Chapter 3.5: After the Bridal Course (Souma’s Day) (1)

Lately, Liscia and the others had been acting weird. Liscia, Aisha, Juna, and

Roroa... All of them had been acting a bit off.

If you were to ask me to put into words what exactly was off about it, I'd have had

a hard time answering; but for some reason they turned pink whenever we met,

turning and immediately walking off in the opposite direction as if they were

embarrassed. It wasn't like they were deliberately ignoring me, but it was a bit

depressing to have them avoid me like that.

...Did I do something to offend them? I thought about that, but nothing came to

mind.

Lately, we'd had nothing but peaceful days, and I didn't think I'd done anything

that would make them feel uneasy. I worried I might have done something

unintentionally, so I decided to broach the issue with the four of them directly. When

I did...

"I-It's not your fault, Souma. Don't worry," Liscia assured me.

"Um... You could say I am embarrassed to look you in the eye, sire, or something

like that," Aisha said.

"I'm sorry," Juna told me. "It's absolutely an issue on our side. You don't need to

worry about it at all."

"Well, let's just say it's a secret between us gals, and leave it at that, 'kay?" Roroa

added.

...Those were the responses I got. Honestly, it didn't make any sense.

Oh, right. And speaking of weird, there were other things about what they were

doing and saying that was a little off.

The first happened in the morning, when I was sitting across from Roroa on a

sofa in the governmental affairs office and we were having a budget meeting. When

we finished talking about state industries, the conversation moved on to my

personal businesses that Roroa's company would be sponsoring. It was mainly

about production on the tokusatsu program.

"So, about Overman Silvan, do you think you could raise the budget a little more?"

I asked. "We can't use the same monsters every time, and if we are going to reuse

them, we need a little more variety..."

"...Uh-huh..."

Hm? Was she just nodding along? That was when I noticed that Roroa was

staring at me, her mind clearly somewhere else.

"Roroa?"

"Huh?! Oh, yeah, I'm listenin', I'm listenin'."

...She was apparently not listening. What had her staring off into space like that?

"Is something on your mind?" I asked. "If there's anything I can do to help, I will."

"Nah, that's not it, but... Sure. Let's see if ya can play along." Roroa moved over

next to me, close enough that our shoulders were touching.

Hm... Does she want me to dote on her? I started to think.

Then Roroa looked me straight in the eye and said, "Hey... Big Brother Souma?"

"Whuh?!"

When she called me that with upturned eyes, my head shot back in surprise. WhWhat was this, out of nowhere?!

"Seriously, what's going on, Roroa?!" I cried.

I was worried she'd come down with a fever or something, so I tried putting a

hand on her forehead, but she didn't seem especially feverish or anything.

Roroa started kicking her legs and swinging her arms around in frustration.

"Aww... That's not the reaction I was expectin'. You were sayin' it made you happy

the way I treat Big Sister Cia like a sister. So, I figured, you like li'l sisters, don't ya?"

"Little sisters?" I asked, baffled. "What are you even talking about?"

And what did she mean, I'd said that? I had no recollection of saying that... Huh,

no, wait, maybe I did. What was this weird feeling?

"Hmph! I don't care anymore!" Roroa pouted and looked the other way.

I didn't really get how, but I seemed to have upset her.

Hm, what should I do... I wondered, then plopped a hand down on Roroa's head.

"You're my precious fiancée, so I don't want you turning into a little sister on me."

"...Y'sure?" Roroa still had her head turned away from me, but she peeked back

my way as she asked that.

I gave her a big nod to reassure her, then patted her on the head. "Of course. The

way you were playing 'little sister' was cute, but I'd rather have you as my wife

instead. Just having you by my side always cheers me up, after all."

When I told her straight-up how I felt about her, Roroa's face turned bright red. I

must have embarrassed her. When I saw her reaction, I felt embarrassed, too.

"So, please, stop calling me Big Brother," I said. "If you don't..."

