eyes... and a ruthless, cold - blooded personality.

If Damon could have heard what the boss was thinking, he would probably have shouted that he was wronged. He just loved his job and was eager to do it perfectly. What was wrong with that?!

———

"Hello? Hello? Damon, are you listening to me? You can't be zoning out, right? That hurts my feelings. Do you really treat me like this—"

"Shut up, you're so noisy," Damon had just switched back from his transformed state, and his head was throbbing like crazy. But Kai was still chattering away on the phone, telling him about the rumors about him on the dark web, making it impossible for him to focus on gathering information. On the other end of the line, Kai didn't seem to realize he was being annoying at all and kept talking as if he was reading from a piece of paper. "Also, you now have two nicknames—Viper and Scarlet Goat... Dude, why are they both so cool? Can't you give me one?"

"...Do you even hear yourself right now?" Damon rubbed his forehead. "Are you speaking human language?"

"But they are really cool—having two nicknames and all..."

"Fine, fine. I'll ask Tozu to get you one too later," Damon perfunctorily replied, pulling the knife out of a bodyguard who was still barely alive, then stepping over the corpse and walking deeper into the building. "Don't you have work to do?"

"Nope. That drug lord won't even listen to me. As soon as he sees me, he tries to punch me... How dare I go head - to - head with him? Now I'm just waiting for Jean to hold him down temporarily so I can hypnotize him," Kai's voice sounded muffled. "The organization's basement smells terrible... It's damp and sticky, and it's full of the smell of blood... Ugh—give me a minute..."

From the other end of the phone, it was obvious that Kai was throwing up again because of his sensitive stomach. Damon let out a tired sigh, held the phone away from his ear, and at the same time scanned his surroundings. Except for the places where the abducted people had been held, all the other areas seemed to have been cleaned spotlessly. It was hard not to imagine what dirty things were hidden beneath the strong smell of disinfectant.

"I'm back... Ugh, Damon, I miss the dorm so much—even though the snakes are scary, staying in this basement is even scarier..."

Kai started complaining again. Damon could only listen, occasionally grunting in response. Maybe Kai felt that he was talking to a wall, because after a while, he suddenly changed the subject. "Hey? By the way, do you know what Diana and Eva have been up to lately?"

"Do I look like someone who would know that?"

"I don't know either—I ran into Diana when she was back at the headquarters a while ago. She looked really worn out, like she had lost a lot of energy," Kai suddenly lowered his voice. "You know what? I heard that Diana worked on a film crew back in high school, and then she somehow messed with the wrong people... She was bullied really badly, it seems."

"Workplace bullying? Her?" Damon couldn't believe it. "How is that possible? I'd believe it if you told me Eva had gone through that."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too... But you should have seen her, man. She looked just like me when I first escaped from prison, like she was gonna hang herself any second... Next time she comes back, I'm gonna ask her about it properly. If things are bad, I'll give her some psychological counseling... This can't go on."

"What about Eva then?" Damon added, using a hairpin that Kai had kindly given him to pick the lock. "Have you heard anything about her lately?"

"I haven't found out... But I heard from Diana that Eva hasn't been in a good mood either... Why do their missions seem even worse than ours?" Kai concluded. This thought left Damon at a loss for words, and after thinking about it, he realized he had no way to refute it.

After getting the required information, Damon opened the window on the third floor and stuck his head out. Luckily, there was a tree right next to the building. He easily swung onto the tree branch, then looked back one last time to make sure there was no one else in the building before jumping down to the ground.

"...Aww... Aww..." Kai made some strange noises on the phone, startling Damon. He rolled his eyes. "What now?"

"It's not... It's just that I miss... uh," Kai hesitated for a moment on the phone, then replied weakly, "I kind of... miss you."

"...Oh. And then what? What are you gonna do about it?"

"Huh? That's all you have to say? Fine, I don't miss you anymore."

"Then stop rambling, hold it in, and go do your work."

"Hey, hey, I'm not a workaholic like you..."

———

When Damon changed into his loungewear, lay down on the bed, and held his corn snake while reading a book, his phone started ringing nonstop again.

He didn't even need to look to know it was Kai sending him some random messages. But when he opened it, he found a few voice notes instead.

"Damon~ Damon, Damon~ Are you home yet?"

"Toshiko already announced that the mission is done, so I guess you're back at the dorm. So the great Kai Monteago decided to give you a surprise—wait for it! Niahaha!"

Damon fell silent, then sent a "?" back. He didn't have high hopes that Kai would come up with anything good, but still... he couldn't help but feel a little anticipation.

"Bang!!"

"What the fuck..." For once, Damon was so startled that he let out a swear word. He put the snake aside and looked towards the living room. There, Kai was lying on the floor—he seemed to have tripped over a blanket, and something he was holding had fallen to the ground, rolling all the way to Damon's feet.

"Ouch..." Kai held his face and stood up, only to find a pool of blood on his hand. How on earth did he manage to trip on the carpet and get a nosebleed? Damon helplessly grabbed a napkin from the coffee table and handed it to him, then picked up the thing that had rolled over to his feet.

"Watch where you're going. I wasn't gonna run away."

"...Sorry," Kai took the napkin and pressed it to his nose, then gestured with his eyes to the thing in Damon's hand. "It's the latest prize from Tozu's pinball machine! I thought you'd like it, so I spent some free time winning it for you! But I still have to go to the headquarters tomorrow... Sorry about that."

"Go if you have to," Damon opened the box. Inside was a wooden carving in the shape of an ouroboros, and it felt really good to the touch... This thing looked like some expensive work of art. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Tozu is really loaded, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah! I also didn't realize how good the prizes from the pinball machine were until I got this. Next time you go back to the headquarters, can you bring me a few too?" Kai walked over, took the wooden carving, twisted a knob on the base, and showed it to Damon. "Look, it even has a recorder function! But I already recorded something for you... Hehe."

This didn't sound like a good thing... Damon watched as Kai pressed the recorder button. After a few seconds of tape rewinding sound, Kai's voice came out of it:

"Oh my god it's halloween——wish i had a friends with me——"

"How's that? Even if I'm not in the dorm tomorrow, you can still hear my voice!" Kai smiled proudly at him.

Screw Kai Monteago. Damon took a deep breath, grabbed the pillow in his hand, and threw it at Kai's head. Then he picked up the wooden carving and went back to his room.

But he never did change the recording inside. He just never used that function again.

Chapter Text

With the continuous jingle of bells, Christmas was just two days away. In Kai’s eyes, everything had started to turn white, then accented with touches of red and green—and Eden’s Garden Academy was no exception. It was decked out with all kinds of colorful lights, as lively as it had been on Halloween.

Yet somehow, this festivity only seemed to involve him. Damon, though also stuck at the dorm with no missions, was clearly uninterested in holidays—plus, having grown up in Japan as a kid, he seemed to value New Year’s more. Eva and Diana had been out of contact for days, and the other organization members rarely interacted with him. So… he was left with no choice but to go out alone.

On the bus, Kai wore headphones, listening to lo-fi tracks he’d dug up from Damon’s playlist while watching the scenery outside the window. A heavy snow had fallen the day before, and the roads were still covered in a thick layer of it. He didn’t even know where he wanted to go—he just felt like getting out. Besides, many malls were running sales lately; it would be a waste not to check them out.

He got off randomly in front of a supermarket. The moment he walked in, he was taken aback by the loud Christmas music—so loud that even his headphones couldn’t muffle it. Glancing around, he spotted lots of small handicrafts, which reminded him of the wooden carving he’d given Damon a while back. Most of the items here were ceramic, though, and Damon wasn’t the type to clutter his desk with trinkets.

He picked up a tiny ceramic Christmas tree (it was pink, after all) to examine it, when a sales clerk approached. “Are you interested in these?”

“Ah… just looking around.” Kai put the tree back. Twenty dollars? Were they kidding? Not that he was short on cash, but still. The clerk nodded and turned to leave, but not before casting one last glance at Kai.

“Pardon my rudeness, but my brother’s a doctor. He wanted me to put up a sign that says ‘Don’t put these things where they don’t belong.’”

…Huh?

Kai blinked, watching the clerk walk away, thoroughly confused. But just as he was about to head to another section, he suddenly realized the hidden meaning behind the clerk’s words—and couldn’t hold back a laugh.

What did they take him for? And he didn’t even have time for that kind of nonsense. Still, Kai turned back and grabbed the little ornament he’d been looking at earlier. It was useless, sure, but bringing it home to tell Damon the joke and watch him give that “Are you insane?” look would make for a nice little moment.

Wandering around, Kai picked up gifts for everyone he knew in the organization. Damon already had the wooden carving, so he was off the list. For Diana, he got a brand-new, pretty hairband—back when she wasn’t swamped with work, she’d spent ages trying to figure out which style suited her best. Kai thought she looked good in anything, though, so he just picked the one he liked most.

For Eva, he grabbed a newly released game cartridge. He wasn’t close to Eva, but from what Damon had said, she was a gaming geek—so a latest-release indie game with good reviews seemed like a safe bet. Cassidy needed a new USB drive for the virus she’d been developing, and for Jett? A car air freshener. That way, if he ever had to ride with Jett again, the drive would be more bearable.

By the time he reached the plush toy section, his cart was already half-full. Scanning the shelves, he spotted a familiar figure in a remote corner—it was that long black cat plush Damon had won at the claw machine!

It had been a weekend after they got back from prison. Damon was still on edge about the Goat and the Vessel business, and Kai couldn’t stand seeing him like that, so he’d dragged him to the nearby amusement plaza. Kai had originally wanted the cuter cat plush next to it, but Damon—well, he’d surprisingly nailed grabbing this long, kinda abstract black cat one.

Kai walked over and gave the black cat plush on the shelf a good squeeze. The familiar cottony texture instantly lifted his mood. Glancing around, he found a long plush of the same style—but this one was a golden retriever.

Kai stared at the plush for a moment, then pulled out his phone, ready to pester a certain mysterious guy who was probably talking to his plants on the balcony right now.

Kai: [Image]

: Do you think this would look good on my bed?

Damon: Isn’t your bed already overflowing with plushies?

Kai: You can never have too many plushies!

: Just answer me, please? ( ^ω^)

Damon: (・・?)

: Buy it if you want.

: I don’t care what you spend your money on.

Kai: o(≧v≦)o

He stacked the plush on top of his cart. Its silly dog head flopped over the edge. Good grief, why was it kind of cute? Kai snapped a photo, planning to edit it later and post it for his fans, then hummed a tune as he kept walking.

He also picked up some fish food for Damon on the way. The guy probably hadn’t noticed his pufferfish was starving—Kai had only figured it out when he accidentally knocked over the fish food container one day and realized it was completely empty. Ugh, he was way too nice.

At checkout, Kai winced a little when he saw the bill. Even influencers cringed at their own reckless spending, okay?

After paying, he stood at the supermarket entrance, bags in hand, feeling a little stuck. He’d forgotten he’d come alone, and calling Jett just for this would be humiliating—not to mention he’d never gotten around to getting a driver’s license. He pulled out his phone to book a ride, only to be stopped by a shy-looking girl. “E-Excuse me… are you Kai Monteago?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, that’s me.” Kai turned around, noticing a few girls standing behind her—obviously whispering excitedly at the sight of him. Fans, huh? He quickly put on his perfect smile, switching into “content creator mode.” “Want an autograph or a photo?”

“A-Ah, no, that’s too much!” The girl who’d spoken waved her hands frantically. “I… um… are you here alone?”

“Yep. Just wanted to wander around, but ended up buying way too much.” Kai glanced at the bags at his feet, the dog plush’s head peeking out from the top. “Not that it’s anything important, though.”

“I-If you don’t mind… could we give you a ride?” The girl gestured to the other girls behind her. “We came in a van together, and we’re about to leave, so…”

“Really? That’d be a huge help!” Kai scratched the back of his neck. “Are you sure you don’t want an autograph or anything? I’m not the type to take favors for free～”

“T-Then… could we take a group photo together?”

Kai nodded in agreement, and they snapped a photo in front of the mall. After loading his bags into the trunk and settling into the back seat, he pulled out his phone to text Damon that he was on his way back, then said to the girl driving, “Just drop me off at Eden’s Garden gate, thanks.”

“Got it.”

The ride was quiet. Kai kept chatting with Damon (who called it “harassment”—rude) but suddenly realized texts weren’t enough to convey how he felt. So he just called Damon directly. Lucky for him, the guy wasn’t rude enough to ignore his calls.

“What.”

Damon’s voice sounded tired. “Don’t tell me you’re bringing two plushies back, then gonna beg me to help wash them all when we clean later.”

“…No, just one.” Kai fell silent for two seconds, then tried to imagine himself cleaning—and despairingly realized Damon’s description was spot-on.

“Great. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Why’re you so snappy today? Did I do something? Did that Goat thing annoy you? Or have you pulled another three-all-nighters? If it’s the third one, you better be asleep by the time I get back.”

No reply. Kai kept going. “So you have been staying up late again? Oh my god… how many times do I have to tell you, with Diana? You and Eva are both the same—staying up just ‘cause you think you’re tough… Go to sleep. Now.”

“I didn’t stay up.” Damon’s voice was muffled. “Cassidy’s driving me crazy.”

“Huh?”

“…She’s at our dorm right now.” Damon seemed to switch his phone to speaker mode. In the distance, they could hear Cassidy’s dramatic yells and the sound of a game console… Oh. That explained why he was so irritable.

