Lily appeared as he opened the door, and Claud felt his heart skip a beat. For some reason, she was in her true appearance, and there was an emotion that felt like worry in her eyes.

“Lily…” Claud took a deep breath. “What’s up? Looking for Crown?”

“No,” Lily replied, taking a step into his room. “I’m looking for you.”

“Is there something you need from me?” Claud asked, taking a step back. Lily was close — too close — and his emotions weren’t quite stable yet. There were many things that came to mind at this sight, and none of them were particularly… gentlemanly. However, given that there was a huge threat making their way towards Licencia, even if the two of them were willing parties—

“What are you thinking about?” Lily asked. “You have this odd look on your face.”

“Just thinking that you looked particularly…pretty,” Claud replied, his eyes on her violet hair.

Her eyes brightened up. “Really?”

“Of course.” Claud shook his head, and then took a step backwards. The ability to look at anyone with such a lovely smile was cheating and bad for his heart, so he needed to distance himself. “So, what brings you here to my humble abode?”

The smile on her face weakened. “Are you alright?”

“Me? Of course. Never better, in fact.” Claud forced out a smile. “Why? Did something make you think otherwise?”

Lily entered his room, making full use of the space Claud had yielded with his second step back, before closing the door behind her. In silence, she grabbed Claud’s hand and led him to his bed, before sitting down on it. Pulling him down, Claud felt a touch of bemusement as she sat him properly on the squishy mattress, before reaching out a hand to feel his forehead.

“Hmm. No fever.”

“When was the last time you heard of a mana-user falling sick?” Claud retorted.

“None, but you could be the first one.” Lily placed her forehead on his. “But that’s just me making an excuse. You’re…going out, right? Somewhere, far in the distance. Maybe you’ll return tomorrow, and the news that the Moon Emissary abruptly died a horrible death reaches the city three days later. Or you never return, and the city…well, something happens to it.”

Claud forced himself to remain calm. “Surely you jest, Lily. What does my leaving have to do with the Moon Emissary vanishing?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” Lily asked, shifting closer to him. He could now see her clear eyes and count every eyelash on them. “Tot.”

“You—what are you saying?” Claud asked, his mind buzzing madly.

“You never said it out loud, but I’ve been by your side all this time,” said Lily. “When you helped me. When you accompanied me after I…killed my family. When I was alone. You’ve been doing all these things by my side. You vanished, and shortly afterwards, the Tri-Head Snake died. You vanished, and a passing tetra-folder appeared to apprehend Rodrio. You vanished, and the Third Bearer of Destiny died.”

“Coincidence. Besides, Tot had to be a super-strong folder, right?” Claud asked. “I’m not strong. If I had been, Caroline wouldn’t have interfered with—”

“I’ve always wondered something,” Lily abruptly cut in. “I’ve never seen much of your skills. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen any at all. You’ve been very careful to hide them, but I did my own checks a few days ago. Asked some questions here and there.”

“Q-questions?”

“Yes. I went to every shop that sold skillstrips. I tried to look for any that had Flight, but apparently, this skillstrip hasn’t been sold for a very long time. Decades.”

“Well, I got them from—”

“Schwarz?” Lily asked. “Are you really sure you want to tell me such an answer? We’ve been together for so long. I know you have many secrets. One of them should be Flight.”

“It’s not a secret,” Claud mumbled.

“Yeah, it isn’t. But that super-strong folder that captured Rodrio knew how to fly. Was that you? However, the aura he exuded was beyond compare. Therefore, if that folder was you, I’m sure that you have some means of increasing your strength temporarily.”

“Even if I had one,” Claud conceded, “Tot survived ritual magic. That’s impossible for me.”

Lily rubbed her nose. “Well…no one actually knew if it was Tot who killed the Third Bearer of Destiny, though. So it’s not really important if you aren’t Tot, but you…you killed the Third, right?”

Claud opened and closed his mouth dumbly.

“And you’re intending to head out right now. Despite not knowing the strength of the Moon Emissary.” Lily took a deep breath. “Why do you insist on doing all these things on your own? You have me!”

