The wolf becomes a human, and said human finds himself lying on his bed with a serpent-turned-human cuddling up against his side.

“We have things we’re supposed to do, you know,” Ryouta tells Alice.

Alice smiles and presses her face against his arm. “Is that so, my hero? All I know that we must do is enjoy one another’s company!” she says.

“You just want to cuddle me because I’m soft.”

Alice nods her head and smiles more. “That is correct! Your real body is very soft,” she says while pinching his side.

“You – you don’t have to actually demonstrate your point. That’s just embarrassing. How would you feel if I pinched your thighs and called them soft?”

Ryouta realizes that he screwed up when he sees just how embarrassed she looks.

“It’s not my fault! They… they wouldn’t be so soft if I could do something about it!” Alice cries.

“B-but I like your thighs. They’re perfect! They’re soft and the perfect size and all of that,” Ryouta says, trying to calm her down while petting her head.

“Why are you allowed to like my thighs then but I am not allowed to like your body?” she whines.

She has a point.

Ryouta sighs and admits defeat.

“Alright, I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t complain about you liking my body for being soft when I love your body for being soft. And Cass’s body for being soft,” Ryouta apologizes, looking at the only girl unmentioned whom is lying next to him on the bed. Both Cassandra and Alice have very soft bodies, but when it comes to Serra, she’s petite and lean. She’s soft, but there just isn’t much to squish.

He realizes that calling either Alice or Cassandra “squishy” would really be a death sentence for him.

Looking at Alice, she’s still pouting and looks like she’s going to cry.

Her thighs are a very sensitive topic.

Ryouta plants a kiss on her lips to try and calm her down. It works. When he pulls away, he sees a smiling girlfriend looking like she wants more kisses instead of being on the verge of crying like before.

“You know, for somebody who loves tragedy and fantasies about having horrible things done to you, I would think that you’d like being teased about your thighs,” Ryouta says.

“No! There is a difference! There is a huge difference between fantasies that take advantage of my fetishes and wanting to have my insecurities made fun of!” Alice explains.

“You really don’t need to be insecure. I seriously love your thighs. They’re perfect.”

“Hmph. My hero, you should know that just because you like somebody else’s flaws does not mean that said person will stop disliking them.”

“But your thighs aren’t a flaw.”

“You are missing the point, my hero. As wonderful as you may be, you need to learn that girls have things that no man will ever be able to comfort them about.”

“That just makes it sound like a challenge.”

“You truly are a man.”

“Alright, alright. I won’t tease you about your thighs, and I won’t try to make you feel better about them either. Is that better?”

Alice pouts even more and playfully pounds her fists against his chest. “You are still missing the point! I am not saying to not try and make me or any other girl feel better about our flaws, I am just saying that you cannot say you love them and then expect my insecurities to be gone! You may still try to remove my insecurities which may help over time!”

“So… you’re saying that it is possible for a man to comfort you about them?”

Alice pauses and thinks about it for a moment.

“It’s complicated,” she says.

“You’re complicated,” Ryouta says, poking her forehead.

“This is what you get for partaking in romance. You should have known better.”

“It’s alright. I don’t have any regrets.”

“I would hope not!”

“My only regret is that everybody has gotten to rest on your thighs except for me.”

“Stop making my thighs the topic of the conversation!”

Ryouta places another kiss on her lips to calm her down.

“Anyways, you just want to stay in bed, or should I help you into your chair?” he asks her, sitting up in bed. Serra is still between them and the edge of the bed, so getting Alice off of the bed and into her wheelchair might be complicated.

Of course, he could always just move Serra. She is pretty small. Even Ryouta can pick her up with his soft arms.

“That would be fine, my hero. Just bring me my phone and I shall make a call to my father,” Alice answers.

“Got it. Want a drink or snack while I’m up?”

“One must not eat and drink in bed! That is both dirty and improper.”

“You’re going to make a great mom. Not sure about a great wife, but a great—”

Ryouta looks at her.

He screwed up before, but now he fucked up.

“It – it was a joke! I’m joking! You’ll make a great mom and a great wife! It was just a joke about how you won’t let me be lazy and dirty!” Ryouta frantically tries to explain.

Alice covers her mouth and bursts into a fit of giggles. “Your face is adorable, my hero. You look so worried!”

Ryouta sighs from relief.

“I am convincing, am I not? Worry not, my hero. I know you were joking. You are still not allowed to eat nor drink in bed, though.”

Ryouta sighs from disappointment.

“But, I may be willing to turn a blind eye as long as you continue to love and cherish me,” Alice offers.

“I don’t know. That sounds pretty difficult,” Ryouta says, looking up at her and seeing her pout with teary eyes again. “That’s not going to work if you do it so soon after the last time.”

Alice pouts. “Darn. Dogs are supposed to be easy to fool!”

“Hey, I’m not a dog right now. I’m a human. Also, Fenrir is more of a wolf than a dog.”

“Is there a difference in intelligence between dogs and wolves?”

“Uhh… I’m not sure. Wolves are probably better at survival, but dogs are probably easier to train… so I guess it depends on how we’re measuring intelligence. And the breeds. I bet any wolf is smarter than a chihuahua.”

“What is wrong with chihuahuas, my hero?”

“They’re chihuahuas.”

“I see your point.”

They both laugh.

“It is alright! I prefer corgis in the first place,” Alice says.

“You’re so royal that it hurts,” Ryouta teases.

“Speaking of royalty and hurting, it would be fun to play with a whip and high heels while sitting in a throne with you at my feet,” she says, her voice cute and casual despite what her message is.

“I thought you were more sub than dom?” he asks with a slight red coloring his cheeks. He has to admit that the thought isn’t entirely bad. Though, he struggles to picture Alice as actually being dominant. He imagines her as trying to be dominant but struggling and failing which just makes the whole idea adorable. He’ll have to let her try it sometime.

“Only most of the time, my hero. Now, fetch me my phone, peasant.”

“It doesn’t work when you call me that right after calling me your hero.”

“Begone, peasant! Your queen has given you an order!” Alice orders him, trying her best to sound authoritative but just sounding like a child playing pretend instead.

“Your wish is my command, my queen,” Ryouta says, bowing and looking up at her to see her reaction.

She’s loving it.

Ryouta heads out into the kitchen to get himself a drink of water first. Waking from virtual reality usually results in being just as thirsty as waking up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth, and with how much talking there just was in his bedroom, he’s totally parched.

His little apartment looks totally different from how it would normally look. Not only is it clean without any empty bags of chips or bottles of hardly-alcoholic beverages sitting around, there are scrunchies, hairpins, random makeup products, and purses lying around. His apartment both looks cleaner and far more cluttered than it has ever looked before at the same time.

He realizes that he really is going to need a bigger place to call home.

Fortunately, he has a girlfriend with a stupid amount of wealth willing to help out with that.

But is that really alright?

There are people in other countries suffering who could use that money. Whatever wealth Alice and her family have that they are willing to spend with him, it could all be better used on those in poorer conditions in desperate need of assistance.

That thought process just makes him feel ungrateful, though. It makes him feel like he’s not fully appreciating the fact that he has people willing to spend so much money on him even though others are in far more need of it.

Should he feel grateful or guilty?

He doesn’t know.

Instead of figuring out the answer to that, he shakes his head, slaps his cheeks, and picks up Alice’s phone from the living room table to take it to his queen.