“What – what should we do? Shall we try shouting for them, my hero?” Nell asks Fenrir.

Fenrir looks around, but he fails to spot anybody. Not even Rock is with him! The only other one with him and Nell is Rod. When he tries looking for tracks, all he sees for a while of backtracking are his and Nell’s. “We must have been by ourselves for a while now,” Fenrir says.

“It was a rather long story, and I was so focused on listening to you that I was paying little attention to our surroundings. I do not believe that flying up to search for them would be of much use, for the canopy is too dense to see through from above.”

“Oh, yeah, you can fly a bit. I always forget about that since you never do it.”

“Because I would rather be using my legs! Or I would rather be in the water swimming with my tail. I have never been too large a fan of heights as well.”

“Hey, I have a question,” Fenrir says, his voice suddenly more serious than before.

“Y-yes, my hero?” Nell responds. She has no idea what he could possibly wish to ask with such a serious voice.

“Do you think any birds have ever been afraid of heights?”

Nell stares at him.

Fenrir stares back at her.

“I mean, think about it. If a human can have a phobia of cheese, why couldn’t a bird be afraid of heights? Do you think they’d just refuse to fly and instead walk or hop everywhere?” Fenrir asks.

“My – my hero… I am not sure how to answer such a question,” Nell says, her tone confused and eyebrows furled. “I would think that evolutionary instinct would prevent that from being an issue… but evolution does not always work out as it is meant to.”

“Yeah, like how people could be born with two heads.”

Nell sighs. As much as she may care for Fenrir, part of her was excited to be alone with him in this forest. Now, with his completely random question, her mind has been taken off of perverse fantasies and set onto the potentially-life-altering question of whether or not birds could be afraid of lights. Perhaps flightless birds might be? Such as penguins or ostriches?

“There’s something else I’m curious about which you might be able to appreciate,” Fenrir says.

“Yes, my hero?” Nell asks, her voice still confused and her mind worried about what else he may be about to bring up.

“So, Ull was basically a centaur. Does having sex with a centaur count as bestiality? I mean, in most hentai I’ve seen, the guys still have horse dicks and the girls have uhh, realistic horse anatomy as well. So, is it bestiality?”

Nell lights up. “Now, this is a question that I believe has some interesting answers regarding it! Legally, I believe that it would count as bestiality if centaurs truly existed, but personally, I would not consider them the same. Bestiality should refer to real animals incapable of clearly giving consent. With a centaur, the human half is just as intelligent as any human meaning that they would be more than capable of giving consent.”

“That’s fair. Here’s a question then: would it still be bestiality if a somebody is playing a dog or some other realistic animal? Technically, they would be able to consent since they are not real and are just controlled by a player.”

“At the very least, my hero, it would not be sodomy. It would likely still be considered bestiality, however.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Onii-chan, why are you asking your girlfriend weird questions?” Saya asks him.

“Hey, I get random questions every now and then, and she’s probably the best person to answer a question like that,” Fenrir thinks back at Saya.

“I don’t know how a girl should feel about her boyfriend thinking that she’s good for bestiality-related questions.”

“Well, what’s your opinion then?”

“You already know my opinion since it’s the same as yours.”

“Fair enough.”

“My hero, is there a… reason why you are asking me such questions?” Nell asks.

“Well, the bird thing was because you said you’re afraid of heights despite having wings, and the bestiality thing is just because I was wondering how sex works between Ull and his harem.”

“Ah, I see! I can answer that. Liz often told me about her sexual escapades with Ull, and if I recall correctly, she would often need to be leaning over something elevated such as a chair or table in order for that arrangement to work. Otherwise, she would have to be on top.”

“I think that might just be a little bit too much detail since now I can imagine him having sex, but I asked for it.”

“Such a shame. Here I thought you were probing me to see how I would react to your fantasy of ravishing me as a centaur or wolf!” Nell says with a playfully-disappointed sigh and the back of her hand against her forehead.

“See, and this is why I figured you’d be somebody good to ask those questions,” Fenrir explains, flicking her on the back of her head while she’s busy playing dramatic and disappointed.

Being flicked by him makes her feel far happier than she thought it would. He’s never flicked her before! He’s flicked the others when playing around with them, but it is the first time he has done anything like that to her. That is why she makes sure to keep her head turned away from him now so that she doesn’t see the wide smile spread across her face.

But, she still wants more.

Every touch of his just makes her crave him even more – it makes her crave his touch, his body, his heart, his feelings, his voice, his everything.

Nell places a single hand over her heart as if begging it to calm itself, but the rapid beating within her chest refuses to slow down. Her heart begs her body for more as much as she silently begs Fenrir for more.

“What’s wrong?” Fenrir asks her, leaning over and placing his face directly in front of her own.

“A-ah! It’s – it is nothing, my hero. Please do not concern yourself over my silly worries,” Nell explains.

“All you had to say was that you’ve got worries to make me concern myself about them. What’s wrong?”

“I – I told you, it is nothing,” Nell says, turning her head away.

“Alright. Then tell me you promise that it’s nothing.”

“I… cannot promise that, my hero.”

“If I have to guess… you’re feeling kind of left out?”

Nell turns her head and looks at him with bright cheeks and widened eyes. She has no idea how he was able to guess what’s been bothering her, and on the first try! “A-as expected from my hero. How could you tell?”

“I don’t think you notice how jealous you look sometimes. Sorry that I’ve been making you feel that way. I promise to try and make you feel more included more often, alright? I don’t want you to ever feel left out,” Fenrir says, taking her hands into his own.

As silly and boyish as he may be at times, as much as he may whine about getting crab guts in his hair and make feminine noises when lewdly bitten in surprise, he is still the same hero who fought for her freedom and knows how to be serious when it matters the most.

“Please, my hero, you are going to make me cry if you say such words,” Nell says with a smile.

“I’m trying to make you happy here, not sad,” Fenrir says.

“I know, my hero, and you are making me most happy.”

“Good. I want to keep you this way. Is there anything else you’ve got on your mind?”

“May I speak as a selfish girl without you hating me for it?”

“I’ll never hate you, Nell. Well, unless you cheat on me. Then I’ll hate you for a bit before pretending you don’t exist.”

Nell giggles. “Fair enough, my hero. Now, as for what has been bothering me… I will admit that I was expecting to have more of you to myself. I – I did not expect everybody else to be sharing the apartment together with us. Please do not get me wrong! I love spending time with all of you and I have absolutely no problems regarding them staying with us, but… I was looking forward to having some time with just the two of us. It feels as if we never get an opportunity to be alone, and there are so many interruptions. I was looking forward to playing the part of a new housewife taking care of my dear hero, flirting, playing around with one another, and so on, but I just feel that is impossible to do when around everybody.”

“Sorry, Nell. You came overseas to see me, and I haven’t been giving you enough attention considering that you literally flew and spent who knows how much money to come over here. I’m new to this whole relationship thing with multiple people still, so whenever you’re feeling left out or alone, just let me know and I will prioritize you to make you feel better. Alright? I want you to feel as welcome and wanted as much as everybody else.”

“Then – then kiss me!” Nell says, looking him in the eyes now.

Fenrir doesn’t even think about her request. He just leans forward and presses his lips against her own.

Meanwhile in a bush, Nyaiko wants to clap and Rock wants to bark, but Serra, Cassiel, and Oleander work together to keep those two shut up and behaving so that they don’t ruin the moment.