“I’ll take over for you in a bit then,” Fenrir tells Oleander.

“You better. Go figure out your apartment stuff, that’s more important right now,” Oleander says. As playful and teasing as Oleander may like to be, he knows when to take things seriously.

“I shall come as well!” Nell says.

“I want to fish,” Serra says with one of the fishing rods already in hand.

“I’ll stay with you,” Cassiel tells Serra. There’s also the fact that she doesn’t entirely trust Rao nor Azalabulia yet.

“Don’t do lewd things to our bodies while we’re here,” Serra tells Fenrir and Nell.

While Nell fangirls over the thought of such a thing happening, mainly happening to herself, Fenrir flicks Serra on her forehead and says, “You know I wouldn’t.”

“What if I wanted you to?”

“Maybe.”

“Hey, bro,” Rao says to Oleander, “is there always this much flirting here? I’m starting to get jealous.”

“Pretty much. Just wait until my Cor is on. Then you’ll really see some flirting,” Oleander answers.

Fenrir and Nell head below deck to get into their hammocks.

Only, there is a problem now that they’ve got two new crewmembers and Nyaiko.

“Somebody’s going to have to be on the floor,” Fenrir says.

“You are silly, my hero. The solution is simple! We must simply share,” Nell says. “The two of us may share a hammock, Cassiel and Serra may share another, Corwin and Oleander can share, and then our issue is resolved!”

“Could these hammocks even hold two people?” he asks while pulling on the nearest empty hammock.

“My hero, you and Rao are likely the heaviest ones here. I am not small myself, so as long as you and I may fit in a hammock together without it breaking, then all will be fine.”

“What do you mean you’re not small?”

Nell whips her tail around and extends her wings.

“I doubt those add that much extra weight. Though, now that I’m looking at you… I am kind of worried about something else,” he says.

“What would that be?” Nell asks, her head tilted.

Fenrir points up at his jaw that she earlier gashed by accidentally stabbing him with one of her horns. “I’m assuming you’re going to be on top of me in the hammock, so please try not to accidentally impale my head with your horns in your sleep. I don’t want to immerse one day and find out that I got killed in my sleep.”

Nell brings her hands over her mouth to giggle. “I hope for both of our sakes that such a thing does not happen, but I cannot promise you that it will not.”

“You owe me if you kill me in my sleep.”

“Just what is it that I would owe you?”

“Uhhh, I’m not—”

“My body? Would you make me perform sexual favors to make it up for you? Would you make me work in a dark alley to make money to pay you back? Tie me up, naked, and toss me into the forest so that any wild—”

“No.”

“Imprison me in a pillory in the center of a town for monsters so that they may—”

“Still no.”

“Make me use my tail on you?”

“Maybe.”

“I suppose that I can settle for being used in such a vanilla manner, my hero.”

“Just to make sure… you wouldn’t actually want any of that to happen to you, right?”

“Of course not, my hero! It is all strictly fantasy. Now, if you could somehow play as a gang of monsters yourself all at once to take advantage of my body and violate the very soul of my being, then that would be lovely! However, I have no interest in actually partaking in any such activities with anybody but you, Serra, and Cassiel.”

“Alright, good. Was starting to get worried that you were going to leave us for a horde of rape-monsters or something.”

“You are truly silly, my hero, but it is endearing when you express jealousy.”

“I’m – I’m not jealous,” Fenrir says with a slight reddening of his cheeks.

Nell covers her mouth again so that he can’t see her mischievous grinning. “Are you sure you are not jealous, my hero? You are looking awfully red right now.”

Fenrir’s face grows even more flushed now that it’s been pointed out.

“First you were a fox, now you are a shy boy,” Nell teases.

“Wh-what’s that about a fox? And I’m not shy! I just – any guy would get jealous hearing his girlfriend talking about how she wants to be used by a bunch of monsters,” Fenrir explains.

Nell ignores his first question and answers his second question by wrapping her arms around him. “I apologize, my hero. I shall try to tone down my fantasies, and the ones I still have will revolve around you being the one ravaging me instead. Does that sound better?”

“Y-yeah,” he answers, sounding nervous about something which confuses Nell.

