It felt weird; walking next to Aqua like this had never at all felt awkward, nor exciting for the poor adventurer. At this point,. a flurry of emotions had been swirling around inside of his head. 'Come on, man. What are you, a middle school-er? At least try holding her hand, walk closer together or something. You're her boyfriend now, act like it.' Such thoughts heavily strained his mind whilst he tried to stay beside Aqua and try to match his pace alongside hers.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the lovely ex-Goddess herself had been going through her own thoughts, ones filled with a sense joy and excitement rather than stress. ' I can't believe he confessed to me like that. I know I'm an attractive person who receives praise and love from among-st my followers in both a romantic and idol sense. But still… to hear him say something like that to me… it sounded so unbelievable that it feels like I'm dreaming every time I think about it. I don't even know what I should do now, but… if it's with Kazuma, then I'm happy to face whatever comes our way."
As the duo continued walking together in silence, with the only noise being contained inside their heads, Aqua herself had suddenly felt a warm sensation taking ahold of her right hand. She stiffened and jittered for a moment before reciprocating the warmth that had been given to her by the man walking side-by-side with her..
The blue-haired girl turned to see Kazuma trying to avert his gaze from meeting hers. She could see clear as day the awkward, yet happy look on his face, with a slight blush seeping through his cheeks. She wanted to say what was on her mind as usual but felt it would ruin the mood, as well as what they had going on at the moment.
' If this is what it feels to be in love with someone other than myself, then maybe being in a relationship like this won't be so bad after all.', Aqua mused to herself. It didn't feel like a temporary feeling of euphoria, but rather a simple, giddy feeling powerful enough to give her a permanent smile for the rest of their walk together. Once they had returned home, her smile had continued to stay around, even if it was lighter than when they were walking together a while ago.
They both opted to take separate baths in their respective rooms. In Kazuma's case, he found himself looking at his reflecting in the mirror, wearing a massive grin on his face. He pumped both of his fists into the air, then proceeded to sigh in relief.
Shortly after he slipped into his bathtub. As he became fully enveloped in the water's hot touch, he began thinking back to his earlier life again, reminiscing on how he couldn't get out of bed in the morning on most days, how he missed out on a lot of opportunities and companionship throughout his teenage years, as well as being a shut-in loser in general. One that his parents had given up on long before he even died.
The early parts of his new life had not been too kind to him either. It was a constant cycle of labor, pain, and overall misery after arriving there, a burden that had been further weighed down by his decision to bring the Goddess who had nonchalantly mocked the boy down with him as his cheat item. He'd never expected his opinion or relationship with her to have changed so drastically these past few days. ' I really don't know how things might turn out in the end, but as a man I mustn't disappoint my mistress- I-I mean my lady.', he completely sank into the bath, letting the hot water wash all of his current worries away.
As for Aqua's case, she too looked to herself in the mirror, studying her new appearance after only having a brief glimpse at it in the mirror earlier after she had woken up. As the girl softly touched her face and caressed it, she could feel the difference in that her cheeks were no longer as perfectly smooth as before, as well as how uneven her facial shape currently was in general. Despite all this, she still held a genuine smile on her face. The elegance and beauty that she had uphold as a pedestal had faded, and her skin had dulled a few notches, giving her the appearance of a plain, ordinary girl living in a suburban area. She thought back to her early grandiose life in the divine realm, the betrayal that the girl had felt towards her fellow Goddesses after she was sent down to assist in defeating the Demon Lord, and the hardship of struggling to make a decent living off of working measly jobs and being able to afford just about enough to survive everyday. To think that her life had turned a full 360 degrees within a matter of a few years; her living space having evolved from rags to riches.
Even currently in this chaotic life that Aqua had now found herself in, she'd started to find happiness within the smallest and trivial of things. Her careless attitude and the environment around her allowed for the city's fellow junior priest to be comfortable with being less formal and more direct with her conversations with people. She built new friendships off of her quirky personality and the cool party tricks that she'd perform for her audiences in Arcanletia. And last but not least, Aqua had slowly amended the air of hostility between her and the adventurer boy who had dragged her down with him into the mortal realm, her attitude towards him shifting as she realized that he was the one making up for her mistakes, and that no matter what trouble she found herself in, she could always count on Kazuma to help her, even if it was out of pity most of the time. She felt as if he genuinely cared about her well being and wanted to see her change and grow as a person, which is what has she managed to do (for the most part).
As she sat in her bath, bigger than the entire stable that she'd previously lived in, Aqua breathed her own sigh of relief. 'I don't know what it is I've done to deserve all this, but I swear on my own name that I won't take any of it for granted from here on out.'
"I promise.", she silently made an oath to herself, proclaiming that the optimism she's felt as the Goddess of Water will live on in spirit with her. It was easier for her to say than do, but with a friend- no, a BOYFRIEND like Kazuma by her side, she knew that she could be able to remain as happy and charismatic as she usually was before all this.
The day soon flew by with the two companions not speaking to each other much about their newfound relationship while the sun was out. They opted to instead spend their time testing to see if Aqua could still perform her party tricks as elegantly as before now without her natural Goddess abilities. As nighttime soon shrouded the city, both Kazuma and Aqua figured it was time for them to head to bed in their respective rooms, the results of their tests being somewhat negative. As they were entering their rooms, the brown-haired boy called out to Aqua, making it seem as if he had something to talk to her about, a certain topic that had been floating around their heads throughout the entire day. But instead, he merely waved to the girl and said "Goodnight.", with her simply smiling back at him and returning the gesture.
Kazuma then closed the door to his room from behind him, letting out a painful sigh as he instinctively rolled on top of his bed restlessly. Once the boy had calmed down, he soon thought back to how it felt last night when the two lovers had mingled for the first time. He could only remember slight figments of their night together: how her body felt rubbed up against his, her sparkly eyes, and the beautiful smile she held during their romantic tryst last night.
