The party splits up afterward, arranging to gather for dinner again. Rolan
and Luna are going on a small quest that only requires the two of them. I feel
like it's an excuse for some alone time between the lovebirds, but apparently,
the funds really are low, and they're going on a request that requires Luna's
magic.
Gram and the bard each depart for their own business as well, to gather
information regarding the aftermath of yesterday's raid. Especially the big
man has to see how his friends among the city watch are doing since he
knows that some of them were most likely involved in the slave trade.
That leaves Daica, Kamii and me to ourselves. I'll take this opportunity to
get to the bottom of the former's strange behavior then. When I turn around to
confront the dark elf in question, she stands up with perfect timing and walks
away wordlessly.
Huh?
Really, what's going on with her? Alright, if she's going to play it like that,
I'll follow her wherever she goes today!
I carry Senka in my arm, and obviously, Kamii doesn't leave my side. Just
like yesterday, everyone's eyes are on her, and while her new cloak mostly
covers her cursed arm, its sheer size makes it impossible to hide completely.
A little is peeking out at the bottom, and some people do notice it. Their
gazes are filled with disgust or anxious apprehension. I'm feeling a weight on
my shoulders from those stares, even though I'm not their target. I can't even
begin to imagine what it's like for Kamii.
Luckily, she's concentrating on clinging to my arm with her left, while
watching the road before her, careful not to trip in her new shoes. She doesn't
notice the rude and sometimes even hostile gazes, though I feel that it
wouldn't bother her even if she did. She spent more than a decade as a slave,
so people staring shouldn't affect her much anymore.
I just hope nobody does something stupid like throwing a rock at her.
Because if that happened, I'd flip my lid and we'd have a bloodbath on our
hands.
Daica isn't heading towards the tavern and is walking in another direction
instead. I follow around ten steps behind her to see what destination she has
in mind in her current state, or if her feet are just carrying her around on a
walk of self-discovery. Then, I realize that she's going somewhere specific,
and it's a place I've been to as well: Her store.
Ingrid told me that it was completely trashed yesterday. Daica overheard it
at the time and seemed to be quite shocked by the news. We may have gotten
her out just in time that night, and saved her from being taken away by the
kidnappers. Now that everything is over, she may have remembered that her
store still lies in pieces.
I follow her into the street that leads up to her storefront and even from afar
I can see that the door was broken out of its hinges. She doesn't stop to regard
the state of her property and steps inside. I quickly follow her and peek into
the darkness of the unlit interior. The smell wafting out from inside has
become even worse than before, despite the fact that the door has been open
for more than a day now. Kamii makes an appalled face as she tugs on my
sleeve, signaling that she doesn't want to go in.
But this is my opportunity to speak to Daica, so I give the little dark elf an
apologetic smile and step inside. Obviously, she follows me without
hesitation, even though she doesn't like it.
I catch a glimpse of night-colored long hair disappearing into the back of
the store. She did say the money I paid her for Senka was hidden somewhere
in the store so that she could rebuild it in case it was destroyed after her
kidnapping - and she succeeded in returning afterward.
We plan to leave this city, so that won't be necessary anymore, though.
A crunching noise emerges from under my feet, as I step into the store. I
look down and find that many glass jars have been thrown off the shelves and
shattered on the floor, with their spilled contents creating a sludge of rotting
organic material. That's where the smell is coming from, huh? That's plain
disgusting.
Walking inside without paying it too much heed, I almost slip on
something squishy and peer down again. It's one of those worm-like things I
noticed before, but now that they're no longer distorted by the curvature of
the glass, I can tell what they are.
Nope, I didn't see anything.
"What... is that?" Kamii points at the things, but I pull her along.
"Doesn't matter right now." It's too early for her to learn about this, and
she'll be old enough in never - even if she may actually be older than I am.
She doesn't need to know about these things if she stays with me, as I'll teach
her something far better.
