She Comes And Goes As She Pleases (Part 26)
by BrDPirateMan
"Hey, hey, Neku. Big news!"
"Hmm?"
"Apparently Izumi has been dating this guy who's way older than her." Eri's voice hushed down to emphasize how scandalous this piece of news was. "And she's been doing it for at least three months! It's a shocking revelation! What do you think they do together, Neku? Get all over each other and stuff? A maiden and a prune getting all frisky… blech!"
"Mmm. Yeah."
"Neku! For god's sake… You're not listening to me! You should always listen to a lady when she's – "
My veins were just about to burst in irritation. "Please don't disturb me now. I've got a very important assignment due in two days and I need to get it done."
"But I'm crashing at your place now," she protested. "And I'm bored… I just wanna talk, if only a little. Surely you can spare a moment for your cute friend?"
"Sure, gimme an hour and I'll get back to you. Sorry about this, but for now… shoo."
I didn't take my eyes off my work but I heard her grumbling behind me. She doesn't let people go when she wants something… so I'd have to face the music sooner or later.
"What nerve," she said. "I even brought Phones along to visit." Huh? Oh right… Phones is the name of her favourite teddy. Sometimes she brings it over. "He's angry that you're ignoring us… Don't you know how to treat your own wife and kid?"
"Wife and – " My pen slipped in my fingers and there was an ugly smudge where the answer to question 6 should be. There she went again implying that we're married, and proud parents at that (albeit to a teddy bear)! "What the heck kind of drivel are you say– "
As soon as I turned to face her, she dived in quicker than lightning and slammed our lips together. I froze in my seat like a statue. The skin curled everywhere on my body.
When she was done about a minute later, she grinned widely. "Phones is real happy to know that his dad still has the hots for his mum."
"E-Eri… You…" I was trembling in a mixture of arousal and outrage. "Why you…! I'm trying to work here!"
But she just laughed and fled from my room, sticking out her tongue over her shoulder for good measure.
Dammit, I almost had the whole assignment down pat… But now she had to go and kill off my concentration!
That was a mere sample of what Eri was capable of. Ever since we became what she dubbed "kissing buddies", she's taken a liking to kissing me at every convenient opportunity. Her behaviour was erratic at best; for example, she would kiss me when I least expected it, but when I was confident that she'd pounce on me, nothing would happen. This made her kissing attacks extremely unpredictable. And the worst part was, just because she was a total tease didn't mean I had the right to do anything untoward to her, so I was always at loggerheads with my own male instincts.
Maybe I should take revenge by stripping her, I might suggest to myself. Since she's always doing that anyway, I might as well give her a hand!
But no, my good side would chide, you can't do that, Neku! It's a bad thing!
Shut up! You don't get many chances like this, you stinking virgin! Pluck up your courage and get the deed done so you can put yourself out of your misery for goodness' sake!
Never! I shall prevail!
Every day was a battle of wits against myself, so it was something of a miracle that I always managed to beat my inner devil down. However, no matter how well I fought, the damage would have been done, and my nose would suffer the consequences of my imagination…
…with now being a prime example.
"Gah!" My assignment sheet was soaked with blood!
And the worst part was that I had to do this whole thing all over again. Damn you, Eri! ! !
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Another thing I noticed about Eri was that she had become markedly bolder than before. The distance between us was steadily getting smaller, so she must have thought it was only appropriate to ramp up the naughtiness. Goodness, did she ramp it up. Moderation isn't in her dictionary.
There was no end to the torture. Take the following exchange, for example…
"Neku, come have a whiff."
"Wh-What?" I gulped so hard I thought I might leave a dent in my throat. "No way. Put something on first."
"I just took a shower," she protested, opening up a can of beer. "It sucks to have to put stuff on when my skin's all warm and steamy. Besides, I've got panties on and a towel around my neck and that counts as something, so deal with it! Anyway, I need your opinion on this peach-scented body butter that I bought down at Shibukyu."
Her towel was hanging loosely and it was the only thing covering her bare chest. It was one of the shorter towels too, so there was a good inch of bottom breast to see. Not that I intended to look for a long time, mind you!
As Eri took her time sipping, I continued to be adamant about my refusal. "Is it that hard to at least cover up your chest?"
"With my hands? Well… I got a beer in one of them, so it's not easy to – "
"What the heck… I didn't mean with your hands, idiot!" A hand bra? ! The thought nearly stimulated me all the way to oblivion!