' Is it weird for me to say that I wanna be closer to her more than I have yesterday? We've only just confessed to each other this morning, but… it sounds selfish of me to think like this after all we've been through.', the boy blushed a little, his body warming up on the inside as he rolled up onto his back. He tried to sleep but continued to remain awake the more he lost himself to his own thoughts.
Aqua too had issues sleeping that night due to similar problems keeping her eyes wide open. She felt tired but couldn't sleep, confiding in only her own thoughts and questions that, unbeknownst to her, were the very thing keeping her up that night.
A few days had passed with things seemingly returning back to normal, though Aqua herself had refrained from going outside much due to her recent change in appearance.
Kazuma too had assumed things for him would remain the same, albeit he often found himself spacing out more than he usually would when working.
It was during one fine evening when the brown-haired boy-turned-man decided to take a little stroll around the city, in which he'd encountered a few priests from the central's Axis church during his leisurely walk, with them bringing along a grouchy-looking Cecily in tow. They asked the man about how his business was doing and how he had been as of late.
News about Aqua and Kazuma's new relationship had spread around the city like wildfire, so he tried answering as calmly as he could without giving much attention to any gossip that the group of priests spilled out. He knew from experience how chaotic things could get if one lit a fire in a room full of oil and rumors. It was a relief that they hadn't the faintest clue about Aqua's real identity, seeing her simply as their junior priest instead of the very Goddess they worship. He would've been in a serious heap of trouble if word got out that Kazuma had corrupted their Goddess of Water the night before they had even become a couple.
"It's truly splendid to hear that the two of you have been doing wonderful as of late. It's just a shame we don't get many outsiders like you deciding to stay and live here.", one of the female priests remarked as she shook her head, following it up with a depressed sigh.
' It's probably because this town's filled with weirdos walking around.', the man thought to himself, with his lips drawing a straight line on his face..
"But thanks to you and Lady Aqua, our divine city has never felt so lively; what with all the magnificent inventions you've made for us, the shows Lady Aqua puts on for us everyday, and the Aqua festival as well, PRAISE BE! We can never thank you two enough for making our city more exciting and enticing for people throughout Belzerg! Even our hot springs has seen an immense boost in popularity as of recently."
"And lastly, please do send our blessings towards Lady Aqua herself. Ever since she'd joined our church things have never been so peaceful and fun. Our staff, the kids, and the city in general admire her as if she were everyone's grandmother, showing to us new tricks and trinkets every now and then. She truly feels like a gift sent down from the Goddess Aqua from above…"
The church staff soon passed to him a heartfelt gratitude and some gifts in a basket.
Once they'd left his field of view, Kazuma immediately looked to see what's inside , only to find a bottle of wine, an Axel insignia and some biscuits. He soon turned his back and walked off after evaluating the basket's items.
Just as he was taking a few steps forward in his direction, he suddenly heard a messy trail of footsteps behind him, followed by a pursuing Cecily almost scaring the daylights out of him as she grabbed the man's shoulder hyper actively whilst calling out his name multiple times right in front of his ears. He looked back to see a concerned expression on her face. "Yes, it's me, Kazuma. Is there something wrong, Cecily?", Kazuma keenly asked the priest.
"It's just uhh...", the girl tried finding the right words to respond with. "It's just that it's been so long since I've seen Lady Aqua since the Aqua festival almost a week ago. Is she doing alright?", Ceicly questioned him with worry strung all over her face.
"I mean, of course she is. This is Aqua we're talking about here, nothing bad can happen to her.", the man replied reassuringly.
"Then why hasn't she come back to the church yet!", she softly yelled to him as to not attract any outside attention, "Look Kazuma, as a member of the axis faith and church, I respect you as Lady Aqua's dear companion and friend. I want to believe that the reason she's so happy all the time is because you're always there by her side. That said, if you are the sole reason why she doesn't want to come back to the axis church, and if she's sad right now because of you, then mark my words here and now: I will come for you. I will find you; and no matter where you run, I. will. hurt. you.", she said meaningly whilst clenching his shirt in her hand.
"You have no idea how much she means to us, Kazuma."
He couldn't even look her in the face as she said that. While his eyes were darted towards the ground, he slowly removed her hand away from his shirt, to the ground for seconds and firmly removed her hands from his shirt. "I admire your concern for her; believe me, I do. But I'll be damned if I said I didn't care for her at the very least. She's my one and only companion, I know not to hurt her."
"So for the love of Aqua herself, please don't accuse me of things like that. I love her after all-", Kazuma was taken aback by what he had just declared.
At the same time Ceicly became stunned, with her only being able to stand there in shock. "W-What?", was all she could say.
The brown-haired man silently cursed to himself, but knew that at least he meant what he had said earlier. He didn't want to backtrack on his words as it was what he was thinking the entire time while the priest was slandering his name.
"I'll uhh… send your regards to her, I guess. I'm sure Aqua will be happy to hear from you guys.", Kazuma then turned and slowly sprinted back to his home.
During which he stopped for a moment to look down at the gift basket in his hand, and tried to replay all that had transpired moments ago in his head.
' At least I could tell they actually felt worried about Aqua, especially that deranged girl back there. They do mean well for the both of us, with me included somewhere in that bubble, I guess. It's more than anyone's ever cared about me back at home, at the very least. *sigh* So this is what being a responsible adult feels like, huh?', Kazuma continued walking back, feeling content knowing that he had finally found people who could trust him, cherish and love him after all this time. He could still feel the heavy burden and responsibilities on his hands, but that all became trivial stuff for him to only worry about in the future. All he wanted now was to head on back home and enjoy a nice, hearty meal with his girlfriend.
The scene cuts to him having dinner with Aqua, still hearing the voices of the priests and Cecily's terrifying threat in his head. He looked at his friend-turned-lover as she smiled happily while downing some liquor Suddenly, he thought of a great idea for the two of them. He'd never felt excited about any experiences in life, especially ones thrusted upon him by his parents as a kid, but now things were different. He was a different man now living a new, different life with feelings he'd never experienced before. That left him with his grand idea for the two of them to go on a date together the next day.
