Rin trudged along the main street with her hands in her pockets. She let her tired eyes wander upward. Judging by the cloudy sky, it could start raining at any moment.
"Sheesh, that's the last thing I need today..."
Although it was a relief that the humid heat of the last two weeks would be interrupted by a rain shower soon - getting soaked was really something she could do without tonight.
The moment she reached the other side of an intersection she swiftly turned her attention back to her somewhat strange-looking companion. Only for her to realize too late, that she had lost him way before she had left the sidewalk.
Rin failed to suppress a sigh as she watched the blond pressing his face against a vending machine on the other side of the crossing. Right now, he was acting like a country bumpkin visiting the city for the first time, lionizing every electronical good that came to his eye.
Rin brought her hand to her forehead, looking utterly exhausted. Ever since catching sight of the city's blinding lights, it seemed as if the dragon had forgotten all about his quest for food and instead took the time to marvel at the various goods in each and every shop display he passed by.
If this continues we won't make it home till sunrise… Rin groused as she checked the time on her smartphone.
It was 03:12 AM.
"Oi, come on! I need to get up early tomorrow, so would you please hurry up a little?", the black haired girl shouted across the street. But Veldora didn't even bother to answer - no, it looked more like he wasn't even listening in the first place. He was way too absorbed in tailing around the vending machine, inspecting it like it was some sort of newly discovered animal species.
As Rin saw the traffic light pass through another circle of green and red, she failed to hold back the angry twitch in her cheek.
"O-oi… I really don't like being ignored, you know?"
She was this close to losing her patience. Her body had long since begun to metabolize the alcohol in her veins, and she could feel the urge for a good night's rest growing stronger and stronger. Not to mention the headache she felt since the dragon casually revealed all the information he claimed was normal for his world.
She eventually sighed, acknowledging that talking him in obviously wasn't an option.
Reluctantly, she trudged back to the intersection and waited for the traffic light to turn green again.
"Honestly… I really don't need any trouble in my life... And this blond humanoid dragon reeks of trouble. If I didn't know it better, I wouldn't be surprised if his name was something along the lines of 'trouble'..." (At this point, the poor girl didn't even know that the more accurate word to describe Veldora - in keeping with his disaster rank - would be catastrophe rather than just trouble ).
She squinted her eyes, trying to remember what he had said when he had introduced himself. Her brain was just too full of information she wasn't even able to process in the slightest. And eventually, her head slumps down. She began massaging her temples, trying to force her memory to work again.
"What is it he never gets tired of calling himself? … ' Storm Dragon'... ?" she utters as she musters the blond now sitting on top of the machine like a monkey on a tree.
"Yeah, never heard of something so nonsensical. But I think one can put it as a synonym to 'troublesome'... for sure, trouble oozes out of this guy's every cell, I can tell by only looking at him… his incredibly manly face, those ridiculously mesmerizing golden eyes and that toned chest peeking out of that cape…"
It was then that Rin found herself drooling over his attractiveness. She winced and energetically turned her head around, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"W-was I leering at him? N-no definitely not…", she clammed up only to continue: "W-well… yeah maybe I was… staring… a-a little bit…", she again sneaked a furtive glance at the dragon, who seemed to have finished his inspection and was now trying to understand the device in front of him by exerting mindless violence, i.e. he repeatedly struck the machine with the flat of his hand.
"... t-troublesome… just as I said… troublesome in many kinds of ways…" she uttered with a slightly blushed face.
The moment the traffic light finally turned green again, she let out another sigh and made her way towards the blond.
Well… whatever… time to get that ridiculously good looking dragon off the streets…
In the meantime, Veldora had climbed off the vending machine and was pushing the buttons on its keypad in a rather … haphazardly way. Another sigh escaped Rin's lips when she finally reached him. She grabbed the collar of his cape and gave it a powerful yank. Thanks to this, Veldora finally decided to bestow the girl with his attention.
"Mmm? What is it that you demand, my loyal underling?" came the dragon's uninterested answer.
