Zane gently kissed the top of the gold-haired girl's head as she nested herself in his lap, cradling an inconspicuous egg on the larger side in her arms.
"Irr sent a reply. Normal incubation time for a Kobold's egg is between one to three months, depending on the color of the child's scales. It is even shorter if it's a nest guard like she was. Irr herself hatched after just two weeks, grew up physically in one, and started taking care of other eggs from then on."
Melinda nuzzled herself into the monstrous man, speaking in a dispirited voice while hugging the egg.
"Don't worry. Our little one is just a little sleepyhead."
Zane hummed reassuringly, resting his chin on the girl's shoulder.
"...I'm scared that… that I'm only keeping alive the body that's inside of the shell, but the actual little one is already… Already…!"
"Shhhh… Shh… shhh… Worrying in advance and assuming stuff only ends up making people sick."
Melinda trembled and sniffled, curling up into a ball - or at least attempted to, but Zane's loving hug prevented her from closing herself off.
"You're worried because it's almost six months since we got our little one, do I get it right?"
"...y-yea…"
The monstrous man asked delicately, and the gold-haired girl mumbled pitifully.
"Well, none of us is a specialist in Kobold biology, and I'm pretty sure that Irr can't make a proper diagnosis without actually seeing and examining the egg."
"...?"
Zane pointed out and smiled softly at Melinda, who gave him a confused look with tearful eyes.
"It's winter break anyway. Let's go visit Koboldia Town."
"...without telling Adi…?"
The monstrous man declared, wiggling his brows playfully, but the gold-haired mess of a girl only tilted her head and mumbled.
"We can leave her a note. But I don't think it's necessary. After the way she acted towards you those past months…
Zane shrugged his shoulders and said, but almost immediately, his expression grew dark, and he scoffed.
"Zane…! In the first place, it was my fault that Adi thought that I was pregnant. She did her best to keep me and the baby out of danger… and…"
"And once learning that not only you weren't pregnant but also are sterile, she immediately took an unspecified time off and dipped. Because that's what someone who isn't guilty does. Sure. I lost every ounce of trust I had for her."
Melinda squirmed in his lap and cried out, but Zane merely grumbled, staring to the side with a bitter expression.
"...Zane… she's my friend and cares about me…"
"My love. Personally, I now hate that particular friend of yours."
The gold-haired girl tried to change the monstrous man's mind, but he doubled down on his opinion, declaring adamantly.
"Let's not bother with her since she's not here in the first place. How about we invite Catherine and Ross instead?"
"?"
Zane ended up steering the conversation in a different direction and asked, taking Melinda by surprise.
"I… Hmmm… It's been a while since we hung out like that, isn't it?"
The gold-haired girl blinked a few times, taken by surprise, and finally admitted, appearing interested in the idea.
"Speak for yourself, love! I never had a chance to spend time with them at all!"
"Ah…! True. Hmhmhm~!"
Zane snickered, tightening the hug and showering Melinda with kisses, causing her to giggle eventually.
They enjoyed each other's company a lot longer, but once, around noon, Melinda's stomach released quite the complaint, causing her and Zane to leave her room.
Since the cafeteria was closed during winter and summer breaks, the students' best options were going shopping and cooking something by themselves or going to a restaurant.
That said, since Melinda and her monstrous man were already going to ask Catherine and her monster about going on a trip together, they figured out it wouldn't hurt doing so over a fancy meal prepared by someone else.
The restaurant it was, but of course, not before inviting the timid girl and her familiar.
"I should go grab something more presentable, shouldn't I? I'll be waiting by the gate."
"Okay~"
Zane glanced at his clothes - a bit too casual and light for the time of the year and the following event - and pointed out, having Melinda nod and wave at him with a loving smile.
A few moments after going in the opposite direction from her man, Melinda found herself in front of Catherine's room.
And as she knocked…
"Hiih…?!"
*THUMP*
"Cath…?!"
As an immediate response, the person inside let out a questionable voice of distress, followed by what sounded like a sudden fall, causing the gold-haired girl to call out with worry.
But there was no follow up to the worrisome noise, even though there was quite a lot of rustling, causing Melinda to tense up in unease.
"Cath? It's you in there, right? Cath?!"
"..."
Melinda called out, knocking again, but instead of responding with words, the person on the other side ended up making out even more hasty rustling noises.
"...either a thief or someone trying to pick on Cath…"
The next moment Melinda's expression turned severe and the sharpness in her eyes intensified to the point of almost turning into an actual physical attack.
The gold-haired girl moved her hand as if she intended to knock one more time, only that in the end, she only placed her open palm on the door's surface…
*CRUNCH*
…and then dug her fingers in, piercing the thick wood with a blood-chilling sound…!
The door, together with its frame, got ripped from the wall, shooting out specks of debris and filling both the hallway and the room with a thick cover of dust.
"Whoever you are, you got something wrong with your head to be messing with my fri… Eh…?"
"..."
Melinda neutered the room, putting the door aside, and stopped mid-step as she noticed a trembling pile of blankets right beside the bed…
"Cath…?"
"M…mhmm…!"
The gold-haired girl approached the bundle and inquired, causing a small, fearful voice to sound out from within.
"Did I… walk in on you doing… you know…?"
"Mhmn!"
Melinda asked, and the pile of blankets was all too eager to admit to everything.
"Oh, dear... You know…"
While speaking, Melinda took a step back to the hallway and set a sharp glare at the girl from the next room who seemed eager to complain about the noise - giving the unfortunate lass a heart attack just from the sharpness of her stare.
"You know, you could try to talk to him instead of just imagining things. Simon isn't some unapproachable guy."
"Umm… mhmm! Mhmm!"
After taking care of the unwanted attention, at least for the moment, the grim-faced Melinda walked back into the room, speaking to the bundle of blankets that was doing its best to respond to her without actually using any words.
"..."
"KYAAH!"
*thump*
With her eyes narrowed in disgust, Melinda reached down, picking up the pile of blankets and easily shaking out the girl hiding within, causing her to let out a panicked scream before hitting the floorboards.
Only that instead of being a green-eyed black-haired girl nearing twenty years old, but a short blue-haired one that was just about to turn sixteen.