Rentarō: "These….are the test results that they took a couple of days ago! Among them is your erosion rate!" he handed her the papers, as she snatched them very impatiently. She began reading the text on them, although she had very limited understanding of what was written.
Rentarō switched on the lamp in that room, so that she could actually have any chance of making out what was spelled. Still, she didn't understand anything.
Enju: "Uh….where's the erosion rate, though? I don't see any num-…." but she managed to find it without his help just before finishing her sentence.
At the bottom of one of those papers there was a table with a bunch of numbers on the right column and a text description of what those numbers represented on the left column, right next to them. And the number of her erosion rate was, incredibly enough, 0% for her.
Enju: "I…..what the hell?!" she stared absolutely dumbfounded at that, as everything she had known up until that point was suddenly brought into question.
The boy next to her smiled a sympathetic smile, him having expected that reaction out of her after she finished to interpret those results. After all, this was a very unexpected development.
She continued to stare at those figures, as if her forcing her focus on them would somehow magically help her devise the entire reason for why the text claimed that she had no erosion rate whatsoever. Obviously, it didn't help though and the more she read the papers, the more confused she became.
Enju: "Rentarō….I think the lab made a mistake!" naturally, that was the first thing she would conclude. The boy had foreseen that reaction from a mile away.
Rentarō: "It's not a mistake, Enju! We redid the tests on another blood sample! The results are on this other paper, right here!" he pointed to a different paper in her hand.
And, sure enough, that one also had the exact same conclusion written on it, albeit in a different format.
Enju was flabbergasted.
Enju: "But…..this can't be right, can it? I mean, erosion rates never decrease, do they? That's what I've always been told! And the previous tests I had indicated that my erosion rate used to be much higher!" everything she said was information that he already knew, so none of that really had any meaningful impact on that conversation.
Rentarō: "That is true! And this is why the lab we sent the blood samples to thought there must have been a mix-up somewhere and we may have sent the wrong ones to them! And so, we ran a DNA test on them, as well, to compare with what's already in the I.I.S.O.'s database! And, to our surprise, we found out that it was a match to your genetic signature that they had stored!" Enju just stood there, wide eyed, not even sure what to think of that.
Rentarō: "They said that they are 99.8% confident that you are the owner of those blood samples! Which means that, somehow, you must have cleared out the virus infection in your body!" that was the only logical conclusion to make given this input, although that only further deepened the mystery that they were entangled in now.
Enju: "I…...I…..did?" even though she knew very little about the human body at that age, she knew already that the Gastrea virus was incurable, or at least that was the consensus that the scientific community always had at that time. So this revelation was literally shattering her entire understanding of reality, a reality that had been sown into her brain for as long as she could remember.
Rentarō: "Congratulations, Enju! You are the very first Cursed Child to have completely recovered from the infection! You're now a normal ten year old girl!" finally he said it.
For a single moment, Enju actually considered the possibility that this boy had finally started to crack jokes, after so many years of being po-faced with her. Granted, it wouldn't have been even remotely funny, especially given the circumstances, but it would have made at least a glimmer of logical sense had that been the case.
Enju: "I'm….normal? But, how can I be normal?! I was born with the virus! Hell, I even transformed into a Gastrea just a week ago! That can't be accurate!" she actually would have been extremely happy to become a normal girl, as that had always been a dream of hers; to be able to enjoy life at its fullest without having to worry that one day she will die at a very young age.
But, after everything that had happened with her father, she was deservedly skeptical now about anyone claiming such miracles.
Rentarō elaborated.
Rentarō: "I never got the chance to tell you this but Sumire-sensei actually came up with this theory that you may have developed antibodies to repress your infection when you transformed back into your human shape! Such a thing never happened before, as far as we know, and, as such, it was already a very outlandish hypothesis at the time but now, with these tests, we can confirm that she may have been closer to the truth than many would have initially estimated. Apparently, after I shot those weakened bullets into you after you transformed and, because I also injected you with that drug you used to take daily, coupled with the fact that you had a brand new strain of the virus suddenly infecting you, may have all led to you finally managing to suppress the disease in your body!" the girl was listening very eagerly, half incredibly optimistic but also half very concerned, mostly because now she knew that this change, if true, would probably lead to her entire life changing, to put it mildly.
Enju: "So….she thinks that I managed to clear the virus from my body because of that?" she repeated what he had told her, just to make sure that she understood this correctly.
Rentarō: "Well, almost. You didn't fully recover from it once you reverted to your human form and you still had traces of the virus in your body back then as well. But that should have been enough to pull your erosion rate down by a very significant amount!" he relayed the same information that he had been told by the doctor previously.
Enju: "But….I still had my powers even after I turned back into a human, though! That's how I broke into the I.I.S.O. afterwards! And also how I helped my father in stealing those trucks! So I still wasn't normal even after I reverted my transformation!" she tried to point out a logical inconsistency. Luckily for them, though, Rentarō had already discussed about that over the phone with Sumire and she had come up with an explanation for that too.
Rentarō: "Well, like I said, you weren't fully healed at that point yet! Your erosion rate was still most likely above zero back then, although the virus was slowly getting eaten away by your immune system. By the time you arrived at that Varanium processing plant, your erosion rate was likely already pretty low. When you ended up spending so much time in there, that would only have further suppressed the virus, this time to the extent of allowing your body to fully destroy it!" he claimed very calmly, carefully replaying the doctor's words in his mind to make sure that he wasn't telling Enju any inaccuracies by mistake.
Sumire was a genius with worldwide recognition. She seldom was proven wrong on any of her assumptions, which only added credibility to these claims. Even Enju, who had always lived a life in acceptance of the fact that she will never be normal, was suddenly beginning to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, she actually had the chance of living through a happy ending.
After everything that had happened to her that past week, it was about time for karma to finally repay her for all the atrocities and mental scarring that she had to endure.
Enju: "Rentarō…..did you know about this in advance?" suddenly, she brought up an interesting question.
Rentarō: "What?" he did not get what she wanted to ask immediately, so she refined her question.
Enju: "Did you know that if you had done those things that you did back when I was transforming, you would have had this specific outcome? Was this the reason you injected me with that drug at the last moment?" seeing how this has led to this very desirable ending, she could only wonder if Rentarō and Sumire had actually known all along that this was possible and would have planned accordingly.
Rentarō: "No!" despite how amazing that would have sounded, Rentarō immediately dashed her hopes when beginning to speak the truth about what he had been thinking, back then. "I never knew that was possible! Back when I injected you with that, I was only hoping that me doing that would have just magically forced your body to become normal again, at least for a little while longer! I never could have foreseen any of this!" he revealed, a bit disappointing but also simultaneously honest.
Rentarō: "And, as I already mentioned, the only reason I used those weaker Black Bullets on you was because I had already planned to let you go before that happened! I just wanted to make it look like I was trying to kill you so that you could escape. I never expected that me doing any of those things would have actually saved you like this! I guess we just got lucky!" even though that reasoning really was incredibly pathetic, she knew that he wasn't lying at least, since she would have noticed him looking away had he been trying to deceive her, as he usually does when trying to be dishonest.