He waited until the both of them were ready to sleep for the night to spring the plan onto Aqua. He knew the girl was still sober, so as they were walking side-by-side to their rooms, he declared his plan to take her out for a date tomorrow, leaving the black-haired girl confused and dumbfounded at his friendly proposal. Before she could even react to his date proposal, he casually entered his room and lightly slammed the door shut.
"Huh?"
She thought that Kazuma was trying to be flirty with her by using a pick-up line disguised as a date proposal, so she concluded it as such and went to bed, feeling giddy that her once neet friend had become so endearing and confident compared to when they had first met.
The day afterward saw birds chirping as dawn arose in the city of Arcanletia. A sleepy Aqua trudged down the stairs of her humble abode, rubbing her eyes and yawning as a sign of having woken up moments ago. The smell of toast welcomed her as she walked through the hallway connected to the kitchen. She got excited enough to gleefully skip towards the kitchen to see what her companion was up to.
She found Kazuma wearing an apron and having just finished setting up the table with food for breakfast. "Morning, my dear ex-useless and ex-goddess.", the man teasingly greeted her with a smile on his face, "Well you're up unusually early, way too early for your NEET schedule. So umm… wait, is this you trying to pull some kind of prank me or something? Oh-hooo… don't go thinking you can pull some kind of trick on me here, Kazuma!", to which Aqua took a defensive kung-fu stance, similar to that of a cliche', B-grade action movie.
"Hah! As much as I enjoy bullying you, my beloved ex-goddess, believe me when I say to you that I'm not trying to prank you or anything.", the man remarked in response to Aqua's question and stance.
They both then sat down to enjoy their breakfast, a breakfast consisting of toast grilled with butter, and milk to go along with it. Though the two of them disagreed on a lot of their own personal preferences, their taste in food had been miraculously similar to one another. Aqua quickly gobbled down her share of bread and thumped her hand down onto the table, asking for more.
"It seems as if your appetite hasn't changed in the slightest.", Kazuma said as he politely excused himself to go prepare another meal for her before washing his own plate.
"Hey, Aqua, make sure you finish your second plate in time, OK? I told you last night we're going out today, remember?", he cautiously reminded the girl of their date plans for the day as she continued to eat her second breakfast meal while he was heading up to his room to change.
She didn't respond with anything, so Kazuma called out to her again from the stairs, "Ugh, miss dum dum, did you forget we had a date planned today?", she didn't respond to that question either, so it became clear to him that Aqua had most likely forgotten about it.
"Sorry, Kazuma, it's just that I uhh… thought you were joking about it last night. I didn't think it was anything more than you trying to hit on me or something.", to which the man softly sighed to himself, concluding that he should've made things more clear to her last night instead of being quirky and shutting the door behind him as a gag.
"Well then, come on, let's get started already then! I'm not joking this time when I say we're going on a date today!", the enthusiastic ex-adventurer yelled out to Aqua.
She responded by urgently leaving the table and heading up to her room in hopes of her being the first to get ready before Kazuma. She clumsily stumbled whilst running up the stairs and dashed past the man as he stood there looking at her with both curiosity and confusion. He looked at the leftover plate on the kitchen table and rubbed his forehead as a sign of bewilderment. "Of all the girls out there in this world, I really did have to fall in love with her out of all people, huh?", he pondered the question for a bit before silently resolving himself to finishing Aqua's leftovers in the kitchen, then proceeding to clean the girl's plate for her while she was getting ready.
As he was busy doing so, Aqua meanwhile was about ready to jump into her bathtub after closing her bathroom door. '*sigh* Why did I have to accept that NEET's sudden date idea like that? I'm not against the idea of going on a date with him for the first time- I mean, the first REAL time, I guess. All I need, really, is some food, booze and whatnot and then I'll have a great time… y'know what, maybe going on an actual first real date might turn out fun, to be honest.', she felt giddy yet again as her bubble bath consumed the girl's lower half, with her face becoming red from either a sudden embarrassment crashing onto her, or the heat of the water surrounding Aqua's body.
'This is what falling in love feels like, right?', such thoughts plagued the ex-goddess's mind as she continued to bathe.
An hour had passed soon enough, with Kazuma still waiting for his girlfriend to finish preparing for their date.
All while she was sitting there on her bed with a towel over her head, waiting for her hair to dry. The man outside her door had eventually come knocking on it to check up on her preparation progress.
She responded with the classic, "I'm almost done already!", before fumbling around to find her makeup kit in her dresser. She then looked at herself in the mirror with a comb, some powder and a bottle of cream in her hand before getting to work on herself.
"Don't hurry too much in there, Aqua. All I'm asking is for you to look pretty for once, that's all.", to which the girl felt intimidated by what her boyfriend said to her as an underhanded insult. "Hmph, I've always been pretty; it's just that you've never noticed it until now, stupid NEET.", she mumbled to herself as she continued to prepare her makeup.
'haaaahhh… it's crazy to think mortal girls here have to do stuff like this everyday. Those royals too have to do it to keep up their image or something, somehow. I have… NO IDEA what I'm even doing .', she sat there pondering to herself as she tried multiple different hairstyles to see which one would give her a different yet gorgeous look. It didn't help that drying her hair each time would take her longer than it would normally take.
'Ugh, drying my hair used to be so easy before. It's just that now I can't suck out the moisture with my goddess abilities anymore.'
Kazuma remained sitting on the sofa in the main hall, waiting for his partner to return from her beautification ritual. He was about to stand up again to come knocking loudly on Aqua's door when a hand was suddenly placed on his right shoulder, forcing him to turn around to see if it was whom he assumed it was behind him. It was then when all of his anger and frustration dissipated once he bore witness to the sight of the black-haired girl in front of him, adorned in a light blue sundress, and wearing a rounded hat with a twin ponytail hairstyle hanging below it. It was certainly a fresh new look for the girl, but moreover, it gave her a youthful and child-like appearance compared to that of a female drunk. Still, it left the man speechless and starstruck.
