Chapter 99 - 97

Next day even I, with my healing factor, wake up very sore, especially on my lower back, tired and thirsty for the restless a needy Asher gives me, and yet I'm oddly satisfied, my mind light as a balloon, and as empty too.

And yet, even if I'm feeling like I've been heavily drilled all night long, I still get some bliss out of the aftertaste, and the roller coast of pleasure from yesterday only adds to this detached sensation.

Or, in other words, I don't feel like getting up today.

And knowing the amount of work that is sure to surge once more today when we get up does not help the cause at all, so in the end I only turn to the side and sink deeper in the bed covers.

His breathing beside me is still smooth and steady, lullabying me into a half asleep state, so even when I hear people talking below I do not move, not even when someone going up the stairs, not waking up even when they knock on the door and open it up.

"Good morning A-, oh, oh my, look at you two, I mean, I knocked so…"

The warmth from Asher's body and the blankets are cozy enough for my mind to be so at ease and foggy that it takes me a few moments to assimilate what I just hear.

And from who.

Once my lazy brain finally copes with the information I suddenly shot up, standing, making the blankets fly as, without consideration to my image or the fact that I'm still naked, I run up and jump at the person standing at the door, and as I squish him into a hug he chuckles, patting my back.

"G-glad to see you too Seiji, j-just down suffocate me now ok?" Our ruckus wakes Asher, making him sit up from the bed, but he stays there with his lower parts covered while I squish the life of our visitant out of him.

"You are finally back Taka." Asher finally says.

"Y-yeah, I'm back, did you miss me?" Asher only smiles at that, which is already a lot from him. "But who would have thought you two would grow so close after I left, I will get jealous like this!" He says it in a joking matter, his yellow eyes shouting out of his recovering body, his figure a little skinny and pale after battling for his life against the infection for this long.

These little details, such as how tired he is, with black circles around his eyes, do not escape me, even more since after he got locked in containment, through the days he could have turned into a ghoul, we have been forbidden from seeing him, left to only anxiously await his return, making me fear for his life and remember him from time to time, his full of life image in my mind shouting the contrast from then and now.

He taps me on the shoulder when I finally let him go, chuckling, only that he looks me over and, with that, his expression changes and darkens, frowning and finally staring back at Asher.

"You didn't even clean him up? That is bad for his health Asher!" Well, I don't think there is the need to worry about my health for such silly things since I'm not even human anymore, but Takamori does not care and quickly grabs my hand while guiding me to the bathroom.

And it is silly, but experiencing all of this, all this care from all sides… does not sound bad at all, Takamori's worry and Asher's care, it makes me smile alone while Takamori gives Asher another lecture.

"What are you doing lazing around Asher? Good God, really now!"

Takamori keeps it up for a while but there is no malice in his words, and actually there is something oddly comforting and familiar in his actions, like a mother who just came back to find out that her two sons made a mess of the kitchen, his presence rubbing off even more after fearing for his life for so long while the world sinks into deeper shit.

And yet I cannot help but feel relief, even a little happy, for their safety, and it is egoist of my part to care less of others when everyone is suffering from the chaos outside, but there are few for which I truly care about in this city and I have then two right here, alive and well, babbling about some nonsense.

And is actually a miracle on its own that I care for someone at all, care beyond the food prospect that is.

Because that's what it is, isn't it? I don't know when it happened, but I started regarding them as something beyond food, but what I regarded them as still escapes me.

"Also one of your soldiers is waiting for you downstairs Asher, it seemed important. And thankfully I was the one to come here uhm, I bet he would be quite shocked with the view…" Takamori says, smirking at the situation he found us him.

Asher only glances at him as if Takamori is talking about the weather, but even though I'm not ashamed and the sense of nakedness being weird is still new to me, the way he says it makes me feel like I was caught being naughty with my hands on the cookie jar.

Well, I was in a way, but let's leave it at that.

In the end I somehow end up in the now empty bathtub again while Asher is downstairs, but this time around Takamori only passes me the soap and all, not really getting too friendly but not turning around either and even giving pointers that I should clean deep down there too.

I mean, it is hardly possible for me to get sick from such a thing, but I don't want to break that to him since he seems so into it, plus I kind of missed him too, oddly enough.

"Though I must say, I'm quite surprised at how close you two become from such a small amount of time. It may not seem much for others, but Asher has… has a difficult time trusting people." Takamori says, helping me wash my hair since it has a long time since I could wash myself so thoroughly, ever since we were short on water and had to use one bucket per person only, including washing and drinking at that.

So that's why the bathtub is empty as we use the sponge on the side.

"Yeah, he told me about his past a little, is no given he can't trust people so easily."

"Wait, he did?"

"Yeah?" Takamori looks surprised, but once recovered he starts helping me out again.

"That's… quite shocking."

"Must because of the situation we are in." I say, referring to the contract that makes it impossible for me to disobey him, given the word. "Plus we are just playing around."

"Uhm…" He answers without looking at me, but I can feel his gaze deepen when he says: "Playing around you say? Believe me, I know what playing around is, and what you are doing isn't it."

I open my mouth to say something, but end up closing it right after at his sad gaze, wondering about his words and, as I had started before, questioning even further what kind of bond I have with them, and what kind of relationship could an eating monster like myself ever expect to have with such kind hearted people like these two.

It is my time to look down and stay silent while I finish cleaning up.