Vol 3 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 02: Confrontation! Between the Queen and the Mad Dog….and also the Cat

“Hyaa!”

I was suddenly woken up by a high pitch voice.

What? When I opened my eyes, what came into vision was a beautiful, blonde girl.

“…Luna, huh?”

She looked shocked with her eyes wide open, but I was still sleepy. It was a long-awaited holiday. It didn’t hurt to laze around once in a while.

“Sorry, but let me sleep. I was only able to fall asleep late at night…”

“Wh- What were you doing up so late?”

Luna’s voice trembled with unease.

For a while now, Luna seemed to be confused by something. Although I found it strange, I was going to go back to sleep, until I noticed that there was a red-haired girl at a hairsbreadth from me.

It was Machina. Her long eyebrows, soft cheeks and charming well-shaped lips were pretty close. On top of that, there was suddenly a sleepy “Mm” from behind me. Someone was clinging to my back.

I felt a soft sensation and a warm body temperature. When I carefully turned my neck around, I spotted a silver-haired beauty.

It was Elni. At the break of dawn she had a nightmare, but she seemed to have calmed down now. There were no traces of her tears left and she was making an innocent sleeping face.

Yeah, that was good, but… this situation was extremely bad, wasn’t it?

I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead and s.h.i.+fted my gaze to Luna, since she’d misunderstood the situation like I’d expected. Tears had already started welling up in her eyes.

“….Only I am left out!”

Along with her words, Luna turned on her heel and sprinted out of the room with a “Fueeh~”.

“No, wait, Luna! It’s a misunderstanding!”

I quickly sprung up from the bed…pulled the blanket over Machina and Elni, then I hurried out of the room after Luna. I went down the stairs into the living room and called out to Luna, who had her back to me.

“Luna, listen to me. You’re misunderstanding the situation. You see, they watched a spiritual show yesterday and were scared. So, at night they came into my room to sleep in my bed all on their own. I tried to resist, but they wouldn’t get out of the bed…”

I explained desperately, and then Luna turned around and began pouting on a rare occasion. Her well-shaped eyebrows were creased into a frown and her cheeks were slightly puffed out.

That expression of hers was rather cute. I had these out of place thoughts, as Luna said dejectedly.

“Lately, you are leaving me out of things, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san.”

“Eh? Really?”

I had no memory of occasions like that, but Luna replied with a “You are” and pressed her lips together tightly.

“Even yesterday you went into the bath with Machina and Elni and had a lot of fun…”

“Th- That was them just coming in on their own. I wasn’t really leaving you out of it….”

I tried to explain, as Luna stared at me.

“That is not the only case. s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, when Nazuna-chan or Elni-chan hug you, you smile at them and pat their heads…yet you never do that to me….”

Well, that was only because my head goes blank whenever Luna hugged me, making me unable to react in those situations.

But Luna’s eyes became wet, with a depressed expression on her face.

“Ehm, Luna….”

I took one step forward towards Luna to attempt to cheer her up, but then my foot suddenly got caught on something and caused me to trip.

I quickly tried to regain my balance, but I b.u.mped into Luna, who was right in front of me and we collapsed together. Therefore Luna was pushed onto the sofa, but I continued to fall and before I had noticed it, it was too late.

Luna’s beautiful face was right in front of my eyes and my lips had touched Luna’s cheek.

It was just a momentary kiss. I immediately pulled my body backwards to remove my lips from Luna’s cheek, but it obviously wasn’t a situation where I’d be able to brush it off as a joke.

The remaining sensation of Luna’s cheek on my lips was by no means an illusion. Luna turning incredibly red was real too.

Wh- What now? It might have been an accident, but I’d forced a kiss on a girl.

Confused, I stood up straight for now and put my hand on the sofa, that’s when I felt something out of place.

An indescribably soft sensation. As I pondered about the sensation and moved my hand, a pleasant elasticity repelled it and an erotic “Ahn” escaped from Luna’s mouth.

Th- This sensation, was it…? In my astonishment, I looked down doubtfully, as I realised that my a.s.sumption was correct. I was fondling Luna’s breast with all my might.

But Luna’s big breast couldn’t be enveloped by hand alone, and was spilling out of it. Furthermore, Luna didn’t say anything and looked at me completely embarra.s.sed with wet eyes, because of that my consciousness was blown away for a moment. But soon enough, my chest filled with guilt and I quickly moved away from Luna.

