"Nn..."

I woke up slowly as I felt the discomfort of something heavy below my bedsheets. There was something soft pressing against my lower waist.

Yawning once, I proceeded to scratch my head a few times to relieve my morning fatigue.

I was up all night after all...

As the familiar scent of a woman entered and tickled my nose fervently, I quickly remembered the occasion.

Ah, yesterday and today is Soma's turn huh.

Smiling wryly to myself, I flipped up the sheets to take a look.

Sure enough, I saw Soma sleeping soundly on top of me as she hugged my legs like a koala bear.

"Haha..."

I couldn't help but leak out a light laugh from my mouth when I saw her unguarded expression on her face. Soma's haphazardly way of sleeping on the bed was so careless, and something you'd never expect from a beautiful woman like her.

Is this what they call gap moe...? As expected, even after living together for so long... I can't get used to it. Well, at least she trusts me enough to do something like this~

I conceded to my sudden urge to poke her cheek.

She was just like a pet squirrel; her mannerisms were too perfect for it.

For someone like her to fall in love with me... ...Well... she does have her issues and shortcomings though...

My smile loosened on my face, as I felt insurmountable bliss from staying like this.

Before I could have closure on that train of thought, Soma seemed to have woken up from my nudge. Feeling a little ticklish, she let out a light squeal and giggled softly while her eyes were still closed. She seemed to have realized my playful act as well and started slowly raising herself up, revealing her tight figure concealed beneath the bedsheets.

I could still smell lingering traces of her sweat, and various other secretions on them.

...Looks like we should clean that later...

I started to feel a little pent-up again, as I recalled Soma's passionate play yesterday. She always finds something new every week, always trying to prioritize my satisfication before anything else...

But she was more erotic than usual yesterday... she's so fired up, she didn't even give me time to rest in between... was it because I've been gone for two weeks this time...?

Feeling something rising below my waist, pressing against her crotch, Soma finally became a little more clear-headed as well. Her instincts could sense my arousal like a succubus.

...Honestly, it is a little embarassing.

"Ehehe...Good morning, Master~"

"Ahahaha... Good morning, Soma."

I exchanged greetings warmly. It felt good to wake up close to someone you cared about.

...But she frowned instead. She wasn't too happy with how I addressed her.

"No Master, you have to use it."

"..Hmm? Nickn-"

"-Have Master... forgotten about it...? About the nickname..."

"...!!! J-joking! I was just joking, ahahaha...haha..."

A drop of sweat trickled down my chin from my forehead. Soma had a knife pressed against my neck.

"...That so. Then I expect to hear it..."

She released the pressure from her bloodlust that was leaking out intensively, and slowly returned the knife into the black sheath strapped around her left thigh.

More importantly, she didn't end off with "Master", and that was a clear red flag for a yandere like Soma. There were many times when my own ignorance and denseness had brought me close to the brink of death.

...Almost stepped on a landmine there... dangerous... ...Dating Soma is really not good for my heart... Honestly, I really don't want to experience death again...

Coughing a few times, I tried to salvage the situation by going at her with my special move he had taught me before: Skinship...!!!

This is definitely going to affect our date later, so I have no choice...! Really... I really don't have any other intentions at all! Eeiii!!!

Quickly putting my arms around her in an embrace, Soma was caught by surprise. She didn't expect me to take the aggressive move here instead.

WIthout giving her any time to react, I moved my mouth closer to her right ear and cooed into it delicately.

"Good morning, Suzu."

"H-hyauuu..G-good... morn...ing, Masterrr..."

Soma, who had tried to sit upright with her knees suddenly lost her strength to hold still from my whispers in close proximity. She collapsed weakly onto me, probably on purpose; her bright yellow eyes narrowed comfortably like a cat, just like when it had its fur brushed and groomed.

Her breathing became slightly ragged, patches of rose blush could be seen rising up to her ears. I thought this was such an adorable reaction, and felt like teasing her even more.

...In the end, we went for another round right after waking up. And it took us another three hours to get ready and go for our date today.

"...Somehow I feel sorry..."

I muttered listlessly as I looked up at the trees, spilling drops of rainwater as the light drizzle pelted onto the leaves. The clouds in the sky were beginning to clear up after the rain yesterday night.

Soma was humming as she walked on my right along the pavement, side by side. The cool breeze from the cold atmosphere tickled her nose, puffs of warm air wafted out of her mouth like steam everytime she exhaled.

Soma took her time to adjust the beige cap on top of her head, which I had told her to wear along with a pair of sunglasses in order to not stand out. It had a very normal design, as expected since I didn't want her to be too conspicuous. It was coordinated with a grey cardigan and long baggy pants, which I had taken from my wardrobe so she could hide her figure better. Although unexpectedly... it still made her pretty stylish with some sort of tomboyish feel to her. I was actually beginning to wonder if anything she wore would look good on her regardless; she had a good body shape and a smooth face like a model. You would not expect this woman to be the same person that bore the title of a bloodthirsty Sword Saint...

