Meanwhile, back at Tatsurou's apartment, Shirayuki and Marie finished eating the stew that Shirayuki made, and now they were in the process of cleaning the dishes, Marie washed the dishes while Shirayuki, dried them.
"I swear, I never had a stew like that!" Marie, that was wearing her usual tank top and shorts, said as she finished washing a plate and handed it to Shirayuki.
"You're going to make me blush..." Shirayuki, that was wearing her usual long pink nightgown, said as she dried the plate with a cloth napkin.
"Just how do you do it?" Marie said with a curious tone.
"Would you believe me if I said, I pour lots of love into it?" Shirayuki asked as she blushed a bit.
"Well, it isn't that impossible..." Marie said as she washed another plate, Shirayuki just looked at her bit confused.
"You see, when you cook or do anything in general, you have to like what you're doing, for it to come out right, so I actually believe that love is your secret ingredient since everything you make tastes so good..." Marie said as she winked and handed another plate to Shirayuki.
"I-I see, I never thought about it like that..." Shirayuki said as she blushed a bit, while she dried the plate.
"It's such a shame that Tatsurou couldn't eat it while it was still hot..." Marie said as she now washed the cups.
"It really is a shame...but about that Naoki girl, is it? What do you think of her?" Shirayuki asked a bit curious.
"Hmm, well I haven't talked to her that much, but the first impression I got was...that she is annoying..." Marie said as she handed the cups to Shirayuki.
"I see..." Shirayuki said as she laughed a bit, while she dried the cups.
"That's the first impression I got, but I think that she might be a good girl...but dragging Tatsurou around and treating him the way she does, is making it quite hard to believe..." Marie said as she now began washing the forks and knives.
"I just hope, she doesn't cause any trouble..." Shirayuki said as she sighed.
"Don't worry, Tatsurou got this under control!" Marie said as she handed the forks and knives to Shirayuki while she smiled a bit.
"Let's hope so..." Shirayuki said as she dried the forks and knives while she sighed, and now that the dishes were clean, Shirayuki and Marie dried her hands and made they're way to the living room.
"I'm tired..." Marie said as she took a seat on the couch.
"Do you want me to make some tea?" Shirayuki asked as she got close to the couch.
"Don't bother yourself with that, Shirayuki, it's still early for that..." Marie said as she stretched a bit.
"Ok then...so, what are you going to do now?" Shirayuki asked with a curious tone.
"Well, I took a seat here, but to be fair I have to go, and do my homework..." Marie said as she scratched her head a bit.
"Well, I'll just go ahead and do it, after I'm done we can drink some tea and watch TV!" Marie said as she got up from the couch.
"Do you, need any help with it?" Shirayuki asked as she got close to Marie.
"Not really, but thanks for the offer!" Marie said as she smiled, but as she was leaving.
"Shirayuki?" Marie called Shirayuki, as she turned in her direction.
"Yes, what is...?!" As Shirayuki was about to ask what Marie wanted, she gave her a hug.
"What's wrong Marie?" Shirayuki asked with a worried tone, as her ahoge made what looked like a question mark.
"Nothings wrong silly, it's a thank you for earlier..." Marie said as she stooped hugging Shirayuki.
"You don't need to thank me, that's what friends do!" Shirayuki said as she smiled.
"I know, but I still have to thank you, and I will have to give a piece of my mind to Tatsurou when he gets home!" Marie said a bit angry as she pouted.
"I don't think he meant anything bad with it..." Shirayuki said as she laughed a bit, and right after, Marie did the same.
"I'm off then, I'll finish it quickly so we can watch our Dorama together!" Marie said as she walked out of the living room.
"Sure! Good work..." Shirayuki said as she took a seat on the couch.
"I wanted to talk to Marie in private about Tatsurou, I had the perfect opportunity, since he's not home yet..." Shirayuki thought as she sighed.
"I want to talk with her and set things right and I have already decided on what to do...I just hope..." As Shirayuki was thinking this, her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door of the apartment opening.
