When she lifted her eyes to him, they were floodedunhidden, bottomlesswith love and longing, and a hint of reckless resolve.
If that's "falling," then so be it.
So long as she could stay by his side, breathe him in, belong to him
she would accept being a fallen hero, and savor it like something sweet.
Sensing the girl's clinging trust and that all-in, blazing devotion, a shadow of meaning flickered in Rei Ao's eyes.
"Heh"
He let out a soft laugh, finally easing his hold on the much-teased Emilia, and turned his gaze to the two very different faces on the sofa.
"Emerada. Suzuno."
His voice slipped back into its usual languid drawl, but the authority in it brooked no argument.
"What are your plans now?"
Being called on made both women jolt ever so slightly.
They exchanged a glance, each seeing in the other eyes the same resolve settling after the confusion.
"I"
Emerada spoke first. Her voice still carried a cleric's cool clarity, but it had shed some of its old rigidity and gained a new, level acceptance of reality.
"This world is completely different from where we came from.
"No war with demons. No orders from the Church.
"Strange, yesbut intriguing."
She paused, as if choosing her words.
"I'd like to try stayingto fit into life here.
"Maybe open a flower shop?"
The thought was a little abrupt; even she was surprised to hear herself say it.
But as she looked at the bright sunshine outside and the greenery along the street below, the idea rose up as naturally as breathing.
Chapter 881: Man's Love Life never stop
Compared to Emerada's take, Suzuno Kamazuki was more down-to-earth. She straightened her back, still every inch a warrior.
"The power systems in our two worlds aren't the same, and neither are the rules," she said. "But survival is the same at its core. I need to learn how this world works and find a new rolea new way to live."
She glanced at Emilia nestled in Rei Ao's arms, her expression complicated, before it faded into a barely audible sigh. "Blending in is the best option. Maybe I should find a job where I can put my skills to use?"
Rei Ao listened without much surprise. He lifted his hand casually, and a string of silver keys slipped from between his fingers, clinking lightly as he tossed them to Emerada with perfect aim.
She caught them on reflex. The chill of the metal made her pause.
"There's an empty unit on the second floor of this building," Rei Ao said in a voice as even as if he were commenting on the weather. "Stay there for now. Think of it as a foothold."
Emerada and Suzuno both froze. They looked from the brand-new keys to Rei Aothen, inevitably, to Emilia, who was pressed close to him, cheeks still pink.
Gratitude surged up at once. They knew perfectly well this sudden kindness and protection weren't because of their own worth or strength. It was entirely for Emilia's sakethe "fallen" hero who was willing to give up everything for Rei Ao, and who had just won them their first stepping stone in this unfamiliar world.
Emerada tightened her grip on the keys. "Thank you Rei Ao-sama." She bowed slightly, sincere and formal. She would remember this favor.
Suzuno bowed as well. "We're very grateful. We'll get settled quickly and won't be a bother."
Rei Ao waved it off, indicating there was no need for formality.
The two women gave Emiliawho seemed practically attached to Rei Aoone last look, then turned to leave and sort out their new place. They needed a little space to process all the new possibilities ahead.
But just as they were about to step out of the living room
"Rei Ao"
Emilia's voice carried a hint of urgency and syrupy sweetness. She tipped her chin up, violet eyes shimmering so much they looked like they might spill over.
"Can we go back to the room?"
Her slender fingers bunched in the front of his shirt, tugging gently, equal parts playful and yearning. What they'd just shared was only an appetizernowhere near enough to quench the longing that had been building in her heart.
Rei Ao looked down at the unabashed invitation in her eyes and the heat that was almost blazing there. His brow ticked up and he let out a low, ambiguous chuckle.
"Man, my love life really never takes a day off"
Joke or not, his arm tightened around Emilia's waist, and he let the impatient girl half-push, half-pull him toward the master bedroom.
In the living room, only Tohru and Nodoka Toyohama remained. Tohru chomped happily on a slice of toast slathered with peanut butter as she watched Emilia tug Rei Ao through the bedroom door. The dragon girl's golden, slit pupils gleamed with pure curiosity and wonder.
"Wow, Emilia-chan is getting bolder and bolder!"
There wasn't a shred of disdain in her tonejust a neat little observation about the way Emilia and her master interacted.
