Chapter 37 – Just because

Nine days have passed. HQ called, and I've received news that we shouldn't undertake any actions against the Mother Hive. Other than that, stuff was slowly going its way. And the snow. Geez… I have to work as the one-man maintenance crew for the runway with my Flame of Kōjin… But the fun, oh the fun! The girls are really having a blast in the snow, even Francesca, who surprisingly loves the snow, despite being brought up in such a warm region. Four days ago, on St. Nick's day, everyone found a bag of sweets beside their pillows. Hummm… I wonder who did that… Heheheh… And yesternight… Heh… I have a pile of womanly bodies on my bed again… Today, I can at least try to repay my benefactor, just a wee little bit. And I'll use Yoshika's skills to do that.

"Livy?"

"Yes, Master?"

"Will you place a double in my stead once I'm gone? I don't want the girls to wake up…"

"Heehee, of course, Master. Now, let's go."

Two hours later, he looked to his left, and saw Mio there.

She looks cute when sleeping… But it's time we move our asses…

Toshiro slowly and gently started poking her in the cheek.

"Hrrrrrmmmm… Oh… Hi…" she whispered.

"Mio, why is it that after sex, you sleep into the late morning, but on a normal day, you wake up at five?"

"Heh… Because it's so nice… Sleeping with you…"

"Oh it is…" Yoshika whispered over Toshiro's head. "Mornin', Mio."

"Good morning, Yoshika."

"Mooorning…" Adolfine yawned from the top of Toshiro's body. "It's a bit brisk…"

"Hey, no wonder, you're damn naked," Mio retorted.

"Look who's talking, Miss Moon."

"Moon… Where…" Shirley mumbled.

"Go to sleep…" Minna mumbled along.

Both were in Toshiro's legs.

"Hey, everyone, why don't you all come here for a naked group hug? It's a bit cold, and this is probably our last occasion to do so," Toshiro said in a normal voice.

"The three of us are already in position; let me give some incentive to those two…" Adolfine said and started kicking Shirley and Minna.

"Whaaaaaat…" Shirley protested.

"Up and front, Shirley."

"Okay, okay…" Shirley mumbled and crawled to Mio's left side.

"Minna, you too," Adolfine commanded.

"Yeah…" Minna muttered and moved to Yoshika's right.

"Hmmm…" Adolfine pondered and looked around. "Ah!"

She grabbed the quilt and covered them all.

"Heheh… What a snuggly companionship…" Toshiro said.

The door opened suddenly, and Trude went in half conscious.

"Toshiro… Erica is pestering me that it's too cold and… Lieber Gott und Allen Heiligen…" her eyes suddenly widened and her jaw definitely dropped lower.

Adolfine twitched a bit, but Toshiro said, "I told you we're doing such stuff, right, Trudy?"

"Yeah… But… Seeing this live so to say…"

"Oh if you've seen this live, you would burn as you are standing there…" Minna said with a wry smile.

"Herr Gott…" Trude sighed. "Anyway, it really is getting a bit chilly. I guess you'll have to regulate the heating on a daily basis, Toshiro."

"Dunno. As you see, we're pretty warm here…"

"If the higher ups got wind, you'd all be counting yaks in Chukotka…" Trude shook her head. "Are you all going to move or something? Unless you want to be subjected to stares as you exit Toshiro's room?"

"You have a point…" Adolfine mumbled. "Okay girls, time to evacuate."

All the girls started dressing up, with Adolfine being the fastest.

"Okay, take care all of you! I'm going."

"Bye Adi," Toshiro said.

"Yeah, bye… Adi…" Mio said with a wry smile.

"Oh shut up…" she mumbled and exited the room.

"Can you all go already? I'll get a boner from looking at all of you…" Toshiro mumbled.

"I won't mind…" Yoshika said and embraced him tighter.

"Yoshika, its breakfast preparing time," Mio said with a stern face.

"Oh okay, okay…"

"And you could look outside and see how's the snow, Toshiro," Minna said.

"I suppose I could. Maybe Adi has problems starting, heh…"

Toshiro quickly dressed himself up and ran to the hangar. It seemed that Adolfine was waiting for him at the hangar door.

"Seriously, Toshiro, this winter is something."

"Lemme guess… Half a meter of snow outside?"

"Yup. Could you…"

"On it. I'll melt a small path for you, and later I will do a few more lanes."

"And what if a plane will want to land?"

"Then I'll stick a rocket engine up my ass and make haste," he shrugged. "Get in your shit, Adi."

