Edited by: sleepchaser, con

Screaming inside my heart, I hung up in a panic. Sig stood at the entrance of the living room, fresh out of the bath.

So dangerous! He didn"t hear anything just now, right…?!

“Who were you talking to?”

“Ah, uhm… I was just speaking to myself.” I pretended to be innocent, shoving my smartphone into my pocket.

Sig scrutinized me with suspicious eyes. A handsome man really would look good no matter what expression he was making. “Who were you really talking to? There"s no one but you and me here.”

“You"re right, but—”

Sig took a step in my direction, and I took a step back.

Then a strange pause stretched between us.

Sig started to shift again, and I matched his advance by moving around to the other side of the desk.

“Why are you running away?” he asked.

“I"m not running away, though? That was just a coincidence.” Ah c.r.a.p. I answered him too quickly.

Straight away, Sig shot me a dubious look. I just laughed, pretending to be innocent again as I fled to the bathroom.

Please forgive this lowly me.

I soaked in the bathtub, letting out a long sigh.

What was G.o.d thinking? To think that just telling someone your name would be establishing marriage… I didn"t expect it to be such a serious matter.

I wonder if I could pretend that G.o.d was just joking with me…?

My face turned serious as I stared at the steam rising from the hot water.

The night he had pushed me down flashed through my mind. If what G.o.d said was true, it meant that we were married today. In other words, tonight was our wedding night. If Sig came to the same conclusion as I, then it would be game over for me.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt I should confirm it in person. Say something like "Excuse me, Sig. I"d like to ask you something. Did we get married already? Am I your wife?"

As if I could ask that…!

“Ahh, really… What should I do?” I sighed as I climbed out of the bathtub.

As I wiped myself with a towel, I caught something moving from the corner of my eye. The next second I screamed, sprinting from the bathroom, almost tumbling over.

A blink later, and I was throwing myself at Sig in the living room, his face twisted into a complicated expression.

“Sig! In the bathroom, there was a c-cri―!” I hid behind him, hitting his st.u.r.dy back.

“Minoru, please put on some clothes.”

“A cricket! There was a huge cricket!”

“I beg you, please put on some clothes.”

“But it was on my clothes! And it flew at me!”

“I got it. At least step back from me a little."

After encountering a giant cricket in the bathroom, my first thought was to sprint to Sig. The reason: I noticed insects never went to close to him.

Still, it wasn"t something I should do while naked.

“I"ll go and get rid of it, so get dressed in the meantime.”

“Yes…”

I was sorry that I made you see something unsightly.

Sig went to get rid of the insect, his back facing me as if being considerate toward me.

Or was he was disgusted with what had happened just now?

Depressed, I went to get a change of clothes from the bedroom. As I was taking my time getting dressed, Sig knocked on the door. It was the first time he"d done that, so I hurried to answer.

Even so, he didn"t even try to come in. I wonder what happened to him?

“Minoru… Call my name.”

“Eh? Sig?”

“No. My real name.”

Real name. That again?

It reminded me of my conversation with G.o.d, and my heart pounded against my chest. As I kept my silence, a loud noise suddenly sounded from the door.

Eh, did he just bang on the door?!

“Say it quickly. If this keeps going on, I feel like I might do something bad to you.”

“Sigmund!” I shouted, as soon as I had processed his words. The fact that his voice had been calm through the door made it even more scary.

In the end, Sig didn"t enter the room. After a while, I heard the squeak of chairs being dragged across the floor coming from the direction of the living room.

I waited for my heart to calm, before gently pushing the door open.

“Thank you for getting rid of the cricket. Even though I"m a man, I keep doing such pathetic things. It"s embarra.s.sing."

“…Don"t worry about it.” Sig leaned into the back of the chair, flashing me a serious look. “Everyone has something that they"re not good with.”

"You too, Sig?”

"For me, it"s sweet things… Along with small and weak things.”

His words were surprising. He was talking about me, right?

Sig opened and closed his hand, his smile deepening. “It feels like I will accidentally break them, so I"m scared to touch them."

Break, huh…? If he was talking about his grip strength rather than a metaphor for something, then that was really scary.

Looking at my complexion, Sig nodded and tried to calm me down. "Don"t worry… That"s why I told you my name."

Again with the name thing.

“Is there any… any meaning to your real name? You told me to call it just now, right? Why was that?” My mind was so tense that bit by bit, my cheeks grew flushed.

“When you call me by that name, I will return to my senses and become obedient. That"s it.”

I was shocked to the bones. Sig must have been very upset earlier, since he even banged on the door.

“It was dangerous before, but it seems like that method worked. Now I don"t have to worry about hurting you anymore.”

“That"s why you told me your name…?” I asked.

Memories of last night flew through my head. I couldn"t push away his body no matter what. His arms held me tight, no way for me to escape. If by any chance Sig were to go crazy, Ashiya Minoru would no longer exist in any world.

Did he tell me his name to make sure this wouldn"t happen? That name was probably very important, yet he―

“If something like before happens again, I want you to call my name without any hesitation.”

“…Got it.”

Sig stood up from the chair. He was one head taller than me, and looked cramped in the small living room. At first, I was a little scared of him, but that was no longer the case.

That night, Sig led me by the hand to the bed, where we lay together until the next day.

The hero"s world calendar: 25h / day, 21 days / month, 10 months / year. 45 years old is 27-28 years old by Earth"s calculation.