The boy nearly reaches the bottom of the stairs while still humming a joyful tune. He resists the urge to do a forward roll jump to clear the last few steps and making a landing he had seen some athletes execute on the field, you know, with both arms outstretched. But the boy feels he would look silly with his broken right arm still in a sling, which is why he refrains himself from doing so and proceed to enter the living room normally.

The boy walks pass the dining table. Rolfe has laid out all sorts of food there, and she is still in the kitchen, preparing more stuff. The boy debates on whether he should walk up to the entity and kiss her cheeks from behind in order to show his gratitude.

He chooses to play it safe and pulls up a bar stool and sits behind the kitchen counter instead.

“Morning Rolfe.”

“Morning sleepyhead. Did you have a good time last night?”

“Not quite. I didn’t manage to give the get-well card to Joze himself. Had to pass it to someone else.”

“That’s a shame. And you know that’s not what I was referring to.”

“I blame you by the way. If you hadn’t delayed me last night, I would have gotten there in time.”

“Delayed? Is that what you call what we were doing in the bathroom? And you’re still avoiding my question.”

“Well, we put those giant mirrors to good use, that’s for sure. Did you prepare all of these for little ol’ me? Thanks, I’m extremely touched.”

“Shut the fuck up. I didn’t make them for you. I’m just not used to cooking for two people. Anyway, spill it. Tell me all the juicy detail.”

“Ah, and here we have the elusive ‘tsundere’ in action, so rare to witness them nowadays in their natural habitat.”

“…”

“Tune in next week, where we’ll observe his unusual mating habit-ARGH STOP MY LEFT ARM DOES NOT BEND THAT WAY!”

“Serves you right, asshole…”

“Godsdamnit, Rolfe. Are you competing with Synnove to see who can break my body first?”

“See? Finally got you to say her name.”

“…”

“So tell me. Did she finish you off or bring you back to life?”

“A gentleman doesn't discuss such things. And weren’t you the one who told me no one likes a guy who kisses and tells?”

“Then just skip the boring parts like kissing or holding hands and go straight to the other good stuff.”

The boy sighs as he reaches into his trouser’s left pocket and takes out something. He places it onto the kitchen counter. It’s the birth control pill that Rolfe gave the boy last night.

*raises eyebrow “Kinky. Don’t tell me you guys had ana-“

“She proposed to me.”

“…”

“And she knows you’re a girl.”

“…”

“You know, I had that exact same expression on my face last night.”

“And you turned her down?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“My body and heart just wasn’t ready yet.”

“Cut the bullshit. Tell me the real reason.”

“Well, getting married to royalty is certainly one way to go about saving the world. Using my powers, it won’t be too hard to ensure the throne falls to me. But inheriting a kingdom is one thing, getting the other eight kingdoms to fall in line is a whole different ballpark. Whatever I have to do, I have to do it as an outsider, not as a ruler. You know as well as I do they’ll never take orders from another king… or accept a kingdom standing above all the rest. Sure, I can probably unite the whole nine kingdoms in the Grandiel Continent under one banner, but a lot of people will have to die first. Innocent people, and I have too much blood on my hand to let that happen again. Besides, a crown would have cramp my sty-“

“Stop.”

“…”

“Cut the bullshit. Now tell me the real reason.”

“One of her condition is that I will be her king and she my queen…”

“…”

“…and no one else.”

“Don’t tell me you turned her down because of something like that.”

“Not if it meant leaving your side.”

“…”

The entity stays silent for a while. The boy takes this time to survey the food the diligent student has made. They really do look delicious. The boy wonders when they will get to the eating part. He is getting extremely hungry and he didn’t even have any dinner last night. Speaking of which, the sandwiches and the cakes he made are still in the basket in the abandoned classroom… along with Synnove’s toys. He should probably clear that place and return the basket and the linen of cloth back to the pantry in the north kitchen before someone accidently stumbles upon-

*whispers “…fight your battles for you.” the sixth year student mutters something.

“Hmmm?”

“Don’t think this will make me fight your battles for you.”

“It’s okay. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I mean, I’m done trying to save the world.”

“You’ve paid your dues. And then some.”

“I’ll probably help out a little… every now and then…”

“And here we see the elusive ‘tsundere’ poking his head out of his burrow to check for predators-STOP MY RIGHT HAND HASN’T HEALED PROPERLY YET!” yells the boy as Rolfe suddenly walks out of the kitchen, twists his right arm (still broken and in a sling by the way) behind his back and slams the boy’s head (not too hard mind you, but not too soft either) onto the kitchen counter.

With his face on the counter, ears still ringing and vision dazed, the boy sees from the corner of his eyes the entity picking up something nearby and putting it in her mouth.

“Waste not, want not.” the diligent sixth year student smiles as she swallows the pill, a creation she made herself in her workshop.

“That’s not even the proper usage of that phrase!” yells the exasperated boy.

“How about ‘itadakimasu’?” as she leans over from behind and whispers to his ears.

“I don’t even know what that means!”

“I’ll show you in just a bit.”

“Can’t we at least eat first?”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“No, I mean actual food.”

“You want us to engage in some food play? Kinky…”

“I’m not sure exactly what that means but please treat the food you make with more respect!”

"Rub-a-dub-dub. Thanks for the grub."

“I am not your food!”

Before the entity could dig into her meal, the boy suddenly raises his left hand and puts his index finger to the sixth year student’s lips.

“Stop. We’re about to have a visitor.” says the boy after cocking his head to the side.

The entity freezes for a moment before sighing and dismounting from the boy.

“There’s always someone interrupting me just when I’m about to get to the good part.” murmurs the sixth year student as she shakes her head with dismay.

********************************************************************************************

Yeah yeah, I know. Tis a short chapter but I'm too tired from working to continue to do so. I'll try to crank out another chapter tomorrow.