"Hi princess, I'm—" I greeted my girlfriend in the doorway of her room, but before I could finish, I was abruptly grabbed by the hand and dragged inside.
"You're late!" Elly exclaid and imdiately slamd the door shut behind us.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."
My attempt to placate the sulking owner of the room was less than successful, a fact that she made quite blindingly obvious with a soft yet decidedly angry grunt.
"You promised it would only take a few minutes," she grumbled as she dragged even further and more or less forced to sit on her bed before she stood in front of and continued by directing her patented brand of accusative finger at . "You even promised you would co over a little earlier so that we could spend so ti alone!"
"In my defense, I did co over early. It was your mother who kidnapped the mont I stepped through the main entrance."
"That's right," the princess huffed and she re-doubled her finger-pointing efforts. "Why did it took you so long to discuss things with my mother anyway?!"
"You ask it like I had much of a choice in the matter," I protested and followed my words up with a tired sigh. "I didn't expect she would be so mad about allowing you to play around with the brainless robots."
"Aren't all robots brainless?" she absent-mindedly asked with a look of genuine curiosity on her face, but then she quickly rembered that she was supposed to be angry with and she added, "I an, it's true, mom can be a little overbearing sotis, but you are smart! You were supposed to co up with a smart excuse and co over right away!"
"I am glad you think so highly of , but it's hard to co up with a 'smart excuse' when your mother refused to even entertain the thought that the mostly harmless, brightly colored robots that were programd not to harm you were, in fact, not a big deal." I paused here, extended an index finger of my own, and gently pushed hers aside before asking, "I an, they weren't a big deal, right?"
"Not at all," my girlfriend agreed with my assessnt while at the sa ti she swatted away my finger and pointed at again.
I picked up the slack and pulled back my finger before stabbing towards her hand again. She skillfully parried my extrely dangerous attack while she absent-mindedly added, "There was one small problem, now that I think about it."
"Really? What is it?" I inquired while feinting and aiming a devious finger at her unprotected belly, but my girlfriend didn't get flustered and blocked it with a well-tid swipe of her own.
"To be honest, the Magiform was a little uncomfortable," she stated while changing her center of mass and attempting a low stab to slip under my guard.
"'Magiform'?" I echoed the word while simultaneously raising an intrigued brow and parrying her incoming finger.
"It's a na I ca up with, with the help of Josh and Angie," she told with a small smirk that told she was probably taking more of the credit than duly deserved, but I naturally didn't call her out on my suspicion. "It's because they are magical, and they are uniforms."
"So magiforms," I concluded while launching a counter-attack towards her upper arm, which she dodged by moving to the side a little before she initiated her own riposte and I t her strike halfway.
"Yes," she confird with a beaming smile made sowhat strained by the way our fingers were locked in a contest of strength. I hate to admit it, but she was winning. It was probably because she was standing and I was sitting. Leverage and stuff. Obviously.
Anyhow, I couldn't allow my pride and honor to be besmirched by losing in an absolutely serious and downright montous match of physical prowess, so I did the only reasonable thing under the circumstances… and cheated like the AI in a strategy ga on hard mode by opening my hand, grabbing hold of my worked up girlfriend and pulling her towards with one mighty (yet careful) tug.
The princess tried to resist for a mont, but this ti leverage was working for , and in a mont she all but tumbled into . Fortunately, and in no small part thanks to my well-honed girl-catching reflexes, I managed to guide her landing to safety and onto my lap.
"Aw!" she let out a dissatisfied noise the mont she gathered her wits and she glanced at over her shoulder. "That's not fair! I was winning!"
"Maybe, but… why were we finger-fencing in the first place?" I asked the fuming girl sitting on , and my question gave her a pause for a second or two.
"I… don't really know." She visibly deflated upon admitting it, but then a mont later she perked up again as she clumsily turned one hundred and eighty degrees on my lap until she was straddled on top of my legs with her face just a few fingers' widths away from mine. She looked in the eye and abruptly declared, "It doesn't matter either. What does is that you still owe a bunch of kisses."
