I stood above the frying pan watching the eggs and bacon cook beneath me with a small yawn. Arms wrapped around my waist and a head rested making me smile. " Did I wake you up?" I asked.
" Ya but I woke to the smell of food and that's the best way to wake up," he replied happily.
" Tsub- I mean Ryoutarou sorry," I mumbled.
" It's ok. It took me a bit to get used to saying your name. Now you just have tot get used to saying mine."
" Hopefully it won't take too long."
Ryoutarou turned me around and replied, " Well every time you say my name wrong I'm just going to have to punish you."
Ryoutarou leaned down and kissed me deeply and I felt my chest flutter at the affection. The end of the week has come with today being our last day in the cabin. I can't think of a single person who's happier to be in this game right now than me. Who would have thought getting trapped in this game would be the best thing to happen to me?
I pulled away from the kiss when I smelled smoke in the air and shrieked then turned around to see breakfast burnt. Ryoutarou on the other hand was laughing his ass off as I pouted over the black mess in the pan. " It's your fault so you're paying for breakfast!"
Ryoutarou stopped laughing. " But-"
" Nope. Consider that YOUR punishment."
" Can I get the other kind of punishment instead?"
I smirked and gave Ryoutarou a quick kiss. " But you're still paying."
" I think I can deal with it now," Ryoutarou replied and I giggled while going into my inventory and changed into my snow clothes.
" So do you want to ski or-"
" The dogs! Please don't make me ski anymore," Ryoutarou whined. Turns out Ryoutarou can't ski or snow board if his life depended on it. That cut the activities we could do by half but it was fine. In fact now we get to travel by snow dogs, which is pretty fun. Tsuboi and I went outside and tapped the single sled. From the snow emerged dogs made from the flakes, appearing and disappearing on command. " Are you holding on?" Tsuboi asked.
I hugged him and nodded then heard Tsuboi press a command button. I shrieked giddily as we sped down the mountain and for the main town. Upon arriving the snow dogs melted down back into the snow waiting for us to use them later. " Let's go eat at the inn I wanted to try to waffles there," I said taking Ryoutarou's hand and leading him there.
" 2 hot chocolates and 2 waffles please," Ryoutarou requested to the waitress. She nodded and left then Ryoutarou turned back to me. " So, last day here, what should we do? Is there anything we haven't done yet?"
" Well we haven't been to the hot spring but I was just going to skip it."
" Why? Some heat sounds good after all this cold."
" Ya but we have an onsen to go back to and we spent that one night in the hot tub remember?"
" But you wearing a bikini!" Ryoutarou argued and I laughed.
" I guess there's nothing else to do unless you want to repeat something."
" Well we could just stay in bed all day," Ryoutarou replied wiggling his eyebrows.
"Hot spring it is!"
He mockingly frowned and I laughed just as the breakfast arrived. After our very healthy meal of triple chocolate hot chocolate and waffles slathered in syrup Ryoutarou and I headed up the mountain where at the very top a public hot spring could be found. " Wow this is pretty big," Ryoutarou said looking around.
" I mean this is the opening for the volcano," I said whilst changing.
" Volcano?" Ryoutarou shouted.
" Ya we're sitting on a volcano. The cold climate keeps it cooled down enough that it won't go off. There is a quest to contain it but I think Dragon Knight Brigade did it already." I had changed into a white bikini and spun around before jumping in and letting the heat envelope me. " Come on it's fine!"
Ryoutarou smirked then changed into his swim trunks before doing a cannonball and splashing me. I moved the wet hair from my face grumpily before seeing Ryoutarou come out of water, his hair flat against his head and going past his eyes. I laughed uncontrollably as he pulled the hair from his eyes and smiled back at me. " If you think that's funny…" Ryoutarou began and reached for me with wiggling fingers.
" Don't you dare-"
Ryoutarou jumped and dunked me in the water. I rose back up gasping for air then went after Ryoutarou, jumping on his back trying to dunk him back. " I am invincible!" He shouted showing off his light muscles.
I kicked his leg and pulled back until Ryoutarou fell into the water. He rose from the water frowning. " Who's invincible now?"
" Fine you win," he replied smiling and pat the top of my head.
" Hey come over here," I said and motioned to the edge of the hot spring. I swam over with Ryoutarou right behind me. " Look you can see our cabin and the town from here," I replied sitting on a chair rock formation in the water.
" It's a nice view, don't get me wrong, but I like this view right here," Ryoutarou said pulling me into his lap.
" Are you going to keep being so cheesy when we get back? You know the guys won't tolerate that at all," I replied while adjusting myself so I straddled him.
" That's why I need to do it as much as possible while I can. Among with some other things."
I blushed and looked away but Ryoutarou leaned in and kissed my exposed neck. " Stop it!" I laughed and covered the ticklish spot.
" No," Ryoutarou demanded and took my lips instead. " It's my last day to have you all to myself and I'm taking advantage of it."