"Oh fine, be a fusspot," she huffed, after another swig. "Here, hold this for a sec."
Into my hands she stuffed her can of beer. Now that her hands were free, she could whip off her towel with no prob– wait, what was she doing? ! I saw them! I saw them! I saw way too much! ! !
The blood was trickling out of my nose as I tried to shield my gaze. She was doing something weird, though what I couldn't tell, even through the gaps in between my fingers. I could manage yelling the whole house down though. "Oh my god, Eri! What was that for? ! You damn nearly blinded me good!"
"And there! Done!"
"Huh? !"
Adaptability was one of Eri's best attributes. She had fashioned a makeshift scarf out of the towel and wrapped it around her breasts. A novel idea, but a little too much on the skimpy side… a fact that made my nosebleed a lot worse!
"Not a bad job if I do say so myself." She plucked lightly at it to test how well it held on. "Okay, I'm covered up just like you insisted. Are you happy now? …I guess you are, if you're bleeding so heavily."
"Ugh…"
"You always take too much time. Come on already!" She climbed onto my bed and took her seat at her favourite place: my lap. "Tell me if I smell good. I want to know if that body butter was a worthwhile purchase, and I wanna know now! Geez!"
Eri is a little shorter than I am, so when we're in this very intimate position, we could just about look at each other without having to pay a visit to the chiropractor's later for making our necks suffer. Well, maybe I had to crane it upwards a tiny bit, but it's manageable for the most part. It's perfect for gazing at her lovely face up close and easily wins a place as one of life's ultimate thrills.
But enough of bedroom fantasies! She wanted an opinion now. Hmmm… Oh, that was a delicious aroma. Peach, huh? She smelt like peaches… Such fantastic citrusy goodness…
"Hey, cut it out with the drool, will you? I'm being serious here, and you're leaking from every place on your silly little head!" She jammed a wad of tissues into my face and I used it to clean myself up.
Well, I had to say something… though I thought I'd add a little flavour to my words.
"As long as you don't break out in rashes, I'd say this body butter is a good choice…"
"That's not what I wanted to hear, dummy!"
I allowed the slightest smile to creep onto my face. "…is what I'd love to say, but the truth is, it's really easy on the nose. Light and refreshing. So yeah, it's good stuff."
Her face lit up but then mischief curled her lips up into a cheeky grin. "Now we're getting somewhere. Hmmm… If you think the smell is nice, then I'll bet the taste will be to your liking too."
"Taste? Wait, what do you – "
She didn't let me finish. No, her lips wouldn't let me. They kept my mouth so preoccupied I couldn't utter a single word. Ooh, this time they were a bit more delicious… I could catch tints of strawberry here and there… Was this how her lip gloss tasted like? Oh man… she's good at this either way.
"Mmm… You pack a mean kiss as usual, Neku."
So busy was I at digesting the lingering taste in my mouth that I couldn't reply right away even after she was finished. She took it as a good sign and was as happy as a clam.
"Well, thanks for everything," she said cheerily. "That body butter is definitely going in my list of things I can buy without regrets."
"Oh, uh, that's good to know…"
"Alright, I'm going to bed. If you need me, I'll be in the guest room as usual…" – then with a whisper to my ear she added – "…and my door will be unlocked." That was one really big wink. Really, this girl was such a –
"E-Eri? !"
"Hmm? Neku, what's the matter – oh no! My towel came off!" Darn straight! It must have unraveled by itself while we were kissing. And now she was as topless as a convertible with the sunroof down!
"Kuh…!"
"Argh! Neku, s-stop bleeding all over me! I just took a shower!"
Yeah, like I was the one at fault here!
XOXOXOXOXO
Eri had given me a lot of sugar by the time we reached the two-week mark of our special relationship. If all the guys who were crushing on her knew what the two of us had been up to, they'd probably kill me. Fortunately for me, I had yet to receive any death threats or voodoo dolls in my mail.
However, as of late, she had been kissing me less. I didn't notice it at first but when I sat down to think, I realized she was gradually cutting down on the frequency of it. There were days when she was around and I would secretly hope she would do something to get our precious ritual started, but then nothing would happen. She'd just go about her business as usual.
Sometimes she would appear to wait for something… or at least wait for me to do something, but when I asked her what I could help her with, her reply was that everything was fine. I knew that couldn't be all, though. Because behind every smile she accompanied her words with, I could detect a tinge of frustration.
