After a long night of training my [Telekinesis] outside the village, my level raised to 4, and my [Telekinesis] skill rose to level A-. There's a big difference in the amount of weight I can carry now, as I'm now able to lift 200 kilograms instead of 90. I'm getting stronger! This is great. I'll be able to carry my own weight and fight alongside Kenji using my [Pseudo Possession] and [Telekinesis] in conjunction with each other.
I come back into the village to find Kenji, as there's a lot I want to talk to him about. We're not sure what we want to do after the festival, whether we want to leave or stay, where we would go, and what we would do. I don't know if we want to be adventurers or not, because that could garner attention from the King, but it also seems like a fun way to live life.
Miss Charlotte sure seems to enjoy being an adventurer. Oh! I have to tell Kenji about my date yesterday!
I run towards the Turmeric Inn and I ask for Kenji's room number.
I walk up to his room on the second floor and knock on the door.
"Kenji, it's me, Aria. Can I come in?"
I hear footsteps as he approaches the door. "Come on in! It's the first time you've been to the inn, right?" He says, beckoning me into the room.
It's a decently sized room, about the size of nine tatami mats. There's a twin sized bed that looks quite comfortable, and a wardrobe to put your clothes in. His backpack is on the floor, along with some clothes that look new.
"Kenji, is this what your living space turns into when I'm not around?"
His eyes widened, "No, of course not, I just dropped some stuff right before you came in, it's no big deal." He's clearly lying, but it's not like it really matters.
"Kenji, I was training again last night."
"Oh, you weren't with your precious Miss Charlotte?"
I pick up some dirty clothes with my [Telekinesis] and throw them at his face.
"I'll have you know that I am still focused on getting stronger and surpassing you. In fact, I hit level four yesterday, and my [Telekinesis] is now an A- ranked skill. I'm being quite productive, so how about you? Did you just waste your time yesterday?"
"It's incredible that you're level four now. I'm still level two, and I haven't gotten any stronger since fighting the goblins it seems. Yesterday when you were on your date I was helping Meeka's mom and dad tend to their field. I suppose you could also call my day productive then."
"Guh-" I feel like I've been hit by a brick. Of course Kenji was helping out around town. Wait he was level two after we fought the goblins? Before I made that big scene telling him I had surpassed him? Nnnnnn… stupid Kenji, making me look dumb. Why wouldn't you say you were level two already earlier.
"So… how was your date with Charlotte yesterday?" He asks in a teasingly inquisitive tone.
"If you must know…"
"I must."
"IF you must know, it was incredible. We woke up, got ready, and headed to the restaurant right next to here. I met one of Miss Charlotte's friends -- her name was Tomoe -- and we had these incredible omelets. Miss Charlotte also ordered orange juice for us, and it was really good!"
"Yeah, the food from the restaurant is really nice, so what did you do next?"
"By the time we finished breakfast, it was close to noon, as I woke up pretty late after our studying session the night before. We walked around town talking about magic tools and the way the village works. Then we arrived in a clothing store, and that was a lot of fun. Miss Charlotte must have had me try on a thousand different outfit combinations, and they were all really cute!"
"Yeah, the clothing store has high quality goods, both in material and looks."
"Shut up for a second, I'm not done. So I tried on this one outfit and I thought it was really cool, it was blue pants, a white blouse, and a burgundy jacket. It felt really stylish and comfortable. I also tried on the blue dress that I'm wearing now which is super super cute, even Miss Charlotte blushed looking at me, and she has no shame at all."
"That sounds fun. What did you do next?"
"Well we were in the clothing store for about five hours, and we ended up buying almost everything. I felt a little bad for Miss Charlotte spending all that money on me, but she said 'it would be worth every Cel to see me in all those outfits' and when I heard that I felt really special. I ended up feeling really tired, and Miss Charlotte let me take a nap with a lap pillow. That was super comfy." I say with a smile that could purify Kenji's dark and messy room.
"Wow, you must really like her."
"Yeah, I think I love her, so I'm going to tell her that at the festival tonight!"
