Some bowed as they backed away, hands pressed respectfully over their chests.
Others cheered—short, sharp bursts of excitement—before scurrying off as if afraid they'd been too loud.
Most, though, simply retreated the moment his presence shifted; the crowd parted around him like water fleeing a tide.
Every stall around me brightened as if pulled awake.
Lanterns strung between the shops pulsed in warm, rhythmic waves, breathing in and out with golden light. The colors seemed richer, deeper, alive. Even the shadows moved differently—curling toward him, not away.
Somewhere within the maze of stalls, the musicians changed their tune.
Soft background ambience swelled into an energetic celebration, drums echoing between stalls, strings singing through the air. The Parade was coming alive in a way I hadn't seen before.
Golden confetti drifted from above, spiraling like slow snowflakes. The pieces caught in my hair, stuck to my jacket, clung to my eyelashes. Each one glimmered faintly, as though retaining the tiniest piece of magic they were born from.
The air thickened—not unpleasant, but warm and buzzing, charged with something that felt… anticipatory.
Like the Parade had just been waiting for the smallest gesture from its master.
Fireworks erupted again, larger than before.
They burst into shapes—antlers, eyes, foxes, serpents—each figure shimmering brilliantly before collapsing into glittering sparks that rained like molten stars.
The Parade wasn't merely performing.
It was performing for him.
For the owner.
And he basked in it, not arrogantly, but with the calm assurance of someone who didn't need to assert power to have it.
The horned man watched the chaos he inspired with a relaxed smile, golden smoke lazily circling his shoulders. His antlers caught every flare of light, scattering it like fragments of a living constellation.
Everything—lanterns, stalls, music, people—shifted around him, pulled subtly into orbit.
He wasn't just the ruler of this place.
He was the axis it spun around.
I exhaled slowly, realizing I had been holding my breath. Even the air felt different—sweet, warm, faintly metallic, as if thickened by magic I wasn't meant to understand.
"…I didn't just sell my soul or anything, did I?" I muttered under my breath, trying to joke but only half succeeding.
He didn't turn, but his smile sharpened slightly, the corner of his mouth tilting upward.
"My dear friend," he said calmly, "your sense of humor is awful."
"Hey— I'm coping," I whispered, crossing my arms.
'Great, insulted by the extradimensional guy I made a pact with. Love that for me.'
Another volley of fireworks burst overhead, lighting my face in flickering gold.
The music swelled louder, the confetti thickened, and the entire Parade seemed to dance.
Joy, chaos, magic—everything blended into a vibrant whirlwind around us.
And me?
Despite everything—
the agony I'd barely survived,
the eye I'd somehow regained,
the deal I'd made with a being far beyond my grasp—
…I felt something strange.
Something small, ridiculous, and warm.
Hope.
I almost felt like tonight might actually be a win.
He finally turned toward me, smoke drifting off his pipe in elegant curls.
"You look troubled," he mused, golden eyes studying me like I was a puzzle he enjoyed solving. "Do not tell me your restored vision has already given you regret."
"N-No. Just thinking."
"Dangerous hobby."
I scrunched my nose. "You know, you're kind of rude."
"And yet," he said, leaning slightly closer with that infuriating, elegant smile, "you still stand beside me."
'I stand beside you so i don't lose another eye, actually—!'
But I bit my tongue.
'No need to provoke someone who could casually vaporize stalls out of existence.'
The parade music swelled again, louder, brighter.
His gaze flicked upward to the golden sky.
"Ah. They're doing the finale early tonight. How flattering."
"Flattering? For… you?"
"Who else?" He gestured broadly toward the fireworks. "This entire place exists because I am in a generous mood."
"Uh-huh," I murmured, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice. "Sooo humble."
He laughed—a deep, rich sound that made the confetti seem to swirl more eagerly.
"Come now," he said, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "This is a moment of celebration. Your suffering has ended, you regained what was taken, and you gained a powerful ally."
"…Partner," I corrected weakly.
"Mm. A generous interpretation," he said under his breath.
I opened my mouth to argue—but the sky exploded into cascading golden light, so bright it washed over us like a second sunrise.
The ground vibrated.
The air thrummed.
Everything shone.
A new chapter had begun.
And whether I liked it or not, I wasn't facing it alone anymore.
The fireworks faded into a gentle shimmer as the music shifted again—still lively, but softer now, as if the Parade sensed its master's attention had turned elsewhere.
