“N-No no no... Are you sure, Professor? I feel like this might be the worst possible situation I can think of?!” Rio questioned in a panic.
“Uhh... I-I don’t care if it is! Geez!” Celia said unflinchingly.
“W-Why?” Rio asked in shock.
“Then it’s decided. Let’s go.” Aishia pulled Rio’s arm once more.
In the end, the three of them decided to sleep together on their first night of cohabitation.
◇ ◇ ◇
The three of them headed toward Rio’s bedroom.
“Good night, then.”
On the giant bed custom-crafted by Dominic, Aishia, Rio, and Celia settled down next to each other. Even with the three of them, there was still plenty of empty space on the bed.
After saying good night to each other, Rio and Celia lay in nervous silence. Meanwhile, as for Aishia...
“Zzz... zzz...”
She was sound asleep and breathing peacefully within several minutes, still in her material form as she said she would be.
Celia timidly sat up. “T-That girl really just wanted to go to sleep quickly...” she said as she looked at Aishia’s face, half-exasperated and half-impressed.
“Ahaha, that’s why I told you. We don’t do anything weird. Do you want to sleep in a separate room now?” Rio said with a faint smile, giving Celia an out.
“N-No.” Celia pouted delicately and shook her head.
“Umm, you don’t have to be so worried. Almost nothing problematic ever happens.”
“Almost?” Celia said, staring.
“N-No, I mean, nothing ever happens.” Rio rescinded his statement with an oddly high-pitched voice. He couldn’t tell her that sometimes, Aishia would materialize half-asleep and naked.
“I-I’m not worried anymore. It seems like this girl is a bit airheaded, and I do trust you...” Celia began to say, slightly sulking.
“...Then, why?” Rio asked, hesitantly prodding for what was really on Celia’s mind.
Celia blushed, turned away, and spoke. “B-Because... It’s l-lonely having to sleep all by myself when the two of you are sleeping t-together under the same roof.”
“...I see.” Rio couldn’t help but relax and smile with amusement.
“Ah, you laughed!” Celia pouted further.
“I’m sorry,” Rio apologized with a chuckle.
“Geez. It’s no laughing matter to me, you know?”
“Is that so?” Rio asked, looking up at Celia’s face.
“...Yeah.” Celia nodded nervously. Her face darkened with anxiety. “B-Because if everything had gone according to the original plan, I would have been in that person’s bed around this time.”
“Professor...” With an indescribable expression, Rio looked at Celia’s face. The person she was referring to was undoubtedly Charles Arbor.
“It scares me to imagine that this happiness right now might just be a dream I have to wake up from. That’s why, for today... at least for tonight, I’d like you to let me sleep beside you like this, Rio. When I wake up in the morning, I’d like to see your face first and be reassured...” Celia said, clutching onto Rio’s pajamas tightly.
“...It’s okay, this isn’t a dream. If it were a dream, then I’d just come save you again, no matter how many times it takes,” Rio promised with determination, squeezing Celia’s hand.
“Rio...” Celia teared up. The two stared at each other for a moment.
“Now, then. If you’re feeling better, shall we get to sleep soon? We’re going to have an early morning tomorrow.” Rio smiled gently.
Celia also smiled as she nodded, lying back down once more. “...Okay. You’re right. Now that I feel better, I suddenly feel very sleepy. If we talk too much, we might wake Aishia up too... Good night, Rio.”
“Yep. Good night, Professor,” Rio whispered softly into Celia’s ear.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning...
“Nguh...” Celia was the first to wake up. She blinked her eyes open to see Rio’s sleeping face right in front of her.
“?!” Celia started with a shake. Ah, that’s right, I said I’d sleep with Rio last night... She immediately remembered the series of events that led to this situation and slowly relaxed. Rio was breathing peacefully in his sleep. On his other side, Aishia appeared to be sleeping, too.
“Fufu...” Celia giggled with amusement and gently reached a hand toward Rio’s cheek. She was afraid he would wake up if she touched him, so she stopped a hair’s breadth away from making contact.
Warm.
