The cold morning air slipped through the slightly opened windows, waking up Aira who comfortably slept through the night. She stirred, pulling up her covers while she sleepily moaned.
Most of the time, she would wake up just a little bit before Emma and Satoshi left home for school. It was hard to change the habit of sleeping in but after a couple of days, she had completely assimilated to the new lifestyle, and it had become a new habit for her.
Today was no different. With another moan, she pushed herself out of the bed and unevenly walked out of her room. There was a restroom on the second floor but she preferred using the restroom on the first floor just in case she woke up too late and Emma and Satoshi were already heading out. With this, she'd be sure to say her goodbyes before she washed her face and brushed her teeth.
Sometimes, she would get nightmares during the night and she would go out of her room and crawl into Emma or Satoshi's bed. Thankfully it didn't happen tonight. In fact, her bout of nightmares was becoming less and less frequent, thanks to the safe household she'd been in. There were moments wherein she'd remember the days when she was still in the slums, but it hardly affected her by now.
"Ah, Aira, you're awake. Morning~" Emma cheerily greeted, waving her spoon before she dug into her bowl of cereal. She was already in her uniform, which meant that it won't be long before she and Satoshi head out.
"Where's big brother?" Aira asked, rubbing her eyes while she took a look around. She vaguely remember Satoshi telling her goodbye yesterday and she'd hoped that he'd return before the morning. But now, it became clear to her he hasn't arrived yet.
"He's going to stay somewhere in a couple of weeks, Aira," Emma was the one to answer. She saw the crestfallen faces of Ayumu and Tatsuki so she took it upon herself to explain things to Emma.
"Oh..." Aira trailed off. It was probably because she was still sleepy that she didn't take it to mind too much.
Emma heaved a sigh of relief, her explanation was accepted and Satoshi's parents didn't have to say anything in addition to what she said.
Still, Emma was still worried for Satoshi. At the back of her mind, she thought of ways how to help Satoshi out but she had no idea how to do so. For one, she wanted to follow him to their dimension so she could check up on her from time to time but their Manager didn't allow her to go with them. He said something about it being against company policy or something along those lines.
Then again, Emma still hasn't given up. Her peace of mind just won't return unless she was well aware that Satoshi was perfectly safe.
Ting!
Her thought process was interrupted by the tick of the clock, reminding her that she had to head out soon. Before Aira could even come out of the restroom, she picked up her bag and said her due farewell to Satoshi's parents.
"I'm heading out!" She greeted, to which Ayumu and Tatsuki returned by telling her to take care.
With a sigh, Emma headed out, still thinking about Satoshi. If only she had the time, she would check each and every dimension via her dimensional portal. It would be time-consuming, but she's bound to locate her presence if she did something like that.
...
A couple of moments before Jane barged into the room,
Another round of Ousama game hit the table, and the noise emanating from the room became louder than usual. They were totally into the moment, yelling at each other and laughing their hearts out while they enjoyed each other's company.
Adding to that, the supply of snacks and drinks didn't seem to go down as Nanako kept on bringing in more and more onto the table. They'd stored crazy amounts of snacks just in case so they won't have to return to the snack bar in the middle of the game.
"Number one will imitate a dead horse, while... number two kisses number three on the cheek! Number four and five would play a round of palm push on top of the table!" This time, the king was Jonathan, and he wanted to humiliate everyone before him. He had absolute authority, the king's words are absolute!
It was Nanako who started doing the weird neigh of the horse. Satoshi was number two, so he reddened as he stared at number three who was Mitsuka. He averted his gaze before Mitsuka grabbed him by the cheeks. "Just get on with it!"
While Mitsuka was trying to boost Satoshi's morale, Himuro, and Yun Zhe were already on top of the table, disregarding the chips which were half empty, and stepping on them. The game of palm push was easy. The two of them just had to stand in front of each other and try to push each other off the platform with their palms. Of course, they could only push the other party's palms, and anyone could put their hands back at any time. A player would lose if he loses his balance and either falls backward or forward.
"Then turn your head sideways," Satoshi blurted out while Himuro and Yun Zhe were already having fun trying to push each other off the table.
With a nod, Mitsuka turned to the side but she still held onto Satoshi's cheeks for some odd reason. She closed her eyes, wondering when Satoshi would kiss her on the cheek.
'It was only a kiss on the cheek, everyone's received a kiss on the cheek before, right? Right?! This shouldn't be a big deal!' Or so that's the thought that repeated in Mitsuka's mind. Satoshi was still indecisive while Mitsuka just wanted to get it over with.
"Look, Mitsuka, he just won't kiss you so you can just do it to him instead. And Satoshi, you're a puss in boots." Jonathan shrugged as he provoked Satoshi.
"Shut up!" Satoshi steeled his resolve and went in for the kiss on the cheek.
HOWEVER!
At the same time, Mitsuka also turned her head towards Satoshi and she went for the kiss. She also steeled her resolve to give the kiss instead, thanks to Jonathan urging her to do so.
Because of that, both their kiss 'on the cheek' met halfway, and they ended up planting a kiss on each other's lips.
GASP!
"..."
"..."
Mitsuka and Satoshi had awkward eye contact with each other as their kiss connected, and they paused for a moment as they took in what just happened.
"OI! What are you doing?!" Jonathan slammed his fist on the table. "That's forbidden! That's a crime, a war crime! You should be stoned to death! You should be hanged, drawn, and quartered!" Jonathan was spitting off straight bars as he 'calmly' pointed his shaky finger to them.
Seizing his chance thanks to the distraction, Himuro pushed Yun Zhe off the table, and he fell on top of Nanako who stopped neighing mid-sentence after seeing the kiss.
"Ow~!" The two of them exclaimed.
A string of saliva formed a bridge between their lips as they separated from each other, turning away as Mitsuka and Satoshi had just gotten their first kiss stolen. Granted it was an accident, however, it was still both their first kiss nonetheless.
"Guys, someone's coming." Himuro suddenly called out, heading straight into the closet.
Seeing that he hid in the closet, Jonathan and Yun Zhe followed suit, thinking that Himuro had done this before and that the closet was a foolproof hiding place.
Who in their right mind would look into the closet first, right? Wrong!
Satoshi was a step too late to respond, thanks to the kiss. When he got in front of the closet, there was no more space, and he figured that there were no other hiding spots left aside from the restroom.
"Let me in!" Satoshi tried to squeeze himself inside the closet but he just won't fit.
"Find yourself another hiding spot. We're sorry, Satoshi." Jonathan rubbed his hands together as he apologized.
The steps of the guard were getting louder now, and he heard someone grabbing onto the doorknob. Satoshi began panicking.
'Should I take my chances and hide on the balcony? Under the bed? Should I take Ghast out and teleport out of here? No, the guard would sense his power in an instant and they'd find out. In the first place, why would the guard bother going inside the room if he or she could just sense our presence from the outside?' Satoshi's thought happened in a span of a split second.
"Come here!" Mitsuka called out dragging Satoshi with her, flinging him on her bed before covering him up with a blanket. "Just hide in there, I'll come up with an excuse."
The door opened after a second later, and in walked Jane Watts, finding two suspicious girls on their bed with their blankets pulled above their necklines.
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