What If I Said I Like You?
Regrita was completely thrown.
She had only gone south to provide support at the Red Legion Commander’s request. Just as she sometimes did, she had wiped out the monsters with wide-area magic and returned. It had been agonizing not seeing her teacher for three days, but she couldn’t remain at the Demon King’s castle simply because she wanted to stay by her side. Nor could she drag her teacher into a dangerous place. The only thing Regrita could do was fight with everything she had so she could return to her teacher that much sooner.
Perhaps that was why the monster extermination, originally scheduled to take three days, had finished in just two.
Regrita had raced back, heart soaring at the thought of seeing her teacher. She planned to wash up and pull her into her arms right away, but—
“Princess. While you were away, Melly’s condition wasn’t good. You should check on her immediately…”
Teacher’s condition wasn’t good?
At the head chef’s words, Regrita had sprinted straight to her teacher’s room.
Bang!
“Are you all right, Teacher?”
When she burst into the room, the first thing she saw was an adorable back of a head. The person she wanted to carry around in her pocket because she was just that cute. It was Melly, her teacher.
She had been worried after hearing the report, but seeing her calmly eating dinner put her mind at ease.
“Whew… I’m back, Teacher. Faster than you expected, right? I wiped out every last monster. Still, moving my body after so long has left me stiff. I should probably start exercising regularly…”
It was a face she hadn’t seen in so long. Only two days had passed, yet to Regrita it had felt like twenty years. She poured out everything she had been holding back.
Then Melly slowly turned around.
Her face was flushed bright red. Not just her face—her entire body was flushed. It was one of two things: either she was burning with such deep shame that her whole body had heated up, or she had simply drunk too much. The moment Regrita stepped closer, the sweet scent that washed over her confirmed which it was.
“…Teacher? Have you been drinking?”
She had overindulged. Regrita didn’t know why, but her teacher had drunk until she was completely intoxicated.
Had something difficult happened?
Worry rising, Regrita moved closer.
“Teacher, are you o—”
“Princess!!”
Melly came toddling over at full speed and collided with Regrita’s chest. She had charged straight at her bosom, but Regrita’s generous cushioning caused Melly’s head to bounce back slightly, allowing her to catch her safely in her arms.
“Huh…? Teacher?”
Regrita was bewildered. She didn’t understand why her teacher had suddenly hugged her, or why she had been drinking in the first place.
“I mishhed you, Princess…”
The moment she heard that slurred, lisping voice, all the fatigue that had built up during the mission melted away like snow. Was this compensation for the sudden dispatch? For a second Regrita actually wondered.
“D-did you just say you missed me, Teacher?”
She asked again, unable to believe her ears. She was so flustered she had even begun to stutter. Before leaving for the south, Melly had clearly been trying to keep her distance. Yet now she was rubbing her cheek against Regrita like a puppy greeting an owner who had irresponsibly abandoned her to go traveling.
Melly tightened her arms around Regrita’s waist.
“Why did you come back so laaate… How much, how much I missed you…”
She hadn’t misheard. Her teacher had definitely said she missed her.
“Ah… aah…”
Overcome with emotion, Regrita couldn’t even form proper words. She had never cried from happiness before, but right now she felt she could sob her heart out. Her throat tightened with rising tears.
“…I missed you too.”
Her voice was hoarse, but she managed to finish the sentence.
Finally. At last, her efforts were bearing fruit. She was so glad she hadn’t forced herself on her teacher from the beginning. So glad she hadn’t tried to sway her heart with money. Regrita hugged Melly tightly.
Thump. Thump.
She could feel her teacher’s small heartbeat and her warm breath.
“Huu…”
Her warm body temperature. Her soft skin. Everything felt perfect.
They stayed like that for a long time. What made Regrita happiest—to the point she thought she might die—was the occasional adorable sound Melly made.
“Don’t go… Don’t leave me behind again…”
She had skipped the meal the head chef prepared and rushed straight here, but hearing her teacher’s drunken, loose-tongued cuteness filled her with enough warmth that she felt she could go a week without eating.
She stroked Melly’s hair. Normally her teacher didn’t mind being petted, but this time she actively rubbed her head against Regrita’s hand.
“Mmm…”
A thrill ran down Regrita’s spine. She knew she shouldn’t think this way, but after showering her with love for the past week, it really felt like she had tamed her teacher. No, she shouldn’t think of her that way.
“More… more… pet me more…”
Melly burying her face in Regrita’s chest looked exactly like an affectionate puppy no matter how you sliced it. She wanted to carry her straight to bed and shower her with kisses.
Then she suddenly realized.
“Ah…”
She hadn’t washed yet. What if she smelled? Worse, what if the stench of monster blood clung to her sweet, fluffy, honey-scented teacher?
No. Absolutely not.
She used to think the only good monster was a dead one, but that wasn’t true. Monsters weren’t helpful even after death. Why did they have to smell so strongly of blood…!
Regrita completely forgot that she herself had charged into a horde of monsters and unleashed lightning magic everywhere. Instead she blamed the poor creatures she had personally sent to the afterlife.
“Teacher, wait just a moment. Can you wait for me? I’ll wash up quickly and come right back, so you can wait in bed and—”
She hated it. She wanted to hold her teacher forever. Swallowing her bloody tears, she gently pried Melly from her arms. She would wash as fast as possible and come back to embrace her again.
