Issei's eyes shot opened.

Where did this sudden jolt of pain in his side come from?

Oh.

He looked at the gorgeous blonde girl lying next to him.

Usually, she slept quite peacefully, but not tonight. Asia was turning and twisting constantly, as if fighting an invisible enemy.

Couldn't she have woken him up in a more interesting way?

"No, don't," Asia mumbled, turning over again.

Hm. Must be a nightmare

Unfortunately, he was stuck here. Last night he had fallen asleep on his back (as usual) and somewhere during the night Ruruko had put her head on his chest. This happened quite often actually. They liked to hold him as they fell asleep, especially Ruruko-chan.

If he stirred now, he'd definitely wake her up. It was basically like having a cat fall asleep on your lap. Ruruko also held his arm, so he couldn't reach Asia.

"No," Asia mumbled again.

He could wake her up by saying something, but that would wake up Ruruko too.

Luckily, his dilemma was resolved at that point.

Asia rolled over and got wrapped up in the blanket, which woke her up.

She freed herself from the blanket, looking very confused.

"You okay?" Issei whispered.

"Yeah." She moved a stray hairlock out of the way. "Sorry I woke you up."

"Don't worry about it. Nightmare?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged closer against him. Since she only wore a thin nightgown, he could feel the warmth of her body.

"About what?" he asked.

"Last night."

"Oh, that shadow?"

"Uhu," she said. "I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't saved me."

"Better not to think about that," he said. He wanted to wrap his arm around her, but it was stuck beneath Ruruko's hand.

"But what if it returns?" Asia asked. She sounded pretty scared.

"I'll protect you."

"You couldn't protect me back then, could you?" she snapped.

Asia sat upright. There was an unusual anger on her face.

"Huh?" Ruruko lifted her head. Her eyes fluttered open. Issei didn't notice however.

"Well I'm trying my best," he said calmly. "What more do you want me to do?"

"Maybe not being such a-"

"Asia," Ruruko interrupted them. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." She looked away, still angry.

"Senpai is doing what he can," Ruruko said. "I understand you are scared, but-"

"I'm not scared!" She jumped up and ran out of the room.

Issei blinked a few times.

What just happened? Was he still dreaming?

"That was strange," Ruruko said.

"I don't get it," Issei said. "What does she want me to do? Of course I'll do whatever I can to protect her, but we have to be a bit realistic. I can promise I'll fight, I can't promise I'll win."

Asia could have some small mood swings, but not like that.

"She's acting really weird," Ruruko said. "I mean, you did save her before things got really serious. How is this different from that time Freed tried to assault her? Apart from the tentacles of course."

"I don't know. Look I would be pretty scared too, but why is she getting angry at me? I'm trying to help her."

[Wake up, Onii-chan. Wake up… I-if you don't wake up, I'll have to k-kiss you.]

"Damn." He gently pushed Ruruko off him. She made a cute complaining noise that almost convinced him to stay here.

But he had other things to do.

Issei had to crawl over his bed to reach the alarm. Having a large bed had his perks, but also a few downsides.

He pressed the button to turn it off. "I have to go to training. Can you talk to her? Girl to girl?"

"That depends." She hugged him from behind. He could feel her breasts pushing against him.

"On what?" he asked.

"Do I get a good morning kiss?"

"My breath is a bit-"

"See if I care, Senpai." She playfully bit his ear.

"Little deviant," he mumbled. Issei leaned backwards and kissed her.

She wasted no time progressing to tongue-kissing.

Normally they would do a lot more than just kissing in the morning, but Issei wasn't really in the mood now. He didn't even touch her breasts while they kissed.

Issei broke off the kiss.

Ruruko smacked her lips. "Yeah, you need to brush your teeth."

"Looks who's talking."

"Hey."

"Anyway." He got out of bed and picked up his training clothes. "Will you talk to her?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, love you."

"Me too."

Ruruko settled back down beneath the blanket, clearly intending to sleep a bit more.

He went out and closed the door behind him.

He first brushed his teeth and put on his training clothes. Then, he went downstairs. As he was putting on his shoes, Rias arrived.

"Good morning," she said.

"Hm."

"Something happened?"

"Nah. Some stuff with Asia-chan." He finished tying his laces.

"Oh, I see."

"Shall we?" he asked.

"Yeah."

They went out and started running.

It was a really hot day today. Issei was sweating after only a few hundred metres, as was Rias. Unfortunately, she wore her usual pink-white jersey which did not become transparent when it got wet.

