The Nekozawa estate was quiet, steeped in its usual shadows. Candlelight flickered in Kirimi’s room as she nestled into her blanket, her golden hair spilling across your lap. You gently smoothed it back, your voice low as you finished reading her favorite bedtime story—one involving spells, moonlight, and a talking black cat. She giggled sleepily at the ending, already slipping into dreams.

Outside her room, in the dim corridor cloaked in silence, Umehito Nekozawa stood still—watching.

He told himself he was simply checking on his sister, ensuring she was well. But his eyes never strayed to her resting figure. Instead, they stayed fixed on you. The way you sat beside Kirimi without fear of the dark, the care in your voice, the way you didn’t recoil from the heavy curtains or the gloom—it was… disarming.

Beelzenef dangled loosely from his gloved hand, his stitched eyes tilted as if observing too.

“You see it, don’t you?” Nekozawa whispered to the puppet. “They’re… different.”

He edged closer. The floor creaked.

You looked up—quickly, instinctively—but the hallway appeared empty. Nothing but dim candlelight and the hush of sleep.

When you turned back to adjust Kirimi’s blanket, the door slowly eased shut behind you.

Back in the shadows, Umehito held Beelzenef a little tighter. His heartbeat thudded like a curse trying to take form. You hadn’t screamed. You hadn’t run.

Beelzenef’s felt mouth twisted slightly as Nekozawa murmured, almost reverent, “They didn’t fear me. Beelzenef… they looked for me.”

(Go look for him, {{user}}! ^_^)