Bonus Short Story

“This Is My First Time Being in Love, So—”

“Welcome to my home—!”

Benjamine opens the door to her house and spreads her arms out wide.

It’s been about five months since that world-shaking event happened. Upon awakening from my coma, I was pleased to discover that I was no worse for wear after having been bedridden for a full month, and have been going into work like always. Today, Benjamine’s invited me over for tea at the “Couple’s Lovenest,” a.k.a. the home she and Satanás received as a reward for their efforts in the battle against Städal. The two of them have finally made their relationship “official,” it would seem, and now spend every day being all lovey-dovey with each other. (Well, it’s mostly Benjamine doing the lovey-dovey. Satanás acts like he’s slightly embarrassed by the way she fawns over him, but he’s definitely enjoying it. On the inside, at least.)

“Nikeh and Cambell will be along later,” Benjamine says. “But Maris is here already!” I follow my host inside and join the two of them in the sitting room.

Maris is daintily enjoying her tea. “Ah! Nanalie dear, how are you doing on this fine day? You’ve come late; Benjamine’s already served me up some oolong tea.” She takes another sip after she says this. Maris says I’m late, but I arrived right on time. I’ve got nothing to apologize for, Maris, you’re the one who came too early.

“I suppose Nikeh’s just too busy to make it here today,” Benjamine says, looking a bit crestfallen as she glances over at the clock. Since Nikeh still hasn’t come by the time Cambell turns up a few minutes later, the four of us begin chit-chatting about her over our drinks.

“Well, one can hardly fault her for being absent. Not only does she have her work as a Knight, but also all those new responsibilities that come with her rank!”

“I never thought I’d see the day when she became a baroness, that’s for sure.”

“It is quite something.”

“She wouldn’t happen to have some gentleman amongst the aristocracy she fancied, now would she?”

Benjamine, Cambell, and I are all speechless, jaws dropping at this suggestion. We exchange glances of surprise as we think, Could Nikeh—our Nikeh—really be in that state of mind right now?

Maris picks out another sweet from the plate before continuing. “A lady is lovelier when she’s got a gentleman to admire. I’ve been quite engaged with her these past months, instructing her on all manner of important noble habits, and I must say, she’s become more beautiful than ever...rather like the recent transformation of someone else present.”

Maris probably isn’t wrong; Nikeh really could be in love with someone right now. She hasn’t said a word to any of us about it, but Benjamine and I have discussed the possibility that she may favor a Certain Personage she can’t even tell us about. I mean, after all, if one really does have a crush on some noble, it’s not like you can just tell all your friends about it at the drop of a hat, right? I can totally understand how she’s feeling, having been through—

“And then we have our Nanalie.”

“So we do!”

“With him of all people!”

In the middle of our conversation about Nikeh’s potential love interest, my three friends suddenly turn to me with amused—suspiciously amused—smiles of excitement on their faces.

To my distress, a lot of people have been giving me the same look recently. I can somewhat guess as to what my friends want me to talk about right now.

“If you’re hoping for some saucy gossip about Rockmann and me, forget it, okay? There’s nothing to talk about.”

I can feel my face flushing with heat as I divert my eyes away from their curious stares. I’m not blushing. I’m not, right? I take another sip of tea, careful not to spill it.

Benjamine, however, isn’t going to let me get away that easily. She grabs my chin and forces me to look at her, scowling as she says, “As if! There better be plenty to talk about—you better not be thinking you can just tell him you love him and leave it at that, end of story! How boring would that be?!”

Or so she practically yells at me, speaking as though she’s become the very incarnation of Love and Romance herself. She also happens to be completely correct.

While I did indeed confess my true feelings to Rockmann, not once in a million years would I have imagined that he felt the same way about me. Back when he said “I love you too,” I thought I was hallucinating. I’d gone into the whole conversation without even considering the possibility that just as I loved him, he loved me, so to be quite honest, I am, even now, trying to figure out what I should do next.

But Maris doesn’t leave me be. Noting that I kissed Rockmann right before her very eyes—the absolute worst thing I could have done to her—she compliments (?) me by saying that it had been “good” and “refreshing, even,” to see “such a public display of affection.”

Oh no, Maris. No, that wasn’t good at all.

“Should you wish to pursue courtship with Sir Alois, however, then you must proceed with caution. He may have wished for the freedom to marry whomever he chooses, but he is a noble. I am sure that particular fact of his status has been a source of worry for you, Nanalie dear.”

She’s right. I have been worrying about that. Is it really alright for me to chase after him, commoner that I am? Rockmann first invited me out to a meal with him about three months ago, and I have another date with him scheduled for the day after tomorrow. I’m not entirely sure how it all came about, but somewhere in the middle of having a normal conversation with him (perhaps calling what we do “having a conversation” is inaccurate—“quarrelling” is more like it), we made plans to go out for a meal together—and then again. And again. And again!

Come to think of it, in the more than nine years I’ve known him, we never once did share a meal together until quite recently. We’ve come a long way.

As I’m lifting my teacup, about to savor another sip, Maris stops me in my tracks with a truly horrible question:

“Nanalie,” she says, “what are you going to do if someone else takes him from you while you’re still trying to figure it all out? What then?”

Rockmann? With another girl? Holding hands and smiling with someone other than me? Getting close with her, leaning in very close, and then they—

“No! NO!” The word just slips out. Unconsciously, I cover my mouth with my hands, as if to conceal just how upset the thought makes me.

Alright missy, stop and think for a moment here: what’re you yelling “no” for? Yes, you’re the one who said it, so you should know why, but what’s with that tone? You sound like some child pouting to their parents, having a tantrum in public! ...Argh. This is SO embarrassing. Where’s the nearest hole? I’d like to crawl into one right now. A very deep hole.

No matter what girl Rockmann’s with, I just can’t be okay with her trying to kiss him. No way, no how. Of course, I’d also like to be able to honestly say, “no, it’s not that I want to kiss him or anything”—but I can’t really say that now, can I?

That unexpected realization sends me reeling. “Ugh...I feel so ill, I think I might die...”

“Nanalie, dear...are you quite alright?”

“I just can’t—him, other girls, k-k-kiss—! Ahhhh! I’m such a weirdo for even imagining that!” I am now covering my entire face with my hands, groaning at the image in my head.

“But Nanalie, you can’t be so relaxed about it all; someone else really might take him from you. Maybe he’s starting to feel that way about other women, and he’s so popular with the ladies—it wouldn’t surprise me if he was already smooching with them too.”

Cambell’s warning yanks me back to reality. Yes, he is rather popular among women. Maybe he’s lost patience with me already, dilly-dallying mess that I am. Maybe he IS kissing other women already. I can’t deny that possibility—he’s him, after all.

Two days later, while Rockmann and I are at lunch, I ask him straight out:

“You got any plans to kiss other women sometime soon?”

“No, ma’am,” he replies, completely serious. “None whatsoever.”