27—Creaking Floor Tiles and Multicolor Windows

I awoke to the feeling of soft lips pecking on my eyelids, sedately moving from my left to my right and back. I smiled despite my drowsiness, already knowing who was delivering the gentle kisses.

Usually it was me who woke up first, and I loved watching Aina sleep and lovingly waking her up, which often elicited a sleepy smile that pierced my heart, but it sure was nice to be woken up like this for a change.

I kissed Aina back, my eyes still closed, to wordlessly notify her of my wakefulness, then proceeded to lower myself slightly and cuddle my head against her modest bossom.

After a few minutes of this, we reluctantly separated, changed, and went towards our respective destinations for breakfast. Aina no longer seemed affected by whatever the other maids told her during the meals, but instead just turned even more clingy, as if wanting to prove them wrong by seeing my happiness at her approaches.

We met back up after our respective meals, both of which were thankfully devoid of trouble, and quickly headed out. We had agreed to meet with Nika earlier that day, at 10 in the morning, and we were cutting it a bit close.

I was fairly confident we arrived on time, though the lack of any clocks outside our the manor prevented us from knowing the exact numbers, but unlike previous days, Nika wasn't waiting for us in front of the adventurers' guild.

I wasn't really worried though, since it was normal for her to be a bit late if the sun was her best way of telling the time. There were no church bells in the capital to announce the hours, after all. It would be too big of a disturbance for many industries and other activities, such as alchemy, which required minimal interference of any kind.

But, as we waited in the adventurer guild, the stares from all around us deterring us from initiating any acts of affection other than discreet, under-the-table groping, we soon became tired of waiting, and decided to take the matter into our own hands by going to visit her at her temporary house, despite the inherent risk of us missing each other by departing at the same time.

As we walked, the journey being slightly over ten minutes, I couldn't stop my thoughts from wandering as I tightly gripped Aina's hand.

'Judging by the sun, about an hour has already passed since the time we agreed upon. Has something happened to Nika? Was she ambushed again? No, she can't have left the city since yesterday night and she wouldn't have wandered into any suspicious dark alleyways...

'Perhaps she doesn't want to see us anymore? Or me, specifically...? A sobering thought. But it will do me no good to speculate. We're arriving already, anyway.'

The facade of Nika's temporary stay was no less impressive when seeing it for the second time, all swirls and curves and ornamental pieces with nary a single bland, bare surface. Not even the windows were spared, their glass somehow reflecting the light in different colors depending on where you looked at them from, reflecting the streets like a mirror bathed in ethereal colors. Some kind of enchantment of the illusionism branch, most likely.

We knocked, waited, and knocked again, but no answer came. Experimentally, I tried turning the doorknob, knowing full well it would be locked with key–

The door opened.

'Shit.'

A foreboding feeling crawled up my spine like frostbite. I took a step inside the dark house, then another. The wooden floorboards creaked under my footsteps, not built to take my weight and my swords'.

The sounds of the bustling street just outside were muted, unnaturally quiet, and becoming dimmer and dimmer as I stepped into the house.

I felt a hand on my back.

I jerked, but calmed down immediately after I realized it was Aina's. I grabbed her by the waist with my left hand, pulling her close to me as I unseathed my sword from my back with my free hand.

Aina just looked at me, not knowing how to proceed.

I kissed her to reassure the both of us and stepped up the stairs into the second floor, where Nika's bedroom lay.

All the windows were shut. 'So that's why I could see the reflection of the streets being the layer of changing colors from outside, but not the interior of the house, huh?' I thought, in a futile attempt to lift my mood and dispel my fright.

I walked through the floor, the spacious rooms feeling cramped and tight, the ceiling too low. I jumped at every noise, and every dark space felt like it held danger within.

For some reason, all I wanted was to make my presence as small as possible, as I made my way through those dark, quiet rooms.

Thankfully, I soon reached the closed door leading to Nika's bedroom.

I hugged Aina tighter. Her warmth, along with my sword's sharpness, were my only comforts.

I looked back. There was nobody. Good.

I took a deep breath–

–and kicked the door open.

Boom!

"Kyaaaa!"

A shriek came from the bed, and a figure rose from the mattress, the shadows obscuring all but its silhouette.

My right arm, and thus my sword, shook. I wavered.

I turned the valve inside my mind to the max, flaring my senses. A wave of overwhelming sensory inputs hit me like a brick, but I was only looking for one of them–

I could see it... No, her.

It was just Nika, wearing a nightgown, her hair ruffled from tossing around in bed.

'Ah, damn. Of course she just overslept. I'm a fucking dumbass for thinking it could possibly be anything else. Too many horror movies.'

"What the hell are you– Ray, is that you!?" It took a while for Nika to process everything going on with her half-asleep mind, but she eventually, inevitably did.

"Hehe..."

The sound came from next to me. I looked down at Aina, who was covering her mouth with both hands, barely stopping herself from erupting into full-on laughter.

I sighed.

'Seems like I've got some explaining to do.'