After the weekend was finally brought to a close, Soren's daily life of classes and training continued once more.
"I'm so bored…" Soren lamented as he walked side-by-side with Amelia and Felix.
"What's wrong now, little hedgehog?"
"Classes are so boring. It feels like we're hardly progressing at all."
"Aren't you the weird one for being so far ahead while in class F?"
"..."
Soren didn't bother responding, instead turning his eyes towards Amelia.
"You understand right… never mind."
"Huh?" Amelia looked at Soren, confused, but he didn't bother explaining.
"So what've you been up to, Amelia?"
"Sleeping."
"Expected, you, Felix?"
"You already know, don't you?"
"Am I the only normal one here…?"
""...""
Neither Felix nor Amelia responded to Soren's words, instead just feeling a hint of pity that he didn't realise his own circumstances.
"So what about you, Soren?"
It was then that a voice called out behind him.
"Yoohoo~! Cutie, there you are~"
"Ah…" Soren exclaimed.
"I went to your class and I couldn't find you, don't you think you should have waited?"
"We didn't make any plans, though, did we?"
"Nope!"
""...""
Soren could feel his friend's eyes on him, but he chose to be ignorant and focused on Esper instead.
"So why were you looking for me, Essy?"
"Let's grab lunch together, Cutie!"
Soren didn't respond, instead turning towards his friends, as if looking for a response.
"Heyyy! Just say yes! I bought you such an expensive gift after all~"
"..."
This time it was Soren's turn to go silent.
"I'm fine with it," Felix said with an unbothered, yet slightly jealous expression.
Meanwhile, Amelia simply shrugged and started walking towards the cafeteria.
"Thankuu~" Esper said as she ran over, linking arms with Soren, bouncing towards Amelia.
Soren could only stay quiet under the jealous eyes of not only Felix, but also the male students nearby.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Hahhh…"
Soren could feel his soul leaving his body as he sat down at a table with his meal.
The reason for this was his current situation.
On his left sat Esper, who had been linking arms with him and calling him 'Cutie' nonstop, and on his right sat Amelia, so close that their legs were touching as her tail swayed from side to side.
"Care to explain?"
Finally, there was Felix ahead of him, still wearing a jealous expression.
Soren let out another sigh before explaining the events of Sunday to the two left in the dark.
"—So, in short, I was hungry, and went to eat breakfast. Met Essy, then we went shopping."
"This doesn't make any sense…" Felix muttered under his breath.
Amelia, while seemingly disinterested, did perk her ears up to listen to the entire story before leaning against Soren to sleep.
"Wake me up later."
"Alright, sleep well."
Throughout the entire explanation, Esper threw out her own comments, but for the most part remained quiet, making Soren curious.
"Essy?"
"Yep?"
"Why are you so quiet today?"
It felt strange after seeing her bounce up and down the walls only a couple of days ago.
"Uhm… Well, they're your friends, right? I'm already eating lunch with you, so I thought it would be better if I stayed quiet."
'This girl…'
Soren was speechless.
He had just assumed that, while kind, Esper was somewhat thoughtless, but it seemed to be the opposite.
'Maybe that's why she's so easy to talk to.'
On their way to the cafeteria, groups of students greeted Esper as she passed by, including some seniors.
"I don't think you need to worry about that, Essy. She just sleeps or fights all day, meanwhile, he…" Soren's voice trailed off as he didn't exactly want to badmouth his friend.
"I already know about Felix!"
"Then I don't need to explain."
Finally, the dam broke, and Felix spoke up.
"Hey? This isn't fair?"
His expression was that of someone who had been genuinely wronged, catching both Soren and Esper's attention.
"What's not fair, Mr Trash?"
"Seriously, how do you keep befriending all these princesses? First, it was Professor Roseblood, then Amelia, and now Esper? I'm going insane…"
"I don't get it? What did I do?"
"That attitude makes it worse because I know you didn't mean to. Aghh!" Felix ruffled his hair in frustration. "Do you know how many times I've tried talking to the princesses in the academy?"
"...Hey, Felix?"
"It's so annoying, I knew you had a good face, but this is cheating."
"Did you…?"
Soren directed his eyes towards Esper, who was avoiding his gaze and twirling her straw around in her cup.
"Oh… Felix, you're worse than I thought."
"Shut up! This isn't fair! I just wanted to score big for once!"
"Hey, Essy?"
"What's up, Cutie?"
"How exactly did the trash over there approach you?"
"Soren. Please don't."
"Uhm… well, from what I remember, it was not long after midterms. I was hanging out with some of my senior friends when I ran into Felix…"
"...Hey, Esper? Please stop."
Upon noticing Felix's crumpled expression, the corners of her lips curled up, and her hesitation vanished.
"Well, Cutie. I was at a cafe with my friends when Mr Trash over here walked over and started hitting on me, using all sorts of corny lines."
"Like?"
Soren was too interested to ask her to stop at this point; he had been enduring Felix's teasing for months now, and he needed some ammunition, as the Mother's Bakery incident had stopped bothering him already.
Esper reached out and cupped Soren's cheek with her soft hand, forcing him to look into her eyes as she wore a seductive smile.
"Are you a magician? Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears."
"Keurk!"
The sound of Felix keeling over was heard, but Soren paid it no mind, instead staring blankly at Esper.
Thump… thump…
The sound of his heart echoed in his mind as his cheeks warmed up.
"Essy… that's unfair."
"Hehe~ Sorry, but your reaction was just too cute."
"Did Felix seriously do that, though?"