"We can take a break if you want to," Rias said after a while. "This isn't really the weather to train much."

"Since when are you going easy on me?"

They reached the park.

"Oh well," she shrugged. "It's been calm lately."

"Calm? What about the fight yesterday?"

"That was an exception. We were surprised and only half of us were fighting. If all eight of us had been there, we would have killed those monsters."

"Yeah, probably. Still-"

"Don't worry about it. We'll kill it next time." She smiled encouragingly.

"Hm."

She was strangely unconcerned. But then again, she hadn't been attacked by tentacles herself, so she didn't really know just how close it had been for them.

Rias sat down on a bench. Issei joined her.

His training with Rias was now down to once a week on Sunday. But Issei also trained on his own in the training hall in the basement. Occasionally, Asia and Ruruko would join him, but not today obviously.

He remembered there was something he wanted to ask Rias.

"Do we have any plans for summer?" he started.

"Maybe," Rias said.

"We could go to the beach," he suggested.

"Trying to see me in a swimsuit are you?"

"Technically I already saw you wearing only half of a swimsuit. It was quite a marvelous sight."

She turned red. "That was… situational."

"You're the one who took it off," he pointed out.

"Because you were busy with Akeno."

"Yeah. Speaking of which," he said, getting to the point. "How are things between the two of you?"

Rias avoided his eyes and played with her fingers. "Not bad."

"You have told her how you feel, right?"

"Don't tell your King what to do." She stood back up. "Come on, break is over."

"It's just a suggestion. I've been trying to keep some distance so I don't come between your friendship, but-"

"You don't have to. She misses you."

"She does?"

"You should go see her. Especially since…"

"Since what?"

Was Rias hiding something from him?

"Well. I'm not really supposed to say this."

"But you're gonna do it anyway, aren't you?"

"Alright then. It's her birthday next Saturday."

"Oh, well I didn't know that. So she's turning… seventeen?"

"Yeah," Rias confirmed.

"I should get her a present."

"There's only one thing she wants for her birthday. And you're the only one who can provide it."

He frowned. "What is it?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you. You should visit her and see if she tells you."

"Hm. Alright then."

Strange. What kind of crazy present did she want that only he could give it to her?

"Now, onto your training. You still owe me fifty push-ups."

"Fifty!?"

"Yes. You reminded me I'm going way too easy on you. We could be attacked at any moment."

"But-"

"Come on, get down."

"Well at least you could do more than just stand there and watch me die. Is the King gonna cower behind her Pawn when we're attacked?"

"Maybe we should make it sixty just in case," she said on a dangerous tone.

He quickly got down on the grass.

That was a strange mood shift.

Was something going on with Rias?

Maybe she wanted a birthday present as well?

"Say, Rias," he asked as he pushed himself up. "When is your birthday?"

"April."

"Oh, looks like I missed it then. You're turning eighteen next year, aren't you?"

"No need to remind me of that, Ise."

"Oh, right, sorry."

He had almost forgotten her father was planning to set a marriage date after she turned eighteen.

"When's your birthday?" she asked, trying to defuse the tension.

"Also April. But you don't need to get me a present."

"Hey, I already bought you another girlfriend."

Issei rolled his eyes.

It wasn't his fault he had somehow gotten himself two girlfriends. Well, technically it was but… what sane person would refuse them if they said they were okay with it?

It took a while before Rias was satisfied with his training. When he came back home, he was covered in sweat from tip to toe.

"Welcome home, Senpai." Ruruko greeted him. She wore one of her short summer dresses today.

"Hey, Ruruko-chan." Looks like she had managed to get out of bed.

"You look like you went swimming."

"Something like that. You didn't talk to Asia, did you?"

Her overly happy attitude gave her away.

The smile vanished. "I tried. But… well," Ruruko took out a note from her pocket. "She left a note saying she's away for a contract and she won't answer her phone."

"Hm." He studied the paper. It was indeed like she said.

"She'll be fine, Senpai. She just needs some time."

"Yeah, maybe." He put away the note.

"Don't worry so much. You need to relax."

"How?"

"Well, you could have breakfast. Or you could take a bath. Or you could take…" she blushed and didn't finish. Not that she had to.

"How about all three?"

"At the same time?" she moved closer. "Ye, Senpai, how would you do that?"

"Well now that you ask."

Issei leaned back in the bath. "I kinda like this. This was a good idea, Ruruko-chan."