Being more attentive about where I step, I navigate through the store and
towards the door leading to the storage. I find it broken down as well and the
room behind it is in shambles, too. They really did a number on this place
when they couldn't find their target.
When we turn the corner to the stairs, I find that even the door leading into
the basement has been pried open. Since I didn't hear footsteps from upstairs,
I assume she went down. In other words, she hid the money somewhere
underground. Let's hope it wasn't found and taken by the thugs.
I turn around to tell Kamii to wait here, but seeing her looking at me with
upturned eyes, I can tell that at this time she doesn't want to leave my side
even for a moment. Oh well, it's not like there are any dangers down there,
but I did want to surprise Daica by sneaking up on her.
Thus, we descend the stairs, the wooden boards creaking under every step.
There's no way anyone could miss our approach. In the complete darkness
below ground, my night vision is just about able to keep everything at a
discernible level. I remember that I had an apprehension against using it only
a week or so ago, but now it's become second nature for me to rely on it when
the situation calls for it.
There are far fewer signs of destruction down here, as the kidnappers must
have given up after coming this far. In the darkness ahead of us, I spot Daica
standing among the dusty and rotten shelves. Apparently, she found the
money, which she hid in a sealed jar, inside another bigger jar. The evidence
for that lies broken before her.
"It's still here." Relief is reflected on her face as she holds the plentiful
leather pouch to her even more plentiful chest.
"Are you going to rebuild the store?" I ask through the dusty darkness, and
she turns around to me in shock.
"H-huh? Miss Marcott?" It seems she didn't hear our approach at all. Even
if she didn't try to get caught on purpose before, she wouldn't have gotten
away with reflexes and awareness of her surroundings that abysmal. "A-and
Kamii?"
Her expression relaxes when she sees us. She then looks down at the big pouch in her hands and furls her brows.
"... I don't know." After a thoughtful pause, she replies to my inquiry.
"You're going to the capital, aren't you?"
So she was paying attention, huh? Her question is directed at both me and
Kamii. In reality, she could just decide to break her side of our verbal
contract of her becoming mine. But it seems she wants to stay with her older
sister after finally being reunited with her again. And as far as I know, that
sister wants to stay with me.
"Yes, I want to attend the Royal Academy." I need to learn magic and
countermeasures against it if I want to survive in this world.
"And you, Kamii?" Shifting her gaze to her older sister, Daica wants to
hear her answer directly.
"I'm... going with Mahkotoh." For the first time today, the little dark elf
separates from me and steps forward while making this statement in a most
determined tone. It seems when nobody else is around, she's actually much
more mature and acts the big sister part.
She has very clearly made up her mind to remain by her savior's side. In
reality, I only freed her from the cage, while it was everyone else that did the
work of opening the way through the building. Not like I couldn't have done
it all on my own, though.
"I thought you would say that." Closing her eyes, the big dark elf smiles to
herself knowingly. Then, as if having come to a resolution, she opens them
again and fixes her gaze on me. Their mesmerizing glow in the darkness
draws me into their depths. I can't feel any nervousness in her anymore.
"Then so will I. Let me join you for a while longer, Miss Marcott."
"I appreciate it, but..." I begin, and her facade immediately crumbles at the
word 'but'. Apparently, she's misunderstanding that phrasing, thinking that I
don't want her to accompany me. "... was that what you've been troubled by
since last evening?"
"H-huh?" She can already hear it in my tone, that I didn't consider her
decision to be such a big deal, and becomes increasingly flustered. "I-I was
really worrying about it."
Daica goes on to explain that dark elves are an incredibly long-lived race of
people with incredible wanderlust. While some settle down for extended
periods of time, most are loners who travel the world on their own. It's not
rare for siblings to get separated for decades, if not all their lives, so it wouldn't have been strange if she and Kamii went separate ways again after
their short reunion.
However, since I fulfilled my part of the promise so quickly and helped her
save the person she entered a contract with me for, she now has to do her
part.
"Wait, what do you mean, fulfill your part?" I tilt my head and raise an
eyebrow.
