Figure it out

A set of trembling hands were hidden from obvious sight. It did not contain any callus or any sign of having to ever do physical demanding labor. The smooth hand belonged to that of an officer worker, Suzuki Satoru. His inner turmoil wanted to comfort the tragic beauty before him. Not knowing what he exactly wanted to do, his hands were shaking to his indecisiveness.

He sat here patiently listening to what would be the aftermath of Yggdrasil's end. He sat quietly without once interjecting her descriptive story. He did not only listen to her speak. He observed her body, it quivered and her voice trembled.

He could see in her eyes, as if he was peering into her soul, that she was reliving those moments. The further she dug into the memories, the more vivid they became. She was falling deeper into a bottomless pit of despair.

If he let her continue, he worried her mind would permanently break and he would only be talking to a vessel. It was only just 'The beginning' she had said. Surely the middle and the end couldn't be any prettier. If it ended pretty, she would not have been here before Satoru. He could feel himself inside the scene spectating the tragedy himself, it crushed him.

He didn't know exactly what he should do to ease her soul. He never studied about mental health in his little amount of schooling and the information on the health of the mind was slowly becoming a lost art. Those were the education paths of those who could ever afford it and the price of it wasn't the worst part about it. It was also deemed a useless career to pursue for those that did have money. It was natural, corporations owned the world. To all companies, maximizing profit was the absolute only thing that mattered. Setting aside money to maintain it's employees mental state was not in that plan. It was up to its employee to figure out their own personal affairs, if they could not keep up then they would easily be replaced.

Suzuki Satoru's timid nature had naturally led him to become a listener. As guild leader of Ainz Ooal Gown, he observed the conversations of everyday struggles that his guildmates would complain about. They tried to focus and enjoy the game, but it was only to be expected that they would accidently bring up real life problems into their means of escapism from reality. He took it to heart, and stored it within his mental archives. He deeply cared for his companions and always went out of his way to try and come up with a way to comfort them. His empathic nature naturally grew over the years of Yggdrasil. It was both a boon and a bane. He was able to keep Ainz Ooal Gown from disbanding, although it also greatly burdened his soul.

The beauty's unwavering smile did not match her eyes. Her eyes were wet and tears formed in the corner of her eyes. The tears did not drop. He could hear the shakiness in her voice and he bit his lips to hold back his sorrow.

- To think the NPCs we all created would come to life. They're no longer simple data. Albedo, the last NPC I saw before the end. How could I forget her face? I'm sorry. I never thought too much about the NPCs at all but if they all really came to life then… It is my duty as Guild Leader to accept whatever they become. No, I'm wrong.. I will accept them because I want to as Suzuki Satoru, who deeply treasures everything of Ainz Ooal Gown.

Strengthening his will, Suzuki Satoru suppressed his indecisiveness the best he could. He needed to be the strong one right now even if he was unsure what the future held. He reached out his hand, gently patting her head.

He wanted to hug her and comfort her like mother would to a baby but he instead settled with just this. It was too big of a leap for him who was not well versed with the opposite sex. He didn't know if it would offend her either.

"Sa..to..ru."

The tear on the edge finally took the dive off her eyelids. Her distant eyes came back. Her smile shook as if almost crumbling. Though the pitiful face was trying to force the image of someone happy, he knew she was grateful by his poor attempt to comfort her.

"Um, Albedo… It's fine. There is no need to rush things. This time I'm here. I'm sorry to have left you and everyone alone. I must've made you all extremely worried. Things might have started rough in the beginning but... Though this might not sound right, I'm happy you're here with me now. Um... I think I carelessly asked you to explain something extremely unpleasant. That was a bit insensitive of me. I'm sorry. Thank you for doing your best to share your story with me. We can save this for another day when you're ready to talk about it."

Surprised at her sudden movements, she clasped his hand with both her clothed hands. She adorably placed it near her cheek so she could feel the warmth within his hand. As if to confirm that the person in front of her was not a dream or hallucination. She wanted to speak but words would not come out. Instead she clenched her beautiful lips to stop any unbefitting noise from coming out. She nodded to his suggestion.

"Ah it's getting late and today has been a long day. How about we call it a night? Now with that said… Do you have anywhere to go to Albedo?"

She shook her head 'No'.

"Then you can stay here for however long you want to Albedo. My home will always be welcomed to all creations of Ainz Ooal Gown. Though it might not be as impressive but please make yourself at home."

She fought to sharpen her miserable face into that of extreme gratitude.

"Ah go ahead and take a steam bath. I'll go in after you finish."

- From Bukubukuchagama's long list of complaints, I know that long hair takes a while to dry but more than that… How long would it take for her wings to dry? Yeah it would definitely be better if she went in first.

He gently retracted his hand from Albedo's grip and pointed toward a room. He was extremely exhausted. Now all he needed to do was prepare for bed and let his future self worry about how to deal with the situation tomorrow.

Heeding to his words, she made her way into the steam bath. At the same time, he went into his bedroom.

- Hmm? Did I make my bed this morning? Ah, there's more important things right now than to be caught up with useless things.

The walls separating himself from his neighbors were thick to protect each other's privacy. It was thick enough that if a murder was to take place, no one could hear the screams. To keep the cost of the apartment low and enticing, they instead made the walls inside the tenants room thin. Sound traveled. All he needed to do was project his voice and it could be heard through his apartment room only.