"You're crazy," she said.

Ruruko tried to stay focused so she didn't screw up.

He had indeed managed to do all three at the same time. They had put their breakfast on a large tray which floated around in the bath.

Of course, it was too heavy to actually float, so Ruruko was using her magic to increase the buoyancy to keep it afloat. All the while, Issei did his best to distract her, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Seems like he wasn't the only one working hard.

"Your magic is getting strong," he noted. He took another bite of his sandwich.

"I've been practising a lot," she said. Ruruko moved a loose hair out of her eyes. She looked quite satisfied with herself.

Issei stopped his efforts to distract her.

"I'm concerned about Asia," he admitted.

"Ye, Senpai, I'm trying to distract you here."

"I know."

"Is this gorgeous body no longer enough to keep your attention?" She pushed out her chest as she said it.

"Modest are we?"

"Always."

"You know, I think Asia's chest is actually growing to be big-"

"Careful now, Senpai," she warned him.

"Looks like I hit a sensitive spot."

"You're good at that," she shot back.

He tried to find a good comeback, but it was difficult to focus. Her teasing was making the blood flow to the wrong side of his body.

"As you insist to keep talking about Asia-chan," Ruruko said. "Are you getting anywhere with her?"

"You mean…"

"I think you know exactly what I mean."

Issei sighed. "You know I haven't. I said I'd wait until she's ready, no matter how long it takes. There is no hurry."

"Yes, but…" Ruruko hesitated.

"But what?"

"Nothing."

He narrowed his eyes. "Has she talked to you about it?"

"No. But… her outburst this morning could be related to this. I think she feels conflicted about it. Doing… other things is all fine, but to actually lose her virginity, that would go against the church completely. The church is pretty clear on no sex before marriage."

"That's a weird logic. She's doing sexy stuff with me all the time, but actually losing her virginity would be crossing some kind of line? She's not even fertile for most of the year, so what's the big deal?"

"Really Senpai? You're asking logical questions about religion?"

Issei sighed inwardly. She was right about that. He didn't really understand how Christianity worked. He heard about it vaguely, and he understood there were rules involved with it, but he could not understand why anyone would need to follow them. Couldn't you just not be an asshole?

"Anyway," he said. "Her reasons are not relevant. Even if she doesn't want to do it before marriage, that's fine to me."

"You already planned your wedding?"

"I may have considered it," he evaded.

"Ye, you're actually gonna marry her just to get into her panties?"

"Well they can't all be as easy as you."

Flames shot out of her eyes.

The floating tray started to shake a bit.

"Careful now," he warned her. "You don't want to make a mess."

"Actually I do."

Issei quickly took the plate and put it down on the floor. Just in time, cause the next moment Ruru got on top of him.

"Hey."

"Let me show you how easy I am."

She claimed his lips with hers.

He tried to touch her, but she took his wrists and pinned his arms above his head against the wall.

Green light flashed.

He threw a glance upward. She had used magic to lock his hands in place.

Even though his magic had improved quite a lot, he wouldn't be able to break this seal without Promotion. He had permanent light powers with his second Pawn, but without a gun or sword to channel them, they were pretty weak. Certainly not strong enough to break a seal like this.

Ruru moved to kiss his neck, hard enough to leave a hickey.

"What's wrong, Senpai? I thought I was easy?"

He didn't reply.

"Senpai? Are you okay?"

He searched for the right words to explain how he felt, but he didn't find anything.

She undid her spell. His hands were released.

"I'm sorry," Ruruko said. "I'm uhm… you know, I just thought I'd try dominating you for once, instead of the other way around. You seemed to like it at first."

"I do, but, it just…" he sighed. "Suddenly I felt how easy it would be."

"Easy?"
"I've been training for months, I've taken powers from an exorcist and a three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell. And yet, even with all that training, it's still laughably simple to beat me, isn't it? If I let my guard down, I get overpowered easily. Without Promotion, I'm useless." Asia was right. He couldn't protect anyone.

"That's not true, Sen… Ise."

He was left speechless for a moment. Ruruko had never ever called him 'Ise' before.

"You're working very hard," she added. "You were sweating all over when you returned here. We're not in some kind of shonen manga, Ise. The world does not revolve around us. Even if you work hard, you might not win every time."

"But what if that monster returns?"

"What can we do? We'll take the next chance. And the next. On and on until we win... or the chances are spent."

He frowned. "Are you quoting Star Wars?"