The horned man tapped the end of his jade pipe against his palm, releasing a small puff of golden smoke shaped like a fox. It yawned, circled once around his shoulders, and dissolved.
"Come," he said lightly. "We should walk. You look as though standing still might overwhelm you."
"I'm fine," I lied, taking a shaky step beside him.
"You are not," he said without looking at me. "But you are young. Young people lie about their physical state with impressive confidence."
"I— hey, I don't do that."
"You just did."
He began to stroll forward, and I found myself walking beside him almost instinctively.
The crowd parted the instant he moved. Stalls dimmed respectfully as he passed, then brightened again once we were several steps ahead.
Every fiber of this place acknowledged him.
Every lantern dipped.
Every merchant bowed.
Even the confetti seemed to spiral around him rather than fall on his head.
"…Does it ever get annoying?" I asked quietly.
"Hm? Does what get annoying?"
"All of this." I gestured vaguely around us. "The bowing, the glowing, the… fireworks worshipping you every time you blink?"
He chuckled. "Ah. You misunderstand. This Parade is alive. It doesn't just worship me. It responds to me."
"Feels like the same thing."
"Does it?" he mused. "Worship implies expectation. But nobody here expects anything from me."
His smile softened—not the lazy, sly grin from earlier, but something smaller, quieter.
Almost human.
I wasn't sure how to handle that, so I cleared my throat. "So uh… when you said we're partners—"
"Yes?"
"What exactly does that mean?"
"Ah. A practical question."
He looked almost delighted. "Good. You are stabilizing."
"I'm not stabilizing," I muttered.
"You are talking instead of panicking. That counts."
"…Fair."
We passed a row of shifting mirrored stalls—each reflection warped into different versions of ourselves.
In one, I looked older.
In another, frightened.
In a third, my eye glowed golden like his.
I quickly turned away.
"So," I tried again, "partnership. What does it mean for you?"
"For me?" He exhaled a ribbon of gold. "It means entertainment."
I blinked. "Entertainment?"
"Your Bureau deals with anomalies. I find anomalies… fascinating."
His eyes slid toward me, molten and uncomfortably perceptive. "And I just happend to be lucky enough to run into a BAA Employee in need. Especially one with Multiple Souls. A Truly fascinating Specimen."
That made me stiffen.
"You knew about that?"
"Please." He waved dismissively. "This Parade only accepts those who carry a certain… resonance."
"That's not comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be."
We turned down a narrow pathway where lanterns hung lower, casting warm halos along the ground.
The exit gate was faintly visible in the distance—glimmering, shaped like overlapping crescent moons.
"So what do you get out of this?" I pressed.
"Besides entertainment, I mean."
He hummed, tapping ash from his pipe that turned into tiny floating moths before dissolving.
"A window," he said finally.
"Through your eyes, I gain a window into anomalies beyond my territory. New stories. New phenomena. New curiosities."
"That's… all?"
"For now."
'For now.'
'Great. Fantastic. Zero red flags there.'
"And what do I get?" I asked, stopping for a moment.
He stopped with me, turning slightly. His antlers caught the lanternlight like a crown forged of starlight and gold.
"You," he said softly, "get to survive what would he considered Death by Blood loss. You even regained your Sight."
My hand drifted subconsciously to my restored eye.
"And," he added, voice lowering, "you gain an ally who does not break promises. A rare luxury in your line of work."
I swallowed hard. There was weight behind those words. An unspoken thread of something old and absolute.
'Said Ally isn't even human.'
"…So you won't suddenly demand my firstborn child or something?"
"Do you have a firstborn child?"
"No?"
"Then why would I want it?"
"That— that's not the point."
He laughed again, and shadows seemed to vibrate around us with the sound.
"I am not a devil, my friend. I do not take what was never offered."
We resumed walking, and the exit grew closer.
The lanterns here dimmed into soft golds instead of bright bursts—like the Parade was easing me out rather than pushing me away.
"Yuwon," he said suddenly.
I jolted. "You—you know my name?"
"I remember every name spoken in my Domain." His lips twitched. "Some simply matter more."
My heart did a weird, traitorous flip.
'No. Absolutely not. Stop that.'
We reached the Giant misplaced tree that I assumed to be the gateway between the World and this subspace Anomaly.
"Ah before you go, you dropped this earlier." He spoke softly while handing me a jar with a golden flame.
'The one that cost me an eye...?'