Hunter's Infiltration Operation (2)
Hunter's Infiltration Operation (2)
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"Seriously, shouldn't you pick a better time and place? What are you going to do if we get caught?"
Yuri said that, but she was smiling and tickling me with the tips of her toes. With Rebecca right there watching! Aren't you the one who couldn't tell time and place? Why're you being so shameless all of a sudden!
"Hey, we're not even alone right now. What are you doing?!"
"What's wrong with her seeing a little?"
Yuri said that, shot a sidelong glance at Rebecca, then... her body went rigid.
"...Why is that woman wearing your clothes?"
Oh, shit.
Her voice was dripping with ice. There wasn't a trace of her earlier excitement to be found anymore.
This was one of those moments. The kind of vibe you get when your girlfriend finds a strand of long hair in your studio apartment for the first time.
"Uh... um..."
Where was I even supposed to begin? Rebecca's clothes had been torn, and the reason they had been torn was that we had been using Recovery Sex, and then they just...
Yeah. It would've been nice if that was the end of it. But after that, I kept going, making up the flimsiest excuses about fixing her attitude or whatever!
My conscience stung. It stung like hell.
"...You did it, didn't you?"
"Huh... wha...?"
Did she just read my mind?
"...No wonder you two seemed so much chummier than when you left... in that time... my god, how could you, with a woman like her..."
A woman like her, huh.
Come to think of it, Yuri was especially hostile toward Rebecca. She'd even gotten angry on my behalf when I was being insulted. I kind of understood the feeling. After all, when Rebecca had given me that pathetic look earlier, I'd inadvertently defended her myself.
"Ha... when you left, you said you'd only do what was strictly necessary... then you came all the way out here and... went so far as to give her your clothes..."
Yuri muttered that before her eyes flashed.
"Are you fine with any woman at all? You really did it?"
"Any woman? Hey, that's a little..."
"I did it."
Cutting me off, Rebecca stepped forward. W-wait, this girl better not start spouting that ridiculous stuff about being a sex slave or whatever.
"You actually did it?!"
At Yuri's horror, Rebecca replied without a twitch of expression, perfectly composed.
"I did it only because the matter required it. Yoo-jin sustained an injury during combat. In order to recover..."
"What? You got hurt?!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"W-Where? Where are you hurt?"
Yuri frantically began feeling over my body.
"It's too dark, I can't see..."
"I'm all healed up now. Let's just head back first."
"Okay..."
With that, we left the mansion. Getting out itself was easy. Rebecca remembered the exact places to hide like a veteran stealth-game player. She was in a completely different league from me, who relied entirely on the minimap.
Anyway, Rebecca had said exactly what was needed at exactly the right time, then stopped. If she'd revealed everything that happened in there, all hell would have broken loose. Had she finally developed some tact? She should have done that from the start.
Though, to be fair, as long as it didn't involve her elven mistresses, she'd always been remarkably composed about everything else. Her face was rigid, but her actions were surprisingly kind.
"Hey. Hold on."
Once we'd put some distance between us and the mansion, Yuri suddenly tugged me back.
"Hm?"
"Combat? What exactly happened? Why would there be a fight? And you even got hurt—I thought you said it was no big deal?"
Yuri rattled off the questions in rapid succession.
"I'll tell you everything once we're back."
"See, look at you putting it off again. You always say that, and then you never explain things properly..."
"No, I just need to get my thoughts straight. I'm a little tired, too. Later."
"..."
At that, Yuri lowered her head a fraction and stepped one pace back.
"Hey..."
We walked in silence for a while, then Yuri abruptly tugged at the hem of my clothes.
"Hm?"
"Sorry about before. I got angry for no reason... I had no idea about any of that... I didn't know what had happened..."
"..."
Huh... she had backed down first. That was unusual. I had only said that because my thoughts were genuinely tangled... Had I sounded cold? Did she think I was angry?
Even as she spoke, Yuri kept staring at the ground, looking incredibly pitiable. Urgh. But still, she was worried enough about me to sneak in herself. I felt like a real bastard.
"...Hm?"
I slowed my pace and casually linked arms with Yuri. I wasn't particularly mad. Though I'd been a little freaked out.
Yuri's face brightened a little, and to change the mood, I asked her something I'd been curious about for a while.
"Um, by the way... how should I put this?"
"Call what?"
"Uhhh... you, uh... that outfit you're wearing right now, I think it's the first time I've seen it."
"...Does it look weird?"
"No, I think it really suits you..."