I was the worst. Not only did I kiss her, I even fondled her breast…..

“S- Sorry, that wasn’t on purpose!”

Holding up the hand that I’d used to fondle her breast, I quickly spouted an excuse, but then I realised something. With my phrasing, didn’t it mean that the kiss was on purpose?

I’d dug my own grave. At this rate I would be hated by Luna. I felt my stomach ache and looked at Luna expectantly… Huh? Now this I hadn’t expected.

Luna was looking at my face with red cheeks, but then suddenly an adorable smile bloomed on her face and she softly entangled her hands around my neck.

In that moment, a sweet fragrance enveloped me and at the same time her pink, well-shaped lips slowly approached me and then softly placed a kiss onto my cheek.

From the soft sensation of her lips on my cheek, I received a shock that spread through my body. I became completely unable to utter even a single word.

Still smiling, Luna stood up from the sofa.

“I will go prepare breakfast.”

Saying that, she disappeared into the dining kitchen while humming in a good mood. ….Speaking of that, I’ve heard that a kiss is a greeting in foreign countries.

I was sure for Luna too, it was just a greeting.

But they sure were soft….

As I reminisced about the kiss, I suddenly spotted an unfamiliar travel bag.

“Ah, so I stumbled over that…”

I remembered that the bag belonged to Elni. She probably had her personal stuff in there… I b.u.mped into it pretty hard.

“I better apologise to Elni later.”

Mumbling that, I put the bag on top of the sofa, left the living room and headed for my own room.

Luna was going to prepare breakfast, so I should go wake up Machina and Elni.

Not to mention that I couldn’t stay calm as long as they stayed on my bed….

With that in mind, I opened the door. Machina and Elni were still sleeping, while emitting sleeping sounds.

“You two, it’s about time to get up.”

I called out to them gently, but neither of them reacted.

“Hey, wake up. It’s morning, Machina, Elni.”

I raised my voice a bit, whereupon Machina and Elni raised their bodies, but shortly after fell back onto the mattress with closed eyes.

“Hey, don’t go back to sleep.”

I wearily approached the bed, but then Machina and Elni leaked quiet moans.

Upon hearing that, I noticed that something was off about them, so I peered at them to check upon their condition. Their faces were somewhat pale.

“Are you okay?”

I asked worried, and then Machina and Elni answered weakly.

“I feel weak….”

“My head hurts….”

A cold? I reached out to their foreheads with my hand and checked their temperatures. The body temperatures that I felt on my palm were slightly hotter than usual…. That was a cold without a doubt.

The reason was most likely due to them showering with cold water yesterday.

“I’ll go get a thermometer, so wait a bit.”

I should take their temperatures, just in case. I petted their heads lightly, then I left the room and once again headed for the living room. I took two thermometers from the shelf, then Luna peeked in from the dining kitchen.

“Ah, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, I have finished preparing breakfast. Do you want to eat?”

“Eh? You’re done already?”

“Yes, I only needed to warm it up.”

It only needs to be warmed up? I glanced at the clock on the wall, which showed half past nine.

It could be that Luna and Nazuna had already finished their breakfast. Even on a holiday, these two had well-organised life-styles. They always finished their breakfast by half past eight.

“Sorry, I’ll be back real quick, so keep it ready.”

“Yes, I will be waiting.”

When I glanced over at Luna, her cheeks had turned red.

That was somewhat erotic. I left the living room while scratching my head, and then I ran into Nazuna at the stairs.

Nazuna had worn her school uniform and had shouldered her bag for club activities. Upon seeing me, she faced me with a smile.

“Morning, Brother~”

“Yo, morning. Club activities today too?”

“Yeah! I’m going to train hard to master the cat claw!”

Nazuna replied, while filled with energy.

Lately Nazuna, who had won against everyone in the karate club regardless of their grade or gender, was working hard on a new technique.

Well, when she attended our gramps’ dojo, she’d learnt new techniques at the same speed as our super talented father.

No normal middle school student could win against her.

Either way, our father forbade Nazuna from going to the dojo when she reached middle school.

Our father had said, “Unlike s.h.i.+n.o.bu-kun, Nazuna-chan is mentally weak like me. So we can’t let her learn any dangerous techniques”.

Due to that, Nazuna was working hard at the school’s karate club today too.

“Brother, I’ll have a training match soon, so train with me again.”

“Sorry, but no. You’re no match for me.”