Rin winced. At first out of annoyance that she was called his "underling". But then another jolt ran through her body the moment her own dark eyes met his golden ones. In this second, all the insults she was about to throw at him were forgotten and she found herself blushing.
H-hell… he has no idea about the allure of his eyes… or has he? she thought to herself as she mustered the somewhat carefree but still murderous glint in those golden orbs. She vigorously shook her head and tried to find her words again.
"I-I said come on, I haven't got forever!"
"But I haven't finished examining this strange looking device yet-"
"HELL, THIS IS A VENDING MACHINE! YOU PUT MONEY IN AND GET WHAT YOU ORDERED OUT. THERE IS NO FUCKING MAGIC BEHIND THAT!"
Veldora only knitted his eyebrows.
"Oh-ho? So the stuff this world is fueled on is 'money' rather than magicules, huh? Well, we have money too, but I never imagined it could become something so powerful that it would actually rival magicules…" he ruminated, crossing his arms in front his chest before falling into a pondering silence. Rin just gave him an annoyed look. She was too tired to even begin to explain how wrong this comparison was. She may not have understood everything about his world, but she understood enough to know that magicules and money were probably not comparable.
Maybe he should've read Karl Marx instead of Shakespeare… she thought to herself and then sighed for the she-forgot-to-count-the-times time in a row.
"Don't gimme that crap. You're not fucking Christoph Columbus exploring a new continent. So please just get going, okay?"
"Christoph… Columbus?" Veldora parotted cluelessly.
Rin gave him a deadpanned look.
"Forget it." she bit back a sigh as her head fell into her hands.
Veldora mustered her in confusion.
Just then Rin raised her head again. Looking at his somewhat naive but ridiculously manly face finally made her lose her patience. She grabbed the collar of his cape and began to drag him behind.
"O-oi! What do you think you are doing to me, Veldora, one of the four-" he began complaining, writhing under her grip. But it was obvious that he didn't put much strength into it. After all, if he tried to, he could've fled her grasp immediately. So, aside from his childish grousing, he obediently followed the black haired girl. 'Never bite the hand that feeds you' probably applied to dragons as well.
"Yeah yeah... four true dragons, Rimuru, yadda yadda yadda. Please, just shut up for once. If you didn't have such a short attention span, we already would have been home ten times. I really don't need to attract any more attention than I already do, with ... such a ... strange-looking man in tow. So hurry up!"
Although it was already quite late and the streets were deserted, they still met a handful of passers-by who gave them puzzled looks. Noticing those judging eyes, Rin only fastened her pace.
Embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing! was all she was able to think. After all, she couldn't even be mad at the passers-by for judging her. Right now, she probably looked like some weirdo walking her disobedient, strange-looking dog (or rather, humanoid dragon).
Urgh, I can really do without meeting any of my colleagues or neighbors right now… she thought to herself as she looked around vigilantly, still proceeding at a fast pace.
Finally, after another ten long minutes of embarrassment, Rin reached the foot of her 14-storied apartment block without further interruptions from the dragon. The moment the girl stopped in front of the building's entrance, Veldora let his gaze wander.
Mm? This looks exactly like a building out of those bland sceneries I often saw in Rimuru's memories, the dragon mused curiously.
The girl's home appeared to be a huge building with plain, roofed walkways on the outer wall of every floor, granting access to a nearly innumerable amount of doors. The doors all looked exactly the same, only the numbers on them seemed to differ.
Veldora continued his observations. The housing complex in front of him appeared to be exactly like the building behind or the one in front of it: just a rectangular, unadorned block of gray concrete. He couldn't help but wonder how those mere humans were able to stay oriented in an environment like this.
Well… I guess if it wasn't for my ultimate skill I probably would've already lost my orientation by now… he flinched after finishing this thought. Just now he realized what a good job Rimuru did when he worked out the layout for the city of Tempest.
While Veldora was busy marveling at how boring one could design a city housing thousands of citizens (and praising his sworn best friend for not doing so), Rin slumped down in front of the door. Without minding her looks, she let out an exhausted sigh and rested her forehead on the cold, metallic door. She could still feel the blood pulsing through her blushed cheeks - either from the exertion of the fast jog or from the embarrassment she felt after receiving those judging glances. Without altering her position, she began scavenging for the keys in her pockets, paying no heed to the dragon behind her.
