Keep Teasing and You'll Pay
"…That's not fair. I want some too. Let's drink together."
Celine looked at me with her cheeks puffed just a little, then beat her tail and wings in a hard, displeased flutter. Is that a succubus, or a dog? Everything she did put her a lot closer to the dog.
In the end I lost to her pestering and picked the Yazakama bottle back up. I couldn't let her knock it back straight the way she had a moment ago, so I poured her a modest measure and warned her as I did.
"This time, don't throw it down all at once. Take the aroma in slowly, and actually taste it."
"Okay."
Celine took the glass, brought her nose close, and sniffed at it—then tilted her head as if she couldn't make anything of it.
"Hmm… All I'm getting is a strong smell. I can't really tell. When I dumped it in my mouth earlier, it was just sweet and good."
"We only just opened it, so the alcohol probably hit you all at once. Here, give it to me for a second."
For someone tasting whiskey for the first time, a delicate aroma still seemed like too much to ask of Celine. I took her glass and let a few drops of the bottled water I'd set aside fall into it. There was a name for the technique… I couldn't remember it. Anyway, they said it helped a beginner catch a little more of the whiskey's scent.
"All right. Smell it now. Should be better."
"…It changes that much from this?"
She still looked thoroughly unconvinced, but she stuck her nose back into the glass—and then her eyes went round, and her tail gave a soft sway.
"Huh? There really is a little water in it, but the scent got way stronger! And that sharp smell from before died down."
"Give the glass one gentle turn, then take a small sip and hold it in your mouth."
Teaching her one step at a time had a pleasure of its own. I was still a beginner myself, but sharing what little I knew felt surprisingly good.
Celine nodded, took a little of the whiskey into her mouth, and worked it around.
"I think it tastes a bit different…"
"Good, right?"
"Yeah! I think I like drinking it this way better."
Whether it was the magic that neutralized alcohol or not, she didn't seem to be getting drunk in the slightest—though she did look as if she was genuinely enjoying the aroma. Watching her, I poured a little more whiskey into the glass, and at just the right moment set a perfectly cooked piece of beef on the plate in front of her.
"Try this too. Beef cooks fast."
"So this is beef…"
At the sight of the meat her eyes sparkled, and she grabbed the chopsticks lying on the table. Even the way she held them was hopeless. She knew the method, but her grip was as clumsy as a first-timer's, and the meat slipped free with a soft drop.
"Ah… I dropped it."
"If you couldn't do it, you could've just said so."
I got up, rummaged through the kitchen drawer, rinsed an unused fork, and pressed it into her hand.
"Practice the chopsticks later, slowly. You know how to use a fork, right? Eat with whatever's easier."
"Yeah. We used these on our side too."
Celine took the fork, smiled brightly, stabbed the meat, and popped the whole piece into her mouth. Her cheeks puffed out as she chewed—and then the movement stopped dead.
"…!"
She glanced at the meat still searing on the grill, then clapped a hand over her mouth as if she couldn't believe it.
"I-it's delicious… The only thing this good I've ever had was your essence, that day."
"…Don't say weird things while we're eating."
The memory of that day flared up again at her words, and I felt my face heat. To change the subject, I cut a piece of well-cooked sirloin and held it out to her.
"Try this too?"
When I nodded, Celine flapped the wings at her back and, just as before, speared it with the fork and pushed it into her mouth.
"Th-this is really good too! The fat just melts in my mouth!"
"Glad you're enjoying it."
Having tasted the sirloin, she beat her wings and let her whole body show how happy she was.
I kept grilling for her, watching her light up with every bite, and when the length of beef large intestine had browned just right I picked up the scissors to cut it. Celine, both cheeks packed with meat, saw what I was about to do and asked through the mouthful.
"Is that delicious too?"
"The intestine? If it suits you, it's incredible. It's pretty fatty, though, so people either love it or hate it."
I'd tried it once after watching YouTubers eat the whole thing. Obviously it had just been greasy, and it hadn't tasted like much. How do people even eat that?
At my answer Celine swallowed hard and stared at the grilling intestine with pure greed in her eyes. Any second now she'd be drooling. Is this a succubus, or a pig?
"I want to try that too!"
"Swallow what's in your cheeks first, then talk. You'll choke."