I turned her down bluntly, but Nazuna puffed up her cheeks.

“Now you have said it! Don’t forget these words!”

“Yeah, I’ll remember until lunch.”

“Geez! Once I come home, we’ll train!”

“Sure, whatever.”

“And after the training, you’ll play a game with me!”

“…Don’t mix in an order for playing so casually.”

I calmly pointed that out, but then Nazuna made a regretful expression.

“I thought you would fall for it….”

I wasn’t Machina, so I wouldn’t be deceived so easily.

But, it wouldn’t hurt to play with Nazuna once in a while.

“I’ll play with you when you’re home, so give it your best at club activities.”

When I petted her head, Nazuna saluted with a smile.

“Meow!”

After her energetic reply, she headed for the front door still smiling.

“She sure is energetic….”

Mumbling that, I climbed up the stairs and returned to my room.

“Okay, I got the thermometers….”

I started talking, but stopped inadvertently.

“Gnnnh…”

“Let go….”

On my bed, Machina and Elni were grabbing onto my pillow and were fighting over it.

Maybe due to their current condition, the two of them were breathing heavily and had red faces. Yet they both pulled on the pillow weakly and continued to quarrel.

“That’s mine…. Hah, hah…You have your own pillow, don’t you….”

“Why are you so obstinate… Hah, hah…. s.h.i.+n.o.bu’s pillow is mine….”

“No way. I… Ugh…. I feel sick….”

“Auh… My head…”

While saying that, they both let go of the pillow and went limp.

“…You guys have a cold, so stay put.”

I made a weary statement.

….When did it start to rain? While I listened to the soothing sound of the rain, I checked their temperatures and said with slightly widened eyes.

“Ohh, you both are perfectly synched with your temperatures at 38° C.”

“Hey, don’t say we’re perfectly synched….”

Looking quite weak, Machina said.

“What if I don’t just catch a cold, but her stupidity too?”

“Then you’ll be a Mad Dog like Elni. Try to bark.”

“Woof—-wait, don’t make me do stupid things! Don’t group me together with that idiot!”

While bright red Machina became angry, but then Elni while pouting shouted.

“Hey! What’s up with all these ‘idiots”! It’s a grave sin to call an idiot an idiot!”

“What, I’m just pointing out the truth.”

“Kuuh, how mean! You and your prolific pelvis!”

“M- My bottom has nothing to do with it! You…!”

Machina pulled on Elni’s cheek, but Elni didn’t give in and pulled on Machina’s cheek as well. But they were not feeling well. After a short while, they had depleted all their strength and collapsed exhausted onto the bed.

I let out a small sigh, and gently took Machina’s arm.

“Here, I’ll carry you to your room, so c’mon.”

When I called out to her, Machina glanced at Elni,and then sharply pointed at her and asked.

“Hey, what about that idiot?”

“Mh?”

I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to Elni, who had entrusted her cheek to my pillow with a smile.

It didn’t look like she wanted to leave here. Well, she had a cold, so I’ll let it slide.

“I’ll let Elni sleep here. You rest in your bed.”

I answered like so, but then Machina frowned for some reason, and shook off my arm.

“Then I’ll sleep here too.”

“…Eh? I don’t mind, but… no fighting, okay?”

I said warningly, but both Machina and Elni gave me awkward stares while not accepting my condition.

Geez. I stood up with a wry smile.

“For now, eat something and take your medicine. I’ll ask Luna to make some porridge, so behave yourselves here.”

After I confirmed it with their nods, I headed for the living room.

I realised that I had gone back and forth between my room and the living room a couple of times now. With that in mind, I opened the door to the living room.

That’s when I saw Luna sitting on the sofa absent-mindedly.

She’d probably finished the preparation for my breakfast. With a faint smile, she was tightly hugging the cat cus.h.i.+on against her chest.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san…”

“Yes, it’s me, s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san. Good that you could tell…. So, what’s up?”

“It, It is nothing. Really. I am not thinking about the kiss. I am just surprised by your manliness. Breakfast is ready, so please eat it quickly!”

After saying that really quickly, Luna pushed against my back while turning red, so we entered the dining kitchen together.

“A j.a.panese style breakfast, huh?”

I sat down on the chair and looked at the dishes on the table.

White rice and tofu. Miso soup and pickled vegetables. Along with a grilled mackerel.

“I’m digging in.”

