After having our, ahem, fair share of fun together, both Cecily and I suddenly recalled that we had a daughter who was still waiting for us, so we hastily got dressed and ran outside. She was still enthralled by the rabbits jumping about, and the farmer was happily watching her play with his animals.

Turning back, he took one good glance at us before cracking a smirk and secretly signaling for us to fix up our hair before showing ourselves to Nelly. Oops, looks like he knew what we just did. Sorry, guy, I’d much rather this happened in an inn or something as well…

Even still, we joined up with Nelly shortly after and successfully acted like nothing happened. Well, I say that, but anyone could tell that Cecily was avoiding making eye contact with me for the remainder of our stay there. I told her she was gonna regret it…

“Oh, who’s that guy running up to us?” The farmer squinted his eyes at the man that was sweating bullets.

“Ah, that’s our driver.”

“Hey guys, I’m back!” The driver said, “Come on, it’s a bit later than you had expected, but we should still be on track to make it to Sebbex before sundown.”

Sebbex, by the way, is the capital of Vallis, and it’s not that far away from us actually. Even still, while we were here, the driver had actually informed us that it’s not so different over there as it is here. In the end, it’s just valleys as far as the eye could see. Now what I mean by that is that everything is on the same level. There are no viewpoints, no multi-layered streets or alleyways, nothing. It’s all just plazas after plazas, so we weren’t really that interested in it.

“Oh, no need for that.” I told the driver, “Instead, take us straight to Boreal. Call it a change of plans.”

“For real?!” He groaned, “I ran all the way to the city and back just to get the gas, and now you’re making me stay up another night just to take you to Boreal?!”

“Sucks to suck, man.” I didn’t at all sympathize, “It’s your fault for taking so long. Come on, we’ll pay you extra, so stop whining.”

And so, we bid farewell to the farm we were staying at for the day. Nelly seemed quite sad to leave her bunny friends behind, but was also quite satisfied all the same after having enjoyed their time together. Cecily and I once again apologized to the farmer while Nelly was in the wagon, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Love blossoms in the oddest of places, huh?” He chuckled.

“Ah, ha-ha…”

“Don’t worry about it. If it helped you young folks settle everything you had to settle, then I don’t mind a bit of extra cleanup.”

“Right…” Cecily turned away with bright red ears, “Sorry again…”

And so, we had boarded the transport wagon and made our way to Boreal. Of course, we kept the windows open, because if Nelly suddenly said something like “Something reeks”, it’d be the death of us. Cecily still couldn’t quite look me in the eyes, which actually doesn’t sit right with me at all.

That’s because of she continues to act all shy around me, all the while doing her best to avoid me, it could make the people around us suspicious. We can’t have that, because it’s just as she said before we came here – We don’t know who might be listening in, and any wrong answer we give to a stranger could be our last.

Ah, looks like I’m dozing off, despite it barely being dusk. Dammit, Cecily’s wide awake, but I’m like this already. Looks like she really took the energy out of me. Crap, I’m thirsty, but the nearest water we have is at the capital of Boreal. Ugh, guess I’ll just sleep the thirst away…

***

“Lune, wake up.” Cecily nudged me, “Good morning.”

“Morning, sunshine.” I replied expectantly.

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me pet names?”

Wait, what? You do that to me and I’m still banned from calling you stuff like that? Come on, what kind of logic is that? Wait, now that I think about it, don’t tell me… Was I dreaming this entire thing all along?! That’d certainly explain the suddenness of it all, especially Cecily’s odd behavior.

“We’re in Norstice, so let’s hurry up and book a room in an inn.” She came up close to me and whispered, “I gotta take a shower ASAP.”

Hehe, so it wasn’t a dream~! Thank you Prylos! You’ve proven yourself to be a real one yet again! But actually, that just makes the contrast between her words and her actions all the more apparent, doesn’t it? So wait, I can do that with her, but I can’t call her pet names? What does that make us then?

I sat there with Nelly in the lobby as Cecily checked us into the inn. For a moment, I could see Nelly sniffing the air around her before smushing her face in disgust. Sorry Nelly, deal with it for just a bit more. Sigh, and to think we were this close to getting away with it…

“I’m gonna head into the bath.” Cecily said after plopping down our luggage haphazardly, “Don’t go anywhere while I’m inside.”

“What? No way, I’m going in first!” I denied her entry into the bathroom.

“Lune, seriously, I’m going in first!” She said, pointing to herself with a red face, as if to indicate that she’s the one who got, well, let's say, dirtier.

“I don’t think you understand, I’m the one with the hose!” I shot back in code.

“Hose?” Nelly walked in between us, “Can you guys stop fighting? Just play wock papew scissows.”

Ah, brilliant idea, Nelly! This way we’ll leave this matter up to luck! No hard feelings, Cecily!

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” We chanted, both playing scissors.

“Heh!” Cecily grinned, “Looks like a draw. Let’s go again!”

