Chapter 305: Embrace

Stardus decided not to wait any longer after hearing his words of advice.

‘…Right.’

In order to get closer, she had to be a little more reckless.

That’s why she had come to this prison, to this cell with Egostic, and decided to stay by his side.

Only because she wanted to be close to him. Only because she wanted to be close to him. She had no other intention.

But

“…Black heart? To me, Stardus is a hero, a hero in my own archaic way. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“…”

How come?

That thing he said. That he has no black heart.

A statement that clearly has nothing to do with her.

…Why does he want to turn it around so badly?

“In the first place, I never saw Stardus as a woman, not even for a moment-”

The moment she said it, she acted on impulse.

-Snap.

She yanked Egostic out of his chair and toppled him over onto the bed where she was lying.

One moment she was lying on the bed, leaning back against him, the next she was in his arms.

Her arms outstretched beside his head, their faces so close they could feel each other’s breath.

She smiled, and turned to Egostic.

“…So now, you don’t see me as a woman?”

…and immediately regretted it.

Wait, Haru, you’re being too pushy…! What will he think of me…!

However, she was still a little embarrassed.

“…..”

Those thoughts were washed away when she saw the slightly flushed face of the most embarrassed she’d ever seen him.

…She never saw him look so flustered before, always smirking and breezing through any situation.

She forgot that she was blushing just as much, and smiled cheerfully at him.

-Flick.

“…Huh?”

The next moment, her hand was grabbed and her arm was yanked away.

She didn’t react, and when she came to her senses she was lying at the foot of the bed with her right hand being held.

Above her, a red-faced Egostic was looking down at her.

“…So, what I’m saying is, if you keep provoking me, this is what might happen.”

“…”

The fluffy sheets of the bed supported her back as she looked up at Egostic directly above her.

They’d shifted up and down, but they were still so close that their breaths touched.

‘…Hot.’

Stardus felt her own heart beat loudly.

-Pounding. Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.

‘…Ouch.’

She, the hero, was crushed by the villain in bed, in a state that would make a normal hero feel ashamed.

…Why is her heart pounding?

And

The difference in strength between her and him is significant.

It should be easy to escape from his embrace if she were to use her strength.

…Why doesn’t she want to?

And, again

Why?

“…”

Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.

With a face even redder than before looking up at Egostic, whose cheeks were equally red she swallowed her embarrassment and smiled tauntingly at him.

“Well…? I don’t mind, I guess. Do whatever you want.”

She was going to go all the way and even if she didn’t know where that end was.

What the hell, how did this happen?

-Flick.

-Flick.

~On a bed in a prison cell~

…On a bed that was somehow too big and white to be a prison bed, I was looking down at Stardus lying beneath me.

“…So, what I’m saying is, if you keep provoking me, this is what might happen.”

I looked down at her, who was looking up at me from beneath me with a deep red face.

I, for once, said something like that, trying to hide my embarrassment.

‘…..’

No, it was just an impulsive thing I did in the moment when I saw her looking down at me smiling smugly from above me.

…Somehow, things seemed to have gotten even weirder.

“…..”

Our bodies were intertwined, probably due to our hasty movements.

I tried to ignore her body, which was almost touching my chest, and her soft touch on my calloused right hand.

I looked down at Stardus, who was lying on her back, red-faced and sobbing slightly in embarrassment.

‘…Oh, my God.’

God, why are you putting me through this?

I said an angry prayer to the gods who had sent me here, and did my best not to look at Stardus beneath me.

…I’m a man, too.

I mean, when things get this bad, my patience gets pretty thin. I mean, when the person I like more than anyone else is doing this to me, and I can feel every curve of her body through her thin clothes.

The good news is, given the difference in strength between Stardus and me, this will be over soon enough. She’ll kick me, shove me, whatever, and it’ll hurt for a while…but it’ll put an end to this weird situation.

…Just as I was thinking that, I heard an unbelievable voice in my ear.

“Well…? I don’t feel like anything. Do whatever you want.”

Instead of running away, she brazenly said that.

…Except, of course, that she was still looking up at me, her face still bright red.

“…”

Seeing her say that from beneath me I glanced at my wrist for a moment, and then muttered with a defeated sigh.

“…Can you not regret it?”

And with that she was silent for a moment.

Her cheerfulness was gone.

With a flushed face, she avoided my eyes and muttered to me in a low voice, barely above a whisper.

“…I told you then.”

“Egotistic, if it’s you…I’m fine.”

And the moment I heard those words all sorts of thoughts and emotions swirled, rising and falling to the surface in my heart.

Just like that, I was.

Just like that, she and I.

We were both flushed, our faces close enough to touch, and I looked down into her watery blue eyes.

In that strange atmosphere suddenly, I heard a cold mechanical sound.

[It’s meal time].

“…?”

Along with those words, the sound of something clicking could be heard from the other side of the room.

“…Haha. It’s already mealtime, so let’s eat-”

I was about to pull myself up and escape when my savior appeared just in time but a pair of arms were behind my back, holding me in a hug.

And just like that, I collapsed on top of her, embraced again by Stardus as I rose to my feet.

That’s how I ended up burying my head in the pillowcase next to her head, panicking.

Underneath me, she was now fully embracing me, our bodies overlapping.

Still holding me, she whispered in my ear.

“…Why? You said you didn’t think much of it anyway.”

“Then.”

“Come on, let’s do this a little longer.”

“….”

And just like that I stayed in her arms for a while.

…What the hell was Stardus thinking?

I still couldn’t understand why she was doing this.

“…”

Still, Stardus’ arms were soft and warm.

And for a moment. Hugging each other.

…I don’t know.

It will be what it will be.

******

After a while.

“Thank you.”

The meal was delivered via some sort of small elevator, and we were seated at the table, facing each other, eating.

…The meal was pasta, perfectly plated.

‘…..’

No matter how you look at it, isn’t this too fancy for prison food?

I questioned that for a moment, but decided that the people of Carqueas must have known that Stardus was here, so I let it go.

Stardus in front of me nodded.

“…Mmm. Delicious.”

She was enjoying her pasta as if nothing had happened.

“…What are you looking at?”

Seeing that I was staring at her blankly, she replied with a stern look.

…She turned her head away excitedly, but her still reddened ears were evidence that what had happened earlier was real.

After a moment of silent contemplation, I sighed, picked up my fork, and muttered.

“…I don’t know what the hell Stardus was thinking.”

As I said that she smiles as she rolls the pasta around her fork.

“It’s just. You said you didn’t think anything of me, so I tested you.”

“No, no matter how you say it… Ha. No.”

I replied, putting the pasta in my mouth as well. It tasted good.

‘…’

I was about to ask if the other villains were doing this, but then I remembered that Stardus had said it was okay if it was me, and I felt even more sour. What the hell.

…Now that I think about it, I’ve got the problem of catching the Wish Granter, and it’s giving me a headache to think about her.

‘…Yeah, but I still have a week to spare.’

I had said that it would take a week to catch him, so I had that much time.

The problem is.

In other words, I’d be stuck with her for a week.

“…Huh? Why?”

She looked up at me with her blue eyes, her shiny blond hair flowing, and chewed on her pasta in a messy mess.

I sighed again, involuntarily.

…A week with her, I wondered if I could survive.

I wasn’t sure.