"Uhm, a bit."

He sighed. "I guess you have a point. We'll just have to make do with what we have as best as we can. With a power like mine, it's silly to expect a peaceful life. People will see me as a threat or an opportunity."

"But there are others who will protect you," Ruruko said. "I think you forgot you just lost to me. If anything it should reassure you that I am capable of protecting you if need be."

"But I'm the one who should be protecting you."

"That's sexist, Senpai."

"Okay, you're right. Let me say it differently: I want to be the one protecting you."

That took her back. "And I want to be protected," she replied. "But you know we're not talking about the physical act you do in a real fight. We're talking about the feeling of being protected and taken care off. Fights have nothing to do with that, this is between you and me."

"Yeah. But then why are we switching? Shouldn't I be on top?"

"You don't like it when we switch?"

"I don't know. It makes me feel uncomfortable and scared to be honest."

"Oh. Well actually I was scared of doing something wrong. I really couldn't focus well."
"Well now you know how difficult my position is."

"Oh, how I pity you," she teased him.

"Do you think it's because of the fights?" he asked, not taking the bait. "That I feel this need to dominate you?"

"How so?" she got serious as well.

"Well, usually when I don't feel in control it's because I'm losing in a fight. So maybe somehow, that fear of losing got translated into this?"

"I've been in plenty of those fights too, and yet I feel exactly the other way. It feels so good not to be responsible for once."

"Maybe Freed's power somehow changed me," he suggested. They knew there was a price to pay for taking powers after all.

"Ise. Stop being like this. You know the answer just like I do. Shall I take out that cardboard box of yours?"

He turned red. "That one is safely locked away."

"You've always had this desire to dominate women to some extent," Ruruko said. "There is nothing wrong with that. Just be happy you've found someone who enjoys being dominated."

"You can make that plural," he said, smiling.

"Oh right, I forgot you have two girlfriends."

"And counting."

"Modest are we?"

He grinned. "Well, what use is modesty? Especially since confidence is pretty much key into dominating your partner."

"True, you're learning fast."

"Always."

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around so he was on top of her.

"We better take this to the bedroom," Ruruko said. "This water is in the way."

"Yeah, good idea."

He scooped her up in his arms.

"Senpai." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"What?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"We have to get dried off first."

"See if I care."

"Unbelievable." Ruruko pouted her lips.

Issei carried her to his bedroom. Her long hair dripped down water on the carpet, but he ignored it.

He put her down on his bed. The sheets were gonna get wet, but he could take care of that afterwards.

"You really have no patience," she said.

"You're the one who started this," he said.

"No I didn't. Now come here and finish it."

He leaned in and kissed her.

They made out for a moment, but they both wanted to get on with…

"Ise-senpai?"

Issei turned.

"Oh, Asia? You're back."

She stood in the doorway, dressed now, although more conservative than usual.

"I see you haven't missed me," she said, angry again.

"We were just…"

"Yeah I can see that."

"Hey," Ruruko argued. "I'm his girlfriend too."

"Hmph." Asia turned around.

"Asia."

The door slammed close behind her.

Ruruko sighed. "What's up with her?"

"She's mad I think."

"She's the one that ran away and didn't answer her phone. What were we supposed to do?" Ruruko complained.

"Go look for her?"

"Where? I have no clue where Asia would go."

"I have a hunch actually."

"Look, Senpai, she is the one that left. What reason does she have to be angry at you? You did nothing wrong."

"I should have saved her sooner from that thing," he said.

"You couldn't have. Senpai, there is nothing you could have done."

"I know, I know, but…" he hesitated. "Never mind."

She sighed. "You're no longer in the mood, are you?"

"Not really. Sorry."

"You better finish this another time."

"I will."

She gave him a short kiss on his lips.

Issei went back to the bathroom and dried himself off. Then, he put on training clothes again (fresh ones).

Ruruko frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Training hall." He zipped up his jersey.

"Oh. I see."

"Hey, don't worry about me." He gave her a kiss. "If you need me, I'll be downstairs."

"I always need you."

"Don't you have homework to catch up on?"

"Maybe," she grumbled.

"You better get started or Sona-senpai will be mad at you. As will I."

"Okay okay."

"I'll just-"

"No." She pulled him back and kissed him again, longer this time. "Now you can go."

He smiled inwardly.

He considered looking for Asia, but he could not detect her aura anywhere. Most likely, she had already teleported away. And if she wasn't here, she probably didn't want to talk to him. Besides, she would be too angry to listen to him anyway.