"I do?" I asked back by reflex. Speaking of reflexes, my sixth sense suddenly warned of incoming danger and I hastily put my hand in front of my face, just in ti to hold back the princess' forehead before she could accidentally headbutt by nodding in close proximity.
"Yes," she stated emphatically, seemingly not caring at all about the fact that she just sandwiched my poor hand between our heads. "You promised on the roof."
"Now that I think about it… I did so, didn't I?" Elly tried to nod again, but since we were already deadlocked, in the end she had to do with simply grunting in agreent.
Well, I was a man of my word, and since she was already in reach, I figured I might as well start fulfilling my promise right away. I took a shallow breath and, just by angling my face a little, I successfully got our lips to touch.
I expected her to stiffen for a mont, but instead she leaned into the kiss with a blissful little snicker. Because of this, what I originally intended to be just a quick peck ended up quite unnecessarily passionate. For a mont I even entertained the thought of attempting so of that tongue stuff people apparently considered an integral part of the experience, but I ultimately decided that it was a little early. I also wasn't entirely confident about the prospect. I an, I obviously had no experience in the field, and although I have naturally researched the topic in detail, it wasn't exactly sothing one could practice in front of the mirror.
We stayed connected for a good couple of seconds before she finally pulled back, but only so that she could take a deep breath, after which she locked onto my lips once again. If my mouth wasn't otherwise occupied, I would have probably complained about excess and whatnot, but since I have already promised her and everything, I decided I might as well spoil her a little. I an, it wasn't like it was so kind of ordeal I had to put up with. While it didn't make my head swim or light fireworks behind my eyelids, as so might have described it, but kissing my girlfriend was still a pleasant little experience, so I definitely wasn't against her indulgence in the act.
And indulge she did, as it took almost five minutes before she finally had her fill. She separated from for the last ti, her face positively glowing with satisfaction, and I couldn't help but say the thing that had been on my mind for quite a while.
"You know princess, you've changed a lot."
My mostly cute girlfriend cocked her head to the side, and while she looked curious for a mont, it didn't stick and her expression almost imdiately bounced back into a content one even as she asked, "How so?"
"Well," I began as I put my hands on her waist and began to gently coax her to sit by my side instead of on . "Not so long ago, you would've glared at and made funny noises if I as much as just touched you." I suddenly felt a little mischievous, so I tried to tickle her a little, and she actually let out a pretty cute yelp in response, so I smugly added, "Exactly like that."
"Stop it," Elly reproached while she pried my fingers off her sides and she took a seat beside with an indignant huff. "It was precisely because of things like this!"
"I don't rember tickling you when we first t."
"No, but you were just as impudent," she countered, but then a mont later she reconsidered and added, "In retrospect, I have to admit that I don't entirely dislike this side of yours though."
"In retrospect," I repeated after her, and she nodded like it was a profound statent, and then she exhaled a shallow sigh before she spoke up again.
"It's strange, isn't it? When I ca to this island, I never thought things would end up like this."
"You ca to this island to seduce a boy you last t when you were in kindergarten, so yes, I can see your point."
"Uuu… Don't put it like that! It makes sound like a creepy stalker!"
Elly punctuated her argunt with a playful yet fairly solid punch to my shoulder, so I figured it was in my best interest to cede the argunt to her.
"I've got it, no creepy business at all."
"That's right," she declared with a huge nod, and for a few seconds we both fell silent.
"Now that I think about it," I broke the montary lull in the conversation by absentmindedly uttering another question that had been sitting in the back of my mind for a while. "It really is weird how we ended up like this." My statent wasn't just idle small talk; as I looked back at our ti together, it was hard to pinpoint why we ended up in a relationship. Early on I even mistakenly thought that I was the 'protagonist' of the story and Elly was the classic high school romance love interest for , and I even consciously attempted to avoid any romantic developnt with her, yet we still ended up here.
"Hey, Elly?" I addressed my spaced-out girlfriend, and she imdiately turned a questioning eye towards . "When exactly did you start to like ?"
