Chapter 3 A Man With Mysteries
He didn't know what to do. This was the first time that anyone had actually been able to touch him for a long time and it surprised him that this girl could just stop him right in his tracks let alone see him. Still in her arms, he carefully turned around to face her. She looked up to his face with a blank stare but then her eyes closed shut and her head drooped back down from exhaustion.
He gently shook her shoulders before realizing that she had passed out and that she actually fell asleep right on him. The man stared at her in disbelief and with a sigh he gently picked Chii up. Her legs were wrapped around his hips and he had to hold her posterior to keep her body from slipping down. He squinted and attempted to keep perverted ideas from entering his brain as he walked silently out of the park.
By racking his brain, he decided that the inn, Angelic Rest, was the best place to let her stay for the night. A sudden breeze rushed through them and Chii unconsciously clenched tighter to him. Unsure of what he was supposed to do, he cautiously placed an arm on her back to help support her. This resulted to a heartfelt sigh and her head snuggling deeper in his shoulder, almost making him jump in surprise. He tried to clear his mind to calm himself down as he finally reached the inn.
He warily opened the door and peeked inside. No one was at the front desk so he slipped through without making a single sound. A sudden and disheartening thought occurred to him. He did not know her name nor if she even attends to this inn even though it's the only one in this entire town. He slapped a hand on his forehead at his own stupidity.
Despite this temporary setback he looked at the roster and scanned through all the names and tried to find one which is unfamiliar to him. After all, it was a small town and he basically knew everyone that lived here coupled with the fact that almost no visitors come by. It's in a relatively unknown area and not many people know about it except for the actual residents. He finally stopped at one name at the bottom of the roster.
Chii, Room 201.
Momentarily puzzled at having no last name, he mentally shrugged it off and walked up the stairs to the corresponding room number. After checking the hallways to see if anyone happened to prowl nearby, he stealthily moved in front of her room. He looked around nervously to confirm that no one was around and with held breath, his arm literally went through the wooden door and rotated the switch on the doorknob on the other side. Now unlocked, he pulled his arm back and opened the door quietly and he swiftly stalked into the room closing the door behind him.
Standing right next to the bed, he tried to carefully extract Chii off of his body, but her grip on him was beyond his comprehension. No matter where he touched her, she squirmed around and held unto him even tighter than before. He pondered on his new and admittedly grueling challenge.
"Okay…she must be really sensitive because if I even graze a single hair on her head, she clings unto me even tighter…I don't know how I'm still in one piece."
He closed his eyes in deep concentration to figure out the best possible solution without waking her up.
"All right, well I can just become transparent and go right through her. That way, I can get her off me without actually moving her by force," one side of his mind contemplated.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The other part of his brain debated back. "If you do that now, she will fall on the floor! That will most definitely wake her, bruise her, and most importantly, know you're in the same room with her!"
"All right already! Then I guess I will have to do it where there will be no chance of her falling at all…which means…," He looked at Chii and then at the bed. A small, sneaky thought crawled into the depths of his imagination.
"No! No! NO! I can't do that! It's not right! There is no way I'm doing that!" The high-strung part of his brain screamed.
"Well what else are you going to do?" The more logical and reasonable part of his brain retorted back. "It's no big deal anyway. Just start it off real gently but when you reach near the end, get out hard and fast!"
"That sounded DIRTY!"
"It's the only way so shut up and DO IT!"
With bated breath, he carefully dragged his knees unto the bed and shifted over to the center of the mattress. Holding back a whimper he painstakingly tilted his upper torso forward until Chii's back rested on the soft mattress with a creak and his own body was now stacked right on top of her. Chii gave out a low moan and buried herself further into his chest, grinding her legs even deeper into his hips.
"AAAARRRGGGGHHH! NOT GOOD!"
"DON'T BAIL OUT NOW! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!"
With as much strength as he could muster, he willed every single particle of his body in desperation for the sake of his sanity. With his eyes clenched shut, he frantically waited for the moment when her arms and legs to lose its supernatural grasp on him with grave impatience.
It never happened.
He opened his eyes and stared wide-eyed at her, dumbfounded at this new predicament.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" Both sides of his mind screamed simultaneously.
His line of vision darted to his left arm and it sank through the bed mattress and his fingertips could feel the cold steel of the springs with no trouble at all. His eyes tore back to Chii's peaceful face in pure disbelief.
"BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
With a sigh of defeat, he laid on his side next to her. It appeared that there was no escape from her secure lock on him so he might as well try to get himself comfortable. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at her like he was attempting to figure out what his opponent might be thinking on the other side of the chess board.