Eventually Aqua twirled around to show off her dress's flowery patterns, displaying an image of a beautiful blue flower covering her entire dress. She then looked to her boyfriend and asked, "Soooo, how I look? Hehe, I'm sorry if I took so long, Kazuma, it's just that this whole makeup thing is new territory for me; plus my hair takes so long to dry now for obvious reasons.", she humbly apologized to him while slowly bowing down for forgiveness.
She looked to him again to see his state of shock remain the same, with his mouth still left hanging the entire time the girl was apologizing to him. Even so, she still felt as though he heard her properly, but it was just that he didn't know how to portray his appreciation to her.
Not like he had much to say, anyway. All he could do in that moment was stand there and stare at her admirably. "Heyyy, earth to NEET.", the girl repeatedly snapped her fingers at him in hopes of bringing him back to reality.
"Uh, wha- yeah, I can see it- I mean see you- I mean… *sigh*. Yeah, you look pretty cute wearing it, Aqua. Dare I say adorable, I guess", he spoke that last part in a low tone to hide the embarrassment on his face, displayed plainly with a light shade of crimson red emanating from his cheeks. The black-haired beauty found his gesture to be quite endearing, causing her to smile meekly whilst staring at the floor and dragging her feet around it.
Despite the two of them having openly expressed their love for each other a while back, they still hadn't gotten used to the idea of being affectionate with one another, a departure from the few years they had where the duo would argue with one another over basically anything. It didn't help as well that Kazuma had no such experience in giving out compliments concerning someone's appearance, let alone Aqua's.
They soon exited their house, headed straight into town for their first official date together. All the while Kazuma had been kept staring at Aqua through the corner of his right eye along the way, admiring how well-dressed she was beside him. ' Did she always have a good fashion sense? I could've sworn her simple mind would've chosen something more elegant or pristine, especially since she's always been preaching about how pretty she 24/7. Still, she did do what I asked her to do, so I guess I can't complain about anything right now. From now on, it's up to me to treat my… girlfriend to a fun, romantic date today. God, this is so out-of-character for me, I've never been this awkward around anyone in my life; not even my crush had me feeling this anxious. Haaaaa…..', the man resided himself into this mental cage he built for himself, whilst him and Aqua continued to walk side-by-side together, with his partner glancing at him curiously to pick up on what could be bothering him.
Both Kazuma and Aqua had soon found themselves in the middle of the bustling city of Arcanletia, with the only issue being that their presence there made them linger on the fact that they had declared their love in front of a bunch of people during that faithful morning, so a handful of the townsfolk had already knew that they were an item. They both kept this in mind while passing by some of the familiar residents. As the duo continued their stroll along the crowded streets with a spark of excitement and tranquility surging through them, they came to the realization that so far they had been acting more like tourists than a real couple on a date. The first of them to have this epiphany was Kazuma, as he was left thinking about how to make things more couple-ish between him and Aqua, a challenge he took the helm of subconsciously in his head.
Meanwhile, Aqua herself had been feeling nervous for multiple reasons, one of which being the ever-so growing fact that their date path was straying heavily from the normal path they normally would walk on most days. It was a fresh new experience for her, leaving the girl with no clue on what she should do or how she'd even go about doing it in the first place. This in turn created worry in her heart, a worry of being a bad girlfriend to Kazuma, which in turn could hurt her pride as a maiden and disappoint everyone who'd been cheering for them ever since they had became a couple.
It was safe to say that their first official date had been kicked into full gear, with the two lovers already being dead-set on spending more time with each other and wanting to know more about one another in the process. They walked and chatted enthusiastically about their plans for the day.
"Hey, Aqua, you have any ideas in mind for our first official date?", Kazuma naively asked, attempting to show off his excitement and joy in a way he felt was comfortable for Aqua.
"Hmm… I say we start with something simple, then. Something like… I dunno, just walking around that park over there? I kinda would enjoy it after being inside these past few days. Maybe even next time we could have a picnic date if the weather's good."
Her boyfriend nodded in agreement. "Alright then, sounds perfect to me! And hey, maybe afterwards you and I could go get some ice cream nearby and play games somewhere."
At the simple mention of ice cream did Aqua's eyes lit up with diamonds metaphorically popping out. "Hehehhhh, I bet I could beat you at all of those games, NEET."
To which Kazuma chuckled in light of her naive proposition. "Oh, we'll see about that. But let's not get carried away first. I'd rather have us enjoying our date together before fighting over petty stuff again."
Whilst the two of them continued their date stroll, they only ever stopped for a bit due to them passing by a flower shop, with Kazuma finding himself becoming lost in thought as he examined the colorful blooms on display.
"These flowers sure do look nice, don't they?", the man audibly remarked as he gestured his finger towards a bouquet of vibrant roses.
Aqua immediately agreed with him by nodding her head in response to her boyfriend's remark. She then gave her own input by saying, "Indeed, they do look beautiful. I've always been a flower type of person, I mean- I guess flowers just remind me about how beautiful nature is in general , y'know?"
Kazuma turned to gift her a warm smile on his face. "I guess I can see what you're getting at. Gee, I never thought you'd have this sort of philosophical side to you, Aqua. Maybe there's more to you than just being the Goddess of party tricks and fun."
A blush instinctively formed on his girlfriend's cheeks as a result of his unsightly remark. She took his statement negatively and retorted, "Hey, that's kinda mean to say especially to your date right here. Haaa…. then again, who knows? Maybe you might show some sort of hidden side to you aswell today; that is if you even have one in the first place, heh."
And with that, they resumed their date as if nothing had happened, with the only lingering difference being that they now felt as if they had a strong sense of competition between them, a competition on who could impress the other more on their date by the end of the day.
