Volume 9 Chapter 4 Part 1 (2/2)
”Something happened, I suppose. Do come in.”
s.h.i.+n followed Schnee inside. The room's interior was very similar to s.h.i.+n's room, with just the furniture's placement being a little different.
s.h.i.+n sat on a cus.h.i.+on and told what happened the night before.
About Tiera's dance, about her looking like a different person, about the person looking at him from within her eyes. Finally, about the kiss.
”so that's what happened”
”She regained her senses halfway through, though. Looked like she didn't remember what happened, and because of that she ran off before I could ask her anything. I thought you might know something, so”
s.h.i.+n talked while avoiding to look straight in Schnee's eyes.
Schnee's intimidating aura had vanished on their way back from the dungeon, but her mood didn't seem to have improved much.
”I see, I understood the situation. I cannot talk in detail about this if Tiera isn't here too, but I can say that at the very least it isn't something bad. You could say it's related to Tiera's unique nature.”
”Well, just by looking at her you can tell that she's not a normal Elf. I imagined she came from a special lineage, or something.”
”That's not a wrong way to see it. Let us let Tiera talk about it herself. Of course, the decision to do so or not rests upon her.”
”That's all right. I'm just relieved that it isn't something dangerous.”
s.h.i.+n drew a sigh of relief. It doesn't look like Tiera was possessed by something, at least.
Together with the relief, s.h.i.+n felt his stomach rumble, in perfect time for breakfast.
”Shall we go get breakfast, then?”
”Yesbut, before that”
”Eh? Eh? What?”
s.h.i.+n had turned around to exit the room, but Schnee grabbed his hand and made him turn back towards her.
s.h.i.+n looked timidly at Schnee, fearing that the time for the explosion of her acc.u.mulated stress had come. But Schnee's expression seemed to contain something completely different from his predictions.
”I can't just let this go without saying anythingdo you think that I wouldn't feel anything after what you just told me?”
”Aah, er, wellI don't, that's why it was a bit difficult to tell”
Even if he knew what he had to do, actually doing it was a different matter altogether.
Curiously enough, s.h.i.+n clearly understood that Schnee was pouting, from her expressions and her gestures.
”Considering what happened with Kotone toos.h.i.+n, you have too many 'openings'.”
”I, I'm sorry”
s.h.i.+n could not say anything back, except apologies. Schnee never came off so strongly in front of others.
”If you really feel sorryp-please hug me.”
After a few moments of silence, Schnee opened her arms and spoke.
”Ehmis that, enough?”
”I don't like to be always left out.”
Schnee moved her arms up and down a little while talking. That movement was remarkably similar to Yuzuha's ears during the banquet, urging s.h.i.+n to hurry and pet her.
Feeling embarra.s.sed after making such a clear request, Schnee closed her eyes, but her cheeks had turned bright red.
s.h.i.+n finally embraced her gently.
”Hn”
The instant he hugged her, Schnee's body twitched. Then, with some hesitation, she wrapped her hands around s.h.i.+n's torso.
The embrace had probably taken away her nervousness, because she started hugging s.h.i.+n tightly.
A faint, sweet scent reached s.h.i.+n's nostrils. At the same time, a warm, soft sensation spread on his arms and chest.
”It's so strangeI feel so peaceful now.”
”Well, that'sthat's good.”
Looking at Schnee's serene expression, s.h.i.+n breathed a sigh of relief.
The ”incident” wasn't over yet, however.
”Please, hold me tighter.”
Schnee looked peaceful at first, but after some time she expressed her desire for s.h.i.+n to embrace her with more strength.
s.h.i.+n wasn't sure about how to control his strength, so he hugged her just a little tighter. With s.h.i.+n's current muscle strength, even a little difference should have let her feel a significant difference.
”Moremore, please”
It wasn't nearly enough for Schnee, though. The tighter he held her, the more she pleaded him to.
Schnee wasn't an average elf either, so using more strength wouldn't hurt her. But it wasn't possible for nothing to have changed.
Because of their tight embrace, the two soft mounds on Schnee's chest changed shape, the sensation pressing even more clearly on s.h.i.+n's chest.
In addition, looking at Schnee rubbing her face on his shoulders was robbing s.h.i.+n of his capacity of rational thinking at alarming speed.
”Do it.more.”
s.h.i.+n couldn't look at Schnee's face. The words she sultrily whispered to his ears sounded almost like pillow talk.
A warning saying ”It'll be bad to go any farther than this here!” resounded in s.h.i.+n's head. But despite his thoughts, his body wouldn't move.
”Schnee.”
s.h.i.+n's feelings overcame his reason.
s.h.i.+n's hands caressed Schnee's back, and her body responded by trembling slightly, and then-
”(You guys, meal time is ending!!)”
-Filma's voice resounded in their heads.
The sudden call caused both s.h.i.+n and Schnee to leap away from each other.
”Gwah!?”
s.h.i.+n, who had his back to the door, suffered a spectacularly clean hit on the back of his head. He didn't receive any actual damage, but was struck by a certain self-loathing, wondering what he was even doing.
”I'm sorry. I got a little, carried away”
”No, I was the same, I couldn't bring myself to stop”
Their mood had gotten over both of them. s.h.i.+n and Schnee apologized to each other and headed directly to the hall, after telling Filma that they would be there soon.
”Ehm, Ms. Schnee? May I ask why we are holding arms?”
”Let me linger, just a little bit. I'll have to say it because you don't seem to realize itbut there are too many beautiful women around you, s.h.i.+n. For me, it means never being able to relax, you know?”
”It's not like I'm gathering them or anything”
”Keep more distance from them then.”
Probably because they were alone walking through the corridors, Schnee protested towards s.h.i.+n while holding his arm.
Thinking that it was pretty daring behavior for Schnee, s.h.i.+n searched the nearby presences, but found out that, miraculously, there was no one in the path ahead. Schnee had probably verified this before s.h.i.+n.
s.h.i.+n could, of course, forcefully break free of her hold. The soft sensation pressed on his arm, however, won over him.
”Am, I, clear?”
”G-Got it”
s.h.i.+n cowered before Schnee's pressure. He understood what Schnee was feeling, so he had nothing to object.
Satisfied of s.h.i.+n's answer and nod, Schnee released her hold and walked on. s.h.i.+n followed her as he wiped his cold sweat.
The breakfast hall was next to the previous night's banquet hall.
When they arrived, they found that the other party members had all already started eating. More than half of their plates' contents had already disappeared.
”Oh, that was fastI see Schnee's in a pretty good mood, did something happen?”
Filma talked as they took their seats. The second part was spoken in a whisper to s.h.i.+n, so that Schnee, sitting on the other side of the table, wouldn't hear.
”Well, I asked what I had to. Tiera.”
”Ah! Yes! W-what is it?”
s.h.i.+n stopped Tiera, who had stood up with food remaining on her plate, before she could slip away.
No matter if she wanted to talk or not, he wanted to tell her about what happened the night before.
”I'm going to explain clearly about what happened yesterday. Please wait in your room.”
”Ehm, er, yes, ok, I got it.”
s.h.i.+n watched as Tiera awkwardly left the room, then ate his breakfast.
Filma and the others, who did not know what happened, were puzzled by this exchange, but did not say anything. Tiera's behavior was clear proof that something must have happened.