While he was repairing Mashiro's draft panels and story structure, Raize heard her soft murmur. He looked up in surprise and saw Mashiro in front of him, lips pressed together, fingers clenched tightly around her manuscript. In her pure eyes flickered a dim, lost light.
The sight made Raize feel as though he had bullied or hurt the girl somehow.
Those beautiful, usually calm phoenix eyes of Mashiro's were now filled with complex emotions. Under Raize's silent gaze, she pointed at her manuscript.
The story of the "pet girl" on the pages had already fully taken shape. Mashiro pointed to the finely drawn scene where the male lead was carrying the female lead on his back. Raize looked at it, his expression growing quiet.
"Aize, I can't think of how the story should develop next."
Mashiro said this with clear disappointment in her voice and emotions. She flipped out earlier drafts as well. On them was a scene where the male protagonist had once been confessed to by a beautiful girl at school, while the female protagonist stood calmly to the side watching.
Yet the inner monologue Mashiro had drawn for the female protagonist was that of a cute, jealous little girl. When the male protagonist mercilessly rejected the confession and took her hand again, her inner thoughts became lively and cheerful.
Even though Raize had intervened and guided her in continuing the story afterward, Mashiro still pursed her lips, clearly dissatisfied.
If Raize still failed to understand the situation—or chose to ignore the girl's feelings—he would end up despising himself.
"The parts you're unhappy with… let's relax a bit first."
Like performing a magic trick, Raize put on a gentle smile. He waved his hand lightly in front of Mashiro and produced his specially made Baumkuchen, placing it before her and moving it slightly, as if tempting a small animal.
The familiar, intoxicating aroma reached Mashiro's nose, and her dull eyes brightened a little. She took the Baumkuchen and, in a very ladylike manner, took a small bite.
Raize, who thought she would keep eating, was momentarily stunned. After just one bite, Mashiro stopped. With a few crumbs at the corner of her lips, she handed the lightly bitten Baumkuchen back to Raize.
"…Is it not good?"
He silently accepted it, took a big bite himself, and looked at her as he asked.
"It's good. Everything you give me tastes the best…"
Her mouth was filled with sweetness, yet her heart felt anything but sweet. Mashiro didn't know how to describe her feelings. She couldn't say the food Raize gave her was bad, so she could only say this with a troubled expression.
Raize stared straight at the troubled girl before him. Even Baumkuchen couldn't ease her mood?
He quietly picked up a tissue from the other side of the desk and gently wiped the crumbs from Mashiro's lips, then asked her directly:
"Mashiro, tell me what you want. That expression doesn't suit your face."
It seemed Raize was about to act as a psychological counselor and life advisor for the girl.
"I… want the most realistic reference. I want to understand many, many emotions I've never understood before, and draw them all into my manga."
After hearing Raize's question, Mashiro tried hard to put the desires in her heart into words. Holding up the draft with the confession scene, she faced him. In her phoenix eyes as she looked at Raize was an indescribable sense of longing.
She wanted to understand and obtain more—not only in her manga, but in reality as well.
Mashiro was innocent and pure, but not foolish. Though she didn't understand what the lively emotions in her heart were, they only became active when she was beside Raize.
When Raize had been confessed to by Masuzu, the complex emotions she felt at that time were unpleasant. But afterward, when Raize took her hand again and led her along like a caretaker, she liked the emotions that arose.
Now, the emotions she didn't like had become active in her heart once more. This time, she hoped Raize could make new emotions appear deep inside her—emotions she would like.
What Mashiro did next was like a sword that ignored all defense, ruthlessly piercing the wall around Raize's heart. Her weapon called "innocence" launched a sudden attack on him.
And it dealt true damage.
Before Raize's stunned eyes, Mashiro picked up another sheet from the desk. It was the finished cover illustration of Pet Girl, already colored.
On that illustration, the male protagonist—sharing nearly ninety percent of Raize's appearance—sat on the floor with an expression mixing helplessness and affection, holding a hair dryer and comb. In his arms, seated in front of him, was the cute, blank-faced female protagonist.
One of her eyes was closed as if enjoying the care from behind, her soft pink hands braced on the floor like those of a pet.
In reality, Mashiro slowly moved closer to Raize, whose heart was shaking violently. Her delicate face drew close to his, and with slender white fingers she pointed at the male protagonist in the illustration. With a tense yet expectant voice, she said to him:
"Aize, can you be my caretaker (male protagonist)?"
In the manga, the pet girl had found a caretaker who looked after her in every detail. In reality, the desire in Mashiro's heart for emotions she didn't understand had begun to grow uncontrollably.
The girl laid everything her heart yearned for bare before Raize, causing a small earthquake within him.
Just as Chihiro had said, Mashiro was truly a poison-like existence. And Raize had already been affected a little.
That straight, direct approach was powerful. If faced by another man, nine out of ten would have their hearts stirred.
But Raize…
Be Mashiro's male protagonist? With his heart wavering, a crack opening slightly, Raize wanted to reach out and pat Mashiro's head. Yet halfway through, his movement suddenly stiffened.
It was as if an illusion appeared before his eyes once more—the blurred vision filled with blood.
A burning car. Blood flowing and spreading across the ground. And the shattered corpses of those called "family."
This time there were no ghouls—because countless ghoul corpses were already piled up at the edges of his vision, along with what seemed to be freshly killed vampire ninjas.
And he himself seemed to be trying to touch the girl before him—pure and spotless—with hands stained by filthy blood.
Do I even have the right to touch her?
Looking at such a pure girl, that question surfaced in Raize's heart and mind.
The crack in his heart was once again covered by gloom, sealed shut without leaving the slightest gap. His outstretched hand trembled slightly before he pulled it back.
Mashiro's eyes showed the emotion of a small pet abandoned by its owner. Seeing the hand that suddenly withdrew, and Raize's eyes that had become flustered, her heart felt clogged and heavy.
Clearly… Raize was so close to her. So why did he feel untouchable?
Such a hateful feeling…
"Do you want me to stay by your side and take care of you?"