199. A cute kid.
199. A cute kid.
23rd loop.
I had the phone number memorized by now, so there was no need to look at the memo pad.
"Heu~~~aam.... eou."
I had to get out fast and train again.
I threw on some clothes and entered the promised cafe.
Thus, I waited for 10 minutes while sipping coffee. The door across the way opened, and two familiar figures cast their shadows.
"Hello...?"
Theia, looking a bit gaunt, and
"...Stay back for a moment, Mom."
Hestia, who was wary of me.
After that, as everyone knew, I would dispel Hestia's suspicions, return her memories,
and send Theia home.
Hestia and I would then go to the training grounds to train...
"...Theia?"
"........."
...That was the schedule up until now.
But Theia did not get up from her seat; instead, she clasped her hands together and held onto her coffee cup tightly.
Her lips parted and closed repeatedly, a look of conflict on her face.
It seemed like she had something she wanted to say.
"You can... go, right...?"
"Yes?"
A single sentence, spoken after much hesitation.
"Back... to the original place...."
Her voice, slightly tired,
was a little lower than before.
"Finish the regressions... and go back, you can... do that, right...?"
"...I will do my absolute best."
That was the only thing I could say in response.
***********************
"Now, now, you're wiggling your big toe again! How do you plan to grasp 'Time' like that if your hands and feet are tied up later? Another 10 laps!"
"Ack....!"
"Your voice is getting lower!"
"ACK!!!"
I ran.
I crawled.
I rolled around and fell flat on my face.
It was a crazed, relentless berating that almost reminded me of the military.
"Stop. What time is it, down to the hour, minute, and second?"
"It's 11:17:32!"
"Wrong! I told you to answer with a shout!"
"............"
Wait, was it actually just the military?
No matter how I looked at it, the sheer irrationality meant it really was the military.
Ultimately, I rolled around as much as I could until 12 o'clock came and the training finally stopped.
And to think this was still just the morning training; it was dizzying.
I thought I'd get used to it over time.
Maybe it was because time kept resetting.
Each time felt new, and each time was excruciating.
"Heueo..... eooeoeo....."
I sprawled out on the ground and exhaled.
As I cooled off my sweat under the shade of a tree and caught my breath, Hestia, who had taken off her military cap, approached me carrying a bundle and sat down beside me.
"It's really tough, isn't it?"
"It's fine."
"You can speak informally to me now, you know?"
"....It's fine."
How should I put it, maybe it felt like it wasn't over until it was over.
I somehow crawled backward and leaned my back against the base of a tree. Hestia carefully stroked my head.
"Cheer up. Our Hero will definitely be able to do it."
"........"
Thump....! Thuthump....!
The beating of my heart grew subtly stronger.
So, why was it like this? Ever since my heart pounded that one time before, it kept starting to race like this whenever Hestia touched me.
An unnatural, an extremely unnatural pulse.
But a feeling that was somehow not unfamiliar, as if I definitely knew it.
No way....
The heartbeat I felt back then
when I saw Ur,
and when I was with Mars.
"Nah, no way."
I denied the answer that surfaced in my head and erased it.
No matter what, that was out of the question. Even if it were so, it should never happen.
Even though Ur said a harem was fine,
and Mars also said to do as I pleased under the assumption I wouldn't forget her,
Yuno was ambiguous, Minerva declared she was satisfied as a dog, and when it came to Mai, her stance was 'handle your own business.'
"....???"
Did it seem like everyone was tolerating a harem?
No, no matter what, that was out of the question.
As a man, one must have loyalty.
Up until now, such things always happened because 'inevitable circumstances' piled up, but the current situation wasn't really like that, was it?
If it was loyalty I could keep, then my duty was to do my best to keep it.
That was also my respect towards them.
Even if the result of that respect is this shitty, which is a pain in the ass.
Still... wouldn't it be better than nothing?
Because there was a difference between having even a single sheet of paper and having none at all.
Mm-hm. Anyway, that was how it was.
"Get a grip, Chrono."
A vow I made to myself.
"All of a sudden? Hero, are you feeling sick somewhere?"
"..........."
But now, it wasn't like that.
I covered my face with one hand, wordlessly.
"Hero?"
".........."
"Hero? Yooo~~~ng~~~ heeeroooo~~~?"
".................."
It was a bit,
no, very embarrassing.
...
..
.
Around that time, in Hestia's case.
"Hey, Hero. What was that thing you just did?"
"...You're noisy."
It was fun.
"I'm not noisy, though? I'm speaking super softly and quietly."
"....Grrrrrk...!"
It was thrilling.
"Hero... by any chance, do you have eighth-grade syndrome or something...?"
"Grr... ooohhhh...!"
He was always new, always fresh.
What to do?
It was more fun than she had imagined.
It's too... so much fun...!
It was more addictive than she had imagined.
Just poking him slightly from the side made Chrono flinch and react.
In the past, she had a 'Restriction' and could only enjoy entertainment by being in a position where she was always on the receiving end, so this was practically the first time she had ever approached someone and tried doing something to them.
The act of directly approaching someone.
And the flustered reaction of the other person because of it.
Just from living as the 'proactive me' that she hadn't been able to be until now, beyond merely struggling to lose her virginity, Hestia's heart began to beat without rest.