I quickly shook away these thoughts. I was here to accompany Soma today after all, I couldn't be idle like this.

Holding an umbrella, I positioned myself along the side of the street so that Soma wouldn't be hit by the splashing puddles on the ground by the speeding vehicles. It was a conscious effort to make Soma feel that she was the most important person in my life today. ...At least, that was what Lestia had told me to do. She said that this was one form of subtle gesture that Soma would definitely notice and appreciate me doing this for her. I peeked at her with a sideway glance.

Our eyes met, and then she kissed me again. This time, we parted rather quickly since we were still walking together under an umbrella.

Then she licked her lips and grinned widely. Following up by holding my left arm tightly, it was evident that Soma was in a pretty good mood.

"Hmm, was that what you were thinking so hard about? Why do you apologize, Master? Master hasn't done anything wrong~ although admittedly, the fact that you're constantly thinking about me, makes me very happy~"

...How is she able to say such embarrassing things like that without flinching...

"...I mean... I think I was the one who initiated it... and thanks to that, our time left for the date had been cut short... and I've lost most of my stamina for the more strenuous activities too..."

"Ah... ...Mnn, mnn~ There's that... (...it's better than a date actually...)"

Soma muttered something unintelligible under her breath, so I couldn't catch the second half of what she was saying.

"? Huh, did you say something?"

"Mnn~ Nope~ I was just thinking, what else I'll have you do to compensate me after this~"

"Ah... as expected... it was my fault..."

I looked down at my feet as we continued walking around the neighbourhood of the apartment building.

"Hmm~ Hmm~ What should we do today, I wonder~ What should we do today~"

"...How about... a movie?"

"Mm! That sounds great, just like what normal couples do, I like it~"

I smiled weakly at the over-enthusiastic Soma as I wondered how she could still have this much energy after sex. She was even the one making all the movement on her own too. ...I felt a little betrayed by my weak body which never seemed to improve at all here on Earth.

My thoughts drifted a little, as I wondered if all of them really just feel better after sex.

...Come to think of it, they've all really have had an improved mood each time...

Is it that simple...? Is that the secret to maintaining my relationship with all of them...?

I continued to ponder silently as I continued to walked along the pavement.

...But then, I was stopped by something pinching the fabric of my shirt back.

...Eh...?

...! Oh... crap...

Expecting it to happen, I was pulled backwards forcefully.

My head was slammed down on the concrete ground, causing me to suffer from concussion for a few seconds. I felt someone straddling me while I was trying to recover from the fuzziness in my head.

I could slowly regain my vision, as I saw Soma bending down closer to the left side of my neck, her strandy pinkish red hair laying itself messily all over me as she did so.

"...You're thinking about other women again, aren't you..."

"N-no... I..."

"Punishment time~"

As she finished saying that, I felt the skin along my neck being pierced by two sharp ends... like teeth.

"...!!!"

...It had been two weeks since I'd last seen Soma and the rest, but I was reminded of how bad Soma's possessive nature was. That was the only thing... I could never cure her from. Even if I could not see her expression now, Soma is probably sucking my blood with lifeless eyes again...

Knowing that she would regret her actions later when she regains her sense of reason, I decided to hold it through without a scream in order to not make her feel too bad about herself again.

I've done something bad to her huh... she probably wouldn't enjoy the rest of this date anymore... ...I should've known better... today should be Soma's time along with me too, I'm still so insensitive to her feelings...

... ...But still...

...This really... ...really hurt like hell.

Afterwards, silence remained in between us. We still went to the cinema. I picked a romance-themed film to try and lift her spirits up, but it didn't seem to work. The popcorn and drinks that I'd bought for her, remained untouched throughout the movie.

Then, we went to the mall to shop for things.

Clothes, but she didn't want any clothes. Food, but she didn't have an appetite, she says.

Soma was following behind me closely, but we were no longer holding hands. It made me feel extremely guilty about this morning's incident. Trying to correct myself quickly, I turned around and tried to hold her hands.

...But she paced herself to move ahead of me without looking back.

We went to the arcade, which was the place I'd though she would feel happy again. But it didn't work too. As I thought about what other activities that could potentially make her smile again, I picked up a few voices.

"Woah, she's really good..." "That's a girl?" "Dude, if you see closely... isn't she actually pretty hot?" "Yeah! You're right...! Why is she wearing sunglasses though..." "You wanna give it a go?" "Haha, you go!" "Hey, you go ask her out then~"

There were many people playing in the arcade thrown off by her beauty, and had stopped playing just to look at her moving her hips on a dance pad to a rhythm game she was currently playing.