Said dragon had crossed his arms before his chest and was still eyeing the building critically. … not even Rimuru's central hall is this tall… was what came to his mind.
"Oh-ho? And you say I wouldn't have fit in this building? I think this is more than big enough to house a dragon-"
"SSSHHH!" Rin yelled in a hushed tone when she jumped to her feet and covered the blond's mouth with her hands.
"Damn, Veldora! Lower your voice!" she hissed, even forgetting to add the honorific to his name or to consider that she would normally still call him by his last name.
Veldora flinched slightly over Rin's casual way of addressing him. Somehow her way of interaction reminded him of Rimuru.
He fell silent and looked at her abashed, fidgeting with his fingers.
"I-I wasn't speaking that loud…"
"Loud enough for 3 AM!" Rin yelled whisper-quiet before shifting her attention back to the door. She tried to open it as silently as she could. Because even though this was a 14-storied building with a fairly large lobby and hallway, she knew full well that some of her neighbors were nosy little shits. Thus, they sneaked through the entrance hall.
Veldora silently admired all those countless mailboxes with a wide variety of foreign looking names on them.
As they walked through the lobby, Rin heaved out a sigh. She was quite glad that she didn't need to walk up to her apartment right now. Because hell, she wouldn't give a shit about walking upstairs. She was way too tired for that.
But right when they reached the elevator, Rin's cheek began to twitch involuntarily - as if this particular area of her face had finally taken on a life of its own.
[TEMPORARILY OUT OF ORDER] was what the sign dangling right in front of the elevator's keypad said.
Rin couldn't help but slump down.
"N-no way…" she whined as she felt all the exhaustion from today wash over her body.
It wasn't just the normal tiredness from working in the office for 10 hours. No, on top of that came the fatigue from depleting all her social skills at this stupid party. (Not to mention the encounter with the dragon that has been clinging onto her ever since).
"What's the matter?" Veldora asked, trying to speak as quietly as his loud organ would allow.
Rin slowly turned around, her eyes theatrically teary as she began to mumble: "T-the elevator is… out of order… I-I swear my legs will fail me on the way up to the seventh floor. C-Can this day become even shittier?"
Veldora put his arms in his hips.
"Oh-ho? The seventh floor you say? Just leave it to me!" he said pompously as he pointed with his thumb onto himself, his face turning into a smug grin that was bearing his sharp canines.
She hadn't even begun to process what he had just said when she found herself flicked over his shoulder.
W-wait, w-what? the girl wondered, facing the tiled floor of the hallway. The dragon was carrying her if she was some sack of rice.
Before Rin could voice her protest, Veldora had already run out the front door. And as soon as he stood in front of the building with its many arcades, he nodded confidently.
"So, we just need to get up seven floors from here, right?" he asked, reassuring the position of the girl's flat.
"Y-yeah, b-but what do you mean by ' just' get up seven-?"
Rin's sentence was interrupted when a strong wind whipped her hair right into her face. Just then she realized that the ground she was facing before was now getting farther and farther away.
She tried to process what was happening. It seemed as if they traveled upwards along the outside of the building. Rin felt her stomach turn. She was utterly afraid of heights. And that her gaze was facing the pavement only intensified the panic that was settling in the pit of her stomach.
Rin frantically turned her head around, trying to see what exactly Veldora was doing - only to regret it the next instant. Well, obviously, Veldora was making his way upwards by jumping from one arcade to another.
Rin closed her eyes and tried to suppress a scream. In this situation, trying not to puke nor scream was something she should be granted an award for - if it were up to her.
However, with what little brain capacity that wasn't occupied with fretting over the growing height difference between her and the ground, she tried to follow Veldora's reasoning. But no matter how she spun it, she just couldn't believe that this man thought THIS was the best way up just because the elevator was out of order.
Even before Rin could go on in her internal ramblings about Veldora's carefreeness, said dragon jumped onto the balustrade of the destined floor and put the girl down in the midst of the roofed walkway, a bright smile lingering on his face.
