"Hey Shin, have you ever heard about Laelaps?"
I was gazing intently at the myriad number of colorful stars twinkling brightly in a kaleidoscope of colors as they lit up the cold night sky giving it an unreal mystical ambience when the sweet voice of a young girl took my attention from the stars.
For some weird reason, I could not make out the features of her face as though they were shrouded behind the veil of a censoring mosaic but despite that being the case, I was somehow instinctively aware that the face hidden beneath that veil was a face of unrivalled beauty I was very familiar with which I could not seem to remember.
The white-haired girl wore a plain knee-length one-piece white dress hiding her enticing ethereal figure from view however, it failed to hide the outline the prominent bulges of her twin peaks and with the way she sat on the grass with her dress drawn to her knees, her alluring curvaceous and full milky-white thighs were exposed to me as her dress had ridden all the way up to the tips of her sacred region.
I cursed once again in my mind at whatever random number god or goddess who had refused to let that dress climb up all the way as it still somehow managed to barely hide the forbidden contents I wished to gaze upon. I knew that if I slightly leaned forward, I would be able to see them however the last bits of 'decency' I had as a gentleman prevented me from taking that final leap of faith.
It was a strangely frustrating feeling similar to drawing a winning ticket for a million-dollar lotto jackpot only for it to get blown away by a strong wind to god knows where. At that moment, I fully understood how the donkey being controlled by its rider using a carrot dangling Infront of it hung on stick must have felt chasing after a piece of food it would never be able to reach no matter how hard it tried.
"Mou!! Shin, are you even listening to me?!" The girl muttered in a sulky tone which finally managed to draw my attention away from my hopeless endeavor prompting me to gaze at her face.
Despite being unable to see her face under the veil of the mosaic, I could somehow tell that she had scrunched her exquisite brows and puffed out her cheeks into a beautiful pout prompting me to flash her a mischievous grin.
"I was paying rapt attention to you Ma'am!" I said whilst grinning at her prompting her to pout even further.
She extended her small immaculate hand towards me and lightly pinched my cheeks. I yelped in mock pain as she started berating me in a mock serious voice.
"You are paying attention to the wrong place Shin! What's up with you and always thinking of perverted thoughts? I am trying to be serious here!"
"I'm sorry ma'am. As you can see, I am still a fine and healthy young boy trail-blazing towards puberty and when you intentionally show me an enticing sight like that, how can I possibly tear my eyes away from it?"
"Shiiiiin!!!!" the girl pouted as she tightened her grip on my cheeks. This time I could no longer fake my cries of pain as my eyes started to smart.
Satisfied by my reaction, the girl reluctantly let go of cheeks before puffing out her chest in triumph.
"Hmph!! Serves you right! You better take me seriously next time when I'm talking to you!"
"Yes ma'am!" I swiftly answered whilst rubbing my swollen cheeks. Did she have to pull so hard?!
"I'm going to repeat myself again Shin and make sure you listen properly this time, do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear ma'am!"
"Hmph!" She coldly harrumphed at my response before crossing her arms.
"I was asking If you have ever heard about Laelaps."
"Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion, "What is that?"
The girl extended her hand to pinch me again but this time, I quickly reacted by bounding onto my feet and scampering away from her.
Upon Seeing this, she pouted again.
"You should pay more attention to your studies outside of fighting, Shin!"
She chided me again in her mock serious tone before explaining to me what she was talking about.
"Do you see that star constellation over there?" she asked whilst pointing at the sky.
"Which one?" I asked as I followed the direction where her finger was pointing.
"I'm talking about that one, the one which looks like the head of a dog holding the brightest star in the sky in its mouth."
"Oh, I can see it. You are talking about the Canis Major constellation?"
The girl turned her head to look at me as though she was looking at an alien.
"What?" I asked whilst raising up one eyebrow, "Did you think that I was some dumb brain-dead muscle-brain who knew about nothing else other than fighting?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought." She replied succinctly earning a frown from me. I could tell that she was now sporting a dazzlingly beautiful smile which could never lose out to the light of the sun. "I'm glad I got to learn that shin is actually smart and has this amazing side to him."
I wryly smiled whilst scratching my cheek.
"Why do I feel like that is not a compliment and that you are somehow insulting me?"
"I am insulting you dumbass! I'm surprised you even managed to catch on to that!"
"Huh?!" I exclaimed in mock indignation, "Well then, let me enlighten you to a profound truth Ma'am! I am actually ranked first in the academic rankings of the Grand Imperial Academy!"
"Of course, you are! And yet you are forever second in the national rankings after me!"
"Hey! It just means that I'm the second smartest person in the Empire! If that is considered stupidity, I have no idea of what sort of perverted and bigoted benchmark you are using to gauge my intelligence! If you ask me, it seems to be extremely prejudiced against me."
The girl softly giggled.
"You know absolutely nothing Shin! Being ranked second after me means that you are just first in a very long line of losers so there is nothing wrong in saying that you are dumb. You are the first and greatest of the losers after all!"
Hearing her weird train of thought and reasoning, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and promptly raised my white flag.
"Whatever you say miss genius. No matter how smart you are I am still stronger than you."
The girl mischievously narrowed her eyes.
"It is exactly because you are stronger than me that you are wrapped around my little finger doing whatever I tell you to. Without my brains supporting you as your co-leader, Apex would have collapsed a long time ago. It just goes to show how amazing I am as even my brains can tame a brainless brute like you."
"Look at the pot calling the lid black! Though you almost never show it, we both know that if you took fighting seriously, even I would be hard pressed winning against you even though I would still win in the end. You too bear a tendency to resort to violence when words fail you."
The girl once again dazzlingly smiled.
"Well, you always resort to violence and rarely use your brains at all. I guess its why we form the perfect couple and the perfect pair. Its almost as if we were made for each other."
"We undoubtedly were made for each other. The guard dog of the underworld, Cerberus which rules over Apex would never be complete without its three heads." I softly muttered whilst pulling the girl's soft body into my embrace.
She pecked me lightly on the lips before resting her head gently onto my chest and fully surrendering her body to the support of mine. A soft silence enveloped us as we both stared up at the stars. The girl suddenly laughed when she belatedly realized the slight error I made.
"You said Cerberus has three heads." She softly muttered. "When I combine your head and mine, I can only count two heads. Where is the third?"
I lightly kissed the top of her fragrant white hair as a mischievous smile adorned my lips.
"That is a heavy and profound question my darling Helen with a clear and straightforward answer."
"Oh? Please enlighten me to the answer O great wiseman of yore."
"It's very simple my darling lover Helen …. The third head is down there tucked snuggly in my pants as it enjoys the subtle warmth and softness of your exquisite flesh permeating through my clothes."