HPV 24

Not long after, Riarun realized his cup had vanished from the table.

“The cup that was just here is gone.”

Had someone taken it? Had it fallen underneath? Did Banwes think he’d left it and swipe it? While he searched around and even patted down Banwes, a wave of dizziness hit him, and his legs wobbled slightly. The sensation of getting drunk was strange. Banwes gave him a look of utter disbelief.

And just then—

“Aaaargh!”

A shriek tore through the air. It was Paronai—the protagonist of this absurd tale.

Paronai, caught off guard, had somehow managed to catch a bundle of clothes that had fallen from the sky. When he looked to see what had landed in his arms like a child, he was stunned to find it was Bzhan—fast asleep and breathing softly.

The eyes that had once glared with murderous intent from beneath thick black bangs were now tucked behind closed lids. It was unbelievable.

“He loses stealth when he’s asleep?”

“No. This one would sneak around even in his sleep. If I had to guess—it’s the booze. The booze actually beat this feisty little cat.”

The mystery of the missing cup was finally solved. The empty wooden mug had fallen together with Bzhan.

Paronai, still cradling Bzhan with a dazed look, had clearly also drunk quite a bit—his neck was flushed deep red. Perhaps that’s why…

“Wow, I caught him! I caught him! I actually caught him!”

He lifted Bzhan high over his head and shouted with joy.

Apparently, Paronai and Penzey had made a bet about who would touch Bzhan first. The match had ended sooner than expected.

Yet while Paronai celebrated with a secret kiss on Bzhan’s cheek, everyone else just stared at them in horror. Yurichen quickly stepped in to explain.

“He’s part of our group. He just happens to like rooftops. He’s harmless, so please don’t worry…”

It was fortunate that Bzhan’s small bow and arrows weren’t visible. Even so, the villagers who had just been laughing and drinking moments ago now went quiet. That’s when Penzey stepped up.

“This guy’s got the soul of a cat—just happens to be stuck in a human body. You should see him sneak around! I guarantee, even if this whole village tried to catch him in a game of hide-and-seek, you’d all lose. And that’s not all—try touching him and he’ll bite, and he’s practically born to climb roofs!”

“Mmm, well, cats do act like that.”

“There’s a proud little cat in our village, too. She’s turned down so many boys, they could circle this bonfire twice over.”

“Oh? Sounds like a good match! Maybe they’re destined. Should I arrange a meeting? How old’s your cat?”

Riarun giggled at the image of Bzhan sitting across a table from a white female cat. Banwes furrowed his brow and stared at him in disbelief.

Perhaps it was the festive crowd drinking alcohol like water, or maybe it was the mood—but the drink kept slipping down his throat.

…If only he hadn’t lost his memory partway through, it would’ve been a rather nice drink.

That night, the first time Banwes witnessed a human festival, everything could have gone differently if he hadn’t missed just two chances.

His bright, vivid olive-green eyes were now dull and glazed. Banwes watched as Riarun, limbs sprawled out on the table, struggled to stay awake with stubborn determination.

He should’ve stepped in sooner. That was his mistake.

His first mistake—he should’ve hauled him over his shoulder and carried him off to rest before things got out of hand. No one should have seen this drunken, half-collapsed mess.

Even then, it still wasn’t too late.

Riarun, cheek pressed against the table and giggling, suddenly sat upright as if struck by divine revelation.

Banwes instinctively reached out to support him, catching Riarun before he could topple backward.

That was his second mistake. He shouldn’t have made physical contact. He should never have let Riarun see him while drunk.

When Riarun saw him, he smiled like a crescent moon and reached out with both hands—then suddenly wrapped his arms around Banwes.

“People are so big. How curious…”

“Let go!”

Banwes shouted with a mix of panic and dismay—loudly enough for the whole crowd to hear. Now everyone was watching. With both arms flung wide like he was trying to measure the girth of a tree, Riarun clung tightly, while Banwes, unsure how hard he could push without hurting him, fumbled to get free.

The two had become the village’s next great spectacle.

