"Can't you just sleep properly for once?!"
Kalpas truly couldn't stand the man's fixed routine of going out in the middle of the night. It was as if he didn't need sleep; he would return to the room and wait to go out again without even taking off his clothes.
"...Don't you have hobbies to pass the time too? For example, those dolls and wood carvings." The man turned back and pointed at an inconspicuous box in the corner of the room, earning a palpable surge of rage from Kalpas.
"You have an opinion?"
"None." The man shrugged. "I know someone who also likes playing with these... little things. I heard her and her sister say that boys can like dolls too, so I have no opinion."
"Hmph, get lost."
The man respectfully "got lost." At least this time, Kalpas didn't say anything more.
According to his observations, Kalpas was nowhere near as arrogant and rude as he appeared. On the contrary, he was very meticulous. He and Mobius were perhaps two extremes: the man could never guess what Mobius was thinking, while Kalpas always conveyed his thoughts in the most direct way, which was why he seemed overbearing.
Furthermore, Kalpas certainly didn't hate the sanatorium. He enjoyed the atmosphere of living here. In other words... he enjoyed the feeling of having a "home."
Now, the man seemed to have become a member of this home as well—a member with a different personality from Kalpas.
After turning off the light and walking out, the man took a breath and removed the mask from his face. The face that flashed for an instant in the moonlight was quickly covered by a large black net.
"Teacher~ Teacher~"
Several hushed shouts were stopped by a silencing gesture.
The clouds dispersed, revealing a group of people in the moonlight—
Children wearing stockings on their heads.
The man, with a section of stocking hanging behind his head like a ponytail, slowly walked up to them. After counting to make sure every child was present, he nodded: "Do you all know what today's mission is?"
"Isn't it going out to play?" a boy asked blankly.
"It's going to fight against dark and evil forces," Daniela's voice came from behind a pair of pink stockings.
"Oh... so why are we wearing stockings?"
"Because fighting evil forces requires secrecy; you can't expose your appearance or movements," the man commanded seriously. "Do you remember the routes and methods I taught you?"
"We remember~"
...
"...Mr. Lin, why are you playing 'house' in that sanatorium?"
Gray Snake... or rather, one of the Gray Snakes, stood hidden in the shadows. He observed the man, who looked like he was leading a terrorist group on an outing with those children, leaving the sanatorium. He couldn't understand why the man would stay in the sanatorium; it was too abnormal.
Only after receiving information from another Gray Snake did he nod in realization.
"I see... but Mr. Lin, why must you do this? Life is a falling leaf drifting from a branch. Even if one can change the direction of the wind, one cannot change the fate of returning to the soil."
"Even if you stir the wind, you can no longer catch the falling leaf."
Gray Snake was watching the man's actions, his every move. Gray Snake would not intervene, including in what was about to happen. Gray Snake would only be a bystander and a thinker, watching what the man would do and pondering why he did it.
...
"...Still not asleep tonight?"
The nun, sitting before the bed in her nightgown, opened her eyes. She saw the man landing lightly on the windowsill, his black clothes spreading like ink in the moonlight.
But the stockings he was wearing made his perverted essence fully manifest.
"..."
"Sorry, didn't have time to change." The man belatedly touched the stockings on his face. He had thought the nun was already asleep, so he hadn't changed back to the mask.
The nun sighed imperceptibly: "I wanted to see how you usually climb up, so I was waiting for you today. Why do you..."
"I have things to do."
"..."
When someone is unwilling to tell the truth, no amount of questioning will yield an answer. The nun didn't push further. After all, there were many unusual things about the man. Even after living here for nearly half a month, the nun could never forget his actions during their first meeting.
"Mr. Ultraman, why are you writing letters to me?"
The nun was feeling somewhat conflicted now.
The more the man acted harmless, the more he integrated into the sanatorium, the more the nun would remember the side of him that occasionally leaked a bone-chilling coldness. Even though everything he did was good—even more fitting the definition of a "good person" than anyone she had ever seen—she could only increasingly view it as a facade.
More terrifyingly, she had actually adapted to it, even enjoying the status quo.
There was no shortage of resources or funds, the children were optimistic, the atmosphere was thriving, and even Kalpas had a friend he could bicker and share his heart with.
He handled all this with ease, making the nun feel like he was... arranging something.
"..." The man said nothing. He looked up at the thin crescent moon in the sky. The nun followed his gaze, but in the end, her eyes met his.
Because of the stockings, the nun could see the man's pupils flickering through the gaps.
A pair of pitch-black eyes mixed with shimmering green. she had never seen such unique eyes. Even under such a nonsensical outfit, his eyes radiated a calm and composed aura.
"So, are you willing to be fooled by me once?"
"Those stars in the sky all look the same; only the moon can move the tides. Can I be your moon, and the moonlight that shines upon you?"
That sentence, which should have been a joke, surfaced in the nun's mind. And the last sentence the man had said then was: "So, are you willing to be the only person deceived by this sentence?"
In other words, is he indeed deceiving her right now?
Were those letters also a means of deception? A way to extract information from her?
The man reached out his hand in the moonlight, holding it flat toward the nun.
The nun stared at the black-gloved hand before her. From the first time they met, the man had never taken off his gloves or the mask covering his face. It was as if he were afraid of others seeing the real him.
Most people aren't willing to be deceived, and she was no exception.
"Mr. Ultraman, will this be the last time you deceive me?"
"Yes."
The nun smiled softly. In the moonlight, her smile was serene and gentle.
"Then, may I ask who exactly you are?" She reached out and placed her hand on the man's, her fingers skillfully climbing onto his glove.
"My name is Lin. I'm just a mask-wearing man who isn't good-looking, doesn't speak well, and is a black-bellied bastard."
Lin pulled off the stocking. His face was in the shadows, in a place only the nun could see.
"My name is Aponia. I am the nun of this sanatorium." Aponia smile was slight, yet as warm as a spring breeze.
"...Why are you putting your fingers into my glove?"
"Because I've wanted to do this since we first met."
Another slender palm slipped into the glove, propping it up, fingers interlaced.
"Not at all like the hand of a bad person."
She whispered.