They walked through the zoo.
Hand in hand.
Neither speaking.
Neither daring to speak.
Because if they spoke, they might have to acknowledge what was happening. And neither of them was ready for that.
Yuuta's palm sweated.
Stop sweating, he commanded himself. Stop sweating you idiot. She's going to notice. She's going to think you're disgusting. She's going to—
He glanced at her.
Erza's face was a mask of cold perfection. Expressionless. Regal. Untouchable.
Does she feel nothing? he wondered. Am I dying of embarrassment while she's completely unaffected? Am I just overreacting?
He looked down at their joined hands.
Her fingers were wrapped around his. Slender. Elegant. Surprisingly small compared to his own.
"So soft," he murmured without thinking.
Erza's eye twitched.
Yuuta didn't notice.
He was too busy analyzing the warmth spreading from her palm into his. The way her skin felt against his calloused fingers. The gentle pressure of her grip—not tight, not loose, but present.
Her hand is so smooth, he thought. So warm. So...
He stopped himself.
Stop it. She's the Dragon Queen. She'll never look at you as a potential partner. You're just a mortal. A disgusting mortal. Remember?
But even as he thought it—
He was happy.
Just for this moment. Just for this walk. Just for the feeling of her hand in his.
He was happy.
---
What Yuuta didn't know—
What he couldn't possibly know—
Was that Erza's mind was screaming.
His hand is so BIG.
The thought crashed through her composure like a battering ram.
It's bigger than mine. Harder. Rougher. Different from any hand I've ever held.
She glanced at their joined fingers.
It's so WARM.
Why is it so warm?
Why does it feel like this?
Why can't I let go?
She forced her face to remain cold. Forced her expression to stay neutral. Forced herself to look like the untouchable queen she was supposed to be.
But inside—
Inside, she was falling apart.
Stop it, she commanded herself. Stop thinking about his hand. Stop noticing how it feels. You're a QUEEN. This is PREVERTED. You shouldn't—
Her heart disagreed.
Her heart wanted to hold on forever.
What is WRONG with me?
---
"Papa! Mama!"
Elena's voice shattered the silence.
She was bouncing ahead, but she'd turned around to look at them. Her Crimson eyes sparkled with delight.
"You look so good together!"
"WHAT?!"
Both of them reacted at once.
Their hands flew apart like they'd been burned.
Yuuta stumbled backward. "That's—we're not—Papa was just—"
Erza's face went crimson. "Child, do not say such ridiculous things! Your mother was simply—I was merely—"
"Papa was worried Mama might get lost!" Yuuta blurted.
Silence.
Erza stared at him.
"What," she said flatly, "did you just say?"
"I....I mean—as your guide today—it's my responsibility to make sure you don't—"
"You thought I would get lost? " Her voice rose. "Like a child? What do you take me for?! Some helpless Human who can't find her way?!"
"No! I didn't mean—"
"I am the DRAGON QUEEN! I could find my way through any realm, any dimension, any—"
"I KNOW! I just meant—"
"You just meant WHAT?!"
Yuuta threw his hands up. "I meant that I'm your guide today! It's my job to make sure you don't run into trouble! That's ALL!"
Erza opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Crossed her arms.
"Well." She looked away. "Even if I did lose my way—which I WOULDN'T—I could still find you."
Yuuta blinked. "Huh?"
"I can smell you from miles away." She said it like it was obvious. Like it was nothing. "So I could still catch you. You don't have to worry about me."
She turned.
Walked ahead.
Slightly faster than before.
Leaving Yuuta standing there.
Confused.
Very, very confused.
---
Elena tugged his sleeve.
"Papa? Why is Mama walking fast?"
"I... don't know, sweetheart."
"Did she get angry again?"
"I think so?"
"Why?"
Yuuta stared at Erza's retreating back.
At the way her silver hair caught the sunlight.
At the way she didn't look back.
At the way his hand still felt warm where hers had been.
"I honestly have no idea, Elena." He started walking again. "Did she just flirt with me? Or threaten me?"
Elena considered this carefully.
"Maybe both?"
"Can it be both?"
"Mama can do anything."
Yuuta laughed.
"Yeah," he agreed. "She probably can."
---
Up ahead, Erza walked.
Her face was still red.
Her heart was still racing.
Her hand was still tingling.
Stupid mortal, she thought. Stupid warm hand. Stupid—
"Mama!"
Elena's voice.
Erza stopped.
Turned.
Yuuta and Elena were catching up. Yuuta was smiling—that stupid, warm, infuriating smile. Elena was bouncing.
