July 21 — Tuesday
Deaths: 38
Second day since awakening the Hunter’s Mark.
The teenagers walking along the sidewalk stopped short when
they saw the black limousine parked in front of the academy. They murmured
among themselves, and a few discreetly pulled out their phones to take pictures
from a distance.
Belle, anticipating exactly that kind of commotion, had
chosen to stay inside the vehicle. She sat by the window with her legs crossed,
watching Noah’s back as he walked toward the building’s entrance.
“Why are you spending so much time with that man?”
Jeanne’s voice broke the silence inside the car. She sounded
as calm as always, with no intention of being intrusive, even though the
question itself was.
Belle didn’t take her eyes off the window.
“I’m just interested in him.”
“I know you,” Jeanne replied in her characteristic brief,
direct manner. “You don’t smile like that with anyone. Not even with the people
you’re on good terms with now.”
Belle was silent for a moment, still watching the door Noah
had disappeared through.
“He makes me feel at ease,” she finally said. “I feel
comfortable around him. For the first time, someone treats me like an ordinary
person instead of a celebrity. He’s easy to talk to. He’s kind to me, and he
makes me laugh easily. Naturally, I’m interested in him.”
“Romantically?” Jeanne asked bluntly.
Belle closed her eyes without turning to look at her.
“Let’s let things develop naturally. Time will tell whether
he could be a boyfriend or whether he’s just a good friend.”
The limousine door opened just then. Noah climbed in,
carefully carrying Lily in his arms, and gently settled her into the seat
across from Belle.
Lily froze at once, her eyes wide.
“Belle Snow?!” she exclaimed, unable to contain herself.
“Belle Snow is—¿! How? When? Why is she here?”
Unlike Noah, who treated Belle with an almost bewildering
naturalness, Lily reacted exactly as any other civilian would in front of an
SSS-Rank Hunter: with a mixture of admiration and complete disbelief.
Belle laughed softly.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said warmly. “I’m a
friend of your older brother.”
“A-a friend?” Lily looked at Noah, then back at Belle, then
at Noah again. “How did you meet?”
“At the Fortress,” Belle replied, without making more of it
than necessary. “We ran into each other by chance and hit it off.”
Lily opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again,
unable to find the words.
Noah got into the vehicle after putting the wheelchair in
the trunk, then closed the door behind him.
“When did this happen?” Lily asked immediately, turning
toward him. “Why didn’t you tell me you were friends with Belle Snow?”
“I hadn’t had the chance,” Noah replied with an awkward
smile. “It’s pretty recent, actually.”
“Your brother is very pleasant,” Belle added with unexpected
warmth. “He’s told me a lot about you. I’m happy to finally meet you.”
Lily brought both hands to her cheeks, utterly amazed.
“I can’t believe you said that…”
“Don’t overwhelm her,” Noah told his sister with a laugh.
“I don’t mind at all,” Belle replied gently. “I completely
understand how she feels.”
◇◆◇
Night had already covered the city in darkness when Noah
pushed Lily’s wheelchair along a sidewalk lit by warm streetlamps, walking a
couple of steps behind Belle and his sister as they chatted with a natural ease
that honestly surprised him.
‘They seem like lifelong friends,’ he thought, watching
them. ‘Lily has talked more with Belle in the last hour than I’ve talked with
her all day.’
“…and that’s why I think everything you do is incredible,”
Lily was saying, her eyes shining with admiration. “I even noticed your
keychain. The light-blue hummingbird, right? You always wear it at your waist.”
Belle glanced down at the small ornament and smiled with a
warmth Noah had never seen in any of her expressions before.
“I love this keychain,” she said. “I’ve worn it ever since I
started exploring the castle. It’s my good-luck charm.”
“I didn’t know that,” Lily replied, admiring the little
hummingbird with genuine interest. “I’m glad I found out.”
Belle stopped.
Without warning, she unclipped the keychain from her waist
and, bending slightly in front of the wheelchair, held it out to Lily.
“It’s yours.”
Lily went pale and frantically shook her head, waving both
hands.
“No, I can’t accept something so important! I really
couldn’t—¡”
But Belle gently took her hand and closed her fingers around
the little charm.
“It’s brought me luck all this time,” she said with a serene
smile. “Now it’s your turn. Let it look after you the way it looked after me.”
A couple of steps behind them, Noah watched the scene, a
strange feeling stirring in his chest.
‘Isn’t she doing too much?’ he thought, frowning slightly.
‘She’s… very thoughtful. More than I ever would have imagined.’