"I-I thought me b-becoming yours was a figure of speech. That y-you just
wanted to..." Her cheeks flush as she looks anywhere but into my eyes. Well,
that reaction doesn't leave much room for imagination as to what she's trying
not to say. Unexpectedly, same-sex relationships don't seem to go against
their culture or religion, or Daica is just very open-minded.
"Oh, I do." Stating with a matter of fact expression, I confirm her thoughts.
"But that's not what I meant by becoming mine."
"Huh?" It's now Daica's turn to tilt her head in wonder, as she blinks her
eyes from lack of comprehension.
"By becoming mine, you'll be mine for as long as I say so." I step forward
and lift up her chin so that we can make eye contact. "Body and soul."
A shiver runs through her at these words and my touch. Once again, I'm
reminded of the fact that she hasn't felt anybody touch her directly in a long
time before I came around.
Yesterday, I saw that Kamii was able to touch her bare skin as well, so my
theory that demons and other corrupted beings aren't affected was proven
right. But the two sisters had been separated for eleven years, and this is a
human nation, where demons are entirely absent. She could most likely never
touch anybody in all this time.
"So, what are you going to do with that money?" I step back and break the
moment of magic. Daica blinks a few times in confusion before she blushes
again.
"Ah... umm... s-since I'll be coming with you, I shall use it to financekyaun!" She begins to explain, but I give her a light chop on the forehead.
That noise just now was so cute! "D-did I make some kind of mistake?"
"It's your money, think about what you want to do with it." The answer
should be quite simple since I don't think it's a big stretch in this world.
"What do you mean?" She asks innocently. I have to wonder about her
mental age; maybe long-lived species remain childlike for many more years than humans, who have to mature faster to deal with life. That sounds like a
pretty likely explanation.
"Well, you could relocate your store to the capital. Not like there's anything
left in here for you to take along, or is there?" The store did look really
smashed, and I'd prefer if she didn't bring along some poorly sealed jar that
stinks of rot. I'll make sure to give her tips in that regard when she does end
up opening a new store in the capital.
Daica makes a face of realization, and I find myself smiling. She's so cute,
even when she looks physically mature. I want to do something with her
soon...
Kamii tugs on my sleeve when I seem to float off into a world of fantasy,
and I return to reality. Did she notice me having perverted thoughts about her
little sister?
"Let's go back to the guild." I turn to her and pet her hair with an uneasy
smile.
On our way back to the guild, I find myself flanked by two beautiful and
cute dark elves clinging to my arms. Even more eyes are on us than have
been before, and I can still feel the stares of those who notice Kamii's cursed
arm. But there are also many directed at Daica and her otherworldly charm
since she appears more joyful than she did when walking through the streets
alone earlier today.
Now that I have time to look around more, I find that nothing changed in
this city, even though there was such an intense battle yesterday. It just goes
to show how little effect it had on the bigger scale. I'm sure that soon another
group will take up the illegal slave trade; as long as there's demand, someone
will find a way to provide the supplies.
Having such idle thoughts, we do some window-shopping along the way
back to the adventurer guild. I don't have any money to buy anything, and it
doesn't feel right asking Daica to give me some, after telling her to use that
money to set up a new shop in the capital.
"Hey." Senka suddenly whispers to me. Kamii's ears twitch, and she spins
her head around to look up to me with a questioning gaze. The doll girl
doesn't continue since she realizes that she was overheard just now.
While I pet the little dark elf's hair, I look around; there must be a reason
for why Senka decided to speak up right here. Then I notice that we're in front of the same tailor as the one we went to yesterday. Putting two and two
together, I assume she wants a new outfit, too. She couldn't ask me yesterday
since the bard was around. The gothic lolita dress she's wearing now is of
poor quality, has some holes eaten by moths, and it gives her the typical
appearance of a creepy and cursed doll.
Maybe it's good to go with an image change, then. Her current outfit is also
kind of bulky because of the wide skirt with the petticoat underneath it,
which makes it hard to carry her.
