Dinner was exquisite. Chiaki really knew her way in the kitchen. And no that wasn't meant to offend feminists. Anyway, I was ready to head out when Haru stopped me and asked, "Going already? Why don't you stay a while?"
Normally, I would refuse, but since the princesses were there, I couldn't refuse. Ryou wouldn't mind if I stayed at Haru's place. Heck, he's probably busy polishing his new tea set. Besides, playing Demon Hunter was the only thing we did during sleepovers as kids.
And so he went to the living room and turned on his PP4 console. He logged in with his account, with the same username he always used: "Harukaze". Likewise, I logged in with my own: "Momotaro". Yeah, it wasn't as cool. And so we started the game and waited for it to load.
Meanwhile, the princesses sat on the sofa on the side of the room facing the hallway.
"Pretty cool how they made the game with a multiplayer feature." Haru said, making small talk.
"Yeah, but now, we have to share the same screen."
"True. At least the graphics are much better now."
The game finally finished loading. We prepared our equipment and went on our first hunt. It took some time to spot the target, but once we spotted it, we held no bars and went crazy. He dealt the first blow, but it blew him away. I stood my ground, guarding from the back, waiting for an opening. And when it came, I dodge and inflicted a significant amount of damage. The demon fell and we had the chance to hit its weak spots. I used all the moves and tactics possible, and he used his own techniques as well.
"Wow, you're good!" he said.
"Can't say the same for you!"
After barrage of hits, the demon finally fell. We beat it so fast, it was a new record.
"What?! That finished too quickly!"
"I guess we were just that good…?"
So we played another round, but we still finished it under 3 minutes.
"How are we beating it that fast?" Haru asked, confused.
"I think it's because the monster's weak."
"But it's a high ranked quest! And I still haven't carved the material I need!"
"So we were just farming?"
Then, intrigued by our gameplay, Elena sat beside Haru and asked if she could play, "That looks fun! Can I play?"
"S-sure…" Haru answered as he handed the controller to her.
Then Seri grabbed my pants and said, "Wa!"
"Y-you wanna play too?"
"Why not?!" Elena said in glee.
It was a post-game file, so there was no harm in letting them play our account. At first, I thought watching them play would be fun to watch, but it soon became a nightmare.
"N-no, press up and rectangle to run." Haru advised Elena.
"But I am pressing rectangle!" Elena replied.
"That's square! And you're supposed to press it at the same time! Wait, what are you-!"
Elena had no experience in video games. She was pressing random buttons like any beginner. She was so bad, I almost felt bad for the controller. Oh yeah, and Haru too.
And I wasn't faring well either. Seri just kept hitting the controller on the sofa over and over again. And when I tried to stop her, she would make that face where she looked like she was about to cry. Lending them the controllers was a dumb idea…
"This is not going well…"
"I know…" Haru agreed.
Then Lilianna stood up and took the controller from her sister. Then she looked at the screen and said, "Is it really that hard?"
"L-lilianna, are you certain you want to play?" Alisa asked her sister in English.
"Y-yes!" she answered.
"But it's a really complicated game." Haru added.
"Is that so? (sou kashira?)"
Kashira…
Kashira…
When I heard that expression, my heart skipped a beat. And she uttered it so naturally too. The one expression that truly defines the perfect lady: Kashira. For generations, men have searched for the true appeal of a woman. Was it the physical appearance? Was it their personality? No. For I have discovered the truth. True beauty is in Kashira! But for a princess to say it, and a foreigner nonetheless, felt like a thousand fireworks went off in my stomach! Wait, bad metaphor…
Anyway, I dissolved my hyperbolic thoughts and encouraged the princess to play.
"You'll probably do better than Seri."
"Nei!" Seri responded.
And so the two proceeded to play the game. And I was impressed. Princess Lilianna really knew her way with the controller. The way she pressed the buttons and moved the joystick reminded me of how we used to play way back when. We weren't good, but it was still fun being able to control another version of yourself on the screen. Although, I couldn't say the same for Seri.