Enju: "(sigh) I guess you doing those things really did help me out, then!" she hated to admit that him having done them and forcing her to suffer to such a high degree was also something that ended up changing her life forever, for the better. It was almost like an unpleasant paradox, with the long term benefits ultimately outweighing the short term suffering that she had to go through.
Enju: "Thank you!" finally acknowledging his contributions towards her own salvation, the girl began to show affection to him once again. "Sorry for yelling at you before! Even if you didn't plan for it, you made me be….normal again, Rentarō!" she showed her gratitude towards him, beaming the happiest smile she could muster.
Enju: "You may have been a weak Promoter, but you're also the best man I could have ever hoped to meet! You are my light, too, Rentarō, always shining over me!" she then moved towards his body and embracing him warmly. It hurt her so much to move like that and also to force her broken arm to bend like that to complete the hug but she did it anyway. This was the least she could do for him, now that she understood how much he had done for her.
Enju: "Thank you….for always being there for me, even when my own father wasn't!" that last line felt more painful than anything she had said to him before.
He didn't comment on it, letting the topic of her father drop since it would only sour the moment for both of them.
Rentarō: "As long as I can help, partner!" he let out with a smug smile, happy with himself that this turned out to be as pleasant as it did.
However, that last word suddenly sparked more concern in her, as she had made a very glaring realization.
Enju: "Wait!" she interrupted the hug, as she began to pull away from him. "What about….us? If I'm not a Cursed Child anymore then I won't be able to work as an Initiator, will I? What's going to happen to us?" she raised an interesting concern, one that was very warranted.
The boy thought about it for a while, before concluding, what was now a less than happy, piece of news.
Rentarō: "You're not an Initiator anymore, Enju! And, even if you were, we would both be out of jobs now, anyway! Tendō Civil Security has filed for bankruptcy!" now was probably not the best time to let her know of this given that they were now slowly approaching midnight but, seeing how they already began to discuss really grim and sober topics, they might as well just finish with that now.
Enju: "Wait, what?!" the shocked expression she was now wearing contrasted very sharply with the happy-go-lucky face that she had just a minute prior when she had learned that she was now normal.
Rentarō: "It was decided by the court that our civil office had to be fined for the incompetence that we showed in the handling of your transformation….of MY handling of your transformation, that is! That and our company registration was also terminated!" he clarified, only compounding to the uncertainties that Enju was having.
Enju: "But...but..but Kisara-san told me that Seitenshi-sama pardoned you, didn't she? What's up with that?!" she remembered, trying to cling to any hope that she could.
Rentarō: "Well, she did, but she only pardoned me! From what I heard, it's only possible to pardon individual people, not legal entities like civil offices! That's a deliberate limitation of the law, so that nobody could exempt entire corporations from legal scrutiny!" this was a bit too technical for a ten year old like herself but she kind of got the gist of what he was trying to say.
Enju: "Wait….so you mean that now we're out of jobs?! Well, then again, since I'm not a Cursed Child anymore then I guess that already was expected for me…." even though she had literally learned just a couple of minutes ago that she was normal, she now has to cope with the fact that they have new struggles ahead of them.
Rentarō: "Yes, we're out of jobs! However, to compensate us, Seitenshi-sama said that she'd be covering Tendō Civil Security's fine herself, to make sure that this won't follow Kisara-san for the rest of her life! Additionally, she gave both me and Kisara-san two million yen each, for our roles in saving the first Cursed Child that has Gastrea antibodies, once she learned that your tests for the virus came out negative!" that woman was indeed the earthliest equivalent to an almighty all-forgiving angel, at least to their specific group of individuals.
The fact that she was willing to shell out so much just to help them in their times of need was just a testament to the importance that Enju's body currently had for the rest of humanity.
Then again, there was always a catch.
Rentarō: "Seitenshi-sama said that she's willing to give us this much money, in exchange for having exclusive rights to have your blood analyzed from now on! That is, she wants to isolate the antibodies in you that allowed you to become normal again. We're all assuming that you have them and this is why we're making such a big deal out of this!" he continued to inform her, as she was listening very patiently to absorb all of this information.
Enju: "Wait….so you're saying that I need to be tested on from now on? For how long?" worried about this new development, she was reasonably inquisitive. Rentarō tried to calm her, though.
Rentarō: "We don't know! For as long as it takes for us to figure out what antibodies you have! The point was that we would find them, discover ways to synthesize them on our own without having to rely on your body to construct them and then, finally, begin to mass-produce them so that we can begin treating the Cursed Children all around the world! Oh, and to find a new technology to mass-reverse the transformation of all the Gastrea on this planet into normal humans again using them, if that's even possible!" Enju was still very scared, although the prospect of her blood being used to save other unfortunate Cursed Children did sound appealing to her.
She always wanted to help those kids that were in desperate need and now, if they could undo their erosion, they won't have to worry about being discriminated against by society, or at least not to the same degree as they were at that moment. To her, having any chance at contributing to such a wonderful future was more than enough to win her over.
Enju: "I'm in!" she proudly declared, with new blooming hope radiating from her childish figure, although still being a bit hesitant due to the prospect of becoming a guinea pig.
It didn't take much for Rentarō to convince her apparently.
There was clear incertitude in their future, even with all of these events that had turned out in their favor. They still weren't sure that Enju would remain normal for forever, they had no idea if she had any antibodies for curing a Gastrea infection and, even if she had, whether such antibodies were synthesizable in the first place and, even if they were, how readily Cursed Children would trust the Japanese government to inject them with experimental cures. Hell, would all of them agree to be cured in the first place?
And what will society think of those that refuse the cure? Will all discrimination just magically end? Or will people like Masahiko continue to pop up every now and then, to cause more trouble? And, if those Cursed Children will revert to normalcy, they'd be even more vulnerable to abuse because they won't have any more powers to defend themselves with if that were the case.
The logistics were very complicated and unpleasant and there would always be the chance of things turning out badly.
But, still, that was too much to consider at the moment. It made very little sense for them to worry about all of this then, when they were both so tired. No solution would become available to them overnight, so they just decided to leave these worries to be addressed another time.
Now, they had more immediate matters to worry about.
Enju: "Sooo….." she began speaking once again, as her brain was still digesting everything that she had just learned. "Where does this leave us, then? Will we be separated?" she was starting to sound more and more concerned the longer this was going on, although the boy was going to start conveying some good news now, for a change.
Rentarō: "No. I already talked about this with Seitenshi-sama! She said that it's possible for me, now that you are a normal girl, to apply to become your official guardian! I'm not entirely sure what that would entail, to be honest, but since I've been your Promoter for so long, I think there won't be any problems as far as approvals would go. And, if that goes through, we can continue living here, home, as we did up until now! There shouldn't be any changes!" since he had barely just exited hospital, he was obviously unfit for applying for that yet, although none of them were rushing.
Given that they were responsible for saving the city's Cursed Children, he was sure that the officials would give him some leeway to at least recover from his injuries before forcing him to apply for such a certification.
Enju: "So….you'll turn into my guardian? You won't be my Promoter anymore?" for whatever reason, that felt very odd to consider. For the past year since she had known Rentarō, she had always seen him as her Promoter. Granted, him changing his role wouldn't make for much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, at least to their usual dynamic. It would just feel….weird.
Rentarō: "That's the plan, for now! I'll see how feasible it is once I'll heal enough to actually walk around comfortably!" fair enough.