He took the elevator down.

In the training hall, he put up the safety barriers and got started on his usual training.

After about an hour, a warning sound came from the speakers. Someone was disabling the safety barrier.

The doors slid opened.

"Ruru… oh, Xenovia."

"I guess that's appropriate given my purpose for coming here," Xenovia said. She was dressed in a blue-white jersey that matches her hair.

"Sorry, Xen-chan. I keep forgetting."

"It's okay." She brushed a loose hairlock away.

"You're here to train too?"

"Uhu."

Right, he actually should have known that. They both had a schedule. Normally it didn't overlap, but he was off schedule today.

"I can leave," he suggested.

"No, no. In fact, it might not be that bad to have a training partner."

She put up her long blue hair in a ponytail.

"Alright."

"Actually," Xen-chan said. "I've always wanted to have a mock battle against you."

"We already had one," he pointed out.

"That doesn't count. I want a fair battle, just the two of us."

"Shouldn't you get warmed up first?"

"I ran here, I'm warm enough."

"Okay." He picked up two training swords and handed one to her. "Are you sure this is fair? I- woah." He quicky lifted his weapon to block.

"I can handle myself," Xen-chan said. She pushed hard with her wooden sword.

Damn, she was strong.

Issei pushed back.

Their faces were really close together now.

Suddenly, Xen-chan leaned in and kissed him, right on his lips.

What the hell?

Their kiss lasted about half a second.

The next moment, he was hit hard in his ribs. His sword was ripped out of his hand and suddenly both weapons were beneath his chin.

"Dead," Xenovia said calmly.

"I thought you wanted a fair fight?"

"This is fair, one on one. You think your enemies won't play dirty?"

She lowered her swords again and handed one back to him.

"I know honor is meaningless in a real fight," Issei said. "You don't have to tell me."

"Clearly I do. With males you don't have a problem, but if a girl bats her eyelashes, you get distracted." She attacked again.

"No I don't." Issei blocked and counterattacked, but she jumped back out of his reach.

"Was that your first kiss?" Issei asked as he swung his weapon. She was slowly driven back against the wall.

"That's not relevant. In a fight on life and death, there is no room for silly teenage things."

"I thought you wanted to be more of a teenage girl, Xen-chan?"

"That…" she hesitated.

Xen-chan stepped back, but she didn't realise she had already reached the wall. When she bumped against it, she lost her focus.

Issei took this opportunity to hit her wrist hard. Her weapon fell down on the floor with a clattering sound.

He put his free hand around her throat and pushed her against the wall, careful not to apply too much pressure.

"Dead," he said.

"You're cheating."

Issei released her again.
"You're conflicted," he shot back. "Conflicted on whether you want to be a warrior or a normal teenage girl."

She picked up her sword to avoid his gaze.

"In a fight, you have to be the warrior again," he told her. "There is no room for a teenage girl."

"I know that."

"Then keep your girly worries outside of the fight."

"That would be easier if I wasn't fighting you." She attacked again, more violently this time.

"How so? Am I the reason you want to be a teenage girl?"

Looks like he had hit quite close to home since she hesitated again.

He swung his weapon at the opening.

However, her sword suddenly surged upwards and blocked. With her free arm, she elbowed him in his face.

Issei cursed and stumbled back.

He lowered his sword.

"Sorry," she said, matter of factly. "Are you okay?"

"My nose is bleeding," he said. Xenovia had feigned her hesitation in an attempt to lure him in. A successful attempt.

"I'll get Asia-chan."

"She's not here." Issei focused his powers. His hand glowed green. Normally he wouldn't be using his powers without Promotion, but Twilight Healing was the easiest to control. And it was just a bleeding nose.

Xen-chan frowned. "How so?"

"She's away on a mission," he avoided. His nose stopped bleeding, although it still hurt. The green glow faded from his hand.

"Oh, okay."

"I suggest we stop our training for now."

"Yeah."

They moved to the lounge next to the hall. The lounge had red couches, thick carpets and a bar.

He took out two sport drinks from the fridge and threw one at her. She caught it easily.

Issei sat down on the nearest couch. Xen-chan sat down opposite of him.

"That uhm…" he hesitated.

"Hm?"

"That kiss."

"What about it?" She blinked innocently.

Why did she act like it was no big deal?

"Nothing."

"You want to do it again?"

"Come again?"
"Well, I must admit I am rather curious about it."

