201. A Talk with Ur.
201. A Talk with Ur.
So, Put another way,
"Your heart races every time you see her?"
"It's not quite that..."
It was just
that my heart often pounded hard...?
"You're startled by even the smallest bit of skinship?"
"Startled is a bit..."
I flinched
a little, bit by bit, but it wasn't that extreme...?
"But still, there are times you want to pounce on her?"
"............."
"...Don't people usually deny things like this?"
"I'm sorry..."
What I had done yesterday weighed too heavily on my mind for me to bring myself to deny it.
"Alright... Hmm, I see."
Ur looked at me as if gathering her thoughts for a moment.
A gaze that held something suspicious. An expression that said she didn't understand.
"...No. Honestly, I'm not sure."
Ultimately, Ur shook her head.
"The Chrono I know wasn't this much of a cute guy, you know?"
"...And do I look cute now?"
"Yeah. Quite a bit. So that actually makes it more suspicious."
"I don't know whether to like that or not."
Should I accept it gladly, since being called cute is a good thing in meaning?
Or should I take it badly, since in the end it was just a roundabout way of cutting me down?
"Now, now, come into my arms first. Hmm?"
"If you thought that me being embraced would soothe your mood, that's a huge misjudgment."
Mixing in a little joke, I nestled into Ur's arms.
A cozy and warm embrace. As I silently leaned my ear against her chest, the pounding heartbeat traveled along my eardrums and was delivered to me.
Dugeun dugeun
Dugeun dugeun
The beating of our hearts gradually synchronized.
My heart and Ur's heart beat at the same time, and just as our breaths became similar.
"First, let me tell you about the general case."
"Yeees...."
Ur spoke while continuing to stroke my head.
"In my view──our Chrono seems to have fallen in love!"
".........."
It was hard to say, no, that's not it.
Because I had felt the exact emotions I felt when I saw Mars or Ur.
But my boldness wasn't big enough to affirm that aloud.
And Ur, seeing me in that state, didn't take it badly and just hugged me tightly as if finding it cute.
"Even when you can't see her, you keep wanting to see her."
"Your eyes keep drifting to her, and you get startled by even small actions."
"The more you think, the more your heart races, and you get moved by trivial considerations."
"And if, following that, you even think about wanting to hold that person in your arms───no matter how you look at it, it can only be seen as 'love,' right?"
'...As I thought.'
Was it exactly as Ur said?
But, even so, no matter how much that might be.
"........Grrmm..."
"Hee... that tickles, you know!"
Ultimately, like a dog needing to be scratched, I buried my face between Ur's breasts.
A giggling laugh saying it tickled. Ur soon gently pushed my body away and continued speaking.
"However, that only applies to the 'general case.'"
"Our Chrono is far from the 'general' case no matter how you look at it, right?"
"....Is that so?"
I didn't think of myself as abnormal.
At my puzzled look, Ur sighed and asked.
"Where in the world would a normal boy date five, six girls at once?"
"Ugh...! That... that's true but...."
That was just the result of unavoidable things piling up, and piling up, and continually piling up.
It was safe to say there were no cases among those girls where my own will was involved, except for Ur and Mars.
"Is that really true?"
"..........."
...In fact, there might have been a little.
"Right? Because if you break it down, they're all, each and every one, beauties of the sort where maybe one is born in an era."
To begin with, was a case where apostles of the Main Gods appeared in such a large group even common?
At most, one might appear, maybe two, and usually there were none at all for the most part.
"But since you have those 'apostles' by your side, of course you can't help but have your eyes drawn to them even if you don't want to."
"...But I tried to keep them at a distance as much as possible?"
Because originally, for me, it was just Mars and Ur, only the two of them.
On top of that, even excluding those two, there were times I tried to keep my distance because I didn't want to get entangled with the Protagonist.
I had worried that if I got mixed up with the Protagonist, it might affect the main story.
Though coming to this point, all that had become dog shit now....
"Even though it would have been fine if you hadn't."
"Ur...."
She pressed my forehead, telling me I had done something pointless.
I had kept my loyalty in my own way, and to hear that called pointless.
And it was absurd because it actually sounded right, so I had nothing to say.
"Anyway, in my view, the current Chrono doesn't seem normal."
Because──Chrono was not a person who showed affection to women that easily.
"...From the listener's standpoint, that reasoning makes my feelings extremely ambiguous."
"But it's true, right?"
"It is true, but."
For some reason, I constantly felt like my inner heart was being seen through.
Ur, finding even that cute, caught and fondled my earlobe.
A fiddling touch. It felt bad to be treated like a child, and then it oddly became nice because it was comforting.
"So, which woman is it?"
"That is....."
Did I have to say it?
Did I absolutely have to say it?
No matter what, I hesitated because it was like brazenly declaring I was playing around right in front of Ur, but...
'...No.'
Rather, because it was this kind of situation, I had to move forward more honestly.
Hiding it needlessly would only make things worse.
"Hestia... it is."
"...Hestia..?"
At my answer, Ur's pupils wavered for a moment.
She seemed greatly flustered as if it was something she had completely not expected.
"...Was it that unexpected?"
"Ah... yeah. Honestly, yes."
Well, Because Hestia is the complete opposite of Chrono's type, right?
