Chapter 120: Chapter 120
Flashback.
"Hestia... we’re friends, aren’t we? Good friends?"
Demeter came strolling over, narrowing her eyes down at Hestia, who’d been backed onto the sofa.
"O-of course we are. Where’s this coming from?"
Hestia had no clue what was happening.
"Where’s this coming from?"
Demeter laid a hand over her chest—which was, it had to be said, even more generous than Hestia’s own—and looked genuinely wounded!
"You landed yourself a man and didn’t breathe a word of it to your dearest friends. And you still call yourself one of us?"
"She’s got a point!"
The goddess beside her—golden hair in a side ponytail, green tube top—chimed in, radiating mock outrage.
"You went all the way to home base and kept it to yourself this whole time. That’s just heartless."
"If Loki hadn’t let it slip, we’d still be completely in the dark."
The goddesses took turns laying into her, as though she’d committed some unforgivable sin.
Hestia, naturally, wasn’t about to take it lying down.
"Hmph. My love life is my business. Since when do I have to file a report with the lot of you? Don’t be absurd."
"That’s not the right way to see it, Hestia."
Demeter tilted her head and rested a hand against her cheek, adopting the air of a wise elder.
"We’re your senpais. We’ve got all kinds of hard-won experience to pass down."
"That’s right. We’ll make sure that little boyfriend of yours never dreams of leaving."
"Mm-hm. You have to keep a lover on a short leash, or his eye starts to wander."
A round of low, knowing laughter circled the room.
"Tch. It’s just that sort of thing, isn’t it? What’s the big fuss?"
Hestia sniffed, unimpressed.
Back when she’d never known any of it firsthand, being teased like this had stung.
But she’d crossed that line now too—she stood on the same ground they did.
She had nothing to be afraid of!
"Heheh. Hestia, you sweet, innocent thing."
At her reaction, Demeter and the others traded knowing looks—the serene confidence of seasoned hands sizing up a rank beginner.
"Between lovers, you see, there’s no end of games you can play..."
And from there they set in, one after another, generously filling in the one Chapter her "bridal education" had been missing.
The more Hestia heard, the less she could believe her ears.
Her eyes went wider and wider, until the sheer volume of information threatened to shut her brain down entirely.
So "instruments" didn’t always refer to instruments.
So "six" and "nine" had a second meaning.
So the contrast between "ice" and "fire" could be put to use like that.
So...
The goddesses intoned it all like ancient deities passing down forbidden lore, drawing Hestia deeper and deeper into a landscape she had no words for.
In that instant, Hestia matured—considerably.
Watching Hestia get hauled into adulthood, the goddesses looked thoroughly pleased with themselves.
There was something deeply satisfying about taking a blank page and scribbling it full of color—most of it thoroughly indecent.
The more they talked, the more they egged each other on, until someone floated the idea of giving Hestia a live demonstration.
That was where Hestia genuinely panicked.
She talked a big game, sure, but when it came to actual shamelessness, how was she supposed to keep up with this crowd?
Every one of them was a seasoned campaigner who’d been winning at this game since before she could remember!
Hestia wanted to bolt.
Unfortunately, one goddess against a whole pack was never going to be a fair fight.
Worse still, this bunch had no concept of fighting fair.
Each of them bore down on her with an overwhelming presence—and, given their generous ’proportions’, a certain gravity Hestia simply couldn’t match.
Step by step, she was forced to give ground.
Finally, pushed to her limit, she cried out:
"That’s enough out of you, you shameless harpies!"
And Kiriya, at the door, heard every word of it.
He didn’t understand what was happening, but he caught the panic and helplessness in Hestia’s voice, and instinct took over.
He slammed the door open and burst in, blazing with righteous fury.
"Let her go, you—uh..."
The words died in his throat.
His whole body seized up, as though someone had hit him with a binding spell.
"...Boo-Mountains, tides rolling in—every last scenic wonder the world has to offer, all of it gathered right here in this one room."
His eyes went bright.
He had the look of a wanderer who’d stumbled into paradise and had no intention of ever leaving!
"Kiriya... save... save me?"
The sight of him was a drowning woman spotting a rope. Hestia flung out a hand and begged for rescue.
The crushing pressure in the room had made even breathing a struggle for her, so the words came out faint—but they were enough to snap Kiriya out of his sightseeing.
He rounded on the goddesses at once.
"Let her go! If you want someone, come at me instead!"
"Oh? Your words, not mine."
Demeter let out a wicked little laugh and climbed off Hestia.
She folded her arms and advanced on Kiriya, radiating enough menace to buckle a lesser man’s knees.
And it wasn’t just Demeter.
Every goddess in the room had a gleam in her eye now. They were all very interested in ’testing’ Hestia’s little boyfriend for themselves.
"Come on, then. Do your worst."
Kiriya’s eyes went wide and his face settled into something noble and heroic—a man striding bravely toward his own glorious sacrifice!
He was hamming it up hard enough to earn an award.
Unfortunately for the drama, before the goddesses could close in, Hestia had already scrambled over, seized his wrist, and was hauling him toward the door.
"Run!"
Tiny as she was, the little goddess found a startling reserve of strength, yanking Kiriya along at a dead sprint.
Before the goddesses could so much as react, the pair had vanished.
"Hehehe..."
The goddesses glanced around at one another—and somehow, every last one of them wore the smile of a winner.
...
"Hah... hah... hah..."
A good few streets later, Hestia finally drew up short, braced her hands on her knees, and gulped down air.
Kiriya helped her get her breath back and pressed a bottle of water into her hands.
She drank deep and long before she finally felt like herself again.
"I am never seeing those women again. Honestly—’shameless’ doesn’t even cover it."
She grumbled it into the middle distance, the flush still not quite faded from her face.
"Hm? What did they actually do to you?"
Kiriya’s expression turned serious, like he was ready to march right back and defend her honor.
"They..."
Hestia opened her mouth to tell him—then caught the eager glint in his eye and snapped straight back to her senses.
She shut her mouth and huffed.
"Hmph. You looked like you were having a good time in there. Well? How’d it feel, getting surrounded by goddesses?"
"Good time? I was trying to save you!"
Kiriya looked deeply, mortally wronged.
"You can’t just go slandering an honest man out of nowhere."
"Sure."
Hestia didn’t buy a word of it.
Remembering the way those goddesses had looked at him, a fresh spike of alarm went through her.
Her Kiriya really did draw far too much attention!
"Come on. We’re going home!"
She grabbed hold of him and started towing him back.
"Huh? But it’s still the middle of the day—"
Kiriya had the strangest feeling he’d been here before.
"Less talking!"
There was no arguing with the look on her face or the iron in her voice, so Kiriya did the sensible thing and let himself be dragged.
They hadn’t gotten far, though, before they ran headlong into a party of unexpected guests.
"Wallen... something-or-other-kun?"
Hestia blinked.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came for him."
Ais looked at Kiriya.
"Would you consider coming to my place?"
Kiriya just stared.
’Come again?’
Hestia, meanwhile, looked ready to flip every table in the city!
"You’ve got some nerve!"
Her outraged roar went straight up into the sky.
Comments