At the scolding she started chewing and gulping the meat down as fast as she could. The desperate way she worked her cheeks made her look oddly like a hamster stuffed with sunflower seeds. Strangely cute.
…They say once a girl starts looking cute to you, it's already over.
I shook the thought off and flipped the meat.
Celine, having finally struggled through the last of it, seemed to have something caught in her throat and snatched up the whiskey glass beside me.
"Hey—!"
Gulp.
"Haa… Yeah. Drinking it all at once really is better."
"…You're probably the only person alive who'd knock back something that precious like it was water."
I clicked my tongue as I muttered it, but Celine wiped her mouth and proudly held her empty plate out to me.
"I'm done now! I can have the intestine!"
"Want me to cut it into bite-size pieces?"
"No! Don't cut it—I want to try it whole!"
Had she secretly watched some eating show on YouTube while I wasn't looking? She knew about eating it whole. Picturing her about to hit that same bewildering moment—a mouth suddenly flooded with hot fat—I smiled and set one whole length on her plate. Right. Nothing teaches like going through it yourself.
"All right. It's really hot, so be careful."
"Thanks!"
Celine stabbed the whole intestine with her fork, blew on it to cool the heat, then opened wide and bit down. The well-cooked casing split, and the hot fat trapped inside sprayed out in every direction.
"Ngh…!"
She flinched and jerked back, but the fat had already splattered across her chest. It glistened there and ran down in slow trails.
"Ah… It all splashed."
Troubled, Celine looked down at her own chest.
…Why did it have to land there.
My eyes followed hers, and at the sight of the oil sliding down over her chest my face burned all at once.
"W-wait. I'll get tissues."
I shot up from my seat and glanced around for the box. Why was it that the one thing you needed most was the one you couldn't find?
"Mm… It's not that hot, though."
"Yeah? That's a relief… What are you doing."
I turned at her words just in time to see Celine wipe the oil running down her chest with a finger—and then bring that finger to her lips and suck it clean.
"Mm… It's really savory, though."
"…Don't eat it. Just wipe it off."
I pulled out a tissue to hand her, but she made no move to take it. Instead she leaned her chest toward me and swayed her tail, all coy.
"You wipe it."
"What?"
This was getting out of hand. The teasing kept escalating.
"Why? Are you such a bad husband you won't even wipe your wife's chest?"
She must have seen me blush earlier. She pushed that oil-slick chest closer still and brushed my thigh with her tail.
…Just you wait three months.
"…Quit playing around and take it."
"It's really hard to wipe by myself~ Do it for me."
She paid no mind to how firm I was being and thrust her chest even closer. She came at me almost as if she meant to climb over the table, and my eyes kept drifting to the way her chest swayed with her. I felt my face flush hot and let out a sigh tangled with irritation and everything else.
"…Fine. I'll do it. Hold still."
"Mm♥"
At the little hum she gave while looking at me, I forced my trembling hand still, bunched the tissue, and gripped it. Carefully, I started pressing at the oil spatters across her chest, dabbing them away.
"Nn…"
Every time my hand touched her, Celine let out a strange little hum and twisted.
I'd just about wiped the oil off and was about to pull away when she parted the valley of her chest, as if it were a shame to stop, and whispered.
"What do I do? I think some of it ran down in here, too…"
A blatant invitation. The intent couldn't have been clearer.
…Give her an inch and she takes the whole road.
I hesitated for a moment—then decided I wasn't going to dodge the provocation. I pushed the hand holding the bunched tissue straight into the space she'd opened between her breasts.
"Ah…!"
Soft skin met my hand, and a warmth a little hotter there than anywhere else made me freeze for an instant. I forced myself to act like it was nothing and wiped between them anyway.
…Die like this and they'd be picking relics out of the ashes.
"That's enough. Now eat."
When I drew back, pretending nothing had happened, Celine's face was red. She licked her lips and stuck her tongue out, plainly disappointed.
"Tch… What a shame."
"You tease me one more time."
I bent, caught her by one thin shoulder, and pulled her in. In an instant her eyes were locked straight on mine, and her pupils shook without mercy. I brought my lips right up to her ear and whispered, low.
At the warning, Celine's face flushed red in a heartbeat. She wrenched herself out of my arms and scrambled back.
"…Wh-what are you saying."
