Morning sunlight spilled through the thin curtains of Ren's apartment, soft and warm like a breath against bare skin. Kaito sat on the edge of the bed, hands on his knees, staring at the floorboards that glowed golden beneath the light. Ren was still lying beside him, hair messy, eyes half-open, watching him with a strange mixture of shyness and quiet hope.
Kaito swallowed.
The memory of yesterday—his drunken confessions, his possessive words, the way he clung to Ren like a starving man—was sharp and vivid. His pulse chased itself unevenly.
He forced himself to breathe.
"Ren…" His voice was low, careful. "About yesterday… I said things that I shouldn't have said so suddenly. But—"
Ren pushed himself up, the blanket sliding down his bare shoulder.
Kaito's words froze.
Ren's eyes were still sleepy, but the softness inside them… it was something Kaito had never seen before.
"Kaito," Ren whispered, "I heard everything."
Kaito's breath hitched.
Ren sat up fully, knees drawn slightly close, hands resting on his thighs. The morning light framed him like a memory that Kaito didn't realize he had been searching for his whole life.
"…Do you mean it?" Ren finally asked, voice trembling. "Do you really like me?"
Silence.
Then Kaito inhaled deeply.
"I—"
He felt the truth burning behind his ribs, refusing to be caged any longer.
"Yes. I like you. I desire you. I want to be with you."
Ren blinked, stunned, as if his entire body had gone weightless.
Kaito continued, voice trembling as though his heart was stumbling over every word.
"I don't know why it's like this. I've never wanted anyone before. Not in twenty-three years. But when I see you… it's like something inside me wakes up. Something that's been asleep for centuries."
His hand reached out—hesitant, shaking—but he placed it over Ren's.
"I can't explain it. But I feel drawn to you in ways that scare me."
Ren looked down at their joined hands. His lips trembled.
"…I feel the same."
Kaito jerked slightly, surprised.
Ren continued, eyes moistening slightly.
"I… I never had anyone. Not a friend. Not a partner. Not someone who stayed."
He squeezed Kaito's fingers.
"You stayed."
Kaito's breath softened.
Ren shook his head slowly.
"The warmth I feel when you're around… the comfort… the way you look at me—it makes me feel alive. Even if it's not love yet, even if it's something else… I want you. I want you near me. Like medicine."
Their hands remained joined, tight, trembling.
Kaito leaned closer.
"…So you want to be with me?"
Ren nodded once, fragile yet certain.
"Yes."
Kaito exhaled shakily, almost collapsing in relief.
He pulled Ren into a slow embrace.
Ren's body fit against his like it had always belonged there.
And for a moment, neither spoke—because the silence was full of something too old, too familiar, too fated.
---
Ren spread the rough manuscript pages over the coffee table. Half-drawn panels, ink stains, crumpled notes. Kaito sat beside him, trying to organize the chaotic storm.
Ren rubbed the back of his neck.
"I still don't know how to continue after the Shadow Dragon dies."
Kaito inhaled sharply.
The nightmare flashed into him—the tyrant god carrying the dragon's corpse, walking step by step into hell, chains snapping, fire bending around him.
Kaito clenched his fists.
"…I might know," he whispered. "What happened after."
Ren looked up, stunned.
"How?"
Kaito hesitated.
Should he tell the truth? That he saw the scene in his sleep like a memory?
His voice lowered.
"When the dragon died… the monarch didn't stay in the mortal world."
Kaito's fingers trembled as he traced the air, remembering.
"He carried the body and went to the Gates of Hell. Because the soul had already been reborn. He wanted to—follow it. Break whatever fate separated them."
Ren's eyes widened.
Shock. Awe. Something like fear and recognition.
"…Kaito," Ren whispered, "that… that sounds too real to be an idea."
Kaito swallowed a lump.
"I know. I thought I was possessed by your manga. Maybe I am."
He forced a smile, though his eyes were unsettled.
"But it might help you finish the plot."
Ren nodded slowly, trusting him.
Neither realized they had reached the end of the story—
—but not the end of the connection between monarch and dragon.
"What happens after the reincarnation?" Ren murmured.
Kaito stared at him.
"…Do they fall in love again?"
"…Or does the curse still separate them?"
They both fell silent.
Neither said it aloud—but both felt it deeply.
Are we them?
Are we repeating their ending?
Kaito pushed the fear aside and forced a smile.
"Well," he said lightly, "we finished the outline. Somehow."
Ren didn't question how Kaito knew every detail.
He didn't dare.
---
The apartment lights dimmed to a warm golden glow.
Ren stepped out of the bathroom, steam drifting behind him, damp hair loosely falling over his forehead.
Kaito was sitting on the bed, looking through Ren's rough sketches, unaware.
Then he looked up.
And froze.
Ren wore only a loose black tank top and thin shorts—almost transparent under the soft light. His collarbone glowed pale; the faint outline of muscle visible beneath his skin. His eyes had a heavy, hazy look, almost predatory—yet fragile.
Kaito's throat tightened.
"R-Ren…?"
Ren stepped closer, barefoot, silent like a shadow.
His scent—clean soap with something deeper—hit Kaito in a wave.
"I want you tonight."
Ren's voice was low, breathy.
"I don't know why… but I feel so drawn to you. Like something inside me wakes up when I see you."
His fingers slid against Kaito's jaw, hesitant yet desperate.
"Kai… touch me."
Kaito's heart slammed.
Ren leaned closer until their foreheads touched.
His breath brushed Kaito's lips.
"I want to feel your warmth," he whispered. "I want to be held… devoured… filled."
His eyes darkened faintly.
"Like something inside me is hungry for you."
Kaito felt a shiver.
Something ancient, something instinctive passed between them.
He touched Ren's waist—
Ren gasped softly.
Kaito guided him gently onto the bed, their bodies falling together in slow motion.
Ren cupped Kaito's face, eyes trembling.
"Kai," he whispered, "don't leave me."
Kaito kissed him—
soft, slow, and unbearably intimate.
Ren arched into him, breathing quickening.
Kaito traced Ren's skin with trembling fingers, touching him with reverence, not greed.
Ren's lips parted in a soft moan, his hands gripping Kaito's shirt.
Their bodies shifted, pressed, tangled.
Heat grew between them—slow, deep, addictive.
Ren whispered between breaths, "Kai… more…"
Kaito kissed down his jaw, his neck, leaving soft trails of warmth.
Ren trembled under each touch.
It was not explicit.
It was not violent.
It was not rushed.
It was two souls rediscovering a connection older than memory.
A monarch reclaiming his dragon.
A dragon surrendering to his master.
When Ren finally drifted into Kaito's arms, breath unsteady, body warm and satisfied—
Kaito held him close, heart pounding with something raw and terrifying.
Why does this feel like I've held him before?
---
Far away, in the countryside—
Inside the ancestral home of the Arisawa family, in a storage room untouched for generations—
An ancient spherical relic sat in silence.
Its surface was carved with dragons and crowns, symbols of contracts and bindings, names that had long been forgotten.
For centuries, it had been still.
Until tonight.
A thin crack split across its surface.
The spirit with shining silver hair tending the ancestral house lifted his head sharply.
His voice trembled.
"So… you both fell for each other again."
The dome pulsed.
Like a heartbeat awakening.