I Want to Hear Your Voice

Satori didn’t leave the room because he had any specific reason to. But as long as Sousuke didn’t want him to hear his inner thoughts, he couldn’t just stay in the room and pretend that he didn’t hear anything.

Satori held his finger out under the moonlight, but he could no longer see the thread that connected him and Sousuke. This was because the thread had been cut when they reunited. Even so, Satori still looked back in the direction of Sousuke’s house several times, as if there was still an invisible thread that stretched out between them.

(I was lucky he didn’t think I was creepy.)

Maybe Sousuke actually wanted to, but he was too kind to think that way, and he tried not to hurt Satori.

The thought made Satori feel sad again, then he rubbed his eyelids.

(Oh no. It’s a Satori. What’s it doing in a place like this?)

Satori turned around at the sound of the voice, and he saw a fox spirit sitting on top of a shrine’s gateway.

(I’ve always loathed the kind of monsters like you, you see…)

The fox’s eyes glowed red in the darkness.

The fox let out a cry, then many other foxes came and gathered. The shadows of the leaves let out a rustle as they swayed. In the darkness, a number of glowing red eyes were staring at Satori. The fox’s mouth curled up into a smirk, and it startled Satori. He unconsciously stepped backward, tripped over a pebble, and fell on his bottom.

(Now, what should we do with you…)

No, no, no… Sousuke…!

Satori’s body trembled in fear, then just as he called Sousuke’s name inside his heart—

“Satori!”
His name was called by the voice he wanted to hear the most, then he was suddenly embraced as he turned around.

Satori was surprised. It was because this was the first time he saw Sousuke lose his composure. Sousuke’s whole body was drenched in sweat and his heart was beating fast. It made Satori’s heart thump.

(I was surprised when you suddenly disappeared from the house. I thought you might have gone somewhere far. Or maybe you have gone to that guy’s place…)

“…!”

Satori didn’t think that Sousuke would have such a misunderstanding. It was true that Satori thought he shouldn’t stay at his house anymore, but it was just temporary. He never had any intention to leave without telling Sousuke. Of course, he would get out of the house at any time if that was what Sousuke wanted. But if possible, he wanted to stay close by Sousuke’s side until the time limit of his promise was over.

“So-sorry. I just thought I shouldn’t bother you any more than I already have. But, I also didn’t mean to disappear just like that… Err, umm…”

As Satori tried to convey his feelings while faltering, Sousuke waited for him patiently without rushing him.

From the look of Sousuke’s eyes as he stared at Satori, there was no feeling of disgust coming from them in the slightest. Satori’s chest was filled with unbearable emotions.

“I, I, I…”

He felt a quiver deep in his chest.

He was so scared.

Until he reunited with Sousuke, he thought that he didn’t mind disappearing once he got to see Sousuke again. He thought that there was no meaning for him to live if he got hated by Sousuke, or if Sousuke were to look at him the same way the other spirits did.

“Let’s go home,” said Sousuke.

“Bu-but…”

Satori hesitated. He actually wanted to go home with him. He wanted to go to that house where he could feel safe, together with Sousuke. But he still didn’t know how he could refrain from hearing Sousuke’s thoughts.

“Let’s go home, Satori. Let’s go home together.”

Sousuke lightly brushed his lips on the cheek of Satori.

For a moment, Satori didn’t know what had happened. He was surprised and he raised his head quickly as if he had been startled. Sousuke stared at Satori as if to see his reaction, then kissed him again on the cheek on the opposite side.

“I think it’s useful if we can read each other’s minds.”

Tears welled up in Satori’s eyes as he stared at Sousuke’s face without blinking.

“I don’t care even if Satori is a spirit. You can just read my mind if you want to. You’re hard working but clumsy, and your expression is so easy to read. I can’t think of you as just a mere stranger anymore …That’s why let’s go home Satori. Let’s go back together to our house.”

Tears spilled down his face.

Satori cried. He clung onto Sousuke and cried at the top of his lungs. He had lived for a long time now, but he could never have imagined that something like this would happen to him.

–This is enough, this is more than enough for me.

Satori was happy as he cried in Sousuke’s arms.

The red eyes that had been looking down from the top of the shrine gateway, ready to devour Satori, had already vanished before he knew it.