Their arrival at the park was soon followed up with the two lovers finding a cozy spot to rest at underneath a shaded tree. Neither of them brought any blankets to lie on for their date, so the duo opted to just place their butts on the bare grass below the tree. The only thing they planned on doing now was to snack on some food that they had bought whilst they were on their way to the park. They then proceeded to eat and enjoy each others company in the meantime.
"So, *chomp chomp* you mind if I ask you some questions about yourself, Aqua? Like what you do for fun and all?", the girl's brown-haired boyfriend asked her while taking bites out of his sandwich.
She pondered on it for a few moments before being able to answer him, "Well, aside from the usual trouble I cause for you, most of my time is spent just walking outside. Y'know, exploring places, meeting people, etc. I'm sure you know how much I love dancing and all, but just as equally I enjoy singing to myself whenever I feel bored and whatnot. I can't tell if I'm still even good at them or not."
Kazuma then shot her a warm smile before remarking, " You've always been a great dancer, Aqua, and I'm sure that you sing just as well when I'm not around to listen. To be honest, I hardly doubt anything else would change now that you're not a Goddess anymore. Might as well expect some changes now before getting surprised at it in the future."
His black-haired girlfriend could only laugh nervously before coming up with a closure statement for herself. "Sure, then, we'll see what happens, then. But uhhh, enough about me for now, what about you, KazuNEET? Do you have any non-perverted hobbies or interests you'd like to share with me?"
The man opted to ignore her slight insult before thinking of an answer to give to the girl in front of him. "Well, I am a bit of a gamer, which yeah, I guess all shut-ins tend to be like that. I could go on and on about the kinds of games I was into and what manga or anime I used to watch before coming here. And uhh…. I guess I have a soft spot for cats in particular. I've always wanted one but could never see myself being able to take care of it properly."
As Aqua listened attentively to Kazuma's personal taste dump, her eyes piqued with interest. "So you're a gamer and an anime fan, huh? Not very surprised at all, if I'm being honest, but uhhh…. to my knowledge you're probably not an animal crossing type of guy; I can assume you've kept a collection of adult games and dating sims back at home.", the girl jokingly replied while waving her hands around like a windmill.
Kazuma felt attacked but could only grin in light of this, "Hey, hey, hey.. Ok, MAY-be you might be right, but you might be wrong at the same time, who knows? I'll admit that I've indulged in some eroge's here and there, but I'm not that lonely to where I'd be willing to simulate interactions between women; I'm not that much of a NEET, I'll have you know.", the man proudly proclaimed as if it was something to be prideful of.
"Why do you sound so smug about this, exactly? That isn't something to be proud of, Kazuma.", his black-haired companion slowly shook her head in discomfort.
"Well damn, I guess an ex-Goddess like you wouldn't be able to understand, then. It's just part of the struggles of being a loner, okay? Sheesh."
"At least the other Goddesses in heaven cared about my existence…", a moment of silence soon echoed between them. They stared at each other with plain expressions on their faces for a bit before one of them could even respond with anything.
"So I guess we still haven't been able to establish any common ground yet… ah well, I guess eventually we'll find some things we can agree on. For now, though, let's finish up here and head on to the next place for our date.", Kazuma calmly laid out his current plans to Aqua. They soon found themselves with their bellies full satisfied, so the only thing they could do now was to pack up their makeshift picnic, exit the park and continue on with their date.
The duo lovers proceeded to wander endlessly through the bustling streets of Arcanletia, taking in any and all of the unique sights and sounds around them. The activities on display were nothing new for them, but this time however they were actively seeking out anything for them to participate in as significant others. They passed by street performers, vendors and whatnot all while soaking in the vibrant atmosphere of the city.
"Say, Kazuma, I know this might sound dumb coming from me, but Arcanletia here looks so amazing when going to places like this.", the girl's eyes couldn't help but sparkle with wonder. "There's so much to see and do here. Heck, I bet I could even spend days just visiting every corner of this city, from the hot springs to those mountains up there."
Her partner Kazuma responded by nodding in agreement. "Y'know, I find it hard to believe that I know more places here than you do, for some reason."
"That's just because I'm too afraid of whatever lurks in those alleyways, Kazuma. It would certainly feel less scary for me to walk through them if I have you escorting me. .", Aqua nudged at her brown-haired companion, expecting a reaction from him in return. The only thing she got out of her boyfriend was his head turning 90 degrees to curiously look at her with a raised eyebrow, all the while she could be seen holding up a smile on her face the entire time.
They eventually stumbled upon an ice cream stand in the middle of the busy street, with Kazuma recoiling from this discovery by buying a cone for each of them.
"Here's your cone, Aqua. I saw your special flavor on the sign and just had to pick one for you.", he enthusiastically reported to the girl as he handed her a cone of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
To which Aqua's eyes lit up with utter delight. "Y-You remembered my favorite flavor? Umm… well, thanks, Kazuma!."
They soon sat down on a bench nearby and enjoyed their ice cream together, all the while a certain black-haired girl slowly started feeling a little twinge of insecurity creeping up on her from the inside. She found herself looking down, ogling at her decently consumed ice cream cone. Then suddenly the girl felt as though she was becoming more self-conscious about herself the more she sat out in public like this.
"Are you alright, Aqua?", Kazuma asked her with concern on his face, having noticed her change in demeanor while looking at her.
Aqua hesitated for a bit before speaking out her mind, "I just... haaahh, I just feel weird sitting like this here, Kazuma. I feel like I don't fit in with everyone here, and only now I've just been thinking about what my followers might think if they saw their Goddess sitting here like this. Would they think differently or hate me because of it- OW!"
Her abrupt reaction came as a result of her companion reaching his hand up to her forehead and flicking it whilst she was in the middle of venting to him.
"Owieee… Grrr, hey, that hurt, Kazuma!." Aqua responded negatively as she continued to rub her forehead.
