“You know,” the owner said with a laugh that shattered the heavy atmosphere,

  “you’re really not that different from me.”

  “I—I’m sorry,” I stammered.

  “I always believed in the Lord of Darkness, but… I thought He existed somewhere far away, unreachable…

  not the kind of being you could just meet and negotiate with…”

  As I fumbled through my excuse, Tsurubami gently spoke to me.

  “I felt the same way.”

  That made me feel better.

  If Tsurubami, who’s practically a vessel of the Lord of Darkness, felt that way, then maybe I wasn’t so wrong after all.

  “But anyway,”

  The owner’s voice shifted into something theatrical.

  “Can you prove you’re not the one who stole the book and started the fire?”

  He was staring at Tsurubami with the gaze of a big cat eyeing its prey.

  “Wait—come on, look at his hands! He has ten fingers.

  The guy we’re after has thirteen, right?

  It’s awful to suspect Tsurubami just because he looks like him!”

  I snapped.

  It felt like he was trying to tarnish my angel.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Akisumi, calm down.

  Hey, Mr. White—where did the ‘thirteen fingers’ info come from again?”

  “…The Head Pastor.”

  “Anyone else see the culprit’s fingers?”

  “No… just him.”

  The owner smirked as he looked around at us.

  “What if the Head Pastor was working with this version of Tsurubami?”

  “Why would you even say that—”

  Mr. White stared at the owner, too stunned to speak.

  And I knew it again: I love Mr. White.

  That expression—doubt creeping into the face of someone who trusted too much—

  I found it impossibly beautiful.

  “How should I know?” the owner said with a shrug.

  “Maybe the Head Pastor made a deal with the Lord of Darkness—gave Him the Oblivion Drug in exchange for escaping the infection and living a cozy life up here.

  Maybe he faked the whole thing and abandoned the underground.”

  Mr. White trembled and lowered his head.

  He had so much to say, he didn’t know where to start.

  —I want the owner to push him further.

  “Is that true?”

  Suddenly, Mr. White grabbed Tsurubami by the collar.

  God, the two people I love most, so close together—I could hardly breathe.

  “It wasn’t me.

  I wasn’t even in the underground when the fire happened!”

  “You’ve been going back and forth, haven’t you?

  You do know a way in and out, don’t you?

  Like that cave.

  Even earlier, you seemed like you were trying to keep us away from it.”

  The owner clearly wanted Tsurubami to be the culprit.

  “Hey, enough.”

  Of course it was my brother who stepped in—always the level-headed one.

  “If we go down that road, any one of us could be suspicious.

  You said everyone has a twin in the underground, right?

  Sure, people down there are pale, but some might have darker skin.

  And eye color… I mean, contact lenses could change that.”

  “I’m not from the underground,” Tsurubami said firmly.

  “I didn’t take the book, and I didn’t start the fire.”

  His voice was clear.

  His side profile, radiant.

  Tsurubami was still divine.

  And yet—

  “…Is it possible I’ve already been switched without even knowing it?”

  Mr. White murmured softly.