"I'm home..." Tatsurou said as he got inside the apartment, and when Shirayuki heard this, she went to greet him.
"Welcome home, Tatsurou-san!" Shirayuki said with a happy tone, as she got close to Tatsurou.
"Is something wrong?" Shirayuki asked as she saw Tatsurou rubbing his right eye.
"Not really, I'm just a bit tired..." Tatsurou said as he placed his hand in front of his mouth and yawned a bit.
"I see, why don't you go take a bath, and I'll heat up your food?" Shirayuki said as she placed her hands together.
"Good idea..." Tatsurou said as he took off his shoes and made his way to the bathroom, Shirayuki meanwhile went to the kitchen to heat up the stew she made...
A while later after Tatsurou took his bath, he put his usual T-shirt and shorts on and went to the kitchen to eat, after doing that, he finally took a seat on the couch...
"I'm full..." Tatsurou said as he rubbed his stomach a bit.
"H-How was it?" Shirayuki, that was holding a wooden board that had three cups on it, asked as she got close.
"Good as always! I can never get enough of your cooking, Shirayuki-san!" Tatsurou said as he smiled, prompting Shirayuki to blush a bit.
"T-Thanks..." Shirayuki said as she placed the wooden board on the table in front of the couch.
"Do you want, some green tea?" Shirayuki asked as she took a seat next to him.
"Sure!" Tatsurou said as he grabbed a cup of freshly made green tea and as Tatsurou was about to drink it.
"Wait, shouldn't we call, Marie?" Tatsurou asked as he moved the cup away from his mouth.
"Well, Marie's doing her homework, and she usually likes her tea a bit more on the cold side..." Shirayuki said as she grabbed a cup.
"I see..." Tatsurou said as he began drinking his tea.
"Right, we got homework...but I'm so tired...I'll just talk to Yumeko and tell her that I got home late and couldn't do it...Yeah, she will forgive me..." Tatsurou thought as he kept drinking, and as he glanced to the side he saw Shirayuki do the same.
"Say, Shirayuki-san, can I ask you something?" Tatsurou asked this as he stooped drinking.
"Sure, what is it?" Shirayuki said as she stooped drinking, and looked at Tatsurou.
"Well, when you were with Wilma, did she ever say or told anything about the gauntlet?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone, as he looked at Shirayuki.
"Actually, she did tell me it's story...do you want me to tell you about it?" Shirayuki asked as she placed her cup on the table.
"Yes, if you don't mind..." Tatsurou said as he nodded.
"Well then, let's see if I remember correctly Wilma said that the gauntlet belonged to a Valkyrie...Frida was her name, as for the story, she told me, that she was a Valkyrie that waged war on the people that tried to break the peace, she tried to maintain in the world..." Shirayuki said as she placed her finger on her cheek.
"But...her pure soul and wish to maintain peace was corrupted, thanks to all the selfish people that waged war for all the wrong reasons...so in the end she turned into a dark Valkyrie and started to kill everyone she deemed a precursor of war..." Shirayuki said as she looked a bit down.
"Is something wrong?" Tatsurou asked with a worried tone as he looked at Shirayuki.
"Nothings wrong, it's just that I feel a bit bad, for this Valkyrie..." Shirayuki said as he looked at Tatsurou.
"I feel bad for her too, she had the power, the strength, and a pure wish to keep the peace in the world, but unfortunately she went about it the wrong way, but I don't blame her..." Tatsurou said as he sighed with sadness in his voice.
"And Wilma, was about to go and make her, do the same mistake again..." Tatsurou said with a faint hint of sadness, as he looked at his right hand.
"Fortunately, thanks to you, that didn't happen!" Shirayuki said as she smiled, Tatsurou did the same as he heard her words.
"But why did you want to know about it?" Shirayuki asked with a curious tone as she tilted her head.
"Well, the more I know about it the better and I have to make it mine, since it's attached to me..." Tatsurou said as he placed his cup on the table in front of the couch and smiled a bit.
"I see, I'm happy, if I could help!" Shirayuki said as she smiled.