"Great, what am I going to do now? I need to get out of here soon without her notice…but HOW?"
His brain was speeding away on this new predicament which was made more difficult by Chii's warm, sweet breaths lightly brushing against his cheek, distracting him even further.
"Oh GOD, I can even fell her br…br…breas-,"
"Dontthinkaboutitdontthinkaboutitdontthinkaboutitdontthinkab-,"
"Mmm," Chii groaned.
"Huh?" He uttered the first word he ever said in front of her. His neck twisted his head to face her.
"…name…" she murmured.
His eyes softened and for the first time in a long while a sense of tranquility swept over him. He leaned close to her ear and whispered one word.
"Hideki."
"Hmm…Hideki," Chii repeated as if she was tasting something sweet, and the corners of her lips curled up into a small smile. Her arms loosened its grip and lay draped around his waist. Hideki's brain shifted to overdrive now discovering that his route of escape is clear yet for some reason, his body did not budge an inch. Instead he nudged a bit closer and cautiously placed a hand on hers. He could see her smile grow wider and her slender fingers clutched back to the tender pressure. Hideki fought to keep his face straight because for the first time in many years, he almost smiled.
It was a very surreal place. The room had absolutely no walls or even a ceiling. It seemed to the casual observer, that it was suspended in the sky with nothing except a misty, golden floor. However, there were a couple of white cabinets placed near the edge, a few framed photographs hanging in the air and a big fluffy desk.
Minoru sat on a yellow cloud, reading and signing papers as each one flew to his hand from his inbox. After going through several of them they flew out of his hand and whisked away into the sky, each going off in a predetermined route. He sighed and took his cup of tea and sipped it. He was weary and tired of doing nothing but validating newcomers to this world, but it was his duty and he did receive many benefits from it.
"Sir Minoru?"
His eyes brightened as he saw the golden road stretch to the floor of his room and Yuzuki walked in with a pot of tea in her hands. She was wearing her usual maid uniform, but she said she liked the look of it and it was comfortable. Her every footstep made a puff of mist as she walked to his desk.
"Would you like some more tea?" She asked politely.
"Yes please," the cup hovered near to her teapot and she carefully poured it to the brim before it zipped back to its matching saucer in his hand. Minoru took a whiff of it and sipped it with enjoyment.
"Sir, you received a message from the council. They said it was highly urgent." She drew a folded sheet of paper and gave it to him. Minoru furrowed his eyebrows and stared at it with concentration as he meticulously read through the report. After several minutes, he put it in his pocket and stood up. The cloud that used to be his seat dissipated into thin air.
"Yuzuki, the council is asking me to confirm something and I will have to check with them to make sure of a few minor details, but I may have to leave this place right after our meeting," he spoke in a deadpanned voice.
"Oh, well travel safely," she replied. He wasn't certain, but he thought he detected a hint of disappointment from her. It wasn't often that he was called to go out of his usual work, but when he did it took many weeks to complete. He paced near the edge of the floor, inches away from falling off and plummeting into the atmosphere. Swirls of mist illuminated by the golden light spiraled up from the floor and materialized into a white door.
Yuzuki lowered her eyes to the floor. It was true that she had many friends and companions here, but Minoru always held a special place in her heart and it always saddened her to see him leave. Sure he would return eventually, but the length of time it took seemed much too long for her. However, this was all part of his job and she could not complain about it.
Minoru's hand was centimeters away from the golden doorknob when he asked quietly, "Would you like to accompany me?"
Her widened eyes shot up to him, momentarily shocked.
"Sir?" she asked, unsure of what she just heard and completely taken by surprise.
"I asked if you want to accompany me. Of course, if you don't want to you don't have to," he said, his head turned back to the door and his hand clasped onto the doorknob and twisted it.
"N-no, I-I would love to come with you. It's just that I had never gone with you on your previous assignments," Yuzuki stammered.
"Well…," he paused, "…I just thought about asking right now." Minoru looked back at her and never before did he see a more delighted smile on her face.
"I would be happy to be by your side," she said affectionately and she walked over next to him.
"Yuzuki," he spoke again.
"Yes sir?"
"That smile suits you," he said as he opened the door and blinding white light engulfed both of them.
I'm sorry that this chapter is not as long as the previous two. I think I'm all wearied out, but I never had so much fun with this one. Plus, this is the first time I ever introduced Minoru and Yuzuki in a fanfic so I hope you liked it.