Enju: "And Kisara-san? What's going to happen to her, now that she lost her job, as well?" feeling sudden sympathy for the employer that had helped them so much in the past (and who, incidentally, had saved her life before through her blood donation), she continue asking.
Rentarō: "Kisara-san will be going through some legal stuff, for now, to finish the paperwork for dissolving her company and for paying off her fine and any other debts she may have. Since she already got the money from Seitenshi-sama, though, I imagine there shouldn't be too many issues on her end!" that felt very refreshing to hear, for her.
Rentarō: "Tina said she's going to follow Kisara-san, wherever she goes. And since Kisara-san said she's planning on getting a job to help Seitenshi-sama in her endeavors for creating a cure for the virus after she deals with this legal hassle, I'm sure they'll be able to continue to work together as they have before! So there's nothing to worry about!" after finally being reassured about the state of affairs pertaining to her friends, Enju could let out a sigh of relief.
Enju: "There's been a lot happening these past two weeks, hasn't there?" she sarcastically asked, feeling overwhelmed by how much their lives had transformed just because of her.
Rentarō: "Life is never predictable! But that's kinda what makes it so great in the first place!" he tried to make himself sound wise, despite the fact that he was just a teenager. She found that a bit ironic.
Enju: "Yes….it is!" never in her life could she have predicted such an outlandish future for herself. Her, being normal, was so unbelievable that she was still having trouble accepting this specific fact. This will take some time to get used to.
Enju: "Uh….but….if I'm normal again, would that mean that I can go back to school?" she finally brought up the elephant in the room.
This was the one thing Rentarō had hoped she would not have asked about that night, as it was something which he honestly wished he would not have to answer. This was because he knew, for a fact, that Enju would not like the truth for this one.
Rentarō: "Uh…." he stammered a bit, wondering how he should phrase what he wanted to say while sounding as optimistic as possible.
Still, Enju saw immediately through him and knew, just from the look on his face, that she won't like what he was about to say.
Rentarō: "Your school….will be closed! They will have to deal with some lawsuits….and it's very unlikely that it'll survive!" as soon as he finished saying that, she mentally connected the dots and knew exactly what had happened.
Enju: "It's….because of me, isn't it? It's because I went there when I was still in my Gastrea form, isn't it?" he just couldn't understand why she was seeking answers that she already probably realized would only hurt her. What was the point of asking if it was obvious, already?
Rentarō: "Well….it's…." he hated this conversation so much. "Yes….it's because of that" he finally acknowledged begrudgingly. At that point, there was no use in trying to hide it anymore from her.
Enju's expression turned into a depressed one.
Enju: "I….thought as much…." much as she had suspected, it hurt knowing that. And this only added to the uncertainties that they will have to deal with in the near future, which only complicated things further for them.
Enju: "(sigh) Well, I guess I'll have to change schools again! That is, if there will even be another school that's going to accept me!" it won't be easy, even if she will find another school to enroll into. They both knew that.
Rentarō: "Since you're not a Cursed Child anymore, it's technically legal for you to attend school. So I don't think it'll be that hard to find someone who will accept you!" he tried to look at this situation from an optimistic angle, although Enju was already aware of the reality and how difficult the days ahead will be for both of them.
Enju: "It may be legal, but that doesn't mean anyone will want me in! My father was right, everyone knows my face after that incident! Everyone knows that I'm the kid that turned into a Gastrea, after all!" she remembered, with a depressed look.
Rentarō: "(sigh) Yes, everyone knows! But, for what it's worth, they should also know now that you're normal and that you're also the first Cursed Child to have developed immunity to the Gastrea virus! That's gotta count for something, right?" he tried to bring her spirits up once again, even though the girl was less receptive now than usual.
Even if she were to enroll as a student, everyone will have a natural aversion towards her from that day on….an aversion which will sadly haunt her for the rest of her life. Society is naturally unforgiving, which complicates things a lot. And, the most painful thing about this was that she knew that all too well.
Enju: "Guess Toshimaen is out of the question now!" she cracked a small joke, understanding that this was already becoming too gloomy, she decided to change the topic to something more lighthearted and not dwell too much over the sad facts.
Yes, they will have to face many challenges ahead. But, then again, when had that not been the case already?
Seeing how she cornered Rentarō with the sad reality, she knew it was time to simply accept the truth, as unpleasant as it was, and plow through. After all, after having witnessed how little giving up helped her after meeting her father, she realized that the only way of handling harsh realities is just coping with them and dealing with the hardships as they come.
Rentarō smiled in response, happy to see the cheerful partner that he had always known back. Ultimately, she was supposed to be the optimistic one of their duo. If she would become just as sober and sulky as he was, their team would probably just end up depressed all day long.
Rentarō: "We'll see about that in due time. Who knows? Maybe everyone will want to treat you as a special customer, now that you're famous for being the first cured Cursed Child! We won't know until we see, right?" resolving to await a bright future, the two allowed themselves to smile again, naively hoping that, in the end, things will turn out well for them.
Seeing Enju smile once again helped him find hope, which was such a rare thing for a change.
Enju: "And…" she closed her eyes and began to speak proudly and in a confident tone. "Even if nobody will want to enroll me, that means I'll just get to spend more time with you, Rentarō!" she brought up another subject.
Rentarō widened his eyes when making the connection.
Rentarō: "Oh….you mean…"
Enju: "Yep! You didn't forget about that, did you? You promised that you will home-school me! Among other things…." she grinned at him, as he began to blush at that memory.
Rentarō: "Y-yeah….I did. And I will follow through with what I said!" he doubled down, letting her knew that he was serious, although that was more to mentally prepare himself.
Enju: "Good! So when will we get to the 'seed planting' part that you mentioned?" oh he was not going to hear the end of this.
He knew this was going to come. He really hoped that she wouldn't bring that up that early, though.
Rentarō: "Th-..that's for when you'll be older! And for after we'll marry, obviously!" he was doomed and this conversation was straying away into some even more uncomfortable territory; uncomfortable for him, anyway.
Enju: "Why wait? You think I'm not ready to become a mother?" incidentally, this was also straying away from God as well.
Rentarō: "Yes, you're not ready to become a mother! Hell, you're not ready to marry yet! The earliest you'll be able to legally marry is after your sixteenth birthday! Basically, you need to grow as old as I am, right now, before you get to make such decisions!" he tried to bring up common sense into this conversation, forgetting that she was not compatible with common sense at all, at least when it came to such topics.
Enju: "I can't wait for that long, though! And what's wrong with making love before marriage? That's not that uncommon, Rentarō!" she tried sounding very mature, despite the fact that Rentarō was well aware of her lack of knowledge in this department.
Rentarō: "Do you even know what sex is….?" honestly he already felt like he knew the answer to that question, but he still wanted to probe her to see what she knew about this.
Enju: "Of course I know!" she proudly replied. "It's when a man sticks his penis inside a woman's pee hole!" the truly sad part about that was the fact that she was saying such ridiculous garbage while wearing the most confident look that she could muster, her apparently being 100% sure about this.
The boy could only weep mentally.
Rentarō: "No….that's….women don't pee through their vagina, Enju!" this was not the right time for them to have this discussion, he was aware of that. But he wasn't going to be able to escape out of that room without closing off this deeply disquieting topic.
