In a wooden apartment over forty years old, in a room soaked with mold, drugs, and vomit, a man named Kai Kamon spends his days staring at the ceiling, unable to die. With social phobia and drug addiction, he has fallen out of society entirely.
One night, the ceiling tears open, and Princess Melissa of the Flamme Kingdom falls through. Exiled from her world and stripped of all magic by a transfer spell, she collapses on the filthy tatami floor. She looks around the rotting room and gives him a
Morning light fell in thin streaks across the rotting tatami.
Kamon Kai had lost sight of someone in a dream.
It wasn't that he'd known who they were from the start. He was simply standing alone in a narrow, dark place, and there was a figure a short distance ahead. Long hair that was neither gold nor silver swayed. He tried to see their face. But the closer he got, the more the outline blurred—eye color, the shape of their clothes, even their voice spilled through his fingers like sand.
"...Look."
A voice came from somewhere.
It might have been a woman's voice. It might have been a man's. That voice laughed.
Something black crawled up from the figure's feet. It looked like smoke, and it looked like liquid. The black Impurity slowly covered white skin, long hair, the clothes they wore.
"Your woman is disappearing."
Someone said.
"Your wish will never reach anyone."
Kai didn't understand what those words meant.
Your woman. Did he even have someone like that? He couldn't even remember that much. But he understood one thing—the figure before him was vanishing.
"Stop..."
His voice trembled.
"Stop it..."
The figure's body crumbled, bit by bit. Skin, hair, fingertips turned into fine particles and dissolved into the air. Watching it happen, Kai desperately reached out. He couldn't reach. No matter how many times he stretched his arm, his fingertips only grasped at empty space.
"Neither the contract, nor the guardian—"
The voice receded.
"...It was all meaningless."
The black Impurity covered the figure further. From beyond it, he heard something.
"...The cleaning..."
Someone murmured.
"...To the very end..."
Kai couldn't tell whose voice it was. Only those words lingered strangely in his ears.
A single golden particle fell. Then several silver particles spilled down. Kai stretched out both arms.
"Wait."
He tried to embrace something. But there was nothing in his arms. Light fell through the gaps between his fingers.
"Wait, damn it..."
The golden particles vanished. The silver particles vanished too. The person who should have been right there disappeared without sound, without scent, without even leaving a name—as if they had never existed in this world from the beginning.
Then the dreamscape warped violently.
The room, the floor, the black Impurity, the vanishing figure—everything crumbled as if sinking to the bottom of water.
At the end, only the voice remained.
—Do the cleaning.
He didn't know whose voice that was either. Was it an order? A wish? Or just words he'd heard in a dream? Without understanding, the voice faded away.
And then, he woke up.
Kai stared at the ceiling, breathing raggedly. His heart was racing. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His fingertips were cold. But when he tried to recall what he'd seen, only that part became unnaturally vague.
Someone had been there. They had definitely been there. They disappeared, and that was terrifying.
Only that much remained, yet the "someone's" face, voice, what words they'd exchanged—all of it grew fainter with every ray of morning light.
"...Just my luck."
In the center of the room, Melissa was watching Kai. He didn't know when she'd woken up. She sat with her knees drawn up, gold-and-silver hair flowing over her shoulders. Even in the dim room, only her right golden eye and left silver eye stood out strangely clear.
"You sleep in quite some agony, servant."
Kai didn't answer. He tried to remember what had vanished in the dream, and the fact that he couldn't made him angry. But he didn't know where to direct that irritation.
"What did you see?"
Melissa's question was shorter than usual.
Kai stayed silent for a while, then said:
"...I don't know."
"I see."
"Someone disappeared. Probably that's all."
Melissa said nothing. Her silence grated on him strangely.
"What."
"Nothing."
"You look like you want to say something."
"Then you need only ask."
"...Are you going to disappear?"
Only those words left his mouth.
Melissa's face stopped.
Kai himself didn't understand why he'd asked that. He didn't even have any certainty that the person who'd vanished in his dream and Melissa standing before him were the same. He'd simply spoken aloud the unpleasant feeling lodged deep in his chest.
"Maybe it was a dream about you disappearing."
"How foolish."
Melissa said.
"It was a dream, wasn't it."
"Yeah."
"Then don't make that face."
Kai's brow twitched.
"What face."
"I don't know. An irritating one."
"...I don't want to hear that from you."
"Then you needn't look at me."
"I'm not looking at you because I want to."
Their voices grew gradually stronger. Melissa narrowed her eyes too.
"Don't take it out on me, servant."
Kai fell silent. He no longer had the will to say anything more.
Only the air in the room remained heavy. After a while, Kai stood up.
"...I'm going out."
"Where to."
"Around."
"To do what?"
"Nothing."
Having said only that, Kai threw on his black hoodie. Melissa started to say something, but ended up closing her mouth.
When he opened the front door, cold morning air flowed in. Kai stepped outside just like that.
————
As he passed by Room 103, the door opened.
"Kamon-san?"
Hiyama Sumire poked her head out. Her dull gray-brown hair was gathered as haphazardly as always, and a slender wrist peeked from the sleeve of her white hoodie. The moment she looked at Kai with sleepy eyes, her brow lowered just slightly.
"W-weird to see you outside. Going somewhere?"
"..."
Kai tried to pass by, but Sumire was watching him closely.
"...Kamon-san."
"What."
"Your face is scary."
"It always is."
"That's not what I meant."
Sumire smiled a little awkwardly.
"You seem... more tired than usual, somehow."
"I'll be fine if I sleep."
"Really? Did you sleep properly last night?"
"I slept."
"Really?"
"...Probably."