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” We chanted, this time both playing rock.

“Whoa, to think we’re this in sync…” I noted, pissing her off in the process.

“Again! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” We chanted, again drawing with scissors, “Gah!”

“Mom and dad awe alike.” Nelly giggled.

Usually, we’d probably find this situation just as humorous, but each second we spend not in the shower is a second more for the stench to spread into the room we’ll be staying in. I’m gonna need to end this quickly. Sorry Cecily, but I’ll be taking this victory!

You see, it’s actually all mind games from here on out. Actually, I’ve noticed this before while playing with Ed and Issei respectively, but when playing rock paper scissors, the first thing that comes to mind when deciding on what to play would be the last thing that was chanted. So, in this instance, scissors.

As you could see from the previous few rounds, scissors seem to be the favored choice, which is just as I had predicted. Though you may wonder why the next one we both chose would be rock. Well, that’s because of the logic that “Rock beats scissors”, so we both subconsciously went with it.

Following this train of thought, one could accurately presume that the next play she’d make would be one that would “Beat rock”, so she’ll definitely go with…!

“Paper!” I yelled, accidentally playing what I had predicted her to play, “Goddammit, I messed up!”

“Alwight.” Nelly finally interrupted us, “Hewe’s the solution. If dad wins, he gets in fiwst, if mom wins, she gets in fiwst. But, if you dwaw just one mowe time, you both go in.”

“Wha-?!” Cecily jolted, “Nelly, just what are you suggesting?!”

“Come on, what are the odds of that happening?” I chuckled, “Come on – rock, paper…!”

-Minutes later-

“…” I sat in the tub awaiting Cecily’s arrival, “Dammit…”

Come on, what are the odds of that!? We both hit paper as our final play, despite that being the thing we played in the last round! Who the hell plays the same move two times in a row?!

Oh, by the way, I suggested we be in our swimsuits while inside. I at least wanted to spare Cecily the shame of going in naked, although I personally wouldn’t mind that either. I know it’ll be a bit difficult to clean those areas, the areas one would assume would need the most cleaning after yesterday’s activities, but even just a scrub under the water will help us immensely.

“I-I’m here.” She slowly approached the tub before sliding in.

“Ah, there you are.” I enjoyed the warm water touch my skin, “Seriously, sorry about this. Nelly has the weirdest ideas somet-EHH?!”

S-She’s naked! Is she deaf or something, because I CLEARLY told her to put on her swimsuit for this! Why isn’t she listening to me at all dammit?!

“What?” She turned to me, her face flushed, “It’d be difficult to clean ourselves if we wore anything, so…”

Her tone, mixed with the not-so-discreet glances at my underpants made me instinctively grab onto them in fear. I know what this girl’s capable of now, she can unbuckle my pants at a moment’s notice, so I can’t let my guard down around her! She saw me take evasive measures, which seemed to make her a bit disappointed, but I don’t care! You had your fill of Lune Grimheart, woman, but don’t get greedy now!

“…Come on, I’ll wash your back for you.” I finally squirted the body wash on my hand and began gently rubbing, “Huh, your back is rather firm.”

“Shut up, girls don’t usually wanna hear those types of compliments.” She said as she leaned forward, “They usually wanna hear stuff like “Oh, your back is cute!” or “Your back is slim and petite!”, but I guess you wouldn’t know that.”

“Well, no.” I explained, “It’s certainly all that and more, but I’m just saying that that’s what so special about your back in particular. On the outside, it’s slim and petite, but on the inside is where the strength and capability lies.”

Instinctively feeling up her back as if to prove my point, I hadn’t noticed just how close I had actually gotten to a dangerous spot. It was only after she gave me an Ahem that I quickly realized and went back to rubbing the right spots.

“Sorry about that, didn’t realize where my hands were.” I said, thanking Prylos for giving me the strength to not forfeit my swimming shorts just a couple moments ago (because God knows my little guy is as hard as diamonds right now), “But I meant what I said. You’re as cute as you are capable.”

“Ever the flirt, are you.” She suddenly leaned back, making me accidentally grope her front side too.

“Yikes! Sorry about th…”

From the position we were in, after she leaned back and looked straight up, she was essentially making direct eye contact with me, and I got a front row seat to the view of her entire body, all the while feeling her up to my heart’s content. The bubbles and wetness certainly didn’t help my little guy calm down, too.

“Lune, just once more, let’s…” She spoke in a soft tone before a loud knock on the door interrupted us.

“Awe you guys done yet?” Nelly’s voice could be heard on the other side of the door, “I gotta watew me some flowews!”

“…Let’s leave, we’ve rinsed off more than enough.” I suggested to a pouting Cecily.

Dammit woman, stop seducing me already! Ugh, that was dangerous, especially given what she was about to say. We shouldn’t have entered the bath together to begin with, so I guess some of that dirtiness clouded our minds in addition to our bodies… Thank you, Nelly!