The bedrooms were located on the second floor of the lodge. I think there’s a total of five rooms here. There’s also a single separate toilet. 

Since there were enough rooms, each of us was able to get one for ourselves. My room is the first one you see after going up the stairs. If you’re wondering why I pointed this out, it’s because the girls had to pass by my room if they wanted to go down to the first floor.

I did some reading about the current news in the Sierra system using my portable terminal before going to sleep. When I finally resolved to get some shut eye…… I felt someone pass by my room in order to get down to the first floor. 

I looked at my terminal and found that it was already almost midnight. Everyone should have been fast asleep at this time already.

I wondered if it was Elma who went down in order to get a drink before going to sleep. I felt a bit thirsty myself, so I decided to come down in order to have a glass of water.

I got up from bed, went out of my room, and descended the stairs. 

“……?”

I went down to the first floor, but found that only the dim lighting was on. That’s weird. I thought somebody went down here ahead of me… I tilted my head in puzzlement and headed to the kitchen in order to get a pet bottle of drinking water from the cooler. I then went to the living area.  

“……What are you doing here?”

“Ah……”

I found Chris, who already had sleepwear on her, lying on one of the sofas in the living area. I saw Chris’s face under the dim lighting and found that she had tear stains on her cheeks. Her eyes were slightly red. Chris got flustered and hurriedly turned away from me. I already saw everything so there’s no use hiding it, young lady.

I sat down next to Chris without saying anything and opened the water bottle. The sensation of cold water going down my throat felt quite pleasant.  Now then…… What should I do here?

“Can’t sleep?”

“N-No, it’s just–“

“Holding it in is hard, huh.”

“–Yes.”

Chris dropped her shoulders dejectedly while still facing away from me. When I looked at her side profile, I confirmed that her eye rims really were swollen a bit. And her eyes really were red from crying. 

“Well, I’m the only one here now, so isn’t it fine to vent it all out? There’s no need to keep the act because you want to live up to being an upstanding noble’s daughter.” 

“I-I’m not really pushing myself or anything.” 

“That so?”

I took a sip of water again. Mm, cold and delicious. I really like how this cold water goes smoothly down my throat. How’d I handle something like this aga– Oh, right. I slept together with Mimi back when she was feeling depressed huh. I think Mimi’s room has two beds, but I bet this girl wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t have someone by her side.

“Shall we sleep together?”

“I’m alrigh…… Eh?”

“We’re just gonna be sleeping together, okay. It’s not like we can wake up Mimi or Elma at this time since it’s already so late.”

Since she’s already like this, there’s no way I can leave Chris on her own. If I did that, I bet she’ll remain awake until morning. I’m not planning on doing anything lewd to her, okay. We’re just gonna be sleeping on the same bed. We’re the only ones in this lodge anyway, and I don’t think Miro will leak out the private details of our stay here. 

“U-Um… Y-You mean…?”

“We’ll just be sleeping together. Fuaa…… And boy, am I sleepy.”

I put the cap back on the pet bottle and tightened it. I then got up from the sofa.

“Well, c’mon then.”

“Y-Yes.”

Chris took my outstretched hand and got up as well. I went back upstairs with her in tow and we entered my room together. The bed was actually king sized, so there was enough space for me and Chris.  

I let go of Chris’s hand and plopped myself down on the bed. I put the pet bottle containing water down on the bedside table. 

“Well, good night… Do you want to use my arm as a pillow?”

“N-No! Y-You don’t have to mind me!”

“I see.”

Haha. She was so assertive back then, but she’s actually backing down now. She’s the type to get flustered if everything isn’t going at her own pace huh. She seemed hesitant for a few moments, but when I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep, she finally climbed up to the bed. She was wriggling on top of the bed restlessly for a while, but eventually settled down.

Has she finally gone to sleep? When I turned to check, I found myself meeting Chris’s gaze.

“So you did pretend to be asleep.”

“Nah. I was actually just about to snooze y’know…” 

My eyelids are on the verge of drooping right now. I’m actually really sleepy already.

“It’s okay to let yourself be spoiled a bit more sometimes, Chris……”

It’s no good. I’m really sleepy. My words are already slurring. I felt something warm cling to me before I finally conked out. Was it Chris? Oh well. Good night.