Soren found it hard to believe that the guy who was hiding his face with red ears would pull off a move like that, no matter how smooth he was.
"There's more!"
"There is…?"
"Let's see… I think because we were in a cafe, he tried to make some themed pick-up lines like 'You must be made of sugar, because you just made my day a whole lot sweeter,' or 'If you were a dessert, you'd be a parfait… because you're perfect.' It was hilarious."
At this point, Felix had long since passed away, but Soren couldn't help but send a pitiful look in his direction.
"Felix… is that really how you pick up girls?"
He nodded slightly in response.
"That really works?" Soren asked, his voice filled with exasperation
Then Esper replied to Soren's words.
"Well, when you've got a good face, you can make anything work."
As Soren recalled Esper's move against him only moments prior, he couldn't help but nod.
"I guess so…"
"You should give it a try, Cutie."
"On you?"
"That's boring, I've already heard them all, try them on the sleeping beauty next to you."
"...I feel like that's dangerous."
"It'd be funny though, right?"
Then Felix spoke up.
"Do it for me?"
At those words, Soren felt an obligation to do so as he had just humiliated the poor guy.
'Although that was his own fault…'
Soren turned to Amelia, next to him, and lightly shook her; it was fine for him to do so, anyway, as lunch break was almost over.
"Nnnn…"
"Amelia," Soren whispered directly into her ear. "Time to wake up."
Jolt
Amelia's body shot up as she put her hands over her ears and looked at Soren with confusion.
"Why… Did you do that?"
"...I didn't realise you'd react so strongly."
In truth, Soren was also taken aback by her fierce reaction to his whispering into her ear, but he decided to move past that and quickly glanced at the two people next to him, taking a deep breath.
'Ugh, this is so corny.'
He couldn't help but cringe at the act he was about to do.
'Well, here goes nothing…'
He reached out his hand and placed it beneath Amelia's chin, pulling her face up so that her eyes were fixed on his own and spoke with a tender smile.
"If forever exists, I hope I get to spend it with you."
Blink… blink…
Amelia's eyes fluttered open and closed a few times while Soren was lost in thought.
'That one was kind of iffy, let me try again.'
He looked back towards Amelia and cupped her cheek, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"If I had a flower for every time you crossed my mind, I could walk through my garden forever."
Amelia's body completely froze for a few seconds; in the meantime, Soren let go and brought his hand to his mouth and bit on his thumb.
"Those weren't that good, and it's so cringy… Seriously, how do you do it, Felix?"
It was only after a few seconds had passed that Amelia finally unfroze.
Poof
Her face turned red in an instant as she covered her face with her hands and leaned against Soren's body to hide.
"Oh!"
"Wow…"
The two bystanders let out exclamations at the sight of Amelia becoming flustered, but Soren was confused.
"Eh? It worked?"
Amelia lifted her head from his body and brought it down, hitting his side a couple of times before moving back.
"I told you… I like your face…" She said so quietly that it was almost a whisper.
Only Soren, who was directly next to her, was able to hear those words.
"Oh…"
Soren quickly realised that Amelia had been brought into a situation similar to his and Esper's earlier, where someone with a face that matched their tastes suddenly pretended to hit on them.
'Of course she'd be flustered.'
"Sorry."
He awkwardly apologised.
"Esper, do you see what I mean? It's so unfair."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Cutie deserves it, unlike you."
"Ugh, screw this, I'm going to go find someone new."
"Our cutie's nickname for you really is perfect, isn't it, Mr Trash?"
"Whatever you say, if you ever want to spend some time together, let me know."
"Ugh." Esper rolled her eyes as Felix left. "Well, I guess I should go too, let's have lunch again sometime, 'kay~?"
"Feel free anytime, just come to class F at the start of lunch so you don't miss me next time."
"Sure! Bye-bye~!"
"Later."
With the two noisy people gone, only Soren and Amelia remained.
"About earlier…" Amelia spoke quietly. "That was a joke?"
Soren rubbed his neck awkwardly and explained what happened.
"Kind of? Essy was telling me about how Felix had hit on her with cringy pick-up lines, and she even tried one on me. Then they both told me I should try it on you, so I just did it."
"Can I try?"
"Huh? I mean, I don't mind, but are you sure?"
Amelia nodded in response before asking to give her a moment.
"Hoo…"
She let out a deep breath and reached out her hand, similar to what Soren had done earlier, but unlike him, she instead put her hand behind his head, pulling him closer with one hand while reaching out and brushing his hair behind his ear with the other.
She leaned in close and whispered directly into his ear, her husky voice barely audible.
"If my silence seems heavy, it is only because my heart is too full in your presence."
Badump! Badump!
Soren's head whipped back at the purposefully slow words, spoken in the voice he liked so much, and because of how close her face was, he could feel her warm breath on his ear, making every word hit harder than expected.
"That's cheating…" He muttered, covering his ear with both hands, his face flushed.
Even now, the feeling of her rough yet gentle hands was vivid in his mind.
It was only after a few seconds that he finally noticed Amelia's condition.
Unlike the furious blushing from his earlier attempt, the pink in her cheeks was a lot more subtle, but still noticeable.
Beyond that, her tail had wrapped around her body, and her ears were twitching, making it clear that she was beyond embarrassed by her actions.
In the awkward atmosphere, neither was able to speak, both blushing and avoiding eye contact, while trying to regain their earlier composure.
Although neither held romantic feelings for the other, it was hard to deny that at this moment they were overwhelmingly conscious of each other.
Only when the bell signalling the end of lunch finally rang were they able to escape their tense situation.
————「❤︎」————