"Daica~" I turn to the big dark elf on my left and blow into her ear. She
flinches at the sensation and shies away with wide eyes.
"W-w-what is it, Miss Marcott?" Her stutter is even more prominent after
my tease.
"Don't you think we should get Senka a new outfit?" I lift the doll girl up
demonstratively. Seeing her, Daica goes pale and remembers that she's alive.
Seems like she had forgotten it over everything that happened ever since she
learned about it that night.
"Y-yes, let's do that." With a nervous smile and her eyes fixed on the doll
girl, she replies tensely.
We're back at the tailor's place for the second time within two days. This
time, he's wooed by Daica's beauty, so he's rather cooperative again. When he
learns that it's for Senka, I hear him click his tongue, but as a professional
businessman, he doesn't let it show on his face. If he were a true professional,
I wouldn't have noticed anything at all, though.
Fortunately, this tailor has a lot of sizes already prepared. While I always
refer to her as a doll, she's actually around the size of a ten-year-old child. Of
course, there's nothing exactly her size, but that can be arranged unless it's
too expensive.
Kamii can actually be persuaded to leave my side and remain with her little
sister while I go into the changing room with Senka. The tailor stares at me
with an eyebrow raised, as I close the curtain behind me. I doubt he suspects
anything, but going into the changing room just to dress up a doll is quite
strange indeed.
While she's taking off her clothes, I notice that she has stitches all over her
body, not just on her cheeks and hands. The large and sometimes messy cuts
look like they didn't heal before she became what she is now. Maybe she really is some kind of zombie.
I'm gripped by fascination, and while she's wrestling with pulling her old
dress over her head, I stick my finger between the stitches of the biggest one
on her exposed stomach without thinking. I feel something soft and assume
it's an organ.
Senka lets out a strange yelp and rips the dress in two, before grabbing my
hand and pulling my finger out of her stomach. Then she breaks my wrist in
the same move, displaying incredible strength I didn't expect she had.
"What are you doing?!" She hisses at me, knowing to keep it down so that
the storekeeper can't hear her.
"... sorry." I look at my dangling hand with a blank expression. While I
reform my broken bones, I can still feel the sensation on my finger and
wonder. "What did I-"
She delivers a punch to my abdomen, and I feel the impact transfer into the
depths of my body. Since right now I'm using a human female's template, I
can tell exactly where she was aiming with that most indicative hit.
I poked a part of a girl nobody should ever touch.
"Don't you ever do that again, or I'll ram this all the way up there and show
you exactly how it feels." Balling up her small and scarred hand, she glares at
me with her big blue eyes. A shiver runs through me at the thought, and I nod
frantically.
Though, isn't that disproportionate retribution?
In the end, Senka chose a simple, long-sleeved white shirt, a gray pair of
leggings, and a black coat with a white fur trim that reaches all the way over
her knees. A capelet, coming in a set with the dress, covers her shoulders.
She also asked for bandages instead of gloves for her battered hands and
selected a simple black hat to accompany her outfit. For some reason, she
then picked out a pair of knee-high leather boots that had to be meticulously
tied, too. It doesn't fit the rest at all, but I can't deny anything she's asking for,
after what I did to her.
"The copyright claim will be my revenge..." She mutters with an annoyed
expression still on her face. We're in the changing room again, and she's just
about to finish gearing up, after the tailor-made some minor adjustments.
"Wait, huh? What's that about copyright?" I spin my head around to her,
but she ignores me while putting on her shoes.
While I wasn't paying attention, she already finished with everything else.
Now that I think about it, she skillfully avoided taking off her underwear,
which must be hiding whatever modification Daica performed on her.
Actually, I'm grateful for that, since I don't really want to know...
When we leave the store with a newly-dressed cursed doll, the sun is
already disappearing behind the houses around us. You really forget the
passage of time when you have fun. I'm starting to feel hungry and remember
that we only had brunch today.