It was enjoyable,
and happy,
and she wished this time could last forever, so
"I brought lunchboxes! Let's eat together!"
"Ah... thank you....."
She settled down next to the slightly exhausted Chrono and opened a convenience store lunchbox to eat.
That characteristic taste of cheap artificial seasoning. But since they were eating it covered in sweat, the flavor was exceptional.
"Ah....!"
"Hm?"
Chrono dropped his chopsticks in the middle of eating his lunchbox.
He soon picked them up again as if it was nothing, dusted them off, and tried to finish his meal, but the hand holding the chopsticks was trembling unsteadily.
Could it be...
Maybe his strength had drained a bit from the training.
It started as a simple suspicion, but...
─Plop.
"Ah... seriously."
".........."
When he clumsily tried to pick up a meatball and dropped it onto his clothes before eating it with his hand, that suspicion solidified into certainty.
"Hero, give me your lunchbox. No, hand it over."
"Huh? Eh?"
Hestia arbitrarily snatched the lunchbox.
Then, she picked up the chopsticks, grabbed a meatball, and brought it to Chrono's mouth.
"Ah~ahng."
"....I can eat by myself."
"You know it's more of a loss if you can't train properly because you didn't eat right, right?"
"Still, it's not so bad that I can't eat...."
"Shall I get mad?"
".....Ah... aahm."
She pushed the chopsticks in between his lips as they hesitantly parted.
The feel of the chopsticks catching on his teeth. His mouth chewed, having snatched away only the meatball.
"....Mmrrgh."
Chrono's face reddened, perhaps from the shame of being fed by someone else.
Even though he squirmed in discomfort, he chewed his food thoroughly, and when she fed him again, he even accepted it.
Cute.
If she had a child, she wondered if it would feel like this.
She was even feeling a maternal love that a Virgin Goddess shouldn't be feeling.
"Now then... let's wrap up the meal around here."
However, one thing was one thing, and another was another.
As she herself bore the title of 'Main God,' she possessed enough rationality to distinguish between public and private matters.
"Hero."
Teasing Chrono was enjoyable.
But this was purely a private matter.
Hestia went for her goal,
for her public duty,
toward none other than,
"Your break is enough now, isn't it?"
Yes.
"I will now resume the training."
the goal of losing her virginity.
*****************
Around 10 p.m.
After the training ended,
"Kollok! Keub.... Kellok!..... Eou...."
Chrono was staggering and coughing repeatedly, seemingly exhausted.
Hestia took off her military cap again and approached Chrono.
"Are you okay...?"
"............"
When she brought her hand to his face, he accepted it without resistance.
Chrono, who had so detested it in the first loop, now accepted her touch like a gentle sheep.
"......Kkuk..."
No, to be precise, he was slightly refusing.
But it was merely a resistance born of 'embarrassment,' not because he truly disliked it.
"Huhu...."
Therefore, it was cute.
She was starting to perceive him as cute.
She began to slowly see the Hero, whom she had initially regarded as a simple object of 'entertainment,' as a 'boy.'
A cute and small child.
A child who worked hard and struggled to move forward.
And this difference in 'perception' soon began to influence even her actions.
"How cute... our Hero is...."
".......?"
She didn't stop at simply stroking his head;
she drew closer. She drew closer to Chrono.
And so,
"───Chu!"
"......?"
A light kiss on the cheek.
Like a display of affection one gives upon seeing a cute child.
A peck slightly different in nature from sexual desire, filled only with goodwill.
"....Uh..."
It wasn't a deep kiss with intertwined tongues,
nor a kiss where their lips met.
"Eu....."
A kiss on the cheek.
That was all it was.
"....Hero?"
"Eueueueueu?!!"
Thump.......!
Thump...! Thump...!
"All of a sudden your face is red──Oh my?"
"Euaaaaaaaah?!!"
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump
He shot up from his spot.
He ran. He ran for home.
".....How cute."
His figure running away helter-skelter from behind.
Hestia quietly gazed at that sight and smiled.
"Such a... cute child..."
Dugun.... dugun....
The increasingly rapid shallow pounding of her heart.
Perhaps this was the 'love' she had only ever dreamed of and imagined.
As a side note.
"................"
Chrono literally threw himself into the training.
He followed Hestia's words and rolled around until his whole body was covered in sand and dust.
He dripped sweat,
often nearly collapsed on the ground,
and sometimes even dry-heaved.
Despite that, he kept trying. He got back up again. He moved forward and did not stop.
Put another way,
"So it... wasn't a lie."
It wasn't a lie.
The words 'I'll destroy the regression,' and 'I'll try my best'... they weren't lies.
"............"
Why. How come.
She almost wished it had been a lie.
If he had truly simply created this world for 'that purpose'
and bound her solely to commit 'those acts,'
then she would have been able to endure it, even if she had to purely hate him for it....
"....No."
This, these thoughts weren't right.
In the first place, Chrono said he hadn't predicted this situation either.
Everyone was a victim in this situation.
"..............."
Theia stopped her walking feet.
She slowly looked up at the sky.
A full moon.
The unchanging, round full moon shone emptily over the sky.