I felt tints of frustration when I noticed some of those looks were actually leers which were attempts to peek under her fluttering short skirt while she was playing. There were some guys who had girlfriends tagging along with them, so they didn't get to see much after receiving a good beating. I felt a little relieved when I saw that, but the spectators were picking up in number.

It was times like this that I felt really helpless in. I didn't have the power to stand up to these types of people. Neither could I interrupt Soma, who was starting to play the game pretty seriously. It seemed as if she was trying to blow off steam, and I was better off watching her along the sidelines silently until she was done.

...I have no place beside her... I thought to myself sadly.

Even though we had covered ourselves with plenty enough disguise to avoid attracting attention, Soma was eye-catching enough... and definitely exceeding the average standard of beauty on Earth. That was the difference in genetics she had gained in Parvula; even her hair and eye color were natural. Coming back to Earth surely had such an effect... the disguise that I had hand-picked out for her didn't even have any sense of coordination and only used to keep her presence bland. Yet, her brilliance still shone through.

Soma was definitely even more captivating when she was silent... but somehow, I just selfishly wanted to have livelier expressions on her face again, and all to myself. I didn't want to share her with anyone else.

A large crowd continued to form around her, and quickly joined in the first few passers-by in the mall who had stopped to look at her. I didn't want her to stay in the arcade any longer. It felt as if she was going to be picked up by some random guy who would look even cooler than me any time soon.

Using the packed schedule as an excuse, I pulled Soma's arm forcefully out of the game machine and left the group of onlookers who were clearly disappointed and booing at me. Soma silently followed without agreeing nor disagreeing, her face stayed indifferent the entire time. But I felt even more miserable when she did nothing.

And then, the cliche which I had feared, arrived. Someone stopped us right as we were about to leave the premises of the mall arcade.

A blonde-haired guy in his twenties with a pretty face slowly approached from nearby, and stood right in front of us. He was wearing an expensive-looking suit and had some kind of perfume scent all over his body. His hair was also waxed and combed neatly like a young tycoon. He gestured for the person who had stopped us to leave, and he did after receiving a dollar bill from the wealthy-looking man.

"Excuse me... but that miss over there. Would you be interested on going out on a drink with us?"

A rough and raspy sounding voice came out of the man. The voice cracks consistent in his voice sounded as if he had taken a large number of cigarettes to have reached that stage. There is also the smell of cigarettes from his rotten breath as he opened his mouth to call out to Soma. Three other guys who were close to his age were right behind him like lackeys; their faces weren't as good-looking as the poster boy leading them, and they were snickering softly.

Definitely, their overall atmosphere didn't seem to give off a very honest impression. It was highly unlikely that this event would end with just 'a drink'. I could see the look in their eyes... they were just like my relatives who sought after my inheritance... scheming with ulterior motives.

Remembering some bad thoughts, I frowned with displeasure and interjected.

"Excuse me, but she's with me. We're in a hurry, so we'll get going now-"

"-Ah ah, and who are you?"

The guy stepped forward again, blocking our path outside. They are not letting go of us easily.

"Why do you care...?"

"Well, the miss over there seems to be troubled by your actions, is she not...?"

...Playing this card huh... at a time like this... Soma...

"...I'm her..."

I looked at Soma, who had her head down still. It seemed as if she had perked her ears up just a little, but it was probably just my imagination.

"...I-I'm her boyfriend. Is there a problem?"

Soma's shoulders shook slightly, but I did not notice that.

"...Is he...?"

There was a slight pause. And then Soma shook her head lightly in response, much to my dismay.

"No, we've never met."

The smile on the man's face grew even wider, as if he'd called my bluff. It was as if he had seen through our current situation and was making use of the discord between us... and it was working...

"Haha, why would you lie like that? That's pretty rude to this beautiful lady you know, someone like you really don't fit her at all~"

"...Suzu..."

"..."

She didn't look at me the entire time, but then she suddenly raised her head and faced the man who had offered her the invitation.

"...I'm not in a very good mood right now. You offered a drink right, take me there then."

Hearing the words he had wanted to hear, the man's lower waist swelled up obscenely, mirroring his inner thoughts.

"!!!"

I noticed this change, but Soma probably didn't. She was going to fall into a trap...!

"Suzu, it's a-"

But before I could finish, the man's lackeys pushed me away violently. I was thrown off balance, falling to the floor weakly.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, boy. Don't you know, stalking is a crime...? Leave before I call the cops on you."

My emotions bursted out with rage.

"...Nnghh... Fuck tha-!!!"

Not even able to make a stance to fight them, I suddenly saw a shadow fly past my face.