I placed my hands together and put the food into my mouth. Then I looked at Luna.

What I saw were her enchanting emerald-green eyes, her soft slightly red cheeks and her charming well-shaped lips.

I ended up being captivated by them, until Luna noticed my gaze and slightly tilted her head.

“Something the matter?”

“N- Nothing.”

I quickly averted my gaze, then I coughed to hide my agitation—wait a minute. Enticed by Luna, I had started to eat breakfast and had totally forgotten about Machina and Elni.

Those two would surely get angry if they found out about this. Feeling guilty, I opened my mouth.

“…Hey, Luna. It’s about Machina and Elni. They both caught a cold.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah. I took their temperatures earlier and they were both at 38°C.”

Luna made a worried expression. I nodded to her and continued.

“I want them to take the medicine, so could you make some porridge for them please?”

“Yes, if that is all, I will make it right away.”

When I asked her that, Luna stood up immediately, faced the kitchen and put on her ap.r.o.n. The white-black cow-pattern ap.r.o.n was a present from me to Luna. It was cute and it suited Luna very well.

When I watched Luna cooking from behind, for some reason my heart started to beat faster.

Luna was so charming that for a moment I had the stupid urge to hug her from behind. I shook my head to get rid of that thought, then I stood up and returned to the living room.

Once there I took the cold medicine, sat down on the sofa and read the morning newspaper, waiting for Luna to finish the porridge….

Taking the tray from Luna, I left the living room and headed up the stairs.

In the middle of the tray was a crock and the cold medicine then on the side there were pairs of bowls, cups of water and spoons.

When I arrived at my room, I held the tray with one hand and reached for the doork.n.o.b… when I heard the sound of quarrelling mixed in with the noise of the rain.

“Go away, idiot!”

“Don’t say idiot! You go away instead, Machina!”

It seemed like Machina and Elni had begun fighting again.

I opened the door with a sigh, as Machina and Elni thrusted the pillow in their hands upon each other’s faces, while breathing heavily on the bed.

“…A new game?”

I asked wearily, but then Elni said in an attempt to seek help.

“Listen, s.h.i.+n.o.bu! Machina hit my head!”

“Mh. That wasn’t nice of Machina.”

When I said that, Machina made a shocked expression for a moment, then frowned soon after and shouted.

“It wasn’t my fault! To begin with, it’s her fault for pulling on my hair!”

“And I told you, that wasn’t on purpose!”

“Then apologise already! Since it really hurt!”

“You hit me before I could apologise! It hurt for me too!”

While saying all that, they continued to thrust the pillow at each other’s faces.

Mh, I couldn’t really allow them to waste their strength when they had a cold, so I approached them and reprimanded them by shouting.

“Hey, don’t fight, you two! Sit down!”

…Mh, the ‘sit’ was meant as a joke, but Machina and Elni sat down formally on the bed, like scolded dogs.

They were surprisingly obedient. A bit surprised, I approached them while still holding the tray. Then I sat down on the bed. Thereupon, Machina and Elni approached me curiously and sat down on either side of me. Now I opened the lid on the crock and put the porridge into(-on) the two bowls.

“Here, porridge for both of you.”

I handed each of them a bowl. Following that, I handed Machina a spoon and wanted to do the same for Elni, but

“You hold it, s.h.i.+n.o.bu.”

For some reason, Elni didn’t accept the spoon.

“Ah~”

Then she opened her small mouth, acting spoiled.

I hesitated for a moment, but since she had a cold, I was going to be generous today. I scooped up the porridge with the spoon and after I cooled it down a bit by blowing on it, I started to bring it towards Elni’s mouth.

But suddenly, a hand appeared from the side and pulled on my arm that held the spoon. Then Machina opened her mouth and ate Elni’s porridge.

“It’s good.”

Machina smiling was quite cute. On the verge of being captivated by her, I glanced over at Elni.

Elni had her mouth opened still and was blankly staring at Machina. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes and she pulled on my sleeve.

“Yeah, that was Machina’s bad.”

I gently patted Elni’s head and made an “Ah~”, even though it was embarra.s.sing. Elni opened her glittering, well-shaped lips with a smile and I put the porridge into her mouth.

“Hot, hot! I have a cat’s tongue!”

Due to me failing to cool down the porridge, Elni let out a small scream.

“Whoops, sorry, sorry. Are you okay?”

