Chapter 88

She was exactly the same as those damned cats. People with quick minds could never fathom why a slower person failed to memorize an entire passage after reading it just once. Elli and the cats pressed their heads together, whispering conspiratorially while Isaac’s face soured. From the fragments he caught, the cats appeared to be explaining that Isaac was half a dull-witted human, so hopelessly simple that the concept would never reach him.

After several incredulous questions and answers, Elli looked back at Isaac with an expression of profound pity and contempt. “I could more easily understand someone asking how to breathe. How can you not know even this?” She clicked her tongue in sharp disapproval. “Fine. I want to leave as quickly as possible, so I will explain this in the simplest terms I can. When you are hungry, you want to eat, don’t you?”

“What? Ah, yes.”

“You are hungry now. Not in your stomach, but somewhere deep inside your body. Imagine that being full is how you feel on a new-moon night, when your energy overflows. A full-moon night would mean extreme starvation. How do you feel now?”

“…Slightly peckish?” He could not clearly identify the sensation, but he grasped the concept. His vitality was somewhat depleted, and his body felt faintly languid and tired.

“Yes. Then you look at the other person’s vitality. In human terms, you might say you feel it.”

“How do I feel that?”

“Even humans vaguely sense such things in one another. This person overflows with energy. That person always looks tired. Someone seems cheerful today, or subdued. Those are states of vitality.” Elli added, “It’s not entirely accurate, but that understanding will be easier for you.”

Isaac nodded readily. “Yes. I understand that much.”

“Good. Then you have practically finished. It is easier to draw vitality from someone who looks energetic and happy, so choose such a person, place your hand upon them, and pull. You can feed through breath alone without touching, but that would probably be too difficult for you.”

“How?”

This time, Elli seemed to reach an impasse. She stared at Isaac for a long moment, her expression a mix of exasperation and the sheer struggle of trying to enlighten an exceptionally foolish creature. Then she abruptly seized his hand.

Her skin felt strangely cool. For a heartbeat, Isaac thought it felt less like human warmth and more like something else entirely. Then, as though that alien sensation had been merely an illusion, her skin began to radiate a soft heat.

A gentle warmth bloomed through their joined palms and fingers. “Concentrate on your hand. You will feel something there. You are desperately hungry, and consuming this will make you full. Imagine your palm has a mouth.” Elli’s voice softened. “Focus on that thought alone.”

Her low, gentle voice hummed pleasantly beside his ear. Isaac’s mind relaxed, his guard slipping as he listened.

Come to think of it, I barely ate dinner. His heavy mood had robbed him of his appetite, and he had only picked at the food. The hunger he had forgotten now stirred to life.

If I eat this…

For the briefest instant, it felt as though the very air pressed against his palm. Then the sensation vanished like a passing breeze. That was all.

Isaac somehow knew the attempt had failed. Even so, he repeated the thought inwardly—I am hungry. I am hungry—and continued staring at Elli.

She scowled. “Ah! You almost had it! I pushed my precious vitality directly into you, so why didn’t you eat it? Why? You opened your mouth and nearly fed, so why did you stop?”

“…Did I?” Isaac scratched his head.

At Elli’s sharp command of “Again!” he tried once more. The result was nearly identical, and she again demanded, “Why can’t you eat when I’m giving it to you?”

After three more failed attempts, Elli’s eyes finally sharpened.

「She’s become competitive.」 「She’s determined now.」 「Excellent.」

Chitter!

The cats chattered. Elli stomped firmly on their tails and glared fiercely at Isaac. “From what I can see, you were not born incapable of feeding. You can do it. You simply lack the technique.”

“That technique is precisely what I don’t know. That’s why we’re doing this.” Isaac sighed.

Elli sank into thought. She stared at him with a grave, almost ferocious expression before abruptly muttering, “Contact between mucous membranes is easier than contact through skin. Yes. Let’s try that.”

“Huh?” Isaac’s mouth tightened. He had heard a term that inspired a decidedly unpleasant premonition, and when Elli suddenly seized him by the collar, that feeling only intensified.

“Mucous membranes naturally absorb things, so exchanging energy through them is far easier than through skin.”

“Yes, that sounds plausible, but when you say mucous membranes…”

“Tongue to tongue is the simplest.”

“…”

“It requires no preparation, and you can do it anywhere,” Elli spoke with perfect calm.

Still held by the collar, Isaac slowly leaned his head away.

Elli noticed her friend’s hesitation and frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want to? Do you think that won’t work either? If not, then let’s mate. It’s the easiest and most reliable method.” She added, looking irritated, “I’d rather not. I might accidentally give you too much energy.”