"It helped, thanks..." Tatsurou said as he leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms while he yawned a bit.
"Now, Tatsurou, if you don't mind can I...?" As shirayuki was about to ask something to Tatsurou, she was stooped dead in her tracks, as she saw Tatsurou with his eyes closed and snoring softly.
"Heh? He fell asleep already?" Shirayuki said as her ahoge pointed upwards, as she looked at Tatsurou with a shocked face and one could not blame Tatsurou, he didn't get enough sleep and he walked around district 4 the whole day, needless to say, that the combo of a warm bath, a warm homemade meal, a tea afterward did the trick, but perhaps the comfy couch was the real finisher, one could actually be surprised, as to why he didn't fall asleep sooner.
"I wanted to ask him about how his mission was going, and why he wants me and Marie to stay home..." Shirayuki said as she sighed a bit, but not for long as she glanced at Tatsurou for a bit.
"Tatsurou-san..." Shirayuki said with a very soft tone, as she gently pocked Tatsurou on his cheek, but he didn't react to her.
"He's really fast and heavy asleep..." As Shirayuki said this she looked at one side of the living room, then at the other with a stoic expression, as her ahoge wiggled around.
"And Marie's in our room doing homework..." Shirayuki said as she glanced in the direction of her and Marie's room.
"This is such a rare opportunity, can't let it go to waste!" Shirayuki said as she slowly reached for the top of Tatsurou's head with her right hand, but as she got close she hesitated a bit, but then she placed her hand on his head and began gently patting it.
"Tatsurou's hair is a bit messy, but so fluffy to the touch..." Shirayuki said as she smiled and kept head patting Tatsurou.
"You did a good job today, Tatsurou! I wish I had the courage to this when he is awake..." Shirayuki said as she blushed and smiled a bit.
"I better stop before Tatsurou wakes up, or I'm found out..." Shirayuki said with a faint hint of sadness, as she sighed and stooped head patting Tatsurou.
"Well, the Dorama is about to start...I'll just go ahead and turn the TV on..." As Shirayuki said this, something quite unexpected happened, without a warning Tatsurou's body moved sideways and as consequence, he began resting his head on Shirayuki's.
"T-T-Tatsurou!!!" Shirayuki thought as her face became completely red, as she looked at Tatsurou, that was still sleeping.
"W-What do I do? I don't want to wake him up..." Shirayuki thought as she looked in every direction as to distract her from the situation she was in.
"But this isn't that bad, if I think about it...no no, I have to find a way to solve this, before..." As Shirayuki kept thinking of ways to get out from this situation...
"Shirayuki, Shirayuki...what are you doing?" Marie that was pocking her head into the living room, asked with a monotonous tone as she saw the "enviable" position Shirayuki was in.
"M-Marie...shh!" Shirayuki said as she placed her index finger in front of her lips.
"Don't give me that "shh" how did this happen!" Marie asked as she placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward as she got close to Shirayuki.
"It was an accident! Tatsurou fell asleep and happened to land on my head..." Shirayuki said as she blushed a bit.
"Is that so..." Marie said as she took a seat next to Tatsurou and as she did she pulled on the side of his t-shirt, making him sit straight again.
"T-Thanks Marie..." Shirayuki said as she placed her hand on her chest, but deep down she was a bit disappointed that it ended.
"No need to thank me...now how about we watch our Dorama?" Marie said as she grabbed the TV's remote and turned it on.
"Wait, shouldn't we wake Tatsurou up or take him to bed?" Shirayuki asked with a worried tone.
"He's sleeping so soundly, it would be a shame to interrupt him...so let's just put the volume a bit down and wait for him to wake up..." Marie said as she crossed her legs.
"Ok then..." Shirayuki said still a bit embarrassed.
"And let's make sure, that "accident" doesn't happen again..." Marie said wiht a stoic tone, as she glanced at Shirayuki that blushed as she looked away from Marie.
"I-It's starting..." Shirayuki said with an embarrassed tone as she pointed at the TV, and then a few hours later...
