Chapter 10: Girl, Laments
Chapter 10: Girl, Laments
SHUTTING the old-fashioned door behind her, Nichika strode into the room with the valiant expression of a soldier charging in to a decisive battle. Locking a death glare on the man in front of her, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.
“You certainly don’t look like a woman who came to ask for a favor.”
Oswald was sitting in a chair facing the window. He tilted back his wineglass before placing it down on the end table beside him. Then, resting his elbow on the armrest with his chin in his hand, he turned to look at her. His eyes caught the moonlight, giving them a mysterious hue as he calmly returned Nichika’s piercing gaze.
A slight smile danced on his lips as he provocatively called her closer, “What’s the matter? Hurry up and come over here.”
Nichika marched over to him and abruptly pulled out a quill she had borrowed from the lobby. Skepticism furrowed his brow when he recognized what she was carrying.
“…What is that for?”
“I’ve been thinking it over all this time. This is the only answer!” A victorious look crossed her features as if she had come up with the most genius plan. She tightened her grip on the quill with a glint in her eyes. “I’ll tickle you until you cry and take care of my needs by licking your tears!”
“Are you stupid?”
Her eyes rounded over his flat-out refusal. She one-hundred percent had not expected that answer.
“Why?! Isn’t it a good plan?!”
“You slimy one-celled snail. You expect me to lower myself to such a disgrace for you? I outright refuse. Go kick the bucket on your own time.”
“Why?! That’s not in line with our contract!”
Tears in her eyes, Nichika reached out to grab him, but cringed when he wrapped his arm around her waist. He pulled her toward him. Frantically, she tried to steady herself by thrusting her knee between his legs, and, before she knew it, found herself in a strange pose where she was looking down at his face within kissing distance. Her heartbeat accelerated against her wishes at his sudden proximity.
Oswald had removed the glasses he usually wore. She was captivated by his partially closed eyes and upturned lips.
“If I have to provide you with bodily fluid, I want to enjoy it a bit. Given the situation we find ourselves in, we might as well enjoy it together, yeah?”
“But…um…I…” Bewildered, she was finally able to avert her eyes from his face. All of this was a first for her—she hadn’t even had her first crush yet. Was it okay for her to take the lead?
“Look at me.” Oswald grabbed her chin and brought her gaze to meet his.
Nichika worried that her embarrassment was turning her redder than a tomato. There’s no other way out of this! The rose inside me will wake up soon if I don’t do it!
Oswald almost burst out laughing at the trembling girl who had nervously squeezed her eyes shut and was bracing herself for impact. But, he managed to restrain himself and slowly brought his lips to meet hers.
“…….”
The faint squelching sound of liquid transferring between mouths echoed in the still room. Her final gulp signaled for them to draw back from each other at the same time.
Nichika’s expression was stiff for a moment before she threw a hand over her face and fled the room.
Left alone on the chair, Oswald coldly muttered, “…What a child.”
***
NICHIKA dashed out of the room and to the terrace where she collapsed on the ground. Leaning her head against the railing that looked out over the port toward the ocean, she loudly wailed and let the tears fall freely down her face.
“Nichika?! What’s wrong?” Wolfie’s surprised voice joined hers as he jumped down in his original wolf form from some unknown location behind her.
Nichika continued to sob. She bawled for five minutes straight, until her crying fit receded and her hiccups stopped. She was lucky that no one else had come out on the terrace. Wolfie had sat down beside her and rubbed himself against her back until she had finally calmed down.
“I-I’ve never even fallen in love with a boy before…but now I have to do such dirty things!” She said gazing into the distance as torches were lit in the growing gloom of evening, the sound of the ocean easily heard over the cacophony of drunkards in the nearby taverns.
“Nichika, do you hate kissing Master?”
Nichika rubbed at her wet eyes until they were dry and weakly shook her head. Trying to organize her jumbled thoughts, she voiced her true feelings, “That’s not it—I’m uneasy. I’m worried that when I finally get back to my world and fall in love with someone for real, I’ll keep thinking back to what I’m doing now.”
“Hm? I don’t get it… Can you spell it out for me?”
“Kissing feels too good!”
If she was being honest with herself, Oswald was an exceptional kisser. His tongue had parted her lips and mischievously slipped in to play with hers, running across the back of her teeth—just remembering it made her burn with embarrassment.
“AAAAH! DARN IT! Why is that perv so damn good at it?! I’m a beginner with no experience! He should take it a little slower with me!”
“O-Okay?”
“What am I supposed to do, Wolfie? Am I weird? I don’t care about him in the least. Does that make me a pervert who just enjoys kissing, even without love?!”
“C-Calm down, Nichika.”
“I don’t want to be like that!” She shook her head back and forth to knock the memory out, sending her hair flying with the jerky movement.
How could her body genuinely enjoy it when she had been so against it? Was she secretly a nymphomaniac? Her emotions were in utter chaos because of how her body and mind had reacted so differently to the same thing.
“Ugh….waah….” she resumed sobbing.
Wolfie gently pressed his muzzle against the corner of her eye to wipe away the fresh outburst of tears. Nichika slowly turned her head toward him and found his tail wagging so hard it could break a rock.
“In that case, why not think of kissing as a way of greeting?”
“Greeting?”
“Yup. For wolves, we do it when we’re happy and grateful. Just think of what you’re doing as a daddy kissing his daughter.”
She cracked up at the word daddy. “Pft! Haha! I-I don’t want that guy for a dad! And I don’t want to think of a dad kissing his daughter that way either!”
“Hehe.”
Laughing her heart out was cathartic and left her feeling refreshed. She pulled her knees to her chest and gazed up at the night sky, where countless stars twinkled in different colors.
“That makes sense though. Maybe it all comes down to how I look at it…”
“That’s right. I’ll kiss you too, Nichika.” Wolfie planted a kiss on her cheek, his whiskers tickling her.
“Ahaha!” She giggled at the ticklish feeling.
She was truly grateful for how innocent this wolf was.
“Thank you, Wolfie. You’re right. It’s my own responsibility, since I did this to myself. I can’t go crying over it every time. Oswald is only doing this because he lost the bet and ended up in a contract with me. It’s misdirecting my anger to take it out on him, huh?”
“Yup, yup! You’re much cuter when you smile, Nichika!”
Wolfie’s cute grin was revitalizing. He had always been there for her since she arrived in this strange new world; had he not found her in that forest, she might’ve died a pitiful death. It was impossible to show how grateful she felt.
“Now go to bed! You need to sleep, or you won’t wake up tomorrow.”
“Good point.” Nichika got to her feet, twirled toward him, then knelt down and wrapped him in a tight hug, hoping it would convey her gratitude even just a little. “Thank you so much. Good night.”
“Ehehe. You’re welcomeee.”