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Author’s note:
Once more from Mika’s PoV.

I went after Ayumu in a hurry, got off the bed and hugged him from behind. He suddenly stopped moving, as if he was surprised.

“No way… are you going… away?” I asked him while my tears flowed.
“I think… I got a little carried away. Mika, I’m sorry for shocking you.”

His voice was exceedingly gentle. Still, Ayumu was trying to take distance from me.
No way, I won’t let him go anywhere. Ayumu is mine. He mustn’t leave me.

“I… didn’t… dislike it. I was happy… you know?”
“…You don’t have to force yourself.”

Ayumu’s gentle words… failed to pierce my heart. Because he was wrong, I didn’t… force myself.

“You don’t get it, I didn’t force myself! I was just a bit surprised.”

I made use of the power of a martial arts skill and hurled Ayumu onto the bed.¹ Then, I fell upon him with force from above.

But if I don’t go that far, Ayumu will totally leave. I might as well prepare handcuffs and restraints in the future to stop him from running away.²

“Mika…?”
“Idiot, idiot, idiot~! You don’t know how I feel and probably wrongly assumed that I hated it. You really are an idiot.”

Ayumu looked flabbergasted.

My face was surely in disarray from the crying. I didn’t want him to see it any longer, but there currently was no other way.

“Erm… that’s…”
“Seriously, what is it with you no longer having any idea how girls think, as soon as you’re not Alim!? Don’t you know… how much I love you?” I unintentionally blurted out my true thoughts.

I thought I told him so many times, that I love him.

When I did that, Ayumu embraced me and turned around halfway on top of the bed. He had turned the tables on me. He pinned down my arms, just as I had done to him earlier. My heart was about to jump out of my throat.

“Then, you won’t mind, even if I do this?”

Thereupon, he pressed his lips on mine again and pushed his tongue inside. He put his arms around my waist and behind my head, pulling us together even more strongly than before.

His togue made a sound, as it moved inside my mouth. I tightly hugged Ayumu, who was on top of me, and further tried to entwine his tongue with mine.

Then, we both looked into each other’s eyes.

What about feeling embarrassed? Some of it remained… but then it all disappeared somewhere.

“Nh….”

After a short time… which felt quite long to my senses, Ayumu removed his tongue and lips from my mouth. Still, there was a thread connecting his mouth to mine.

Heh-heh… I’m so happy…
With this, Ayumu is mine. And I am his, too.

“Mika…!”

He embraced me firmly. I also returned his embrace.

“Ayumu… I love you…”
“Yes, I love you too, Mika… So please, don’t leave³ me.”

Me… leave him…? I wouldn’t, that’s impossible.
After all, I’d decided not to return to Earth, and I couldn’t imagine leaving his side for anything but that.

“I… won’t leave you, you know? I won’t go anywhere… so, what’s wrong?”
“Ah, yes, to tell you the truth…”

Ayumu started talking to me. He told me how he felt, when I was killed by Armageddon… or whatever that skill was called.

He explained what he had thought… and how sad my death made him, even though he knew, he could bring me back to life. Then, he told me, that it made him understand how I felt, when he had died…

“I… don’t want to experience that a second time, and moreover, we don’t know what exists in this world. There might be a parting, that’s worse than death. At a moment like that… I don’t want to feel regret.”

Ayumu stopped hugging me and got up on his knees. Then, he laid his hands on my pajamas.

“That’s why… Mika, when you said that in the bath, you know?”
“Y-Yeah…!”

He remembered those words. I had thought, that the always way too innocent⁴ Alim, who went into shock merely from hearing those words, had forgotten them. I was wrong.

Did he pretend, that he’d forgotten?

At any rate, Ayumu and I…

_____
____
__

It was morning.
A number of birds were energetically chirping outside.

The top of the bed looks awful, doesn’t it…?

Since both Alim and I had a good sleeping posture, this sort of thing normally didn’t happen. With all said and done, last night was enjoyable… but we didn’t cross the line. As expected of Ayumu, one might say.

Since he is quite strict about stuff like that, isn’t he… As a matter of fact, he doesn’t like impure acts. Though I’m tempted to ask him “What was this, then?”.

That we had the appearance of 12-year-old children… wasn’t the reason, you see, I’m sure Ayumu also wouldn’t have made it to the end, even if we were still 16 years old.

Hmm… I guess it’s fine, even if he sees me as someone to be treasured? I mean, when you think about it carefully, isn’t this just an extension of our constant flirting? No, of course, that’s not it… we did stuff that I’m rather sure 12-year-olds wouldn’t do.

When I suddenly looked at the clock, it was 8:20 in the morning.
I need to hurry up a bit and get ready. Today, we’ll also go to the castle.

I changed out of my pajamas and took a morning shower, which I usually wouldn’t do. Once I got out of the shower, I prepared breakfast. Rice… fish… miso soup… and omelets. Afterwards, baked seaweed.

Then, I tried shaking Ayumu’s body, to get him to wake up.

“Nh… Uh.”

He didn’t wake up. For that reason, I kissed him on his lips, despite the mess we had made last night.

Ayumu opened his eyes.

“Ah! Mika… Morning~~!”
“Yeah, good morning, darling! Breakfast is ready, you know.”

Just as I said that, Ayumu started to blush. Caught up in the moment, I got the feeling that I blushed, too.

“You… you called me… darling.”
“You are, after all, aren’t you? You’ll always be together with me! That’s what you said, yesterday.”
“Hm, oh, you’re right,” he replied, while playing with his disheveled hair to hide his embarrassment, and changing out of his pajamas.
“Eh-heh-heh-heh, oh, food…”
“Please wait, let me get dressed, before we eat.”
“Ah, me too, then.”

Ayumu and I changed clothes. In the blink of an eye. I wore the autumn clothes, that looked a bit more expensive, which Ayumu had prepared for me. He dressed in the attire, he’d worn during the hero proclamation.

Then he… turned into Alim.

“Ayumu… did you turn back into a girl?”
“Yep, you’re right. This is normal for me. It’s my fundamental shape.”
“When will you turn back into Ayumu, then?”
“When I feel like it… I guess?”
“Jeez… you’ve practically become a girl, haven’t you? Well, I like you as Alim too, since you’re cute, so I don’t mind.”

Then, we ate breakfast and tidied up our appearances (mainly our hair).⁵　

“Come to think of it… yesterday… why didn’t you try anything in the bath?”
“Well… that was because I wanted to relax in there.”
“Hah…”

At any rate, we finished our preparations, deployed the Zone, and hurried to the Mephilad castle. Today the king would confer matters of importance to the populace.

TL notes:
Mika to the rescue! Looks like she successfully managed to avert a possible relationship crisis and got her boyfriend to tell her what ate at him.

Alim not going all the way reminded me a bit of that scene with Willow and Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when she is prepared to have sex with him, since she thinks it’s necessary for their relationship, but he refuses since he doesn’t feel ready (sorry for this obscure reference, I’m old). Even if they’re mentally 16, that doesn’t mean they’d be ready for this. Besides, at this point they’ve been in a relationship for only around 3 weeks, no need to rush it this much.

1. Looks like she remembered she’s not a helpless little girl anymore.
2. Kinky. Someone’s getting a bit ahead of herself.
3. The original says, “Don’t go somewhere”, but I assume that’s what he means.
4. Not sure about this. The original is ウブすぎる, which might come from 初い (“innocent”, “pure”, “naïve”), though that one’s apparently a rather obsolete expression.
5. It says that they take (another) shower after this, though this doesn’t make sense, so I removed it. Why would they get dressed, tidy up their appearance and then take a shower?