= Haku’s POV =
It was the night Richard had tried to take advantage of the moment when I was left alone and lay his hands on me.
Elysia did not know about it.
At the time, she had stepped away for a moment.
To be exact, she had only gone to the bathroom.
It was a short time.
But it seemed that short time had been enough for Richard.
The sound of his footsteps as he approached.
And the hand reaching toward me.
At that moment, something inside me snapped.
With a clean, sharp break.
As if a thread that had been bound for a long time had been cut.
Or as if something sealed deep within had been forced open, if only for an instant.
And what had appeared behind me.
Wolyeong’s form
That figure standing as a person with nine tails.
Its presence had been far too vivid to be called an illusion.
Ever since that incident, that sensation had continued to linger in my mind.
Perhaps because of that, even after Elysia fell asleep, I could not easily do the same.
She was breathing quietly beside me.
She must have been very tired after the day we had.
I looked at her face for a moment, then carefully rose.
‘Let’s just go check for a little while.’
I could not tell her.
It was something I had not properly sorted out myself yet.
I also did not want to wake Elysia for no reason and make her worry.
I climbed down from the bed and headed toward the open window.
The night breeze slipped in through the gap in the window, lightly stirring my silver-pink fur.
The garden was quiet.
I climbed over the windowsill and stepped outside.
The dew gathered on the blades of grass touched my paw pads coldly.
The garden at night was different from the garden by day.
The place that had been filled with students’ voices and sunlight during the day now held only moonlight and shadows.
I stopped in the middle of the garden.
‘If I recreate that feeling one more time…….’
Would I be able to see it again?
I closed my eyes.
Richard’s hand.
The sensation of something snapping inside me.
Wolyeong’s figure that had appeared behind my back.
The air at that time.
And the power within me that had sunk down with a strange chill.
Yoryeok.
I slowly traced that sensation.
Then, the moonlight over the garden wavered.
It was not because the wind had blown.
Nor had the leaves moved.
And yet the space before my eyes rippled like water.
I opened my eyes.
And froze where I stood.
There was something in front of me.
For a very brief moment, I saw a man standing there with nine tails.
But when I blinked, that figure had disappeared.
After blinking again, I saw it.
It was not a person.
Nor did it have a clear form.
But it was there.
The shadow of a giant fox with the moonlight at its back.
Or the silhouette of an ancient beast with nine tails.
I could not tell whether it was silver or black.
It seemed as if it had been made of light, and also as if it was composed only of shadow.
I could not see its face.
I could not properly see its eyes either.
And yet, strangely, I knew this much: it was looking at me.
Then I heard a voice.
‘It seems you are enjoying yourself.’
Its mouth had not moved.
To begin with, I was not even certain it had a mouth.
And yet the voice was clear.
Low, calm, and somehow long weary.
It was Wolyeong’s voice.
For a while, I could not say anything.
I thought it was an illusion.
But the presence before my eyes felt far too real to be an illusion.
‘……Wasn’t your soul supposed to have disappeared?’
I barely managed to ask.
The silhouette slowly wavered.
It seemed almost as if it had laughed.
‘It did disappear.’
It was a calm answer.
‘But when you entered my body, however little, traces of me flowed into you.
That is probably the cause.’
I narrowed my eyes.
I had never felt anything like that.
No, to be precise, there had been a different feeling.
When I first entered this body.
The sensation that part of something had flowed away somewhere other than me.
Rather than coming into me, it had felt as if it had fallen away somewhere into this world.
‘Ah, do you mean that soul?’
Wolyeong’s voice sounded again.
I flinched.
‘……Can you read my thoughts?’
‘I can.’
He said it as if it were nothing.
‘It was originally my body, after all.’
At those words, I shut my mouth.
Even my thoughts could be heard.
In many ways, it was an unfair conversation.
Perhaps he had even heard that thought, because the end of the silhouette’s tail seemed to sway ever so faintly.
I let out a small breath.
‘Then, may I ask what that soul that fell away is?’
A brief silence passed.
The garden was quiet.
The wind passed by, and the leaves rustled softly.
Yet Wolyeong’s silhouette remained exactly where it was.
‘To put it simply.’
His voice lowered slightly.
‘It is the aggregate of the negative emotions that accumulated within me over the long years I lived.’
Negative emotions.
Those words sounded strangely heavy.
Resentment.
Loneliness.
Ennui.
Obsession.
Rage.
I did not know exactly what it was, but it was certainly nothing ordinary.
‘If I had to give it a name.’
Wolyeong said.
‘It would be something like the tenth tail.’
‘……The tenth?’
I asked back without realizing it.
Wasn’t a gumiho supposed to have nine tails?
No, it was not as if I was in a position to argue about common sense right now.
To begin with, my own body could not be explained by ordinary common sense.
But even so, a tenth tail.
Even the name sounded ominous.