“No, that would be a little much!” Isaac shook his head frantically, cold sweat breaking out across his back.

Elli suddenly thrust a finger into his mouth. “Try eating this.” Her finger drove so deeply that it struck the back of his throat, forcing tears to his eyes. Before Isaac could push her away, she snapped, “Quickly!”

He closed his mouth. Elli’s finger pressed firmly against his tongue. At first, he felt only light pressure and no particular taste. Then, although finger and tongue remained in direct contact, a strange sensation arose between them, as though a soft layer of air had formed. Within it, the faintest breeze stirred.

“…”

Isaac’s eyes widened.

Elli looked up at him. “Let it seep into you. Swallow it without moving. Slowly.”

Isaac did not understand the sensation. He met her gaze, then carefully breathed in. The breeze gathered upon his tongue like water, swaying softly.

“Yes. Like that,” Elli whispered with delight. “You should be enormously grateful. I am pushing my own vitality into you in great quantities.”

「I see. We needed to spoon the food into his mouth and move his jaw for him so he could chew.」

Chitter!

The cats watched and chattered. Isaac felt the breeze pooled upon his tongue slowly sinking into him. At the same time, a hunger so faint he could barely perceive it began to recede.

Is this it?

He thought he understood the feeling. Yet, as Elli had said, she was pushing the vitality into him; he did not seem to be drawing it in by his own will. So Isaac actually swallowed, his throat bobbing.

“Ah! You idiot! It was working! Why did you stop?” Elli shouted, yanking her finger from his mouth and pointing furiously inches from his face.

“…That wasn’t what you meant by swallowing.” Isaac sounded rather dejected.

Elli stamped the ground in anger, then whirled back toward him. “Pay attention. This time, pull properly. Understand?”

The final words vanished into Isaac’s mouth. She seized his collar, dragged him forward, and kissed him.

For a moment, every word and movement ceased. Elli wrapped her arms around Isaac’s frozen neck and deepened the kiss. Her tongue entered his mouth and settled against his own. Before he could fully comprehend the situation or begin panicking…

“…”

The air became far clearer than before. A stronger wind pooled against his tongue, pressing down upon it. Then it slowly began seeping into him, as though someone were forcibly driving it forward. A sense of fullness rose from deep within his body.

Yes. Fullness.

Not of the flesh, but of the life at his very foundation. Isaac had never experienced this strange satisfaction before. Drop by drop, it filled him from the deepest part of his being. Its origin was the tongue pressed against his own.

So this is it. This is what it feels like. Draining vitality was this sweet. This alluring.

“Now I will gradually reduce the flow. Draw it in yourself,” Elli whispered, drawing her lips slightly away.

Then their tongues touched again. This time, the sensation diminished sharply. Only the faintest current remained, so slight it was almost impossible to tell whether it existed. The lack frustrated him; he wanted to drink more.

More. How had it felt? What did I do?

Like drawing a warm, abundant wind from her into myself…

Then a strong breeze suddenly flooded his mouth.

“Yes! That’s it!” Elli cried out. She pulled back and struck Isaac’s shoulder with delight. Her eyes sparkled, and a radiant, proud smile spread across her lips.

Chitter!

The cats beside them began pounding their front paws against the ground. 「Excellent!」 「Well done, our Muddlehead!」 「You have finally become a proper witch!」

Isaac merely blinked at them in a daze. The sensation he had tasted for the first time in his life felt astonishingly unfamiliar and new. For one brief moment, the rich vigor he could ordinarily enjoy only on new-moon nights entered him and vanished.

Wonder. Vividness. Abundance. And regret when it disappeared.

“…So that’s what it feels like.”

That was the sensation of life filling him. No wonder witches enjoyed taking vitality from humans. Isaac quietly looked toward the sky. Alongside the excitement of discovering an unknown sense came a faint, creeping regret. Perhaps it would have been better never to learn. He would miss this sweet, abundant flavor for the rest of his life.

Isaac sighed. “…It’s delicious. Perhaps because it is something I’ll never taste again.”

“Why would you never taste it again? You know the technique now.”

“No… You’re right. I may need to gather small amounts from people for a while, so perhaps I will have another opportunity.” Isaac nodded, but did not stop sighing.

It truly tasted wonderful, yet it harmed another person. Unless the circumstances were exceptional, he must never feed this way. After thinking for a moment, Isaac looked back at Elli.

“I think I understand the method. Could we try only once more, to make certain I learned it correctly?”