"What exactly is my type?"
"Mmm....."
First, since she has to accept a harem, she must have a broad heart
and she must not have had relations with other men
and she always gazes at Chrono but doesn't completely restrict him either
"A pretty woman.... right?"
"...Hestia is pretty too, you know."
"But her inner heart isn't pretty."
She liked going to clubs and playing,
outwardly she acted modest but inside she was hotter than anyone,
by word, she was a Virgin Goddess but had she not been in the body of a god, her anal sphincter might have ruptured long ago.
"No matter how I look at her, she's not a pretty person inside...."
".........That.."
That... was true, but.
But it wasn't always just like that.
"Surprisingly, if you look closely, she might not be?"
"What do you mean she might not be?"
"I mean.... she's the type to be thorough when it counts...?"
"Thorough when it counts? Come to think of it, there was a time she asked Hephaestus for a seated up-down piston masturbation dildo, but...."
"That's not what I mean."
For example, when it shifted to training.
It wasn't like the actions of a frivolous third-rate whore playing in a club, but literally a figure giving her all for training.
Or that to someone who passed the test once, she only approached with sincerity.
Or the part about rather drawing blood than forcing a relationship on each other.
"Surprisingly, she was incredibly diligent?"
".....Wait, Chrono. Wait... wait a minute?"
Ur cut off her words.
Ur carefully retraced what I had said earlier, then asked me.
"Is it... okay if I ask what situation you're currently in?"
"....Ahaha!"
Come to think of it, I hadn't told her about the 'regression'!
I immediately told Ur the story about the 'regression' and that I was engaging in training to sever that 'regression.'
"Regression... I had absolutely no idea."
"Hestia figured it out right away when I told her?"
"That's.... well...."
"....Ur?"
A look of puckering her lips.
As if struggling with something, Ur spoke to me.
"Actually, I'm in a state where I've lost my power as a god."
"What?"
"Ah, of course, I haven't completely lost it all, and? It's just that what I used to do as if it was second nature, I'm a little unable to do now, I should say...."
"....What do you mean?"
What was that suddenly about?
You came to the club and played the guitar before.
But suddenly 'you lost your power as a god'?
"To be precise, it's a 'seal'."
The cause was simple.
Before, when the incident between Minerva and the Athena Guild happened, the concert Ur had put on in a fit of anger.
Through it, she could make her will known to many people, but it was a matter of a god herself directly stepping forward and singing, not through an apostle or follower.
No matter how frustrating it was, it was a taboo act for a being called a god to directly influence the human world.
"Luckily, my older and younger sisters all understood, so it was a relief."
On top of that, the Main Gods also had their influence.
Anyway, since she had worked hard for a child who was wronged, they said her situation should be taken into consideration, or something like that.
"In fact, I even thought I might be outright repatriated, so it was fortunate everyone looked upon me kindly."
"Then.... there's no big problem, right?"
"At the very least, it's not a problem enough that I can't stay by your side."
"..........."
The number of people I had to repay after the regression ended had increased.
I immediately rose up from my body and reached my hand out to Ur.
"Please give me your blessing. I found out by experimenting with Hestia: if I project memories onto a blessing and then stop time within me during regression, I can recover the memories as they were."
The task was the same as with Hestia.
So I needed to receive her blessing right away.
"That is..... I'm sorry."
"........Ah!"
She said it was 'sealed'.
To the point where she couldn't even realize the regression, or that this world was fake.
Her power as a god was sealed, so she couldn't bestow a blessing either.
"...I'm sorry."
"It's not something Chrono should apologize for."
It was just, because I liked it, that's all.
Ur naturally pulled my body to her, embraced me, laid me down sideways, and climbed on top.
"For today, let's just play together with me?"
"............"
Ur looked down at me and smiled.
With her hand placed on my cheek, stroking me as if adoring a puppy.
"Come here."
"Kya... at...♡"
After a long time.
Truly after a very long time, I could enjoy myself without any thoughts.
As a side note.
"Did you know? They say people don't change easily, but gods change even less than that?"
"....?"
"So, that means Hestia also isn't the type to change in an instant like that."
"....Hmmmm.."
I wasn't quite sure.
It was to the degree of 'Ah, is that so,' just because Ur said it.
"If you really don't know, try adjusting the 'time' on your 'emotions.' If you completely stop the emotion of 'sexual desire' like that.... wouldn't you be able to know?"
"....Maybe I should."
Though I doubted anything would change just by doing that.
From what I saw, Hestia simply seemed to purely want to help me.
Still, just in case, I made sure to listen well to Ur's words.
"Ah, right, come to think of it, I didn't say the most important thing."
"Yes?"
What did she mean, important?
Ur slightly reached her hand downward and spoke.
"Chrono's diagnosis. The reason you suddenly became strange."
".............."
Her mouth was serious, but her hand was in a lascivious situation.
Soon she squeezed her hand tight and declared firmly toward me.
"That, it's 'sexual frustration'."
"Huh?"
"On top of that, you're lonely too, and tired too, you see?"
"........."
Not love?
"Originally, a man and a woman stranded in the wilderness are bound to love each other even if they're enemies?"
Because people placed in extreme situations inevitably need something to lean on.