Across from her, Nodoka had her head ducked so low it was about to disappear into her barely touched bowl of cereal. Her ears were as red as boiled shrimp, her small shoulders trembling. Emilia's daring invitationand Rei Ao's quip about his nonstop love lifehad each word tapping at her tender heart like a tiny hammer, sending her mind spiraling back to a blush-inducing romantic moment of her own.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, in a quiet residential neighborhood, Nodoka Toyohama's mother paced the living room, agitated. Worry and anger clouded her well-kept features. She flicked her phone screen on and off again and again, rows of unanswered calls to Nodoka glaring back at her.
"That brat! Where on earth did she go?!"
Mrs. Toyohama hissed through her teeth, manicured nails digging into the phone case. Ever since that day with Nodoka, her daughter had vanishedno answers to calls, no replies to texts. The school said she'd taken extended leave. It was outright rebellion.
She'd poured so much effort into grooming her daughter, her ticket into high societyhow could she lose control now?
Call the police. She had to call the police. Make them drag that disobedient girl back home.
Her hand shook as she reached for the landline and started to punch in the number when
"Ding-dong."
The doorbell cut her off. Mrs. Toyohama scowled. Who could it be at a time like this?
She set the phone down with an irritated clack, shuffled to the door in her slippers, and yanked it open.
The woman on the threshold stunned her into silence.
Mai Sakurajima's motherAi Sakurajima.
She wore a cream-white suit, perfectly tailored and luxuriously textured, tracing elegant, mature lines. Her sleek dark-brown hair was coiled into a neat bun, showing a smooth brow and a face that was younger, more beautiful, and far more commanding than Mrs. Toyohama remembered. Her gaze was calm and keen, carrying the quiet scrutiny of someone long accustomed to authority. Just standing there, she radiated pressure.
Jealousyand a prickle of hostilityrose in Mrs. Toyohama. The quintessential "somebody else's perfect mom," standing at her door. Why was she here?
"What are you doing here?" she said, cold and wary. "Is there something you want?"
Ai Sakurajima gave a poised, professional smileneither warm nor distant. Her eyes flicked past Mrs. Toyohama, taking in the slightly messy state of the room, then returned to her face.
"Mrs. Toyohama, sorry for dropping by unannounced," she said bluntly. "I'm here about Nodoka."
"Nodoka?!"
Mrs. Toyohama's pupils pinched tight. Her voice jumped a register, tense and just a hair flustered. "You know where she is? Did you and Mai hide her?!" She automatically shifted the blame onto Mai Sakurajima.
~~~
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Chapter 882: Nodoka is Finally Free...?
Facing Mrs. Toyohama's baseless accusation, Ai Sakurajima's smile didn't waver. Only her gaze deepened, as if it could see straight through a person.
"Please, calm down a little, Mrs. Toyohama."
Her voice was gentle but carried an unquestionable authority.
"Nodoka is safe. She's with Mai right now."
"With Mai?!"
Mrs. Toyohama sounded even more incredulous, her voice sharpening. "How could they possibly"
"In this world, very little is impossible," Ai cut in.
Her tone stayed even, yet oddly soothing. "There may have been some misunderstandings between Mai and Nodoka. But for now, they're getting along fairly well."
She neatly avoided the details.
"You don't need to worry about Nodoka's safety. She's doing finemaybe even better than you'd expect."
Mrs. Toyohama opened her mouth, but when she met Ai Sakurajima's steady gaze, her questions and anger seemed to clog in her throat. The other woman's presence was too strong, triggering an instinctive flicker of fearthough mostly she just felt lost about the disappearance of the "project" she'd poured so much effort into.
"Then why are you here?"
Her voice softened, tinged with confusion.
Ai took a small, graceful step forward. The invisible pressure of her demeanor made Mrs. Toyohama back up half a step on reflex, clearing the doorway.
"Won't you invite me in?" Ai smiledpolitely, but in a way that brooked no refusal. "We should have a proper talk about Nodoka."
Her calm eyes settled on Mrs. Toyohama's face. In their depths was something like a dark pool that could swallow secrets whole, and it made Mrs. Toyohama's heart give a nervous skip.
Early the next morning.
In the apartment's master bedroom, heavy curtains shut out most of the dawn, leaving the room in a dim, intimate glow. The air still carried Emilia's sweet scent and a lazier, masculine warmth.
Half-asleep, Nodoka Toyohama felt the mattress dip beside her. A warm, strong hand slipped around her slender waist and drew her into a solid, familiar embrace.