He kissed me again harshly, needily, and I responded happily. Did we really have to go back tomorrow? Can't we just stay here forever? It was then there was an instant message ping. " Ryoutarou-"
" Just leave it," he muttered and went back to kissing.
2 more pings went off. " Just check it real quick and-"
He slammed his lips to mine, making me just want to melt into them. Then I got two alerts on my side. " Fine I get it," he groaned and I smirked.
I opened my alerts and my eyes widened in shock. " No… it can't be-"
" The guys said the wolves ran away this morning and haven't been seen since. Fumiko are you listening?"
He looked over my shoulder and appeared equally as shocked as me.
Oh no! You're tamed beast INFERNO felt neglected and ran away! You have 24 hours to reunite with your tamed beast or they will be completely wild again.
Oh no! You're tamed beast AMATERASU felt neglected and ran away! You have 24 hours to reunite with your tamed beast or they will be completely wild again.
" This is all my fault," I cried into my hands, " I should have brought them with me I-"
" Hey sh it's ok," Ryoutarou said holding me. " Let's get back right away and find them before time was up. We can do this Fumiko."
I nodded and wiped the stray tears away before swimming to get out of the water. We teleported to town immediately after changing and only a few minutes later back home at the onsen. " Fumiko we're so sorry!" Issin begged, the first one two see Ryoutarou and I enter.
" Just explain what happened. You forgot to feed them didn't you?" Ryoutarou questioned angrily.
" No that's just it they wouldn't eat at all!" Dale said, " The first couple days Inferno sat by the door just waiting for you and whining a lot. Then they stopped eating and when we woke up this morning they were gone."
" They must have left last night because there are only a few hours left to find them. Oh Inferno where are you?" I said mumbling the last part when it struck me. " The cave! Where we found Amaterasu!"
" Let's go," Ryoutarou said running out the door with me. It was then a storm started to pick up, the wind, leaves, and rain blowing right at us as we scrambled to find that cave again. Everyone split up and I could just barely hear shouts of Inferno and Amaterasu through the storm.
It was nighttime, or at least it seemed that way given the darkness caused by the storm, when I stumbled across some light in the woods. Again I ran for it, tripping and falling more than once in this damn blackness. I looked into the cave and indeed there my wolves laid huddled together for warmth. I stepped forward and heard the crunch of a twin underneath my foot. Inferno's head bolted up and he growled then leapt from the cave and stood in front of me, teeth bared.
" Inferno it's me," I begged, holding my arms open. I reached forward and he bit at me before growling louder. I bit my lip in agony and fell to my knees. It was my fault this happened. He may be fully-grown but he's still just a puppy in his actions almost as if he were my own child. I abandoned him with no warning and now look what's happened. I looked back at Inferno as the wind and rain whipped around violently, the two of us staring at one another. He blinked and suddenly recognition came to his eyes. Inferno took slow steps forward until his head rested on my shoulder. I immediately hugged him to me tightly and clutched his drenched fur in my palm. " Good boy Inferno, good boy," I murmured into his ear.
Inferno pulled away and I saw his eyes were much softer as he whined at me, biting the cloth on my arm and dragging me back to the cave. Amaterasu didn't look well as she cracked her eyes open at me. I messaged Ryoutarou and the others my location and a few minutes later they arrived. " What's wrong with her?" Ryoutarou asked.
" I don't know I tried giving her medicine but it did nothing," I frowned.
" Her stomach looks kind of weird," Kunimittz muttered.
I looked and saw it did look bigger than usual but it had gotten bigger lately in general. It was then it pushed a little and we all shrieked. " Wait no way! How the hell did she get pregnant that fast?" Dynamm asked.
" The animals have accelerated birth rates so they can spawn enough enemies, pets, and random monsters in general. I didn't even notice that they…" I began but couldn't finish.
" They were probably watching you two," Dale said and made kissy noises.
" Focus guys she's not well!"
" Well shouldn't this just be like a prompt saying 'Would you like to help the wolf give birth to babies' or something?"
'Quest: The Miracle of Life' appeared before each of us.
Everyone gave me a look and I just shrugged with a chuckle. " Ok so looks like we need some plants from around here and hot water. You guys find the plants while we work on the water," Ryoutarou said.
The others nodded and everyone got to work. " How do we heat this up?" I asked after filling a basin with rainwater.
Inferno shot a fireball at it and then the water started to bubble. " Well there you have it," Ryoutarou said and we both laughed.
" Thank you for doing this for me. I know you just wanted to have a relaxing final day and everything-"
Ryoutarou put his hand on top of mine then replied, " I'm just happy being with you."
" You're way too cheesy sometimes you know that?"
" I think we agreed I get to be cheesy for the rest of our honeymoon and even this still counts. That and I can do this as much as I want to," Ryoutarou said then kissed me.
