PHASE 64 - I KISSED THE GIRLS AND THEY LIKED IT

I’ve been assuming the role of the mother here in our house. I cook, wash clothes and clean the house like a glorified maid.

Amy is in charge of washing the dishes. Always. Since she doesn’t know any other chore at all. As expected from a bratty bitch from an aristocratic family.

Tiara knows how to bake tasty blueberry cheesecakes, but it won’t be done without her breaking some utensils. Sometimes she would even end up eating all the ingredients before she has even started. So as much as possible, she can only cook under my supervision.

Heushac and Key know nothing except to be a dead weight. I was about to cast them out of this house, but I remembered that this is Heushac’s bungalow after all.

Right now, I’m experimenting with the recipe I got from the Dark Web. I hope it turns delicious.

“Wow! It looks delicious!”

Tiara had her mouth watering as she watches me cook, like a dog wagging her tail waiting for some food to be tossed to her mouth. I’m currently preparing a custom soup together with my special recipe of fried chicken.

“C-Can I have a taste?” The hungry shrine maiden crawled her fingers, ready to assault the golden brown fried chicken on the plate!

Whack!

In the nick of time, I saved our breakfast by smacking a ladle on that puppy’s head!

“You should at least wait until the meal is served on the table…” I coldly said.

“...Aauuuu….” A Japanese school girl cry echoed throughout the kitchen. “...Rikkun is such a bully…”

There go her puppy eyes once again. Every time I stare at those yellowish brown eyes, I feel pity. I can’t maintain my cold persona like this!

“Y-You could at least have a try on my soup.”

I scooped a mouthful of my creamy white soup and presented it in front of the hungry Tiara. Tiara then placed her side hair behind her ears to have a sip with my dish properly.

The way she does it adorably makes my heart aflutter.

“It’s good~” Tiara smiled at me. “B-But I think it’s quite sweet...”

I feel skeptical with her judgment, so I tasted the remaining soup on the ladle myself. I realized that Tiara is right. She’s a good food critic, I guess.

“Maybe I gave it a lot of condensed milk,” I said. “Tiara, pass me the salt.”

I noticed that Tiara is now blushing, and staring into my eyes. She looks possessed by an evil spirit as she was muttering “I-I-I-Indirect k-k-k-k-kiss…”

“H-Huuuh?”

She… She got me there! We are now sharing the very same droplets of saliva in our mouths! Both of our faces went red, and hot steam came out of our heads!

Panicking, Tiara grabbed the jar of salt and showered it all to her face! “Eeeeek!” She cried as she sensed her eyes getting burned by the condiment! Without her trusted vision, she ran in circles, bumped unto the cupboard, the sink, the water dispenser, and ultimately, to the wall before getting out of the kitchen!

That’s the most random reaction ever.

<>

We are having our peaceful Saturday breakfast. Nobody seemed to talk. Tiara is busy chomping down the meal, Heushac and Key are still playing games on their phone, and Amy is being awkwardly silent. She’s silent because we have a special guest, which is her tall, black, and handsome ex Kristoff sitting beside her.

To wave the silent atmosphere off, Kristoff started to talk. “No wonder why you became a chick magnet, Alaric! Your dishes are better than most restaurants!”

“Well, being a topnotcher in our home economics class tends to pay off.” I humbly bragged with my chin up.

“Y-You should teach me how to cook sometime, Rikkun!” Tiara said with enthusiasm.

“Yes, yes.” I patted the shrine maiden’s head. Giving head pats to a cute girl makes the early morning breakfast ooze with good vibes.

But somebody is in a bad mood right now. I think I’ve been targeted by a cold glare. As if somebody is jealous...

“I should have died.”

It was Amy’s deep darkest whisper, still not touching her meal. All of us tried to ignore her mumbling protest but she repeated those words again.

“I should have died… No… I wish that food is poisoned… So that all of you can die...”

“W-What’s the matter?” Kristoff forced a smile. “D-Don’t you like your meal?”

“I-If you don’t want to eat your fried chicken, please give it to me, Necchan!” Tiara suggested. This idiot really doesn’t know how to read the room.

“OH SHUT UP YOU ALL!!!” Amy stood up as her eyes glow with blazing annoyance. Our blonde kitten is certainly moody for hissing this early in the morning!

“W-Why are you even here, anyway!?” She fingered Kristoff to be the subject of her anger. Wait, don’t misunderstand that phrase.