"And I'll do it again if you keep venting like that. Look, right now you are about as human as I am. Heck, I'm sure nobody here even sees you as their Goddess, no offense, but if there's anything about them that I know they wouldn't do, it'd be discriminating against anyone who looks different here. Ya gotta realize this, Aqua; we're still just a couple of misfits thrown into a world of magic and monsters. You'll never be alone as long as you have me with you, Aqua.", Kazuma politely declared as he held his hand over his chest. He then reached out his other hand to wipe of the ice cream crumbs on the subject girl's face in the meantime.
In response she gifted him back a light smile, followed by her standing up as a way of inviting the man into walking her to their next destination.
And so, their first official date resumed as planned, with the two happily chatting and laughing together, with a solemn promise and oath kept between them; for all the adventures that they have yet to experience together.
They soon found themselves stopping by at their next destination: the games and recreational area of Arcalenntia.
The duo then proceeded to compete with each other in a variety of games, in which despite Kazuma's insistence on how good he was at carnival-type games, he surprisingly found himself struggling against Aqua of all people, who proved to be a worthy opponent for him, especially for when it came to hoop-throwing.
"Gah! Haaa…. wow, you're actually really good at this, huh Aqua?", the man exhaustedly admitted to his rival/companion/girlfriend, impressed by her skills.
The girl in question triumphantly grinned to herself, "Ha! I told you earlier that I'd be able to beat you; I just needed to umm… try harder, I guess. Huh."
Kazuma could only laugh in the face of utter defeat. "Alright, alright, you win, Aqua. Just remember that you still owe me for that ice cream I bought earlier. We still have our own little dating competition going on, let's not forget."
After competing in a few more games with each other, both Kazuma and Aqua eventually left the games area to search for lunch. Their stomachs continued to growl the entire time as they continued to browse through any restaurants they came by. Later once they had found a joint to eat at, a certain black-haired ex-Goddess could be seen inside chomping down on her food like a frenzied beast.
"Woah, there; slow down, girl, the meat ain't gonna run away anytime soon.", the girl's companion gave her some cautionary advice for the sake of his own food.
"Oh liten up, Kajuma. Dis hole ghating tink iz so much work fr me. *gulp* Ahh… a lady's gotta eat too, y'know?", after consuming enough to make their tummies full, the couple headed on out of the restaurant afterwards in search of a gift shop, a place in which Kazuma planned on visiting it beforehand to buy some gift hampers.
"Wow, how sweet of you to buy this for me, Kazuma. Maybe you are a gentleman after-"
"This ain't for you, Aqua. This uhh… this basket here I didn't exactly buy to give it to you specifically, dearest Aqua, although I do plan on giving you a present sooner or later; just uhh…have patience for a bit, okay?", the man assured the pouting girl as they were exiting the store.
"Hmph, it better be some expensive liquor or jewelry.", Aqua proclaimed as she crossed her arms together whilst they continued walking through the Arcanletian streets, attempting to guess what it could be along the way.
"Don't get too hung up on that, just know that I know that you'll like it.", Kazuma said as a means to ease his girlfriend's mind for a bit.
A few hours later saw a sunset pouring down onto the city, casting a beautiful golden hue onto its landscape with a mix of pink shading.
The couple could be seen resting on a bench somewhere, trying to cool off. The black-haired girl sitting there kept asking if the two of them could go home yet, hinting to the person beside her that she was tired. Said person who was colored in brown hair and rocking a casual, formal attire eventually stood up onto his two feet and offered his hand to the girl, in which she gleefully accepted the invitation and stood up to match his height level.
"Let's go home, then.", The two held hands together as they began heading back towards their humble abode.
Whilst they were doing so, Kazuma had slyly altered their route so that they had ended up walking down a path of which they had been all too familiar with, the ex-Goddess beside him slowly realizing that fact as they continued walking down said path.
"Wait, Kazuma, I don't think I should be here-", before she could say anything else, a certain feminine voice called out to Aqua.
The girl in question calling out to her was a blonde teen clad in robes representing the Axis church. Aqua could immediately tell who it was based on her running pace alone if not her appearance. "It's… Cecily."
Kazuma smiled in response to his girlfriend's shell-shocked reaction. He then suddenly pushed Aqua towards the nun as a way to drive her forward in order to initiate their reunion together, all the while he kept holding on to the gift basket in his hand. "Come on, Aqua. The two of you have a lot of catching up to do, right? Don't worry, I'll be waiting over here if you need me, okay?"
Cecily was delighted to see her senior priest in the flesh. The two axis members chatted for a bit before Cecily pulled Aqua inside of the church to meet with the others. The girl clad in black hair stammered for a bit once they were inside due to the place having a ton of other priests and nuns there already.
Aqua tried breathing in and out as softy as she could, but none of the words she could come up with were forming once they had tried leaving her mouth. "Maybe- *pant* maybe I could visit here some other day, Cecily.", she politely asked her junior priest for her to take her leave.
Then suddenly a handful of people there had begun realizing who the girl was as an old lady wearing glasses approached the black-haired girl beauty. The gifted Aqua with an expression reminiscent of when she first arrived in Arcanletia and joined the church shortly after settling down with Kazuma a long time ago.
"It's you.", she smiled to herself as she held the girl's hand onto her palm. "Our star priest Aqua has truly blessed us with her return."
Shortly afterwards, a flock of people came and gathered around the returning priest. Chatter filled the air as she began asking how everyone was and what they had been up to as of recently. Loads of questions and answers were tossed around to the point that Aqua felt overwhelmed with how much stories the people there had to share.
Suddenly a commanding voice echoed from the back of the room, silencing the noisy crowd as a result. An old, pristine-looking man then came out to greet the young priest. He donned a set of long hair and a beard to match with his church status.
"It's a pleasure to meet with you again, Arch Priest Zesta.", Aqua humbly bowed to the old man. He was one of the most well-respected people in the city, having been known for spreading his altruistic wisdom throughout the Axis faith, and for his utmost devotion towards the church and their Goddess.