"Speaking of the festival, the chief wanted you to attend in your original form. He says it's to show the people of the village that not all ghosts are bad, and that they can be just like ordinary people."
I frown, that's just adding so much stress onto me! "I guess if it's for something like that I can do it, but just know, I'm not happy about it! It's an opportunity to build my self-confidence and show people that ghosts can be good. Nothing else!"
"So you've already understood the real reason for it." Kenji whispers under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, just be ready to have fun at that festival. You're the star of the show, so don't let anybody get you down. This is your night."
"Thank you Kenji! I'm going to practice before it starts!" He smiles as I get rid of my [Tangibility] and float through the walls and outside of the village. I lied about practicing my magic. I might not be physically tired, but I'm mentally pooped. I need to recover some brainpower, because tonight's going to be one of the most important in my life.
I am going to tell Miss Charlotte I love her!
But first, let's take a nap in this tree.
===
I wake up later to see Meeka poking me in the cheek.
"Kenji told me I would find you here, it's time for you to come for the ceremony."
"Thank you Meeka, I'll come down now!"
I remove my [Tangibility] again. I feel refreshed. This is perfect. I float after Meeka, following her to the town square where the village chief is, along with Kenji.
"Welcome all, to the Ogre's Death Town Festival of Turmeric Village. We hold this festival whenever an ogre is killed near our village, and it's been a while now. We're here today to celebrate the ones who slayed this deadly and dastardly monster. First, we have the human, Kenji Togata! His bravery jumping in to fight the ogre allowed my daughter Charlotte and Meeka to get away from the monster. Let's all give a round of applause to him!" The village chief booms, as the crowd breaks into a roaring applause.
"Second of all, we have the one who killed the ogre in a single hit. She's a powerful mage with the power of [Telekinesis] able to lift a tree and throw it with tremendous force. Her quick thinking, resourcefulness, astuteness, and raw magical power allowed her to land the first and finishing blow on this monstrous fiend. She is the brother of Kenji Togata. She is the great Ogre Slayer, and a poltergeist. She may be a ghost, but that does not mean that she is evil! Ghosts are just another species, like the elves or dwarves. She is… Aria Togata!" I float forward, wearing my new favorite blue dress, looking out over the crowd that's cheering for me. Kenji had loud cheers for him, but the cheers for me are deafening! They know I'm a ghost and they don't hate me for it! They're accepting me for what I am, and celebrating my achievements. Kenji was right, I am the hero of tonight. Killing that ogre is something only I could have done.
I wave to the crowd with a big smile on my face. I'm reveling in the glory of my achievement. For the first time in my life, I'm in the spotlight, I'm the one being celebrated. I love the feeling of being a winner, it feels great. Winning in love, winning against monsters, winning the respect of others, it all feels so invigorating.
Victory is a drug and I've gotten my first big hit. The ceremony's now over and the festival has begun! Let's go find Miss Charlotte!
===
Charlotte's POV:
"Wow Charlie, I didn't know you were so charming that you could even seduce the undead. What a catch you've made. She seems like a good kid." Tomoe says to me, patting my shoulder with a laugh.
"Yeah she's amazing. Every moment I'm with her feels better. She's an incredibly hard worker. She was outside the village last night training her magic for about ten hours straight, just so she can stay ahead of her brother. She gives it her all and she's really honest. Her personality is refreshing and I love her even more every time I learn something new about her." I say to Tomoe. "Speaking of Aria, I've got to go meet up with her for another date! She said she has something to tell me, I'm really excited."
"Have fun you lovebird!"
I jog away, making my way through the crowd until I find her. She's floating there, looking around for me, in her cute blue dress. I'm so happy right now.
"Aria!"
"Oh, hello Miss Charlotte!" She says, startled at first by me calling out to her, but quickly becoming happier and happier. She flies over to me. "Let's walk around, I want to see everything that everyone worked so hard on!"
"Of course, let's do that!" I say, grinning ear to ear.
"Can we hold hands so we don't get separated Miss Charlotte?"
"Of course we can Aria." She's so cute when she calls me Miss Charlotte like that. She uses her [Tangibility] skill to transform and grab onto my arm.