I quickly lost consciousness. As my eyelids slowly closed, I could see Soma turning back with those guys who had begun to show their true colors. They were turning a little touchy-feely around her shoulders as they went down through an escalator.

...No... Soma...

It was almost evening no, the sun has almost set... no... it was already... midnight. A security guard who was doing his patrol to get the lingering crowd in the mall out, woke me up.

Apologizing to him, I left the mall like that.

I recalled that I had to buy groceries for tomorrow's breakfast. Since Soma and the other two did not know how to cook, I was left with the responsibility as their Master.

"Ah... it's already this late... oh. I almost forgot... tomorrow's groceries...

...

...Soma... ..."

...I grit my teeth, and punched my right cheek. Soma could be anywhere now, and there was nothing I could do.

"...You... insensitive idiot... as expected... something like a harem... I'm not cut out for something like this. Where... are you... Soma... ..."

Feeling extremely powerless, I slumped against a wall outside the mall and fell to my knees.

"It took you quite a long time to wake up, Master~ Also, it's Suzu, right?"

"!!! Som-"

I felt my heart skip a beat when I heard this familiar voice. The low-pitched and taut tone that came out of this person. My head was cocked upwards with a hand under my chin, and my lips were stolen in an instant before I could finish my words.

Soma had taken the initiative this time. But I returned it tenfold.

"Mnnfhhh...!!!"

We shared a long and deep french kiss, tongues enveloping each other.

"...Puahhh... I-I didn't know this... Master is a really good kisser... Fufu, I've found something new about Master~"

"... ...Soma... no, Suzu... aren't you mad...?"

Flushing red on my face, I questioned her worriedly.

"Didn't I hurt your feelings...? Didn't you go with those men...? Didn't you... hate me..."

"M-Master...?! Wh-why are you cr-crying?! I-I would never hate you, Master...!!! I-I-I-I was just doing the cold treatment approach that magazine listed as a way to approach a man's heart...! Strange... why is it turning out like this... ...

...A-ah...!!! It's that punch earlier right?! I knew it! That surprised me too! Don't worry, Master, I didn't kill them immediately. I kept myself in check, just like you had told me to before! I listened to your words...! I knew something like this would happen, so I've kept them all half-alive still! ...So you can go ahead and chop their dirty hands which dared to even hurt you... and cheer up... 'kay? Master? Master?"

"...Suzu."

"Y-yes, Master? ...A-as expected... should I have cut out their eyes instead? Maybe it would have been better if they could not see what I did to their intestines... half of them fainted just from me pulling out a pair of scissors... they're really weak... unlike you Master~ Maybe I shouldn't have peeled their face too hard... I was too caught up in the moment there... Master might not recognize them like that..."

...So it was all a big misunderstanding...

...Well, I had a hunch. It-it's not like I'm worried or something...

I sighed, as Soma looked at me with a pair of puppy eyes.

"...Bodies. Are their bodies intact at least?"

"Y-yes..."

Another sigh left my mouth.

"...I know you need to sate your bloodthirst, but still... they're innoc- ..."

... ... ...

"Hmm? Innocent?"

Soma looked at me blankly with a huge smile on her face. Her murderous aura leaking out of her body was... the answer. She didn't leave any room for an impartial judge; She was the law.

Soma followed my orders, word for word. That's why, she found ways to indirectly infringe on those rules.

I sighed again, and realized what she had planned to do from the start.

"When I said to not kill innocent people... I didn't... Haaahhh..."

"Ma-Master... are you perhaps... angry...?"

"Not really... I'm just really tired, you could have just told me something. ...Blame it on me. I'm probably at fault here for assuming you wouldn't try anything like this after we haven't met for two weeks..."

"Master is never at fault...!!! It's... it's my fault... I'm sorry Master...!!! I had planned to do nothing to them, but after insulting you and saying that we weren't compatible... I-I just didn't think clearly anymore...

Please don't hate me, Master... Please don't leave me...!"

"... I won't leave you, Suzu. (... ...I can't leave you)...

...Nevertheless, what's done is done, we cannot leave evidence... and it's a waste not to use them too. The resources we have here are finite. Where are they?"

"Underneath that bridge~"

"...Really... show some semblance of regret, will you...? ...We'll kill them cleanly and bring it back to Lestia."

I followed Soma towards the location where she had been torturing the four men who had attempted to rape her. She was still humming something under her breath even after describing all of her torturous acts in detail.

"-And definitely no killing again without my consent, okay?"

"Yessssssss~"

...Soma is a flawless woman anyone would desire... ...except that she's quite a protective psychopath who would resort to killing and torture whenever someone else she doesn't like is involved with me.

...It's times like these, that really makes me doubt the legitimacy of my control over these women... each of them... just troubles me like this in all sorts of fanatical ways...

Thinking about the prospects of my future with Soma, I sighed one last time.