Wait… It couldn't be! Was she growing tired of me? Did the novelty of our pseudo-romantic relationship wear off? Or maybe she'd been kissing too much and needed a break… Gah! Just had a bad thought… Perhaps I was suffering from bad breath? ! But that couldn't be it either. I brushed my teeth at least three times a day and gargled like a maniac using the best mouthwash on the market. There's no telling when she'd grab me and start kissing, so I had to be prepared at all times, right? I wouldn't want her to leave with a bad taste in her mouth…
So what in the world was it?
I could ask her, but with the way she was I wouldn't get a sufficient answer. Eri has quite the reputation for being hard to understand. Even her closest friends can get baffled by her behaviour. I should know.
Time for a little trial and error… Through a process of elimination I might be able to unearth the truth just yet.
One night she had come over to visit as usual, and she was sitting on the couch, deep in thought… or lack thereof, given the blank look on her face.
I approached her. "Eri? What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. I'm just… spacing out. Been a hard day at work today." That look in her eyes remained as distant as the horizon.
"Must be tough pretending to be Seishirou-sama, huh?"
"Nah, I can manage."
My small talk yielded nothing useful, but I strived to be patient. An opportunity would present itself sooner or later, and then I could have my "Eureka!" moment at last and the whole world would be happy. Hopefully.
I could feel her eyes boring into my back as I prepared two mugs of cocoa for us. It's incredibly stressful knowing she wanted something from me, but not knowing what. One more try… Come on, Neku, you can do it… If I couldn't get through to her then I'd have to resort to more forceful options, something I'd rather not do if I could help it.
"Eri, don't you need something? Like a snack or…?"
"No, I'm good."
"Is your room comfy enough? Blankets need fluffing?"
"It's alright."
"Oh, I know! Do you need to take a bath? I can prepare it for you if you wa– "
A grumpy-sounding sigh spewed from her lips. "I just took a shower, Neku. Besides, you don't have a bathtub. You can't prepare a bath if you don't have a tub… dummy."
What the… Did she just call me a dummy? What did I do to deserve this thorny attitude? I'd have been fine with her a little longer but that was the last straw. I laid the cocoa down on the coffee table with a bang and confronted her with arms akimbo.
"Eri," I snapped, "just what the heck is eating you? ! You've been awfully strange today. Actually, not just today. You've been like this for the past week!"
My outburst immediately put her on the defensive. "Y-You don't need to shout…"
"S-Sorry." I assumed a softer tone but remained firm. "Anyway, what's the matter with you? You've been out of it for too long, yet you wouldn't tell me what the problem is when I ask. Did I do something you didn't like?"
She hesitated to speak because I was too brusque with her earlier. Ugh, didn't I promise myself that I'd be nicer to her?
"It's not what you did that I didn't like," she mumbled at last. "It's what you didn't do."
"What I didn't do?" I joined her on the couch, gripped with puzzlement. "But if you say it like that… I don't know what you mean."
"If you're this oblivious you wouldn't be able to guess it right even if I give you a million chances." There was disappointment on her face… the kind of disappointment you feel when you don't get the presents you want for Christmas or your birthday. But what could be so serious that her cheery disposition could take a nosedive?
Eri blurted out an explanation. "Neku, we're kissing buddies now, so I was hoping you'd be a bit more assertive like you said you would. But you've never been the one to initiate any of our kisses, not even once! Lately, I've been staying passive, waiting for you to make a move, but you haven't even lifted a finger. You're a guy, for goodness' sake! Take responsibility now and again, will you?"
Was this reason she was disgruntled? Because I had been letting her take charge instead of kissing her of my own accord? I see… So she didn't do anything with me because she was waiting for me to take action myself…
Now the visibly unhappy Eri was even pounding me with accusations. "Could it be you're not keen on the whole 'kissing buddies' idea? That you actually don't want to kiss me?"
"N-No! Hang on, that's not it at all!"
I laid one hand on her arm to try and calm her down. She was reluctant to look my way.
"Sorry, Eri…" I chose my words and spoke gingerly, afraid I'd make her bolt out the front door. "Listen to me. I do enjoy it when we kiss, and while I thought it was strange at first, the idea of us being kissing buddies is starting to grow on me."