"Mm"
She let out a soft sound, still not fully awake, but her body recognized Rei Ao before her mind did. She burrowed into a comfortable spot against him out of habit.
Emilia's boldness from earlier flashed across her mind, bringing instant color to her cheeks.
Rei Ao's kisses were lazy with morning and quietly commandingfirst her forehead, then her eyelids, and then a real kiss. Nodoka's heart kicked into a gallop; her body went a little weak. She thought he was unsated, that he'd come looking for her again. Shyness surged like a tide. She pressed lightly against his chest, her voice husky and timid with sleep.
"R-Rei Ao"
"Shh."
He interrupted her with a low, amused murmur. "Don't you want a surprise?"
A surprise?
Nodoka blinked, her hands stilling, confusion clouding her sleepy eyes.
Rei Ao felt for her phone on the nightstand and tucked it into her hand. "Look."
His voice held a coaxing lilt.
Dizzied by his kisses, Nodoka lit up the screen on reflex. The sudden brightness made her squint. When she finally made out the text, her whole body went rigid.
A message.
From: Mom.
Nodoka's heart plunged. Panic and resistance surged up, almost as reflex. Mom she'd found her after all? Was it a scolding? An order? A threat?
Her fingertips trembled as she opened the message.
The words that popped up hit her like a bolt of lightning.
[Nodoka: I've been thinking a lot. I was wrong beforeforcing you to do things you didn't like and ignoring how you felt. I'm sorry. From now on do what you want to do. I won't interfere anymore. Take good care of yourself. I love you.]
It wasn't long, but it slammed into the shackles binding Nodoka's soul and shattered them into pieces.
She stared, wide-eyed, reading the message over and over as if she no longer recognized the words. This was this something her mother would say? The mother who only cared about her value, who spun a cage called "for your own good"? Telling her to do what she wanted? Apologizing? Saying she loved her?
Shock, confusion, disbelief crashed over her like a tidal wave. Her grip tightened until her knuckles went white, her body shaking despite herself.
"Th-this this is?"
She lifted her head to Rei Ao, voice dry and quavering, already thick with tears.
The lazy teasing had left his face. His dark eyes held hers, steady and unusually gentle. He raised a hand and, with the pad of his finger, brushed away the tears bursting from the corners of her eyes.
"A surprise," he said softly. "Do you like it?"
Boom.
Nodoka understood in an instant.
It was Rei Ao. It had to be. He had done somethingsomething that made her controlling, forceful mother send this message. He had cut the invisible noose around her neck.
A flood of relief burst the dam and swept away everything in its path. No more heavy chains, no more suffocating cagefreedom. Her mother's recognition and release, late but priceless.
"Mm"
All the long-suppressed hurt, longing, and now the surging joy collapsed into a sob she couldn't hold back. Hot tears spilled from her bright eyes in fat drops, soaking her cheeks and the front of Rei Ao's shirt.
She hurled herself into his arms, clutching his neck like a drowning swimmer grabbing the only lifeline. Then she tipped her face up, eyes awash, and kissed him hardwithout hesitation, without restraint.
This kiss held no shyness, no resistanceonly clumsy urgency and a touch of wild abandon, salted with tears and surging like a storm tide, pouring every ounce of gratitude, love, and reborn joy into the man who had given her freedom.
~~~
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Chapter 883: Happiness and ... Too Fast of Happiness?
In the dining room.
Mai Sakurajima had just sat down and lifted her glass of milk.
Through the gap of the half-open door, she happened to catch a glimpse of the tight embrace happening in the bedroom.
Her hand paused around the glass.
Then she rolled her eyeshard.
Under her breath she muttered, "Ugh first thing in the morning," her tone carrying that familiar, habitual disdain.
However
when her gaze fell on Nodoka Toyohama's facetear-streaked yet shining with a light and joy she'd never seen beforethat disdain softened in an instant.
A faint, genuine smile quietly tugged at the corner of Mai's lips.
She lowered her head and took a small sip of the warm milk.
She didn't look that way again,
just calmly savored a morning full of unexpected delight.
She knew that the girl who'd always lived under her mother's shadow, skittish as a frightened birdNodokahad finally slipped the cage and found a sky of her own.
And all of this
was thanks to the man who, at that very moment, was being kissed with clumsy but burning fervor.