"Wh-What if I don't?"

"It'd be like I was deliberately having my own fiancée call me 'Big Brother,'" I said

teasingly. "That'd feel kind of depraved."

Roroa burst out laughing. "Ha ha! Maybe you're right. Yeah, no more callin' you

Big Brother. I didn't get the reaction I was hopin' for, but I don't feel bad 'bout how

this went, either."

When she said that, Roroa hugged my arm. It looked like she was in a better

mood now.

Well, I did mean it when I said she was cute as a little sister, though...

When the adorable Roroa had called me Big Brother with upturned eyes, my

heart had skipped a beat, after all. But I don't want to go developing any weird

fetishes, so I was really glad she'd stopped.

The next weird thing that happened was in the afternoon. It was around two

o'clock, after I'd had a slightly late lunch.

I had been working since morning, so I was taking a short break at the kotatsu

table in my room. Aisha, who would normally have stood by the door to guard me,

came in to sit across from me at the kotatsu.

When I looked at Aisha's face... I had no words. Aisha, for some reason, was

wearing a pair of cat ears.

...What the meow was going on here?

Aisha had turned into a cat-eared dark elf, something that made absolutely no

sense to me.

While I was still unable to find the words for this bizarre turn of events, Aisha

made fists with her two hands and held them up like a beckoning cat. "M-Meow..."

She's meowing?!

She had totally just let out a meow. No, seriously, what on Earth was going on

here?

Apparently unable to bear the silence, Aisha covered her face with her hands.

"Oh... This really is embarrassing."

"You say that after doing it on your own?! What were you trying to accomplish?!"

I shouted.

"What, you ask? I wanted you to adore me, Your Majesty," Aisha said. "Like you

would a pet."

"Like a pet?! Not a person?!"

"I wanted to borrow the princess's choker to wear in place of a collar, but she

refused because it was an important gift from you, sire. Removing a slave collar

would have been hard, so..."

"You're trying to turn me into some kind of sexual deviant?!"

I'm not into making women wear collars! I exclaimed silently. ...Yeah, I don't think I

am, at least.

While I was worrying about myself, Aisha tearfully said, "Ohh... I had heard you

thought of me like a pet, so I was hoping to at least have you fawn over me like one."

"I... do think that, yes, but could you at least let me fawn over you as a human?!" I

cried.

"...How might I get you to fawn over me?"

When Aisha looked at me with those pleading eyes, my brain started firing on all

cylinders as I tried to find an answer for her. If I didn't give her a plan here, Aisha

was going to get dispirited again. I looked around and spotted the accessory case

where I kept nail clippers and other daily necessities.

I know!

"How about I clean your ears?" I asked.

"Please do," she responded instantly.

I got an ear cleaner out, and had Aisha sit next to me.

"Y'know, looking at those long ears of yours, I've always wanted to try cleaning

them at least once," I said.

"U-Um, sire? That's nice, but... when you clean someone's ears, is it not normal to

have them rest their head in your lap?" she asked hesitantly.

"The earwax can fall in towards your eardrum if you do it that way, so my

grandma always said not to. The right way to do it is from right beside the person,

like this."

"I-Is that right?" Aisha asked, then whispered, "Oh, I had my hopes up, too."

I brushed Aisha's hair back behind her pointed ears and pushed the ear cleaner

inside.

"Eek!" Aisha's body shuddered.

"It's dangerous to move, you know," I told her. "Stay put."

"Y-Yesh... Ahhh!" While I was digging around inside, Aisha suddenly started

squirming. "Ah...! Oh... Hahh..."

For some reason, she was moaning in an incredibly sweet voice. I started to feel

like I was doing something naughty to her.

"D-Don't let out weird moans," I said.

"B-But... I'm sensitive there... Ahhhhh!"

I cleaned out her opposite ear while listening to her sweet sighs, and then the ear

cleaning was finished. By the end, Aisha's face had completely melted, but she

seemed satisfied, so that was good.