The One and Only Sami Chapter 28

Razard rolled his eyes from that same position, shifting his gaze toward Sami.

“I’d love for us to fly on a carpet to see it, but you can’t use sorcery inside the palace.”

“So it’s true that you’re not a real Djinni…”

“Are you still on about that?”

Razard laughed out loud, looking exasperated but not particularly offended.

“Anyway, if no magic works here, then a Djinni shouldn’t be able to enter either.”

“True. But the Marut is different. Magic tools that don’t yield to the Harut’s Word are rare indeed.”

Razard spread the fingers supporting his chin slightly. He blew a soft breath through the gaps, and the ring set with the pomegranate gem flashed, radiating light. It was the same ring that had caught Sami’s eye earlier.

“That’s…”

“It’s a new Marut I received thanks to you. The color is lovely, isn’t it? No cloudiness, very pure.”

“Thanks to me?”

“Yeah. The fact that the color is this beautiful after all that chaos—I reckon it’s thanks to you. Even though that Djinni was so lewd.”

Sami listened, but it was all Greek to him. As he stood there with a puzzled look, Razard narrowed his eyes and grinned. It was that same wicked-looking smile.

Razard moved the hand supporting his chin until the ring was near his lips. He rubbed the gem against his mouth and then bared his teeth slightly. A soft click echoed as the gem grazed his teeth, almost as if he were taking a tiny bite. Though it was a faint sound, it made Sami’s ears tingle so much his shoulders jerked.

“I pulled this out of your mouth. This thing.”

“What? What do you… …!”

Before he could even finish asking “What does that mean?”, the meaning crashed down on him. When that ‘Marut’ had appeared, what had been done to extract it, and how Razard had come to possess it.

The moment he heard Razard call it a ‘lewd Djinni,’ Sami felt like he might faint on the spot. He couldn’t actually pass out because of the important task his Master had entrusted to him, but he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs…

“Shh, Sami. The guards will be coming around soon, so don’t make too much noise.”

Even that impulse was suppressed.

Sami sat with his knees pulled up, hugging the box tight. He dropped his forehead onto the box and buried his face. His body, curled up like a round cinnamon roll, trembled uncontrollably.

He felt like he might die of embarrassment. At the same time, he was furious.

“…You did sneak in after all!”

“I told you I didn’t.”

“Then why are you hiding?!”

“I told you. It’ll be a hassle.”

“Ugh… then why…!”

“Anyway, I was thinking of just staying put, but I’m glad I came out.”

Before Sami could demand to know why it would be a hassle, Razard beat him to the punch.

“Because I got to meet you.”

“…”

Sami’s energy completely drained away at the sight of that relaxed, beaming face. Hearing him say something as nonchalant as “I’m glad I met you” made whatever fighting spirit he had left vanish.

“…Fine. Why do I even worry? I’m sure you’ll handle yourself, Razard…”

Rather than prying further, it felt right to just say it was good to see him and go on his way. It felt a bit early to head back, but it was better to hurry than to be late.

“I should be going now. If I’m gone too long, the Master will come looking for me.”

“Already? Hmm, wait a second.”

Sami started to scramble to his feet, but Razard suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

“I heard what you said earlier, so it’d be a shame to just let you go.”

“Huh? What are you going to do…?”

Razard smiled broadly. The lips that had bitten the gem earlier now curved into a gentle, graceful arc.

“Sami, as you know.”

Razard reached into the thicket, snapped off a flower stalk, and tucked it into Sami’s vest. The deep purple flower hanging long against the cheerful color of the vest looked quite cute. First and foremost, the refreshing scent that spread around was pleasant.

“If I want something, I have to have it, and if I want to do something, I have to do it.”

However, Sami couldn’t even look at the flower Razard had used to decorate him. That face, framed by the purple blossoms, was truly beautiful, which gave Sami a terribly bad feeling.

“Wait, Razard. Even if you say that…”

“Didn’t you say just now that it would be great to see it from a high place?”

“What?”

“So let’s go see it together. This is a ‘special’ treat, but you don’t have to thank me.”

“No, I keep telling you…! Whether you’re kidnapping me or carrying me off, give me some explanation—whoa…!”

