PHASE 48 - LET’S PLAY THE CONFESSION GAME

The sunlight shoved upon my face.

I felt a warm and gentle sensation on top of my head.

As I opened my eyes, the dazzling beauty of a man in golden hair gave me life. His innocent smile gave me brightness, and his emerald eyes twinkled like the brightest star.

He’s… so handsome…

“Rise and shine, my sleepy pup…”

“R-Rikkun…” I weakly said.

I raised my body and rubbed my blurry eyes. I made a silent yawn but the oxygen is yet to reach my brain.

It was only then that I retained my true consciousness when I realized that the white blanket on my chest fell off, revealing my naked chest.

“Ah!” My eyes widened in shock. I… I’m fully naked, and Rikkun is, too! To add more, we’re sharing the same bed! Now I remember! I did such a shameless thing!

“Are you okay now?” Rikkun asked.

There was a three-second silence.

“E-Eeeeeeeeek!!!”

Bam! My reflexes kicked in and I accidentally hit him on his nose!

“Pwah!” Rikkun cried.

Thankfully, I managed to hold back a little. He just fell down from the bed and had the back of his head smacked on the floor.

“What the heck is wrong with you!?” Rikkun shouted.

“U-U-U-hm… I-I-I-I-I’m s-s-s-s-s-or-sorry a-a-about t-t-that!” I cried as I turned my back. This is too embarrassing! To wake up fully naked with him… It’s not like I don’t like it, but… marriage comes first!

Rikkun held his bleeding nose as he sat back to the bed, bumping his back against mine. Now we had another skin-to-skin connection.

“D-D-Did y-you see!?” I shrieked.

“I…” Rikkun made a long pause. “Yes.”

“...Auuuu...” I cried.

“Hey, what’s the deal? I have already seen your body back in the hot spring chaos. You already saw mine’s a couple of times already. I think it’s fair.” Rikkun said with a smirk on his face.

I grabbed the pillow beside me and hugged it tightly. I dipped my face on that soft cushion to hide my blushing face. I’m so ashamed of myself! I’m so shameless! And Rikkun is teasing me for it!

“H-Hey…” Rikkun started to blush as he scratched his scalp. “...I don’t know what you did to save me… but thanks. I owe my life to you… Again… For more than seven million times…”

“I-It’s nothing…” I muffled my voice with the pillow. “I-I would do anything for you…”

<>

It’s already ten in the morning. The ticking wall clock tells me so.

I just realized that we slept together on the same bed for twenty-four hours. I never knew that I really did use that for so long that I depleted all my prana and fell down to sleep due to exhaustion.

Rikkun and I silently dressed up without turning to another to prevent any perversion. I kind of glanced to his sexy bongos and I also hoped that he should at least have at look at mine with his peripheral vision too, but I think he’s kind of threatened and thinking that I would punch him again.

When we both exited the room, all the restless Gate Guardians waiting for Rikkun’s resurrection began to project a thankful smile. All of them cheered as they checked on our one and only arrogant king.

“Yo! Are you okay now, leader?” Drex waved.

“Looking good and healthy now, eh?” Asumi-nee winked.

“So… You’re finally awake…” Key said in a poker face but her tone is a little bit happy.

“Yeah! I’m fine now! You guys should stop worrying because your glorious heartthrob king is back!” Rikkun proclaimed out loud while holding his hips like a superhero.

Asumi-nee, Eliseo, and Emily approached me and they are happily blushing like a pervert.

“So, sooooo~” Asumi-nee hung her arm to my neck. “That worked out right! I know your beautiful body can do it!”

“A-A-Asumi-nee!” I shrieked. Seriously, they should stop teasing me!

“Hey, Tiara…” Eliseo elbowed my stomach softly. “Next time Ric-ric dies, it will be my turn! So teach me how to cast that perverted healing spell!”

“I-I-It’s not perverted!” I cried. is a holy spell and not some kind of perverted ritual!

“Me too! Me too!” Emily jumped. “I wanted to do it with Master Alaric! Hey, hey! What does his rod feel like!?”

“M-Miss Emily, y-y-you have the wrong idea!” I cried once again. “W-W-We didn’t do it! All we did is to have a skin-to-skin touch! That’s all! That’s really all!”

“Uuuurgh!” Asumi-nee groaned with a frown. “That was your only chance...Tiara you idiot…”

Y-Yes… We didn’t do it. We didn’t do the ‘thing’ that everybody is thinking. I know you guys are disappointed. I’m sorry for the ones who are reading this with high expectations…

Meanwhile, Rikkun spun his arm like a Ferris wheel, stretched his arms and legs, and tested all his locomotive body parts. “Great! My body feels a lot better than normal.” Then he slapped and glared at his biceps.

Seriously, I’m already happy that Rikkun is alright. His face is now full of handsomeness, completely different from the dead face he had during our fight with Helena.

I only caught myself staring at him when he looked at me back. He made a dazzling smile once again.

“Hey, Tiara. I’m quite hungry. Let’s go for a bite. My treat.”

<>

I exhausted my prana a couple of times, had a whole-night battle with Helena, and slept for about a day, so it’s only natural for me to eat a lot. And besides, it’s Rikkun’s treat. Every time we eat together, my appetite would go up by 1000%!

We ate in an eat-all-you-can chicken wings buffet and had thirty-five empty plates stacked up. This restaurant will go bankrupt for this day, I’m sure of it.

I’m surprised that Rikkun tried to compete against me in eating those chicken wings. During that time, we barely talked. We focused on chomping down all the meat until we depleted all their supplies. But I didn’t get stuffed. I just got sick of the barbecue sauce so I stopped eating.

After that, I requested to go for a walk in the nearby mall. I suggested that we should go shopping, to buy some apparels for him. His clothes and jacket got burnt during the last fight, so he happily agreed.

But instead, I am the one who bought cool apparels and sparkling dresses for myself. Rikkun voluntarily paid for all of those even though I insisted a lot.

We went to the toy store and he bought me a cute red dragon plushie. We originally went there to buy a Gunpla but his mind immediately changed when he didn’t see his favorite robot.

Oh, we also went to the gaming center. We played Tekken and I whooped his ass twenty times using different characters! He didn’t see that coming! I didn’t see it too! All I did is to spam the left and right punch button. I just imitated what I always do in real life.

I always punch things.

Now it really feels like a date. Rikkun and I spending so much time together for this day.

<>

It was already afternoon. We’re quite tired, so we sat on the bench in the nearest park. There are colorful poinsettias surrounding us that are planted on rectangular cemented vases. There are kids playing around, and there are also people who had their dog's goof around and pee on the fire hydrant. There are quite a few people at this time of the hour.

The air between us became awkwardly silent.

It’s always like this when we’re not doing anything.

But it seems that Rikkun is doing it on purpose. It seems like he wanted to talk to me about something.

“Hey, Tiara…” I can’t see Rikkun’s eyes because of his blonde bangs. “Let’s play a game.”

“G-Game?” I tilted my head.

“A confession game. I confess one of my secrets, and you confess one of yours. The loser who ran out of confession will buy ice cream.”

“C-C-C-Confess!?” I shrieked. Is he forcing me to confess my feelings for him right here and right now? But I shouldn’t! I have to keep my promise to the Idol Club! They are trying their best to make a super-duper Grand Confession Serenade! It’s not the time! As one professor said; There's a time and place for everything!

The moment Rikkun held his chest, I know that I was just overthinking. It’s not what he meant. Not at all.

He withdrew out a gray ball of light from his heart. I can sense divinity from it, albeit much weaker from the God Core he once had.

It’s a Fake God Core.