‘It is only because it is difficult to express in words, so I made it convenient to call.’
Wolyeong spoke as if it were no great matter.
I could not say anything.
The moonlight spread over the garden felt strangely cold.
‘That soul will probably come looking for you one day.’
I lifted my head.
‘Why?’
‘To make your body and name its own.’
Body and name.
Those words lodged themselves deep in my chest.
This body had originally belonged to Wolyeong.
But the one breathing in this body now, eating, staying by Elysia’s side, and living in this world was me.
Haku.
The name Elysia had given me.
The name I had slowly come to accept while living in this world.
It was coming to take that away?
‘How do you know that?’
‘That soul may be negative, but it is still none other than me.’
Wolyeong spoke calmly.
‘Would it not try to reclaim its original body?’
He was right.
That was precisely why it felt so unpleasant.
I pressed down on the grass with my forepaw.
Dew clung to the tips of my fur.
‘Then what about you?’
I asked.
‘Do you want to reclaim this body too?’
Wolyeong’s silhouette wavered for a moment.
An answer did not come immediately.
I looked up at that hazy shadow.
I could not see his face or his expression.
And yet, strangely, I felt as if I knew.
He was looking at me.
As if he were seeing himself through me.
No, as if he were seeing something that was no longer himself.
After a moment, Wolyeong said,
‘I am already finished.’
It was a short statement.
But strangely, there was no lie in those words.
‘Whatever you do in this body is now yours to decide.’
“…….”
Could I believe those words?
I did not know.
But at the very least, from the Wolyeong before my eyes now, I could not feel any sign that he intended to steal my body.
Rather than that, he seemed like a being who had laid everything down a very long time ago.
Only, something he had left behind was not yet over.
The tenth tail.
I repeated that name inwardly.
‘By the way.’
I asked carefully.
‘Is it all right for us to talk this long?’
Wolyeong’s silhouette began to fade.
Like mist spreading through the moonlight, his form gradually grew thinner.
‘Do not worry. I will vanish soon.’
His voice also grew more distant little by little.
But his final words sounded strangely close.
‘However, do not forget.’
The hazy silhouette came toward me by one step—or rather, with a single wavering motion.
‘That I am always watching.’
The moment those words ended, Wolyeong’s illusion seeped into my body.
I could not avoid it.
No, I could not have avoided it.
It felt as if cold moonlight had passed through the depths of my chest.
It did not hurt.
But something had clearly remained.
For a while, I stood in the middle of the garden.
Around me, there was once again only the sound of the wind.
The giant silhouette that had been before me just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
‘……That was far too real to be an illusion.’
I let out a small breath.
I was not frightened.
But I was uneasy.
That soul that would come looking for me someday.
The being that would try to take my body and name.
And the words Wolyeong had left behind.
Whatever you do in this body is now yours to decide.
I lifted my head and looked at the moon.
Nothing was certain yet.
But I knew one thing.
I was not Wolyeong.
I was not yet strong enough to say those words out loud, but at least within me, they were growing more and more certain.
I am Haku.
I turned around.
I had to return before Elysia woke up.
I did not have the confidence to tell her right away what I had just seen.
I knew I had to tell her.
But for now, I wanted to sort it out a little more.
I quietly leaped toward the open window.
The room was dark.
Elysia was lying on the bed.
Thank goodness.
I carefully stepped down onto the floor and approached her side.
Elysia seemed to be asleep.
I looked at her face for a while, then slowly climbed onto the bed.
As usual, I curled my body near her arm.
The tips of my fur, which had been exposed to the night wind, were a little cold.
I did not want Elysia to wake for no reason, so I curled up as small as I could.
But sleep did not come easily.
The tenth tail.
Body and name.
Those words would not leave my mind.
I closed my eyes.
Elysia’s breathing sounded quietly beside me.
Only after hearing that sound did my heart begin to settle little by little.
= Elysia’s POV =
I woke from sleep.
At first, I did not know why.
The room was quiet.
Outside the window, the night breeze faintly stirred the leaves.
With eyes still half-heavy with sleep, I reached out my hand.
Normally, it should have been there.
A small warmth curled up beside my pillow or near my arm.
The soft touch of silver-pink fur.
But what my fingertips touched was only the blanket.
“……Haku?”
I started to speak, then stopped.
Haku was not in the room.
I quietly sat up.
It was not as if Haku never moved around on his own.
But it was rare for him to leave the room in the middle of the night without a word.
The window was slightly open.
Through that gap, moonlight entered and lay long across the floor.
I got down from the bed and carefully approached the window.
If he was nearby, I did not want to startle him.
And the moment I looked down at the garden, I found Haku.
His small silver-pink body was standing in the middle of the garden.
For the moment, I felt relieved.
He did not seem to be hurt.
But soon, I saw something strange.
In front of Haku.
Upon the moonlit garden, where the light seemed to pool, something was wavering.