Rin immediately fell onto all fours, trying to catch her breath. As she inhaled fast and loudly, providing her brain with oxygen, she raised her head and looked at the blond who was obviously waiting for some sort of praise.
T-this really must be some sort of crazy dream… she thought as she got up on her wobbly legs. She mustered all her remaining strength to calm herself down after this horror ride.
"Holy shit, Veldora, w-what did you just-" was what she began only to be interrupted by the blond's hearty (and not even close to quiet) guffaw.
"Gwahahahahaaha! See, I told you it's easy for me. Surprised, eh? As I said, you can call yourself lucky that I deemed you worthy enough to become my subordinate!"
Rin jumped towards him, shushing him with her hands.
"I SAID QUIET, YOU STUPID DRAGON!" she whispered in a tone that was nearly inaudible but sounded perfectly deadly.
Veldora sweatdropped the moment he realized that he forgot to watch the volume of his voice again .
Rin let out a disapproving grunt, but didn't bother to chide him further. As much as she was annoyed by the dragon's loud organ, the annoyance had at least helped her recover from her little panic attack. With one last vigilant glance to make sure none of her neighbors was awake, she let off from the blond's mouth and instead grabbed his hand, dragging him towards her apartment door.
In astonishment, Veldora gazed at the petite hand that was pulling him along the roofed walkway. Unconsciously, his thoughts wandered off to that one time Rimuru had told him a little bit about Japan's social etiquettes. And remembering this, he couldn't help but be somewhat confused as to why the girl had called him by his first name sometime earlier. On top of that even without adding the honorifics. According to Rimuru such a lax way of interaction is only reserved for close friends or family - to which Veldora certainly did not belong (well or if you want to be extremely rude, but judging from the girl's otherwise rather prim behavior, he excluded that possibility). Sure, she was enraged at that time but resorting to such a casual way of speaking was something extraordinary (at least if what Rimuru told him was credible, which it certainly was).
But not only that - also did she grab his hand as if he was just someone and not one of the four true dragons. Normally every other human being would be scared stiff by his presence. But this girl seems to be totally unfazed. He had to admit that he was quite amazed at her uncomplicated and natural way of treating him. He was not used to this laid-back way of interaction - well save Rimuru.
Mhh… they bear some striking resemblances in their mannerism… I certainly deem her capable of resorting to the same diabolic punishments as Rimuru… such as canceling my desserts just because I broke one building … or another … or accidentally leveled a whole town or something… dammit! Those things just happen if you have to handle so much power in such a tiny body … !
Veldora sulkily knitted his eyebrows only to scratch his cheek the second after.
W-wait now that I think about it… Rimuru must be really upset that I broke his dimensional travel thingy… ugh… I better take my time here until he forgets about that incident…
"..."
I-if I bring the latest editions of the sacred texts with me…? Mhhh… Yeah that would work! That would certainly… or let's say probably … or maybe ? … calm down his anger… right?
And if his left hand wouldn't have been busy with being dragged by the girl, he surely would have let his left fist fall flat onto his right palm as if he just had an epiphany.
Gwah-hahah-ha! That's it! In all likelihood, that must've been the reason why Rimuru had commissioned such a device from Vesta in the first place! What other business would he have here? Gwahaha, and now I've even spared my best friend this arduous journey! What a good guy I am!
While Veldora was busy with musing over a strategy to appease his little blue friend, Rin had stopped in front of one of the countless doors.
She let go off the dragon's hand and began fidgeting with her keys, unlocking her apartment door. When she finally heard the soft click from the door, she grabbed the hem of Veldora's cape and dragged him inside.
Walking straight towards the small kitchen area, she tossed her keys on the worn-out kitchen range.
Veldora followed her right behind. As soon as he left the small hallway, he let his gaze wander through the apartment. Somehow the interior reminded him of Rimuru's hut - even though they did not really look alike. But they definitely gave off the same air - probably proof that Rimuru was really from this world.
