Beside Me
It was a lively scene with two men facing each other over drinks in the room.
**Burrrrrk!**
Strange beastmen burst in, swinging open the door and filling our private room.
Two stunningly beautiful women, their skin heavily exposed.
Their mature, alluring appearances made me initially think they were hostesses, so I glanced at Senior Juno.
He was chatting casually with the women.
“Keeko, Rouge! You two are early!”
“Juno, you said you’d treat, so we rushed right over.”
“It’s been so long since we’ve been here. You said it was expensive, so you barely came.”
The three seemed quite close.
I shot Senior Juno a look that asked what the hell was going on.
He let out a hearty laugh.
“They’re my friends. I invited them to drink together. If it’s just guys, the mood gets too gloomy, right?”
He really was like that… not just blustering, but genuinely fun…
I nodded in amazement, a bit dazed.
“Everyone sit down. Ah! This is Dorn. My junior living in the same boarding house as me.”
“Hello.”
“You’re a new student at the Cradle?”
“We’re glad to meet you~”
Of the two, the one with black hair tied back and tall like Senior Olga sat beside me.
Her long bangs and one eye covered by a strand, her name was Rouge.
The moment the sexy, dark-skinned beauty sat next to me, a faint perfume wafted over, and at the same time, her long pointed ears caught my eye.
“Are your ears long and interesting?”
Rouge-san asked with a giggle as she sensed my gaze.
“Ah, sorry. I was careless…”
Feeling a bit awkward, I lowered my head to apologize.
She gently waved her hand.
“It’s fine. First time seeing dark elves, everyone stares at the ears.”
She was unbelievably beautiful… so she was a dark elf.
Rouge-san wore a dress with such high exposure that her deep-cleavaged, full breasts were almost revealed.
Even a slight turn of her head would flash those brown breasts, making it hard to find anywhere to look.
Noticing my troubled gaze, she flashed a mischievous smile and said,
“You can look however you want. I dressed like this because I wanted to show off my figure♡”
She was such a cool senpai.
As I sighed inwardly, she lifted a transparent glass and said,
“The glasses are empty?”
“Ah, I’ll fill them…”
I discreetly poured her a drink.
“But how did you end up drinking from morning with a guy like Juno?”
After downing her liquor, Rouge-san asked with sparkling green eyes like jewels.
“Actually, our junior…”
“Calm down, Juno. You have to hear this from the person themselves.”
Senior Juno tried to butt in, but Rouge-san raised her hand to cover his mouth.
“Ah, I’m a bit tipsy… sorry, junior.”
Juno-senpai laughed awkwardly and apologized.
I said it was fine, then slowly explained the situation to everyone in the room.
By the time the story ended, everyone was looking at me with pity.
Rouge-san especially had amazing empathy, far beyond some old senior who had snatched her plum earlier.
“If something like that happens, you have no choice but to find a drink…”
Rouge-san stroked my shoulder in comfort.
‘That’s it.’
Only with such sincere reactions would even the blabber talk to you.
“Honestly… I still don’t quite believe it.”
“Rejection is inevitable. Dorn, you said you liked her for a long time… it’s going to be rough for a while.”
“Still, if you just keep moaning alone, it’s worse, so let Juno cheer you up for now.”
Rouge-san told Senior Juno that.
To think she’d think so much of me, the first person she’d met today.
She was an incredibly kind and gentle senpai.
As Senior Juno had said, with women—especially beauties—at the table, the atmosphere was completely different.
As the drinks went around, I was already getting pleasantly tipsy, and the words I’d been holding back started to spill out.
“That guy… his face is so ridiculously handsome, I wished the other place was small…”
“You can only tell if it’s big or not by looking, right?”
Senior Juno put down his glass and tilted his head, but I said firmly,
“…It’s definitely big.”
Without that, such words couldn’t come out.
Thinking of Casher’s moans made my stomach churn again, so I silently downed my drink to suppress it.
Rouge-san watched me worriedly.
“Dorn, drink slowly.”
“What’s wrong? I’m happy to have a junior who can drink.”
“Especially with Juno. He’s a massive alcohol fiend.”
Rouge-san said as she placed a snack in my mouth.
“Ulp…”
“You can’t hold your drink, so eat a little.”
Watching a dark-elf beauty feed me snacks myself made me finally understand a bit of what Senior Juno meant about drinking with women.
Eventually, I drank until I passed out that night.
And not stopping there, the next day I followed Senior Juno to the tavern again.
Fortunately, he paid for all the drinks, but after three full days of drinking, it felt like alcohol was flowing through my veins instead of blood.
On the last day of the weekend, half-dead, it wasn’t until the next morning that I finally snapped out of it and headed back to the Cradle.
Stop.
I unconsciously stopped on the road.
Because I realized my feet were heading toward my childhood friend’s house.
“…….”
I had thought about many things over the past few days.
Among them was whether I could use Thought Encroachment to steal Casher from that guy Gail.
But in the end, I decided to sort out my feelings for her.
I didn’t feel right continuing to hold on like this.
‘Living close to her like before would be hard.’
