AD 2206, 5/18, 7th Hierarchical City of Kazamotsu – Unknown Area

Carl comes to with a shiver, feeling the cool night air washing over him. Confused, he looks around to see Platinum encasing themselves in both sheets.

Platinum sighs luxuriously from inside their velvety cocoon. While the first sheet lies pinned under his weight, he doesn't feel comfortable sliding under it.

Carl sighs to himself, out of frustration and fatigue. The moon is only beginning to recede behind the crest of the skyline. He'll have to get himself some more coverings.

With slow motions, he pads across the room to the linen closet, wincing as it creaks open.

Platinum huffs awake, blearily blinking at his figure in the shadows. Soon, they're glaring at him.

Luna grouses, "Ugh! Why are you up so early? You a vampire or something?"

Carl shakes his head, glaring right back. "You're hogging the sheets, so I'm getting some more."

Luna looks down at herself, noticing the still unwrapped first sheet. "Hey! Did you only sleep under the first one or something?"

He grabs himself a new set of sheets and huffs, "Naturally."

She balks at him. "What the hell? Luna said you could sleep here, so it's fine!"

He rolls his eye as he makes his way to a couch, not willing to risk losing his sheets again. "You can't expect me to be so intimate on the first date."

She growls, "That does it!" She rips the sheets off herself and marches over to him with intent.

He dodges her attempt to grab at him. He stares at her incredulously. "What do you think you're doing?"

She huffs, eyes narrowing. "Dragging yer ass back to bed, now hold still!"

They clumsily dance around the couches a bit as Carl evades Luna. Eventually, she changes tactics and vaults over a couch, catching him off guard. She pounces, tackling him onto the bed.

Straddling his hips to trap him, she smirks down victoriously. "Gotcha!"

He huffs as he tries to wiggle free, only to feel part of himself react alarmingly. His eye widens as it grinds into the muscle of Luna's thigh.

Her expression goes blank. She looks down, then back up at Carl with a raised brow. "Damn."

He flushes, looking away while stilling. "Please get off."

She sighs, "Nice choice of words, Clover."

He winces as she leans down to look him in the eye. "We could, ya know."

He blanches, nerves getting the better of his composure. "W-What?"

She shrugs, "I mean, it's cool with me. Muchorin can make anything we need, remember?"

He stares at her in shock for a moment, then shakes his head and narrows his eyes. "What about Sena? Shouldn't he have a say in this?"

She laughs, "Sena likes you, dingus." She frowns softly. "If you ain't up for it, just say so."

He stops, mulling the thought over for a moment. He's seen to his needs before, but something like this…

He bites his lip, looking away again. "…No."

She nods, squeezing his shoulder before rolling off him, dragging the sheets over them. "Look, it's chilly and we need to sleep. If yer ass moves, it's mine. Got it?"

He sighs as he looks into her serious eyes. He nods, "Fine. But come morning, we need to figure out what I'm going to tell the Colonel. I was to be back at the Library last night. "

She scoffs, "Like hell. I've got plans for you, Clover." She turns her back. "Now go to sleep."

Carl stares at the back of her head. He shrugs before closing his eye and allowing himself to drift away once more.

Carl stares at the clouds as he sips warm tea from his mug.

After they'd awoken, properly this time, Luna insisted on the three of them spend a day roaming Kazamotsu. Along with the card that Colonel Mutsuki gave them, they were planning to rack up quite a bill.

Right now, Carl and Sena are enjoying a quaint breakfast at a small bookstore cafe on the lakefront. So far, everything is going fairly well.

Sena looks up from stuffing his face full of eggs with a small smile. "Hey, man. Enjoying yourself yet?"

Carl raises a brow. "The food is good, if that's what you're asking."

Sena swallows, then sighs, "Not what I meant."

Carl hums, taking another sip.

Sena rolls his eyes, before jolting with excitement. "Hey, I got an idea! Why don't we take the ferry out to the lake and see what's up?"

Sena looks at Carl with glittering eyes, and Carl considers the idea.

While a large body of water isn't something he'd normally like to contend with, he sees no harm. If Luna and Sena are going to drag him around to make merry, he may as well go along with it.

Carl shrugs, "Alright, but we'll have to find something else to do before going out on the water."

Sena grins, gesturing to the bookshelves around them. "Well, it's not like we're outta options."

Carl hums thoughtfully, "Maybe they have the lasts volume of Loveless…"

Sena's eyes spark. "You think so? Man, oh man, I've been saving up for that one forever!"