"Wait for us, Mama!"
Erza waited.
Of course she waited.
Because even though she didn't understand what was happening to her—
She didn't want them to be far behind.
Elena grabbed both their hands.
Papa on one side. Mama on the other.
She swung between them like a tiny, silver-haired pendulum, her rabbit costume flopping with every step. Her smile could have powered the entire zoo.
"Papa! Mama! This is the BEST DAY EVER!.....Let's GOOOO"
Yuuta smiled down at her.
Then stopped.
Froze.
Turned to Erza with wide eyes.
"Wait," he said. "Don't you think—"
Erza raised an eyebrow.
"—your tails and horns are visible?!" Yuuta's voice cracked. "Everyone can see them! This is going to cause SO much trouble!"
Erza stared at him.
Longer than necessary.
"You... just noticed this now?"
"Well, I—we were holding hands—and Elena was excited—and—"
"We've been walking through a crowded zoo for an hour, mortal."
"I was DISTRACTED!"
Erza sighed.
The sigh of a queen who had absolutely no patience for the idiot she'd apparently mated with.
"What kind of human are you?" she muttered. "So pathetically slow to notice anything."
She flicked her wrist casually.
"I used magic. Obviously. An illusion that makes others see me—and Elena—as ordinary Pathetic humans. Pathetic, boring, normal humans."
Yuuta blinked.
"Oh." He paused. "Then why can I see your real forms?"
Erza's expression didn't change.
But something flickered in her eyes.
"Because," she said coldly, "you and I are... connected. Since you slept with me. Unfortunately."
She looked away.
"You can see through my magic. As my... partner."
The word hung in the air.
Partner.
Yuuta's brain short-circuited.
Partner. She called me partner. Not disgusting mortal. Not idiot. PARTNER.
Well. She also said "unfortunately." So. Mixed signals.
He didn't notice the faint pink creeping up Erza's cheeks.
Didn't notice the way she refused to look at him.
Didn't notice that for all her cold words—
She hadn't let go of Elena's hand.
And she hadn't moved away from him.
They walked in silence for a moment.
Then Erza spoke again.
"How much longer must we walk on this same path? I haven't seen a single beast worth mentioning."
"We're almost there," Yuuta said. "Just a few more—"
"PAPA!"
Elena's scream cut him off.
She had stopped dead.
Her eyes were the size of dinner plates.
"PAPA! MAMA! LOOK!"
She pointed.
And there they were.
Elephants.
Massive. Grey. Ancient. A whole herd of them, wandering their enclosure with the slow, deliberate grace of creatures who had absolutely nothing to prove.
Elena pressed her face against the viewing glass.
"PAPA! What is this beast?! What's its name?!"
Yuuta smiled.
"That's an elephant, sweetheart."
Elena tilted her head.
"...Pants?"
She giggled.
"PAPA SAID PANTS!"
"No, no—ELEPHANT. Not pants. ELEPHANT."
"ELE-PANTS!"
"Close enough."
Elena watched in wonder as one of the elephants raised its trunk and sprayed water across its back.
"Papa, what does it eat? Does it eat meat? Can it hunt?"
"Actually, elephants eat plants. Leaves, grass, fruit. They're herbivores."
Erza's head snapped toward him.
"What?"
"They... eat plants?"
"This massive creature?" Erza gestured at an elephant that weighed several tons. "This beast of pure strength and size... eats trees? "
"Leaves. Plants. Yeah."
"Why?" The question was genuine. Confused. Almost offended. "A creature this powerful could hunt down anything. It could feast on meat. It could dominate every predator in this pathetic zoo."
Yuuta shrugged.
"That's not how it works. Elephants don't need to eat meat. They're built for defense, not hunting. Nature made them this way."
Erza stared at the elephants.
Her expression was complicated.
"What a waste of strength," she finally said. "If they could hunt, they wouldn't be trapped in this cage."
Yuuta opened his mouth.
Closed it.
What could he say?
She was from a world of dragons and demons and seven-headed monsters. A world where strength meant survival. Where the strong ate the weak and the weak died.
How could he explain Earth's gentle giants to someone like her?
He couldn't.
So he just said:
"Let's keep walking. There's more to see."
---
They moved on.
Past the elephants.
Toward the next enclosure.
Elena chattered endlessly about "ele-pants" and whether they could fly (they couldn't) and why they didn't just break the fence (complicated).
Erza walked in silence.
But her eyes kept drifting back to the elephants.
To creatures of immense power who chose peace.
Who didn't hunt.
Who didn't kill.
Who simply... existed.
