[Several cases of unknown blood marks have been appearing all over District 3, investigations under the order of bureau have been going-]
"Did you hear what the news said? I told you to finish this case within a day, didn't I? The longer we let that mimic run wild, the sooner the masses will realize a monster is living among us!"
The minister of military and defense of otherworldly phenomenon, Isaac Raven, had come to Francis' office to personally address this issue.
Under his reprimand, I could only bow my head low.
"I apologize sir. We will try our best to find the last mimic today."
"Today? Hah! I don't need your empty promises! You think I don't know?! This is already the third day and you still don't have any clue about the mimic's whereabouts!"
What he said was true. Three days since our hunt began, the last mimic, Paul Olman's 'wife', was still nowhere to be found. There was no sign of it in the place his wife often visited and Paul himself didn't know where else it could go. Left with no clue, I could only apologize while giving him an empty promise to ease his anger.
"Ethan, I expect result from you today, even the smallest one. Don't disappoint me."
"Yes sir, I'll try my best."
Francis gave me one last warning before letting me go.
I was going to hunt it today anyway. It caused casualties everywhere it went so I was planning to follow the trace of its bloody prints. We had predicted where it would strike next and had prepared accordingly to catch it in action.
CLUNK!
Passing by a vending machine, I bought a can of coffee. The cute rabbit on the cover was smiling so happily, like it had no burden in this world. Ilyas had told me not to buy this drink anymore, but I needed it to test something.
Opening the can, the smell of cheap coffee combined with heavy smell of sugar and milk filled my nose.
It was nauseating.
"Urgh-"
I almost retched on the floor just from the smell alone so I had no choice but to throw it away. The coffee that I used to drink and had become my favorite had turned into something I detested.
This didn't just apply to my favorite drinks, other things like foods, snacks and even clothes, all of it had slowly changed.
The direction of the change was becoming increasingly obvious.
'I'm slowly turning into Ethan depicted by the author.'
The change of taste in food might be common as people grow up, but not as fast as this. It's not the feeling you got when your palate naturally changed, but it was a repulsive urge to reject anything that's not in character with 'Ethan'. Because Ethan depicted in the series' fan page was the type to only drink black coffee, premium meal and living his life in a lavish lifestyle.
From that short description alone, I could guess what type of character he was.
And this change of behaviors toward that characteristic...
It felt so artificial.
That's what made me hate the author even more.
"Ethan, let's head back together later."
Ilyas walked toward me, a soft smile on his face.
Espers of Team Zero had been relocated into different teams, while Ilyas was staying in the HQ for emergency deployment.
In the past three days, after hours of nonstop searching, we were left with only a short time to receive guiding and were sent back home. So it's been quite some time since we got to spend time together.
I adjusted my tie as I thought. I needed to do some damage control with Shelly and there were still a lot of reports to fill...
"Sorry Ilyas, could you go back home by yourself today? I still need to help Shelly fill in the reports."
"Oh, alright." Ilyas looked a bit dejected but a grin soon appeared on his face, "Then give me a kiss to make it up."
"You-"
This little pup was acting up again, his mischief knows no bounds. He became so used to asking for kisses and holding hand that he became so brazen about it.
But I didn't hate it.
"Let's go to a guiding room."
Ilyas grinned as he tried to hold my hand-
SLAP!
"Ah-"
But the next thing I saw was Ilyas hurt expression.
'What…'
I looked down on Ilyas' hand, a red mark formed on his skin. Then I looked at my own, hovering in the air. That was a position of someone slapping away other's hand.
'Why… Did my hand move on its own?'
"I-Ilyas, this is not-"
"Haha, you must be busy these days. Sorry, I was selfish."
'Why are you apologizing? I was the one at fault.'
"Then, I'll leave first. Be safe out there."
Ilyas walked away, leaving me no room to explain. That was the first time I saw Ilyas look that hurt.
Panic filled my heart.
It made sense, after days of rarely spending time with your lover now they suddenly treated you badly. If I were Ilyas, I would get hurt too.
'The problem is myself.'
I was surprised at how my hand, out of my will, did things on its own.
It was honestly a terrifying sensation. There's something controlling my body, like a puppeteer performing on a show.
That made me hesitate.
I was afraid that if I chased Ilyas now to explain, there's something that would interfere and made it worse.
'This goddamn author!'
But I needed to fix this somehow, and I knew who I should seek help from. And to do that, I needed to tell everything to Ilyas. The fact that I was a transmigrator, the original Ethan's past and the current problems I faced.
I would be honest about everything.
A new resolution formed in my mind as I chased Ilyas, even if there's something interfering with my explanation, I would try my best to convey it to him.
'I'm sure Ilyas will understand.'
.
.
"He left."
Xain whispered to his friend beside him, they both had a similar look on their faces.
They were walking around the corner when they spotted the couple speaking to each other. Thinking it would be fun to tease them, they hid behind the wall and eavesdrop their conversation – waiting for the right moment to jump in. But things suddenly turned awkward.
Cedric squinted his eyes, "What is this? A lover's quarrel?"
"Beats me, I don't know why Ethan suddenly acted like that."
"Did the higher-ups pressure him on the mission?"
"Huh? What does that have anything to do with this?"
"I mean he's so stressed it affected his behavior you idiot-! Ha, no, I'm the one who's the idiot for talking to you about this."
"Hey, don't call me that! Ethan will scold you if you act rude!"
"Yeah yeah."
Jokes aside, the sudden change of behavior in Ethan was definitely apparent. The person himself might not notice, but some of his habits had changed, making even a muscle brain like Xain noticed it too.
"Let's observe what happened first."
Hopefully it's nothing serious.