“Wait, she did mention she’d come over today…” Kai scratched his head. “Sorry ‘bout that. I’m on my way back, so when I get there—”

“When you get back, drink the medicine I left on the dining table.” Damon sighed, turning off the speaker. “I made it so it’ll temporarily shut down the part of your brain that overthinks…”

“Quit reading those weird magazines.” Kai facepalmed. “At this rate, I’m gonna die young. Please, just stop.”

“If you’re begging, get in line. Hurry back and deal with Cassidy.”

The call ended with a beep. Kai stared at his phone for two seconds, then leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh.

“Is that a friend?” One of the girls beside him asked curiously. “A-Apologies if that’s too personal…”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Kai waved it off. “That’s my roommate.”

The girl’s eyes went wide. She turned around and whispered “Oh my god, they’re roommates!” so loudly that even Kai could hear it, then spun back around, pretending nothing had happened.

Kai was left confused. Roommate tropes were popular, sure—but him and Damon? Seriously? Damon was already being nice by not tossing him into the Pacific Ocean. He had enough self-awareness to know he could be annoying.

When they reached the school gate, Kai grabbed his bags, waved goodbye to the girls, and was about to head inside when he crashed straight into Damon—who was standing outside in nothing but a casual T-shirt.

“…It’s winter.” Kai pointed at the snow on the ground. “You’re wearing a short-sleeve?”

“Quit rambling. Give me the bags—you go up and handle Cassidy.” Damon clicked his tongue, snatched the bags from Kai’s hands, and walked toward the dorm building without looking back. Kai chased after him, yelling, “Wait! There’s fragile stuff in there!”

Back at the dorm, Kai froze when he saw Cassidy swinging their broom around like a martial arts star, pretending to be some action hero. He glanced at Damon, who stared back with a “Told you so” look.

“Uh… Cass, spill it.” Kai massaged his forehead, slipped off his shoes, and walked in. “If you keep this up, you’re gonna be the reason Damon kills me.”

“Hmm? Oh.” Cassidy stopped. “Damo, why didn’t you just tell me to cut it out?”

“Would you have listened?” Damon pulled the giant golden retriever plush out of the plastic bag, stood at Kai’s bedroom door, and tossed it onto Kai’s bed. It rolled three times, then plopped onto the floor.

“…Oops.” Cassidy played dumb. “Anyway, I got… some new info. Super top-secret.”

She lowered her voice in an overly dramatic way. “It’s about… the Eden Project. Y’know, the real deal.”

Kai raised an eyebrow, showing he was interested. Cassidy nodded in satisfaction, then continued in that conspiratorial tone. “Turns out, the project was originally just to root out a few spies… but for some reason, you two got tangled up with that Goat mess. If not for that, we could’ve dropped out ages ago… Still, school’s kinda fun, I guess.”

“Mhm, totally.” Kai agreed. “I’ve never gotten first place before.”

“Is that something to be proud of?” Damon picked up the mysterious ceramic Christmas tree ornament, turned it around in his hands, and finally set it on the coffee table.

“Anyway, about the Goat… looks like they’re planning something big.” Cassidy pulled out her tablet and showed them a string of chat logs. The remaining cult followers were planning to… summon the Goat on Christmas Day?!

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?!” Kai snatched the tablet and started scrolling through it frantically. “Dude, you should’ve called me the second you found out!”

“Huh? Is it that urgent?” Cassidy blinked, playing dumb again.

“It’s way past urgent…” Kai held the tablet in one hand and pulled up a map on his phone with the other, while updating Damon. “We leave tomorrow morning. We’ll take care of all this once and for all during their little ‘summoning.’”

“…Explains why my head’s been hurting again lately.” Damon stood up. “What do I need to bring?”

“Uh, yourself? Weapons? Stuff like that…” Kai paused. “And don’t even think about sneaking off to get yourself killed when I’m not looking.”

“…Ugh, you’re such a hassle.”

So, Cassidy—the only one who didn’t fully grasp how urgent the situation was—was kicked out of the room by Kai. Her task: report to Tozu that they wouldn’t be back for the Christmas Eve party. As she walked into Tozu’s office, she ran into Eva, who’d also come to report.

“Yo, Eva.” Cassidy greeted her. “Skipping the party too?”

“Mm.” Eva looked away. She was wearing a neat work uniform, looking every bit like a corporate drone. “We’ve got things to do too.”

“What things? …Hey, what’s that?” Cassidy pointed at the faint blue liquid stains on Eva’s sleeve. “Did you get paint on yourself?”

Eva didn’t answer. She just rolled her sleeve down, got Tozu’s approval, and left—leaving Cassidy even more confused.

C’mon! The guys being cryptic is bad enough, but why are the girls being so weird too?!

Cassidy groaned inwardly. After finishing her report, she wandered over to the school’s event hall to zone out. Mark walked over with a tray holding two sodas.

“Hmm? Thanks, Marky!” Cassidy grabbed one without hesitation.

“…Those are both mine.” Mark complained, but didn’t take it back. He adjusted his seat. “So? What’s up with you?”

“Ugh, don’t even get me started. This world’s so messed up—I can’t make heads or tails of it.” She popped the tab and took a sip, looking glum. “Can’t any of you just say things straight? Everyone’s being so vague…”

Mark nodded in understanding. “They probably think it makes them look cool.”

“Nah, it’s not cool. At all.”

“Nobody cares. Also, I fixed all the security cameras—when are you gonna install the hacks?”

“Give me a few days?” Cassidy twirled the soda tab in her fingers. “Fixing them now would just let us watch snow fall… and I got a feeling something big’s gonna happen. Something that doesn’t even involve me. So why bother?”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Typical.”

“Hey, can you blame me?!” Cassidy slammed her fist on the table. “The Eden Project’s just an excuse to flush out spies. I’m just here to enjoy the college life I never got—why not slack off while I can?”

“…Fair enough.” Mark took a sip of his soda too.

“…Sigh.” Cassidy slouched back in her chair, resting her head on the table. “This is so boring.”

“Then go bother Jett. He’s been driving me nuts.”

“Nope. You looked like you were having fun teasing the dog—why would I go ask for trouble?”

———

In a quiet corner of the school hallway, Eva rolled her sleeve back down and stared at the blue stains, lost in thought.

She’d never been injured. Never bled.

Her family had always said she’d been careful and meticulous since she was a kid—so she’d never gotten hurt. Even after becoming an assassin, she’d always calculated the perfect shooting angle, never rushing into a fight recklessly.

But now, she was confused. Blue blood… why? Even normal blood might be a pinkish-red, but blue? Was she, like the two guys, hiding some secret background she didn’t know about?

“Eva… don’t you remember where you grew up as a kid?”

Diana’s words echoed in her mind. Suddenly, fragments of memories flashed through her head—gone as quickly as they came. But that split-second spark of recognition made Eva realize: maybe it was better not to dig deeper. She sighed and rolled her sleeve down again.

What good would it do to know?

She didn’t think her life would get any better—or worse—because of it.

———

It was late at night. Kai couldn’t sleep, thinking about tomorrow’s mission to take down the cult’s last base. So while Damon was presumably trying to sleep, he snuck out, threw on a coat, and wandered down to the lake to clear his head—while watching the snow fall.

It had started snowing again. Snowfall was eerily quiet, like a silent curtain of rain. Each flake made Kai’s heart feel heavier about tomorrow.

He didn’t believe in Jesus. Or rather, he’d stopped believing in any religion after that fire. So now that he thought about it, Christmas didn’t mean anything to him. He’d rather spend New Year’s with Damon instead.

Clenched in his palm was his last hope: the modified poison he’d secretly brewed while Damon wasn’t looking. He didn’t know if it would work, but… he had to try. If it failed, at least he’d done everything he could.

As he stared at the water, lost in thought, he heard a sound like a squirrel stepping on snow—coming from behind him.

“Hm?” Kai turned around.

It was firelight. And there, accompanied by auroras, stood the enormous Goat—its glowing red eyes fixed on him. He heard chants from far away, ancient words of the Old God translating themselves into human language and flooding his ears:

We will punish the unruly heretics. We will bring forth the Vessel. We will welcome the Awakening.

What…? Kai froze, stepping back involuntarily until he hit the lake’s railing. The auroras—rarely seen at Eden’s Garden—swirled and danced, forming the shape of a Goat one moment, then twisted, unnameable symbols the next. From all around, black-cloaked figures emerged. Their movements were unnatural, almost… like zombies.

Without hesitation, Kai pulled out the pistol he’d been hiding in his pocket.

But to his shock, the bullets did nothing. The wounds on the figures healed instantly. It was like… Damon’s constitution, but stronger. Were they failed experiments from Project Zero? Or perfect ones? Kai didn’t hesitate—he spun around, ready to run.

At the very least, he had to lead them away from the school…

“Bring him to us. The Master will punish him personally.”

Bang.

Something hit Kai’s head from behind. Then, everything went black.

———

“…Kai?”

In the darkness, Damon clutched his throbbing forehead and stared into the distance from the balcony. Above the beautiful auroras, red shadows flickered—twisting, as if singing in delight.

He’d heard Kai open the door earlier. But… he didn’t know why, but his chest felt tight. He could’ve sworn he’d heard a gunshot… At this hour? Would it really be a drunkard? And it was so cold outside.

Hesitantly, he looked farther out—until he spotted a group of people carrying a human-shaped object. It was tied up, motionless, unconscious. They were heading toward the school’s back gate. That sense of unease he’d felt earlier was confirmed, and his heart dropped.

What if it was a trap? What if Kai came back right now?

…He couldn’t take that risk. Kai might have stronger mental resilience than most, but he was completely out of his depth in a fight… Damon bit his lower lip, quickly changing into the outfit he usually wore on missions. He paused at the door, then grabbed the robe he’d brought back from prison and threw it on, locked the dorm door, and rushed downstairs.

It had to be him.

If that wasn’t Kai, why would he see the Goat in a place as safe as the school?

He couldn’t forget the vision he’d had while half-asleep. Kai, lying in the snow, his head covered in blood, his stomach torn open, his insides eaten away. And standing beside him—the culprit: a small Goat, its mouth dripping with blood.

Bow your head.

…Never.

Damon swept the lock off a shared bicycle and jumped on, pedaling hard to chase after the Project Zero subjects. The cold wind stung his face, but if he stopped now, he’d lose them.

Along the way, he passed the supermarket Kai had mentioned going to that morning. Even at midnight, the Christmas decorations outside were still up—their lights glinting, stinging his eyes. This was why he hated holidays: noisy, chaotic, and utterly pointless. Even if it was to honor a great person or a god, they could do it quietly—instead of turning it into a wild party.

If Kai heard that, he’d definitely complain that Damon “had no sense of fun.” Damon smiled faintly to himself, but his mood quickly soured again. Kai… If giving up was easy, Damon would’ve done it long ago. But Kai wouldn’t let him. Over and over, he’d told Damon he mattered—that he mattered to everyone. If there was a way to survive, why throw his life away?

Then why did you let yourself get captured?

Damon couldn’t understand. But one thing was clear: he’d never hated Christmas more.

Chapter Text

Kai woke up in a dim basement. From the harsh sunlight filtering in, he could tell it was already morning. He struggled to prop himself up, his entire body aching too much for any sudden movements. All he could do was lean gently against the wall, catching his breath.

Where… am I? He reached for his pocket, only to realize his clothes had been changed – on closer inspection, they were the same style he’d worn in prison. Ugh, his phone was definitely gone too… Kai sighed. He could feel his hair sticking to his forehead with dried blood, obscuring most of his vision, so he could only guess the time from the faint light.

The sound of a key turning in the lock made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Tozu’s training had included a mandatory “danger sense” class – it was almost like a sixth sense, and whatever was coming wasn’t good. He thought for a moment, then closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.

At least his hearing still worked.

…Footsteps. It sounded like someone was unlocking the iron bars outside and stepping in to check on him. First, they turned Kai’s face toward them, confirming he was still breathing without touching any of his bruises. Then they patted him down thoroughly, and after finding nothing, set a plate-like object nearby before leaving and locking the door again.

Once Kai was sure the person was gone, he snapped awake. He wiped his eyes with his hand to see clearer, then glanced toward where the sound had come from. It seemed they’d left him some breakfast – it looked… okay. He’d eaten prison food before, so his standards weren’t high.

After taking a few bites, Kai grabbed the iron bars and stood up, studying the room carefully. No toilet, which meant this was only a temporary holding cell. Sunlight was streaming in, so it couldn’t be underground. And the wind blowing in carried a faint saltiness… They’d taken him to an island?! The thought shocked him. He’d only been unconscious for seven or eight hours – how had he ended up on an island?

And had Damon even noticed something was wrong…? He sighed, patting his hair carefully. When his fingers brushed a tiny glass vial attached to a hairpin hidden deep in his hair, he relaxed. Thank god they hadn’t found this – otherwise, he would’ve collapsed in despair right then.

The pain from the blow to his skull still throbbed intensely, and there was no bandage or anything to ease it… Kai clicked his tongue and sat back down. The sacrifice must be happening soon, otherwise they wouldn’t have beaten him half to death.

Just then, the Goat appeared in front of him. It was still in its fluffy white form, but noticeably more vivid – not just a shapeless blob like before. It darted around the floor, as if mocking him.

“How pitiful. So pitiful. If you agree to help me possess the Vessel, I’ll order them to let you go.”