There were groans outside and we both turned to see the guys sopping wet and displeased. " Can you wait until you're alone again at least?" Kunimittz asked.
" You got the herbs?" I asked hoping they would ignore the previous actions.
Everyone handed me their plants and I dropped them in the water, watching them dissolve and the water turn green. " What now?" Ryoutarou asked.
Just then a bright glow surrounded Amaterasu and the water bin and in a poof there were 6 wolf puppies and an empty water bucket. A resounding aw was heard as each of the pups yipped at their mother and father. They weren't like normal newborn wolves however, their rapid aging already taking effect. These pups were at least a few weeks old, fur already fully grown and eyes wide open in happiness. " Well that should do it," I said standing and walking outside the cave, " Ok Inferno, Amaterasu let's head home."
Inferno walked towards me but Amaterasu growled. He looked at me whining then went back and sat beside Amaterasu. She doesn't want to come back and Inferno is willing to listen to her. " What should we do?" Ryoutarou asked me.
" I can't make them come with me and it's my fault to begin with. Let's just go," I muttered and we made our way back.
The storm had softened to just light rain, concealing my tears, as we went home. " It's going to be ok," Ryoutarou comforted me while holding my shoulder.
" You're right. He's with the one he loves and has a family. I just wish I had treated them better, tried harder."
Sadly I opened the door to the onsen and everyone headed inside. An alert appeared before me and I sighed, annoyed, and then opened it.
Congratulations! You got your pet INFERNO back!
I stood shocked then turned around to see Inferno standing damp in the rain and whining. I ran down the steps to him and hugged Inferno tightly. " Thank you," I murmured against him and I felt a shiver got through Inferno.
" Fumiko whatcha doing out h- Oh hey look!" Issin shouted happily.
" Let's get you," I began but then the wolf puppies jumped out of the forest edge with Amaterasu behind. She didn't want join me again; understandable since she didn't like me to begin with, but accepted Inferno would stay with me. " Let's get ALL of you inside."
The sounds of yips and barks filled the onsen and everyone came out to see the happy pups. " Inferno's back?" Ryoutarou asked equally as excited as I was.
" To stay forever hopefully, Amaterasu not so much," I replied and opened the door to our room.
2 wolves and the half dozen puppies sprinted and leapt into the onsen water, yipping and splashing around. " Well guess we can't go in there ever again," Ryoutarou mumbled.
One puppy yelped particularly loud and leapt from the water then dove into the snow happily. The pup was completely white; unlike the other siblings with fur the colors of fire. " Aren't you cold little guy?" I asked kneeling beside the pup.
But the pup was happily asleep in the snow and as I lifted it up I realized this was actually a girl pup. " How do we dry all these guys off?" Ryoutarou laughed as the pups tackled him.
I pulled out all the towels in my inventory and simply tossed them at Ryoutarou. A couple rubs later all the wolves were dried off and ran back inside to cuddle together on our futon. I carried the sleeping wolf pup in and placed her next to her mother but Amaterasu shied away. The wolf pup was not only the smallest but also cold to the touch. It appears Amaterasu is rejecting this little one. I looked to Ryoutarou and saw he had laid out another futon for tonight and patted the spot beside him.
I smiled and carried the sleeping pup over to our bed. " We'll be having a guest tonight," I said as I laid down and placed the wolf puppy between us.
" I noticed. She's really cold though huh?" Ryoutarou asked while petting her.
" Well she did play out in the snow for a bit so hopefully it's temporary."
" Want some dinner before bed?" Ryoutarou asked while in his inventory then pulled out a meat, cheese, and bread platter and a bottle of champagne.
" Ah is this the last of our honey moon presents?" I asked taking some prosciutto.
" Yup and as far as I'm concerned we are still on our honeymoon, today's events haven't ruined anything," he said and poured a glass for me.
" And what does that mean exactly?" I asked and took a sip.
Ryoutarou leaned and kissed me deeply, stealing any remains of champagne from my mouth then pulled away and licked his lips. " It means it's the last night of our honey moon and I'm not wasting it. Wolves, teammates, nothing will get in my way of being with you."
I blushed hotly and before I even got the chance to look away Ryoutarou took my lips again. The champagne and food was forgotten, the wolves very happy about that later, as I fell on top of Ryoutarou straddling him. I went into my inventory and disrobed to my undergarments as Ryoutarou did the same. " Do you promise?" I asked.
Ryoutarou sat up, his face inches from mine. His messy red hair, hazel eyes, and that incredible smile, no, everything about him made my heart beat uncontrollably. " I swear to you nothing, not even this game, will ever keep me from you. We will escape this game and the second I wake up I'll make it my mission to find you. You're the woman I love and nothing will ever change that."
Before my heart could explode with happiness I wrapped myself around Ryoutarou and met his lips halfway in a passionate kiss, confirming our promise to one another. Nothing will ever keep me from being with Ryoutarou, especially not on this night.