CH 60

Chapter 60: Loving Affections

It was around noon, when the sun was right in the middle of the sky, when Tatsurou opened his eyes.

Next to him, Ai laid bare. Every breath she took conveyed the peace she felt in her sleep.

Looking at her made him recall the things that happened last night. Just the thought of it was enough to reignite the burning passion, which he immediately tried to chase away— or so he claimed as Tatsurou kept his gaze on Ai.  

“We, finally did it, huh…” he muttered.

Hearing himself, it was clear that he was falling deeper and deeper in love with the girl in his eyes.

“Ai…”

He wrapped her in his embrace before he started to gently caress her head.

He continued on for a while until Ai finally woke up.

“Tatsurou.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Their embrace grew tighter and fell into a kiss, something that they would never get tired of.

“So… are you okay?” Tatsurou asked.

“Hmm? It feels a bit uncomfortable, I guess? But it’s not to the point that I can’t take it so it’s fine.”

“I see… That’s a relief. Wanna take it slow today?” 

“Sure… but you look like you’re completely fine, huh? Even though you did it that much yesterday…” she said with a mischievous smile, looking at Mr. X who was currently hitting her stomach, loudly broadcasting its presence.

“That’s… I’m still young, I guess…”

“Wanna do it again?”

“Do you even have to ask?!”

“H,hey. No need to sound so desperate…”

Seeing an awkward smile hung on her face, Tatsurou remembered the one thing he was worried about. What if I was bad at it?

Fearing such a thing, he asked her in the most subtle manner he could.

“Do you not want to anymore?”

“Eh? We can go again right now if you want to?”

“That’s not it. It’s not about whether I want it or not… I’m asking about you.”

“Me? I, uh… think I… wanna… too…”

Hearing that Ai wasn’t just trying to be polite about it made Tatsurou heave a sigh of relief.

However, she immediately followed it with her next words.

“Oh, but next time, I’d like it if you be a bit gentler.”

“What do you— Ah… Sorry…” he bowed in apology.

Tatsurou was confused at first but now that he looked back on it, he might have lost it and went too rough at times.

Seeing him lower his head, Ai smiled at him and thought, cute.

“It’s fine. It’s a first for the both of us. At least I know how much you love me now,” she said right before she kissed him on the cheek.

Seeing her smile after, Tatsurou etched her words deep within his heart.

The two changed their clothes and the sheets which were dirty from last night before Tatsurou took them into his item box, removing the stains with its decomposition function.

Placing the now clean sheets back onto the bed, they tried their best not to mind it but still felt a bit shy around each other after what they did yesterday.

After cleaning up, they went down to the living room and used the bell to call the maids and had them prepare their lunch.

At the same time, they told the maids that they will be taking a bath about an hour after and asked them to make the necessary arrangements as well. 

“Haah. Everything seems so perfect right now.”

“Right? I’m afraid we might turn into good-for-nothings soon.”

“You say…”

Finishing up their meal, they took a short break before heading to the bathroom together.

According to the almighty Ai, it’s not like we have anything left to hide.

Shouldn’t that be coming from the guy? Tatsurou thought. Still, he refrained from commenting as Ai’s face turned tomato red when she said that.

Even so, embarrassing things are still embarrassing, so she let him enter the bath first and got in after.

Entering the bath, Tatsurou found that the water temperature was only a few degrees above an average human’s – perfect for a warm bath.

While still impressed by the amount of effort put into preparing the bath, he took a bucket and scooped some of the water out, rinsing himself once before entering.

At some point, Ai also came in and washed herself, trying her best to be discreet about it. 

As Tatsurou was the one who suggested they take it easy for the day, he perished any thoughts of making advances and kept his gaze focused on the ceiling.

“Ahh, the bath feels great… It’s a good day to be alive,” he muttered, stretching his limbs out as he finally managed to indulge in a pleasant bath time, bringing back memories of Japan. It was impossible to do so yesterday, with all the butterflies in his stomach from expecting what was to come.

“You’re starting to sound like the old man, Tatsurou,” Ai said, smirking at him.

With the remaining feeling of nervousness washed away, the two held hands as they gazed upwards.

Though such an act was nothing special, it was still one of the moments they felt happy in the truest sense.

From there, they took the time to clean themselves up and, after their daily dose of dilly dallying, got out of the bath and went back to the living room.

When they reached the living room, Tatsurou reached the first checkpoint of his ‘Taking it Easy’ quest – Not laying a hand on Ai in the bath.

However, the problem now was how to spend the rest of their days.

After some thought, the two decided to spent the next few days going out for Tatsurou to earn more SP and for Ai to level up her skills. They also went to shop for anything that they required before heading back to the inn. After some fulfilling days, it was now time for the two to complete the request.

4th day of the 6th month (Wood)

The two woke up early, consuming their breakfast before preparing for the quest.

They were currently in the bedroom, making sure that they brought everything that they needed.

“Okay, this is everything, right?” said Tatsurou.

