Cafe date

Agreeing to be trained by Lyra in our spare time, it was finally time for our cafe date. We successfully avoided anyone notable except Caspian, but he was more an annoyance than an actual threat. 

He tried to make a scene, but with a cold glare from Lyra, he was quick to shut up. 

"Honestly, its the first day and they are causing so much trouble." Lyra already looked exhausted from having to deal with all these nobles harassing me. It also raised the question of why they were so quick to point and laugh at me. 

I knew I was a peasant, but surely this kind of treatment isn't everywhere. From what I remember, someone had already spread the information that I was one, but there had to be more than just being a peasant.

However, Lyra doesn't seem to know either, which leads me to believe maybe it isn't any deeper. 

'I don't think I will ever figure it out.' I could keep questioning it every single time, but at this point I'm just running in circles, achieving nothing. 

"So, um, Saki, how do you feel about being carried?" Reaching the front gate of the academy, suddenly Lyra stopped asking me a rather odd question. 

"I don't mind, I guess." I didn't give much thought to why she was asking and answered right away. I was a girl now, so the thought of being in a bridal carry sounded quite nice. 

As my thoughts began to wonder, I began to imagine what it would be like in that position. Lyra walked up behind me and swept me off my legs. 

"Ahh what?" Suddenly, my daydreaming became a reality as Lyra put me in a bridal carry. 

"You know I am part owl right?" Sprouting from Lyra's back was a pair of wings, which I've never seen before. 

"Where the hell were you hiding those wings?" It shocked me that she had wings this entire time and why did she never use them before?

"With a little magic, we can hide them, but also to use them requires a lot of mana, so it isn't really efficient to use unless I'm carrying someone." Lyra explained the details and it explained why she probably didn't use it before, as she was most likely conserving her mana just in case anything bad happened. 

However, since nothing has really gone wrong, she now feels comfortable using her wings. 

"I-I see." Suddenly, Lyra flapped her wings, propelling us into the air. I quickly wrapped my arms around lyra's neck and tucked myself in.

"Make sure you don't look down." Lyra gave me a warning, which made me instantly want to look down, but we were moving quite fast and my body didn't dare to move just in case I got blown away somehow. 

Eventually, we slowed down enough that I had the courage to look up and to my surprise, it was an amazing view. We were so high up in the air that I could see the entire city as well as the surrounding nature. I could barely see the water off in the distance past the city, but with all the tall buildings, it was hard to tell. 

"We will be going down soon, so hang on tight." Hearing Lyra's heads up, I tightened my hold around her neck and braced myself. It was hard to tell because there seemed to be a magic barrier blocking the wind, but we were going fast. The city where we hung out last time was getting closer by the second. 

"Here we go!" We cut through the air, aiming for the ground, and it felt like we were in a plane crash. However, right as we got closer to the ground, our speed suddenly dropped as Lyra held out her wings to slow us down. 

"Have we landed yet?" I was still smothering myself into Lyra's body, waiting for her to say that we had landed. I could hear there were people around us, but I still wasn't sure if it was safe. 

"Yes, we have, but you don't have to move if you don't want to." Raising my head, we were indeed in the street. However, I also realised from the smirk on Lyra's face where my head had been the entire time. Conveniently, it was directly in line with her breasts, so for the entire flight, I had been using it as a… pillow. 

"I-I umm S-sorry." My entire face turned red and in attempt to hide it I covered them with my hands. I couldn't believe that I had done that and a part of me wanted to apologise. 

"Haha, it's okay. I never carry anyone so consider it special treatment." Lyra squeezed my shoulder as I was still in a bridal carry.

'Wait, a bridal carry… WE ARE IN PUBLIC!!!' People were walking by, seeing everything!

"Oop." Lyra noticed me shifting, so she placed me on the ground. 

As soon as my feet made contact with the ground, I found the closet wall and squatted down in shame. 

"Hey, people won't recognise you and its quite common for people to be carried in by flight, so don't sweat it." Lyra kneeled down next to me and explained that it wasn't an odd scene. If anything, what I'm doing is more odd than what just happened. 

"Urghhhhhh." I was really fighting for my life to avoid all this shame, but it felt inevitable. 

"Now let's head to the cafe, it's only a few blocks away." Lyra grabbed my hand while simultaneously pulling me up and standing up from the ground. 

I still lowered my head and tried to hide my embarrassment, but was there even a point anymore in hiding it? 

*

Eventually, we made it to an… eccentric cafe. It definitely screamed Lyra as it was themed after the gothic style. I felt like I was entering another timeline, but this time some old mediaeval castle. 

I couldn't deny it kind of reminded me of home, where there was a cafe theme for everything. 

'Now that I think about Lyra from my old world, she always loved cafe hopping everytime we were in the city.' It only helped reinforce that this was basically the same person—the one I had feelings for. 

'No, Saki, I can't make any moves. It would be wrong for me to do so.' I couldn't let my desires get in the way and it's best for Lyra that we just stay friends. Nothing good will come out if we start a relationship. 

It would be hard to resist, but for the sake of Lyra's life and for surviving, I needed to make sure we didn't cross that line. It will just draw too much attention and most likely cause Raja to target her again. 

However, I don't know if I will be able to resist if Lyra is the one to make a move on me.

'I really can't stop overthinking about this, can I?' Lyra had been on my mind for the entire day, debating whether I should try to date her or not and what the best choice would be for survival. 

I felt like I was about to go insane for the number of times I was repeating myself in my own head. 

"Saki?" 

"Ah yes, sorry." Lyra had finally gotten a table and I had accidentally spaced out in my own thoughts. 

'I need to learn how to switch off my brain and make decisions on the go.' I knew what the cycle of overthinking would lead to and if I let it continue, I will just freak out. 

*

'So far, I've gotten a pretty positive reaction. Saki definitely sees me in a romantic way since she makes such a big deal from touching me.' If I didn't know Saki from my past life, then I would of assumed she hated me, but I knew she could barely handle romance when it was someone assertive, so her behaviour checked out. 

'I could honestly ask her out right now and she will say yes, but not before going on a rant as to why I shouldn't.' It was indeed tempting, but I wanted to build a bit more of a foundation before going in for the killer move. 

I may know her inside and out, but she doesn't so some restraints were needed. 

"So anything you want to order? I'll pay for everything so don't worry." Since Saki was a peasant in this life I can assume she probably has no money, at least not with her. 

"Y-you don't have to, b-but I'll have the cappuccino with two sugars." 

'As I predicted, I wonder how she would of reacted if I had ordered it before asking.' It was a reaction I wanted to test, but at the same time, I felt like that would freak her out. 

"It's my treat, so don't worry." I placed one of my hands on Saki's to reassure her, aaaand as expected, her face turned red. 

'Gosh, she is so adorable now.'