My sowhat strange question was little more than a whim on my part, yet the princess seed to consider it with the utmost seriousness.
"When did I start to like you?" she reiterated while raising a finger to her lips and her face beca a little flushed, probably from rembering an embarrassing mory (we had many), but at last she told , "I think it was since that ti we t on the roof."
"Really? Since Snowy started attending the school?" I wanted to tell her that she started crushing on a lot earlier than I expected, but the princess quickly shook her head, much to my confusion. "No? Then the ti after that?"
"No, before that," she clarified, and it took several seconds to figure out what she ant.
"Wait a mont. The only ti we t on the 'roof', just the two of us, was on the day you transferred." She gave a small nod, confusing even further. "Wait, hold on… so you say you have liked ever since the first day we t?"
"Yes," she answered with just the barest hint of hesitation. "I think I didn't really realize it back then, but looking back on it, it's obvious I liked you since then and there… and I had no idea how to deal with it." After she said that, her previously rosy cheeks gradually began to pale until she finally uttered, "I… have been acting really weird and stupid, haven't I?"
"Weird, yes. Stupid, nah," I reassured her while I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "But it's strange. I don't rember doing anything back then that would warrant you to fall for . I an, you technically fell on at the ti, but I don't think that counts."
"It does," Elly enlightened as she nuzzled closer, though to be honest, I was actually feeling more confused after I've heard her words. "You caught . You did it twice, in fact. You also took to the infirmary and looked after without complaining. You were really gallant."
"I was?" I asked back with a considerable amount of incredulity, but she just nodded at with such a genuine smile that I had no choice but to believe her. "Weird. I don't rember doing anything special."
"And that's why you are cool," she heaped more unwarranted praise upon , and I could barely manage to suppress a bitter smile forming on my lips. I wanted to say sothing in denial, but before I could open my mouth, Elly suddenly said, "Now it's your turn."
"My turn at what?"
"I told you when I fell for you. Now it's your turn."
I am not going to lie; I actually froze up for a good five seconds, blue screen of death and everything. My stupor thankfully only lasted for a brief ti, and once I gathered my wits I repeated, "When I fell for you?" for confirmation.
"Yes. Now it's your turn," the princess stressed it, for the third ti, and she nuzzled even closer to like a kitten, probably thinking that I was teasing her and I needed so direct application of cuteness to loosen my tongue.
Unfortunately for her, I was genuinely on the cusp of a mild panic attack. I an… when did I start liking her? I don't think I ever had a proper, dictionary definition 'crush' on her, and while I found her attractive and seven flavors of amusing since pretty much the beginning, I never really 'fell' for her per se. And as for love… I still wasn't entirely sure I even had a grasp on the emotion, let alone applying it to people close to .
However, I had to say sothing, so after so thinking, I decided to go with, "Honestly, there wasn't a definitive point. I think you just gradually grew on ."
"That's a copout," she stated in a voice that, swear to god, channeled Judy to such a degree I was genuinely spooked for a mont.
"No, not really," I continued to excuse myself. "I just liked to tease you, and then I liked to be in your company, and now I just like you. It was a gradual process. There wasn't any one mont where I realized I like you; I just did before I knew it."
"Uu… That sounds so unsatisfying," my girlfriend grumbled as her brows descended into a frown. "It almost sounds like you never fell in love at all."
"Does it?" I uttered reflexively while trying to ignore the cold sweat breaking out on my back like a tiny, imnsely mortifying tsunami. Elly actually looked a little taken aback by my ambivalent response, and so in a panic I continued, "To be honest with you, I am really inexperienced with this whole 'love' business. I an, you know I have amnesia, right?" She nodded, her expression clearly showing that she was curious where I was going with this. "What I am trying to get at is that I have nothing to compare my current feelings to." She had no adverse reaction to my words so far, and after so hesitation, I decided that if I already opened the mouth of the bag, I might as well let the cat out of it and be done with it.
"Okay, so what I am currently trying to clumsily convey is that, while you are truly dear to , I love spending ti with you, miss you when we are apart, and I would be happy to spend the rest of eternity in your company, what I feel just doesn't seem 'passionate' enough for to confidently call it love."