“Get lost.” Kai snapped, keeping his eyes closed. He reached out, grabbed the Goat, and threw it away. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone?”

“Foolish.” The Goat seemed to shake its “head.” “I can sense it – the Vessel is approaching.”

Damon’s coming… Of course he is. This time, he’s the one saving me. Does that make us even？Kai’s thoughts wandered, but the next sentence jolted him.

“Before he arrives, you’ll wait for me in the Veil first.”

The Veil – a concept he’d read about in the investigator’s log he’d translated overnight. It was a realm where the mortal souls of all Outer Gods and their followers resided forever. No time passed there; you could do nothing but interact with other Outer Gods. And if the Goat wanted to throw him there… it meant it planned to kill him, then trap his soul in the Veil for eternity, with no chance of reincarnation.

Underhanded and cruel. Kai scoffed. “Do your followers even have the power to do that? I’m surprised they can even summon you at all.”

“…Tozu.” The Goat sounded angry. “Tozu has the power.”

“Huh?” Was it arguing against his point that “these followers can’t summon you”? Really… Kai was at a loss for words, but shot back anyway. “Too bad he’s my boss now.”

…The Goat fell silent, then gradually vanished. Kai was still feeling a twinge of pride at finally winning an argument, when the wooden door outside creaked open – making him jump.

The robed cultists walked straight up to him, unlocked the iron gate, grabbed the back of his neck to hold him down, and tied his hands with hemp rope. Two of them muttered to each other, and after straining to listen, Kai finally caught the gist.

“…In three hours, the aurora will connect to the Veil.”

“The Great Lord wants to send him up then…”

Great. Kai sighed, feeling gloomy. He prayed inwardly: Damon, hurry up! If I really get sent there… I won’t even have a way to get back at you.

He felt even more depressed.

———

“Here’s your ferry ticket – enjoy your trip to the island!”

Staring at the ferry ticket, which had a drawing of a grand Gothic castle on it, Damon forced himself to calm down, despite his urgency. First, the ferry itself would take time to reach the island. Second, his head hadn’t ached at all since he’d lost sight of the group earlier. He figured if the Goat had killed Kai or done something to him, it would’ve come to gloat. The silence was a good sign.

As the sea breeze blew against him, he began to plan: how to rescue Kai while wiping out the cult. The castle was clearly being run and promoted as a tourist attraction, which meant the cult’s real base was probably in the off-limits rear area. That meant he’d have to sneak in. Second, the island was likely swarming with cult spies. His face was probably already known here – if he was recognized, he’d end up locked up too. Damon was confident in his fighting skills, but a good assassin never endangered innocents.

He took a deep breath and pulled a can of hair color remover from his bag. Diana had brought it for Kai in early December, saying it was a new product from the company she’d infiltrated. It could temporarily revert dyed hair to its original color for two or three days – perfect for formal occasions. Since Damon also dyed his hair regularly, Kai had given him a small can.

When Damon had rushed out the night before, he’d had a hunch this might come in handy – so he’d brought it. Now it was proving useful; even a little disguise would help.

A while later, he walked out of the bathroom: a handsome guy with black hair and red eyes, with the longer strands tied back in a small ponytail, looking faintly artistic. The closer he got to the castle, the worse his head ached, so he stopped trying to hide his red eyes – if you didn’t look closely, you couldn’t tell his pupils were slit. He adjusted his clothes, tossed the empty can in the trash, and blended into the crowd to get off the ferry.

The island was beautiful, surrounded by the sea with coral reefs. If it weren’t winter, it would definitely be a tourist hotspot. Now, though, the only thing worth visiting was the castle. Damon deliberately took a different route from the main tourist path, keeping his head down to avoid making eye contact with staff. Meanwhile, under his phone’s privacy screen, he accessed all the security cameras here – he’d contacted Cassidy on the ferry, and she’d happily agreed to help.

Finally, his efforts paid off: a security camera in an odd position behind the castle kitchen showed a secret passage. Following the feed, he saw a door at the other end – just looking at it made Damon uncomfortable. That’s the one. He put his phone away and began inching toward it.

The kitchen was open for tours, and a woman in a Victorian-style maid’s uniform stood there, greeting visitors and giving explanations. When she saw Damon approaching, her lazy demeanor brightened instantly, and she hurried over. “Hello! Welcome to our kitchen area – here, you can—”

“I don’t need a tour.” Damon cut her off, his voice colder than usual. “I want to look around alone.”

“O-Of course… Sorry.”

Watching the woman retreat to the door to wait for the next visitor, Damon let out a breath. He pulled a hairpin from his bag, crouched down, and approached the hidden door in the corner. To his surprise, it had an electronic lock. Well, it is the modern age. He put the hairpin away in disappointment, then pulled out the universal access card Mark had made and swiped it.

The door clicked open. Damon glanced back one last time to make sure no one was watching, then prepared to push it open. But just before he stepped in, a sudden, an inexplicable sense of dread made him freeze and step back quickly.

“…Was that a misconception？”

A man – who’d seemed to be a tourist – had actually been watching the small door the whole time. When the door had creaked open, he’d glanced over sharply. Luckily, several sacks of flour were in front of Damon, hiding him. Phew, so the cultists really are everywhere… Damon waited until the man left, then pushed the door open and stepped inside.

He moved slowly along the dark corridor, pausing occasionally to check the cameras for anyone hurrying around. When he saw a group of people looking anxious, muttering something quietly, then shoving past tourists toward his direction, he quickly put his phone away and picked up his pace.

He reached the door before they did. Staring at the solid iron slab, Damon took a deep breath and kicked it hard.

Bang! The door crashed to the ground.

…He’d learned that trick from Kai, he thought idly as he slipped into the castle’s rear section and began searching. This didn’t look like the main castle – more like a secondary building. From the outside, there was a tower at the top, and just looking at the tower’s peak made Damon’s head ache. So that’s where he needed to go.

“…! 潈⁷楤⁤潹�—”

“Shut up.” The moment he ran into a group of cultists, Damon pulled out his dagger and swung without hesitation. The sound of splattering blood was like soothing music to his ears. When someone tried to hit him with a folding chair, Damon dropped to a squat, then delivered a roundhouse kick that sent the person crashing to the floor – they didn’t get up again.

“…Hmph.” Damon didn’t linger. He hurried toward the tower, mentally mapping the layout as he went – it would help when he had to get Kai out.

As he passed what looked like a bedroom, he stopped by chance and glanced through the half-open door. But that one glance made him regret it immediately.

Hanging above the velvet bed was a painting – not just any painting, but one of the Goat. It looked arrogant and regal, with countless humans bowing before it. Using his limited knowledge of history and art, Damon suspected it was a medieval work, heavy with religious symbolism.

People had worshipped the Goat even back then? He frowned, pulled out a dart coated with a substance that dissolved oil paints, and threw it at the canvas. He watched as the painting corroded bit by bit, turning into a black, shapeless void.

And in that void, Damon thought he saw a vision. He’d always worried about his low sanity, but now that didn’t matter.

He saw Kai: leaning against a wall, his head bleeding heavily, barely breathing. Above him was something like a countdown timer – less than two hours left. Damon didn’t know what it meant, but his intuition screamed that nothing good would happen when it hit zero.

“Naive mortal.” As if echoing his thoughts, red words appeared on the blackened canvas. Definitely the Goat’s doing. Damon raised an eyebrow. “Why aren’t you busy discussing your summoning with your followers? Instead, you’re here learning human writing?”

“…You’re all the same.”

It even sounded wronged. Damon suddenly remembered how, after their trip to the zoo, Kai would occasionally snap at thin air. Had the Goat held a grudge? He found himself amused.

“Thanks for the compliment.” He said dryly, closing the door and continuing toward his target.

He ran into more cultists along the way, but they acted like oblivious outsiders. When he asked for directions to the tower, they had no idea. But when they saw the blood on his face and the dripping dagger in his hand, they fell to their knees involuntarily, whispering things like “The Scarlet Goat has arrived.”

Annoying. Damon wiped the blood from his face, ignoring the pile of bodies behind him as he kept exploring.

Soon, he reached what looked like a throne room. Peering through the open door, he saw dozens of robed figures building something. Damon squinted – and his blood ran cold. It was a guillotine, its blade glinting so brightly it stung his eyes.

He instantly considered wiping them all out, but then he remembered what Kai had told him one day. There might be higher-ranking cultists here – maybe even the High Priest.

“Actually, only three high-ranking members of this cult have real power. The rest are just capitalists trying to make a quick buck off it.” Kai had said, scrolling through his phone. “The three leaders are: the Warden who locked me in prison, the Manager who abducted you for experiments, and the High Priest who oversees all the sacrifices and ‘magic.’ The High Priest is the scariest – rumors say he has three eyes, and one of them belongs to the Goat—”

Damon stared at the figure in the center of the group, wearing an ornate headdress. He memorized their appearance, then slipped away.

Finally, he reached the tower. He was certain Kai was being held at the top, so even though the stairs were long and grimy, he gritted his teeth and started climbing. As he ran upward, he noticed the paintings on both sides were melting, then rearranging into new images.

When he connected them, they told a story – like a history.

In ancient times, the Goat had discovered this world, home to countless creatures, and begun watching it. The auroras were a bridge to its Veil, and the creatures it chose would drift along the auroras to its side. When humans appeared, the Goat grew fonder of this world. It began “ascending” more humans in large numbers – even though many of them didn’t want to go.

As more and more humans ascended, other Outer Gods noticed this world. They wanted to seize Earth by fighting the Goat. But the Goat was a relatively weak Outer God (at least, it looked small in the paintings. If it could cause so much trouble and still be “weak,” Damon thought, shivering). So it could only stall for time.

Then, it contacted a group of humans, brainwashed them into followers, and began organizing summoning rituals. It called the Outer Gods lurking nearby “the End.” Its true reason for wanting to descend into the human world was: when the End arrived, those Outer Gods would look at Earth and find – surprise! – the Goat had already taken root among humans.

Basically, it wanted to be a “spoiler,” Damon thought, staring at the painting depicting what would happen if they failed to stop the Goat’s descent. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Was I wrong?”

The Goat kept asking that. From the paintings, it even seemed to be trying to “protect” humans in its own way. But unfortunately，if a human spots an ant, that ant becomes visible to everyone. Kill the first human who saw the ant, and the ant will fade away – through gossip, or silence – until someone finds a new ant.

So the Goat’s destruction was inevitable. Damon’s resolve hardened. He stood at the door to the tower’s top floor and pushed it open.

What he saw was a familiar prison cell – and an even more familiar figure. Kai huddled in the corner, making faint, sticky-sounding gasps. Damon knelt down, trying to hear what he was saying.

“…Damon?”

Before he could make it out, Kai seemed to sense his presence. He struggled to open his eyes, which were crusted with blood, and tried to lift the hand tied behind his back and grabbed Damon's arm. “Thank god it’s not a dream… How did you get here so fast?”

“I followed you.” Damon sighed, pulling bandages from his bag to give Kai first aid, and untied him. “Are they going to execute you?”

“Yep. Said they’re gonna ‘ascend’ me.” Kai sighed, staying still as Damon wiped the dried blood from his face. “Bullshit.”

“…Can you move? If you can, we’ll leave now.”

“Not really, man.” Kai sighed. “Maybe wait till tomorrow… Or until the execution? There’s probably an hour left…? If not, it’s fine. Just get as far away as you can.”

“And let you get tortured by the Goat in the Veil? Are you an idiot?” Damon snapped, tightening the bandages. The fabric turned red the second it touched Kai’s wounds – how badly hurt was he?

“…What else can we do?” Kai mumbled. “You’ve wrapped me up so tight I can’t see… Wait.”

To Kai’s confusion, once the bandages were on, his vision suddenly cleared. He could see Damon clearly – his hair now black – and the entire prison cell. He could even see… the cultists approaching from the other side of the wall.

“What’s going on…?” He stopped Damon, who was about to treat his arm wounds, and whispered. “The cultists are coming up. They’re gonna drag me to the execution ground. You go first. I don’t know why I can see like this… It’s okay, don’t worry about me. I’m Kai Monteago – if I don’t make it back, how will I face my fans?”

…Damon stared at the determined look on Kai’s face. The words he wanted to say caught in his throat. He could only sigh. “Then you better pray you don’t end up with your head chopped off. I’m not saving you.”

“At least we’re even now… Take this.” Kai pulled the hairpin with the poison vial from his hair and handed it to Damon. “I made this poison. It might work on weak gods like the Goat. The Goat’s true form will definitely show up at the execution. Use this then.”

“Got it.” Damon took it and pinned it to his collar. As he prepared to climb down the pipes next to the window – from nearly fifty meters up – he glanced back at Kai one last time. Kai hadn’t lied; he seemed to sense Damon’s gaze, waved, and smiled brightly.

…

May we both have good fortune in battle. Damon thought, leaping into the air.

Chapter Text

After watching Damon leave, Kai let out a breath of relief. He began to study exactly what was happening with his vision—being able to see with a sort of “spiritual sight” even when his eyes were covered by bandages? That was insane. Why hadn’t anyone told him about this sooner?

Then he remembered he’d never been on the front lines. Fair enough. He kept his mouth shut.

After weighing all possibilities, the only plausible explanation was that he’d had this ability all along—he’d just never triggered it. Having tentatively settled on that conclusion, Kai pulled the bandages off his eyes and wrapped them around his hands.