"Uhm…"

"As I said before, fighting for God isn't my purpose in life anymore."

"Yeah, you did say you were searching for new goals back then." Which is also why she had changed her hair.

"Romance is one of my areas of research. So, would you mind helping a girl out? For science?"

"That… you…"

Issei had never really considered how he felt about Xen-chan. At first, he had seen her as a church warrior. But now, with her hair grown to shoulder length and multiple green meshes between the blue color, she looked a lot more like a teenage girl. And she had a nice chest. Not as big as Rias or Akeno, but certainly bigger than Asia. The kind of breasts that nicely filled your hand.

And there was something about her blunt and pragmatic nature that he really liked. Xen-chan was the kind of girl who didn't make things overly complicated, unlike many other girls. She wouldn't keep him guessing when there was something wrong.

"Ise-senpai?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry."

"Is that a yes or a no?" She looked very confused that he couldn't give her a straight answer.

It's not that simple, he yelled inwardly. He couldn't just give an answer like that.

No, he had to. Xen-chan deserved a straight answer, even if he didn't really have one.

"Uhum." Issei cleared his throat. "Okay. If it's just for-"
"Senpai?" a new voice said. "Ah, there you are."

"Oh, Ruruko-chan." He tried to look non-guilty.

"Could I speak with Senpai for a sec?" Ruruko asked.

Xen-chan sighed. "We'll have to finish this later it seems." She stood up. "I'll see you around, Ise-senpai."

"Yeah, see you, Xen-chan."

Ruruko sat down in the couch Xenovia had just left.

She waited until the door closed before speaking.

"Asia is back."

Issei jumped up. "Where is she?"

"Sit down, Senpai."

He hesitantly sat back down.

"I talked to her. It's not your fault, but she feels conflicted about a whole bunch of things."

"Oh. Like religion?"

"That's one of them indeed. But it's also being a devil in general. I don't think she really wants to be in a fight."

"Well she can't go back now," Issei said. "She'd be hunted as a stray."

Asia knew the consequences of becoming a devil when she made the decision.

"Even so, Rias-senpai could leave her out of fights."

"She's our healer, we can't-"

"Senpai. Think about how Asia feels. All her life she has been helping people. She has never tried to actively harm anyone. But that offhand remark I said about how she needed a weapon made her think. It's true. We won't always be there to save her. She needs to be able to fight for herself. She's blaming herself for not having a proper weapon with her. Asia could have held off that thing by herself if she actually trained some offensive techniques."

"Yeah, probably." She could have at least bought some more time.

"So give her some time to think by herself, okay?"
"Yeah, okay."

"She's gonna sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight, so you don't have to worry about her safety."

"Okay." He really didn't have much to say.

Issei had never really considered Asia would be conflicted about hurting someone. He certainly wasn't. When your life was in danger, you did what had to be done. There was no room for anything else. But he could understand that would be more difficult for a kind girl like her. Not to mention a devout believer of a religion that technically told you to turn the other cheek.

But Asia was now realising Ruruko had a point. With a weapon of her own, she would be much safer.

"Are you coming back up?" Ruruko asked.

"Yeah."

They took the elevator back up.

"Oh, by the way," Issei said. "There is something I have to tell you."

"You do?"

"Xen-chan kissed me during our training."

"Oh." The elevator stopped. Ruruko got out without looking at him.

"She did it, I couldn't stop her." He followed her.

"It's okay," Ruruko said. "We agreed you could date any girl you liked. I'm glad you told me."

"Don't pretend like you aren't jealous please."

Ruruko bit her lip. "I don't mind the kiss that much. Besides, we gave you permission to do that."

"Ruruko?"

"Ruruko," she slowly repeated. "You call her Xen-chan."

"Yeah, she asked me to."

"Why don't you have a nickname for me, Senpai?" Ruruko asked.

"Like what? Ruru-chan?"
She blushed heavily. "Well…"

"Hm, you like it?"

She played with her fingers. "I wouldn't mind if you called me that."

"How about Cutie?"

She blushed even harder. "That's a bit much maybe."

"I'll settle for Ruru-chan then."

"I like that." She took his hand.

"Hm. Didn't we have something that needs finishing, Ruru-chan?"

"Oh," she blushed. "Yeah, we do."

"Come here." He scooped her up in his arms.

Ruru-chan made a cute noise and settled in his arms.

A/N:

-Thanks to everyone for your nice reviews.