Toshiro opened the hangar door and formed a three-meter gap. The snow layer outside was indeed at least half a meter high, and there was a gentle snow fall right now. Toshiro simply activated his Flame of Kōjin and started running forward. After a hundred meters, he heard Adolfine shouting, "Okay, that will do!"

He turned around and saw her coming at him. Twenty meters before him, she jumped in the air and flew off. After he looked at her, he leveled his vision, and suddenly saw a hooded character in the woods. Or at least he thought so.

"Yuki, did you see something right now?"

"No, nothing at all…"

"Maybe Kye is toying with me for shits and giggles… Fuck her with a rake, seriously…"

Toshiro went back into the hangar and closed the doors.

It could stop snowing so hard…

He returned to the common room and saw Yoshika and Lynne cooking as usual.

"Heehee, you've got snow in your hair, Toshiro," Lynne giggled.

Toshiro fired up his magic, and after a second he asked, "What snow?"

"Heehee…" Yoshika giggled in turn. "How's the weather outside?"

"Bout ten below, half a meter of snow, slight snowdrop."

Yoshika shuddered and said, "It's good we moved inside for training…"

"Hey, I can get some shovels and you could clear the runway that would surely pump your guns, hahahahaha!"

"Don't give Mio an idea!"

"Idea?" Mio's voice sounded from the top of the stairs. "Nah, because that would be slave labor. Toshiro is a nice snow-melter, heheh…"

"That also uses up my energy, you know…" Toshiro mumbled. "But I admit that it would be counterproductive to shovel the snow. The runway is like what? A kilometer by hundred meters?"

"That would be a shitload of shoveling… Prisoners could do that, not us."

"Heh…"

After breakfast, everyone went their own way. But Toshiro, instead of going training, has visited the pantry.

Now what do I need… Flower, eggs, some aroma… Some fruit… Milk…

Toshiro took the ingredients to the kitchen and started his battle with the elements. Of course, Francesca spotted him out immediately.

"Watcha doing, Toshiro?" she asked.

"I'm making myself a treat."

"Ah… Can I have a bite later?"

"Nope."

"Awwww…"

"You'll pig out on the 24th; Advent is about fasting, dumbo."

"So why don't you do it, huh?"

"I'm an atheist, heheh…"

"Cheater…" she mumbled and walked away.

He managed to mix everything, pour it into a form, and dump it into the stove.

Now I need to watch it… But I also need to train… Oh well, time to do a thousand pushups and so on…

After an hour of exercises and sometimes peeking into the stove, he finally pulled out his masterpiece.

Damn, I would eat it myself…

He quickly did some decorations and let it cool down a bit in the pantry. Afterwards, he took what he made and some wine to his room, and said, "Okay, you can come now."

Kye appeared before him in all her godly glory

"Now what now?" she asked, trying to play along.

"Well, I thought that it would be nice to repay you a bit with some kindness…" Toshiro pulled out the pastry item from behind his back. "Todays is December the 10th in my world, Happy Birthday."

"I won't lie that I saw that coming from a light year, but thanks… Happy whateverth birthday…" Kye read off the cake. "Heheh… Really, so nice of you, Toshiro… Thanks… But you know, it's actually the same day there. We already had another reunion."

"How could I know…? Well anyway, I also have a present…" Toshiro said and pulled a wine bottle from behind a cover. "It's wasted on you, since you can't get drunk and literally can get any beverage from the universe, but I think Trude will appreciate that wine made by her parent was given to you."

"Well, not exactly wasted… As a goddess, I can't get drunk, that's all. But you do know I prefer something with a more… vivid taste."

"Heh…"

"And you really shouldn't keep this from the girls."

"You're more my friends than the girls, so let's keep it at that."

"And that's why you didn't invite Rei?"

"And where did that come from suddenly?" Toshiro asked.

"Layla blurted it out to Rei, and she suddenly got… sad would be a good word."

"Damn… But you know that I have spent more time with the three of you that I've invited than with Rei, right?"

"Yes. But you know, you could invite her over, it's still not too late."

"Dunno…"

"Hey, don't you like my dear daughter?"

"I like her but… geez, I don't know… I feel weird around her…"

"Jealous of her fighting style maybe?" Kye asked.

"That too. But there's a longing in my heart that get fired up whenever I see her with Kamiko, both in person and whenever she flashes before my eyes in my memories…"

"So that's the problem."

"But get her to come with you; I can behave like a kid, just because my paternal instincts get into overdrive."

"Really?"

"Really. With Kamiko. But nobody else."

"Well, that's a relief…"

"Speaking of reliefs… Did you fuck around with my mind today, Kye?"