Carl smiles. "Only one way to know for sure."

Carl sighs as he snaps shut the book. Another compelling cliffhanger. Miss Crescent was quite the tease.

Sena groans as he too shuts his copy. "Oh man! I can't believe it ended like that! 'Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return?' I mean, come on! There's gotta be more to it than that!"

Carl hums, looking around distractedly. "Well, the man is trying to make a profit, Sena. It wouldn't do to give everything away just yet."

The other passengers on deck keep glancing at him, and it's starting to get irritating.

Sena huffs, but otherwise stays silent.

Carl catches sight of a familiar silhouette amongst the passengers. His eye widens, then narrows. Just as he's about to move, he feels a tap on his shoulder. Sena is frowns up at him, concerned. "Is everything alright?"

Carl bites back a groan as he glances back to see that Captain Kohaku isn't on deck anymore. He sighs, "Someone's watching us."

Sena's eyes narrow, then flash as Luna takes the reigns.

Luna huffs, "Is it that creepy dude that follows the perv around?"

Carl nods, "Yes. I don't know where he is now, though."

Luna grumbles, "Sneaky little…" She sighs, "Alright. Let's ditch him when we get back to shore. There's something I wanna show ya, anyways."

Carl doubts that they can actually shake off Captain Kohaku, but nods. "Sounds like a plan."

Carl grins wide, his eye lighting up as the game declares his victory.

Luna scoffs, "What a rip! My stick was stiff! I want a rematch, Clover!"

There's a large line behind them, so they'll be waiting a while yet before Luna gets her way.

Carl huffs good-naturedly as he collects his tickets, "It'll have to wait."

As if to emphasize his point, a pair of twenty-somethings take to the game next, bickering.

A diminutive redhead huffs, "Ready to lose, Saruhiko?"

A bespectacled brunette scoffs, "Please, Misaki, the only thing you can't lose is your virginity."

The redhead yelps, "What the hell?! I'd kick yer ass if you had one!"

Carl and Luna quickly make their way away from the escalating argument.

Luna snorts, "What the hell was up with them?"

Carl sighs, "I don't even want to hazard a guess." He looks down at the large pile of tickets. "What should we trade these for?"

Luna's eyes light up. "Ya wanna share?"

Carl nods, "I don't have a need for anything material, and it was your idea to come here."

Luna begins to bounce on the balls of her feet. "Man, oh man! C'mon, there should be enough!"

She grabs his wrist and he allows her to drag him to the prize station. He quickly catches sight of a large plush bear holding a pair of metal yo-yos. Their rims are crimson, but the middle section is gun-metal gray. They look kind of heavy.

Luna grins excitedly as she hands over the tickets and points up to the bear. "We're here for Roger, my good woman!"

The ticket lady, wearing an orange pirate outfit, smiles sadly. "Aw, man. Looks like we're going to have a lot of disappointed kids." She hefts the bear down to them. "This here's the last one in stock. You better take good care of him, ya hear?"

Luna nods, her eyes flashing with fiery determination. "Hell yeah, I will! I've been wanting this bad boy ever since we first got up in here!"

As the two talk excitedly about the lore behind the toys, Carl can't help but grin painfully wide.

Carl sighs as he undresses himself for a well-deserved shower. The day has been exciting and… strangely fulfilling. Even if Captain Kohaku's followed them back to the hotel.

What exactly is Captain Kohaku's game? They've not intervened, so they don't want to stop them…

As Carl shuffles down out of his pants, Sena's voice comes from behind him.

Rounding the corner, Sena says, "Hey, Carl, why don't we—!"

Carl jolts and yanks his pants back up, whirling around, scandalized. "Sena! What are you—!"

Carl flushes and looks away from Sena, who only has a pair of panties on.

Sena tilts his head. "Damn, man." He shakes his head. "I was just going to say that since we don't know how much hot water this place has, we could take a shower together."

Carl huffs, "Sena, that's hardly appropriate."

Sena raises a brow. "What? We do stuff like this with Linhua and Asa all the time. It's just skinship, my guy."

Carl blanches. "T-That's not— What do you mean you do it all the time?"

Sena tilts his head curiously. "You mean you don't?"

Carl flushes deeper. "Only when I was very young." He looks into Sena's eyes uncomfortably. "While I can see how this might not be so awkward to you, I'd very much like to bathe alone."

