"Dr. Tanaka, are you in there? There's a patient who needs an emergency operation!"
Hoshino looked up.
Could it be Misaki Suzuki?
"You're the only obstetrician on duty tonight?" he asked quietly.
"Yes," Tanaka replied.
Hoshino rubbed his nose, a bit conflicted.
If it's not Misaki Suzuki, I'll have to wait around for him?
Too risky. He planned to act tonight—he couldn't let Tanaka walk free.
The man could make one phone call and alert the entire Onsen District.
But if he killed him now, the pregnant woman would die too.
And with only twenty-five percent of the Control Authority, Hoshino didn't have enough power to dominate the district or control the puppet at the administrative center.
Unless he used a Contract.
The Control Devil's Authority, when paired with a Contract, could enforce stronger bindings.
Wait. I'm not the Control Devil… but I'm a Devil too, right?
"Oh, right! I'm the Muscle Devil!" Hoshino suddenly realized.
"Dr. Tanaka, are you there? The patient's water already broke—it's a matter of life and death! Please hurry!"
The nurse outside sounded anxious, even a little irritated.
Hoshino glanced at Tanaka.
"Give everything you have to me," he said flatly. "Repeat it—form a Contract with me."
"I form a Contract with you."
A strange sensation shot through Hoshino's entire body. He knew the Contract had been sealed.
"Go."
"Yes."
Tanaka stood, opened the door, and barked, "What the hell's all the yelling about? I'm the doctor here, or are you the doctor?"
"You…" The nurse stared at his swollen, pig-like face in horror.
Holy crap—does the head nurse play this rough?
Plenty of staff knew about the affair between the head nurse and Director Tanaka. It wasn't exactly a secret. They'd been at it for seven or eight years.
But seeing him like this was a first.
Wait… can that kind of thing even do this to a person?
I heard they role-play sometimes… maybe this time it was a 300-pound sumo wife catching her 80-pound cheating husband?
"Come on!" Tanaka snapped.
"R-right!"
Trailing behind them was a palm-sized spider. The moment it saw the pregnant woman, it vanished into the darkness of a corner wall.
Hoshino wasn't amused. He ordered Sayuri to forget everything that had happened that night, then grabbed Kobeni and left the hospital.
Outside, snow barely reached their ankles, soft and powdery like a white carpet, whispering under their boots.
It wasn't deep, but the spring chill bit harder at night.
In the Onsen District, Kobeni spent most of the time riding piggyback on Hoshino. She hadn't even noticed how oversized her clothes were.
Now, she tried to stretch her chin to block the wind sneaking through her collar, but it didn't help. She ended up burying her face deeper into the coat.
"Hold up," Hoshino said, stopping suddenly before running back toward the hospital.
A few minutes later, he came out again—carrying a woman's cashmere coat, a black turtleneck sweater, and a white wool scarf. A gray beanie sat on his head.
"You… stole those?"
"Took them," Hoshino said with a smirk, handing her the clothes.
"They're Sayuri's. I ordered her to take them off for me."
"Uwah, that's awful."
"Don't worry about her. I gave her Dr. Tanaka's coat."
"What about Dr. Tanaka?"
"Don't worry about him."
"…So no one's worrying about him, then."
"…"
Once she finished changing, Hoshino reached a hand into Kobeni's coat pocket.
She dodged, her rosy face hiding behind the scarf.
Ahead was the hospital gate. A single old streetlight stood to the right, its soft amber glow falling over the drooping branches heavy with snow.
When the wind stirred, clumps of snow broke loose and fell, scattering into glittering gold dust and silver shards along the edge of the guardhouse roof.
Shhhh.
The elderly gatekeeper cracked one eye open, took a sip of hot barley tea, and sighed contentedly.
"A-aren't we… supposed to climb the wall?" Kobeni blurted, flustered.
Hoshino laughed. "It made sense sneaking in that way, but who climbs a wall to sneak out?"
Then his smile faded. "Such a dumb question—you must be sick. Let Dr. Hoshino check your pulse."
His "devilish" hand reached toward her again.
Kobeni ducked away.
"Y-you're… too fast."
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but in the quiet country night, every syllable was clear.
Hoshino had been about to crack a joke, but the mood was too good. The words died in his throat.
"Too fast?" he teased instead. "What do you mean?"
"We've… only known each other two days…"
"So what?" He walked toward her, hands behind his back.