That seemed to help curb her agitation. "B-But that doesn't change that you wouldn't kiss me on your own…"
"Eri… Believe me, nothing makes me happier when we do it, but I'm just scared I'd hurt your feelings if I act too rashly. I mean, it'd be bad if you end up hating me because of something I did."
"Huh?" She rubbed her neck. "So you didn't do anything because you were afraid you might make me mad?"
I nodded.
"Then don't be afraid!" she said with a huff, although it was clear she wasn't angry anymore, which was a good sign. "We've been sticking to one another like glue since, I dunno, ages… Does it make sense to be scared to kiss me when we've done way crazier things together?"
"Hmmm… well, you might have a point there…"
There was a second, more compelling reason that she had for me, and she said it with a rapidly reddening face. "Plus, you know… since I like you, I'd be happy if you actually kissed me."
We both sat there, embarrassed as heck and looking everywhere but at each other, as though if we made eye contact we'd explode like a pair of piñatas.
"Ah… um, oh… I see…" Geh… What's the safest thing to say at a time like this? "Nice weather"? "Homework's been tough"? "The economy is pretty bad these days"?
Uh-oh. She's turning this way. Mustn't make eye contact. We'd be goners if we did! We wouldn't be able to take the magic of the atmosphere that was building up between us. I just knew. However, my neck was too stubborn to move. Dammit, neck, do something! But it didn't. I looked at her, she looked at me, and almost immediately the heat of the moment got both of us good. We felt the electricity dancing between our eyes. Her lips were silent and unmoving but I knew what they were really trying to tell me.
Be a man. Go for it already! If she's going to be happy with it, then why wait? !
"Eri."
She jumped up half an inch off the couch, suddenly scared of my manly determination.
"Y-Yeah? Neku?"
I clutched her by the shoulders, and the next jump she made could have launched her straight into the ceiling if it weren't for my grip.
"I love you, Eri. I don't care that you already know. I just had to say it again."
She was beginning to grow limp in my grasp. Was she swooning? I was surprised at myself. Who was I again? I had entered a trance-like state where I was not Neku Sakuraba anymore, but a suave player with an aura that could outshine The Prince's. Was this an alter ego of mine that I never knew existed, staying dormant all of the twenty years of my life until now?
But that wasn't all. "And this," I continued, "is proof of my feelings!"
My lips were ready to deliver the shocking coup de grace to a paralysed Eri. However, I came to my senses at the last second and ground to a halt, our faces hovering just precious nanometers apart. My sensible side had come to my – and her – rescue. No respectable gentleman would take advantage of a girl… even if – ironically – she did exactly that to him on a disturbingly regular basis. It's simply not done for a guy to be like that.
"Sorry," I mumbled, ashamed of myself. "I can't believe I almost wanted to force a kiss on you. But that's not romantic… so I'm glad I didn't."
Eri was very understanding. Her expression softened and I felt a smidge better.
"Don't worry about it, Neku. I was out of line myself getting all worked up just because you haven't kissed me. Sorry! These things are meant to be taken slowly, so I gotta thank you for this wake-up call. Because it seems like one of life's most important lessons slipped my mind long ago and I just remembered it."
"Oh? What's that lesson?"
She flashed me a sweet smile. "You can't rush love!"
What? Did she mention the word "love"? Aha! Was this supposed to be a hint, to discreetly tell me that we might feel the same way about each other? That was certainly an interesting thing to hear… and apparently she realized it herself too, because now she was trying desperately to cover it up like a slip of the tongue that she didn't intend to make.
"Not that I meant anything by it, of course, ha ha…! Oh goodness, will you just listen to me, Neku. I say the strangest things! You know how I am, right? …Um, r-right?"
She was getting flustered, exposing her weaker side. Play my cards right, and I might be able to squeeze some answers out of her. I cast aside my doubts and asked point-blank:
"Say, Eri… do you love me too?"
The wall of questions she put up made for a decidedly flimsy defense. "Wh-What? What do you… Where… Where do you get off suggesting that? On what grounds?"
"W-Well, you did imply it yourself… in various ways…"
"I'm not implying anything," she gulped.
"Are you… perhaps… in denial?"
"No… I mean, yes! I mean, um… eugh."
There was no further need to press her. Whatever she wanted to say was on the tip of her tongue and I had a hunch she'd say it without further provocation. I was right.