Rio’s warmth could be felt, making her realize anew that this wasn’t a dream, much to her relief. Rio’s body seemed to twitch for a moment.
“Thank you, Rio,” Celia said. “If there’s anything I can do to pay you back, I’ll do anything. Just say the word,” she muttered quietly.
After that, with a small sigh, Celia closed her eyes once more and gave in to her sleepiness. The idea of continuing to stare at Rio’s face was tempting, but right now, she felt like she could get some decent rest. Sure enough, Celia fell into a peaceful sleep minutes later, her breathing coming out in soft wisps.
I guess she fell asleep, huh? Rio opened his eyes hesitantly, checking Celia’s sleeping face and smiling gently.
Interlude: Playing in the Water!
Meanwhile, at another time in a different location...
Before lunchtime, in the square of the spirit folk village, Masato, Aki, Arslan, Vera, and Latifa — as well as the other children of the village — were playing tag together.
“Masato’s it!”
“Wah, run away!”
But it wasn’t to be dismissed as a mere children’s game; the village children had enhanced their bodies with spirit arts and were running around at a tremendous speed.
“...Seven, eight, nine, ten! Okay — ready or not, here I come!” Masato counted to ten seconds before looking around the square.
There, a short distance away, Vera laughed happily as she clapped her hands, provoking Masato. “Haha! You can’t catch me!”
“Hey hey, Masato! I’m over here!” Arslan yelled over at Masato with a smug expression.
“Ha! Here I come!” Masato said with a combative grin, making a show of chasing Vera before chasing Arslan, too. His movement speed surpassed the limits of a regular human.
“Oh, you’re finally here!”
Masato’s secret lay in the armband he was wearing. It was a magic artifact imbued with a slightly less powerful body enhancement sorcery that Masato and Aki used, since they couldn’t use spirit arts.
It was a type of artifact that, while it required a little essence control in order to use it and it couldn’t stand up against Arslan and Vera’s natural werebeast abilities, Masato was able to put out the same speeds as the other village children. Because of that speed, it felt much more fun than a regular game of tag — Masato was completely enraptured by the charms of this world’s tag.
“Hehehe, you’ve finally started using that artifact to its full potential. That’s a nice speed you’re going at.” Arslan moved to a corner of the square and climbed a tree with light movements, looking down at Masato, who chased him from behind.
“That’s because I’m training everyday! Today’s the day I’ll finally catch you!” Masato stopped at the foot of the tree and looked up at Arslan with a wicked grin.
“Heh. You’re fifty years too early to be thinking about catching me!” Arslan said, jumping over to the next tree. He continued to jump from tree to tree, moving nimbly. Masato slowly followed behind him, looking up above.
“Laters!” Arslan grinned and jumped down from the tree.
“Ah, wait!” Masato suddenly burst into a dash towards where Arslan had landed. However, Arslan’s destination had been a spring directly connected to the square.
“Whoo!” Arslan landed smoothly on the surface of the water. The water splashed outwards everywhere, but he remained unsubmerged.
“Whoa!” Meanwhile, M
asato fell into the water with quite a big splash.
“Hehehe.” Arslan splashed about as he walked on the surface of the water, looking down at Masato submerged in the water. Bubbles were rising up to the surface, but there was no sign of Masato coming back up.
“...Hah!” After a moment, Masato leaped out of the water with force, lunging to catch Arslan.
However, Arslan had already foreseen Masato’s plan, evading Masato’s hand with a graceful hop. “There you are!”
“Dammit!” Masato said in frustration.
“You kept looking upwards and failed to notice your surroundings, Masato,” Arslan advised with a smug face.
“If only I could walk on water too...” Masato muttered with envy.
“Hehe, top class spirit arts users don’t choose their battlefields. Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to walk on water with a few more years of training too, Masato. Your ability in spirit arts won’t improve if you keep relying on artifacts, so keep at it,” Arslan said boastfully.
“What are you doing lecturing others for?” Sara, the silver werewolf, appeared out of nowhere and spoke exasperatedly.