I did something bad to a sick person. I let her have a gulp of water and patted her head once more, but Elni’s eyes were still teary.

Okay, this time I would feed it to her after I’ve cooled it properly.

I scooped up the porridge with the spoon, but this time Machina pulled on my sleeve. I faced her and for some reason Machina raised her chin and opened her pink lips.

“…What are you doing?”

I asked bewildered, and then Machina turned bright red. After that she became teary eyed and she pinched my cheek.

“You’re so insensitive, s.h.i.+n.o.bu! Do that to me too!”

That? Could it be that she wanted the “Ah~”?

Mh, they say that one gets lonely when they’re sick and Machina could act spoiled too.

“But when I think about it, you can eat by yourself, can’t you? Why should I have to do such an embarra.s.sing thing? Why don’t the two of you do that ‘Ah~’ by yourselves? I’m sure it’ll be fun. C’mon, try it, Machina.”

“F- Fine, here, Ah~ —wait, what are you making sick people do! You do it, s.h.i.+n.o.bu!”

While shoving the spoon into my mouth, Machina got angry.

“Sure, sure.”

I took the spoon, which was forced into my mouth, out and scooped up the porridge. This time I was going to do the “Ah~” for Machina, but then I noticed.

This would turn into an indirect kiss. Was that alright?

There I was with a spoon that had just been in my own mouth.

I considered going to wash the spoon in case she disliked it, but Machina showed no such signs and opened her mouth. Although her cheeks were reddish, that was probably due to her cold.

Mh, disliking it aside, it was still rather embarra.s.sing.

I felt my cheeks getting hotter and once I fed Machina the porridge, Elni pulled on my sleeve right after.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu, feed me too.”

She asked with pleading eyes, so I couldn’t turn her down. I fed her the porridge, then Machina pulled on my sleeve again. So I fed Machina again and then Elni immediately started to pull on my sleeve. Then Machina again, then Elni again…. And so that continued.

A hectic series of turning left and right.

In the end, I fed all the porridge to them with “Ah~”s.

Normally I would have stopped midway, but despite all my complaints, Machina and Elni were really sick. It wouldn’t hurt to spoil them a bit.

After making them take the medicine, I picked up the tray with the crock and everything on it, and then stood up.

“Okay, I’ll take these down. Now don’t fight, you two.”

“We won’t.”

“Yeah, we won’t.”

Machina and Elni nodded firmly, both in a happy mood.

….I wondered why I didn’t trust them at all.

I left the room with unease and went to the dining kitchen, where I planned to wash the dishes, but then Luna appeared from the living room with a smile and called out to me.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, leave the was.h.i.+ng to me.”

“Sure and while you’re at it, wash away my dirty past too.”

I felt bad leaving all the work to Luna, so I wanted to brush it off with a cool joke, but Luna frowned for some reason and said.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu-san, you are not dirty!”

“Ah, well, sorry. Please take care of it.”

Since I made her angry, I withdrew immediately.

How d.a.m.n weak of me.

I stood there dejectedly and had become excited by Luna’s behind as she washed the dishes, but then I suddenly heard a loud clattering noise from the second floor.

“…What was that?”

Luna’s hands stopped and she tilted her head.

“That probably was Machina and Elni…”

“Eh? The two of them have a cold, don’t they?”

“I’m sure they’re just testing their limits. Leave them be.”

Soon enough they would exhaust themselves and sleep. Or so I thought, but the noise continued and I even heard their quarrelling voices.

“Geez….”

I let out a huge sigh and left the dining kitchen. I ran up the stairs and quickly flung the door open.

“Hey, you guys, cut it out al—-Eh?”

I had planned to reprimand them, but I stopped mid-sentence because I was at a loss for words.

How should I describe this situation?

In a single sentence, it would be “Two beauties entangled”.

Machina was on top of Elni and was holding her down by pressing her onto the floor. Their clothes were loose, exposing their necks, collarbones and dazzling thighs. Their breathing was heavy and their cheeks red.

“….Excuse me for interrupting you when you are busy. Take your time.”

I was surprised that their relations.h.i.+p was like that. It was a huge surprise.

“Okay, I should tell Luna about it.”

After I said that in a loud voice, the door was violently swung open and Machina jumped out hastily.

“S- Sh- s.h.i.+n.o.bu! You’re wrong! It’s a misunderstanding! I don’t swing that way!”

Of course I knew that. But Machina is too cute when she’s fl.u.s.tered, so I wanted to tease her a bit.

