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Today, even though it was already close to midnight, I was unable to sleep.
The excitement from playing with Karua hadn’t cooled down, but that wasn’t the main reason.

Well, that main reason… was because of Mika; we were sleeping in the same bed and her face was quite close to mine…
Obviously, since we were embracing each other closely, like a hugging pillow.

I’m so embarrassed… This kind of scene, if Dad, Uncle, Kanata, or Sakura were to see it, they’d surely tell me to “take responsibility”.

Mom and Aunty would be worse. They’d jump at it the moment they’d see it, wouldn’t they? And I knew exactly what they’d say. They’d tease me about sleeping with her like this for at least 3 months.

“Alim… I was the one to suggest this¹, but… this is… I’m so embarrassed, I can’t sleep…”
“Yeah… that’s right…”

Wah, Mika is also awake.

I had turned off the lights before closing my eyes, so it was dark now, and I couldn’t see her well.

Somehow, it seems Mika isn’t tired either, is she?
Are we in the same boat with our embarrassment…?

To begin with, we’d been sleeping together until we were about 9 years old. Every now and then, we did so when I stayed over at Mika’s home, but this was the first time we were glued together like this.
So, when she says it’s no good, she’s probably right.

Nevertheless, part of the reason I’m unable to sleep is some strange awareness…
Currently, because I’m “Alim”, I have the same gender as Mika, you know? I know that, right? But… it feels like my heart is about to jump out of my throat.

The breath coming from those soft lips, meeting my own, you know…
In this kind of situation, how would she react if I turned into Ayumu?

“Alim… even if you turn into a boy…”

As I was thinking that, she said almost exactly the same thing.
Does Mika have ESP?

For now, I gotta give her the slip.

“Sorry, you’re right, of course… no? That would be too risky… wouldn’t it?
“(Actually, I wouldn’t mind if you turned into Ayumu, but…)”
“…h-huh? Wh-wh… Wh-what did you say?”
“!? I… I didn’t say anything! That was just your imagination, you know, just your imagination.”

I heard it clearly with my very own ears. Ever though I immediately pretended I hadn’t been able to hear it, Mika had definitely said “I wouldn’t mind”.

This was bad… more and more, it wasn’t only my heart, but all my other organs too, which seemed ready to jump out of my throat. My heartbeat quickened up to the point, where you’d be able to hear it from the outside. My face, too, was surely turning bright red, like an overripe tomato.

We’re only 12 years old, and on earth we were minors, too.

Still, it’s too soon.
It’s too soon, you know… Yeah…
I-I’m not a loser! And I’m no chicken either!

Oh yeah, that’s it; to distract myself a bit from this feeling, how about I just think about what happened yesterday?
Let’s do that, that’s good.

To start with… the parfaits were quite popular, weren’t they… Next time, it should be fine if I make them jumbo-sized, right? Yeah.
Also, the Gold Rose Queen Dragon meat was very well received. As I thought, since dragons provide high grade ingredients, everyone, except for the king, was astonished.

Even more important than that, are Mika and Karua, right?
It’s great those two became friends. Really. Afterwards, the king also said it’s fine if the both of us come to visit her.

It looked like they were mainly sharing stories about me, but…

Yeah, they went and squished them.

What should we do from now on, so it’ll work out? In the end, can we get along peacefully? Will I even be able to have a happy marriage with Mika just like this… while playing together with Karua?
Marriage… hoow…

Wait, by now, my money should equal nearly 1.9 billion yen.

Quitting adventuring and opening a restaurant might be nice. No, rather than that, it’d be better to become a chef at the castle. Then I could always see Karua, and it doesn’t even take 0.0003 seconds² to walk there from my house, so…

Then I’ll make and sell weapons for Mr. Gilmars as my only customer.

Sometime later, after marrying Mika, she’ll totally say something like “How many kids do you want? Ayumu?”. Heh-heh-heh… it’s not really funny in the current situation, but look…

Ah, but first. There’s still a lot to do.

To begin with, I should experiment with the Gold Rose Queen Dragon.
Whether it succeeds or not, it’s worth a try, right? But if it succeeds… You know, the aftermath will be trouble, won’t it?

Later, I’ll also need to figure out how to deal with the Skill Cards I obtained in the dungeon.
Since I have more than enough SKP for the synthesis, I shouldn’t need anything else.

It would be nice if something like teleportation exists, right? I want something like that³. Yeah.

Well, that should do it about today’s reminiscence, no?
Haa, thanks to exploring my memories, I actually managed to cool down my excitement. Good.

Just like that, the danger has passed.

“Phew~…”

I’m somewhat sleepy, and… Tomorrow, I should have an interview in the afternoon, but other than that, there aren’t any specific things to take care of. So, I should sleep well. I’m happy, right…?

The same goes for Mika, it looks like she fell asleep at some point.

I feel her sleeping breath on my face.
If I kiss her now, would I get away with it?

No, let’s stop this.
Wait, thinking something like this at this point of time… My, my excitement, it hasn’t cooled off completely yet, has it?

Gah, I really have to sleep. Enough already.
Good night!

Suddenly, as I was drifting off, I heard a message inside my head.

What the hell, I thought I was finally going to sleep…

Eh?
This… isn’t this the effect of the accessory I gave to her?

Seriously? I need to hurry. Immediately.
Back to Karua!
Quickly!

“Mika, wake up, Mika! Quickly, Mika!”
“Mh? Morning already~?
“That’s not it, we have an emergency, you know! I’ll tell you the reason later, let’s go to the castle.”
“Eh~? What are you~…?”

Mika sat up on the bed, rubbing her tired eyes. She looked like she was still half asleep.

“Karua was attacked and abducted by someone!”
“Eh!?”
“We need to be super quick! Let’s go!”
“Y-yeah!”

After seeing me in my panic, Mika looked like she was awake, too.
Since we might need to fight, I made some preparations ultra quickly, and we went to Mephirad castle at full speed.

I can’t help worrying. For some reason, I have a bad premonition.

1. I kinda love how both Alim and Mika are inexperienced in relationships, and it actually shows. They try stuff they probably read/heard about or saw on TV, but reality turns out different than imagination. It’s a nice contrast to the typical isekai protagonist who either never tries anything or everything works out perfectly from the get-go.
2. Yeah, that’s definitely no longer walking.
   Assuming the walk normally takes 5 minutes, we’re looking at about 500 meters. Crossing this in 0.0003 seconds would require roughly 0.5% of the speed of light! That’s 6 million kilometers per hour! Even if there’s magic preventing Alim from turning into a fireball from air friction, moving that fast would probably end up fatal for any normal person in the vicinity.
3. At his current speed, he’s pretty much teleporting already…