Chapter 7: Unexpected Outburst

“Oh my!”

“Mother!”

“Lauren!”

With an explosive sound, the glass in Lauren’s hand shattered. Emil and Yanis simultaneously moved toward the startled Lauren, who seemed at a loss for what to do. No, more accurately, as Emil hesitated in surprise, Yanis quickly reached her first.

“Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I must have been too excited about Emil coming.”

Though she tried to appear calm to reassure the two startled men, Lauren’s hands trembled uncontrollably. Yanis carefully took her hands, meticulously checking for any injuries. Lauren, while sending him an apologetic look, seemed relieved by Yanis’s steady demeanor.

Only Emil, by contrast, stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Lauren, who had been looking at Yanis with complete trust, belatedly noticed Emil’s gaze and spoke.

“Oh, Emil.”

“…Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, I’m fine, dear. You must have been very startled, weren’t you?”

“Oh, no, not at all.”

“This doesn’t usually happen… It’s alright, you don’t need to worry too much.”

Lauren quickly spoke, having registered her son’s expression, but the worry etched on Emil’s face showed no sign of fading. For the past few days, or rather, months, Lauren had lived without incident.

While she had intentionally conjured flames before, it had been a long time since her abilities had suddenly burst forth in such an unconscious manner. Perhaps the problem was her excitement over the past few days, ever since receiving her son’s letter.

At least, this was the first time Lauren’s abilities had caused such an issue since she met Yanis.

Yanis, who had been meticulously examining Lauren, finally relaxed after a long moment and offered a faint smile.

“Fortunately, it seems you’re not hurt anywhere. You must have been very surprised.”

“No, not at all. Thank you, Yanis.”

Lauren shyly smiled back at Yanis.

Emil felt a renewed sense of distance at the sight. To Emil, Lauren was his only family, his blood relation, yet she was Yanis’s lover, and Yanis was Lauren’s Guide. Moreover, the bond between the two of them appeared remarkably strong.

Silently watching the pair, Emil began picking up the scattered glass shards from the floor, hoping to conceal his awkwardness.

“Emil, leave it. I’ll clean it up. It would be terrible if you cut your hand.”

“It’s alright. I’ve done it many times.”

Bending down to gather the glass fragments brought a sense of ease, as it meant he didn’t have to look at their faces. Whenever an object was damaged by an explosion from Lauren’s fingertips, Emil had always taken charge of the cleanup.

As Emil silently collected the shards, Yanis also followed suit, beginning to pick up the glass that had scattered on the opposite side.

“Please, stay still. It seems you still need to calm down.”

Yanis spoke to Lauren in a gentle yet firm tone as she hastily tried to join the two men in tidying up the house. Lauren hesitated for a moment, then, recalling that she was the cause of the recent explosion, reluctantly sat down.

She had only wanted to offer her son a good glass and some precious wine, now that he had finally come home. She had merely intended to cherish this time, which might never come again, yet she had ruined it.

Lauren’s eyes welled with tears of apology as she gazed at her son’s back.

“Haa…”

After picking up a good number of fragments, Emil straightened up, rubbing his lower back. Having been bent over for so long, his back and legs ached and tingled. As he looked around, intending to discard what was once a glass but now merely shards, Lauren extended something toward him.

“Put them in here.”

“Ah.”

Emil remembered the owner of that old wooden bowl, its edges cracked with age. It belonged to his father, a faint memory. Even before Emil left for seminary, the bowl had been too worn to be practical, yet Lauren had never discarded it.

If the glass shards weren’t perfectly removed, the bowl would be difficult to use again. No, even if they were removed, it could never be used for food. Perhaps it was already treated as such.

While Emil hesitated, Yanis carefully emptied the fragments he had collected into the bowl. Unconsciously, Emil’s gaze drifted toward him.

“Emil?”

He had been staring at Yanis with a resentful look, only to snap back to attention at his mother’s voice. Emil very carefully shook his hand, hoping that as few fragments as possible would remain in the bowl.

****

The meal ended early. Lauren’s accident had caused her to lose both her concentration and her appetite. Emil tried to focus on Lauren’s words, but it didn’t last long.

“I really must go. I have to attend Mass early tomorrow morning.”

Ultimately, Emil used Mass as an excuse to rise from the table. In truth, he wished he could spend the entire day praying, not just at Mass. Lauren seemed disappointed that her son was leaving after eating so little.