This time, Razard’s hand covered Sami’s eyes. Even the dim light was blocked by his palm, so no matter how much Sami blinked, he couldn’t see a thing. There was only the darkness provided by the hollow of Razard’s palm.

After a moment, he felt a pressure against his eyes. A careful, gentle pressure. It was just the right weight for him to lean his face into the back of the hand covering his sight.

“The Sun of Harut and the Moon of Marut.”

With the hand covering his eyes between them, their faces were pressed together. Sami had heard the words Razard was whispering once before.

“Things that live within the boundary. The middle of the breath. My Djinni.”

An incantation.

“Heugh…!”

A bizarre sense of foreignness quickly covered his entire body like scales flipping over. It felt as if pieces of flesh, soft and moist as lips, were nibbling and crawling over his skin, before adhering like suction cups to the back of his neck, between his eyebrows, and around his heart.

I hate this. Even though it felt unpleasant, his breath leaked out in strange, sweet gasps. It felt as if some set of lips were coveting even that breath. No. Don’t toy with my breath too…

“…Nng.”

His whole body felt weightless. It was as if the ground beneath his feet had vanished. Wind rushed in from all directions. He couldn’t see anything, but his skin told him so: ‘You are in mid-air.’

“Ra-Razard. Razard!”

He curled his body inward and called his name. The hand covering his eyes was still there. This large, warm sensation of flesh was definitely Razard. These weren’t those disgusting lips. Sami called his name over and over in an urgent voice.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’re here. You can look now.”

The hand was withdrawn. In place of the darkness warmed by body heat…

“Eh…?”

The cold light of the night sky filled Sami’s eyes.

“Wh-where are we?”

“A tower?”

It wasn’t just a tower. Specifically, they were perched on the rounded roof of the tower.

“Ah? Wh-wha?”

His brain simply couldn’t process it. A tower? The tower he had seen earlier? When he looked ahead dazed and blank, the crescent moon seemed exceptionally close. It felt like he could reach out and grab it. As Sami was having these foolish, escapist thoughts, the reality of the situation finally hit him.

“Hiek…”

“Don’t be startled. You’re not actually here.”

Razard was saying something, but it didn’t reach Sami’s ears properly.

Sami’s legs trembled violently as he gripped anything he could find. His knuckles turned white from the strain. He was completely terrified, his dark face turning pale with fright. The roof, polished into a round shape, felt as if he would slide right off if he took even one wrong step.

It was obvious what would happen if he fell from this tower. He would end up like the ‘Sufi who fell from the sky, skull crushed and eyeballs dangling out,’ a story the Housekeeper Harna used to tell with vivid detail. Definitely, absolutely!

“H-heeeeeeek!”

“Sami, I told you it’s fine. We’ve just moved our perspective upward. Your actual body is safely on the ground…”

“Ugh, hic, waaaah! Let me down! I hate this!”

“Here, try touching the ground again. It’s not a roof; it’s just grass. It’s solid, right?”

Razard lunged out over the void as if to show off, but far from being reassured, Sami didn’t even dare to try; he just shook his head frantically. His body, stiff with terror, couldn’t even manage a smooth head shake. As he expressed his refusal by trembling all over as if having a seizure, Razard let out a quiet sigh.

“Can’t be helped, then.”

The only way left was…

Instead of breaking the spell and sending Sami back, Razard pulled him into his arms.

“Sami.”

He tucked Sami against him, wrapping his arms around him to hold him securely. Sami’s back and Razard’s chest were pressed together without a gap. He could feel the heart beating powerfully, thump, thump, through the skin.

There is no sound more effective at calming an animal than a heartbeat. Sami’s body, which had been stiff and frantic, slowly began to settle.

“Haah, ha…”

“Better?”

It no longer felt like he was going to fall or slide off the tower. Sami fell silent, held firmly in Razard’s embrace. Seeing that the reaction from Sami—whose head was bowed—was now calm, Razard rested his chin on top of the boy’s head.

“You seem okay now.”

He let out a soft chuckle. The laughter turned into a faint vibration that reached Sami’s skin where they were pressed together.