When it came to contracts, resonance, and familiar registration, there was someone I needed to ask first.
The person who had seen a resonance level of 101 and yet held off on entering it into the official record.
The professor in charge of the Department of Special Familiar Studies.
I raised my head.
‘Elysia.’
“Mm?”
Elysia looked up from her notebook and turned to me.
‘You know the professor who held back the record of the resonance level 101.’
“The professor from the Department of Special Familiar Studies?”
‘Yeah. I think it would be best to ask that person.’
Elysia set down her pen.
“About a formal contract?”
I nodded.
‘Yeah. And… about me flowing power into you.’
Elysia’s expression grew a little more serious.
“You mean how Haku helps my aura flow?”
‘Yeah.’
I paused for a moment, organizing my thoughts as if choosing my words.
‘Right now, I’m consciously letting it flow into you little by little.
But if we were connected through a formal contract,
I wondered if maybe your aura might slowly find its own path even if I don’t keep doing that.’
Elysia was silent for a while.
She looked down at her own hand.
The hand that held a sword.
The hand that had tormented her for so long by refusing to move as she wished.
“You’re saying the contract itself might become a path?”
‘Maybe. I’m not certain.’
I slowly curled my tail.
‘But it could be dangerous. My power isn’t mana, and it isn’t aura either. If it connects incorrectly, it might put a strain on your body.’
“Haku.”
Elysia called my name quietly.
“I know you’re worried. But that could be dangerous for you too, couldn’t it?”
I couldn’t answer.
Strictly speaking, yes.
It could be dangerous for Elysia, and it could be dangerous for me.
If Elysia and I became too deeply connected, and something within me awakened.
If the lingering trace of that ancient being, whose name I still could not even bring myself to speak, rose up through the resonance.
I looked at Elysia, then quietly sent my thoughts.
‘Elysia. I’m thinking of telling the professor a little.’
“What?”
‘That I’m not an ordinary familiar.’
Elysia’s eyes widened ever so slightly.
I hurriedly shook my tail.
‘Not everything. I don’t even know everything myself yet.
But if we’re going to look into a contract, I think it would be dangerous to ask while hiding absolutely everything.’
“…Yeah.”
Elysia slowly nodded.
“You’re right. The reason the professor hid the resonance number
was because they didn’t want to hand us over carelessly as test subjects.
At the very least, it might be all right to tell that professor to some extent.”
‘We still have to be careful.’
“Of course.”
After hesitating a little, I brought out one very small truth.
‘I’m not just a fox. And the power inside me isn’t what people in this world commonly call mana or aura.’
Elysia did not urge me on.
I continued slowly.
‘Deep inside my body, there’s an old power.
A power like moonlight. And sometimes… something like memories I don’t know flash past.’
“Memories?”
‘Yeah. Memories that don’t feel like mine.’
Elysia’s hand tightened slightly on her knee.
Seeing that reaction, I stopped speaking.
Any more than this was still too soon.
A nine-tailed fox.
The original owner of this body.
Me, who had been a man who died in the modern world.
I couldn’t say all of that at once.
I lowered my head slightly.
‘So we can’t make a contract carelessly. I don’t fully know what’s inside me either.’
Elysia rose from her seat and came over to my side.
Then she bent her knees and sat down in front of the cushion.
“Haku.”
‘Yeah.’
“Thank you for telling me.”
Those words were unexpected.
I lifted my head.
Elysia did not look frightened in the slightest.
She was surprised, but there was no sign that she wanted to avoid me.
“I knew Haku wasn’t ordinary. But it’s different when Haku tells me directly.”
‘…You’re not scared?’
“I am a little worried.”
She spoke honestly.
“But I’m not afraid of Haku. I’m worried that whatever is inside Haku might torment you.”
I couldn’t say anything.
Elysia reached out and very carefully stroked my head.
“So let’s ask the professor.
Whether a formal contract is possible, whether it’s dangerous, and what might happen if the resonance deepens.”
‘Yeah.’
“And if Haku doesn’t want it, we don’t have to make a contract.”
Her words were firm.
“Being a registered familiar is enough. I don’t want to bind Haku by force.”
I turned my gaze away for no real reason.
At times like this, Elysia was too upright.
And that made it even harder to hide things from her.
Only after a long while did I give a small nod.
