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※Ciel’s Perspective

Saying it feels like a waste to leave the bath but we’ll get dizzy soon, Ain stepped out of the bath ahead of me. While I have no idea if Ain had ever gotten lightheaded in a bath before, staying in the tub without Ain just makes me feel empty and Ain is right that we can’t stay in the bath forever, so I left as well.

At the changing room, Ain was tilting her head while staring at the negligee she wore in the morning. Why is Ain so puzzled about it? Is what I thought but, come to think of it, Ain didn’t have any clothes to begin with. In that case, where did that actually come from?

Though, it suits her and doesn’t seem dangerous, I don’t particularly care where it came from. After this, Ain wore the negligee and repeatedly looked around her shoulder.

What she is wearing is transparent around the shoulders after all. Ain being so conscious wearing clothes and accessories she’s not familiar with gives off a somewhat defenseless air to her, it’s charming.

As I thought that, Ain called out to me. Wondering what it’s about, I went to her and she said that she wanted to dry my hair. Usually Ain would use my body to dry my hair, so it’s my first time having Ain directly do it.

Bringing a chair from the corner of the room, Ain had me sit on it. It’s a shame that I can’t see Ain anymore but I know that Ain is touching my hair and that’s fun in its own way. Just as I heard a short yet song-like chanting, warm air blew against my hair.

The warm air, which feels just a bit hot, dries my hair. And although I say that, it’s not like it immediately dries my hair. While carefully moving the wind around, the blowing wind dries the places exposed to it.

According to Ain, this is because continuous exposure to the heat might damage the hair.

I wonder why Ain, who was formerly a man, is so knowledgeable about beauty care? Perhaps the fact that she’s from a different world has some connection to this.

I’ll try to ask when I have the opportunity. While I am curious about Ain’s past, it’s much more important to enjoy the situation of Ain drying my hair. The sensation of Ain’s hand combing through my hair and then the occasionally massage-like rub to my scalp. They just sap the strength away from my body. It also relieves the exhaustion of my preoccupied brain, all the small things don’t feel like they matter anymore. I don’t know how many times I’ve already thought this today, but I want to stay like this forever.

And when I close my eyes, I can clearly tell where Ain’s hands are.

◇

「Finished.」

Though I wanted this time to continue forever, time always flies so fast. After all, the day is already nearing its end. I honestly want to go back to this morning and redo the whole day. However, I also want us to be able to prepare Ain a body by ourselves soon.

Still, I’d be forgiven for conveying my dismay about the day coming to an end, wouldn’t I? Although, I’m not sure who would be the one forgiving me.

「Done already? Too bad.」
「I can’t keep on drying it forever, after all.」
「Yeah. Thank you, Ain. It felt really good.」
「I’m glad to hear that.」

Saying so, Ain held her hand out in front of me. What is this hand for? I thought at first, but as I tried holding her hand, Ain helped me up. This sort of thing is… nice, somehow. As I thought that, we left to have dinner.

◇

After dinner, we returned to our assigned room. All that’s left for today is to sleep. What a fulfilling day it was today. How much I don’t want this day to end. Fii arranged it so that we could be together until the end of this day. I’ll have to thank her later.

「The day’s going to end soon, isn’t it…」

My sadness slipped through my lips. I mean, I do feel satisfied but it’s not nearly enough. Ain and I have been able to communicate for roughly 7 years, right? And yet we had just a single day, this doesn’t make up for it at all. Still, if I show this selfishness of mine, I’ll only trouble Ain. Keep it in, we just have become a god as fast as we can.

I’m sure that god also made it one day with this intention as well, right? That I yearn for the return of this one day and plunge through the path to godhood.

「We still have a little time, so we can do what you want to do, you know?」
「Let me think… I wonder how Ain’s body is right now.」

Since Ain answered my muttering, I frankly asked her a topic I was curious about. While Ain might get a body through some method after becoming a god, if she’ll need to make the body by herself, it might take time even after Ain becomes a god. Though, for some reason, I do think Ain might be able to do it easily.

Still, it shouldn’t be any problem if I ponder about it too. I really wonder how it is. It shouldn’t be any problem if I touch Ain. Pinching Ain’s soft upper arm feels good, after all.

And while I am pinching, I’m paying close attention to not hurt Ain, you know?

「I suppose it’s like divine power is coating my soul. Because of that, this body doesn’t seem to need any actual food sustenance.」
「Divine power… does that mean if I become a god, I’ll be able to make Ain’s body?」
「I believe so, but I can’t say for sure.」
「I see, so that’s how it is.」

In that case, maybe it would be good to figure out other ways?

I started thinking about it while kneading Ain’s hand. Then suddenly, Ain’s free hand reached out for my cheek. Ain’s touch made me feel so happy, I overlapped my free hand over Ain’s hand.

I’m overflowing with happiness, I can’t help but show it on my face.

「You know, Ain, I’ve been always thinking to myself, is there a way to make Ain a body? And so, just seeing a possibility for us to be together like this, really makes me so happy, I feel like my heart is about to burst. It’s true, you know?」

Realizing that I actually haven’t told her about this, I conveyed my thoughts to Ain. Not satisfied with just telling her about it, I had Ain sit on the bed and embraced her head.

Being able to touch, being able to feel her like this, I once again feel great happiness.