"I forgot to tell you, but to start the bath, you just need to press the button on the left when you get inside. Ah, you could leave your clothes in the bin inside if you want. I'll get you some clothes that you can wear."

No, Suzuki Satoru did not have a fetish of keeping female clothes in his house. He browsed through his dresser. He was not confident in his ability to select an outfit that would match her peerless beauty. To comfort his mind, he instead resorted to the most comfortable clothes he had.

"I'll put the clothes within the in-between area. Like next to that same bin I was talking about. Um, if you don't like any of it then let me know and I'll grab something else for you."

"Understood. Thank you.. Satoru."

- Ah her voice is slowly coming back. I'm glad. Truly glad.

He had not spent much time with Albedo but he felt some sort of kindred spirit with her. The Suzuki Satoru of yesterday would wholeheartedly view in skepticism the words of someone from the future, if they explained to him that he would end up right here.

With both hands occupied by a set of clothes for Albedo and himself, he awkwardly opened the door and entered the tiny room leading to the steam bath. In this tiny space, the only thing that separated him from Albedo was a sliding door. It counted as one room but what was ahead of him was where the actual steam bath started. It was not transparent so he did not have to worry being labeled as a pervert.

Completing his task he headed for the comfy chair. Now all he needed to do was wait for her to finish. With the opportunity to have down time for himself, his fatigue hit him all at once. Bobbing his head, his eyelids were becoming heavy. Giving into the temptations of the body, he dozed off. How long did it take Albedo? He wouldn't know, as he lost track of time from snoozing.

Hearing a door creak open, his body had jumped up from his seat at the sudden noise. Turning to look, he felt as if his fatigue was slowly vanishing. Enraptured by Albedo's beauty, his mouth was open in amazement. She was showing less skin then her pure white outfit earlier but it in its own right, the clothes he had chosen were attractively worn by her.

Her hair lightly wet. The baggy red sweat shirt she wore and loose joggers he had chosen for her were definitely a bit big for her. He knew underneath that, she wore one of his fresh new black boxers he opened from a pack. Was she wearing a bra? He didn't know.

Even though she was about the same height as him, the larger clothes he had chosen in the name of 'Comfort', enticed his desires to dominate her. The men of Ainz Ooal Gown conversed about their fetishes. He was a part of the neutral party but knew one of them mentioned, 'It's kind of sexy how my Girlfriend wears my clothes that are oversized for her'. To be able to experience it firsthand, if he could go back in time, he would give his happy emote to that man in approval. Of course Albedo wasn't his girlfriend, but still his eyes enjoyed that of the opposite sex wearing his clothes.

"Ah- um.. I'll head into the bath now. Please go ahead and use the bed and sleep if you're tired. Oh, if you do go to sleep then I'll be on the couch. Feel free to wake me up."

"I can't possibly allow that to happen Satoru."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

"It's not right to have the owner of the bed sleep somewhere else while I merely enjoy it all to myself."

"I see your point. Then what do you perhaps suggest we do?"

He teasingly poked at Albedo's statement, expecting the conversation to end it at that.

"If you will allow it, I firmly believe the bed should be used by both of us, Satoru."

"Haah? Are you serious?"

- You may be a creation from my friend Tabula, but I'm still a man you know. You're a beautiful woman! Don't you know it's not safe to sleep with a man?

"Yes, absolutely."

"And what reasons would make you say something like this? If you could give me at least three reasons then I will think about it."

- Surely she must be returning my joke with her own. I doubt there would be a good enough reason anyways.

"If you allow me to explain then, the first one is that even if the chair is comfy… You only have one blanket. In the middle of night you would be cold."

- True, true. Wait.. How does she know I only have one blanket?

"The second reason, I've noticed that the lights in this room automatically turn on by themselves. It is the heart of this place. If I was to pass by in the middle of the night to use the restroom, it would turn itself on and disturb your sleep. I would be extremely bothered to know I was the one that disturbed your rest."

- Aah I am tired and would like to sleep peacefully. I can't remember the last time I had an uninterrupted sleep. Surprisingly, so far it does sound a bit tempting.. How terrifying Albedo. That's two good reasons. Well though.. that's about the only two good reasons there is. That's not good enough for me to cave in. Sorry. Besides, there couldn't possibly be a better reason for the third one right.

"The third and last reason.. Well…"

Her left hand's fingertips pressed against her right hand's fingertips. Her fingers toyed with each other as she embarrassingly squirmed. To hide her embarrassment, she looked away and occasionally peaked at him.

"If I can be openly selfish… then.. then I would feel at ease having you directly near my side Satoru."

- Ahh how unfair Albedo. To give a reason like that after sharing your story. Declining now would be really heartless huh.

"I see.. You won. Haah- We'll use the same bed. If at any time you feel uncomfortable then please tell me and I'll go straight to the chair okay? I'm going to take a bath now. If you fall asleep then, goodnight."

Suzuki Satoru passed her without a second to waste. She had made the unlikable happen. If she managed to bring up another suggestion, he wouldn't know if he'll be able to refute it with convincing reasons. She was that Albedo after all. The one who was made to hold the highest position of the NPCs. The regular office worker Suzuki Satoru couldn't possibly outwit an entity that was made to hold a position similar to a CEO's secretary.

With his back now towards her, her eyes sparkled and with intense enthusiasm she cocked up her arm. Releasing it in full power, her victory pose was filled with spirit. The word of a winner's silent warcry, 'Yes!' was obviously written all over her face.