“O-Ooh?! Don’t scare me like that, Sara.” Arslan said, his whole body flinching. He hadn’t realized Sara was so close by.
“You keep at your training, too,” Sara giggled, walking over the water to where Masato and Arslan were.
“...Wow. When Sara walks across the water, it doesn’t splash everywhere like with Arslan,” Masato said with admiration. Unlike Arslan, who had walked over the water noisily, Sara’s footsteps on the water only sent out a small ripple instead of giant splashes.
“Huh? Hmm, but it splashes when I run,” Sara said, kicking the water before speeding up. The water snapped away sharply at the same time Sara vanished.
“O-Ooh!” Masato cheered. Sara stood still on the water a short distance away.
“D-Don’t steal the limelight from me, Sara.” Arslan pouted with slight embarrassment.
“Ahaha, sorry,” she apologized with a faint smile. “I came to get Masato. It’s time for lunch.”
“Oh, is it that time already?!” Masato’s expression brightened.
“Hurry up, Sara!” Vera, Latifa, and Aki had come to the bank of the spring and were calling for Sara.
“Okay, give me a minute! Ah, that’s right. I was thinking of going to the pools after lunch. Did you guys want to come too? It’s gotten warmer lately, and I want to try on my new swimsuit.”
Vera and the others looked at each other. “We’ll go!” they all responded happily.
“Ooh, I want to go too!”
“Me too!”
Masato and Arslan also raised their hands enthusiastically.
“Sure, but you know the pools are separated by gender, right?” It was almost as though Sara was asking, Do you still want to come? The pools in the village were split into men’s, women’s, and one for families.
Masato and Arslan looked at each other. “Y-Yeah...”
They both nodded, their shoulders slightly lower than before.
◇ ◇ ◇
Shortly after lunch...
“It’s pool time!” Vera, the werewolf, cheered cutely. She ran towards the pool fully intent on leaping in, holding onto Latifa and Aki in each hand as she did.
“Aaah! Wait, Vera!” Aki followed, voice muddled with confusion.
“Ahaha, there’s no stopping Vera when she’s like this.” Latifa laughed merrily.
“Get ready, you two! One, two, jump!” Vera tugged the two girls on each side of her closer and took a huge leap; the swimsuit-clad girls were soaring through the air, with Vera in the lead. They landed in the water with a splash.
“Pwah!” After a moment, the three all surfaced at once, gasping deeply for fresh air.
“Puhah! That felt good!” Vera laughed happily, shaking her head from side to side. The countless water droplets on her trademark wolf ears went scattering everywhere.
“Geez, Vera. That’s cold.” Aki turned her face away while laughing happily, guarding herself against the onslaught of water droplets.
“Ehehe. But it feels nice.” Latifa simply closed her eyes as she accepted those water droplets. Her ears twitched and vibrated with joy.
“Did you girls get in already? You know, just because no one else is around doesn’t mean you can skip your warm up stretches, right?” Sara arrived at the pool behind Vera and the others, glaring down at the girls already in the water questioningly. Behind her were Miharu, Orphia, and Alma.
“O-Of course, we did it on our way here. N-Now, it’s time for a battle! Let’s go, Aki, Latifa!” Vera said shamelessly, wading through the water with a breaststroke.
“We made sure to do it! Don’t worry, Sara!” Latifa yelled back, following Vera.
“Ahaha, Vera’s just a little rash at times,” Aki muttered with a faint smile. Bringing up the rear, Sara sighed tiredly,
“Geez, that’s so suspicious.”
“Fufu, we should stretch and get in, too. This is such a wonderful place to swim in, after all.” Miharu laughed in amusement, a childish look in her eye as she spoke.
The girls were in a half-cavern spring that the dwarves had remodeled into a natural pool. Trees grew all around the surrounding area, and the water was beautifully clear, illuminated by the sparkling sunlight shining through the gaps of the ceiling. It was a very fantasy-like space, freeing even Miharu from her usual sisterly responsibilities and allowing her to feel excited.
“You’re right.” Alma the elder dwarf giggled and nodded before beginning to stretch.