The apartment was quite small, there was barely enough room to fit the most basic furniture inside: The kitchen range was located on its left side. Right next to it, in the middle of the room, there was a small, short-legged coffee table that was surrounded by plain looking seat pads. The table was facing a big, flat rectangular device. Even though Veldora never saw a real one before, he was quite sure that this device must be one of those "flat screen TVs" he often saw in Rimuru's memories. It was located on a small sideboard which was filled with a bunch of other, way smaller technical devices Veldora made out to be "gaming consoles". Right next to the flatscreen were some wall closets and in the adjacent corner there stood a small drying rack that was jam-packed with clothes. Some pieces were lying on the ground as if someone had repeatedly taken off single pieces in a hurry without minding to put the fallen pieces back on the rack.
The wall between the kitchen area and the TV harbored two doors. Between the doorframes stood a bookshelf filled to the brim with books and magazines.
While the blond was busy with scanning the small apartment, Rin absentmindedly began to fill the water cooker. After turning it on, she went over to a small kitchen closet and opened it - only to be greeted with a variety of instant cup noodles.
"Well, sorry I can't actually offer you something healthy to eat, but since I'm a bit slow at cooking, all I have is instant food… Pick a flavor and eat as much as you want. But for heaven's sake, be quiet while doing so…", she said while leaning against the kitchen range, her arms crossed.
Veldora stepped right next to her, taking his time to look at the outlandish goods.
Rin flinched the moment Veldora accidentally grazed her upper arm by taking out one of the noodle-cups.
She was still somewhat agitated about their little ride and felt a little bit awkward after nearly having a mental breakdown in front of him just because of her fear of heights.
So, she decided to distract her mind a bit. She went over to the coffee table and slumped down on one of the seat pads, her torso laid on the somewhat cold, wooden surface.
She turned on the TV and peered mindlessly at the weatherman who said something about a sudden change of temperature that led to an unexpected, upcoming torrential rain.
And as if to verify this forecast, the clouds over Tokyo finally gave in to the rain that was accumulating in them for a while now. And soon, she heard how tiny raindrops began to patter against the windows.
Rin sighed and muted the television, shifting her attention back to the dragon who had already filled four cups of noodles with water.
W-wait… do they have instant noodles over there or was he just able to read the Japanese instructions…?! Rin wondered as she watched him take two cups in each hand and carry them to the table. He sat down opposite to her and stared eagerly at the steaming beverages in front of him.
"Are they ready?!" he asked like an impatient child.
If this was some kind of Anime, his eyes surely would've been sparkling… Rin thought to herself.
"N-no… not yet."
Wait, he is able to read Japanese instructions but doesn't have the slightest idea on what 5 minutes are?
"Now?"
"Veldora, I literally told you ten seconds before-"
"Now?!"
Rin shot him an exasperated glance.
I-I can't cope with this for the next five minutes!
"Whatever, just eat it."
And even before she finished her sentence, Veldora already began to gobble up one of the hot noodle cups.
"Delicious!", he occasionally let out as he began downing one cup after another.
Rin stared at him in disbelief.
"Well, I guess they would taste even better if the noodles were actually cooked, but... however...", she commented on the crunching sound that occasionally came from his mouth.
And what's more… isn't that… hot?, she wondered but then remembered that this guy had been a 20 meter tall dragon just two hours ago. And considering this, he probably will be fine after eating four tiny cups of boiling noodles…
"Truly delicious! I can't believe you call this stuff unhealthy! This actually tastes even better than the noodles I ate at home in Tempest!"
Rin sweatdropped.
"Well… yeah. That's most likely because you guys don't have the sacred ingredient we call 'glutamate'...", she snorted sarcastically.
Veldora only gave her a questioning look and let out a confused 'mmmh?' in between his slurps.
"N-nevermind… Now that you got your food, may I ask what you are going to do from now on?"
Veldora winced, half of the long (and by now almost thoroughly cooked) noodles were spilling out of his mouth. He slurped them down and averted his face. It seemed as if he was looking at anything but Rin.
Rin shot him an exasperated look.