The bandages had already soaked up the blood from his facial wounds, so they were useless now. Besides, the cultists would definitely remove them when they came… He was certain they knew Damon had been here, so he didn’t bother pretending anymore. He closed his eyes and flopped onto the floor.

Soon, a group of robed figures walked in. They retied his hands, grabbed the back of his neck to yank him up, and dumped him into a cart. After checking the room for any traces Damon might have left, one of the cultists tapped a nearby wall twice.

As if by magic, the wall slid open to reveal a hidden elevator behind it. Kai felt a wave of relief—thank god, no more jostling up and down stairs to mess up his stomach.

After descending for roughly a minute, they reached a side door. Pushing it open, Kai saw a vast garden, overgrown with weeds like it hadn’t been tended to in years. The original noble statues that had decorated the courtyard had all been decapitated by the cult; their heads replaced with goat skulls—each with two large red eyes and dozens of smaller ones below.

…No sense of art at all. He clicked his tongue and squinted, trying to activate his spiritual sight again. Surprisingly, he found he could use the ability easily—no bandages needed. It seemed having an obstruction in front of his eyes was just an auxiliary condition for triggering it.

In the black-and-white view of his spiritual sight, he saw white tentacles coiled around the statues, covered in tiny red eyes, and the Goat lying nearby. Even with his strong mental resilience, he felt his sanity plummeting. He turned the ability off immediately.

In the center, surrounded by these eerie statues, stood a ritual platform built for the Goat’s final descent. Everything matched the references they’d found in their books: bizarre runes painted in blood, a wooden stake in the middle to bind the Vessel and prevent escape, and a huge heart hanging behind it—not a fake one. Kai confirmed this with another glance of spiritual sight. It looked like a biological goat heart, enlarged by soaking in all sorts of strange potions.

This would be used for the first descent, and would become the Goat’s physical form among humans… He looked away. If only he could destroy that heart now. But he was being taken to the execution ground, and Damon showing up here would be like walking into a lion’s den.

They turned a corner and trundled slowly along a path to a side hall. To Kai, who’d seen a few historical dramas, it looked like a hall where nobles would audience with an emperor. Had the entire castle been built backwards? He wondered, then was dumped off the cart.

“Ugh…” The impact pressed on his back wounds, and he curled up on the floor in pain.

“Poor child…” The High Priest actually spoke human language—miraculous. “Why won’t you become my Lord’s most beloved follower? You’re more than worthy. You single-handedly turned our flawed first sacrifice ritual into the most perfect one we’ve ever seen! What a shame the ‘Paradise’ after that never had such wonders again—”

“Shut up!” Kai snarled, his voice low. “If you’re gonna kill me, do it now! I don’t wanna hear about how I ‘contributed’ to your stupid monster. Let me tell you this—It’s a bastard that won’t even let me die in peace!”

“…Then how do you propose we face the other Outer Gods?” The High Priest didn’t seem fazed by Kai’s outburst at all. He sat gracefully in an armchair nearby, shaking a bell in his hand, his three eyes fixed on Kai without blinking. “Darling, we all know the universe is full of mysterious powers—take your eyes, for example…”

He reached out, his nails brushing Kai’s cheek and leaving a faint scratch. But with Kai’s face already covered in cuts and grime, the new wound barely showed. “These are gifts from the heavens—peepholes to behold my Lord’s glory. Oh, sweetie, don’t worry. We’ll preserve your eyes carefully.”

…Kai’s stomach churned. He closed his eyes and turned his head to avoid the High Priest’s hand. “I said I don’t give a damn what you do to me.”

“I deserve to die anyway.”

After he muttered that, the air fell silent. The High Priest looked surprised by his words, momentarily lost for words. But he quickly recovered, smiling at Kai. “Now, now—you must be delirious, dear.” He gestured to a cultist nearby. “Take him to the back and change his clothes. My Lord wouldn’t want to see his pet covered in blood.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

So Kai was dragged onto a cart for the second time that day—and dumped on the floor for the second time. Son of a bitch, if I ever get my strength back, this stupid cart is the first thing I’m destroying… Kai thought angrily as he watched the cultists rub a strange ointment on his face.

The stuff must have been blessed by something, because its effects were immediate. He could feel even the wounds that would have left permanent scars healing completely. Great, no more worrying about disfigurement… Or not. Worrying about this right now—am I losing my mind? Kai mocked himself inwardly.

They seemed to treat all his wounds except his left arm. For some reason, they avoided that area, as if afraid of something. When the cultists left and locked him in, Kai used a small hook on the wall behind him to rub his ropes loose, then curiously rolled up his left sleeve to check.

What he saw made his blood run cold: his arm was festering, as if burned. On the blisters, tiny red goat eyes were forming. Kai rolled his sleeve down after a few seconds.

“When did this happen…?” He muttered, unwrapping the blood-soaked bandages from his neck and winding them around his arm. The burn scars felt numb to the touch—except for the eyes. They followed his movements and even blinked. From what Kai could tell, there were easily a thousand of them crawling on his upper arm.

“Ugh…”

He couldn’t hold it in. Kai stared at the almost empty pool of stomach acid on the floor, self-deprecatingly took a rag to cover it.

“Okay, now how do I get out of here…?”

Even though he’d said he didn’t care if he died, Kai still wanted to survive this. After all, there was a mentally unstable guy with suicidal tendencies waiting for him outside… The front door was useless, so what about the window?

He ran to the window and tried to move it, only to find it completely locked. The spider in its web above was shaken loose by his movements, scurrying across the floor in a panic.

“Dammit.” Kai stepped back and paced aimlessly around the room. He tried using his spiritual sight to find a way out, but every option was dismissed. Without a gun, he was a sitting duck—and he had no idea what the wound on his left arm would do to him.

While he waited anxiously for an opportunity, Damon had found something interesting on his end.

———

“Is that… Tozu and Mara?”

During his exploration of the castle, Damon had passed several rooms that looked like treasure vaults. Don’t get him wrong—he didn’t want to abandon Kai. But the security was tighter than ever, and his infection had worsened to the point where goat horns were sprouting from his head again. Going in now would be asking to be captured. So he’d roamed the first floor, trying to find a secret passage that would let him sneak directly from below to the throne hall, where the execution would take place.

He hadn’t found a passage, but he had stumbled upon something like the cult’s history.

One painting showed five people—all acquaintances of Damon’s. From left to right: Mara, the Manager, Tozu, the Warden, and the High Priest. Below Tozu, there was a handwritten note in pen: “Observer.” Below Mara: “Guardian.”

…Tozu is the Observer? Damon frowned, glancing back at the throne hall. With roughly half an hour left, he stepped up his search. Among the abandoned books, he found a journal—filled with obscure trivia that confirmed it belonged to Tozu.

After flipping through a few pages, Damon’s earlier guess was confirmed.

Tozu was indeed the cult’s founder—but he was just someone who had rediscovered the Goat in a modern world where the myth had been lost. He and his four companions—friends, or maybe just acquaintances—had formed the organization to research the Goat.

But as their research deepened, Tozu realized the Goat was subtly influencing his companions. Even he himself had begun following the Goat’s orders. To preserve his rationality, he’d immediately quit the organization. But this angered the Goat, which had cursed Tozu: a curse that prevented him from ever showing his true face to others.

“So the Tozu we know now is a modified human… or a monster, just like me.” Damon closed the book with a heavy sigh, then pulled out his phone. He hadn’t understood what Tozu meant by his earlier words, but now everything made sense.

“Make more friends.”

—Don’t let yourself face danger with no one to trust behind you.

Tozu had been in that exact situation back then. The only one who had chosen to follow him was Mara, who’d been practically invisible at the time. Yet he’d still managed to escape unscathed, then rebuild his power… How many tricks did this old Goat have?

Damon stood up. It was time to head to the throne hall. Along the way, he’d thought about how to deal with the High Priest. He couldn’t use his dagger—it was already coated with the poison Kai had given him. And he was afraid other methods would put him at a disadvantage.

Standing in front of the throne hall, Damon was about to push the door open when voices from inside distracted him. His hand, which had been about to crack the door open slightly, froze.

“Heretic! Heretic!”

“Send him to my Lord for punishment! He doesn’t deserve to be my Lord’s pet!”

“Look at his arm! That’s my Lord’s wrath! He’s only alive because my Lord is merciful!”

“Calm down, everyone.” The High Priest’s voice rang out, and the hall fell silent immediately—except for the muffled struggles of someone with a gag.

“I know you all have grievances against Mr. Monteago,” he said, as if speaking to Kai. “But my Lord’s wish is for him to ascend to the Veil and amuse it forever. Oh, dear—surely you’ll be happy to comply.”

“Eat shit.” Kai’s faint voice came through. “I’d rather die.”

…The High Priest fell silent for a moment, then clapped his hands as if he’d thought of something fun. “Oh, everyone—I have a wonderful idea for a little diversion. How about it? A final celebration before my Lord’s descent—”

The cultists began whispering, then broke into cheers. The High Priest seemed to savor the attention. He clapped again to quiet them down.

“As you know, the Vessel we prepared for my Lord—the perfect one, the only one who still retains his sanity—is somewhere nearby.” He chuckled, the bells on his robes jingling as if he was thinking of something delightful. “Why don’t you all find him and bring him here? Let him watch as our heretic is sent to where he belongs. What do you say?”

“Go to hell! If you’re gonna kill me, leave Damon out of this—mmph!”

Kai’s struggles were muffled by a cloth. Amidst growing cheers, the High Priest spoke one last time: “I’m sure the Goat will not want to miss this!”

…Damon stepped back silently, then felt his foot hit something.

He stared at the corpse on the floor, his eyes cold—but he seemed to make up his mind.

———

Damon, please don’t show up… Kai’s head was pressed against the execution platform as he thought desperately.

Watching cultists file in and out of the door—sometimes dragging unconscious tourists in, then out again—he suddenly worried he’d starve to death before Damon was found. Was the guy a rabbit or something? So good at hiding?

The robed figures who couldn’t find Damon wandered over to the execution platform to taunt Kai. But he shut them all up with one line: “At least I get to see your ‘great Lord’ every day. You losers never will.”

Nice one, Kai—buy more time… He inched back slightly, trying to sneak away while the High Priest wasn’t looking. But the moment the thought crossed his mind, the burn on his left arm flared up in agony. His vision turned red, and the image of that damn Goat appeared before him.

“What are you doing?”

“…Explain the shit on my arm.” Kai ignored the question. The cultists who’d been taunting him paled in terror when they saw him talking to thin air—then their fear turned to awe. What the hell? Are you guys doing a face swap?

“Just a few little marks. So I can find you when everyone’s a soul in the Veil.” It floated back and forth. “I can’t even sense that Vessel boy anymore… Did you do something to him?”

“Guess.” Kai felt a flicker of pride. Take that, you bastard. All those nights I stayed up preparing ways to deal with Outer Gods like you paid off.

The Goat, which seemed to have heard his thoughts, stopped floating. Its two red eyes darted around. “I can let you live.”

“…You said the benefit. Now the catch?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “I know one of them is Damon having to be your Vessel. And I’m telling you—over my dead body.”

“Or you could bring Tozu here.” It added. “He was the one who first saw me, which is why I remembered this world. So he should watch as I claim Earth as my first dominion.”

Kai fell silent—rare for him. He didn’t know how he felt about Tozu. Hatred? Or something else? Two years ago, on a night when he’d tried to kill himself again, Tozu had appeared and stopped him. He’d said he could change Kai’s life.

And he had. Without Tozu, Kai doubted he and Damon would have survived this mess intact.

“It seems that you are not going to accept it.” The Goat sighed. “I don’t understand. I’m trying to help you, but you treat me like this…”

“Save the sob story for next life.” Kai rolled his eyes. “You’re not human.”

Just as Kai was getting bored enough to count the weeds on the floor, a cultist burst through the door with a bang, startling everyone.

“I found him!” The cultist yelled excitedly, dragging someone in a black robe behind him. “I found the Vessel!”

The hall erupted in excitement. The long-delayed execution was finally going to start. Kai’s body trembled as he knelt before the platform. Why had Damon been caught? He thought helplessly.

The person being dragged was thrown to the floor. Their hands were tied, and they writhed in pain like a worm. Kai stared at the figure—and suddenly, by instinct, felt something was wrong.

This doesn’t look like Damon… He frowned. Damon would be planning how to storm in and save him right now. He’d never let himself get captured so easily…

“Excellent! Shall we remove his hood then?” The High Priest looked around, and when he got eager nods from everyone, he gestured to the executioners. They lifted the huge guillotine blade and suspended it above Kai’s head. The constant threat of death filled Kai with despair and fear—but what could he do? An assassin always faced the risk of death. In that, he and Damon were the same.

As the hood was lifted little by little, Kai closed his eyes, not wanting to watch.

Whoosh—The blade fell.

Slap!

The expected pain never came. Something warm splattered on Kai’s face. He opened his eyes tremblingly. The rope holding the guillotine blade had been cut, and the blade itself had flown sideways from the momentum. The warm liquid on his face was blood—from the hooded “Damon” in front of him. His face was split open by countless knife wounds, unrecognizable. When the hood was removed, the pressure on his wounds made him spit up a mouthful of blood, splattering Kai’s face.

Why does my face always get caught in this… He thought involuntarily. But the question was quickly replaced by another: Where was Damon? He’d lived with Damon for half a year—he was certain this wasn’t him. So where was he?