The man looked to the girl in front of him and smiled warmly. It was as if he had every idea on what was going on with her. "How have you been, my dear child? It's been a long time since I've last seen you here. You must've been doing fine for yourself, is that right?"
Aqua felt a sense of calm and ease once her senior arch-priest finished reassuring her. She bowed her head down again as she said to him, "Indeed, I've been well these past few days; it's just that I couldn't be able to find the courage to go out and meet with you all like this."
"That's wonderful to hear, dear. Praise be to the Goddess Aqua, everyone. She may look different, but I can safely say for sure that this woman here is still our beloved priest. Now, if you may excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to. Farewell, brothers and sisters; may all your futures be graced with divine blessings, o'sweet children of Aqua.", the old priest moved on out of the chapel, leaving Aqua to chat with the rest of her peers.
The black-haired girl opted to just greet any and everyone who came up to her, assuring to them that she still was the lovable priest they all knew and loved. Eventually, though, Cecily had decided to make a move by grabbing Aqua by the arm and taking her to someplace private to speak with her for a bit.
The young priest tattled to Aqua about her personal encounter with the girl's companion yesterday, telling the story from her own perspective and leaving out only the part where she had threatened the boy's life for the sake of keeping her senior's opinion of her high.
Cecily was probably the only person aside from Kazuma who knew that Aqua was a real Goddess, so the black-haired girl had no problem telling her the truth about what happened to her, both appearance and holy-wise. The Puritan was shocked at first but slowly calmed down once Aqua reassured to her that the night in which she and Kazuma slept together was something SHE wanted, and her current state of right now was the consequences of said action. She'd already processed and accepted these events long ago, but for once it did feel nice to at least talk to someone else about it.
"Say, umm… would you mind telling me about it, Lady Aqua?"
"Huh?"
"Was it fun? Was he that good in bed?"
"..."
"I'm not telling you anything, ok?", the girl beaming with beet-red cheeks sharply declined sharing any gossip with her junior, crossing her arms while pouting to display to Cecily her stance on the matter.
"Hey, that's not nice. That's no way to treat your most loyal devotee. I mean, I tell you everything I do all the time!", the priest girl bitterly complained while pestering Aqua to spill out any gossip she had.
"I never asked you to tell me what you do in private, Cecily! *sigh* look, all I can say is that he's a good person, Cecily. Trust me when I say that when I met Kazuma for the first time he was waaaayyy worse than he is now. I'll admit he's not the typical gentleman who would spoil me and sweep me off of my feet, but I trust that he'll always be there for me, even if I don't do much to deserve such kindness in the first place. I… *gulp* I love Kazuma, I really, really do.", Aqua smiled to herself, sensing as if a large chunk of worry and distress had been lifted off of her body. She felt as though she had finally found her resolve after having doubted herself for so long now.
"Just please don't hate me for dumping all of this on you, Ceci-", her voice became muffled under the warm embrace of her devoted follower, clutching her arms together behind the stunned girl's back.
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH
A few minutes beforehand, Kazuma could be seen waiting outside for his companion to return from the Church. It was then when an old man adorned in axis church robes walked out of the chapel and spotted him. The man approached the youngling and nonchalantly sat beside him.
"Excuse me, may I ask: might you be Satou Kazuma, the business boy everyone's been talking about around here?", he asked the brown-haired man dressed up in nice clothes.
To which he looked to the old man and responded with, "No, not really. I'm just dressed up for an occasion. I mean, there's no way I could be as good-looking as that guy, y'know?", the younger gentleman tried playing it off to avoid creating some sort of conflict or jealously in this scenario.
"Hmm, I see, then. Might I ask instead what you think of our town here?", the older male asked, attempting to switch the topic.
"Hmm… well, I guess the scenery here is quite beautiful, especially during the evening time.", Kazuma casually pulled his head back as he responded.
"Splendid, then. Ah, silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. You may call me Father Zesta, for I am the arch-priest of this church. The men and women who visit this place are to be under my care, same as how everyone else here is cared for and loved by our Goddess. I truly do hope I've come across as friendly to you, I myself don't want people to think of me as hostile, after all. Right here and now, I just want to get across how much I appreciate you taking care of our dearest Aqua, young man."
His last statement left Kazuma with a sense of dread on the inside. It felt as if a dagger had been suddenly pointed directly towards his neck.
"I do wonder why it is she looks the way she does now, as well as why she hasn't been visiting our church as of lately, but by just talking to you here I can safely say that you, my dear boy, seem to possess no ill-intent in the slightest."
"..."
The old arch priest continued, "Heh, that girl… she's always been content with just being a messenger of our Goddess, so much so that she's even named herself after her. The Goddess Aqua's teachings have certainly made her wiser than all of us, that's for sure."
Kazuma meanwhile had been trying to brainstorm the correct response to make him seem less suspicious. To his knowledge, no one here believed that Aqua was a Goddess walking among them, so them figuring out that he was the one who had corrupted her divine purity would result in him being personally executed at the very least.
"Alright then, you've got me. Although I do most of the heavy lifting, I'd also be lying if I said that Aqua herself hadn't been helpful along the way. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, after all. As for our relationship… eeeeeyuhh.. *sigh I still haven't been able to wrap my head around it yet.", Kazuma bowed his head down both as a sign of embarrassment and as a way to show his respect to the old man. He was a well-known figure in Arcanletia, so it was to be expected for most to treat him with the utmost respect.
"I'm sure two will figure it out eventually. Makes me wish that I had a partner like you when I was young.", Zesta happily sighed to himself before standing up and proceeding to leave the area after bidding Kazuma a friendly farewell.
While the young man was left trying to process what had just happened to him, he felt as though he had a new sense of motivation for when it came to his duty as Aqua's soulmate and lover.
Speaking of which, said girl had finally come back with a bouquet of flowers in her hands.