Strange world, she thought. Strange, peaceful, confusing world.
She glanced at Yuuta.
At the way he smiled at Elena's questions.
At the way he answered each one with patience.
At the way he never once looked at the elephants and saw prey.
Strange man.
Strange, peaceful, confusing man.
---
"PAPA! NEW BEAST!"
Elena had reached the hippopotamus enclosure before either of her parents could stop her.
Her face pressed against the glass. Her rabbit costume squished against the barrier. Her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"What's this one called?!"
Yuuta caught up, slightly out of breath.
"Hippopotamus."
"Hippo... pot... a... mus?"
"Just call it a hippo."
"HIPPO!" Elena waved enthusiastically at the massive creature half-submerged in muddy water. "Hello, Hippo! You look like a big wet cow!"
The hippo blinked once.
Slowly.
Then went back to ignoring her existence.
Hippos were excellent at ignoring things.
Erza approached more slowly, her violet eyes fixed on the creature with intense scrutiny. She studied its massive body. Its enormous head. Those teeth—curved, sharp, terrifying teeth that could snap a human in half without effort.
She crossed her arms.
Nodded approvingly.
"This one," she said confidently. "This one surely eats humans. Look at those teeth. Built for power. Built for destruction. "
She pointed at the hippo's mouth.
"That creature must consume kilograms of meat daily. It's a predator. A true beast."
Yuuta blinked.
"Actually... no."
Erza's head turned.
Slowly.
"Pardon?"
"Hippos don't eat meat. They eat plants."
Silence.
Erza stared at him.
The hippo stared at nothing.
Elena stared at both of them, sensing drama.
"What," Erza said flatly, "did you just say?"
"They're herbivores. Grass. Plants. Sometimes fruit. But no meat."
"NO MEAT?!"
Erza's voice exploded.
"THIS—THIS FUCKING MONSTER—" She pointed at the hippo with a trembling finger, "—EATS PLANTS?! "
The hippo, if it could feel embarrassment, would have felt it now.
Yuuta winced.
"My queen, please lower your voice—"
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Erza was shrieking. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?! IF IT EATS PLANTS, WHY DOES IT HAVE TEETH THE SIZE OF MY FUCKING NAILS?! "
Yuuta's brain processed this.
Nails?
Then he remembered.
Oh. Dragon form. Her claws. She means her CLAWS.
Right.
That made sense.
In a terrifying, dragon-logic kind of way.
"My queen," he said carefully, "I understand your confusion, but this is just how nature works here. Some animals evolve defenses even if they don't hunt."
"Nature?" Erza's lip curled. "Nature is irritating. "
She stared at the hippo.
Then her eyes narrowed.
A slow, dangerous smile spread across her face.
"I have an idea," she said coldly.
Yuuta's survival instincts screamed.
"What idea?"
"What if..." She leaned toward him conspiratorially. "What if I gave this creature a taste of meat? Just a small piece. Enough to awaken its true potential. It would become invincible. A true predator. A—"
"NO."
Yuuta waved his hands frantically.
"Absolutely not. You cannot do that. It's against—against—"
He grasped for something that would stop her.
"—God's law!"
Erza froze.
Her eyes widened.
"God's... law?"
"Yes! God's law! You can't just—just change an animal's nature! It's forbidden! Celestial rules! Very serious!"
Yuuta had no idea what he was saying.
But it worked.
Erza's aggressive posture relaxed.
She looked away, muttering.
"Tch. Those celestial beings are always a headache."
Yuuta let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
Crisis averted.
Somehow.
---
Elena giggled.
She had been watching the entire exchange like it was the best entertainment the zoo had to offer. Which, honestly, it probably was.
"Papa and Mama fight like in dramas!" she announced.
"We weren't fighting—"
"It was a discussion —"
"You were both loud," Elena said wisely. "Like TV people."
Yuuta and Erza exchanged glances.
Then quickly looked away.
Elena grabbed both their hands.
"Come on! Let's explore MORE! I want to see ALL the beasts!"
Yuuta smiled down at her.
"Okay, little Princess. Let's see all the animals."
"YAH!" Elena shouted, raising their joined hands.
"YAH!" Yuuta echoed, matching her energy.
Silence.
Erza said nothing.
But she didn't let go of Elena's hand.
And as they walked toward the next enclosure—Elena bouncing, Yuuta babbling about what animals came next—
Erza watched them.
Her family.
Her idiots.
"Those idiots," she whispered.
But she was smiling.
Just a little.
Just enough.
---
To be continued...
Chapter Twenty-One: The Dragon Roar
(Coming soon)