“…Ah.” The cultist who’d brought the unconscious man froze, horrified by the ruined execution. He pulled a dagger from his pocket, pressed it to his neck, and apologized in agony. “I’m sorry, Your Holiness… I’ll atone with my death…”

Another body fell to the floor. The High Priest hummed，gesturing for the corpse to be cleared away. Then he looked at the broken guillotine, massaging his temples. “So where is the Vessel?”

“Right here.”

A familiar voice from the corner of the hall made Kai’s head snap around. A robed cultist walked forward step by step. With each step, the people around him clutched their throats and collapsed.

It was like a coronation. He stood on the red carpet in the center of the hall, surrounded by the bodies of fallen cultists. The pooling blood spread across the floor, making the carpet even more vivid.

The High Priest’s face showed fear—rare for him. He stepped back, his voice trembling with emotion. “Y-You dare! Even if you kill us all, you’ll still become a sacrifice! A slave to my Lord!”

“Then what?” Damon’s voice held a faint sneer. He pulled off his hood, revealing his familiar face—even with his hair still black. But… below Damon’s left eye, dozens of tiny eyes were starting to form. Their infection was worsening. Kai’s mood didn’t improve even after being rescued, realizing this.

“Y-You—” The High Priest pointed at him with his bell, trying to speak. But suddenly, he too began clutching his throat in pain, roaring before collapsing to the floor, convulsing.

“This is a nice way to die, isn’t it? Compared to the other two.” Damon’s red eyes stared at the man on the floor, emotionless. “Delayed-death snake venom, mixed with black dog’s blood. You’ll never join your master.”

Once the High Priest stopped breathing, Damon’s fierce expression vanished. He hurried over to untie Kai.

“…Were you just showing off for me?” Kai asked, his voice genuine. “And I’ll admit—I thought it was cool…”

“Still in the mood to joke? You must really want the guillotine to hit your head.” Damon flicked Kai’s forehead in annoyance. “Get ready. We’re going to complete the descent ritual.”

“…Yeah. First, I need to find my phone.”

They had no choice but to complete the ritual. All variables that would have stopped them were gone, and the Goat was probably furious. Fleeing would only enrage the Outer God further. So they had to face it head-on: complete the ritual, and kill it while they had the chance.

The wound on Kai’s arm throbbed. He glanced at Damon, who was clutching his left cheek and hissing in pain. In the end, he chose not to mention his own injury.

No need to scare him more than he already is. He thought.

Chapter Text

The two stood before the fully decorated altar, locking eyes with each other.

“D-Do you know what to do?” Kai stared at the runes painted on the ground, kicking a few pebbles nearby as he spoke uncertainly. “I mean, I did research some stuff, but you’re the one who handled most of the materials，right?”

“I have a rough idea.” Damon knelt down to examine the runes. “Grab me a regular knife—wait, check the High Priest’s body. See if there’s anything useful.”

“…Fine.” Kai nodded, then glanced back at Damon before leaving. “Call me if there’s an emergency.” With that, he walked into what had been the execution ground—and was now a charnel house.

Finding the High Priest among the rotting, fly-infested corpses was no easy task, Kai admitted. But the Priest’s elaborate robes made him stand out. Kai stepped over, grimacing at the body—already decaying from Damon’s poison, bits of bone peeking through the flesh. “Ugh… Disgusting.”

Next time, I’m never going on a mission with Damon—if there even is a next time. Fighting down his nausea, he rummaged through the ornate robes. To his surprise, he found a knife: a small silver one, carved with red patterns. Perfect for a sacrifice ritual.

“Yes!” Kai whispered in celebration. He double-checked for other useful items, turning up blood crystals, some salt, bundles of herbs, and even a bag of pomegranates. Why pomegranates? Fighting the urge to grab one and eat it, he headed back with his loot—and his phone. It was dead, but the screen wasn’t cracked, so it was still usable.

Damon was exactly where Kai had left him, crouched over the runes. Kai dumped the supplies on a nearby table, then walked over to find Damon stuck on a string of unrecognizable symbols.

“…Stardust… Stars? Or—tch…” Damon muttered irritably as he stared at the symbols. He jumped when Kai suddenly leaned in from behind. “Agh—can you at least make noise when you walk?!”

“Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Kai knelt down too, pointing at the phrase Damon had been stuck on. “‘It glimmers among the stars.’”

“…Oh, so you’re a genius now.” Damon rolled his eyes, then turned to look at the supplies. “Is that all?”

“Yeah. Did you expect me to go touching that deadly poison again? I’m not you—I’m not immune to everything.”

“Fair point. Should’ve gone myself.” Damon spread the supplies out on the ground, thought for a moment, then looked up at Kai sharply. “Do you remember what the book we read in prison said about the materials for the god-summoning ritual? Skip the human sacrifice part.”

“Huh? You expect me to recall that right now…?” Kai looked blank, then wracked his brain under Damon’s death stare. “Uh—something about placing offerings at the four corners of the altar, then stabbing that heart with a knife. After that, it drags the Vessel into the Veil to finish the transformation—”

“Enough.” Damon stood up, shoving the bundles of sage and rosemary into Kai’s hands. “You handle the four corners. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Got it.” Kai didn’t argue. He took the herbs and started preparing, placing bundles and pomegranate seeds at each corner. Damon sprinkled a circle of salt around the altar’s outer edge, scraped the blood crystals into shavings with the small knife, and scattered those too.

“Okay, last step…” Kai clapped his hands and walked to the center, his gaze flicking between the post used to bind the Vessel and Damon. “Do you want me to tie you up, or are you gonna do it yourself?”

“I’ll do it. You keep an eye on that heart.” Damon picked up a length of rope from the floor.

“Wait—you can tie yourself up? I thought you only knew how to undo restraints behind your back…” Kai gaped.

“Gotta learn useful things sometime.”

“Right… Hey, do you think the Goat will even go along with this?” Kai began pacing, twisting the hem of his shirt. “I don’t see it showing up just to do the ritual like we want…”

“It will. Trust me.” Damon narrowed his eyes. “It’s desperate for me—desperate enough to try controlling me even without any help. Persistent little bastard.”

He slowly tied his hands behind his back, then asked Kai to knot it tight. Kai stepped back, picked up a match, struck it, and held it up to Damon, who was now bound to the post.

“A-Are you ready?”

“Make it quick.” Damon nodded. “I don’t want to deal with this thing for another second.”

“Same here.” Kai nodded, then used the match to light the herbs scattered nearby. Flames spread quickly, and he jumped into the altar before they grew too big. Fire surrounded them—just like in the prison—but this blaze was eerily alive, flickering and dancing as if welcoming them.

Just then, an aurora flashed across the sky.

“It’s here.” Damon’s expression turned serious as he adjusted his position on the post. “When it tries to drag me into the Veil, you come with me.”

“Got it.” Kai nodded. Damon hadn’t mentioned this beforehand, but they were in this together—life or death. He’d follow the orders of the guy who could actually throw a punch.

The heart hanging behind them split open. White tentacles—like the ones that had coiled around the statues—snaked out, surging toward Damon. Some hesitated for a moment, then swerved to grab Kai instead.

“Ugh… Still won’t leave me alone. Is my face really that charming?” Kai groaned.

“Shut up.” Damon rolled his eyes. The tentacles had already started creeping up his head, and a feeling of suffocation washed over him. He knew he wouldn’t actually suffocate—his soul would just be pulled into another realm.

As his consciousness faded, he heard Kai’s final question: “Did you read Tozu’s diary so much that you’re this calm?”

“…He’s a lunatic, after all.” Damon’s tone held a hint of amusement. “No one normal survives Tozu.”

———

When Kai regained consciousness, he was in a dense forest. Most of the trees were conifers, towering into the sky and blocking most of the light. But there was no normal sky here—countless gigantic creatures filled the space where stars should have been. He even saw one float by: it had no recognizable organs, just endless hands, feet, and thousands of telescope-like eyes.

“So… this is the Veil? The Land of the Gods, or whatever?” Kai tugged at Damon, who was also surveying their surroundings. “It’s not as scary as I thought…”

“Not scary? Are you serious?” Damon stared at him in horror, pointing at the snow. “Look at what’s under your feet.”

“Uh… snow?” Kai looked down—and froze when he saw the mangled body parts mixed in. “Or… is that… body parts?”

“Sometimes I really don’t get what scares you…” Damon muttered, starting to walk. “We need to find the Goat’s true form. My head’s starting to hurt.”

“Right.” Kai hurried to catch up. “Uh—if we find it, what’s the plan?”

“Simple. Kill it.” Damon glared at him. “I’ll distract it. You hit it from behind—take this.”

He pulled his iconic snake dagger from his pocket, holding the blade up to Kai’s throat. “It’s real, don’t worry. And I already coated it with the poison you gave me.”

“Uh—okay, but… are you sure you want me to do this?” Kai jumped at the sudden movement, carefully taking the dagger without touching Damon’s hand.

“Because I trust you.” Damon watched as Kai gripped the weapon. “Even when I lost my mind… I trusted your skills.”

Oh—he’s talking about the zoo incident? Kai blinked, then smiled. “Whoa, a trust vote from Damon Maitsu. Feel like I’m one step closer to dying.”

“One more word, and I’ll leave you here.”

The two continued through the snow. Along the way, Kai activated his spiritual sight—and was shocked to see wandering spirits everywhere. The Goat had trapped them here… He glanced around sympathetically, then fixed his gaze on something in the distance.

“Watch out.” He grabbed Damon and pulled him behind a tree. “I see the Goat—over there.”

“Good. Stick to the plan.” Damon nodded, then pulled the sacrificial knife from his pocket—how many pockets did he even have?! “Be careful. I don’t know when it’ll possess me.”

“Got it, I’ll be super careful. Can’t let this trust vote go to waste—ow! Stop hitting me!” Kai put on a wronged face. “You promised to hit me less!”

“Then stop making my heart race. My head already hurts enough…” Damon muttered, getting into a fighting stance. “Let’s go. You wait here for your chance—I’ll draw it out.”

“Stay safe!” Kai watched Damon dart out from the shadows toward the Goat, his heart in his throat. But just then, his left arm erupted in agony, and his grip on the dagger slipped. “Dammit!” He pressed his other hand tightly to the wound, clamped the dagger between his teeth, and started unwrapping the bandage to check.

It was worse. The eyes had covered all the burn scars and were now spreading outward, forming a tower of eyes on his arm. Kai felt his stomach churn at the sight, but before he could vomit, a clattering sound made him rewrap the wound in a hurry. He grabbed the dagger with his right hand and peeked out from behind the tree.

Damon was in the thick of battle. The Goat’s true form was still fluffy—but this time, the fluff was… terrifying. Red goat eyes sprouted from the white mass, along with countless horns and those white tentacles… It was exactly what one imagined an Outer God to look like. And because it fit the cliché so perfectly, Kai’s revulsion toward it grew stronger.

Damon, though, seemed completely unafraid—or maybe his sanity had dropped too low to care. He kept attacking, swinging his knife so fast the tentacles couldn’t keep up. The ones he cut off fell to the snow, oozing brown liquid that seeped into the ground and fed the mangled body parts beneath.

Kai looked away, focusing on Damon’s movements as he crept along the tree trunks toward the Goat’s back. The heart—where to strike it best.

“Didn’t you bring my pet with you?” the Goat asked. “I thought you two were inseparable.”

…Damon said nothing, just dodging and slicing through the tentacles. His knife was already starting to chip.

“I’m talking to you, Vessel. Show some respect.” The Goat suddenly lashed out. All its red eyes widened into perfect circles, fixing on Damon. The eyes on Damon’s left cheek began bleeding. He clutched his face in pain, staggering backward.

“Ah—” Kai started to rush over, but Damon shot him a warning glare, keeping him in place.

“What’s it to you?” Damon panted, addressing the Goat. “You’ll never see him, whether he’s here or not.”

“…Is that so?” The Goat slithered closer, its tentacles coiling tightly around Damon’s limbs. Its largest red eye pressed so close it almost touched Damon’s own. “Then no one can stop me from taking your body.”

Suddenly, the tentacles burrowed into Damon’s left eye. Blood dripped onto the snow, and the corpses below scrambled to lap it up. Damon struggled to break free, but the Goat’s corruption was spreading faster—his exposed skin splitting open to reveal more tentacles.

Kai’s heart raced, but it wasn’t time yet. He had to wait until the transformation was halfway done… He couldn’t bear to watch, but a fierce determination kept him from running. His grip on the dagger was so tight the carved patterns would be etched into his palm forever.

Thirty seconds felt like six months. Finally, the Goat seemed satisfied. The tentacles around Damon’s back loosened, revealing its own massive, beating heart—an ugly, pulsating engine of power.

Damon summoned his last bit of strength to yell: “Kai!”

Bang!

Kai sprinted out from behind the tree, driving the dagger he’d been clutching into the Goat’s heart. The tentacles feeding on Damon’s body froze. The Goat turned, dazed, to stare at Kai, who was shoving the blade deeper. “Y-You… I thought I already…”

“A little injury… nothing I can’t handle…” Kai strained to hold the dagger steady as cracks spread across the heart’s surface. “Damon’s training was way worse than this… Agh!”