That, evidently, shattered the girl's entire reality, her complete being becoming surprised at this revelation.
Enju: "Wait...WHAT?!" that was so shocking that she rose on the bed in an upright position, her mind blown away. "But where does my pee-…" he interrupted her before she could continue into weirder territory.
Rentarō: "You have an urethra that's next to the vagina! It's way smaller and less obvious, just below your clitoris!" he was blushing really hard when revealing this to her, very anxious and disliking this sex-ed talk that they were now having.
Enju: "My….what?!" naturally she didn't even know what 'clitoris' even meant.
She moved her hands onto the ends of her pajamas' pants, preparing to pull them down before Rentarō started to yell at her, stopping her.
Rentarō: "DON'T TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES WHEN I'M STILL IN THE ROOM, DAMMIT! AT LEAST HAVE THE COURTESY OF WAITING UNTIL I'VE LEFT!" it amazed him how shameless this girl could become in less than a second. Did children have no natural shame against nudity?
Enju: "But I never noticed it! But then, the vagina is just for sex?!" this piece of information was more mind blowing for her than her having learned that she just turned into a normal girl from being a Cursed Child. He simply could not understand how her mental processes worked, at all.
Rentarō: "You're a girl, for crying out loud! How could you not notice that your pee was coming out from a different hole?!" amazingly, he was the only one seemingly ashamed of their conversation, as the child seemed to have absolutely no qualms about what they were talking about. What world were they even living in, anymore?
Enju: "I...it's not like I touch myself when peeing on the toilet! How was I supposed to know?!" indignant because of Rentarō's disappointment in her, she replied angrily. "It's not like they teach you this stuff in school! They teach me useless stuff like fractions and equations and….stuff!" it was honestly cute how incensed she had become by his remarks, her folding her arms and also looking away while pouting adorably.
Rentarō: "They do….it's just that you're too young for those types of classes! Which also proves my point entirely! You're not ready for this type of stuff!" he exclaimed, already fed up and ready to end this awkward sex-ed short.
Enju: "But….but...that's not fair!" she stomped on the bed, in a tantrum fit, angry that he was this stern with her.
Rentarō: "And besides, I already talked with Kisara-san about this….She was very much against us doing anything...uh...too...raunchy! Otherwise she said she will cut off my….uh…." he stopped himself short of saying the actual word. The girl could deduce what he meant.
Enju: "Dick?" she completed what he wanted to say very nonchalantly. That perturbed him.
Rentarō: "Penis….yes. Also, where the hell did you find out about the penis?! You're too young to have had sex ed at school!" he pointed out the obvious as the girl smiled a very mischievous smile.
Enju: "The internet, of course!" she triumphantly replied, proud of herself. "I've been using my phone to research...uh….materials. For….homework….obviously!" she suddenly realized that she was not supposed to divulge this piece of information to her soon-to-be-guardian.
Rentarō: "I….need to install parental controls on that thing…" he realized too late. "But….if you researched about sex, how did you not know about the vagina?! How did yo-…"
Enju: "Well, I kinda focused on the male parts….I didn't really check up on the female parts…..I just thought they were always gross!" he was stunned, before the realization finally washed over him and he realized what had happened.
Rentarō: "You….weren't searching anything for school, were you? You just wanted to see….uh…" he stopped at that word again, for some reason holding back saying the word 'penis', even though this girl clearly wasn't as innocent as she claimed.
Enju: "I….I was just curious! And it's none of your business what I search on my phone!" she said that but he was planning on taking her phone away from her entirely now. Either that or installing parental block although this was a bit too late now.
Rentarō: "Whatever! I don't even want to know…." he knew he should not have been part of this conversation. It always ended weirdly, for him anyway.
This was already giving him a headache.
But just before he could find a way to end it, the girl trailed off in a different topic.
Enju: "I also talked with Kisara-san back when I was at the hospital. She told me that she was against that! And we also talked about my relationship with you!" just as he feared, the unpleasant topics were not over yet…..although realistically this couldn't have been any more awkward than what they already had talked about.
Enju: "She made some good points. Which reminds me, Rentarō…" she started to blush as well a bit. "Why….did you promise that you'll marry me to my father? I thought you always said that you never saw me as a lover, didn't you?" he raised an eyebrow when hearing this question.
Odd how she was asking about their relationship status after they already talked about sex. Her priorities were really screwed.
Rentarō: "It's…..complicated" he began with the prerequisite 'It's complicated' phrase that prefixes all relationship conversations for teenagers (or in this case between a teenager and a preteen). "I wanted to prove that you can live a normal life to him! I know that this might sound cruel but I had no other choice to convince Masahiko that you could return to some semblance of normalcy!" he reasoned, only saddening the girl who realized how right Kisara had been when having hypothesized this exact thing.
Enju: "I….thought as much! Kisara-san also told me this! (sigh) You know, I don't really think that that was the proper way to handle that…." she sounded very disappointed. Naturally, he tried to rebut her now shattered expectations.
Rentarō: "But, like I already said, I'm planning on following through with everything that I promised! Just because I wasn't ready for this when I said that doesn't mean that I'll never be-…."
Enju: "I refuse!" the girl suddenly spoke up, interrupting him.
Rentarō: "Uh….what?" he didn't know how to act when hearing this. That came out of absolute nowhere for him. "You refuse….what?"
Enju: "Your marriage proposal to me. I'm the woman that you're proposing to and, as such, it's my right to refuse you!" he did not see this coming.
He stared at her, both shocked beyond belief but also a bit angry. Her, the woman who had been throwing advances his way for more than an entire year and who always liked to pretend to be his fiancee, was now refusing a marriage proposal from him? What gives?
Rentarō: "You….can't do that!" he was now just left dumbfounded.
Enju: "Yes I can! I can do whatever I want!" how was he even supposed to respond to that? He had never been as embarrassed as that in his entire life. Had Kisara been there with them, she would have probably burst out laughing at that moment.
Rentarō: "But….why?!" not having anything else to say in response, he couldn't do anything but ask for clarifications.
Enju: "Because it's not fair, Rentarō! It's not fair to you, to me, nor to Kisara-san! What you're asking for is just wrong!" she began to trail off on her own, trying to explain her own position in this entire scenario. "It's unfair to me because you want me to marry a man who doesn't actually love me as a wife, it's unfair to you because you'll end up marrying someone who you have no feelings for, romantic feelings, that is…." he couldn't believe how logical her reasoning was, since this was coming from someone way younger than him but who still seemed to have a fairer grounding in reality.
Enju: "And it's unfair to Kisara-san who also has feelings for you! It wouldn't be fair if you married me just out of a sense of obligation simply because you just so happened to be my Promoter!" she was right, to a surprising degree.
The boy stared at her, amazed that after such a long time, he had been rejected; and by a ten year old, no less. In the end, he really was incompetent when it came to romance.
Rentarō: "Wait, Kisara-san likes me too?!" it felt awfully insulting that that was the first thing that he remarked on. She barely resisted the urge to smack him over the head for that.
Enju: "Yes….I know I wasn't supposed to reveal that to you but you should know that it's not right for you to jump into this decision straight away! She deserves a chance for getting to be together with you just as much as I do!" also the fact that he was being scolded by a ten year old for not taking this seriously enough was just annoying him even further.