“Fufu, then me, too. One, two, three, four...” The high elf Orphia bent and flexed her limbs.
“Okay!” Miharu began her warm up exercises, too, prompting Sara to imitate her and the others.
...Hmph, Miharu’s figure really is great. Orphia’s isn’t bad, too. Alma’s shorter than me, yet I feel her chest size isn’t that much different to mine... Sara grumbled to herself as she observed the other girls’ bodies. She had gone bathing with the girls present before, but seeing them in their swimsuits like this had a different charm compared to seeing them naked.
“What is it, Sara?” Alma asked, noticing her gaze.
“N-No, it’s nothing. I won’t lose!” Sara shook her head and squeaked, clenching her fists to encourage herself.
“Hm? Well, whatever. These swimsuits based on the design of the swimsuit Miharu brought are very comfortable to wear. The fact that there’s as much skin exposed as wearing underwear bothers me a little, but it’s cute and easy to move around in the water.” Alma cocked her head curiously before twisting her body around to see her own swimsuit.
The swimsuits the girls were wearing right now were made in the village and based off the design of the swimsuit Miharu bought at the Ricca Guild. Their designs were all very modern and cute.
“Yeah. But it’s a little too embarrassing to wear in front of boys. It’s good that we have gender-designated pools,” Orphia agreed with a giggle.
Until now, the swimsuits available in the village for women only consisted of a loose white underrobe that also served as a bathrobe, so the amount of skin exposure would be quite a shock before any male.
Miharu sensed the cultural difference and started to speak in amusement. “Fufu, in the world we were in, we’d wear these swimsuits to shared spaces between boys and girls.”
“...Isn’t it embarrassing?” Sara asked seriously, looking at Miharu.
“Hmm... I guess I kind of felt like that? That’s why I never went to play in those kinds of places after I got older... But there are lots of people that don’t mind that kind of thing, I think?” Miharu replied with a shy smile, tilting her head.
“I see, so Miharu finds it embarrassing... Well, you don’t have to worry about the opposite gender here, so let’s swim to our heart’s content. This should be enough warm ups for now,” Sara suggested.
“Come on! Aren’t you getting in yet?! Let’s play together!” Latifa waved he
r arm from the water.
“All right, we’re coming!” Sara replied on behalf of the others.
They enjoyed themselves for two full hours with breaks in between and returned home before sun down. Then, as they were changing back in the changing rooms, Latifa spoke up with a giggle.
“When Onii-chan gets back, let’s do that again! I want to show him my swimsuit figure!” she said with a carefree smile on her face.
“Huh?!” the other girls said with shocked expressions.
Chapter 3: Shopping
The morning after Rio had spent his first night with Celia and Aishia...
After finishing their breakfast, Rio and the others headed towards Amande. Their destination was the headquarters of the Ricca Guild in order to purchase daily necessities for Celia.
The stores all over the city had begun their business at a rather early hour of the morning, filling the roads with a lively crowd of merchants and customers.
“This is Amande. Like you’ve heard, it’s a very busy and bustling city.”
From under her hooded cloak, Celia looked at all the stalls lining the road with great interest in her eyes.
“First, let’s go buy you clothes at the Ricca Guild. Professor, make sure you don’t get separated...” Rio suggested.
“Let’s hold hands.” Aishia grabbed Rio’s left hand with complete familiarity.
“...I see. Then, may I hold your right hand?” Celia glanced up at Rio’s face and sought his permission shyly.
“Of course. Please, allow me.” Rio nodded readily, taking Celia by the hand.
“Y-Yeah...” H-He seems quite used to this, Celia thought to herself with a start, squeezing Rio’s hand nervously in return.
After that, the three weaved their way through the crowds and made their way to the Ricca Guild’s store — it was the branch that specialized in women’s clothing that he had taken Miharu to before. Celia’s heart was leaping at the thought of going shopping for the first time in a while, her steps springy with happiness.
When they stopped in front of the building. Rio turned to address the two girls. “Okay. I’m going to go a different way for a while. If you need anything, just tell Aishia — I’ll return right away with our telepathic connection.”
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