Suddenly, the dagger seemed to repel him. Kai stumbled backward, but his right hand never let go. He quickly got back up, pushing the blade in even deeper. Thank god the poison was working…

“You—you two! You’ll be cursed by the Outer Gods! Humanity will perish for your foolishness!” The Goat spun around in rage, trying to speed up its transfer into Damon’s body to escape death. But when it turned, it was met with a far more terrifying sight.

The possession ritual was more than half done—meaning most of the Goat’s power had already transferred to Damon. Now, Damon’s left eye bleed, his goat horns were too large to ignore, and the tentacles on his body looked stronger than ever. The Goat panicked, realizing it could no longer control the parts that had once been its own—as if they’d become a part of Damon.

“Happy?” Damon tilted his head, a triumphant smile spreading across his face. He lifted his now-unbound right hand. “Thanks for the gift.”

He snapped his fingers.

“Aaaaaah!” The tentacles on Damon’s body obeyed him instantly, turning to attack their former master. The Goat screeched, releasing its grip on Damon’s throat. Damon didn’t waste a second. He clamped a hand over his bleeding eye, circled around to the Goat’s back, and grabbed the dagger too—adding his strength to Kai’s to drive it deeper.

“Your arm—what happened?” Damon yelled over the chaos. Kai hesitated, then yelled back: “Nothing big—just a bunch of eyes on my arm!”

“Nothing big?! Are you serious?!” Damon felt his anger flare. Screw Kai Monteago—could he ever stop being so reckless?

“…Uh—we’ll talk later!” Kai looked away, certain he wouldn’t survive the lecture after this. “Put more force into it! We’re almost there!”

Together, they drove the dagger deeper. It was the first time they’d worked together to take down an enemy. The Warden might have counted, but this level of teamwork… was a first.

For the final push, they poured all their strength into it. Kai’s arm and Damon’s eye bleed profusely. Visions of the universe flashed through their minds—ancient knowledge flooding their brains, threatening to overwhelm them. The Goat’s screeches grew quieter, then fell silent as the dagger pierced its heart completely.

“…Ha… Ha… Did we win?” Kai struggled to look up as cracks spread across the heart. Then, in a burst of white light, it exploded.

And once again, everything went black.

———

“Ugh…”

The cold rain hitting his face was unpleasant. Kai groaned and pushed himself up from the grass, realizing they were back at the castle. The altar was in ruins, and the giant heart behind it bore the same cracks as the Goat’s. Rain washed over it. Kai looked around, spotted Damon lying nearby, and ran over.

“Damon! Damon!” He grabbed Damon’s shoulders and shook him hard until Damon woke up. “Tch… Stop. Quit shaking me—I’m dizzy.”

“Sorry.” Kai let go, watching Damon prop himself up with one hand, massaging his head. He
looked around in confusion, then locked eyes with Kai. “We did it.”

“…Yeah. We did.” Kai nodded. For a moment, silence hung between them. Then, looking at the face he’d feared he’d never see again, Kai gave in to his instincts and threw his arms around Damon, clinging tightly.

Damon stiffened, then relaxed, patting Kai’s back. “Okay, are you a baby now?”

“We did it! We actually did it!” Kai’s voice cracked with excitement. He pulled back—knowing Damon hated close contact—and grinned. “No more suffering—wait. Your left eye… it didn’t change back?”

“Huh?” Damon froze, pressing a hand to his eye and pulling out his phone. When he saw the eye that had tormented him for years was still there, he sighed and put the phone away. “I guess we sealed most of the Goat’s power inside ourselves. Speaking of which—what about your arm?”

“Oh, it’s probably fine… Aaaah!” Kai rolled up his sleeve, then jumped back in horror. Where the burn had been, a huge red eye had grown—just like Damon’s. It blinked up at him, staring.

“…Guess this is part of the seal too?” Kai forced a laugh as Damon stared at it, confused. “Honestly? I’m never wearing short sleeves again. Gonna wrap this thing up tight with bandages when we get back.”

“Same here.” Damon sighed. “Can’t exactly say I changed my eye color overnight—how do we get back? After all this, we can’t just take the ferry.”

Just as they puzzled over this, a familiar voice called out: “My dear students!”

“Tozu?—And Diana and Eva?!” Kai spun around to see three familiar figures running over with umbrellas. Diana was the first to reach them. She glanced at the abnormalities on Damon and Kai, let out a small “oh,” and said nothing more—just pulled two dry towels from her bag and draped them over their heads. Eva, when she arrived, gave her assessment of their state: “Look like you just climbed out of hell.”

“We basically did.” Damon wiped his face with the towel, then turned to Tozu. “I took care of your old associates. Where’s our reward?”

“Hm… What do you want?” Tozu asked. “This is no small feat—I’m prepared to give you a generous reward.”

“Really? Can I get a full set of studio lights? Please please please?!” Kai’s eyes lit up. Damon couldn’t hold back—he smacked Kai’s head. “Think of something practical.”

“Ow! I bet you want a new tank! Your corn snake’s tank is way too small—”

“Well, I’ll consider both.” Tozu nodded. “But students, if we stand here any longer, you’ll both catch colds—and then you’ll miss the Christmas Eve party tonight.”

“…We even made it back for the party.” Kai blinked.

“Oh no.” Damon’s expression soured. “Why do I have to go through this right after surviving hell?”

“Don’t worry—we’re going too. Tozu got us time off from work.” Diana smiled, trying to reassure him. “It won’t be that bad.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The three turned and walked back the way they’d come. Kai started to follow, but noticed Damon was staring back at the altar. He paused, then turned to ask: “What’s wrong?”

“…It’s really over. Feels… surreal.” Damon hesitated, then took a deep breath. “We’re both alive.”

Kai smiled. He grabbed Damon’s hand, ignoring Damon’s confused “???” look, and pulled him toward the others. “C’mon, philosopher. Save the sentimental stuff for later. I’m not standing in the rain any longer.”

“…You’re the one who gets sentimental.”

“Me? But you’re the philosophy nerd who talks like he’s writing a prose poem…”

“Still better than you, the psychology major who talks like a maniac.”

“Hey! No name-calling! I was complimenting you!”

“Was you? Then I’ll take it as a compliment too—”

The rain continued to fall, washing away all the blood and burying the painful memories of the past.

And the hands they held—they would never be torn apart again.

Chapter Text

Loud chatter, twinkling neon lights, and a giant Christmas tree in the center lit up the entire banquet hall. In one of the dimmer corners, Damon sat on a bench, staring into space while sipping a bowl of green tea.

Eva walked over with a plate of snacks and sat beside him. Glancing at the bandage wrapped around Damon’s left eye, she raised an eyebrow. “You… doing okay?”

“Fine.” Damon shook his head. “Just look a little different on the outside—no big deal.”

“Hmph…” Eva gave him a sideways glance, then looked away. “You two finally get a break. How’s that feel?”

“Not great. Kai’s still panicking over that thing on his arm.” Damon rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t see what the fuss is about. It’s just an eye.”

Eva was at a loss. Weren’t both their reactions a little off? Neither of them took it seriously—even Kai’s “panic” was just some yelling… She popped a gingerbread cookie into her mouth. “Will never understand you guys.”

“…Hm?” Damon gave her a confused look but didn’t press further. He went back to staring at the bustling crowd. They’d skipped the gift-exchange since they’d only just made it back alive from the castle—saving them from extra hassle. He took a sip of tea, his gaze drifting over students clutching gifts, some happy, some disappointed, until it landed on the social butterfly across the room.

Kai was back to his usual energetic self, wearing his go-to hoodie and chatting with his fans. But Damon knew what hid under that sleeve—a huge eye. And that eye… had a little quirk.

Rewind two hours earlier: They’d just showered and changed into casual clothes at the dorm, now sitting in the living room examining their wounds. Kai prodded the eye on his arm, then froze in shock when it popped out.

“…Take a look at it.” Damon crossed his arms. “Might be a new pet.”

“Gross, no thanks.” Kai said—but still pulled the eye out of its socket on his arm and set it on the coffee table. The small red orb spun for a moment, then sprouted a thick coat of white fur, transforming into a fluffy little goat with just one eye.

“Baa.”

“…Guess it is a pet.” Kai gaped at the floating fluff ball, then pointed at a book nearby. “Try grabbing that.”

The fluff ball obeyed. It drifted over to the book, fixed it with its red eye, and in a flash of red light, the book lifted into the air and landed neatly in front of Kai. The goat drifted back, letting out a proud “baa.”

“Our dorm’s turning into a zoo.” That was Damon’s conclusion.

“More than a zoo—we’ve got a modified human and… well, me.” Kai added.

They popped the fluff ball back into Kai’s arm, watching it turn back into a regular eye. Just as silence settled, Kai had a new thought. “What if I used this thing in… fights? Like, to pick locks or something?”

“Good idea.” Damon nodded in agreement. “It’s quiet—could be useful. Just no offensive abilities.”

“Right… What about your eye? Can you pop that out too?”

“…Don’t think so. I’d go blind in my left eye if I did.” Damon sighed, then added, “But it does have other uses. Pass me my knife.”

“…Huh? You gonna draw blood?” Kai was confused but complied. Damon took the dagger, sliced a small cut into his palm, and watched the bleeding gash. His red eye flickered once.

Kai didn’t get it at first—until he saw something starting to grow from Damon’s palm. Slimy, white… tentacles.

“Are you even human anymore? Or a modified human? Or some freaky non-human thing?” Kai stared, at a loss for words, as a tentacle the thickness of a forearm coiled around Damon’s arm. “That’s… gross.”

“When has any Outer God power not been gross?” Damon raised an eyebrow, tucking the tentacle back into his wound and watching it heal. “At least we’ll spawn a few new urban legends in the underworld.”

“Like ‘Dozens dead overnight—weird sea creature corpse found at the scene’?” Kai gasped, then thought for a second. “…Y’know, that’s kinda cool.”

“Told you.”

Silence fell again. Kai broke it with another question. “Uh… Is Tozu just gonna leave us hanging? He didn’t say anything about cleaning up after we got back.”

“Probably ‘cause the bodies were all friends—no need for formalities.” Damon rolled his eyes. “Works for me—I can finally use up that vacation I was supposed to take months ago.”

“Wait—you were on vacation when you came to Eden’s Garden?”

“Did I not say that? Tozu dragged me back from Japan without even asking.”

“Oof… That sucks.” Kai nodded, looking away. “Y’know, since we’re free from organization stuff—maybe we should find something to do?”

“Like what.” Damon pulled out a roll of bandages, his face blank. “Give me your arm. Keep talking.”

“Oh—y’know that thing the Goat said? About other Outer Gods targeting this place if it died…?” Kai held out his arm for Damon to bandage, scratching his head with his free hand. “Since we’ve got a piece of Outer God power now—what if we looked into that? Y’know, investigated it?”

“…Like an investigation team?” Damon added, “Been playing too much TRPG, haven’t you?”

“I have not! You’re the one obsessed with tabletop games!” Kai protested loudly. “Don’t think I didn’t see those sets of polyhedral dice under your cabinet.”

“Then you should join me sometime. I’m a D&D vet.”

“Can’t believe someone who never posts online is into Dungeons & Dragons…” Kai muttered. “You should get my vibe then!”

“When did I ever disagree with you?” Damon was exasperated. “Quit assuming the worst of me… But for what it’s worth—I have felt something stirring in the Veil.”

Back to the present: Damon tore his gaze away from Kai and mentioned offhandedly, “We might end up traveling the world soon.”

“Oh? Honeymoon?” Eva teased. “Finally in your lovey-dovey phase?”

“…No.” He took a deep breath, still confused why everyone kept questioning his love life. Seriously—was that even worth asking? “We’ll probably start hunting Outer Gods globally.”

“Then you’ll grow more and more weird mutated organs until you’re not human anymore.” Eva finished her last gingerbread cookie. “Cool. If you end up in a lab, I’ll visit—bring you souvenirs.”

“What kind of souvenirs?”

Kai wandered over, sitting across from Damon. His eyes darted between the two. “You guys going on a trip? Without me and Diana?”

“Technically you two are going—without Diana. I don’t wanna tag along with three idiots.” Eva sighed, standing up and smoothing her skirt. “Enjoy your chat. I’m heading back.”

“Ah, okay. Night, Eva!” Kai smiled and waved. Then he leaned in, lowering his voice. “Did you make her mad? Or did you two fight?”

…Damon didn’t answer. Instead, he flicked Kai’s forehead. “Quit talking nonsense.”

“Ow. Oh right! Look at this.” Kai didn’t seem to mind. He pulled the fluff ball out of his pocket—along with their corn snake, which was wrapped around it. His face froze for a second when he saw the snake. He glanced at Damon, then set both on the table.

“I didn’t grab it! The goat thing dragged it over itself!”

“…You expect me to believe that.” Damon reached over and picked up the snake. “But guess your desensitization training’s finally done. Congrats.”

“Yep. Uh… I actually like it now.” Kai leaned on the table, his golden eyes sparkling as he watched the snake coil around Damon’s arm. He reached out to pet it. “You take such good care of it… Every corn snake I see online is nowhere near as cute as this one. Isn’t that right, sweetie～”

“Don’t touch it.” Damon pushed his hand away. “It’s mine.”

“Yours? We keep it in our dorm! It’s mine too! I even fed it for you! You’re hogging shared property!”

“…Being an assassin doesn’t mean you can twist the rules. Ask Wolfgang if you don’t believe me.”

“Ugh, no way. He’s probably making out with Grace somewhere. We’d just get third-wheeled.” Kai rolled his eyes.