"Flirt!" Kobeni protested, stepping back.
Hoshino thought for a moment. "Kobeni-san, you ever do jigsaw puzzles?"
"…Yeah. My sister's."
And she chewed me out for it too, she thought, pouting.
It was a Doraemon puzzle—a graduation gift from their parents to her sister when she was twelve.
Kobeni had been eight. Her life already sucked back then.
When her mom handed that puzzle to her sister, she'd thought:
If I finish it first, maybe Doraemon will crawl out of the drawer and pull something from his pocket to fix my crappy life.
That weekend, while her sister was at club practice, she "borrowed" the half-finished puzzle.
She'd almost completed it when her sister came home.
Panicking, she hid it. Didn't even answer when asked about it.
When her sister went to shower, she continued—just one piece left. Excited, she picked it up to admire her work.
She wanted to place the final piece under the brightest light so Doraemon could see it too.
But she tripped.
The puzzle shattered across the floor.
She hadn't even started crying before her sister walked in…
Kobeni told the story quietly, glancing at Hoshino every now and then. If he laughed, she'd stop.
But he didn't laugh. His face was serious.
Is he… actually listening?
That made her a little happy.
"If it were me," Hoshino muttered, "I'd have finished it in half an hour. Hopefully our kids inherit my IQ."
"Hey!"
She tried to move away, but he grabbed her wrist.
"Tell me! Why'd you take so long?" he demanded dramatically.
"B-because you have to look! The wrong pieces don't fit together," she mumbled defensively.
"Oh? The wrong ones don't fit?"
"Of course, idiot."
"But what if you use scissors and glue?"
"That'd take forever! My sister would never give me the chance."
"So it's impossible?"
"The chances are tiny."
"Exactly." Hoshino smiled. "So what's the difference between us and a puzzle?"
"Eh?" Kobeni blinked.
"Our genes and experiences make us each uniquely shaped," Hoshino said. "Out of a whole box of pieces, maybe only four fit you perfectly. And if you factor in preference, maybe just one. The rest are all 'like but don't fit,' or 'fit but don't like.'"
"To fit with the wrong piece, you need new experiences and time—like using scissors and glue. You cut and force it together, suffering through it, and even then, you might not make it in time. Five, ten years might not be enough for them."
"But the right piece—" He raised his head, eyes glinting under the streetlight. "—sixteen tries at most—and it's done. One second, one minute—that's already too long."
He quickened his steps, blocking her path under the old lamp. The warm glow carved out a small stage in the cold night just for the two of them.
"Kobeni-san, we're a perfect puzzle—one that only needed five collisions to fit. Even someone as cute as you can't go against fate."
He held out his fist. "Now, give me your hand."
"Ah—!"
Kobeni froze, her face redder than ever, faint steam rising from her head like a dazed girl being pulled away by her boyfriend right after a hot bath.
Eh?
Confession?
This is a confession, right?
It's definitely a confession!
So sudden!!
In a daze, she bumped her fist against his.
"Your hand, Kobeni!" Hoshino urged.
"You had your fist out too!" she protested.
"Then guess who I'm being right now?"
"...The Emperor?"
"Doraemon, you idiot!"
"Pfft—haha!" Kobeni burst out laughing, finally extending her hand.
Just as their palms were about to meet, she pulled back.
"What's wrong? Doraemon's freezing right now—he needs Shizuka's warm little hand!"
"I don't hold hands with the harem king."
Hoshino: "???"
"Wha—what?!"
He stared at her mischievous eyes above the white wool scarf, half-suspecting some mountain fox spirit had possessed her.
"Didn't you say you joined me because I was gonna be the harem king?"
"N-no! Who'd want to share the person they l-l-l… like?!"
"…I'll think about it."
"Uwah! Gross! Jerk! Y-you're—ugh—awful!"
Hoshino gritted his teeth. "Fine! You win! I agree!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I can't do anything that'd hurt you, Kobeni-san." He sighed. "Now gimme your hand."
"Mm!"
She offered her porcelain-white hand.
Their palms met.
"Y-you got lucky!" she muttered.
"You got lucky," he echoed.
They said it in perfect unison.
…
Their two silhouettes drifted away under the light.
The gatekeeper lowered his eyes, took another sip of hot barley tea, and murmured, "All that fuss… just to hold hands? Heh."