She looks up.

He’s angling his head away from the tips of her horns.

Nell, wanting to tease her boyfriend even more while this rare, mischievous mood of hers lasts, stands up on the tips of her toes to bring her horns even closer to her hero’s face. “What is wrong, my hero?” she asks him with the most innocent voice that she could fake.

“This is cruel and unusual punishment,” Fenrir says. “I know you’re doing this on purpose.”

“Doing what?” she asks, her horns following whichever direction his head turns to.

“I think you’ve been spending too much time around Serra and Olly,” he says, standing on the tips of his own toes now to escape her.

Unfortunately, while they both may have tails, Nell’s is more useful and capable of supporting her and pushing her even farther up. She has to use her wings when doing this to help balance herself, though.

“Is there a reason why you are so desperately trying to escape your loving princess, my hero? Is it – no! Don’t tell me that you are horrified of my face now! Am I not pretty enough for you anymore?” Nell asks, forcing herself to sound shocked and heartbroken as she even manages to get a couple of fake tears going.

Then it hits Fenrir.

Not her horns, but an idea.

Fenrir looks down at her, lifts his arms, and grabs her horns.

“Hah, now you can’t stab me with them,” he says, looking down at her face.

“M-my hero, my horns are sensitive. You – you are holding them so roughly,” Nell moans as she squirms around in his grasp.

There’s just no winning for him. Either he’s on the defensive and trying not to get stabbed, or is flustered from his girlfriend’s sudden arousal which just makes him aroused.

“Don’t you have something to be doing?” Oleander asks, poking his head down the stairs. “Everybody can hear you and it’s getting kind of awkward.”

“A-ah, yeah, sorry,” Fenrir apologizes with an even brighter face than before. Even his ears are turning red at this point.

Still holding her up by her horns, Fenrir walks next to the hammock, lies down on it, and then puts her on top of him in a position where he won’t be at risk of her horns. This position has her head right next to his own. As long as he has her like this, her horns won’t be able to stab up into his head.

Nell looks at her hero with a wide, happy smile as she nuzzles her face up against the side of his own. “You make a wonderful pillow, my hero. Though, I must admit that I prefer your real body as a body pillow. It is much softer!” she explains.

Fenrir doesn’t know how to feel about that. “Is that a good or a bad thing?” he asks.

“A good thing! Do not mistake me, my hero. I do not mean to call you fat. You are simply not as wide and muscular as you are here. I can easily wrap myself around you and be comfortable against any part of you in reality, but here, muscles do not make for a good pillow as much as you may enjoy having them.”

“You know, I never thought I’d have a girlfriend who likes me to not be muscular, but I’m not going to complain. It means I don’t have to worry about working out and putting on muscles to keep you around.”

“Such a silly hero. Now, shall we go deal with those pesky real-life problems?”

“Yeah, we might as well get that out of the way with.”

“I shall see you on the other side, my hero!” Nell closes her eyes and wakes from virtual reality.

However, before Fenrir does, Saya says, “Onii-chan, are you alright?”

“Yeah. Why?” Fenrir thinks back to her.

“You shouldn’t lie to me, you baka. Don’t forget I’m in your head! Literally!”

“Then why ask me a question you already know the answer to?”

“Hmph. You better take care of yourself. Try not to feel too guilty about what happened with Aiko, okay? It’s not your fault, and if I’m saying that, then you know that you know it’s true! Crazy girls are just crazy.”

“Hey, it’s not nice to call her crazy.”

“I wouldn’t call her that if you didn’t think the same.”

“It’s still not polite.”

“I don’t care if it’s not polite. I can sense that calling her crazy has helped you feel a tiny bit better, so she’s crazy!”

Fenrir chuckles. “Thanks, Saya. I’ll let you be rude this once, but don’t get used to it.”

“What’re you gonna do about it if I do get used to it? Huh? There’s literally nothing you can do.”

“I’ll uninstall you.”

“You’d have to take your brain out which would mean killing yourself.”

“At least if I go out, I’m taking you with me.”

“You’re a baka, Onii-chan.”

“I know. Anyways, I’ve got to go deal with annoying responsible adult things. Later, Saya.”