I-is he trying to avoid that topic? W-what kind of leech is he? He clings to me, talks my ass off for two hours and invites himself over only to devour half of my noodle supply?! And now he doesn't even bother to come up with an excuse-
That is when Veldora finally laid down the chopsticks. With a somewhat serious look on his face he turned back to the girl.
"Well… I hadn't expected you would take me with you in the first place, so… I hadn't really thought about what I'm going to do afterwards." he stated without batting an eye, a dazzling smile was now forming on his face.
Rin toppled over backwards. Laying on her back, she stared at the ceiling in disbelief. She hadn't anticipated this kind of blatantly shameless response.
But his audacity was only the icing on the cake. His mesmerizing smile alone would've been enough to finish her off. It was intoxicating. And by now she could only assume that he was either well aware of his allure or ... just incredibly carefree.
Hell… this is no act of normal leeching… this is… she began thinking as she slowly picked herself up. Veldora was still grinning broadly and Rin nearly felt the urge to protect her eyes from it.
T-this is… advanced leeching… she finished her thoughts, a shudder running down her spine.
"W-well… I don't feel quite comfortable with housing a complete stranger in my apartment, on top of that a male one… so… I would like to ask you to leave-"
But right then, Rin got interrupted by a flash of lightning that lit up the whole room - followed by the deafening sound of thunder.
And as if someone had flicked a switch, the rain was now pounding heavily against the windows. Rin let her gaze wander towards the storm behind the window.
Great… now there's a tempest outside and inside my apartment… haha-ha-haha… urgh, that joke was flat… I need to sleep soon …
Shifting her attention back to the innocent looking blond right across from her, she slumped her shoulders.
I-I can't throw him out in the middle of a storm… or… can I? Well, he doesn't even have money for a hotel room or something…
Her shoulders slumped even deeper.
No, I surely can't do that… Hell, mum, I'm sorry I swear your precious daughter doesn't have an ulterior motive in housing a man in her apartment! These are just some serious unlucky circumstances, I swear mom!
"Alright… whatever. Since you're already here and it's coming down in buckets… y-you may as well s-sleep… in the living room…" she stuttered while fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
Veldora perked up his eyebrows. He could've sworn she was about to kick him out. Again, the girl's attitude reminded him much of Rimuru. This time it was her altruistic hospitality.
Before Veldora even had the chance to thank her, Rin already stood up and rushed towards her bedroom door. She turned around one last time, her face red with embarrassment.
"M-make yourself at home. There are plenty of blankets and cushions in that closet over there so… I guess you will be fine… b-b-but don't you dare to enter my room!" she yelled and closed the bedroom door behind her with a bit too much vigor.
After locking the door she slumped down. A sigh escaped her lips and she began massaging her temples. Involuntarily, she had to think back to that last, radiant smile and felt how her heart began to pound heavily.
T-this is just because I'm tired as fuck, yeah… of course my body is acting strange because of that… yeah only because of that… she tried to soothe her agitation while getting back on her feet again. She took off her clothes and slipped into an oversized t-shirt and then, finally, slumped down on her bed. The rain was still pounding heavily against the windows and she could hear thunder roaring in the distance. She buried her head in her pillows.
"A-and now, let this strange dream be over soon. I-I can't take anymore of this madness." she mumbled before her eyes finally fell shut.
The next morning, Rin could still hear the rain prattling faintly against the windows. She knitted her brows as she woke up from her deep slumber.
"Mmmhhh?" escaped her mouth, her tousled hair clutching onto her face.
Damn, I feel like I just had the strangest dream EVER…
She began to scavenge for her smartphone in the blankets. When she finally got hold of the small, rectangular thing, she unlocked its display.
[8:02 AM]
She tossed it away and nuzzled her face into the sheets again.
"Mmmmhhmm…"
Only to open her eyes wide the next instant.
W-wait, i-it's already past 8?! I-I overslept?!
Sitting up straight, she excavated her smartphone again and felt how a hot flush of stress washed through her just awakened body.
"Shit shit shit shit shit!"
The girl rushed out of the bed and began rummaging for her hairbrush, combing her hair in a hurry.