"Let's go back to the guild and have dinner." It's not so much a suggestion
but a statement. We had planned to meet with the others for dinner anyway,
so it's the obvious course of action for us to take. As expected, nobody has
any objections.
When we reach guild hall, Gram and the bard are already there. The latter
is somehow always already there, it seems. Since I don't see Rolan and Luna,
I assume they're still out on their quest, so dinner will have to wait. The big
man has a jug of beer or ale sitting on the table in front of him, so in a way,
he already started something on his own.
"What were you up to today, missy?" He asks me while signaling at the
waitress to bring me one as well. Daica asks for a glass of water, as does
Kamii. Even though the latter is old enough, I still wouldn't be happy with
her drinking something alcoholic; she looks the way she does after all.
Considering I'm still underage myself, I shouldn't be one to talk.
"We got Senka a new dress." I lift the doll girl up for the big man to see. It
may not have been so apparent, because of its similarly dark color as her
previous one, but at least it's no longer puffed up and full of frills.
"Oh, did Lady Nightwane buy it?" Gram obviously knows that I have no
money on me, so he gets right to the point. The person in question nods in
response. He suddenly reaches across the table and picks Senka up by her
arm.
"Wait, you're-" I was about to say that he's hurting her, but stop myself.
Not only would he look at me strangely, but I somehow don't believe that she
can be hurt by something like that. Senka did say that she's quite sturdy, and
if it hurt, she would most likely speak up. I know I wouldn't be able to
pretend that I'm a doll if someone twisted my arm around.
"Hm, but I have to say, its design is really creepy." Looking at her face
from close up, Gram comments while scratching his chin. He then hands herback to me without causing any problems. I hug her to me and hope she's not
mad that I didn't do more to stop him.
"No..." Daica mutters beside me, and I turn around to her. She suddenly
looks at Senka, then turns to Gram, before continuing. "She isn't creepy!
She's creepy-cute!"
A kindred spirit!
"You think so too?" I can't help but feel happy right now. I hadn't expected
that Daica, of all people, would think that way about Senka. Especially since
she knows that the doll is actually alive. But it looked like she couldn't
suppress her feelings and had to announce them. "Those scars combined with
her otherwise beautiful smooth skin."
"The dark rings under her big blue eyes." The dark elf adds.
"She's so creepy-cute!" We say in unison with perfect timing.
"I-is that so?" Gram is taken aback by our outburst, as I cuddle Senka and
Daica mutters more words of praise, more to herself than to anybody else. I
guess she's still somewhat obsessed with the doll girl, even though she knows
that the latter is alive.
Kamii is looking at us with an expression that suggests a combination of
incomprehension and doubtfulness. Didn't she show that she liked her design
before? Or is it just that she doubts our sanity for blurting it out like that?
Daica and I both soon regain our composure and go quiet again. To bridge
the spreading awkward silence, I take out the little book I got from the saint
and start looking through it. Maybe I can find a new topic in here and wash
down the memory of what just happened; I have appearances to keep up,
after all.
Obviously, it's not in Japanese, so I can't understand it at all. This is
completely useless for me right now!
But since I'm already sitting with the book opened, I'll pretend that I can
read it, so that it doesn't appear too dumb from the outside. Who opens a
book, looks inside and then closes it again right away?
At the moment, I can't ask Senka to help me out, since the bard is present,
and Kamii seems to have pretty good hearing, too. I just hope the lovebirds
are coming back soon, as shocking as that may sound. Please release me from
having to flip pages and pretend that I'm reading something that I can't
understand in the slightest!
Luckily, they do come into the guild hall just minutes later, and Gram lifts his jug to greet them. I slowly close the book and stash it away, before
turning to greet them, all the while keeping up a calm and neutral facade. In
reality, I've been feeling incredibly awkward all this time.
"How'd it go?" The big man asks when Rolan sits down at our table, while
Luna remains at the reception. She's the one collecting the reward since she
was the one who fulfilled the request on her own for the most part.