“I-I told you, we’re going to the Black Cross to investigate the Cursed Guardian you guys caught last week…” Kristoff forced a smile as he was clueless why this girl is angry at him.

“You don’t have to eat breakfast with us! And moreover, you don’t have to sit beside me! Get out! Get lost! I’ll kill you!”

I can sense Amy’s rage as if any moment now, she’ll draw her guns and put holes on her ex.

I sympathize Kristoff’s guts, so I made my move to calm that wildcat.

“Amy, sit.” I said coldly.

“B-But Ric!” Amy protested.

I presented a spoonful of chunky soup on her face. “This is my new recipe. It tastes delicious. Try it!”

Amy obeyed and sat down. Her red cheeks began to glow as she took a half bite on my spoon. She closed her eyes as she chewed the food. This should calm her down a bit.

“I-I-It’s good.” Amy smiled with her face on the blush. What a cute tsundere.

Then we finally proceeded with our meal peacefully. I had my second indirect kiss once again, now from Amy. I think I’m a female saliva collector right now.

But I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I have kissed her after all.

Oh about our first kiss… I decided not to disclose the fact that I have already recovered my memories. I’m quite disappointed when she lied to me about “not yet having her first kiss”, so I’ll just pretend that I’m still an amnesiac.

Besides… I’m still not sure if I’m ready to fall in love with her again.

<>

After the meal, Amy gave a not-so-important announcement.

“A-As this cockroach said a while ago, we will be visiting the Black Cross Mansion to investigate the captured Cursed Guardian there. We two will conduct an interrogation to know the New Order’s whereabouts. We will also inspect other clues in the Black Cross Archives and the Intelligence Center. And that... will last for a week.”

“A-Am I the cockroach?” Kristoff pointed himself.

“Shut up!” Amy cried annoyingly. Then continued her announcement “A-Anyway, I’ll appoint you as a temporary leader, Ric. You will lead them in protecting the city from Eidolons. If you ever made contact with Diadem, back off. You might turn into Cthulhu again if you lost your temper.”

I was about to protest but she cut me off before I could open my mouth.

“You’re the most trustworthy among the group. Tiara is clumsy, Heushac knows nothing but to smell bad, and Key is just a kid. You’ve been acting like a mother to us in this house, so it’s just logical to appoint you.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me in the investigation?”

“We two will handle the investigation ourselves. For now, you have to focus on saving Tiara.”

Saving Tiara, huh? Amy should have thought about it beforehand. The safest way to save my head is to prevent Tiara from turning into a Cursed Guardian. It’s a big responsibility but I think there’s no other way to do it.

Besides, I’m confident now that we managed to save Amy from death. I feel like I have the power to defy fate.

I made a deep sigh. “Fine.”

“And you, Tiara.” Amy turned to the clueless shrine maiden. “Proceed with Ric’s exorcism therapy. Make sure his abilities are completely sealed. You wouldn’t want him to go haywire and transform to Cthulhu again… Take care of him until I come back.”

“W-With determination, I will do my best to take care of Rikkun!” Tiara replied as she pumped her fists.

<>

After Amy and Kristoff departed, the remaining members of the Aether Crusade Investigation Team decided to go to the Kozukata Shrine. Heushac is still undergoing sword training, and Key needs to sharpen her spiritual awareness and extend her prana capacity by meditating on a waterfall. The shrine maidens facilitated their training to improve their performance in battles.

While me, I’m stuck with these shrine maidens constantly singing and dancing, waving sticks and twigs on me while sitting on a magical circle. I have to stay still for an hour in order to wave off bad aura in my heart.

It was already four in the afternoon when we finished. After the exorcism, Tiara led me to the training grounds. Some shrine maidens are there, testing spells on human-shaped dummies. Heushac is also here, but he’s so absorbed in his sword training that he didn’t notice us.

“Rikkun… What spells can you still use?” Tiara asked.

“Well, let’s see… My together with my and are sealed because I always use them when I’m in a pinch, and those spells will somehow trigger my hatred…. But I think I still have that spell. I completely lack any offensive magic. I guess I will have to wait for the exorcism therapy to finish in order to use my old spells again...”

“That’s why we’re here, Rikkun.” Tiara smiled. “I will teach you the secret super duper fastest sword spell of the Kozukata Shrine Maidens!”