It seems as though she was trying to mislead me by saying she was going to hold my hand, as she's decided to hug my arm tight. They're soft, dang. This feels far superior to just holding hands. I could get used to this, and I hope I'll get a chance to.
We walk around the festival, talking about my adventures, and the towns nearby. She seems very interested in it. Maybe she wants to be an adventurer? It seems as though this festival awoke something within her. It seems like she has an inferiority complex towards her sis-con brother, and the taste of victory and praise was too sweet.
I'll make sure to spoil her rotten with praise as soon as I can.
While we're walking around, we stop at stalls to pick up delicious food, and I watch her scarf it down like a wolf. She is like a puppy when her eyes light up when you praise her, so it's fitting to call her a wolf. This wolf puppy Aria Togata belongs to me.
Aria's asked by many of the children in the village to tell them the story of how they fought the ogre, and she gets very into a dramatic re-enactment. She even includes the 'TIMBER' and I can't help but laugh. She was so embarrassed about it, and now she's owning it. Cute.
"Hey Miss Charlotte, can we go somewhere to talk in private?" She asks me. I'm blushing in anticipation of what she wants to talk about.
"Yes, would you like to go back to my house to talk about it?"
"Yeah, that would be nice."
We walk back to my house and enter. We sit on the bed facing each other.
Aria takes a deep breath.
===
Aria's POV:
I'm ready. I'm mentally prepared. I've got the momentum going. I am going to tell Miss Charlotte I love her. The time is right, the time is now.
My resolve is at 100%.
"Miss Charlotte… for the brief time I've known you, you've brought so much happiness into my life that I had never experienced before. Back home, I wasn't a person who could talk to others, and was made nervous by even being looked at. From the first time I saw you, you captivated me. It wasn't just your beautiful appearance, but the way you carried yourself. What I saw was a woman who likes to tease others, but is also incredibly serious during the moments where it counts.
Me and my brother don't come from this world, we were probably summoned by the king, with Kenji being his summoned Hero and me being brought along for the ride. We died back home, and I woke up as a ghost. I didn't think anyone was ever going to look at me like an ordinary girl. I was looking for somebody to accept me, and a chance to prove myself to myself.
I've always wanted somebody to congratulate me, to look at me for me. You did that. You don't know how happy I was when Kenji told me you thought I was cool. It touched my heart and made me start to fall for you. Then, we met, and you were not just the kind of person I thought you were, but so much more. You were so kind to me, and I loved your teasing, even if it made me feel embarrassed. I could tell that you really cared.
The night you made me sleep with you was so incredible. I felt protected and loved. I fell even deeper in love with you. The date we went on yesterday gave me the happiest memories of my entire life.
I want to make you feel as happy as I do. I want to be happy with you Miss Charlotte. You've become so precious to me so quickly, and I love it. I want to stay with you forever.
Miss Charlotte, I love you."
I've done it, I've made my confession. I feel relieved, I feel like I can start honestly loving her now.
She quickly embraces me tightly, and she whispers into my ear, "I love you too Aria."
This. This is the happiest moment of my life. Hands down, there is no exception. The girl I love loves me back, and we've communicated that to each other. We're truly lovers now.
Because of the euphoria I'm feeling, my mental fatigue comes catching up to me and I fall asleep in her arms with a gentle smile on my face.
===
Charlotte's POV:
I love this girl. Aria Togata just confessed her love to me. I'm immeasurably happy right now. I'm giddy. I'd be jumping for joy if she hadn't fallen asleep in my arms like the adorable little wolf puppy she is. I lay her down gently and get up, doing a small dance and squealing in delight.
I have a girlfriend and it's Aria Togata. She feels the same way about me that I feel about her. She wants me to be happy with her, she wants us to be together forever. I'm the exact same.
Maybe it's because I'm becoming like her, but I lay down on the bed, tired, and I'm suddenly embraced by my beloved. I hug her back and start to sleep. My last thought before entering the world of dreams is that this girl who always wants to stay up all night really does love to sleep.