Rentarō: "Why….are you so reasonable and mature about this?! You weren't like this before!" now she really felt the urge to smack him but, again, she barely resisted it.
Enju: "I almost died just two weeks ago, Rentarō! I can't live my life anymore playing around like a kid! I need to grow up and start understanding this world! And that made me realize how important these decisions should be! I…..don't want you making this mistake and then ending up hating your life just for my sake! If that were to happen….I won't ever be able to live with that thought!" she looked at him straight in the eye, with enough seriousness to make the boy reconsider everything that he had said.
Rentarō: "I….I guess you're right!" it still hurt a little knowing that his entire resolve had just been logically crushed by none other than Enju herself but, as much as he hated to admit it, she was right. And now that he knew that Kisara also had feelings for him, this weird situation just got all the more complicated.
Rentarō: "So….I guess you don't want me to marry you, anymore?" he asked, not even sure how to take any of this anymore.
Enju: "I do….just not when you're doing it out of a sense of obligation. Deciding who you marry should be done voluntarily! If you really want to marry me, it should be because you see me more fit to be your wife than both Kisara-san and Miyori-san! And while I may not have Kisara-san's dedication and sword skills, nor Miyori-san's money or influence….nor their…." she paused for a bit as she covered her breasts awkwardly with her arms to confirm how small they still were. "….nor their feminine assets, I still have a very stubborn heart that's been infatuated with you since the moment you took me on that hill to propose to me!" at that the boy wanted to interrupt her but she stopped him.
Enju: "I know, I know! It wasn't meant to be a proposal and that was my mistake! But that's how I originally saw it and you know what? Whatever it was, my heart still decided that day that it's you, Satomi Rentarō, that I want to marry! I want to have you as the father of my children, to spend the rest of my days with you and to laugh alongside you as we grow older together! Maybe I'm too young to make that decision since I'm not sixteen yet, but I'll guarantee you that in six years' time I'll say the exact same things….if I live that long!" if nothing else, she seems to have matured emotionally during that altercation with her father.
Rentarō: "I guess near-death experiences really help in forcing people to grow up…." he realized, pleasantly surprised at how Enju turned out.
The sober reality was that she was still in love with him. That much was obvious.
Rentarō: "If you want me to start seeing you as a potential partner then you'll have to wait a long time, though! You need to grow up first; and not just mentally, but physically too!" the age gap was still an obvious impediment to their duo and that was something they needed to address somehow among themselves.
Rentarō: "Do that and then we might have a chance of ending up together!" this was probably the first time when they actually had a serious look at their relationship. He had never attempted anything like this before since he had never treated her with the respect of actually acknowledging their setup as anything more than just a standard Promoter-Initiator team, anything more just being part of a simple make-believe play devised by her.
But seeing how she matured, and also how Kisara had asked them to start having talks about this, he decided that they needed to sort things out for themselves.
Enju: "Yes but then it's unfair towards me again!" she surprised him with a new opinion.
Rentarō: "What….do you mean by that?" for some reason it was more difficult for him to follow her trains of thoughts that day than usual.
Enju: "Rentarō, don't you understand what this is? This is a competition to see which woman can win over your heart first! If I have to wait to grow up before I get any chance at convincing you that we can be together, Kisara-san will surely win! She's not going to wait for me to have a fair fight! I can't win like this!" now he finally understood her last point that she had to make that night.
And, while logical, it was a very difficult one to come up with solutions for.
Rentarō: "That can't be helped! I can't just magically flip a switch and start seeing you as a possible girlfriend! The human brain doesn't work like that! If you want to then I can just refrain from being in any relationships for a couple of years, if that will make it fairer for you!" it was difficult for him to think up ways of making this work, as his feelings were something unchangeable, or so he thought anyway.
Enju: "No, but I have a better idea!" it was now time for her to show him a smug smile, preparing to convey to him the brilliant plan that she had been cooking up for the past previous days when she had too much free time while being in bed.
She then pointed her index finger towards his nose, her finger coming so close to his face that he flinched a bit.
Enju: "From this day forward, we'll share one kiss every day! We'll call it Enju's Smoochy Corner and we'll keep it up for one month….no….one week! We'll keep on doing it for one whole week! That should be enough!" she revealed so sure of herself, while the boy felt like his brain just stopped functioning for some reason, as he couldn't follow her logic anymore at all.
Rentarō: "How….will that help with anything?" this was honestly the only thing left to ask, since this was such an unnatural decision that she had spurred onto him without any forewarning.
Enju: "You told me, once, that kissing makes love grow, allowing a lovers' relationship to blossom! I want to test that!" she revealed, as he finally remembered the discussion they had had, about a year prior.
Rentarō: "Yes, I remember that…." he made his brain recall what they had talked about back then.
Enju: "If what you said was true, that means that, provided there's even a seedling of romantic love that you have in your heart for me, then us kissing like this will make it grow into actual attraction! I want to believe that you have that love in you for me, Rentarō! And I want for this to highlight that!" he blinked a couple of times more often than he usually does, trying to parse that line of reasoning.
While it was childish and almost sheepishly innocent how her simplified view of how romance worked was, it felt a bit endearing and, although grotesquely reducing of the complexities in how actual human relationships worked, it was a very loose approximation of it.
He considered what she had said to him, feeling very uneasy about this.
Rentarō: "That's….not exactly how it works, though! And, even if we do this, how exactly can you prove that I'll have feelings for you once that week passes? You can't verify these types of things!" he tried to argue but she still pushed forward.
Enju: "After one week, I'll just stop forcing you to kiss me! If you'll have any feelings for me then you'll want us to continue of your own accord! And, if that happens, we can be a couple and see how long we can be together for, whether it's going to be up until I'll turn sixteen and will be ready to marry you or not! And if you won't want us to continue then I'll just give up entirely on trying to be together with you and find someone else!" she laid her cards on the table for him to decide on.
It was an interesting proposition honestly. The idea that he could convince her to just drop this relationship idea and have her move on was an enticing one, indeed. Still, them kissing so often did strike him as particularly unpleasant.
Rentarō: "I'm not sure I'm really ready for that, Enju…." he admitted, feeling queasy about this proposed deal. She frowned in response.
Enju: "Hey, you were the one that said you're willing to marry me! You have no right to call this 'too extreme' after what you said to my father!" she got him there. "Besides, we already kissed before, didn't we? It's not like this is anything new! We'll just do it a bit more often!" she tried it make it more palatable for him, even though he was clearly disliking that idea.
Rentarō: "Yes but I...uh….I…" he was struggling to spell it out for her, although she read him like a book and figured it out by herself.
Enju: "(glaring) You don't really like kissing me, do you?" she looked very sternly at him.
Rentarō: "I can't say that I do. I still have flashbacks to when you did that to me the first time" he tried to defend himself.
Enju: "That was a year ago, Rentarō! I changed since then! And I kind of figured you dislike doing it after you wiped your lips with your sleeve back at the facility!" she accused rightfully before becoming even angrier. "You're hopeless! How can you even claim to be ready to marry a woman who you can't even comfortably kiss?! Do you even know what other stuff marriage entails?!" she tried to scold him, as the boy was getting angry as well.