“Hoo—”
I breathed out a long sigh filled with mixed emotions, then immediately turned toward the Cradle.
I arrived at the classroom a bit earlier than usual, and a familiar sight caught my eye.
Not just her face, but Nadia, with bandages wrapped all over her body, was sitting in the classroom since early morning.
Was she really without any close friends?
Her seat, which she often sat alone, was empty today as well.
Without hesitation, I headed there.
“Ah…!”
When I pulled out a chair and sat beside her, Nadia startled and turned her head.
Realizing it was me, her eyes widened.
“D-Dorn?”
“Hello, Nadia.”
“Ah, hello…”
As I smiled and greeted her, the part of her body revealed from the bandages flushed.
“Can I sit here?”
“…Yeah.”
A bright smile spread across Nadia’s face as she nodded.
***
Nadia and I sat at the long three-seater desk, talking in a voice only the two of us could hear.
“Are you okay with your body?”
I asked because I was worried about her condition after our first time days ago.
“Yeah, it’s fine… Dorn was that…”
I understood what she meant and nodded with a smile.
“It felt really good. Thanks to you.”
“…….”
Her ears flushed again, and she couldn’t meet my eyes, lowering her head deeply.
Our conversation flowed in that sweet atmosphere when someone approached.
Yuli, with her fluffy blonde twin-tails and straight bangs exposing her neat forehead, came over.
“No way, Dorn? Suddenly switched seats.”
The one who usually sat with me in class suddenly changing seats brought her.
“Starting today, I’m sitting with Nadia.”
“You’re abandoning me…?”
Yuli muttered with a disappointed look.
She grumbled that no one was teaching her anymore and called me a betrayer.
“Abandon what?”
She was overthinking it again.
“There’s an empty seat next to Nadia. Just sit there.”
“Really? That’s great! Hey, Nadia. Can I sit next to you?”
“…Yeah.”
Yuli begged, and Nadia nodded.
“Thank you!”
Yuli was the one who had allowed Nadia to sit next to me, but after she came, the quiet conversations we had with each other stopped, and Yuli became completely silent.
‘Her shyness is as strong as ever.’
They were different in personality anyway.
Bright and energetic Yuli and shy boss Nadia.
Their tension levels were too different.
“You two are in the same group for exams and became super close?”
Yuli asked me.
I turned to look at Nadia.
Nadia also happened to glance at me, and our eyes met.
“…….”
As expected of her shyness, she quickly averted her gaze, but I couldn’t hide my smile.
“Mo-ya? What are you two up to!”
Yuli made a fuss at that.
“You two aren’t—?!”
“Quiet down.”
Thwack!
“Ayeeee—!”
When I gave a firm forehead smack to Yuli’s neat forehead, she grabbed her head and groaned.
“…Hehe.”
Nadia laughed softly.
After that, dealing with Yuli’s persistent questioning, Morphe-sensei entered.
What I felt while taking classes with Nadia was that her learning ability was quite outstanding.
As the class went on, Yuli would ask me things she didn’t understand, but Nadia could explain most of it.
“Nadia, you’re really smart!”
Yuli was happy about having a teacher to explain things.
“Nadia.”
In the middle of class, I called her in a small voice.
“……?”
“Ah, can I try?”
“…Ah~”
I took a piece of dried meat from the pouch in my pocket and placed it in her slightly open mouth.
“Tastes good?”
“…Yeah.”
“Eat one more.”
“Ah~”
After feeding her another piece, she happily chewed with a smile.
I didn’t know why she was so cute.
At that moment, Yuli, who had been sitting next to Nadia, stared at me and said,
“What about me?”
“Here.”
As I casually reached out my arm to put the dried meat in Yuli’s mouth,
**Puff.**
“……?”
Nadia snatched the dried meat from my hand and held it out in front of Yuli.
Yuli stared blankly for a moment, then grinned.
“Ulp~♡”
“Hiiik…!”
Nadia let out a small scream.
Because Yuli had put the dried meat and her finger in her mouth and sucked it.
“Hehe!”
“Uuu…”
Yuli laughed mischievously, and Nadia looked at her finger covered in saliva and made a distressed face.
I pulled her hand and wiped it with my shirt hem.
“Sorry, it was a joke.”
Yuli apologized while laughing.
Then she whispered something in Nadia’s ear, making her face turn bright red instantly.
What was she saying?
I couldn’t understand because her voice was so small.
All I heard was Yuli’s last words.
“You have to be friendly with me too, okay?”
“…Yeah, I understand.”
“Ah, really…”
“You’re so cute I can’t handle it! Nadia, come here for a sec!”
“Eh—”
Nadia nodded with a red face as Yuli suddenly hugged her.
“I didn’t know you were this cute♡”
Yuli said happily that she was glad she had figured it out now, and started fondling Nadia’s body all over.
Both of them had ample chests compared to their frames, so four large fruits rubbed together, creating a voluptuous picture.
“H-hehe…”
Nadia looked awkward with skinship between female friends, but she didn’t seem to hate it.
‘Good that they’re getting along.’
I didn’t know what they had talked about earlier, but I hoped they would become close in the future.