TBETW Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – Saved

Main Story 2, Chapter 4, Part 2

Novel Title: 獣はかくして囚われる (The Beasts are Ensnared This Way)

Author：風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)

Illustrator：小山田 あみ (Oyamada Ami)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 鹿倉 陣也 (Kagura Jinya -MC) & ゼロ (Zero -ML)

*Please read at freenovels.net, the original site of translation. TQ*

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He slapped Sanae’s cheek repeatedly, and though Sanae responded by weakly moving his hands and feet each time, he would soon start nodding off again.

“Hey! Help is coming soon, so stay awake!” 

With no evidence to back it up, Kagura shouted those words—or tried to. His mouth and tongue were so stiff from the cold that his voice barely came out.

―――Damn it…

Through his fading consciousness, Kagura forced himself to stand. His body felt unbearably heavy, as if it had doubled in weight. Stumbling on unsteady legs, he made his way to the door.

He pounded on the door with his gloved fist and then slammed his shoulder against it.

“Open… it… Just let Sanae out. Please…”

His voice rasped as the cold air stabbed at his lungs. Despite the pain, he kept throwing his shoulder against the door, pleading.

“He has nothing to do with this…!”

His vision narrowed, darkening at the edges. All sensation began to slip away from his body as he tilted forward. 

His face moved closer to the door. He knew the exposed skin might stick to the metal and tear away if it touched, but he couldn’t stop himself. 

Yet the expected impact didn’t come. Instead, it felt as though something had caught him before he hit the ground.

“Jinya!” 

Through the ringing in his ears, he thought he heard a familiar voice.

Earlier, Sanae had mentioned a mountaineer who hallucinated someone during a snowstorm and followed them to safety. Is this the same thing? he wondered. 

In such a dire situation, the person Kagura’s mind conjured was, of course, him.

“Hey, stay with me!” 

The voice came again, followed by the sensation of being shaken. He felt something like a slap on his cheek. 

―――Even if it’s a hallucination…

He wanted to see those deep black eyes, so dark they almost hurt. He wanted to be seen by them.

Kagura struggled to open his eyes, but the frost on his lashes weighed his lids down. They wouldn’t budge.

“Ugh…”

Frustrated, he groaned. Something soft and warm touched his eyes, gently wiping them. Slowly, they grew warmer and wet.

“Jinya.”

The sound of his name being called reached him. Telling himself it was just a hallucination, he forced his eyelids to lift.

Through the hazy vision, he caught a glimpse of a pair of piercingly dark eyes that seemed to stab straight into his soul. His optic nerves twitched, making his eyes tremble.

―――…Zero.

The intensity of the gaze was so overwhelming that for a moment, Kagura wondered if this was real.

As he stared, forgetting even to blink, Zero also stared back without blinking.

Zero began rubbing Kagura’s frostbitten cheeks with his hands, holding him steady. The feel of those strong arms supporting his upper body, the faint bitter scent—everything was so vividly Zero.

“Zero… is it really you?”

Kagura’s clumsy, half-frozen hand reached out and traced along Zero’s sturdy arm.

Instead of answering, Zero gripped Kagura’s chin and cheek firmly. A shadow loomed over his vision. 

Zero’s tongue roughly licked along the seam of Kagura’s lips before plunging deep into his mouth.

“Mmh—!”

The sensation of Zero’s tongue rubbing against the dried, frozen tissues inside Kagura’s mouth was almost painful. 

But beyond the numbness and the tingling, the warmth and moisture seeped in, reviving him. Kagura clenched his eyes shut, feeling tears pooling beneath his lids.

Droplets of saliva, neither his nor Zero’s alone, dripped from their joined lips. The overwhelming sensation soaked into Kagura’s very brain, making his body tremble uncontrollably.

His fingers, gripping Zero’s arm, twitched and tightened. 

“I’ll carry this detective to the car and warm him up,” said a voice, likely belonging to Kataware. 

When Kagura opened his eyes slightly, he caught a blurry glimpse of a suited figure walking away, cradling Sanae in his arms.

His head finally started to clear.

His gaze locked onto Zero’s eyes, which were uncomfortably close. Part of him wanted to be swallowed by those dark irises. He tore his lips away.  

“This isn’t… it’s not right.” 

Forcing the words out, Kagura muttered hoarsely. Zero glared at him with a sharp expression before pulling him into a tight embrace. Pressing his lips to Kagura’s ear, Zero murmured in a low, husky voice.

“Don’t do anything anymore.”

It sounded like both a plea and a command.

“Just let me keep you locked up.”

The absurdity of the suggestion made Kagura want to spit in disgust, but before he could retort, an image of the moon floated into his mind—a memory from the open-air bath of a ryokan in Niigata.  

That night, the world had felt as though it was cut away, leaving only the two of them. In that moment, Kagura—both of them—had been truly fulfilled.  

He never thought such a moment could come to someone as fixated on revenge as himself.

His expression softened involuntarily, and Zero caught the change, staring at him intently.

“I’ll grant every wish of yours,” Zero said.

Kagura narrowed his eyes sharply and punched Zero in the throat. Startled, Zero gagged, and Kagura struggled free from his arms. Supporting himself against the wall, he stood up.

“When did I ever ask for that?” Kagura spat.

Zero rose to his feet as well, a threatening crease forming on the bridge of his nose.

“You’re saying that after walking right into such an obvious trap?”

“…Yes, it’s a trap.”

With that, Kagura turned and stepped back into the freezing room.

He retrieved the bait—a suspicious-looking suitcase placed in the back—and secured it as evidence.

Leaving Zero behind, Kagura exited the building in haste and climbed into the driver’s seat of a van parked on the premises.

Glancing into the back seat, he saw Sanae wrapped snugly in a blanket, drinking oral rehydration solution fed to him by Kataware. Despite earlier concerns, Sanae seemed to be in relatively good condition.

Starting the van’s engine, Kagura addressed Kataware.

“He’s still inside. I’m heading to the parking lot next to the park. Come back to pick him up later.”

It was clear Kagura wanted to avoid discussing Zero in front of Sanae. Kataware didn’t argue.

At the parking lot, Kagura helped the unsteady Sanae out of the van and into an unmarked patrol car.

Before returning to retrieve Zero, Kagura spoke to Kataware, who had taken the driver’s seat of the van.

“You really saved me today.”

Kataware gave a wry smile, his sharp features softening slightly.

“Don’t think keeping your distance will make things any easier.”

Kagura tried to respond, but no words came. After a moment of silence, Kataware shrugged and drove off.

Turning his attention to Sanae, who sat in the patrol car with his eyes closed and a straw from the oral solution still in his mouth, Kagura decided to take him to the hospital first.

Crossing the Keihin Bridge and heading toward Jonanjima, Kagura’s eyes narrowed against the sunlight reflected off Tokyo Bay.

―――Even with distance, is it so easy to fall into his grasp again?

With just that brief contact, Kagura’s frozen body had warmed.

Not only his body—his emotions had been shaken too. His once-cold and steady compass now spun wildly, leaving him dizzy.

Wanting to leave behind the part of himself that craved Zero, Kagura pressed harder on the accelerator.

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*Translator’s Note: I need coffee to fuel me up to keep translating. Ugh, my eyes! -K

*GLOSSARY: 

• Ryokan: A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn offering an authentic cultural experience through features like tatami-matted rooms, futon bedding, Japanese-style baths (often onsen), and multi-course kaiseki dinners.

Next update: 2025.12.11

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