“Yep. It’s all of them. Oh, but I want to take a final look at our stats. We both levelled up yesterday after all.”

“Ah, of course. I’ll go first then.”

◇◇◇ Status ◇◇◇

Name: Tatsurou Hasami

Class: Light Magician

Level: 29

Ki: 66

Mana: 646

Strength: 92

Defense: 92

Agility: 87

Magic: 514

Magic Resist: 506

Mana Control: 514

◆◆ Skills ◆◆

[Level Eater], [Light Magic Lv 10], [Darkness Magic Lv 5],

[Fire Magic Lv 10], [Water Magic Lv 2], [Life Magic Lv 1],

[Earth Magic Lv 7], [Information Magic Lv 5], [Wind Magic Lv 6],

[Mana Purification Lv 3], [Mana Regeneration Lv 3], [Magic Perception Lv 3],

[Focus Lv 3], [Universal Language Comprehension]

◇◆ System Skills ◆◇

[Map], [Item Box +3]

Unused skill point: 1

◇◇ Titles ◇◇

[Master of Light], [Master of Fire], [Avatar of Destruction],

[Perfect Harmony]

◇◇◇ Status ◇◇◇

Name: Ai Yashiki

Class: Martial Artist

Level: 29

Ki: 4040

Mana: 35

Strength: 803

Defense: 785

Agility: 553

Magic: 32

Magic Resist: 32

Mana Control: 32

◆◆ Skills ◆◆

[Valkyrie], [Unarmed Combat Lv 7], [Staff Arts Lv 1],

[Throwing Lv 8], [Spear Arts Lv 7], [Sword Arts Lv 7],

[Shield Arts Lv 6], [Whip Arts Lv 8], [Ki Regeneration Lv 7],

[Body Strengthening Lv 9], [Focus Lv 1], [Air Walk Lv 2],

[Universal Language Comprehension]

◇◆ System Skills ◆◇

[Item Box +2]

Unused skill point: 16

◇◇ Titles ◇◇

[Destroyer], [Perfect Harmony]

“You got a little power boost and [Magic Perception]. Nice job!” said Ai.

“Yeah. It’s the same as before. I feel like I can use those attributes without the help of skills now. I wonder what kind of magic I can use when they level up higher…” Tatsurou said. “And you managed to level up your main skills too, right?”

“Yep! Not just that – I got [Air Walk] too!”

“Yeah, I was surprised the first time I saw that.”

In his mind, Tatsurou flashed back to the time when they were playing chase with Cardina and when Ai suddenly did a real-life double jump.

She had unknowingly done it in the heat of the moment but after asking Help-sama, they found that it was a special skill deriving from [Unarmed Combat] Lv 6 or higher.

It was not a skill listed in the system’s shop and it seemed like the difficulty of acquiring it through one’s own power was considerable.

Hence, even Ai, who holds the skill [Valkyrie], had her [Air Walk] stagnate at Lv 2.

As for its effects, [Air Walk] allows the user to temporarily create stepping platforms using Ki in mid air. The number of platforms that can be created in a single jump is the same as the skill’s level, meaning that Ai could jump twice more in mid-air.

“I wasn’t surprised since I noticed the skill before I tested it out, but if I managed to do it without knowing I had the skill, it would’ve felt more like an achievement,” Ai said with a hint of regret.

“Right? It was quite the shocker,” Tatsurou commented, patting Ai’s head as he called Cardina out.

“Cardina got an upgrade too. It looks a lot stronger now, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. It looks cooler too,” said Tatsurou, who received a light kick on his hand in return. “Ow. Why are you getting mad? I was trying to compliment you, you know?”

Seeing him confused as to why Cardina reacted like that, Ai let out a sigh. “Jeez, Tatsurou. Cardina is a girl so you should say she looks prettier now, am I right?” she said, to which Cardina started to sing. 

“Huh? It has a gender?! And how do you know that?!”

“You’ll know if you actually spend some time with her.”

In the first place, Tatsurou had no clue that manaborn creatures had genders and had no intention on finding it out. 

However, if Cardina was really a female, then what Ai wanted to do made sense.

Some time ago, when he learnt that Cardina’s existence was similar to that of a monsters’, Tatsurou wanted to give it some kind of identification.

However, when the two of them went shopping for it, they had differing opinions on what to get. Tatsurou wanted to buy a showy scarf while Ai wanted to get a cute pink collar instead.

In the end, Tatsurou caved and they bought the cute pink collar which Cardina was currently wearing, thinking that Cardina wouldn’t care anyway.

But, as soon as the bird saw Ai’s purchase, it immediately made a fuss as if it was saying  ‘put that on me now!’

(I see… So she is a girl…)

With the small misunderstanding now cleared up, Tatsurou muttered a quick apology to Cardina before they headed for the quest’s staging grounds.

[TL] So it is a female… I didn’t know…. What? Is anyone else as confused as me too (except Tatsurou)? How did Ai know??? — Top 10 questions science still can’t answer. [End]