“Once you’re ordained, where will you be living then?”

“Currently, I’m staying in accommodation provided by the seminary, but I’m scheduled to move to a different location afterward. Most likely.”

“So you won’t be serving as a priest here.”

“While that can happen, priests are often sent to the furthest possible locations immediately after ordination. I expect to know the exact details on the day of the ceremony.”

Emil spoke, deliberately avoiding Lauren’s gaze. Once he had entered the seminary, there was no turning back. Among those who enrolled by choice and will, some gave up and left midway, but those like Emil, chosen by God, almost always remained until the end to become priests.

The rare students who fled the seminary never met a good end. Some became disabled, and in severe cases, they even died. The most horrifying thing was that even those who survived, unable to walk or see properly, would still return to the seminary.

They would then resume their religious life and studies as if they had never once abandoned that arduous path. Witnessing such sights firsthand often filled Emil with both skepticism and fear. ‘Is that a curse? A judgment?’ he wondered.

He had once repented after wandering for a long time in shock and confusion.

“If the opportunity arises, I would like to meet with you again before you leave for another place. It’s an unfamiliar area to me… I haven’t had the chance to satisfy my academic curiosity, so if it’s alright with you, please permit it.”

“Ah, of course.”

At Yanis’s request, Emil readily nodded. Yanis was a Guide and also his mother’s lover. It was natural to feel concern and apprehension about the man who would become his stepfather.

If Emil were to leave for some distant, unknown province, this man would be the only one left beside his mother. In that case, becoming somewhat close wouldn’t be a bad idea.

At Emil’s reply, Yanis offered his usual gentle smile.

“Thank you. I will visit you later.”

Emil bid the man farewell, then shared a final embrace with his mother. Lauren’s eyes had been red-rimmed even before she hugged Emil.

“Emil, my son…”

“Mother.”

Her throat tightened, making it difficult to speak further. There had been a time when she considered it a blessing that her son was leaving her to go to seminary. In those days, when she was more unstable and unable to control her abilities, she believed it was better for them to be apart, even for Emil’s safety.

She hadn’t known then that it would be the beginning of an eternal farewell. Lauren forcefully suppressed the surging pain and kissed her son’s cheek.

“I’ll come again. Before I leave.”

“Emil.”

Yanis spoke to Emil, who was making a promise to his mother.

“Lauren mentioned she would like to hold the wedding while you’re in town.”

“Ah… yes, that’s fine. I’ll help if I can.”

At Emil’s reply, Yanis smiled and nodded. Emil looked down at his mother once more. Though Emil had become an adult and his mother had aged during their time apart, she still seemed vulnerable.

“While I’m in town, I won’t have much to do. If it’s alright, I’ll visit often.”

Emil tried to comfort Lauren with kind words. This period was a short break granted before becoming an official priest, so officially, Emil had no schedule. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t be able to freely come and go from Lauren’s house.

Regardless of Emil being a seminarian, Lauren was also an Esper, and people would look at them with prejudice, ignoring the fact that they were mother and son.

“…I promise, Mother.”

Emil forced a smile as he made the promise to his mother. There was nothing Lauren could do about that uncertain promise. Her son lightly kissed the back of her hand one last time before leaving the house.

****

After her son left, Lauren sat in the chair where he had been, searching for any lingering warmth. Yanis began tidying up, stepping in for his distraught lover. Lauren took Yanis’s actions for granted.

Though they weren’t yet married or intimate, it was only natural for two people in a relationship to spend time together in one person’s home. Moreover, Lauren couldn’t properly control her abilities, so she often felt quite stable when Yanis visited.

Yanis gathered the leftover dishes, placed the rest of the tableware in water, and then picked up the wooden bowl containing the glass fragments. He intended to quickly bury the shards before she could get hurt.

“Lauren…”

Yanis called Lauren’s name, his voice gentle as he examined the inside of the bowl.

“Yes?”

“Did you happen to touch this?”

Yanis held up the wooden bowl, the one her late ex-husband used. Lauren hastily shook her head.

“No, I didn’t touch it. Why?”

“…”

At Lauren’s words, Yanis looked down into the bowl with a cool gaze.

“Yanis?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’ll dispose of this myself. You shouldn’t risk getting hurt.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Where finely shattered glass shards should have been, there were instead brittle, frozen ice fragments.