"So did all work out for you, Aqua? Did you uhh… pray today or something?", Kazuma naively asked his girl.
"Everyone there was pretty happy that I came back, heck they even prepared flowers for me to celebrate my return! I was nervous at first, but thankfully Father Zesta was there to help tell everyone that I was the same ol' Aqua they know and love, so then they became more friendlier to me afterward. Oh yeah, then they also asked me to ask you about whether or not you'd be interested in joining-", the girl had gotten cut off before she could even finish, courtesy of a sudden decline from Kazuma, resulting in her wanting to change the topic instead. "So can I have my gift now, please?", the black-haired girl meekly asked her boyfriend while twiddling her fingers.
"Wow, it's as if I already have a gift ready in this basket here. I mean, it's not like I was gonna drink it all by myself, y'know?", he opened the gift basket in his hand to reveal a bottle of expensive wine that he had bought beforehand right after when Aqua had entered the church a while back.
Aqua had become delighted at the sight of her gift, her emotions fluttering to the point where she ran up and jumped onto Kazuma, hugging him dearly. They remained like that until the male lover tapped on Aqua's shoulder to signal to her that he was being crushed under her tight grip. The girl backed off immediately in light of it.
' *Pant* damn, those arms have some gorilla grip. I should probably worry about them next time if I ever get on her bad side.', the brunette then gestured to his girlfriend that they were about to finally head home.
The sky had turned dark as the moon became clear within the night's atmosphere. Its brightness radiated amongst the stars in the sky. The two companions could be seen walking down the street side-by-side together, with them eventually advancing to the point where Kazuma felt as though he could smoothly intertwine his fingers with Aqua's as they were walking amongst each other. He looked to his side to see that she did not mind this sudden romantic gesture in the least bit.
There was absence of embarrassment on Aqua's face, with her nervousness only springing about when she started speaking to him.
"I love you…. Kazuma Satou.", she was surprised to find her having easily said these words without hesitation, despite her jitteriness at first. It felt natural, true, and sincere.
"*cough* I love you too... Aqua Satou.", Kazuma replied playfully at first, but then soon realized the implication of what he had just said to his black-haired girlfriend just now. He turned once more, only to see Aqua herself blushing a bit whilst mouthing out some words to display the sudden awkwardness that popped up between them. At the very least she was happy that her boyfriend hadn't immediately backtracked on his previous statement to her; reassurring to her that he really did mean what he had said, that the choice they had made on that day was one he did not regret in the slightest.
"Heh, maybe you're not that much of a shut-in after all, NEET."
"And maybe you're not so useless yourself, dear ex-Goddess of mine."
The two laughed in hindsight of their cringy, yet sincere confessions, with it being clear as day as to how they felt about one another. Kazuma himself had long since abandoned any regrets on what he had previously missed out on in life; all he wanted now was to just savor these kinds of moments while they lasted, for he came to the realization that he truly felt happy and content with the life he currently has. He kept smiling to himself as his head moved closer to Aqua's, snuggling himself onto the girl whilst keeping ahold of her hand the entire time.
"Can we take a more scenic route home?", the girl high on cloud-9 requested.
"Well, I see no reason to argue about that.", the brunette beside her was at least socially-aware enough to understand what Aqua wanted by asking him that. An extension of their date was what followed throughout the night, the two lovers spending time chatting with each other both outside and inside after they had arrived back home. Truly, a simple date had become yet another defining moment within their relationship.
Once home, they proceeded to change out of their current attire and into their usual nightime clothes. Kazuma was about to head up to his room before getting tugged from behind by a shy mess of a girl who went by the name Aqua, whom he could see fidgeting with her fingers and tapping her toes on the floor.
The young man was somewhat delighted to see this sheepish side of her, as it made her intentions clear as day to him. "Yes, it's okay for you to thank me, Aqua.", he said to her, with an understanding of what it is she wanted right now.
Aqua took a deep breath before letting go of his shirt and sighing to herself. "Thank you for doing all of this for me, Kazuma. I'm really am grateful that you got me to go outside after everything that's happened recently. I had so much fun going on a date with you today, heehee.", she then pulled Kazuma into her arms. He expected for her to wrap him into a hug again, but instead she brought her face closer to his and kissed Kazuma on the cheek before letting go and heading up towards her room.
All the while Kazuma was stuck trying to process what had just been given. He felt as if he should savor this new feeling for a while, but found it to be embarrassing once he realized how much of a loser he sounds off of just him thinking like that. 'Well, a kiss to the cheek is probably the most sweet and innocent thing she could've given me… Huh. Aqua being sweet and innocent is not something I thought I'd say, but-aaa I guess things do change after all, huh?', he stood there internally rambling to himself for a bit before Aqua peeped out from the upstairs corner to ask him about something, with a tinge of nervousness behind her voice.
"Hey, Kazuma, I was umm… wondering if you… aaaaaaaa… would you mind sleeping with me tonight?", Aqua couldn't hold back from breathing heavily after asking for such a thing.
It was at this point when the great Kazuma's confidence hit an all-time high, with his demeanor being thrown out the window once he fully registered what his girlfriend had just asked of him. To put it lightly… he was sort of bricked up right now.
He soon quickly turned to Aqua, coughing for a bit before replying, "Of course, I don't mind as long as you don't see any problem with it.", his heart meanwhile was beating as fast as a person experiencing a heart attack, but on a smaller scale.
"Oh, really then? Then come on, I'll be waiting~", Aqua drew back her head and went back to her room, leaving Kazuma standing there scanning his surroundings to see if anyone was watching him from afar somewhere. The man proceeded to then quickly drop down onto his knees, bowed his head and tearfully started praying aggressively to the Goddess Aqua, with said Goddess waiting for him upstairs in her room.
He stood up, dusted himself and regained his composure. Kazuma then entered the room, and as he was rotating around the door to close it, he smiled to himself the biggest and widest grin ever known to man.