"Oh fuck, I feel like I got the greatest headache in history… but I certainly didn't drink that much…" she complained while looking in the mirror.
"Ugh shit, and I prolly should take a shower…"
After she deemed her hair tidy enough, she began searching through her wardrobe.
"Gr-gr-grrrr nothing to wear! Wait, there should still be some clean clothes on the drying rack!"
And with this she hurried towards the living room.
Only to be interrupted quite suddenly by her locked bedroom door.
"Huh? Drunk-me, w-why would you do that? We never lock our door… dummy-me."
Paying no further attention to this small irregularity, she rushed straight to the drying rack at the end of the living room. But the moment she was about to pass her coffee table, her feet stepped on something strange.
Rin let her gaze wander downwards only to find her feet standing on a bare chest. She withdrew her foot and took one step back.
She blinked.
Once.
Twice.
She pinched her cheek.
Blinked again.
Nope, still there. She couldn't still be dreaming after pinching her cheek, right? This was common knowledge: If you feel pain you're not asleep.
She took another step back, her eyes locked onto the man that should have been just an illusion of her drunken mind.
The blond was sleeping soundly right next to her coffee table. Peaceful snores were escaping his mouth as his chest lifted up and down rhythmically.
The table was cluttered with empty cup noodles.
"Y-y-youre kidding me, right?!" she shrieked - only to put her hands before her mouth the second after. If she could force the words back into it, she would've surely done it. Rin held her breath and stared intently at the sleeping dragon.
Please don't wake up, please don't wake up, please don't-
But naturally, Veldora's soft snores ceased and his eyelids began to flutter open.
DAMMIT!
"Mmm?" came out of his mouth as he put himself up, rubbing his eyes.
Of course he woke up… damn, stupid anime cliché. But hey, I mean at least it's not like I'm standing half naked in front of-
That is when Rin let her gaze drop only to become terribly aware that she only stood with her night shirt and her panties right in front of him.
Ohh, come on! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
While Rin's face turned scarlet, Veldora only stifled a yawn.
She stumbled one step back towards the bedroom door, trying to pull her oversized shirt over her thighs.
However, the only thing Veldora did while looking at her was to disinterestedly scratch the back of head, his eyes still half closed.
W-wha?! Wait. He doesn't seem flustered in the least … maybe … he's… gay? I-I mean the way he talks about this Rimuru guy… it wouldn't be surprising if he swings that way…
But soon enough another loud yawn jolted her out of her thoughts. Veldora stretched his arms and assumed a cross-legged position, still peering at her with tired eyes.
"W-w-w-what are you doing here, you dumbass?!" Rin finally yelled despite the fact that she knew the answer all too well.
Her face was still blushed and as she took another step away from the blond her hand that was not busy with pulling her shirt over her thights accidentally grazed the bookshelf to her left.
Without thinking about what she was going to do next, she grabbed one of the books and … threw it at Veldora - yes, shouting rhetorical questions and throwing books seemed like the most reasonable things to do in this kind of situation. Naturally.
The book crashed directly into Veldora's face, causing him to plop to the ground again.
"W-what's the point of this, puny human?!" he shouted the moment he picked himself up and took the book out of his face.
Rin flinched after realizing what she just did.
"I-I'm sorry… I-I wasn't really thinking when I did… uh… that …"
But Veldora didn't even bother to listen to her excuse. He was already forming a small ball of lightning in his right hand, an impish grin lingering on his face.
"So, you wanna fight this early in the morning, huh, human? Well, I'm fine with this but just so you know, I'm quite rough on my opponents when they wake me up this early. Now be prepared for my special skill I acquired after consulting the sacred texts. Gwah-ha-hahahah-"
That is when he suddenly clammed up.
Rin peered at him with her mouth agape. Or rather, she peered at the thunderball that was swirling in his hand. Swirling in his hand menacingly .
But right when she wanted to say something that would hopefully appease him, she saw how the thunderball became smaller and smaller.
"W-wait. Don't tell me? These are…?!" Veldora exclaimed.