Rentarō: "It's not my fault that you were too forceful the first time! And, also, your breath smelled of cake back then! It felt gross!" he added that last bit out of spite, while the girl folded her arms, feeling like she had her dignity attacked.
Enju: "Well, excuse me for having eaten cake during my birthday! And, just so you know, I've been brushing my teeth since then every day! I'm not the girl I was back then!" her saying this after only one year felt very hilarious to him but he did not remark on that.
Rentarō: "(sigh) It's….not just the kissing part. If it's only for a single week then I think I can handle it….probably. It's more because Kisara-san would freak out if she heard that we did anything like this to each other! She warned that we're not supposed to-…"
Enju: "I already talked with her about that! She said that it's fine with her as long as it's just kissing!" she informed him cheerfully, happy that he had fallen into her trap so quickly.
The boy felt a shiver run down his spine when hearing that.
Rentarō: "What….do you mean?" uncertain, he asked for more information.
Enju: "I asked Kisara-san to at least allow us to kiss. And she said she's fine with that! You can ask her yourself if you don't believe me!" he froze.
Enju was showing her proud face once again for her hard work, as Rentarō realized that he had dug himself a hole.
Enju: "You just said that you can handle it if it's just a week, right? So, now that we have permission from Kisara-san, are you willing to do this?!" she chirped with renewed energy, as he was cursing under his breath.
Rentarō: "I….should have said 'No' from the very beginning!' he thought to himself, wondering what must have been going through Kisara's mind for her to have agreed to such a preposterous proposal.
But then he remembered a possible explanation:
~Flashback~
Kisara: "And even if you don't like her in that way, just please try to play along from now on, at least partially! She wants to see herself as your partner and, given what happened to her recently, I think she deserves some attention from her….fiance!"
~End of flashback~
Now it began to make sense.
Rentarō: "(sigh) I guess that's what she meant!" sometimes he really hated that woman.
This felt so wrong but, looking into Enju's hopeful and reinvigorated eyes and, when thinking how much hardships she will likely have to endure in the future to have her antibodies extracted, he decided that it was about time for him to do something for her in return.
Rentarō: "OK! As long as it's just for one week and as long as you will stop with this whole relationship thing you've got going on, once you see that it won't work, then I guess I'm fine with it!" he finally allowed reluctantly, as the girl almost jumped due to sheer happiness, only for her to stop because of the damaged shoulder that she had. "However, I have three conditions!" he suddenly brought up, making her realize that her joy was premature.
Enju: "Conditions? What conditions?" she asked a bit disappointed but willing to hear him out.
Rentarō: "First: it's only going to be kissing! At no point will we be going any further than that! Keep your hands to yourself and don't get any weird ideas!" she had already expected him to ask for this so she wasn't that worried about it.
Enju: "(sigh) Fine, I wasn't planning on doing anything weird anyway! Kisara-san warned me that we shouldn't be doing that…...yet!" naturally she had to add that last 'yet' to their conversation for good measure. Still, her agreeing to this at least provided him with some reassurance.
Rentarō: "Second: change the name! 'Enju's Smoochy Corner' sounds too gross!" now he was getting personal.
Enju: "Wait, what the hell?! Why is it gross?!" she tried to rebut. In response, he elaborated.
Rentarō: "It sounds too childish!" he tried to reason, as the girl rolled her eyes.
Enju: "Maybe because I'm still a child? I'm just ten, Rentarō!" she replied bluntly.
Rentarō: "I know! And that's what's making this so painful! At least change the name into something less immature! Like 'Enju's Kissing Corner' or something!" he tried to bargain, with Enju slowly forcing herself to accept that one as well.
Enju: "Fine, then we'll call it 'Enju's Kissy Corner'!" she compromised, not going for his version fully but toning it down a bit. That seemed good enough for him too.
Rentarō: "(sigh) OK, 'Enju's Kissy Corner'! And third:" he looked into her eyes very seriously. "The time and place where we'll be kissing will be chosen by me! I don't want you accidentally choosing a place with other people around us!" that last one was the oddest one out of all of them.
Enju couldn't understand the reason behind it.
Enju: "Why? This wouldn't be the first time we did that in front of other people!"
Rentarō: "Kisara-san and your father don't count! The issue is that, now that I'll be your guardian from now on, I can't be kissing you in public! You're not a Cursed Child either, which makes our situation….more precarious, let's say. If the wrong type of people catch us doing that, they can report me and have us be separated! Not to mention that I can go to prison for that!" he brought up a point that she had never considered before.
Enju: "Why….?! It's just kissing!" she tried to point it out, as the boy calmly tried to explain this to her.
Rentarō: "Even kissing in public is usually inappropriate by itself! If people will find someone like me locking lips with someone as young as you….they'll feel that you're vulnerable and that I'm taking advantage of you! Hell, if I ever saw that, I'd do the same!" he was speaking so seriously that she knew he wasn't going to budge on this condition.
She really disliked that but, when thinking carefully about it, she had to relent and just give him that.
Enju: "(sigh) I'm not vulnerable! But fine, you win! You get to choose the time and place!" seeing how there was no room to compromise in that area, she simply agreed with him. "Still, if you do that then I have my own condition that I want to add!" she smirked deviously.
Rentarō: "What condition, Enju?" he asked innocently as the girl was preparing to land him the final blow.
Enju: "I get to choose when the kiss ends, every time! You're not allowed to pull away until I pull away first!" that was the most concerning thing she had said that night.
He had a bad feeling about that.
Rentarō: "Wait, I thought we were just talking about quick small kisses! How long do you plan to kiss for?!" admittedly he had never considered this as being part of the negotiation.
Enju: "For as long as I feel like it at the time! If you'll pull away from the kiss before I do then we'll have to redo it!" he gulped.
Rentarō: "I….don't really like that…." everything about this situation sounded very fishy, especially since it was Enju who was trying to set the terms now.
Enju: "Well, that's my condition! Either you take it or we don't do this at all!" she didn't seem to be willing to negotiate that clause either, which just left them at an impasse.
Rentarō: "Just….accept it! It's just for one week! It can't be that bad!" he tried to talk himself into agreeing to it, knowing that she deserved at least this happy ending. "Fine!" he finally conceded, albeit begrudgingly.
Enju: "You're mine, Rentarō!" she concluded confidently to herself mentally. He had no idea what he had agreed to.
In the back of his mind he could feel that he had agreed to something horrible but now that didn't matter anymore. He was going to finish this all the way.
After a bit more banter between the two, the conversation was finally coming to a close and Rentarō was preparing to end that night once and for all.
Rentarō: "It's been a long night! I think we should go to sleep now! We can talk more about what we're going to do tomorrow!" that much was true, he didn't feel like he could keep his eyes open for much longer. Also, this was already past Enju's bedtime so he thought that they needed to end this soon.
Enju: "Wait! Where do you think you're going?! What about my kiss?" she interrupted, making a needy face all of a sudden. "You promised we're going to start this, didn't you?!" she got him yet again.
Rentarō: "Wait….you mean you want us to start from today?! But it's almost midnight!" it was fruitless, though, since Enju was not going to let him escape her room that easily.
Enju: "Exactly! That means we don't have much time left! I did say in the beginning that we're going to start today, didn't I?" he could vaguely remember that.