Sena shrugs, "Alright, suit yourself. But if you use all the hot water, Luna might kick your ass."

He turns to leave, casually throwing over his shoulder, "By the way, nice~"

Carl sputters as his flush deepens into a crimson mask.

Carl sighs as he rouses from his deep sleep. He momentarily tenses as he feels muscled arms around his waist, but relaxes as he remembers where he is. He glances behind him to see Platinum sleeping off their fun from today.

He glances at the clock. Yesterday. It's been two weeks since Colonel Mutsuki got the best of him. But the results haven't exactly been... entirely unpleasant. At least so far.

For the first time since they got to this hotel, Carl is relatively alone. He can gather his thoughts and reflect on the experience of reuniting with Platinum.

Carl sighs again, settling back into Platinum's embrace, feeling them shift with a huff. Their breasts press into his back as they snore into his hair. Carl huffs himself, feeling fond of the pair holding him. The warmth he feels is nostalgic, yet hitherto unfamiliar. The last time he'd felt like this was when Miss Litchi…

Carl frowns. Miss Litchi. Of his pursuers over the past six years, she's taken the longest to shake. If Sena is telling the truth, she's given up on keeping him under lock and key until he forgets about his duty to save Ada. If that's the case…

He murmurs under his breath, "A reunion with her wouldn't hurt too much, I suppose…"

He turns to look at the stars hanging overhead through the window, illuminating the room.

He gazes at their distant forms for a while, unsure of how much time is passing. He jolts when he feels a puff of breath on the back of his neck. He twists to face Platinum, or rather, Sena.

Sena looks at him with a hopeful, if frail, smile. "We heard what you said." He snuggles into Carl, pressing his breasts into his chest, before turning his own eyes to the sky. "She's always been worrying about you. If you want, Luna and I can—"

Platinum's eyes shift and their hold intensifies as Luna turns to stare him dead in the eyes. "Luna is gonna tell her straight up that ya ain't staying. Linhua would freak."

Carl quirks a brow.

Luna scoffs, "She would. You ain't exactly got a good rep, ya know."

Carl hums, "By design. I can't have anyone thinking they can do what they want with me."

Luna smacks his ass, and he hisses through his teeth, glaring at her audacity.

She rolls her eyes. "Ya gotta stop playing up the tall, dark, and gruesome routine. Else Sena and me can't do diddly squat fer ya."

Carl scoffs, "Miss Litchi knows better than to try and keep me from helping my sister."

Luna turns away, looking uncomfortable and irate. "That's what she's always talking about."

Carl tenses, his eye widening with disbelief. "What?"

Luna glares back at him. "Ya remembers that creepy slime thing from back in the day?"

Carl blinks. Then he does his best to recall…

Carl shudders at the memory of oozing cold on his skin. "Oh. Right. That… thing."

He'd briefly encountered it in Ikaruga when it had attacked Ada. Screeching some unintelligible words. They'd barely gotten away, and he'd almost resorted to taking that drug again to heal the seithr burns on his legs.

Luna continues, bulldozing through his train of thought. "Turns out, that was someone she knew. She kept that thing alive to get him back."

Carl hums, remembering her saying something like that when they'd protected Relius. So, she thought to separate him from Ada because she thought she knew how it would end.

He scowls darkly.

Luna angrily huffs, "But it turns out he was happy in the Boundary. Researching and all that crap. Dumbass."

Then she intensifies her glare at Carl. "She thought that maybe your sister was in the same boat."

Carl grunts as he moves out of their embrace, glaring right back.

Platinum's eyes flash as Sena regains control.

Sena reaches for Carl. "But she's not going to do anything unless you don't talk to her. She's just worried about you, Carl. Please, calm down."

Carl blinks, still glaring harshly as Sena pulls him back into a hug.

Sena sighs, "What we're saying is that Litchi is willing to hear you out. Just keep your cool and let your hair down like you did with us. Well, not exactly like you did with us."

Sena chuckles.

Carl gazes at him with thoughtfully for a few minutes, then settles into a neutral stare. He cautiously returns the other man's embrace. "Alright, I'll give Miss Litchi a chance to listen. But only once."

Sena shrugs and snuggles back into place, beaming up at Carl. "That's all we're asking."

Sena closes his eyes and snuggles his face into the crook of Carl's throat.

Carl hums lyrically and closes his eye. He buries his nose into Sena's hair, breathing in his comforting scent as sleep claims them once more.

"I hope it's worth it…"