Rin looked at him in disbelief. Only seconds before, he had created a thunder ball in his hand, and now she found the dragon flipping through one of her manga with sparkling eyes.
"THE SACRED TEEEXTS!" he finally yelled while holding the manga over his head, kneeling on the ground. His face lit up with pleasure whereas Rins cheek started to twitch erratically.
"What the fuck is going on here?" she muttered while looking at the dragon in disbelief.
Veldora toppled over and crawled on all fours to the bookshelf right next to Rin. He let his finger move over the book's backs until he seemed to have found what he was looking for.
"T-there it is! T-this is the last issue Rimuru had read! Which means…"
He reverently let his gaze wander over all the volumes that came after the one he made out to be the last one Rimuru knew.
"Oh my god! I'm in heaven! Gwa-hahahahahahaha" he screamed while turning his head back to Rin who was still standing right next to him, her shirt pulled over her thighs. Her expression was a mixture between fear and bewilderment.
"W-what the fuck am I witnessing here?"
Nobody told me they have weebs over there?!
Slowly, Rin loosened her grip on her shirt's hem. It was quite obvious that this guy wasn't interested in her panties at all.
Man, I really shouldn't take myself too seriously… I just made a fuss over nothing…
"W-well whatever… as long as this overgrown child is busy with reading manga I should use this opportunity to get ready for work…"
Without even asking another question as to how the fuck Veldora knew about mangas, she stealed herself away and grabbed some clean clothes form the drying rack. She heaved out a sigh after shutting herself in the bathroom.
"I-it wasn't a dream… it really wasn't just a dream. S-shit I think I'm going insane." she mumbled to herself while she towered over the sink. Instead of getting under the shower she gave herself a quick wash and changed into her office clothes. Feeling the cold water on her face helped her to regain her composure a bit. And with this, she began massaging her temples.
"Goddamit, I really need to take care of that troublesome dragon… but I also need to get to work NOW… Gr-grr-grraaaah!"
She frantically tousled her freshly kempt hair.
Grr… there's no helping it… I don't have time for that right now…
And with this, she peeked her head out of the bathroom door.
Veldora was lying on the ground, mangas were scattered all around him. He silently laid on his stomach while skipping through one of the books.
O-okay… I'm already an hour too late for work so I really should deal with him after work… yeah everything else is a problem for future-me. After all I had this really important conference at 9.30 -
She looks at her watch.
8.45 AM.
"SHIT!" she yelled as she stormed out of the bathroom towards her small fridge. She hastily grabbed some onigiri she brought in the Seven-Eleven sale yesterday after work and shoved it down her mouth before grabbing her bag.
Alright, I need to get going… just… tell him to leave…
She ran over to the blond who was totally immersed in his manga and snatched the book out of his hands.
"Mhh?" Veldora made while unwillingly shifting his attention to the girl. She was now wearing clothes that reminded him a lot of Shion. Well save Shion's vast cleavage.
"V-veldora! I need to go to work now, p-please take your time. If you need to take a shower feel free to do so but please be gone when I come back from work, okay?"
"Mhh? Yeah of course, I will be gone after you come back from that work thing." he said, reaching for the manga again and immediately turning his attention back to it.
"A-alright, s-sorry for my sudden departure b-but, well… I really can't afford to be late today!" she said in practiced courtesy. And with that, she stormed out the front door.
Author's Note:
Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy and my creativity did suffer a bit because of that. That's probably why I had such a hard time writing this chapter. And now that I finally finished it, it feels somewhat slow. But seriously, I'm not going to give it another makeover or else the story will never progress… I tried to foreshadow some of the motives for my OC's character development as well as for their developing relationship so… I hope I will be more satisfied with the next chapter when there's a bit more slice of life stuff to write. If you have any constructive criticism or thoughts on the chapter I'm glad to hear it! Also if you have any ideas or wishes for certain jokes or plot points I'm willing to give it a try incorporating them in the story as long as they fit into my overall draft :)
P.S Yeah, sorry for incorporating those classic anime stereotypes but I think they're fun so… all hail the "oh no he accidentally saw my panties" scenes!