‘Then let’s go to the Department of Special Familiar Studies tomorrow.’
“After class?”
‘Yeah. After classes end. If the professor is there.’
“Okay. I’ll check in advance whether it’s all right for us to visit.”
Elysia returned to her desk, opened her notebook again,
and wrote down a new item.
Consultation regarding formal familiar contract — Professor, Department of Special Familiar Studies
Things to confirm:
1. Whether a contract is possible at resonance level 101
2. Risks of connecting a non-mana power with aura flow
3. Contract methods for high-ranking entities
4. Procedure for confirming Haku’s will
As I watched those words, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
If we recorded things one by one like this and confirmed them one by one,
would I someday be able to properly face my own identity?
The old power inside me.
Memories that were not mine.
The name of the female persona I had not yet named.
‘This is just my personal thought, but’
And my connection with Elysia.
I rested my chin on the cushion.
‘I still don’t know whether the contract will become a path or a shackle.’
But at the very least, Elysia was not trying to bind me.
That fact alone made me feel that it might be all right to move forward, just a little.
Elysia closed her notebook and said,
“Haku.”
‘Yeah?’
“When we speak to the professor tomorrow, is it all right if I’m beside you?”
I looked at her.
The question seemed obvious, and yet, in a way very like Elysia, it was cautious.
Because it concerned my identity, she was asking whether she was allowed to hear it.
I nodded without hesitation.
‘You’re allowed to hear it.’
Elysia’s expression softened ever so slightly.
“Thank you.”
After saying that, she gently stroked my back again.
I closed my eyes.
Tomorrow, we would ask the professor of the Department of Special Familiar Studies.
A formal contract.
Resonance.
Yōryeok.
And the fact that I was not an ordinary familiar.
Even if I couldn’t say everything, it was time to start saying things little by little.
Little by little.
In order to protect the fact that I was Haku.
The next day.
Originally, we had planned to visit after school, but the longer one put off a thought, the heavier it became.
Even while listening to morning classes, I kept circling around the same thoughts.
A formal familiar contract.
Resonance level 101.
The yōryeok sleeping deep inside me.
And Elysia’s tangled aura flow.
If the contract connected properly,
Elysia’s aura might slowly find its path even without me consciously flowing yōryeok into her.
But conversely, if it connected incorrectly, something unknown within me might flow into Elysia.
Once I thought of that, even the soft bread served for lunch tasted less delicious than usual.
“Haku, are you okay?”
Elysia asked, looking at the small plate in front of me.
I lightly touched a piece of bread with my forepaw, then raised my head.
‘It’s just… I think it would be better not to wait until after school, and to go right after lunch.’
Elysia looked at me for a moment.
Her blue-gold eyes quietly settled.
“To the professor from the Department of Special Familiar Studies?”
I nodded.
‘It’s not like thinking about it for a long time will give us an answer. If we’re going to ask anyway, I thought it might be better to ask sooner.’
Elysia glanced at the clock hanging on the cafeteria wall.
“There isn’t that much time before afternoon classes,
but if the professor is there, we should be able to have a brief consultation. Even if we have to schedule a formal meeting for later.”
‘Yeah. I just want to know what we need to be careful about first.’
“Understood.”
Elysia quickly finished the rest of her meal.
Normally, she would have let me rest a little more before going to afternoon classes, but today was different.
Before leaving the cafeteria, she checked my small approval tag again, then held me in her arms.
“Let’s go, Haku.”
I obediently entrusted myself to her arms.
When we left the student cafeteria, the central plaza after lunchtime was still crowded with people.
Students were scattering toward the department buildings where their afternoon classes were held,
and some had gathered in front of the bulletin board to check the Starlight Council’s announcements.
One of them spotted us and raised a hand.
“It’s Haku.”
“Today isn’t a contact-permitted day, right?”
“Yeah, according to the notice, it isn’t.”
Good.
The rules were definitely effective.
The students looked disappointed, but they did not approach.
Instead, they only waved carefully from afar.
In Elysia’s arms, I moved my tail slightly.
‘The Starlight Council isn’t completely useless, I guess.’
Perhaps sensing my thought, Elysia gave a small laugh.
“We should thank President Cecilia.”
‘…I don’t think that’s quite right;;’
Even if she had made the rules for my sake…
I turned my head away for no reason.