At first, I thought it was the shadow of a tree.
I thought it was a shadow made by branches swaying in the night wind.
But it was not.
It was too distinct to be called a shadow, and too indistinct to be called a living thing.
A giant silhouette rising within the moonlight.
It did not have the shape of a person.
If anything, it looked like a giant fox.
I could not see its exact form.
Its face, its eyes, even the outline of its body were blurred.
But things like long, spreading tails were swaying within the moonlight.
I could not tell whether there was one, three, or nine.
It was a strange illusion that grew hazy when I tried to look at it, and appeared again when I turned my eyes away.
I held my breath.
What is that?
Haku did not run away.
With that small body of his, he stood in the middle of the garden, facing that enormous silhouette.
Something seemed to be passing between them.
I could not hear any sound.
Nor could I see either of them moving their mouths.
But Haku’s air was different from usual.
He was tense.
He also seemed surprised.
And yet, strangely, he did not look frightened.
He looked as if he were facing something he absolutely had to face.
I gripped the windowsill.
I wanted to call Haku.
I wanted to run outside immediately and confirm what that strange illusion was.
But my feet would not move.
No, it felt as if I should not move.
Haku had not gone out to avoid me, but,
Because it seemed as though he had gone out to confirm something within himself.
A moment I must not intrude upon.
That was what I thought.
There was much I did not know about Haku.
It had been that way since we first met.
He was too clever to be called a little fox cub,
and his eyes were too deep to be called a familiar.
Sometimes, I even felt as though it was not I who was watching Haku, but Haku who was watching me.
But now, the phantom before Haku was even stranger.
I could not say it resembled Haku.
It had neither a human face nor a definite form.
And yet, strangely, that was how it felt.
That phantom was connected to Haku.
It seemed to have appeared outside Haku, and at the same time, to have come from within him.
For a while, the two faced each other.
Then, after a moment, the enormous silhouette blurred.
Without realizing it, I leaned forward.
Instead of scattering into the wind, the phantom approached Haku.
No, rather than approached, it quietly vanished into Haku’s body, as though moonlight were seeping into him.
I held my breath.
Haku did not move for a while.
In the garden, only one small fox cub remained.
I stared at him.
There was so much I wanted to ask.
What it was that I had just seen.
Why it had appeared before Haku.
Why it had entered Haku’s body.
But at the same time, I knew.
If I asked now, Haku would be troubled.
Haku was the kind of child who cared more about me worrying than about his own hardship.
No, he only looked like a child. Perhaps, inside, he was not a child at all.
Either way, it was better not to ask now.
I had to wait until Haku could speak of it himself.
I slowly stepped away from the window.
Careful not to make a sound, I returned to bed.
I slipped under the covers and closed my eyes.
But sleep did not come easily.
The phantom I had just seen would not leave my mind.
The enormous silhouette of a fox in the moonlight.
Haku’s small, lonely back.
There were still things about Haku that I did not know.
It would be a lie to say that fact did not leave me feeling a little hurt.
But strangely, I was not angry.
Haku was my familiar.
But that did not mean I naturally had the right to know everything about him.
There must be stories Haku needed time to be ready to tell.
I decided to think of it that way.
A little while later, there was a very faint sound by the window.
Haku had returned.
The light sound of paws crossing the windowsill.
The sound of him landing softly on the floor.
With my eyes closed, I kept my breathing even.
I pretended to be asleep.
I sensed Haku cautiously approaching.
He stopped for a moment beside me.
He was probably checking whether I had woken.
I did not move.
After hesitating for a moment, Haku crept up onto the blanket.
His small body settled near my arm.
His movements were a little more careful than usual.
Perhaps because he had been out in the night wind, the tips of his fur were slightly cold.
I wanted to reach out my hand.
I wanted to tell him it was all right.
That he did not have to tell me now what had happened, that I would wait until he wanted to speak.
But if I did, he would realize I had been awake.
So I did nothing.
I simply kept my breathing quiet and even, pretending to sleep.
Haku curled himself into a ball.
A small warmth touched the area near my arm.
With my eyes closed, I said only in my heart,
“It’s all right, Haku.”
I did not say it aloud.
I did not send it through our link, either.
I only said it quietly within my heart.
“I’ll wait until you want to tell me.”
Haku’s breathing gradually slowed.
It did not seem as though he had fallen completely asleep.
But at least, for now, he was by my side.
Feeling that warmth, I slowly let the tension drain from me.
I decided to pretend I had not seen what I had seen tonight.
I decided not to ask anything.
Until Haku told me of his own accord.
As always, I decided to remain the one who kept a place open for Haku to return to, and waited.
Once I thought that, sleep came over me belatedly.
The moonlight outside the window still lingered faintly in the room.
Breathing out evenly so Haku would not wake,
I quietly fell asleep, pretending I knew nothing.