Minding Other People's Business
How on earth did I end up like this?
An unfamiliar ceiling drifted into my field of vision.
It was the same sight I always woke up to whenever I lay down in bed, but something about the feel of it was different.
The house here was built to the exact same design and layout as my own — which was precisely why the difference stood out so sharply.
The fact that this wasn't my home played its part, too.
Instead of the familiar scent of my own house, a sweet fragrance pricked at the tip of my nose.
The cognitive filter in my brain kept reminding me that this space was an entirely separate place from my own home.
"Haaa..."
A quiet breath brushed against my cheek.
A calm, even breathing tickled the edge of my ear.
Soft presences that suited the stillness of late night touched against my skin.
"Haah..."
"Mm."
I turned my head.
Hair the color of a sky dyed blue. A beautiful face, as if someone had plucked the stars right out of the heavens.
Marin Light.
According to legend, she had once been the most brilliant star hanging in that night sky above.
The God King.
The creator of the world of Academy Yuri Princess.
He had broken off a fragment of a star and sent it down to earth. Onto that fragment he added warm life, a lonely selfhood, and intelligence, completing its existence.
Protect the children of mine who live upon this land.
By the will of her creator and of God himself, the star became the world's guardian.
She held back the incursions of the monsters lurking behind the veil of reality, carrying his will forward. At times she was venerated as a god by the people, reigning above them all.
But everything, in the end, has its end.
An eternity of ages. No matter how mighty a being may be, it wears down and wears away.
The transcendent existence, fighting an endless war alone, finally crumbled.
She tried to tear and shatter herself apart, to leave not even a single trace of her remains in this world. She rejected eternity, wishing only to reach the end that any living thing ought, in due course, to accept.
But fate flatly refused her desperate wish.
Please, help us.
We long to reclaim the era when the grace of the God King was abundant — to bring it back once more.
I chewed over what had been written in the setting compendium, recalling the lore behind Marin as a heroine — what her destiny was supposed to be.
Why am I suddenly rambling about all this, you ask?
Well, because I needed to pull my mind somewhere — anywhere — else, even for a moment.
This is really hard to endure.
Marin? A fragment of a star? A being from the age of myth?
I couldn't care less about any of that. The problem was that a gorgeous girl was asleep right beside me.
Utterly defenseless, right next to me, stimulating me with nothing but her breath!
Every time her breath touched me, goosebumps erupted across my skin as if I were having an allergic reaction. A stimulus that shot along my nerve clusters, through my spine, and drove deep into my brain.
Anyone who saw this would assume we were lovers — the situation practically spelled it out — and that combination was enough to drive a man insane.
This atmosphere, this mood setting the stage like some expertly arranged mise-en-scène, only made it harder to bear.
I want it.
My body had long since responded to the stimulation, standing at full attention. It was nagging at me — either take care of it myself right now, or devour the girl lying before my eyes, just pick one and deal with it.
Losing my mind over a woman simply sleeping beside me. Anyone watching would think my brain had been hijacked by my dick.
Then again, if she'd merely been sleeping next to me, I wouldn't be like this.
"Nnhaa..."
Talking in her sleep, apparently, she rolled over.
The distance between us shrank, bit by bit, as though she were pressing closer.
Shff.
And there, peeking through the gap in the covers, a plump, swelling pink nipple.
That cherry-blossom color, that sensual shape, flickered before my eyes.
Marin was currently naked. Completely bare.
If I just pulled this blanket away, I'd get a glimpse of her bare flesh — a body carved by a master sculptor who'd poured her very soul into the work.
And in that state, she was unconsciously rubbing herself against me. All the more natural precisely because it wasn't intentional.
That naturalness worked on me like an aphrodisiac, tugging at the last fraying threads of my reason.
No. Still, this is a bit much.
But in the end I exercised every ounce of patience and set my mind straight.
It helped that I'd kept one foot out the door earlier.
This lovely woman had, after all, helped relieve my urges with her hands and her mouth.
Suddenly, I remembered the time Marin had grabbed hold of me and stopped me in my tracks.
...
"Don't go."
"What is it?"
Marin had hooked her fingers into the hem of my pants.
I looked down to meet her gaze as she looked up at me.
"It's late. Nighttime."
"I know. That's why I'm heading home."
"Grandpa said. Dark out, dangerous."
"Do I look like someone who'd get jumped on the way home?"
"Yes."
Marin nodded at my words without a hint of hesitation.
"Solis, strong. Could pin down every student here. Except me."