"What'd you expect? Flawless as always." Bragging, the leader waves over
a waitress and orders a jug of ale for himself and some kind of juice for his
girlfriend. I noticed that just like Daica she never drinks alcohol, so I assume
it's either a physiological or cultural thing for elves.
Luna soon joins us at the table, and we order dinner. I haven't been paying
much attention to what we've been eating the past few meals since we've
always been holding conversations, but today is different.
Since we're so many, Rolan just ordered a whole pigling, as well as a big
helping of boiled potatoes - they look and taste exactly the same as potatoes,
so I'm calling them potatoes. There's also a plate of assorted grilled
vegetables, which had some of the oil and sauce from the pigling sprinkled
over for garnish.
It's a feast!
Daica seems to be a vegetarian; she doesn't touch any meat, and only takes
vegetables onto her plate. In fact, she isn't eating much for her size. On the
other hand, Kamii isn't so picky about her food and piles up just as much as I
do. And she also easily finishes it all, despite her much smaller size compared
to her little sister.
Could it be part of their curses as well?
In either case, it tastes really great, now that I actually consider it. It's the
kind of food I would have never gotten the chance to eat if I hadn't died and
been reincarnated into this world. If that's not a silver lining, I don't know
what is.
Oh, and I wouldn't have met Senka, Daica, and Kamii. That should be more
of a reason than the food, actually.
After dinner, we talk about some meaningless things, and the subject of
moving to the capital isn't broached for the time being. Even though Daica
made her decision, we don't need to let the others know, yet. I'd like to get a
grasp on the language first before we move out from here.
I'm quite happy to find that tomorrow we don't have anything planned, either. When we return to the tavern, I'll get to work on learning to read and
write in this nation's language.
"Mahkotoh." Kamii suddenly calls out to me when we get back to our
room. When I turn around, I find that she's staring at Senka sitting in her
usual chair, her face a few inches away from the latter.
"W-what is it, Kamii?" I walk over to her, a bad feeling about what's
coming next.
"Name?" She points at the doll girl. Whew, so she wasn't going to ask
anything uncomfortable.
"Ootsuki Senka." I reply with a nervous smile. No harm in giving her real
name here.
"Senkah?" Tilting her head and pronouncing it the same way as she does
my name, she continues to stare at the doll girl's big blue eyes. "Why... don't
you speak?"
I feel my heart stop for a second and I freeze in place. Just from hearing a
whisper once she was able to tell that it was neither Daica nor me, and
deduced that the voice must have come from Senka. What terrifying hearing
ability.
"... well, not like it'll cause any harm." I shrug and wonder why I'm getting
worked up over this. Kamii is a cursed dark elf, so she shouldn't have any
prejudices against a small girl that looks like a stitched doll. "She'll find out
sooner or later anyway."
"If you say so." Suddenly, Senka turns her head with a creaking sound and
stares right back at Kamii. Unexpectedly, the little dark elf doesn't flinch in
surprise and keeps up eye contact. It seems to throw the doll girl off her
game, as she blinks in return. "What?"
But the little dark elf only replies with a bright smile, as if she just found
herself a new toy. I didn't think she could make such an expression so soon
after being freed from eleven years of slavery. It goes to show that she feels
safe here.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Inching backward, Senka frowns.
"Go ahead, pick her up and play with her." I encourage Kamii with a grin.
It's not like the doll girl can't move on her own, but I'm sure it'll be fun for the
little dark elf to be the one carrying her around a bit. Their size difference
isn't that big, so it would look closer to young siblings playing with each other.
But then I remember that Kamii can't really use her right arm.
Just when I think that, she uses her pincer to grab Senka and lift her up
from the chair. It seems she has quite some strength in that arm after all, even
though her hit didn't hurt at all. Was she holding back at the time?