"What time is it?" Tatsurou said as he yawned and slowly opened his eyes as he looked at the watch in the wall and saw 02:49 am displayed on it.
"Whoa, it's already late, I better go...!?" As Tatsurou was saying this he stooped as he saw Shirayuki sleeping while she rested her head on his right shoulder, and Marie also sleeping and resting her head on Tatsurou's left shoulder, as she held his arm, Tatsurou's heart felt like it skipped a beat as he saw this.
"S-Shirayuki is resting on my shoulder... and I-I can feel Marie's breasts pressing against my left arm!" Tatsurou thought as he blushed and tried to not look too much at a scene that many, would go at each other's throats to be in.
"Just how did this happen?" Tatsurou thought again as he kept blushing.
"R-Right, they must have been watching that Dorama...and fell asleep..." Tatsurou said as he looked at the TV that was still on, he then gently released himself from Shirayuki and Marie's grasp and got up from the couch.
"God, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest...now, I have to bring them to their room, but I would feel bad waking them up..." Tatsurou thought as he now saw Shirayuki resting on Marie's shoulder, something that made him smile a bit, he then made up his mind on the spot, as he went to their room and walked in the direction of the bed to move the blankets back, then Tatsurou made his way back to the living room.
"Alright, gentle now..." Tatsurou thought as he picked up Marie as if she was a princess and made his way to her and Shirayuki's room.
"Marie is so light..." Tatsurou thought as he looked at Marie that looked like an angel as she slept, something that made him blush a bit, then moments later when Tatsurou got to her and Shirayuki's bed, he placed Marie on it, as gently as he could.
"Ok, now to Shirayuki..." Tatsurou thought as he went to the living room again, this time to pick Shirayuki up, and when he got close, just like Marie, Tatsurou picked her up like a princess but as he did, Shirayuki moved her head close to Tatsurou's chest.
"Shirayuki's even lighter than Marie..." Tatsurou thought as he blushed and gently adjusted Shirayuki in his arms, and shortly after, Tatsurou was close to Shirayuki and Marie's bed again, but as Tatsurou was placing Shirayuki on the bed, something unexpected happened.
"Mother..." Shirayuki said still with her eyes closed, as she grabbed Tatsurou's t-shirt and teared up a bit.
"Shirayuki...." This was the only thing Tatsurou could say, as he placed Shirayuki on the bed and gently patted her head.
After that, he pulled the blanket to cover Shirayuki and Marie, and as Tatsurou left the room, he saw that now, they moved close each other, something that made him smile, but the moment Tatsurou stepped outside they're room and slowly closed the door, his heart felt as if it stooped beating...
"It's been almost, a month and a half since she lost her mother..." Tatsurou said as he placed his back against the door.
"I can't even imagine, what she's going through losing her mother without saying goodbye or anything, and yet she is always smiling..." Tatsurou said as he walked to his room and once he was there, he threw himself to his bed, back first.
"I promised her mother, that I would protect her and keep her safe...there's no way I'm letting anyone hurt her...or make her cry..." Tatsurou said as he looked at the ceiling, while he remembered the promise he made to Shirayuki's mother when he was in the Yomi.
"I still have a lot to learn...about this power and how it works, but I'll do it, to keep Shirayuki safe and to keep her smiling!" Tatsurou said as he raised his arm, and looked at it for a bit.
"First, if I have to fight that "Magician hunter" I won't go any further than level 1, and second when I make this gauntlet mine, I'll start to call Shirayuki by her given name...without honorifics!" Tatsurou said with a determined tone, as he clenched his fist, but soon after...
"W-What am I even thinking, doing something, like calling her by her given name! Am I going crazy?!" Tatsurou said as he blushed and rolled around in his bed, while he covered his face with his hands.
"No! I won't run away from this anymore, when this gauntlet is mine, I will do it!" Tatsurou said with a determined tone, as he looked at his hand, that didn't last long as he hid his head under the pillow as he blushed again...