He wanted to complain, although arguing with her immediately after giving his approval for this wouldn't be very nice from his part.
Rentarō: "OK, fine! Let's do this!" he gave up, bracing mentally for the kiss.
Rentarō: "It's just a kiss, after all. I can handle that!" he tried to look confident as he closed his eyes and lowered his head a bit, so that she could reach his mouth easily.
Enju: "No, not like that!" she glared in a disapproving manner at him, prompting him to reopen them. "You should be the one initiating the kiss! It's more romantic that way!" now she was the one that closed her eyes first, as the boy rolled his eyes and slowly approached her mouth.
He inhaled deeply before planting his lips over her mouth, lightly brushing them and keeping the air in his lungs as he was waiting for her to pull away.
Normally he would have created a small vacuum in his mouth to suck a bit of air from her while doing this but he decided against it, as that would have only made the kiss less pleasant. He, instead, decided to wait it out until she would get bored and pull away.
But, sadly for him, she was the one that began sucking the air out of his mouth, creating a small suction sound while moving her left hand up to his face, on his cheek.
His hope that she would become bored quickly soon proved unfounded since the girl didn't seem interested in parting her lips from his, deciding to instead try shifting the position of her mouth from time to time, trying new angles and brushing her lips against his, selfishly tasting every single corner of his lips.
He tried to hold the air in him for as long as possible but, after thirty seconds of this uncomfortable silence, he finally pulled away from her mouth, inhaling once again as much air as he could to oxygenate his starving body.
Enju: "Hey, not fair! I was the one that had to pull away first! That was the deal!" she exclaimed angrily before licking her lips to wet them once again for another round.
Rentarō: "For crying out loud, that wasn't enough for you?! That was worth like three kisses!" he commented while wiping his mouth again with his sleeve, trying to futilely wipe away the gross feeling of her lips on his.
Enju: "(grinning evilly) I know! I'm getting three kisses at the price of one! Pretty sweet deal for me, isn't it? And we're not even done yet! Redo!" she called out decidedly before smacking her lips cheekily at him as he gulped once the realization that he would have had to keep going with this finally set in.
Rentarō: "Wait! This isn't fair! I can't hold my breathe for that long! I'll suffocate!" he began to panic a little, which his partner found quite cute.
Enju: "Then try to breathe! You're not supposed to hold your breath when kissing! Do it like me! Breathe normally!" she dismissed his cries as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head next to hers.
Rentarō: "But that's only going to make this even more gro-…" he was silenced by her lips meeting his again, this time, even more aggressively sucking the air out of his mouth as the suction sound began escaping their now merged mouths.
The boy resisted the urge to pull away from the invading girl, knowing that if he did that, she'd just ask them to redo it again. What mess had he gotten himself into now?
After just ten seconds, he exhaled the air in his lungs before beginning to follow her advice and beginning to breathe again while their lips were still embracing each other.
Him feeling her breath right next to his nose was infuriatingly disturbing, especially when he was thinking that it was Enju that was doing this to him but he tried to push those thoughts away and trying to focus.
Rentarō: "Come on! She has to get bored soon! I...can't...take thi-...wait, what?!" he suddenly noticed it: her tongue was being pushed into his lips, her shamelessly using it to tickle them to make his open his mouth and allow her to enter. "NOPE!" he lost it.
He retreated away from her, once again, almost falling backwards on the floor, due to how violently he pulled himself away, leaving the girl with her tongue stuck out and wide eyed, her not having expected him to run away like that.
Enju: "What the hell?! I was just getting to the good parts! Stop interrupting the kiss!" she cried dissatisfied with his performance once again, as he stared at her with a horrified face.
Rentarō: "Where, in this God forsaken Earth, did you learn to kiss like that?! It should be illegal for ten year olds to use their tongues during a kiss!" he was now turning white, realizing what the upcoming six days will be for him. He had made such a grave mistake.
Enju: "Isn't it obvious? I began researching 'adult kisses' on Noople on my phone! There are some great articles on french kissing! You should also read about them, to spice this upcoming week up!" she let out very sweetly and innocently as the boy was too shocked and angry to even know what to do.
Rentarō: "That's it! I'm throwing your phone away! It's poisoning your mind!" what was even more worrying was that the past couple of days she had spent all this time with Tina, who had been looking after her. Did Tina even know what she was doing? Did she try to stop her or….was she an accomplice in this horrible deed?
So many questions were bubbling up but before his brain could decide on any of them, Enju glared at him again.
Enju: "Redo!" she pointed her index finger menacingly at him. The young boy felt like he was about to lose it.
Rentarō: "No! You can't do this! You never said that french kissing was going to be involved! I didn't sign up for it!" he began to change his mind impressively quickly as the girl was preparing for round three.
Enju: "A deal's a deal Rentarō! Now pucker 'em up! We've got work to do!" it felt like he had been tricked by an old slimy salesmen that just sold him a worn out junk car in exchange for ten times the money that it would be worth.
The boy was trapped, beginning to feel nauseous. He was showing weakness and he knew that Enju was enjoying every moment of seeing him squirm.
Rentarō: "Enju, I can't do this! You can't force me to-…"
Enju: "Oh, what's wa matter, Rentarō? Afw-aid that my wil' ten year old lips are going to sway your wil' heart?" she made a potty very girly face at him, while trying to sound very innocent. Now he knew better than to let himself be fooled by those evil eyes.
Rentarō: "No….this isn't normal! If you were a man, you'd be in jail for rape! And I know for a fact that Kisara would never have agreed to this had she known what you planned on-" but he was cut off as Enju grabbed his tie and pulled his face next to hers once again.
Enju: "Who's the vulnerable one now, Rentarō?" she asked proudly before approaching her lips to his right ear to whisper in it. "By the time Kisara-san decides that she's ready for you, I will have explored every single corner of your mouth, whether you want me to or not!" and just like that she pulled back a bit and went in for another kiss before Rentarō grabbed her head and tried pushing her back away from him.
Rentarō: "WAIT! I….need to go to the bathroom!" he tried to excuse himself while panicking. He had not expected for Enju to be so insidiously clever and manipulating. "You said that I can choose the time and the place where we kiss, right? I can decide for us to do it after I come back!" he was desperately trying to find any reason to stop this menace to his well-being.
Enju: "(pouting angrily) Fine, but don't take too long! We don't have that much time until midnight!" she insisted, showing a disappointed look, as the boy retreated from the room while she just stood there, waiting for him impatiently.
She grabbed a plastic bottle on the drawer next to her bed, gulping a bit of the water to re-hydrate her now overworked mouth.
Enju: "Ah, refreshing" she said to herself as she placed the cap back up on the battle and began licking her lips again to wet them for more Kissy Corner. "I wonder how much longer he'll last!" she mischievously wondered to herself before the boy made his appearance back at the door, preparing to re-enter her room.
Enju: "(glaring) Are you finally ready? I'm getting bored!" she asked as the boy nodded weakly. "Good! Now you lie down here, on my bed, as I prepare to kiss you!" she instructed him, pointing to her pillow.
Rentarō raised his eyebrow, in indication that he was confused over why she just decided that.