Sumire didn't ask anything more. After hesitating slightly, she didn't close the door either—she just stood there looking at Kai.
"Wait a moment."
"Why."
"Just wait."
Sumire went back inside.
Kai stood there reluctantly. After a while, Sumire returned. She was carrying small storage containers in both hands.
"Here, eat this."
"...What is it."
"Nikujaga, and hijiki. And some vegetable ohitashi. I made too much."
"Don't need it."
Sumire's brow lowered awkwardly, but she didn't pull the containers back.
"Not 'don't need it'—eat it. Please."
Kai looked at Sumire's face. Her eyes were strangely direct.
"...Fine."
Kai gave up and took the containers.
"Yeah. That's better."
Sumire smiled, satisfied.
"Well then, see you."
"...Yeah."
Sumire watched his back as he left, then cast her gaze once toward the closed door behind her. She felt a presence there, as if someone was inside—but as always, she assumed it was her imagination and went back into her room.
————
After Kai left, Melissa remained in the room.
For a while she did nothing, looking toward the closed front door. Eventually, voices came from the hallway.
"Kamon-san?"
It was Sumire's voice.
Melissa raised her head. The woman from Room 103. She couldn't see her. But the voice was clearly audible.
"Here, eat this."
"...What is it."
"Nikujaga, and hijiki. And some vegetable ohitashi. I made too much."
Melissa listened in silence.
"Don't need it."
A brief pause, then Sumire's voice continued.
"Not 'don't need it'—eat it. Please."
At those words, Melissa's brow moved faintly. She heard Kai's reply.
"...Fine."
After that, the two talked for a while.
"You don't have work today?"
"It's my day off."
"Then you could just relax at home."
"Can't."
"Why not?"
Beyond that, Kai didn't answer.
Melissa walked closer to the front door. But she didn't go out. There was no need to listen, she thought. Whatever that woman said to Kai, it didn't matter. And yet, her ears chased after it on their own.
"Well then, take care."
"...Yeah."
Footsteps receded.
Melissa stayed silent for a while. For some reason, she didn't like that the woman had given Kai food. It was just food. That was all it was—and yet a small thorn remained deep in her chest.
"...A woman who does unnecessary things."
Melissa murmured quietly, to no one.
————
Kai was back before noon.
When he opened the front door, Melissa was in the back of the room.
"You're back quite early."
"Why did you go out?"
"Nothing."
"'Nothing,' she says."
"I didn't want to be in the room."
"So you went outside?"
"Yeah."
Melissa looked unconvinced.
"Sumire gave me this."
Melissa looked at it for a while.
"...That's quite a lot."
"Yeah."
Kai put the storage containers he'd received into the refrigerator, then gazed around the room for a moment.
"...Want to watch TV?"
"TV?"
Melissa turned around.
Kai picked up the remote and turned it on.
The screen showed a daytime information program. The host was laughing while introducing shops in the city, and beside him young men and women were talking about a newly opened confectionery. It was all things Melissa couldn't understand, but the moving images and human voices seemed to catch her attention strangely.
"What is this."
"I don't know."
"You're watching it without knowing?"
"That's what TV is."
Melissa turned her face to the screen. Her earlier foul mood had thinned, just a little.
Kai sat down beside her.
The program progressed. Shops changed. People changed. Topics changed.
Before she knew it, Melissa was completely absorbed in the television.
"What has this man been saying this whole time?"
"Beats me."
"Why is he laughing?"
"I don't know."
"Humans are strange."
"It's a bit late for that."
Melissa didn't reply. Someone on screen was reacting with exaggerated surprise. Melissa's eyes followed the movement.
Kai sat there beside her, without any particular reason.
The television voices continued at a steady tone. The dream that had been stuck in his head earlier—he'd stopped thinking about it before he realized.
His eyelids were heavy.
He leaned his back against the wall.
Melissa was saying something.
Kai tried to reply and opened his eyes. The light from the screen was blurry. He blinked once. Even so, Melissa's voice grew distant.
His head slowly tilted sideways.
Just like that, the strength left his shoulders. His breathing deepened.
"...Servant?"
Melissa turned around.
No reply.
"Hey."
Kai didn't move.
"Did you fall asleep?"
Still no reply.
Melissa looked at Kai for a while, then returned her gaze to the television.
"...Well, fine."
Having said that, she became glued to the screen again.
Kai slept on the tatami just like that.
————
When he came to, the outside of the window was red.
Kai opened his eyes. The room was in evening. Melissa was sitting by the window. The television was still on.
"Good morning, servant."
Kai couldn't say anything for a while.
"...I heard that this morning too."
"So?"
"Nothing."
Kai got up.
It was strange. They'd fought once, and yet the air was lighter than before. Melissa didn't say anything unnecessary either.
Kai opened the refrigerator.
The containers Sumire had given him that morning were inside.
"Want to eat?"
"I'll eat."
"...Right."
Kai took out the containers and heated the nikujaga. He prepared plates for two. Melissa accepted her plate as if it were only natural.
That night, Kai slept more deeply than usual.
By morning, he could barely remember the person who had vanished in his dream. Only a nameless sense of loss settled somewhere deep in his chest.
————
The next morning.
Having descended the stairs of Corpse-Guard Apartments, Kai stopped in the hallway leading to the entrance.
"Kamon-san."
He turned at the call.
The landlady, Karikago Shizuku, was standing beside the stairs.
"Oh, good morning."
"...Good morning."
"Off to work now?"
"Yes."
"I see."
Shizuku looked over Kai's clothing, then smiled slightly.
"I heard you started a job recently."
"How do you know that."
"Come now, this building has thin walls, doesn't it? Sound carries well."
Kai's brow move
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