A part of his mind—the most analytical part, the one that
had learned to read Belle’s every gesture through thirty-three carefully
studied deaths—wondered for a moment whether all of this might somehow be an
act. A different mask from the one she wore in interviews, but a mask all the
same.
He didn’t have time to dwell on the thought.
The sky turned a violent red without warning, and high above
them, the crimson moon slowly rose, displaying its smile of uneven fangs.
The nearby pedestrians stopped short, murmuring among
themselves with a mixture of resignation and restrained panic.
“This time, it came too late,” Belle remarked calmly,
looking up at the sky.
[You have fifteen minutes to enter the Castle. Those who do
not enter within the allotted time will die instantly.]
Noah felt his pupils suddenly dilate as the message appeared
in his system.
‘Fifteen minutes? I doubt I can make it in time from here.’
But Belle, with a calm that sharply contrasted with the
urgency of the situation, took out her phone and dialed a number.
“Jeanne, can you take Lily home?”
A brief silence followed, then an affirmative reply from the
other end of the line.
Noah looked at her, surprised.
“Jeanne will make sure your sister is safe,” Belle told him,
putting away her phone. “You can relax. She’ll take good care of her.”
Noah looked at Jeanne, who was already approaching from the
limousine parked nearby, with an instinctive distrust he couldn’t help feeling.
It was the first time he would have to leave Lily in the
hands of someone completely outside his circle of trust.
“Brother?” Lily’s voice brought him out of his doubts.
Noah looked at her, then at Jeanne as she approached calmly.
“Can I trust you with her?”
“I won’t do anything that would bring disrepute to Miss
Belle.”
Noah nodded, somewhat reassured, and crouched beside Lily’s
wheelchair to say goodbye.
“Be very careful,” she told him, clutching the little
hummingbird keychain between her fingers. “Please come back.”
“I always come back.”
Lily turned her head toward Belle.
“Please take care of my brother.”
“He’ll come back safe and sound,” Belle replied with a
reassuring smile. “You can rest easy.”
Jeanne began pushing the wheelchair back toward the
limousine with a polite nod, and as soon as they had gone far enough, Belle
turned to Noah with a completely different expression.
“Has anyone ever carried you?”
Noah blinked, bewildered.
“What?”
Belle turned her back to him without another word and
crouched slightly, inviting him with a clear gesture.
“You’re joking, right?” Noah asked, still trying to process
the offer.
Belle laughed.
“Otherwise, we won’t make it to the castle.”
He had no choice. He cleared his throat, awkwardly murmured,
“Excuse me,” and climbed onto her back, letting Belle carry him like a
backpack.
“Hold on tight,” she told him calmly, “but don’t get carried
away. Don’t touch where you shouldn’t, or I’ll get mad.”
“I’m embarrassed enough as it is to have a woman carrying
me,” Noah replied with a nervous laugh. “I don’t need any more reasons to be
embarrassed.”
“Don’t worry,” Belle said playfully. “I’ll treat you like a
princess.”
“Don’t say that.”
Belle let out a brief laugh, and without warning, she
leaped.
The world became a dizzying blur of rooftops, streets, and
city lights as she moved at a speed Noah had never imagined possible for
someone so slender and seemingly fragile.
She leaped from building to building with absolute
precision, crossing the entire city in a matter of minutes before emerging on
the outskirts and running across open ground, straight toward the imposing
silhouette of the castle outlined against the crimson sky.
When they reached the main plaza—packed with Hunters shoving
one another amid shouting and desperation, exactly as always—Belle simply
jumped over their heads, drawing surprised exclamations and the occasional
groan of pain when she stepped on them to propel herself forward.
She landed inside the entrance, then gave one final, gentle
push toward the main lobby and set Noah back on the floor.
“We’ve arrived at your destination,” she said with a
mischievous smile. “Tips are accepted. And I’ll only accept a five-star
review.”
Noah burst out laughing, and Belle laughed with him.
All around them, dozens of Hunters turned to look,
whispering among themselves in clear surprise as they recognized Belle Snow.
The whispers immediately spread to her companion.
‘We’re definitely drawing attention,’ Noah thought, feeling
curious eyes fixed on his back.
“This is where we part ways,” Belle said, returning to her
usual tone.
“Yeah,” Noah replied with a sigh.
“Although,” she added thoughtfully, “I promised Lily I’d
take care of you all night and bring you back safe and sound.” She looked at
him with a raised eyebrow. “I remember you still hadn’t defeated the
first-floor boss. How about I help you with that?”
Noah felt his blood run cold for a moment, an awkward,
nervous expression crossing his face.
“Well… actually, I already killed the first-floor boss.”
Belle blinked.
“What?”