“Then drop it.”

They babbled about random things—Kai even sent his fluff ball to steal a soda for him. He mentioned he used to drink a little alcohol, but hadn’t touched it since Tozu dragged him to Eden’s Garden.

“Even a little alcohol can numb your brain during hypnosis work.” Kai sipped his orange soda. “Once I realized how dangerous that could be—I never touched it again.”

Damon said nothing, just nodded. “Smart. You’re the most likely to die young from a messy personal life out of everyone in the organization.”

“Huh? Coming from the guy who pulls all-nighters—speaking of which. You tired?” Kai checked his watch. “It’s ten PM. Yeah, it’s Christmas Eve, but we could sleep early—maybe catch Santa’s gifts tomorrow?”

“…A little.” Damon rubbed his eyes, instinctively reaching for his left eye—then froze when he felt the bandage.

…He pulled his hand back silently. Kai didn’t miss the small gesture, bursting into loud laughter that turned everyone’s heads.

“Shut up.” Damon hissed, kicking him under the table.

“Sorry, sorry. Dude, you are tired. Let’s bounce.” Kai laughed again, grabbing his empty can and standing up. He tucked the napping fluff ball back into his arm through a gap in the bandage, waiting for Damon to stand.

“Y’know—you gonna keep those two long bandage ends hanging off the back?” On their way back, Kai nodded at the bandage trailing down Damon’s neck, like pigtails. “Looks kinda silly.”

“I think it’s cool.” Damon said matter-of-factly, narrowing his eyes when he saw Kai’s hesitant expression. “Don’t you?”

“Oh—uh, totally!” Kai’s survival instinct kicked in. He nodded frantically. “If Damon thinks it’s cool, it’s cool!”

“…You’re boring.”

Despite his words, his mood clearly lifted. Kai breathed a silent sigh of relief.

———

“Christmas～ Christmas～”

Kai hummed early in the morning, pulling warm pancakes out of the microwave and setting them on the table. “White Christmas～”

“Stop yelling at 7 AM.” Damon stumbled out, hair sticking up in a mess. The hair dye hadn’t fully faded—half gold, half black, like he’d gotten a fancy streak. He yawned, shaking his head to wake up, then turned to the bathroom to wash up.

“Did I wake you?” Kai looked up.

“Nah. Woke up at three, went for a run.” Damon’s muffled voice came from behind the bathroom door.

“Oh… Wait—you went for a run?” Kai dropped his spoon onto his plate with a clatter. “Do you have to be this intense? We basically had a death match yesterday!”

“Only intense for you.” Damon stuck his head out, toothbrush in his mouth. “It’s nothing for me. Ask anyone on the front lines.”

“Oof… You guys are scary.” Kai picked up his spoon and kept eating, scrolling through his phone with his free hand. “I gotta film a vlog today. You wanna join?”

“If you don’t force me on camera, sure. Still not over last time.”

“Fair… What about voiceover? I already used a voice changer for you in the last video anyway.” Kai had altered Damon’s voice to keep outsiders from targeting him.

“Fine. Do what you want.”

They ate a quick breakfast, then headed out while the morning bus was still empty. This time, Kai wasn’t alone—Damon sat beside him, wearing a little more layers (though still not enough for winter). His body temperature ran different from normal people’s; it didn’t bother him, but he didn’t feel like dealing with weird stares.

The bus stopped and started frequently—snowfall was heavy, causing traffic jams everywhere. Damon clicked his tongue in annoyance, staring at the long line of cars. He elbowed Kai’s stomach. “Give me the knife.”

“…Huh? What are you gonna do?” Kai panicked but handed it over. He watched Damon slice a gash in his palm, then yank a tentacle out of it—with his bare hand, like picking up food with chopsticks.

“Where’s your fluff ball?”

“Huh? Right here.” Kai rolled up his sleeve, unwrapped the bandage, and popped the eye out. It transformed into the one-eyed goat. Damon held out one end of the tentacle to it, then turned to Kai. “Tell it to drop this on the snow-covered road up ahead.”

Kai had no idea what Damon was planning, but he did as told. Watching the fluff ball fly out the open window with the endless-looking tentacle, he was grateful they were sitting in the back row.

A minute later, he activated his spiritual sight and saw the fluff ball had placed the tentacle. He turned to Damon. “Now what?”

“Now…” Damon’s eyes sharpened. He snapped his fingers.

Boom! It sounded like an explosion. Up ahead, snow erupted into the air like a landmine had gone off—with a small white blur wobbling in the middle.

“You blew up the fluff ball too?!”

“Not like it’ll die.” Damon rolled his eyes. “Tell it to bring the tentacle back.”

And so the chaos ended. Kai was once again reminded of just how powerful Damon had become—and vowed never to piss him off.

At least the snow was cleared, the road was open, and they made it to their destination, filmed the footage they wanted, and even bought Damon a green ceramic Christmas tree (matching Kai’s pink one). He kept saying he had no space for it on his desk, but Kai shut him down with, “You can put it in the corn snake’s tank.”

Back at the dorm, Kai barely edited the video—just added some sponsored ads and blurred Damon’s accidental cameos—then posted it. Unedited 30-to-60-minute vlogs were trending lately, and he loved the style; he’d binged tons of them recently.

After posting, he ignored the surging views and comments and turned off his phone. He had a more important plan for the day.

“Ready?”

Damon rolled his eyes. “I said no camera time.”

“You agreed to no vlog cameos—not no livestream. And I turned on the mosaic for your face, relax.” Kai handed his phone to the fluff ball (now holding it like a tripod) and squeezed into the kotatsu next to Damon, resting his head on the table. The kotatsu had arrived that morning—Damon’s family had shipped it over half a month ago, a traditional Japanese heated table.

Damon had spent the morning assembling it while Kai edited. Kai had seen tons of kotatsu posts online and always wanted to try one, but never had time to go to Japan. Turns out having a Japanese half- roommate had perks. He made a contented sound, practically melting into the blankets.

“You’re live, y’know.” Damon warned kindly. “If you pass out, I’m not helping.”

“The title’s ‘Post-Lunch Kotatsu Nap’—people will watch me sleep.” Kai snuggled deeper. “Promise me, Damon—when you go back to Japan, take me. I wanna live in a kotatsu forever…”

“…Even in summer?”

Just then, the phone pinged. They looked up—someone had sent a Super Chat, and Kai’s auto-read function was on. A robotic voice filled the room:

“Totally agree! Laying in a warm blanket is the best (￣∇￣)”

“Right?! Right?!” Kai pumped his fist like he’d found a kindred spirit—then accidentally punched Damon in the face. “Oh! Sorry!”

“Too late.” Damon sighed, closing his book. Out of the camera’s view, a tentacle slipped out of his palm, grabbed a fruit plate from the floor, and picked out a few oranges.

“…What are you doing?” Kai pressed his face to the table, watching Damon peel an orange and pop a slice into his mouth. Then he placed another orange—on Kai’s head.

“Huh?”

“Don’t move.” Damon had a handful of oranges left. “My record’s four—used my dad’s head. Let’s see how many you can hold.”

…Kai froze, too shocked to speak. Watching Damon eat oranges while stacking more on his head was surreal—and the Super Chats were blowing up with screenshots. He could already picture the memes.

“LMAO Kai’s finally met his match”

“I’m dying—his roommate’s a genius”

“Four already!!! He’s gonna break the record!!!”

Kai shifted uncomfortably, feeling the oranges wobble. He tensed up instantly. Damon seemed pleased with his obedience, popped another orange slice into Kai’s mouth, and tried to stack a fifth.

…His gaze focused, his hand steady as he set the orange down. He waited a few seconds before letting go. When the orange tower held, he pulled out his phone and snapped a photo. “Phew… Done.”

“We only bought six oranges, y’know.” Kai told the livestream. “Otherwise he’d stack these to the ceiling and use it as an excuse to kill me—just ‘cause I punched him earlier.”

“Maybe you want me to.” Damon sounded like he was texting—probably his parents. He put his phone down, didn’t touch the oranges, and went back to reading and drinking tea.

“Wait—you’re just gonna leave me like this?! Dumping me here?”

“I thought you wanted to sleep. Bet how many oranges are still on your head when you wake up.”

“I bet zero. If I win, you do another talk livestream with me.”

“And if you lose?” Damon raised an eyebrow.

“If I lose… I’ll go to bed early and wake up early for a week.” Kai declared confidently. “Run with you every morning till New Year’s.”

“Don’t complain when you can’t get up.” Damon chuckled. “I bet one orange’s still there when you wake.”

Silence fell over the room. Soon, Kai’s snoring filled the air. That fast? Damon stared in disbelief at Kai, who was face-down and sound asleep. He took off all the oranges—except one. After all, Kai had bet zero.

For a while, the only sounds were the Super Chat alerts, Damon replying to them, page turns, and Kai’s snoring. It was the perfect study stream background. When Kai woke up and found the last orange on his head, he screamed and shook Damon by the shoulders. “Did you put it back?!!”

“The livestream can prove I didn’t. And running’s good for you—put on a few pounds, haven’t you?” Damon pushed him away. “You exercise every day but still gain weight… Are you even human?”

“Waaa… Fine, I’ll run with you….” Kai peeled the orange that had cost him the bet and took a bite. “Hmm—still warm.”

With Kai awake, the livestream perked up again. Damon got up to use the bathroom. As he climbed out of the kotatsu, he noticed Tozu had @ed everyone in the organization group chat. Curious, he picked up his phone.

“Fireworks show… Supernova?” Kai saw it too, muttering quietly. Then his eyes lit up. “The giant firework?! Oh my god—I get to see a supernova?!”

“Mm.” Damon set the phone down. It was an organization tradition—holding a fireworks show after a major mission. This year, it lined up with New Year’s, so they were going all out. The “Supernova” was the highlight: a massive firework that lit up the entire sky.

“We gotta go together, okay?! Please please please?!” Kai grabbed his third phone, eyes sparkling. “I’m so lucky—”

“First run with me tonight. Then we’ll see.”

“Ugh, you’re so strict…”

Damon sighed. But a supernova… It had been years since he’d seen one. He looked out the window—snow was still falling, the sky gray—but the night of the fireworks show would be clear.

He hoped.

Chapter Text

“The festival starts at six in the evening, right?”

Kai was still adjusting the bandage on his arm, trying to get it at the perfect angle. “Ah～ A festival… I’ve never been to one before.”

“Well, there are a lot of exchange students from Japan here.” Diana giggled, watching Eva struggle with her kimono.

“…Guess that’s true.” Kai clicked his tongue, finally giving up on the bandage—now looking even weirder than before—and turned to Diana. They both stared at the other two. “Damon, why aren’t you wearing a kimono? Aren’t you half-Japanese like Eva?”

“Kimono are for women.” Damon rolled his eyes, handing Eva the obi he’d been holding for her. “The only time I’m forced to wear a yukata is in summer—I still prefer T-shirts.”

“And suits,” Kai added—only to get a glare from Damon.

“This thing is impossible.” Eva finally fastened the obi, fumbling to tie a knot behind her back. “Why did I agree to wear this…?”

The four of them sat in Damon and Kai’s dorm, waiting for evening to come so they could go to the festival together. Though it was a Japanese-style event, some areas of the college town had Western stalls too. But since it was a holiday more widely celebrated in East Asia—and always looked so enchanting in anime—most people stuck to the Japanese section.

“Say, are you guys really planning to travel around the world this winter break?” Diana asked, helping Eva adjust her clothes. “I know you’re going to hunt Outer Gods, but… will you make it back in time?”

“We don’t plan on going that far.” Damon took off the bandage around his left eye—it had gotten stuffy from wearing it too long. “Probably just visit nearby regions. We’ll look for side missions while this one finishes his vlog quota.”

“Dude, you’ve played way too many tabletop games.” Kai said seriously. “Come play a Souls game with me next time?”

“No. You’re a masochist—go play Dark Souls by yourself.”

“Waaa….”

Talking about winter break plans: They’d actually discussed it with Tozu the day before, on New Year’s Eve. Tozu had been thrilled with their idea, calling it “a reward for the Goat mission”—he’d even offered to cover all their expenses.

“How much money does he even have?” Kai had muttered on their way back. “How can he say something so cheesy like ‘Oh my fellow students, don’t worry—I’ll cover all the costs’ without breaking a sweat? So jealous. I’m gonna fight these rich people.”

“Like you’re not rich yourself.” Damon scoffed. “Aren’t you, Mr. Kai Monteago—mega-popular influencer making ten million a year?”

“But you are too! Don’t assassins make bank?” Kai looked confused. “And you’re on the front lines—you get paid more than me.”

“Only if you live long enough to spend it.” Damon glanced up at the ceiling, where a tentacle (that had crawled out of his eye sometime in the night) was slithering around. Lucky no one else at school had low enough sanity to see it—otherwise, they’d be terrified. “But I can’t die now anyway.”

“Ugh, show-off.”

Their reminiscing was interrupted by the school bell. Students poured out of the teaching buildings, and the dark streets around them gradually lit up.

“It’s starting!” Diana grabbed her bag, took Eva’s hand, and hurried to the door. She waved at the two boys. “We wanna check out a stall first—see you later!”

“Have fun!” Kai waved back. Damon exchanged a look with Eva—his face saying “I get it now” (thank god Kai had finally told him what was going on between Eva and Diana before New Year’s). Eva narrowed her eyes in confusion, but said nothing and left.