When I woke up the next morning, I found myself staring at Chris, who had a peaceful sleeping face. It looks like she was able to sleep comfortably. Her obsidian pupils that carried within them a strong-willed light were now hidden behind her eyelids. Now that I got a good look at her face, I found that her eyelashes were long and delicate… She’s truly a beautiful young girl. 

I was wondering why Chris was sleeping on my bed and remembered what happened last night. I wasn’t really thinking straight last night because of sleepiness, so I ended up forcibly bringing Chris to my room in order to sleep together with me. Now that I was sober, I felt that it was a bit reckless of me, but it’s not like I laid a hand on her anyway, so I guess I’m safe. Yep. There’s no problem.

I’ll try asking her if she wants to sleep together with Mimi or Elma later on. I have no intention of laying my hands on her right now, but there’s no telling what can happen if we kept sleeping together y’know. I’m still a guy in the end.  

I didn’t want to wake her up yet, so I laid back down on the bed and got sleepy again as a result.  My consciousness faded once more.

When I opened my eyes the second time, I found Chris with a bright red face and flustered looking eyes. It looks like she ended up waking up sometime when I fell back asleep.

“Good morning.”

“G-G-Good M-Morning……”

“Calm down, Chris. We just slept on the bed together, okay. Your clothes aren’t dishevelled, see?”

I then stretched out on the bed and let out a yawn. Since I fell asleep for a second time after waking up, my head feels a little heavy. Oh well. It’ll clear up once I move my body enough. 

“Yosh, let’s get up. Were you able to sleep well, Chris?”

“Y-Yes……!”

Chris was right next to me with her face bright red. She was currently sitting on top of the bed.   She acted like she’d progress our relationship in one go if she had the opportunity a few days back, but now that a chance really did come, she actually couldn’t pull it off in the end. How cute.

I grabbed the pet bottle I left on top of the bedside table last night and took a sip of water, got off the bed, grabbed the still-flustered Chris, and proceeded downstairs with her. When we finally got down, we found Elma already sitting in front of the dining table. She turned a critical gaze toward me and the red-faced Chris.  

“You kept saying you wouldn’t lay a hand on her… but isn’t this just a little bit too quick, even for you?”

“I didn’t lay a hand on her, okay. We just slept on the bed side by side last night.”

I objected to Elma’s words and took a seat myself.

“So you just simply slept together…… Well, it really doesn’t look like you really laid your hands on her, I guess.”

Elma gave me and Chris a once over and sighed. I still had the clothes I wore when I went to my room to sleep yesterday night, and neither I nor Chris had signs of having taken a shower. 

“So, what happened anyway?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. How about you freshen up first, Chris?”

“Y-Yes.”

Chris then rushed toward the bathroom with a washbasin inside in order to freshen up. After seeing her enter, I faced Elma again.

“It seems like the shock of losing her parents came over her all at once last night when she went to bed alone. I felt someone go downstairs, so I checked and found her crying in the living area. 

“I see… She looked pretty okay, but it seems she was just trying her best to hold it in huh.”

“Yeah. I felt it wasn’t good to wake you or Mimi up last night because it was already late, so I let her sleep beside me instead. But I’ll have her sleep with you or Mimi from now on.”

“Nn… Okay. I’ll tell Mimi about it later.”

Elma easily agreed to my request. 

“I’ll leave her to you then. She was crying her eyes out on the sofa. I couldn’t leave her alone after seeing that.”

Before long, Mimi got down from her room as well.

“Good morning!”

“Morning.”

“Good morning, Mimi. Someone sure looks chipper.”

“Yes. I’m really excited about playing in the sea!”

Mimi’s excitement was at MAX level already huh. Mimi sure looks energetic. 

“I’ll wash my face as well once Chris finishes, and then we’ll have breakfast. I wonder what we’ll be served for breakfast though.”

“The breakfast menu includes freshly baked bread, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, boiled sausages, fresh vegetable salad, and 100% all natural fruit juice.”

“It’s your standard high class hotel’s breakfast menu huh.”

We’re heading out to the beach once we finish eating breakfast. Fufufu. I wonder what kind of swimsuits the three of them bought yesterday. I’m really looking forward to seeing the girls in them.