I’m happy, so happy, it feels like my heart can’t take it anymore.

My goal of making Ain’s body which didn’t feel even achievable up until now, is now tinged with a realistic possibility. This fact makes me feel even more fired up. It took so long. So long. I don’t have any recollection of it, but I’m sure that I was reaching out for Ain since I was a newborn baby. And while it’s not like I distinctly thought about it, in these 12 years, I always wanted to actually touch Ain.

「It will take 10 years at most for our deification to stop us from aging. From there, it will likely take even more time for us to completely become gods.」
「That’s right, you said that before.」
「However, there is a way to hasten this.」
「Right, I somewhat realized that too. After all, the way Ain spoke hinted at it. Now, how can we make it happen?」
「By using a lot of divine power. Basically, just mixing some into the barrier should speed it up.」

Gently pushing me away, Ain started talking about the deification. Since Ain is talking about it properly like this, does this mean that Ain also wants to have her own body? In that case, I won’t hesitate-… is what I’d like to say but from how it sounds, it’ll be difficult for me to help out.

Relaying this to her, Ain talked about my growth. My growth will stop as I get eternal youth. I personally don’t mind it even if I stopped aging right now. As long as I can physically interact with Ain again.

Besides, Ain said it herself, that she wants to have physical contact with me.

「Ain, do you think that I’m no good as I am right now?」
「No. You’re cute as you are right now. You’ve been cute ever since.」
「In that case, I don’t mind it. I want to do my best to become a god as fast as possible.」

Ain suddenly called me cute, so my cheeks are burning up. Still, it’s not uncomfortable. Hearing Ain call me cute makes me really happy.

「After all, it’s what you want, Ain. I want to hurry and be able to freely interact with Ain too. With that being that case, there’s no reason to hesitate.」
「I understand. I’ll use divine energy as much as I can.」
「And besides, I don’t know how much a god can do, but the one Ain met could change her appearance freely, right? In that case, wouldn’t we at least be capable of changing our age?」
「Now that you mentioned it, that might be the case.」

It’s only a possibility but as long as this helps Ain speed up the deification without hesitating for my sake, it’s good enough. After that, we also talked about finding those monsters likely created by Rispelgia to speed up the deification but there’s still one last event left for today.

「With that decided, I’ll have Ain as a hug pillow today, I will!」

I’m enjoying the Ain hug pillow I couldn’t enjoy this morning.

◇

The human body is not fit to be a hug pillow. Firm in wanting to have Ain as my hug pillow, we lie down while I’m hugging her but the hand I have under Ain’s body always starts getting numb. While there are spaces under our necks, only one of us can make use of it. When we tried having both of us put an arm underneath each other, this time the way our arms crossed didn’t feel good.

「Things aren’t turning out as well as I imagined.」
「That’s true. After all, while you are light, Ciel, the weight of the body does remain an issue.」

Hmn… I racked my head. Still, talking to Ain during the continued trial and error is fun. Being able to touch bodies with Ain in a variety of positions is wonderful. And the laugh we have when our eyes suddenly meet, makes my heart pound.

Still, sleeping while embracing each other is actually a bit difficult. Also, when we’re hugging, I can’t see Ain’s face, which is a bit of a waste.

In the end, we concluded that sleeping while holding hands is the least taxing way for us to sleep.

We joined hands and faced each other. Without anything to talk about in particular, time passes without us doing anything. Still, Ain is undoubtedly right there in front of me. We’ve done a lot of things today but I feel that it’s the most important part of it all.

Our gazes intertwine and both of us break into a smile.

My heart feels warm. It feels so comforting.

However, this comfort is making me sleepy. If I fall asleep, today will end. To be together with Ain for as long as I can, I have to stay awake as long as possible. Blinking my eyes again and again, I tried my best to keep it up but it looks like I’m already near my limit.

「Say, Ain?」
「Yes, what is it?」

While I feel reluctant, I still asked Ain my last request for today.

「Would you sing for me? I want to hear Ain’s songs while feeling your presence right now.」
「Can I sit up? It’s difficult to sing lying down, you see.」
「Will you hold my hand?」
「Of course.」

It’s my own request but letting go of Ain’s hand makes me feel lonely. And Ain taking my left hand after sitting up on the bed made me happy. While tapping my shoulder, Ain started singing.

Matching her rhythm, she tap, tap, taps on my shoulder, making me sleepier with each tap. While hearing the most beautiful voice in the world, while holding my most precious person in the world, while being watched over by the person I trust the most in the world, I fell into a deep sleep.

Hiya~! After several updates, as well as a few twists and turns irl, our adorable Ciel POV interlude arc is now completed~!

As usual, it’s a bit difficult to find new things to talk about when in comes to a POV switch interlude. However, there are some notable small additions. My favourite being how it shows Ciel’s minor frustration about not being able to sleep while hugging Ain like a body pillow due to practical reasons, lol. And as usual, the Ciel interlude really adds more focus on the small things in life sort of stuff which, while already at focus at certain times, really works well here because you really feel how every little interaction counts. The casual smiles, the gentle gaze, the embarrassed eye shifts, all of this has weight because of just how long they’ve been together without Ain having a body or any way to interact with Ciel. And this will be their last time in a long while to interact like this as well.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay clean, stay safe, and have a nice day~!