“Okaaay… hic… I… I can wait… I’ll wait as long as it takes, so hic… just don’t abandon me…”
Melly began shedding fat tears like chicken droppings and sank to the floor. It would have hurt less if she had clung to her and begged her not to go. The sight of Melly stubbornly holding her ground like a puppy who knew she was about to be abandoned made Regrita feel as if her heart were being ripped apart.
Melly didn’t wipe her streaming tears, as though she wanted to burn Regrita’s image into her eyes until the very last second. She didn’t even blink. They were only separating for the short time it took to wash up, yet both of them were acting like people facing an eternal farewell.
Still, Regrita told herself it must be because her teacher’s love for her had grown so deep. She took Melly’s small hand in hers.
“Teacher, where would I ever go if it meant abandoning you…? Shall we wash together, then?”
“Hic… yes…”
If Melly had been in her right mind she would have jumped up in a panic and refused. Sadly, one drink had robbed her of her senses long ago. Her mind was filled only with the desire to stay with Regrita, so the obvious fact that bathing together would mean seeing Regrita naked had been completely erased.
Regrita hadn’t expected her to agree to even this. The corners of her mouth threatened to reach all the way to noon as she took her teacher’s hand and led her into the bathroom.
At first Regrita had been purely delighted at the idea of bathing together. It meant they would wash each other’s backs. Which meant they would end up washing fronts as well. And while doing that they might “accidentally” touch each other’s most precious places. And once they had touched by accident, they could wash those precious places thoroughly for the sake of “cleanliness.”
Regrita had been grinning ear to ear at the thought of making rapid progress with her teacher, but—
“Hueee…”
She had forgotten. Her teacher was completely drunk. Of course she was—this was a teacher who was currently showing her student nothing but drunken aegyo without filtering a single word. There was no way she could wash herself properly.
So Regrita washed Melly’s body, brushed her teeth for her, and then left her soaking in the tub. It sounded a little strange when put into words, but in reality her teacher was simply limp and drooping in the bathtub like a teabag steeping in hot water.
“Did you wait long, Teacher?”
“Hehehe… Princess…”
Regrita finished washing herself and stepped into the tub where Melly waited. It was a shame they couldn’t wash each other’s backs, but simply seeing her teacher smile brightly at her was enough to make her so happy she could die.
“Haa…”
“Princess…”
The moment Regrita entered the water, Melly—who had been sprawled out as if asleep—wiggled over like a little worm and clung to her. Regrita had actually wanted to taste the bathwater that carried her teacher’s flavor, but Melly’s hug thankfully prevented that perverted impulse.
The warm bath. Her teacher’s even warmer body. Regrita melted into a puddle, to the point she thought it would be perfectly fine if her species suddenly changed from demon to slime.
“So, Teacher, why did you suddenly miss me so much?”
It was a little—actually, very—late to be asking, but Regrita finally inquired about the reason.
The answer she received was shocking.
“You seduced me first, Princess… then you left on your own… you were so good to me, even buying me that expensive game console… you touched my body however you wanted without permission…”
Her pronunciation was slurred and her voice was tiny, so Regrita couldn’t catch every word. But the gist was clear: since Regrita had seduced her first, she should take responsibility.
And of course—
“Yes, I’m sorry, Teacher. I was the one who seduced you first. I shouldn’t have left you alone… I was too irresponsible, wasn’t I? I’m sorry. From now on, I’ll take responsibility even if it kills me.”
Regrita, whose heart had been wide open from the moment she first saw her teacher, was more than ready to take responsibility.
Regretfully, they eventually left the bathroom together. She would have liked to keep warming the water and stay until morning, but Melly had grown dizzy from the overheated bath, so they had no choice but to get out.
Even so, Regrita was satisfied.
“Teacher, shall we sleep in each other’s arms tonight?”
“Yes… hold me tiiight…”
She had received explicit permission to sleep together. The knowledge that she no longer had to sneak into the bed every night filled Regrita with pure joy.
She lifted Melly and laid her on the bed. Even though she held her tightly, Melly still whined and tried to burrow even deeper into her embrace. To think that someone so childlike had been working so hard to act like an adult in front of her. The sight of Melly earnestly trying to fulfill her role as teacher was so lovable that Regrita couldn’t hold back.
Chu.
She kissed her not on the cheek or forehead, but directly on the lips.
“Heheee…”
The teacher who would normally have panicked simply closed her eyes and giggled. Regrita, who had been afraid Melly might hate it, gained courage and kissed her lips several more times.
Chu. Chu. Chuuu.
After their lips met again and again, she gradually began to feel heat rising somewhere inside her. Her lower belly tingled, but she had endured this long. She decided to put off exploring her teacher’s body just a little longer. She wanted their first time to happen after full, sober consent.
She already had a record of losing her reason and ravishing her teacher’s ears. So she vowed to wait until Melly had completely sobered up before they shared their first time, all while forcing her horns back down.
“Huu… You can do this, Regrita. Just get through tonight… It won’t be too late to hear a proper confession from Teacher first…”
She was concentrating harder than ever to keep from pouncing when—
Squeeze.
Melly wrapped her arms around her waist and looked up at her. Her face was still flushed, but much better than before—now it was only a soft pink. With slightly unfocused eyes, Melly gazed at Regrita and whispered the clearest words she had spoken all day.
“…Princess, what would you think if I said I like you?”
At the same time—
Pop.
Regrita’s large horns, which had been hidden, sprang out in full.