Yuri's expression flickered with fleeting delight at my words before she quickly smoothed it over as if nothing had happened.
"Why? Think you might fall for me all over again?"
With that, she straightened her back, and as if showing off, click-clacked in some kind of model walk. Look at her go again, when just a little while ago she was clomping around in new boots and stumbling!
"..."
When I was too dumbfounded to answer, she repeatedly poked me in the side, as if demanding that I hurry up and give her the answer she wanted.
A pointless rebellious urge rose up. I knew it was childish, but I really couldn't help it!
"What about your shoes, how are those?"
"What about my shoes?"
"No, I mean, you almost tripped and fell walking like that before, and—agh!"
"Ah! Come on! Could you just give me a compliment for once?!"
Yuri pinched my side and snapped at me. Still, the way she kept our arms firmly linked, she didn't seem to want to let go. But still, this girl...
"Hey... were you really locked up for a whole day? You look awfully energetic."
"Huh? Oh..."
Yuri answered my question a little sheepishly.
"...I didn't exactly mean exactly one day. More like, roughly that long..."
"..."
So it was a lie. All that pretending to be tired earlier was just a show, too. Right. Now that I thought about it, the mansion had been unusually chaotic at one point! Because this girl had riled things up for no reason...
"You don't mean... you got caught wandering around?"
"N-No, I didn’t get caught! I doubt anyone saw me... right?"
...Well, if she had been caught, we wouldn't have been strolling home and flirting like this. Yuri nevertheless rambled on in her own defense, as though she had to justify herself.
"You have no idea how hard I tried not to be seen. Dodging people, climbing walls, hugging the ceiling... I thought I was gonna die from the strain. Thought my heart was gonna explode, for real."
Yuri griped like that, but I was just floored by this girl's nerves of steel.
"For all that, you slept like a log. You even snored. I wanted to let you hear yourself snoring."
"...What?!"
I snored?! Yuri stopped dead in her tracks as if she'd been struck.
"I-I know I've got some bad sleeping habits, but I actually snore?!"
Now she was even stammering. And her sleep-talking was far beyond merely having some bad habits.
"Do I normally... do that too...?"
"No..."
Was that really such a shock? Yuri's face had turned so red that I could tell even under the faint moonlight. Was she going to burst if I left her alone?
"You don't normally do that. I'd know. We've slept together plenty of times—s-sex, I mean... Anyway, you don't need to worry."
"R-Really?"
"Really."
Only then did she start walking again as if reassured. She walked without a word for a while, then spoke up again.
"Right. Now that I think about it..."
"Hm?"
Yuri opened her mouth, her voice oddly loud, like she wanted someone to overhear.
"I talk in my sleep a lot normally, right?"
"What about it?"
"But strangely, when I... when I sleep with you, I seem to sleep quietly. Why do you think that is?"
"..."
Before I could even answer, Yuri stole the initiative.
"Maybe our compatibility's really good?"
"Huh?"
"You know, that thing. Don't you know? They say that when your compatibility's really good, your bad habits disappear and stuff."
"Uh... r-right..."
'Where the hell did you hear that?!'
"Right?"
"Yeah..."
The reason you didn't talk in your sleep was that I had 「Dick In, Can't Move」 active!
Whether she didn't hear my silent scream or not, Yuri kept giggling to herself as she walked along.
Suddenly, I felt a strange gaze and looked back to see Rebecca with her eyes slightly narrowed, watching me.
Ugh... please don't look at me as if I were pathetic... please...
# # #
"Yoo-jin!!"
As soon as I opened the door to Ariel's mansion, Reni threw herself at me, her face haggard. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the dark circles under them had gotten so bad her face was a real mess.
Even though it hadn't been many days, it somehow felt like I was seeing her again after a very, very long time.
"Sorry. I'm a little late."
"Yoo-jin... haa... huu..."
I hugged Reni in my arms. Yuri's expression looked a little put out, but she backed off quietly nonetheless. Huh. For some reason, my heart felt incredibly warm and fuzzy...
"Hic... huu... haa..."
"...Reni? Are you okay?"
"Haa... haa..."
Reni's state was strange. No matter what I said, she didn't answer, just kept burying her face in my chest.
"Re...ni?"
"Hic... huu...."
R-Reni was trying to take my clothes off? Even Reni had never acted like this in front of other people! Did an Aphrodisiac Slime escape or something? To check, I opened up Reni's Status Window.
[Status Effect: 「Withdrawal Symptoms」]
[Status Effect: 「Separation Anxiety」]
Oh, shit.
What in the world is this.