"What about Judy?" she asked the obvious question, and I promptly shook my head.
"The sa. I like her a lot as well, and I trendously enjoy her company, but even if you put a gun to my head, I wouldn't dare to confidently call what I feel 'love'. I might not be the most sincere person in this world, but telling soone I love them without being completely certain is a low even I wouldn't stoop to. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"
The princess stayed silent for a short while, her face slowly twisting into an odd expression, before she muttered, "Leo, you're really weird."
"Am I?" I asked a little hesitantly, and my question was answered by a hearty nod.
"Yes!" she stated with the kind of gusto that reminded of her father. "You're weird! You're capable of saying sothing as embarrassing as 'spend the rest of eternity together', and yet you still don't feel confident enough to say the word 'love'! That's weird!"
"I… think you're right?" I muttered in response as I replayed the words I just said in my head. "I an… I did say that, didn't I?"
"You sure did," she confird with a sowhat giddy look in her eyes.
"It totally sounded like a proposal, didn't it?"
"It sure did," she reiterated with an impish little smirk. "And I'm going to hold you to it!" I couldn't help but smile at her confident declaration, and when she saw that, she quickly added, "Leo, you are overcomplicating this. 'Love' is just a word. You obviously think it's a very important one, but when you can say embarrassing lines like that with a straight face, I don't need you to say the word to believe in your feelings. If you cannot believe in your feelings, then believe in , who believes in you!"
Once again, for the umpteenth ti, there was a long pause in our conversation, and while she was looking at with eyes as clear as the conscience of a goldfish, I couldn't hold myself back from asking the obvious question that demanded to be asked.
"… Was that a reference?"
And like that, the serious atmosphere evaporated like a soap bubble on the surface of the sunny side of rcury.
"What?" Elly uttered in confusion, and she even cocked her head to the side for emphasis.
"That last line? Was that a reference to the series with the drilling robots?" I repeated the question, and a few seconds after I did that, the princess suddenly punched in the shoulder, this ti hard enough so that I almost fell off the bed in surprise.
"Damn it, Leo! Why do you always have to ruin the mont! We were having a really good mood and everything, and you just had to throw in one of your stupid jokes!"
"Ow… I wasn't joking," I objected as I rubbed my aching shoulder. "I really thought it was a reference, and the question just kind of slipped out."
"That's not an excuse," my girlfriend fud in reply and she defiantly crossed her arms under her chest.
"Sorry, I didn't an to do that," I readily apologized, and after taking a deep breath I told her, "Nevertheless, I think I understand what you were trying to say. If you are willing to believe in my feelings even when I'm not sure myself…" I paused here, and after so thinking I decided to say sothing unusually sappy. "Let say this: I am fairly sure I love you, but just in case I'm not, I promise I will make sure that I will properly fall in love with you as soon as possible."
Elly silently stared at for a good ten seconds, as if to further fray my nerves, but in the end she failed to stifle her laughter and she told , between two chuckles, "That… was the sweetest and most awkward thing you have ever said! I'm dying to second-hand embarrassnt here!"
"Why, you little!" I exclaid and grabbed hold of her waist again, prompting a surprised squeak from her. "I am doing my best to open my heart to you, and you laugh at ?! I shall have my vengeance! To the tickle dungeon with thee!"
"No, wait! Stop!"
She tried to twist herself out of my grasp, but I held on tight, and in the scuffle we fell over and sprawled out on the bed. It was no reason to stop my assault though, and I kept tickling her until she ran out of breath and I no longer felt embarrassed, both of which took quite a while.
At last we both laid across the bed, panting, and sohow she even ended up nestled up to and holding onto my back. Heaving and disheveled, we stayed still and silent for about a minute before I exhaled hard and told her, with renewed seriousness, "I ant what I said."
There was a mont of pause, after which she responded by telling , "So did I."
"Good," I concluded, and as such we quickly drifted back into silence. It was a comfortable kind of silence, which made appreciate just how much worse our previous discussion could have gone, and as I thought about it, I abruptly sat up, startling Elly in the process.