Enju: "You'll try to pull away again, if I let you stand! So, to make this end faster for you, I'm going to stand on top of you while you'll be lying on the bed! That way, you can't pull away until I'm done with you!" that sounded awfully specific and way more elaborate than he considered it was necessary but, considering that they were both growing sick from all of that action, he considered that maybe it was indeed time for them to end this.
He complied and crawled on her bed, lying down flat as she climbed on top of him, her blushing madly as she approached his lips with her own.
Enju: "I love you, Rentarō!" she whispered lowly before uniting their mouths the third time that night, her moving the palms of her hands on his cheeks to secure his head in place. Even if he would have wanted to pull away again, his head was on her pillow so he wouldn't be able to.
He tried to maintain his calm, now having already grown accustomed to her lips and her breathing right next to his nose while she was sodomizing his mouth.
It didn't take too long and she impatiently moved her tongue to his lips, brushing slowly against them, waiting to see his reaction again. Interestingly, he had allowed her passage this time.
She slipped her tongue between his teeth and into his mouth, beginning to slowly brush against the innards of his oral cavity, curiously exploring every nook and cranny.
Enju: "Serves you right for always treating me like a kid! Let's see how you'll start treating me after tonight, Rentarō!" she thought to herself as she felt around until she brushed against his own tongue.
She lightly brushed the tip of his tongue with her own, as a playful greeting to gauge a response. His tongue did not answer that invitation at all.
Annoyed, she pushed her tongue deeper in his mouth, brushing more aggressively against his until, suddenly, his tongue began wrestling with her own and pushed her tongue under his, effectively trapping it in his mouth.
Enju: "Wait...what the….?! He wasn't supposed to fight back!" she realized that now he caught her tongue, before suddenly pushing a foreign object that he had been hiding from the depths of his mouth into hers, forcing it to slide on top of their now united tongues.
Once she realized what was going on, the girl pulled away, scared, when the foreign object was pushed into her mouth by his tongue, her ending the kiss prematurely. A string of saliva fell down, dissipating slowly from their now separated tongues as the boy began breathing very relieved once again that he had appeased the pact for that day.
Enju began coughing violently as the taste of what he had shoved into her mouth was beginning to set in, dissolving in her saliva and emanating the most intense taste of bitterness she had ever felt in her entire life.
Enju: "What….the hell?!" she cried out, as the bitter taste was so overwhelming, she almost felt like tears were about to fall down her face. "Did you just drug me?!" she asked incredulously, her not having expected that outcome from her partner who was wiping his mouth again to recover from her vile attack.
Rentarō: "No….that's the Valentine's gift that you gave me just before you transformed! I thought you should have taken a bite out of it too!" he sarcastically replied, showing her a smug grin.
The girl, acknowledging what that was, began expunging it back out in half-masticated crumbs onto the floor, childishly spitting for a dozen seconds, to rid her mouth from that horrid taste.
Enju: "Geez, way to ruin our kiss! I was really enjoying that, you know!" with tears now literally formed in her eyes and with all her confidence lost, she began speaking weakly.
Rentarō: "That's what you get for trying to rape my mouth! Also, how did you cook those brownies?! Why are they so bitter?!" now it was his turn to be completely angry at her, as she began wiping the tears and trying to maintain her composure.
Enju: "I….don't know. It''s probably from the wormwood that I added in!" she revealed. Rentarō did not expect that answer.
Rentarō: "Wait, wormwood?! You put wormwood leaves in chocolate brownies?! What the hell were you thinking?!" this was on par with him having put toothpaste in Kisara's own cake, although, to his defense, he had been two years younger back then than how old Enju was now.
Enju: "I….tried to use a special recipe, OK?! I heard that this recipe was popular in Brazil! Also, I think the rosemary may also have contributed!" that made way too much sense for him, although now he had to wonder where the hell could someone as young as her find these types of ingredients in the first place? Rosemary, at least, is very hard to come by in Japan. The fact that she managed to find it was worrying enough on its own!
Rentarō: "Did you not taste the brownies when you made them?!" that was the final question he had about the Valentine's gift that she had for him.
Enju: "No, obviously not! I put all my love in making them! Me eating them, even for just a taste test, would have ruined it! I….wanted you to feel all my feelings for you!" she tried to explain. That was the sweetest, but also most messed up thing, he had ever heard her say.
Rentarō: "Next Valentine's I'm helping you cook! We're not doing this again next year!" he warned very seriously, this time, already deciding never to leave her alone in the kitchen, ever again.
She glared back at him when hearing that.
Enju: "You ruined the kiss, though! I want another redo!" she tried to demand, although this time, with little avail.
Rentarō: "No! You were the one that pulled away first! That means that this one counts!" he immediately shut her down, having had enough of her antics for one night.
Enju: "But that's not fair! You forced me to pull away because you shoved brownies in my mouth!" she still tried to have her way. It was over, though.
Rentarō: "A deal's a deal!" he used her exact words on her now, having made a point.
The girl looked menacingly at him one final time, after being humiliated and her mouth defiled by toxic pastry. This kind of defeat she was not going to accept easily.
Enju: "Just you wait! Tomorrow, this trick won't work on me again, Rentarō! You'll pay for this!" she warned. He could feel the intense angry aura that she had around herself, now knowing that he was screwed.
Rentarō: "You had enough kisses from me for one night! Now go to bed, already! I'm too tired for this!" he ordered as she finally accepted his demand and began to crawl in her bed under the covers once again.
Enju: "Rentarō, would you mind sleeping with me in this bed for tonight? For old times' sake?" she sheepishly asked, feeling very let down by this anticlimactic ending.
Rentarō: "It depends! Do you promise to be nice and not do anything dirty while I sleep next to you?" he asked jarringly, already knowing her devious side more than anyone else.
Enju: "Fine! I promise not to do anything funny to your body while you sleep! Happy now?" seeing how she gave up, now that all her energy had been sapped away by the poison brownies, he accepted that and decided to listen to her.
Rentarō: "Fine, we'll sleep together just this one night!" he took his coat off and left it on a chair in her room, preparing to climb in bed next to her. "But, just so we're clear: I'm not letting you sleep like that!" he began being stern all of a sudden again with her, much to her chagrin.
Enju: "What? What do you mean?" she was deeply lost.
Rentarō: "You need to brush your teeth, before bed, remember?" he continued being very stoic. The girl, naturally, began protesting.
Enju: "What the hell are you talking about?! I already brushed my teeth and flossed before you even came home! Hell, I even used mouthwash too! Couldn't you tell from my minty breath?" she wasn't kidding, he had indeed felt those while they were kissing, which was probably the only thing he had enjoyed from their kiss that night.
Rentarō: "Yes, but you forgot that you just ate a brownie just now!" he informed with another smirk forming on his lips. "That means you have to brush them again!" he was smiling but she knew, deep down, that he wasn't kidding when saying this.
She became enraged.
Enju: "Oh you little-"
~The End?~
Author's Note: I don't live in Brazil and I honestly made up the fact that wormwood chocolate brownies are a thing there. I tried searching this up on the internet and, to my horrible disappointment, I couldn't find any wormwood brownies. Given how many cultures there are on this planet, I would have expected that they would be popular somewhere! Oh well~
Still, rosemary brownies do exist! Never ate them, though, but I imagine they could be interesting.