"Actually," she admitted softly, "I don't know… There's something about you that makes my heart stir, but we've been so close for so long that I can't make head or tail of it. That said, I might have some… feelings… for you. Some. It's nothing really big though, mind you…"
Big or not, I didn't care. My chances weren't zero, that's what's important. I was glad. And it's nice that we got to shed some light on the matter, but I felt slightly guilty that I had to drive Eri into a corner to do so. Defeated by her own embarrassment, she looked a lot like a sad puppy. I gave her an affectionate pat on the head, hoping to get her figurative tail wagging again the way it usually did.
"Sorry for putting you out, Eri… I didn't mean anything bad. Can I see a smile? Please?"
Instead of complying with my request, she muttered flatly, "It's not advisable to keep a girl's heart pounding, you know… She might get cardiac arrest."
Believe me, despite the apparent solemnity of her words, she's joking. It even inspired me to crack what I thought was the perfect companion joke to that.
"If anything happens to you," I wisecracked, "I'll administer CPR."
She snorted and broke into a short laugh, completely transforming her earlier monotone. "Neku, what in the cheese bits was that? That was awfully corny."
"I guess… Sorry!"
Hearing her laughter kept my spirits up and I joined her in the mirth. When her giggles petered out eventually, she threw her arms around me and warmed me right up with a big hug, so it was only fair to return the favour.
"Neku," she said, "promise me. Promise me you'll wait for my answer? At the rate the two of us are going, I don't think I'll be too long at all."
"Is that indicative of a favourable answer, then?"
"Not telling. Hee hee."
"Not again," I groaned. "I'll promise you though. …Seriously, you work full-time as a living cliffhanger."
She was as cheery as a child and just as cheeky. "It's a thankless job, but someone's got to do it! …Ah, it's getting late."
We disentangled from our embrace and stood at the front door lingering on our goodbyes for the evening, spending what few precious minutes we had left before we parted ways. There's no week when she doesn't pop by at least once, and she'd usually stay for the night. However, ever since she landed her evening job cross-dressing in secret as the ultra-desirable butler Seishirou-sama, she didn't have as many chances to visit as before, so whenever we were together, we'd cherish every second.
"You're not sleeping over, Eri?"
"Not tonight. Why, Neku? Are you afraid you'll be lonely?"
"Th-That's not what I meant."
"Hee hee. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm honoured that you like having me over, but it'd be nice if you could come visit me a little more often. I think it's cool that we have Saturday cooking lessons at my place, but that's it. So maybe… maybe you could, you know, stop by once in a while?"
Hmmm, Eri's right. Except for Saturdays, I was but a rare visitor to her. Since she's always coming over, it's only fair for me to do the same. I probably might not have the energy to do that as often as she did, but she'd definitely be delighted to have me.
She added as an afterthought, "Um, I have cocoa too."
"Cocoa or no, I'll be there. I'll be intruding on your privacy soon."
"Ha ha ha! That's a cute way to put it, Neku. You're funny." She slipped her hat and coat on, and it was time to go. "Alright, next time you're around, I'll whip up a tempura or two for you."
I matched her warm smile. "Looking forward to it."
She still stood there at the doorstep, looking at me. Waiting. Oh, hang on!
I knew exactly what she wanted. No fumbling from me this time!
So I gave it to her. The nervousness made me feel like there was a whole zoo gone mad in my stomach, but my mind was made up. Her face was so captivating as I approached but she didn't wait long enough for me to appreciate her beauty – she leaned in too. We met in the middle and lost ourselves in a goodnight kiss that was chaste and refreshing. They say you can achieve a whole lot more when you cooperate with someone else, and that holds true for kissing. Neither of us wanted to let go. Ah… synergy was so good.
She broke away eventually and was giddy with delight. "Gosh, Neku," she sighed, "now this… this is more like it. You're finally taking the lead. You're finally doing things the right way."
I spoke for both of us when, fueled by the romantic afterglow, I said, "…We've got to do this more often. Um, that is, if you're cool with it."
"Hee hee. Why not? We're kissing buddies. We're special."
"Eri…" Special, huh… With the way we were, there's no better way to describe us.
"…One more."
"Again?"
"You don't want to?"
"Nah, quite the opposite."
She chuckled. "I figured."
XOXOXOXOXO
Starting from last night, I made sure to take Eri's words to heart. As the guy, it was only natural for me to assume the responsibility for many things. I had to get proactive. Girls are total suckers for proactive guys, right?