They were so close their bodies were completely pressed together—Riarun’s flushed cheek was buried in Banwes’s chest. And then, adding insult to injury, he began to curiously knead Banwes’s serratus and pectoral muscles, which were sharply defined beneath his clothes.

“I told you not to touch me!”

“Alright. Then you touch me too, to make it fair. That works, right?”

It absolutely did not work. Banwes looked like he might lose consciousness at any moment. He clenched his teeth against the dizzy, sinking feeling in his chest, when Riarun’s rambling suddenly pierced his eardrums.

“Honestly… it feels kind of nice. Not that it makes up for you doing everything and then heartlessly kicking me out of the room…”

At first, Banwes didn’t understand. But in the next instant, his face flushed deep red behind the mask.

By then, the villagers’ excitement had reached a fever pitch.

When the young man—with cheeks, lips, and nape flushed a vivid rose—started feeling up the chest of a man who looked more like a wild beast than a person with his hulking frame, the crowd went wild.

They whistled, cheered, and encouraged the growing heat in Banwes’s face.

“Looks like it’s time to take him inside!”

“The bride’s already drunk! Look at those naughty little fingers!”

They could clearly tell both were men—but that didn’t matter at all.

Today was the wedding day of a young couple beloved by the whole village. Children who had grown up before their very eyes, now matured, with the dashing groom kissing the beautiful bride’s lips in a vow of love—it had left everyone moved. Some of them might genuinely have mistaken Banwes and Riarun for that couple.

“Hey, groom! Why are you just standing there like a log, huh?”

“The bride’s eager, and you’re just watching?”

Yurichen tried to shout something about how it was inappropriate between comrades, but Penzey quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. Yurichen trembled with frustration. Paronai, holding the still-sleeping Bzhan, glanced nervously between the red-faced Banwes and the thoroughly delighted Riarun. Should he step in? Should he explain the misunderstanding? But the mood was so high-spirited he couldn’t bring himself to break it.

Banwes, in desperation, covered Riarun’s mouth before any more dangerous words could escape. But the soft, damp movement of his lips against Banwes’s palm only made Banwes more mortified.

Everything was overwhelming—the spinning lights overhead, the dim yet sweltering heat, the cheers and laughter of the crowd. Teasing, mocking jokes surrounded Banwes from every direction. It felt like the whole world was conspiring to make a fool of him.

Banwes had entered a world he didn’t understand. In the one he knew, people saw his inhuman frame and drew back in terror, aiming torches and spears with faces twisted in hatred. But here… there was none of that. Nowhere.

Instead, he’d become a joke. All because of this ridiculous, shameless human!

And yet—Banwes himself was being swept into this world. His usual vigilance, which reacted to every gesture, every glance, every word from Riarun, was falling apart. The sharp instincts that once only knew how to choke or be choked were now desperately trying to recover from a flushed face.

No, it wasn’t the world that deceived him. He was the one deceiving the world. He had never revealed what he truly was—a cursed beast. And—

He covered his red eyes with a mask.

Red eyes were believed to be cursed. They were eyes that no human could possess without ties to dark magic, monsters, or demons.

He had no idea how to escape the situation. So he thought—maybe it would be better if they feared him, if they backed away.

He would bare those red eyes, make them scream and run, and return the world to what he knew.

The moment his hand moved to tear off the mask and reveal his eyes—

An explosion came from elsewhere.

“I can’t tolerate this any longer!”

Yurichen finally shoved Penzey under the table and shot to his feet.

“The festival is over. And this indecent spectacle ends now! Banwes, take Riarun home. Paronai, bring Bzhan and follow. Penzey, feel free to get trampled right there!”

His curt, furious figure cut through the crowd and vanished. The farmers who had been laughing moments ago now stood awkwardly, caught as if scolded in the dead of night.

Someone said to Penzey:

“Hey, your wife’s mad. Better go after him.”

The villagers were so thoroughly drunk that every guest probably looked like a couple to them now.

“Huh? …Nah. It’s fine. He’ll cool off soon.”

Penzey, still seated on the ground, grinned shamelessly and raised the bottle high to finish it off.