"Glad you noticed. And yet you're still saying this?"
"But world, many strong ones. Compared to them, lacking."
Them.
The ones Marin referred to were probably that clan from Academy Yuri Princess. Broaden the scope, and you'd have dungeon monsters, masters of other worlds, and so on.
"Stay here. Then safe."
"If an enemy that strong shows up, wouldn't my house or this place be equally dangerous?"
"I'll protect you. I've done this a lot."
Weirdly convincing, that.
Knowing what I did about her past, I found myself nodding along before I could help it. My head bobbed in automatic agreement, entirely of its own volition.
"Alright, I'll sleep over."
A deal where I lost nothing. Worked for me — what kind of man would complain about sleeping over at a girl's place?
<Hold it riiiight there, STOOOOP!>
Well, aside from the woman who despises that exact idea babbling away beside me right now, things were going to work out just fine.
"Now what do you want?"
<What do you think?! You're about to say you're sleeping over at her house tonight, aren't you!>
"Why would that be a problem?"
<Because a strange man is planning to sleep at a woman's house! Pervert! Bottom-feeder! Just drop dead!>
Wow.
It's been a long, long time since I heard that one.
She usually only ever says it through the chat window, but hearing it directly from a person? How do I put this... it was hilariously cringe.
Deranged woman.
She's been alive since the dawn of creation — an age so vast even her ancestors couldn't hold a candle to it — and she's the one saying that? It gave me chills.
"The homeowner herself is grabbing onto me and telling me to stay. Am I really supposed to wrench her hand away and drag myself out of here?"
<This isn't right! You have a lover, remember? Yupi!>
"So what if I have a girlfriend?"
<That's exactly the point! A man with a girlfriend, sleeping at another woman's house — the very idea is broken, you unhinged reader!>
Ah, so that's what this is about.
Thinking about it with a normal head, yeah — spending the night at another woman's place while you've got a girlfriend would absolutely earn you a beatdown in the court of public opinion.
"Relax. Yupi-noona would totally understand me picking a few ripe pears from her garden, that's all."
Vvvmmm...
Ooh, now this one felt a little different.
After going on and on about how she couldn't directly influence this world, a spine-chilling wave of mana began to seep up out of the chat window.
Like a demon risen from hell itself reaching out to throttle my throat — a vicious, murderous pressure closed around me.
"Kidding, kidding. I'm not going to do anything except sleep here, so relax."
<Hmph!>
The moment I raised the white flag in surrender, the Writer withdrew her mana.
The power that had filled the air vanished in an instant, like dust swept away in a sudden gust.
<Fine. I'll trust you, dear reader.>
"Keep it together. Even if you can't, you can just sit there and surveil me, can't you?"
<Too tired for that — I burned through my mana. I'll be asleep for a while, so deal with things yourself.>
"How long are you planning to sleep?"
"Understood perfectly."
Ah. So that was the whole setup?
And yet she didn't bother telling me something that important. Writer, you've seriously disappointed this devoted reader of yours.
"Well then, bye-bye."
Click!
That little... hanging up on me without so much as a farewell.
Someone never learned her manners.
Unacceptable in Korea, the land of eastern courtesy and...
Oh, right — by age, she's the elder here, isn't she.
Considering she's of a generation that should have long since decomposed into dust and scattered across the earth, I suppose it falls to me, the junior, to be understanding.
"What are you doing?"
"Talking to myself. Do it often enough and it's surprisingly fun."
"..."
Marin, you little...
Why do you keep staring holes into me like that? It's unnerving.
"Weird."
"What's weird? First time seeing someone talk to themselves?"
"Not that. Saying self-talk is fun."
Hm, so that's what she meant.
Honestly, it isn't fun for me either. I just didn't have anything better to throw together as an excuse, so I babbled whatever came out.
Anyway — tonight I'm sleeping at Marin's place.
Under the pretext of tutoring her, I've entered a girl's home and I'm about to spend the night under the same covers.
Is this... a green light? Is that what this is?
Ero-games pull this exact kind of scenario all the time.
Bwoing!
Oh no — thinking about it made me pitch a tent without even noticing.
Proof of good health, sure, but this was a very inconvenient time for it.
"Solis. That thing."
"It's a perfectly natural reaction. Nothing to worry about, don't stress."
Marin's gaze had landed squarely on my lower half.
I covered it with my hands, desperately trying to defuse the situation. I knew it would subside on its own if I waited it out — that was the whole reason I tried to hide it.
Tug!
"Hm?"
She grabbed my pants and pulled them down.