“Shall we go?” Kai stood up, brushing off any dust he might have picked up from the kotatsu. He tossed a new roll of bandage to Damon, who wrapped his eye again, turned off the kotatsu, and stood too. “Yeah.”

Stepping out of the college, it felt like night life had just begun. Red paper lanterns lit up the area, wrapping this ordinary Western town in an Eastern glow. The stark contrast between bright red and snow-white felt solemn yet dazzling.

“Summer fireworks festivals are usually more lively.” Damon walked down the street, looking at the stalls around them as if talking to himself. “But they’re all the same to me—same games, same food at every festival… What are you doing?”

Kai tore his eyes away from a stall and laughed awkwardly. “Uh… nothing.”

“Just go buy it if you want.” Damon sighed. “How many times do I have to say it? I’m not an expert at this stuff—do what you want.”

“Okay, okay!” Kai nodded, then dashed over to the stall. Damon waited nearby, picking up some fried skewers from a Chinese vendor next to it. The cumin was a little spicy, but he enjoyed it.

“Already eating? I was only gone ten minutes!” Kai came back wearing a bizarre mask, then grabbed a piece of meat from Damon’s box. “Whoa—hot hot hot—”

…Damon was too tired to even complain. He just patted Kai’s back to help him swallow, then pointed at the fox mask on his face. “Is this what you wanted earlier?”

“Yep! Isn’t it cool?” Kai set down the skewer, made fox ears with his hands, and yelped, “Rawr—”

“Foxes don’t sound like that.” Damon deadpanned.

“Baa!” The fluff ball—Kai had let it out at some point—bleated loudly nearby.

“…That’s not right either.”

They kept walking, stopping now and then to let Kai take photos of everything (it was all new to him). Damon just ate his way through the stalls—he had a healthy schedule (supposedly) and didn’t care about his weight. The one who should care wasn’t skipping out either—he kept stealing bites whenever he could.

Speaking of schedules: Kai had actually kept his promise, running with Damon every day. But between school, training, and the runs, he’d been exhausted all week—collapsing into bed the second he got back to the dorm. It saved Damon from having to nag him to sleep every night.

Eventually, they reached a temporary shrine that had been set up. The torii gates on either side looked realistic, though a closer look revealed they’d been brought in from elsewhere (not built on-site). They walked along the path of torii gates, admiring the intricate kimonos of other visitors.

“Whoa, that one’s even fancier than Eva’s.” Kai had an octopus ball in his mouth, pointing at a female tourist passing by with his skewer. “Must take a lot time to put on, right?”

“More than that—could be a few hours.” Damon popped an octopus ball into his mouth too. “And stop pointing at people with your skewer—it’s rude.”

“Okay, Mom Damon.”

“I’m not your mom. And I’m right.”

They reached the main shrine, where the walls were covered in ema—small wooden plaques for writing wishes. Blank plaques and markers were provided so people could write their New Year’s hopes.

“What are you gonna write?” Kai picked up an ema. “I’m gonna put ‘Double my followers next year’ or something…”

Damon watched Kai scribble wildly, even signing his name and drawing a butterfly on the plaque. It made him cringe. “You should sell this online instead of hanging it here—they’ll just take it down anyway.”

“Really?” Kai actually tried to stuff the plaque into his bag, but Damon stopped him. “I was joking—are you an idiot?”

“But Damon wouldn’t lie to me about this, right?” His eyes were wide and innocent.

…Fine. Damon gave in. The guy was this dumb partly because Damon had spoiled him—he needed to reflect. So he picked up an ema too, writing in Japanese: “Make more money next year, and take care of that idiot.” He grabbed two strings—one for Kai, one for himself—and handed Kai his.

“…What did you write?” Kai asked, tying his ema while peeking at Damon’s. “Baka? What does that mean?”

“Guess.” Lucky Kai didn’t know Japanese. Damon felt relieved.

After hanging their ema, they planned to check out the main shrine. New Year’s prayers were supposed to be in the morning, but because of the time difference, it was technically morning in Japan now—at least that’s what Kai claimed. Damon couldn’t find a good argument against it, so he went along.

Kai copied Damon’s prayer ritual: dropping a coin into the box, clapping twice, praying sincerely, then ringing the bell twice. When they finished, they walked to the fortune-telling area. “Are the coins in the box… for the gods?”

“For the shrine workers.” Damon didn’t hesitate. “Sometimes homeless people steal them too. Either way, not for gods—and gods probably don’t need money anyway.” I do, though.

“Right. But this isn’t a real shrine, and there’s no real miko… so who is it for then?”

“Ask the fluff ball.”

“…Are you just messing with me?”

“No.”

They stopped at the fortune-telling area. Damon shook the bamboo tube, gently poured out a stick, glanced at the Chinese characters on it, handed it to the worker without expression, and got a paper back.

“What is it? Great fortune?” Kai leaned over eagerly.

“Not that lucky.” Damon showed him the paper. “Small fortune—it’s fine. I got bad fortune last year.”

“Guess that checks out—” Kai copied Damon’s actions, handed the stick to the worker, and got his own paper. “…Wait, I got great fortune! Is this really great fortune?”

“Yep.” Damon glanced at it and confirmed. “You’re lucky.”

“Hehe.” Kai tucked the paper into his pocket, hiding it. “Looks like this year’s gonna be smooth sailing.”

“Like last year wasn’t?”

“Last half wasn’t! …Except meeting you, that’s different.” He smiled brightly. “You’re the most… high-maintenance person I’ve ever met.”

“Same here.” Damon rolled his eyes. “I almost thought you’d finally come around and compliment me.”

“Maybe when you stop flicking my forehead.”

They walked out of the shrine, bickering the whole way about “whether the stone foxes on either side of the shrine are male or female.” They never reached a conclusion. But judging by the sky, the fireworks would start soon.

“Will we really see the Supernova?” Kai was so excited he could barely stand still. “I only heard seniors talk about how amazing it is… God, can’t believe I get to see it too…”

“You’re lucky.” They walked toward the college lake—crowds were streaming that way. Neither of them was particularly tall, so it felt like being swept into an ocean of people.

“Whoa—!” Kai almost tripped over someone who’d turned suddenly, but Damon reacted fast, grabbing his wrist. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Like you have room to talk.” Kai stood straight, then sighed in frustration when he saw all the best spots by the lake were taken. “There’s nowhere to watch from—wait! I know a place!”

“Let’s go around back.” Kai grabbed Damon’s hand (still holding his wrist) and pulled him the opposite way of the crowd. “There’s a small hill behind the lake—we can see it from there.”

“When did you find that?” Damon frowned.

“Uh… wandering around campus? The path is blocked, though—we’ll have to climb over the wall. Look, it’s right here.” He pointed at a red brick wall with a “No Trespassing” sign, grinning mischievously. “C’mon? No one comes in here.”

They climbed over the wall easily—child’s play for seasoned assassins. The hill was overgrown with weeds; rabbits and squirrels hopped around the trees, totally wild. Kai headed toward the top like he knew exactly where he was going. Damon followed at a leisurely pace, scanning the area as he went.

“This would make a good secret base.” He commented when he saw a small tree hollow. “It’s so hidden…”

“Knew you’d like it, hehe.” Kai smiled proudly, climbed onto a rock, knelt at the top, and held out a hand. “C’mon—you haven’t climbed this before. I’ll pull you up.”

“You know I got good grades in rock climbing.” Damon complained, but didn’t turn down the help. He pulled himself up with Kai’s strength. Standing at the top, they looked down at the sea of people, the beautiful lake, and the moonlight. The snow had stopped, leaving the ground covered in white.

“God, this is way better than the Land of the Gods.” Kai looked around, then jumped when fireworks exploded right in front of him. “Whoa—already starting?”

“About time.” Damon walked over, watching the fireworks burst close by. “First time seeing them this up close.”

“Then you’re lucky.” Kai mimicked Damon’s deep voice, only to get kicked. “Be normal.”

Beautiful red, green, yellow—fireworks of all colors exploded before them. Kai brushed the snow off a flat rock, gestured for Damon to sit with him, and looked up at the display. The fluff ball fluttered around them, trying to catch a firework—but when it got close, the explosion scared it, and a tiny spark landed on its fur.

“Baa! Baa!” It panicked, trying to shake off the spark, but it was just a small fluff ball.

“Pfft… C’mere, I’ll get it.” Kai waved, picked up the flustered fluff ball, brushed off the spark, and tidied its fur.

“What’s wrong with you? So clumsy—didn’t inherit any of my smarts…” He set the fluff ball back down, and it floated off again. “Okay, don’t fly too far!”

“…You take good care of it.” Damon watched the fluff ball dart around.

“Of course—I learned from you, didn’t I? You take care of all your plants and stuff.”

“…Those aren’t even the same kind of creature.”

Silence fell. Damon watched the fluff ball chase fireworks, lips pressed together, not knowing what to say. Kai seemed the same—this sudden calm felt foreign to two teens used to constant excitement, leaving them at a loss for words.

“Uh…” Of course Kai spoke first. “Remember when we first met? The day I dragged you out of the dorm for a walk—do you remember what I said?”

“You mean why you joined the organization?” Damon didn’t look at him, keeping his eyes on the sky. “Yeah. Why?”

“…Sorry I lied to you back then.” He sighed, staring at the ground. “I… I still wanted to kill myself back then. Tozu saved me, and then I just… ended up joining.”

“When I first met you, I thought you were, y’know, hard to get along with. So I didn’t wanna tell you the truth. Who would’ve guessed we’d end up here—watching fireworks at a secret base together, huh?” Kai laughed awkwardly, glanced at Damon, then looked away again. “I just wanted to say sorry.”

“…It’s fine. I could tell back then.” Damon turned to look at Kai. “I joined for the money, but I lied about a lot of things too. No need to apologize.”

“Guess we’re even then.” Kai smiled, stretched, and stood up. “Hey Damon—how long till the Supernova?”

“Few minutes maybe?” Damon checked his watch. “Impatient?”

“Kinda… Wanna play a game?” His eyes sparkled with mischief, sending a chill down Damon’s spine. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing bad! Won’t hurt you, promise.” Kai patted his shoulder. “When the Supernova explodes, it’ll be super loud—so loud you can’t hear anything else, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then… what if we do this?” Kai tapped his cheek. “Think of something you wanna say to each other—something too awkward to say normally. Then yell it when the Supernova goes off?”

“…I’ll probably just insult you.” Damon rolled his eyes. “This is stupid.”

“C’mon c’mon! Damon—”

“Fine fine, stop pulling my sleeve!” Damon stood up, brushing off his clothes. “Should be here soon.”

Last New Year’s, Damon had been alone. Bleeding in an alley in a foreign country, watching fireworks from a rich neighborhood somewhere in the distance, only realizing later, “Oh, it’s New Year’s.” But now? He was standing with the biggest idiot in the world, watching fireworks, and agreeing to play a stupid game…

Life was full of surprises. He sighed, glancing at Kai—who was staring at the sky, eyes bright with anticipation. Pink hair, pink-haired boy—like a sudden ray of light breaking into his once-dark life. Since coming to Eden’s Garden last semester, they’d been through so many crazy adventures— and Kai had been there every single time… Damon looked down, lost in thought, then back up at the sky.

Kai was thinking too—about his life this past semester. He’d once been trapped in guilt, wandering aimlessly, not knowing what to do—hiding behind glitz and glamour, living like he was entertaining himself to death. Meeting Damon had finally given him an anchor in real life. He’d found out what a “real life” could be—even if it meant bickering with Damon three times a day.

The fluff ball fluttered around above them. “Baa!”

“Annoying.” Damon pulled out a knife, cut his palm, and sent a tentacle out to grab it.

“Hey! Stop bullying it!” Kai snatched the fluff ball and set it on his shoulder. “That’s mean.”

…Damon didn’t argue. “It’s coming. The Supernova.”

“Huh? Crap—I haven’t thought of anything yet—”

“Three!”

The crowd started counting down.

“Two!”

Damon’s hand tightened on the hem of his clothes.

“One!”

Kai took a deep breath.

“Boom!”

“———”

Red light exploded across the sky like a peony, lighting up everything. They were staring at each other—Damon looked shocked, while Kai’s eyes widened for a second before he broke into a bright, happy smile. The red glow painted his profile, making him look like he was glowing.

“Happy New Year——”

Firework embers fell on the lake. The crowd cheered. Kai threw an arm around Damon’s shoulders. “Didn’t think you’d actually say it, huh?”

“You’re too loud.” Damon looked away.

“Aww—Damon’s blushing～ Ouch ouch! I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

…Sigh. “Winter break starts tomorrow. Did you pack your stuff?”

“Ah… No.” Kai scratched his head. “Help me pack later?”

“Huh? I’m not your mom—why would I?”

“…Hehe.”

“Hehe my ass. Tomorrow we’re going to Australia to catch snakes.”

“Huh? No way——”

They messed around like this through the whole fireworks show. A new journey waited for them tomorrow—a bright future ahead.

And what was that thing they’d said?

It was the only Japanese phrase Kai had ever learned.

It was something Damon would probably only say once in his life.

It was a silent understanding between them—the product of pink and green colliding. It wasn’t the perfect proof of their relationship, nor did it clearly define where they stood. But it was the truth—from both of them.

Beneath the fireworks, those unspoken words rang out in unison—heard even without a sound.

“Suki da yo”

——I like you.

Fin

Chapter Text