Courage

I woke up. A throbbing pain was pounding in my head.

… What happened? I’m sure I was… huh? I’m in a room at the inn? And the suite room at that.

I was trying to be sure about something to do with Leona, but didn’t I get caught in a trap?

Why am I here? Did I lose my memory? Or maybe I’m in a dream?

I heard a knock at the door.

“Who is it?”

“Meat.”

It was Meat’s voice. I started to give her permission to enter the room—but then I noticed what I was wearing.

That is, nothing at all.

Moreover, this futon. It’s the Godly Comforter for some reason. The suite room should’ve had a down-filled mattress.

Moreover moreover, I felt a weight on my body. When I looked to see what it was, it was Rokuko clinging to my body, still asleep.

Sh-she’s wearing her pajamas. Am I safe?

“Hold up a moment, Meat. I’d like to check over something, but could you please answer me through the door?”

“Yes.”

“… How many days ago did Leona leave? The day I held the Dungeon Battle with Ontentoo, that is.”

“Yes, that was day before yesterday, so… two days ago.”

… What? There’s a day’s worth of memories missing.

This is scary. Not only did I lose consciousness, which I might be fine with by itself, Leona almost definitely did something to me.

I decided to wake Rokuko up. I feel sorry for doing it since she looks happy with some drool coming from her mouth on to my belly, it had to be dome.

“… Hey, Rokuko, get up. Oi.”

“Kehmaaa… mnmnn, nmmm….”

“Uoooh, stop licking my bellybutton, it’s ticklish! And stop squirming about please, it’s starting to make me feel weird! Please, get up, please!”

“Heeaah!? Ah, Kehma! … You’re back to yourself!?”

Judging by the first thing Rokuko said as she woke up, I’m starting to feel uneasy.

What the heck did I do yesterday!?

“Yesterday was dangerous. You definitely lost your mind. Only Meat and I noticed it though.”

“… Uhh, what do you mean by that, exactly?”

“You suddenly hugged me and whispered to me that you love me. Umm, no, I mean I was happy that you were so passionate about it, but it didn’t feel like ‘Kehma’. So I brought you to the Godly Comforter and had you go to sleep.”

So to put it another way, she used the therapeutic effect of the Godly Comforter… it cured abnormal statuses as well?

… Huh? Wait a sec. Now’s not the time to be calm. Don’t we have to be a married couple to prevent having divine punishment fall down on me for using the Godly Comforter? What happened to the divine punishment? Is that it? Did we get deemed as a couple? Eh, oi. Did god just officially recognize Rokuko and I as a couple?

“Hey, Rokuko.”

“What’s up?”

“… You and I, are we—wait, first off, why am I naked? Also, please let me put on some clothes.”

“Ah, un. Good, you’re back to being you… And you’re naked because you took off your clothes when we got into the Godly Comforter. They should be on the floor now.”

Just as Rokuko said, my clothes were strewn about the floor… I quickly put them on.

“…”

Umm, please stop staring at me like that. It’s embarrassing to dress with someone watching.

A short moment later, I’d finished changing my clothes with Rokuko staring at me the whole time.

Should I ask it now then?

“Ah, umm, right. Rokuko. I need to ask you something.”

“Sure, what?”

“… You and I, are we… a couple?”

“Eh?”

Rokuko responded in a blank voice… Wait, what’s that ‘Eh?’ supposed to mean?

“… Ehhh!?”

“Please, Rokuko. Please answer me clearly.”

“… Ah, um, that… we’re partners?”

“Don’t dodge the question, Rokuko.”

“… … Well, we’re…”

We’re…? We’re what!?

“…. Not a couple, right?”

“Not… a couple, yeah…”

Rokuko hung her head with a serious look on her face. Yeah, now it’s come to this.

“… Crap. This is the Godly Comforter, I might get hit by that god-paling divine retribution…! What should I do, Rokuko?”

“Eh!? Ah, th-that? Umm. Well, if that’s it, it’s ok. It’s set up so that it’s alright when I give the permission.”

“Eh, really? Exclusive-use items can get set up with things like that?”

“Uhhh… yeah. Definitely.”

Seriously? Tell me sooner if you can make adjustments like that to it!

“That’s good then… Man, now that I know it’s fine, I’m tired. Can I borrow it?”

“Eh? Mm, well…”

“Oh, right. Meat’s still waiting outside, huh. Meat, is anything wrong?”

“No, I just came to see how you were doing. If you’re safe and back to yourself, that’s good.”

Finished saying that, Meat left.

Alright, let’s go back to sleep.

“Hey, Kehma? … What kind of, err, what kind of relationship do* we have? We’re not… a couple, right?”

“… Yeah. We’re not a couple. We haven’t really went through a marriage or the formalities, after all.”

“Is that… why? Kehma, do you not… want us to be a couple?”

Rokuko looked at me with an expression that seemed like she was about to cry.

… It’s not like I don’t want to. I mean, I definitely don’t dislike her. Rather, I couldn’t think about anyone else in this world being my parter other than Rokuko. Ah, maybe Meat? But she’s a serious hug pillow girl… Which means Rokuko really is the only one.

But if I say that we’re married or something like that right now, Haku-san would kill me. Twice. Once to remove Super Transformation and once after the extra life was gone. In other words, she wouldn’t stop killing me until I’m dead.

“It doesn’t feel like we’re lovers, so… isn’t it alright to stick with being partners?”

Even if I said we’re lovers this far into our relationship, I think I’d still get killed by Haku-san. I don’t exactly want to be killed, so I feel like my best bet is to bulldoze forward with our Partner set-up and not step on the landmines that are ‘lover’ and ‘married’. We’ve been like that this whole time, after all.

“Then if you make someone else your lover, I’ll, I’ll… I’ll pout!”

“You’ll pout? Not oppose it?”

“Kehma, I don’t think you’d do something like that without a reason, so it’s alright. But you do know that I’ll definitely pout about it, right? I’d need at least three servings of fresh melon bread.”

“I don’t really think it’ll happen, but you should be really angry if it does.”

“I’ll forgive you if it does! Nehee~”

I rubbed Rokuko on the head.

… She smiled. She’s even in her loli form, such a warming sight.

“Oh, umm. Should I stop sleeping with Meat?”

“Eh? Meat’s a hug pillow, why would you stop?”

I just don’t get Rokuko sometimes. Well, I’m accustomed to using Meat as a hug pillow nowadays, so it’d be a bit hard on me if I suddenly had to stop using her.

“Right… Meat is your exclusive hug pillow, isn’t she…? Could you lend her to me too? I’ve been wanting to try using her for a while now. I’ll let you use the Godly Comforter in exchange.”

“Sure, why not.”

Our negotiations concluded. Now that I know there won’t be a divine retribution, there’s no reason for me to hesitate about the Godly Comforter anymore.

But well, there’s a risk that I might be addicted to it. That isn’t a reason to hesitate from enjoying it, though.

“We could also all three of us sleep together in the Godly comforter.”

“Oooh! That sound great, let me call Meat back so we can get back to sleep.”

“Wait, Meat has a shift and there’s only the two of them right now. Meat joining in can wait till later… How about we sleep till lunch?”

“Sure~”

Rokuko and I somehow arrived at a compromise about our relationship.

I should probably give my thanks to Leona for it, seeing as how she was the main culprit behind us two sleeping in the Godly Comforter. Not, let’s not. It’s Leona, after all.

Still though, pushing forward with our relationship as ‘partners’… I don’t think the old me would’ve done that.

Rokuko and I were—no, I think I was caring about the typical concept of ‘lovers’ and ‘couples’ too much.

How should I say it… oh.

Like I got some courage?