I smiled and gently clapped Machina on the shoulder.

“Machina-san, you do not have to deny it. I, myself am quite understanding and think that two girls should be allowed to love each other.”

“Why are you speaking so politely? Don’t take it seriously! I prefer you, s.h.i.+n.o.bu!”

“Eh? Me?”

Why would my name pop up now? I asked back in surprise, but then Machina turned bright red up to her ears and shouted in denial while shaking both her hands.

“N- No! I made a mistake just now! I prefer a man!”

“Ah, that’s what you mean.”

Geez, I wished that she would refrain from making such easily misunderstood statements. That had ended up making me excited quite a bit. To hide my agitation, I played calm. Now Machina faced Elni and shouted at her to get help.

“Hey, you say something too! Or s.h.i.+n.o.bu will misunderstand!”

To Machina’s request, Elni purposely imitated a “sob sob” crying voice.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu, Machina forcefully pushed me down. It seems she’s an S character.”

“I see. Well, that’s her forte. Nothing we can do about it. Right?”

“Yes, you’re right. If you beg for it, I won’t mind stepping on—-wait, I don’t have such a forte! Don’t say weird stuff!”

Machina denied in a loud voice, but suddenly she staggered and was about to collapse.

I reached out to support Machina’s body, and then Machina leaned against me powerlessly, due to her making a ruckus when she had a cold.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I’d teased her a bit too much. Reflecting on my actions, I took a peek at Machina’s face.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu…. My head hurts…”

Machina leaked out, while acting somewhat childish.

Though she herself probably didn’t intend for it, she was currently quite s.e.xy. Wet eyes and blushed cheeks. And her pink lips made it hard for me to face her.

“Come, I’ll carry you to the bed….”

Agitated by Machina’s big b.r.e.a.s.t.s that were pressed against my body, I lent her a shoulder and carried her over to the bed to let her rest. Machina was moaning painfully, but that was also kind of s.e.xy. When I turned my attention from Machina, I made eye-contact with Elni.

Elni sat on the floor and extended both her arms acting spoiled, while saying.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu, carry me to the bed too.”

“You can walk on your own, so don’t be lazy.”

I said, while pulling Elni up and carrying her to the bed.

I might be spoiling her, but it was inevitable, since she was sick.

I made an excuse in my mind, then I sat down on my chair and watched over the two of them. I was ready to interfere if they started to fight again, but after only a few minutes Machina started to make sleeping sounds, either due to the medicine or the exhaustion from their fight.

Seeing that, Elni mumbled quietly.

“Her sleeping face is cute.”

Elni poked Machina’s cheek.

“Stop it or you’ll make her angry again.”

I warned her, when Machina, maybe half-asleep or awake, bit onto Elni’s finger. Elni let out a small scream, but didn’t say anything as she’d probably realised that she reaped what she sowed and then entrusted her cheek to the pillow.

One would think that she would close her eyes now, but instead she kept staring at me.

“What’s up?”

I asked in curiosity, but Elni only smiled and said.

“s.h.i.+n.o.bu, lend me your arm as a pillow.”

“Nope.”

I was about to be swayed by her angelic smile, but I turned her down flatly since it was embarra.s.sing. But Elni continued to smile and mumbled an “I see” and said nothing more.

That was rare. To think she would give up so easily….

“What’s up with you being so reasonable?”

I asked surprised, but Elni smiled with a slightly lonely expression.

“As long as you stay by my side, that’s enough…”

Seeing that sad smile, I suddenly remembered what had happened at dawn today.

The image of Elni crying while having a nightmare floated in my head.

“….What do you usually do when you catch a cold?”

“Sleep through it.”

“All alone?”

Elni didn’t answer, but still continued to smile sadly.

Then, after a long silence, she mumbled quietly.

“….In the past, I liked catching a cold, since I used to be spoiled back then. I was happy when I was cared for. But now…”

Elni suddenly stopped talking and forced herself to smile.

“Just kidding. Actually I’m an idiot and I’ve never caught a cold before. To be honest, I’m faking it right now! I fooled you, s.h.i.+n.o.bu!”

“….I see. You got me there.”

I couldn’t bring myself to smile properly.

Nor could I think of anything tactful to say.

But I still had something I could do.

I slowly stood up from the chair,

“Ah….”

Elni sat up and made a worried expression for a moment.

“I’m here.”