Crown bounced over at those words. “Meep! Meep. Meep!”

It jumped up and down for a few seconds, a movement that tried to convey Claud’s intentions to Lily, and then rolled over to her right hand. Pushing it to Claud’s right hand, the little fellow bounced twice, and then made one last meep.

“Crown’s really cute, huh?” Lily glanced at the little guy, between slipping her fingers through Claud’s own. “Looks like you were really intending on finding that Moon Emissary.”

Claud didn’t know what to say, and to make matters worse, Lily’s fingers had tightened around his own, preventing him from withdrawing them. The warmth transmitted to his hands wasn’t helping either, and…

“Yeah. I was.” Claud lay down on his bed. “Happy?”

“Just worried, dummy.” Lily rapped his head. “You’ve been going off a few times to beat threats we can’t kill, and you don’t even let me know about it. That’s just unfair. We’re supposed to be…”

Her voice trailed off.

“Be?” Claud asked.

“Are you trying to make fun of me?” Lily asked, her adorable face scrunching up. “We’re beyond friends already. Unless you don’t think of me that way, I guess.”

“What? No! Of course not! It’s just—”

He never got to complete his sentence.

In one swift motion, Lily bent over and closed the distance between their faces. A soft, warm sensation assailed his lips, and his vision seemed to cloud over for a moment. He didn’t have the right words to describe how a kiss felt, especially since it was his first time, but…it was definitely good.

Good, yes. Some corner of Claud’s mind promptly noted that his intelligence and vocabulary had probably been affected by the kiss, but the rest of his mind promptly ganged up on that offending bit and beat it into submission.

In what seemed like frozen time, the two of them held the kiss for a minute or two, before Lily fell onto Claud. His arms closed around her a moment later, and the master thief found himself marvelling at the soft bundle of warmth in his embrace.

“That’s the first time I ever did that,” she said, her voice quiet. “Take responsibility.”

Claud held her tight. He hadn’t intended on…well, making it clear, given that he was going to embark on what might just be a suicide mission, but she had made it clear. He would not be able to look at himself in the mirror if he didn’t tell her his thoughts.

“You’ve put me in a tight spot.” Claud sat up, making sure to not break the embrace. “But I suppose I’ll just have to return alive, right?”

“I want to come with you…is what I want to say, but I’ll probably be a burden, right?” Lily asked.

Claud simply covered her lips with his own once more. He didn’t want to say those words out loud, since it would make her feel bad. And…well, there was this competitive spirit burning in him now.

As Crown rolled away sneakily, the two broke the kiss again. Lily rubbed her nose, and her ears, which had gone red, was quivering slightly. She didn’t give up, though. A set of warm hands touched his face, and Claud couldn’t help but feel that their roles had somewhat changed. For some reason, he was the one being patted now, and although he enjoyed the feeling, there was some sense of incongruity in being hugged like this.

They cuddled for a few seconds, before Claud rubbed her head.

“I’ll be there and back in a jiffy,” said Claud. “You know me well, right? Do you still remember what happened to that snake? It exploded, and nothing else. If my…explosion fails to kill it, I’ll flee immediately. I promise.”

“Really?” Lily asked. “You promise?”

“Yeah,” said Claud, holding her hand. “I promise you. I don’t have much to swear on, but I suppose my life will do, right?”

“Don’t do that, dummy.” Lily looked at him with her clear eyes. “I’ll be waiting for you, then. Tell me everything when you return.”

“I’m not quite sure if that’s possible,” Claud replied, “but I’ll tell you as much as I can.”

He made to get up, but without warning, Lily pulled him back down on the bed, her eyes a palm’s width away from his own. “We belong to each other now. So…don’t hold anything back, okay? Don’t keep secrets from me. I want to be part of your life, just like how you’ve been in my life the whole time.”

“Lily…”

She giggled once as her name left his lips, and Claud decided to worry about the Moon Emissary later.

There was still time, after all.