"This is quite entertaining!" Lilianna commented.
Intrigued by her sister's gameplay, Alisa grabbed the controller from Seri and joined their game.
"How fascinating!" she said.
As for Seri… well, she just left the two and moved on to playing with her toys. She was a really weird kid.
The two sisters played their hearts out, with all of us watching. Princess Elena frolicked about with Haru, while Chiaki was busy washing the dishes. I offered her a hand, but she said she could manage on her own. Stubborn as always…
We each took turns with the controllers, fighting the same demon. And after playing for hours, we finally obtained the item. Everybody then went to their rooms and went to sleep. Well, everyone except me and Seri, who was still playing with her toys. And also Haru, I think, fixing the futon in his room. But it was just the two of us in the living room.
"~yawn~ You're still not sleepy?"
She didn't respond. She was too preoccupied with her toys.
"Hey now… It's not good for kids to stay up late, you know?"
"Shaddup…" a voice said.
Out of nowhere, someone responded. I looked around, searching for the source of the raspy, mature voice. Then it once again spoke.
"Right here, dumbass!"
I turned back and saw Seri, standing all high and mighty.
"D-don't tell me…!"
"That's right!" Seri spoke, using her own mouth.
I couldn't believe my eyes. A 5-year old was talking to me in English, like a leprechaun too, no less.
"…Man, I gotta get some shut-eye…"
"Oi!" she said, "Don't ignore me!"
I still couldn't wrap my mind on it. The small kid turned out to be a spunky brat. Was she really royalty? Actually…
"Am I dreaming?"
"They sent YOU? That is hilarious!" she said.
"So… who are you?"
"Alright, alright…" she replied, irritated, "Name's Vorschka Dubois: King Gardenia's sista-in-law."
"Eehh…"
At that point, I was so sleepy that it didn't come out as a shock.
"Lemme guess…" she said, "You're thinking tha' there's no way someone so small'd be the king's sista."
"No, not even close…"
She cleared her throat and explained, "It's all tha' Elena's fault! The coup-"
"Yeah, tell me tomorrow…"
Then I went straight to Haru's room ignoring the little pest.
"Oi! Get back Hea! I'm no' done with ya yet! You'll regret ignorin' the Duchess of-"
"Goodnight…"
So I went to Haru's room and laid on the futon that was lying on the floor. Haru slept soundly on his bed. And I could tell because he snored like a pig. I totally forgot how noisy his snoring was. But since I was exhausted, I dozed off without realizing. Then, a few minutes later, I heard footsteps coming from outside.
I hid inside my blanket and took a glance outside. The door opened gently, and on the other side was…
P-princess Lilianna?!
No doubt, it was her. However, her eyes were closed. It was like she was in a trance or something. She was headed to Haru's bed. She passed by me, as if I wasn't even there. Then she tucked herself in the blanket and laid beside him.
Then, out of nowhere, she started moaning. At first, I thought she was just sleepwalking and conveniently ended up in Haru's bed. But then she let out louder moans, "...m-more..."
I tried to ignore it, but her moans got louder and louder that it made it harder for me to sleep.
"N-no… D-don't touch… there…!"
What she did under those sheets, I didn't wanna know. But her moaning was so noisy that I just had to rise up and carried her arms first out of the bed. But when I did, her pajamas were unbuttoned and her bloomers were down, exposing her-
"Oh, sh…!"
She was half-naked, with her chest barely covered by her shirt. Parts of her body were conveniently shaded by black rays. It was kind of unnatural, but if it meant covering something indecent, why not?