So I was at Eri's doorstep with an early morning present. She didn't have classes until much later in the afternoon, so she could afford to sleep in a little longer. Which was just nice, because that gave me plenty of time to prepare something nice for her. My timing couldn't be better: when she answered the door she had just woken up, still rubbing the fuzz out of her eyes.
"Yeah?" she mumbled. "Oh, g'mornin' – eep? !"
She just gaped, all the sleepiness gone in an instant. I had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and in the other I had cake that was freshly bought from a famous bakery in town, and these two I extended towards her.
"Wh-What is this?" stammered the surprised Eri.
Her reaction was simply to die for. I knew she wasn't expecting me to do this so it was all worth it seeing those eyes stretched wide open. Oh boy… now I was getting sheepish, but it's still a nice feeling. It almost felt like I was an actual boyfriend already.
"You said you like it when a guy takes the lead, so… here I am, taking the… uh, lead." I cleared my throat and explained myself further. "Th-Thought you might like flowers and something sweet to munch on in the morning. Here you go. Um… don't be shy."
"Oh Neku, you shouldn't have." To my delight, she beamed like the sun and graciously took them like a film star going on stage to receive an award. "Really, that's so sweet of you. Thankies! And marble cake from J-Frosty's? Ooh, my favourite!"
"That's why I got it."
"You know me so well," she giggled. "What're these flowers, though? I've never seen them before."
"These are chive blossoms," I replied, pointing at the flowers in her bouquet. "Simply put, they're the flowers of a type of onion. You normally use the leaves in cooking, but the flowers are edible too. You know, I could've gotten you roses or tulips or whatever, but I wanted something different from the norm so I sought out a florist that sold chives. They're a nice purple colour too, so I thought you might like them."
In a self-deprecating tone, I added, "Ah, I hope I don't come across as some cheapskate. It's true that chives aren't as expensive, but – "
"No, I rather like them," she said happily. "They're lovely! I was wondering what my living room was lacking and I think these should do the trick, so it's great that you happened to come along… thanks again!"
"Ahaha…" Heh… not bad. They say girls can be difficult to satisfy, but when you hit all the right notes with them? Nothing screams "pro" better than that.
"Neku, come inside! Let's share the cake, you and me!"
I laughed. "Cake for breakfast?"
"Why not? It's cool to be a non-conformist."
"Thanks for the offer, Eri, but I've got classes soon. I gotta dash."
"Really? That's a shame. Well, at least come in for five minutes?"
"I… I'm sorry, I can't. I'm really pressed for time. So I'll see you soon."
"It's that urgent? Well…" She blushed lightly. "How about a nice little kiss to start off the day?"
My heart was all a-flutter. "That, um… O-Okay, I… I don't mind…"
I went to college in extra-high spirits. Even my classmates were openly wondering if something good had happened to me.
XOXOXOXOXO
Neither our relationship nor the kind of feeling I got from it is easy to describe. Even if I tried my best, I wouldn't come anywhere close. It's just the sort of thing you have to experience for yourself to even get the slightest inkling. Hopefully, though, I've given you a glimpse of how we lived out our daily lives as kissing buddies.
It's a strange thing, to be sure. You either start going out with someone or you remain as friends. There's hardly an intermediate stage, but you know Eri: she can make the impossible possible.
And that's fine by me.
...
Author's note:
It's a bit abrupt off the bat, but I'd like to thank everyone who's been keeping tabs on my story up till now... and hot damn, 100 reviews! I may not be as accomplished in the fanfiction community as many others who get a whole lot more reviews than I do, but for me, 100 is an important number and I'm so happy for that.
I mean, reviews aren't everything; the most important aspect of writing is having fun, and I certainly am enjoying myself. But getting feedback and constructive criticism is always a welcome bonus. So thank you all so much. If I could give you guys cookies through the PC monitor, I'd do it. Chocolate chip, anyone? XD
Meantime, I'm going to be doing some brainstorming on the next major story arc and I want it to go swimmingly, so I'll need a little time for that. It certainly wouldn't be in Chapter 27 but I hope to introduce it by Chapter 28; that'd be great.
Until next time, guys. Bye!
PS: I haven't actually eaten chive blossoms. I do know about them through cooking articles. If you're interested in giving them a go, MAKE SURE YOU ASK AN EXPERIENCED PERSON ABOUT THEM! Do your research! Don't want you shoving the wrong stuff down your throat and getting diarrhea or worse, right?