"What? Did sothing happen?"
"No, I just rembered sothing," I replied while pointing at the device on her wrist. "Before we completely went off the rails, you ntioned sothing about the uniform being uncomfortable."
"Oh, that's right." She also sat up and after quickly fixing her hair (and I do an 'quick', it was back to normal in a matter of seconds), she began to explain her problem. "When I use it, it feels a little tight, or maybe 'stifling' is the right word. It's kind of like when you put on so old clothes that you grew out of already."
"I think I get what you're trying to say," I mused while trying to disregard how my girlfriend was already back to normal, as if the previous critical conversation about our love life didn't even happen. But back to the issue: "The… what did you call them? Magiforms?"
"Yes."
"Okay then. So, rember when I told Josh that the Magiforr would inhibit the physical changes when he turned into an Abyssal? The sa goes for yours as well, and since most of your draconic abilities co from your physique, restraining it would obviously feel really restrictive."
"Can you fix it?" She held out her wrist to .
"I… um… I can't. I an, suppressing the transformation and providing an alternative is the whole point of the device."
"But I don't like it."
"I know, but I can't help it."
Elly turned a disapproving eye towards the Magiforr, then back at , and then she let out an angry 'Hmph!' and pointedly looked away.
"Oh co on, princess! Don't sulk!"
"I'm not sulking," she replied while pouting so hard it was almost comical to look at.
"But you totally are. Don't be like that."
My high-maintenance girlfriend didn't respond at first, but after just a few short seconds she let out a forced groan and turned back to .
"All right. I'm willing to forgive you under one circumstance."
"Forgive for what? I told you I cannot—"
I got cut off before I could finish as she proclaid, "I'll let it go if you say sothing romantic."
"Romantic?" I blurted out in surprise, and she nodded quite vehently at the word,
"Yes. Sothing nice, like the last one about spending an eternity together."
"… Do I really have to?" I tried to ask, but then she imdiately re-entered into pouting mode, so I hastily sputtered out, "Err… How about… When you are not around, I… err… I miss you so much that one hour feels like sixty minutes!"
"That's," she began as her visage montarily brightened, but then she imdiately followed that up with a frown as she stated, "That's the sa thing!"
"I'm sorry, but what did you expect when you put on the spot like that?!" I excused myself maybe a tiny bit more indignantly than strictly necessary, but then to my shock and surprise, she shrugged her shoulders and nestled closer to again.
"Oh well. I give you a pass for trying."
Saying so, she rubbed her head against my shoulder with a barely audible giggle, and sohow I couldn't stay mad at her.
"How gracious of you."
"You are welco," she answered with a playful little smirk before she resud nuzzling against . It didn't last long though, as she abruptly looked up and said, "It's still an hour until dinner. What should we do?"
"I thought you wanted to cuddle?"
"I ant after that. Obviously."
"I don't know," I replied with a shrug before looking around in her room. Elly's eclectic bedroom had no television, so watching sothing on it was out of the question. She didn't have a PC either, so browsing the net for cute cat videos or sothing was also out. In fact, her room was fairly barebones when it ca to entertainnt, so much so that I couldn't help but ask her about it. "Say, princess? What do you usually do after school?"
She looked a little confused by my question, but after so thinking she told , "Not much. I either study for school, study business, or spend ti with mom and dad. Why?"
"I just noticed you don't really have anything in your room we could use to kill ti here."
"I suppose not…" She sounded a little disheartened. Maybe she took my words as criticism? I was just about to clarify my point, but I never got the chance, as her eyes suddenly lit up in realization and she grabbed hold of my hand. "Hey, Leo? Do you want to see my singing room?"
Now, there were a number of questions I could have asked here. What is a singing room? Was it literally a room for singing, or was it just so kind of euphemism? Why did she suddenly ntion it? Why did she even have one?
I could have asked any of those, and more, but when I saw how excited she was, the only words that ca out of my mouth were, "Sure, I'd love to."
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