Any normal adolescent would have taken that opportunity to grope her exposed body. But I was about to do something much worse…
With a clean chance of her body, I envisioned myself grabbing both her wrists, sucking on her neck. She wakes up in shock, but has no means of escape. She struggles her way out by constantly kicking the bedsheets. But it's pointless. I move my tongue lower and helped myself to her excessive breasts, leaving kiss marks all over. She couldn't scream because she would wake up Haru. Of course, shouting for help wasn't a bad idea. But with the way I stared at the princess with a demonic stare, it was assured that I would have my way. And so… I ravaged her, consumed her, took her-
And then, I regained my senses. It was a horrible vision, just like always. Perhaps I was just so cranky and exhausted lately that I've begun to have these hallucinations. Despite a scene worth reacting to, all I wanted was a good night's sleep. Without any plan in mind, I laid down in the middle of the bed, sandwiched by Haru and the princess. And just like that, I passed out.
Haru was the first one to wake up. He leaned on his right and saw me lying beside him and the princess on the other side.
"H-how did he get into my bed?!" he said, "Actually, what's Anna doing here?!"
His voice woke me up, but my eyes were barely open.
"Mm… morning already…?"
Rubbing my eyes, I awoke to Haru's shivering face.
"W-w-w…!"
I paused for a moment, then recalled last night's situation. Despite trying my best to sever their connection, I got entangled in it in the end.
"T-this isn't what it looks like!"
Then he turned his head to the right and shivered even more. I did the same and saw the princess touching her nether regions with my… hand… I immediately pulled my hand out, but that made her moan so loud that it woke her up.
"T-that was too sudden-" she said as she realized that she was talking to a stranger's face, "Kyaa!"
She pushed herself away from the bed and fell down as a result. She then stood up and covered her exposed regions.
"W-what are you doing here?!"
"T-that's my question!"
"What the heck is happening?!"
All three of us were left in confusion. But before we could resolve anything, the princess left the room and ran to hers.
"H-hey!"
As I proceeded to chase after her, Haru grabbed my wrist and asked, "D-don't tell me we…!"
"Nothing like that happened!"
I tried explaining yesterday's situation during breakfast and the other princesses got a laugh out of it.
"S-seriously! That's hilarious!" Princess Elena said while laughing.
"I-it's not funny…"
"I know now which you speak of…" Princess Alisa replied in English, "…but it seems you've made a fool of yourself."
"It wasn't even my fault…" I said, replying in English.
Chiaki added, "A-and she used your hand to-"
"C-can we stop talking about it already?!"
"Hau!" Seri responded.
They eventually got tired of that story and moved on to a new one, one which I couldn't relate to. There wasn't much to do after breakfast. Haru was fixing his room, Chiaki was sweeping the floor, the two princesses were watching TV with Seri, and Princess Lilianna remained in her room the whole time (probably still embarrassed of what she did a moment ago).
Then I remembered that I haven't taken a bath ever since returning to Inuzuchi, so I asked Chiaki if I could take a bath.
"Sure." she said, "The bath's ready anytime."
"Thanks."
"Oh, and we have some spare clothes upstairs." She added.
"Got it."
And so I went upstairs to get the spare clothes on the closet on the corner of the 2nd floor hallway. As I opened it, I had flashbacks flowing through my head. This closet was the same one we used to play hide-and-seek in. It was the first spot we would check, and yet we would always end up there. That once empty closet had now become a storage of unused clothes.
I grabbed the old jogging pants and shirt that I used to borrow every time I slept over. I reckon it would still fit even after all these years…
I then proceeded downstairs, where the bathroom was, took off my clothes, washed myself clean, and dipped in the tub.
"Ahhhh~ Japanese-style baths feel so refreshing~"
I stared into the ceiling, reminiscing the good ol' times. Haru and I would often bring toys into the bathroom and play it there. But then Haru's mom would confiscate it whenever she would check up on us and saw that we weren't taking a bath. She would then clean us herself and carry us both in the tub, where we would play with the water instead. The tub was smaller than I remembered. Maybe it's because I grew up…
Then suddenly, the door opened and a girl with long, velvet hair appeared.
There was a moment of silence before she finally said:
"Who… are you?"