"Well, keep her company for a while, then. I'll have Daica teach me-" I turn
around towards the bathroom, where she had disappeared into the moment
we returned, and find that she has come out. She's wearing only a see-through
nightgown, and her face is flushed reddish-purple as her eyes swim all over
the place. "-the... lang-... umm, what are you doing?"
"H-huh? I-I thought that we could... y-you know..." Stuttering even more
than usual, as she always does when she's trying to broach a subject she isn't
entirely confident about, Daica's eyes swim all over the place. But apparently,
she doesn't even notice Kamii playing with Senka behind me.
"You thought we could do what?" I loom over her with a gleeful grin and
watch her grow more and more flustered. It's just so fun to mess with her like
that.
"Y-you know... I would... umm... b-become yours... and..." She trails off
into faint murmuring and is unable to bear my gaze, as she shrinks under it.
Really? In front of her older sister, who seems genuinely innocent and
mentally appears to be as young as Senka looks?
"Well, let's leave that aside for now." Taking Daica's hand and pulling her
over to my bed, I use my other hand to pull down the suspenders of my
overalls. "I have something I need your help with."
"A-a-ah, yes!" She stutters with an even deeper blush, apparently expecting
that I'm going to cash in on the contract now. Sitting down on the bed with a
look of anticipation, she glances between her hands nervously entwining on
top of her thighs and me.
"Here, I need you to teach me how to read." I pull the book Arcelia gave
me from the pocket of my overalls, before completely slipping out of them.
Then I sit down next to Daica, making myself comfortable for the reading
session.
"Eh?" With a blank face and blinking her eyes repeatedly, she stares at me
in incomprehension.
Apparently, the language is one based on runes that represent syllables, which is somewhat similar to Japanese hiragana. But unlike hiragana, many
runes change the way they're read depending on whether they're used before
or after certain keystone runes. The keystone ones are just vowels that always
remain the same, and they represent sounds that can't be achieved through the
combination of any other runes.
There's a total of thirty-two runes, so I can start with learning those first. In
either case, since I can already speak the language, it'll take me no time to
memorize them.
"Thank you, Daica!" I turn to the big dark elf and give her a radiant smile.
She returns the smile but then heaves a long sigh. It seems she was really
expecting that we would be rolling in the sheets tonight, but I don't plan on
doing that anytime soon while Kamii is around. Let's mess with her a bit
more. "Hm, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing!" Denying it so vehemently that it's obviously suspicious, she
shakes her head and her wavy hair swings all over the place.
"Really, you helped me out there." I put my arm around her bare shoulders
so that our skin touches, before pulling her closer. She yelps in surprise at the
sensation, an incredibly cute noise for someone who looks so mature.
I give her a quick peck on the cheek, and her face practically blows up into
the brightest red I've seen on her yet.
"Hwaa!" With that sound, Daica slackens and falls onto the bed.
"No fair!" Kamii, who has put Senka down at one point and began to peek
over our shoulders, complains with her cheeks puffed up. Since she's the
quiet type, I had forgotten about her presence after a while, but it seems she
wants to join in on the fun, too.
"Come here~" I pull Kamii around to my front, where I cradle her in my
arms and kiss her forehead.
"If you're going to do it, warn me beforehand." I hear Senka's cynical voice
from behind me and turn to look at her. She's sitting on her chair motionlessly
once again, but with her new outfit and her gradient hair properly combed,
she isn't that scary anymore. In fact, she's more cute than creepy now.
"Nah, not tonight." I look at Daica, who seems to have gone to heaven and
has fallen asleep. I really don't feel like doing it at this moment, which is
strange. It seems that even for a tentacle monster there's actually 'the right
mood'.
I press my lips to Kamii's cheek and give her a hearty kiss, after which she giggles contently. Then our eyes meet, and I'm drawn in by her mesmerizing
irises. It's like they're lenses showing a distant, amethyst-colored galaxy.
"Let's sleep." I whisper to the little dark elf with a warm smile, forcefully
pulling away from those eyes, before I lose myself in that otherworldly glow.