"Noooooooo…"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

"Geez… Then what did I see…"

"I literally can't see what you saw in your mind."

"What the…"

"Let's eat the cake, Toshiro," Kye changed the topic immediately.

"You can eat?" he asked.

"I can, but I just don't gain anything from it."

The cake suddenly divided itself into slices.

"Showoff…" he mumbled.

Both of them took a slice and took a bite.

"Nailed it," Kye said with a smile.

"You like it?"

"It seems Yoshika's cooking skills are transcendental, haha!" Kye laughed. "That soul convergence sure came handy…"

"Take it home with you," he said. "Give some to the redheads and Rei."

"I will. And we'll have that wine, you can be sure of it!"

And just like that, Kye disappeared.

Job well done… Now I have to clear the runway again, damn it!

Toshiro ran out into the wild, paving a way into the snow for himself. Following that, he went to the office to do some paperwork, and he was interrupted by Livy to train.

After training, he managed to bathe in the solitude of his own room. He entered the common room just in time to get dinner.

"Toshiro made something good all for himself…" Francesca pouted.

"Oh? And nothing for me?!" Erica shouted. "Bro, how could you?!"

"Little rat…" Toshiro mumbled, looking at Francesca's satisfied grin. "I can bake you all damn cookies if you want!"

"Okay!" the girls cheered.

"Urrrrgh…"

"But first, some normal food," Yoshika said with a firm voice and started handing out dinner.

With dinner behind him, Toshiro yet again started making something sweet this day. The girls with a sweet tooth looked at him carefully the whole time.

"Seriously, it won't speed things up," Toshiro said. "And I don't intend to do it, so you don't have to observe me like a cat observes a mouse."

"We're just making sure you won't eat it all," Erica said.

"If I wanted, you wouldn't even notice it."

"But we'll stay here anyway," Francesca said.

"I deserve a medal just for putting up with all of you…" Toshiro sighed.

When the cookie batter was ready, he formed cookies on the plate and slid it into the hot stove. Immediately, Erica and Francesca rushed before the stove and gawked at it intensively.

"Since you'll be here, I'll kick back. When the cookies start getting brown, just holler…" he said and slumped down on the couch.

He found himself in a room made of pure light. The cloaked character was standing no more than ten meters before him.

"Who are you?" Toshiro asked.

No answer was given whatsoever.

"Are you an Immortal?"

Nothing.

"A Neuroi perhaps."

Nothing again.

"Kye?"

Still nothing.

Suddenly, somebody looking exactly like him appeared only two meters before him. Toshiro could see that his copies eyes looked like the whole universe was reflecting in them.

"Toooshiroooo! Coookieeees!"

Toshiro opened his eyes violently to Erica's voice.

Where… The common room… I'm baking cookies… What was that…? Who was that…?

"Toshiroooo!" Erica yelled again.

"Right, right, coming!"

He jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen annex.

"Perfect timing, Sis."

"Heh, thanks."

Toshiro turned off the stove and opened it. The aroma of fresh cookies filled the air.

"Waaaaaagh! Waaaaant!" Francesca shouted.

"Shush, moron, they're still steaming hot," Erica berated her.

"Then cool them down!"

"Cookies need their time to cool down," Toshiro said. "Now, sit, both of you. Back to the rest of the voracious rabble."

"Okay…" the two moaned and went to the rest waiting for cookies.

After they cooled down, Toshiro made a tour with the plate. His last stop was the office, in which Trude, Minna, and Mio holed themselves up.

"Cookies to that tea, madams?"

"Why yes, please," Minna said and giggled.

Hours later, Toshiro said, "Tea, cookies and paperwork… Strangely satisfying…"

"So what did you bake earlier?" Minna asked.

"A cake for Kye."

"Was it her birthday today?"

"According to our world's calendar, yeah. But that was nothing fancy."

"Well, nothing more than average is in our reach with the current supplies…"

"You'd be surprised what people can make out of meager ingredients…"

"Nothing can surprise me anymore… Really…"

"There's always something, Minna…"

Supper rolled in, and afterwards, Toshiro was in the usual spot with Yoshika.

"So, what did you do before the cookies?"

"A cake for Kye."

"Birthday?"

"According to our calendar."

"How cute…" she smiled.

"Yeah. Oh, and we'll also be having Rei for Christmas."

"And Kamiko?"

"And Kamiko."

"Oh, heehee… I miss the little rugrat."

"Want one of your own?" Toshiro asked with a wry smile.

"Not happening now but… We can still have a good pounding…"

"Oh we will… We will…"

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