[-]

I regain consciousness.

I take out my pocket watch and check the time.

I hardly got any sleep.

Its only been about 10 minutes since I fell unconscious.

Seras

[..]

is lying down with her back turned towards me.

She appears to be awake but

[, .?]

I feel uncomfortable.

The only thing covering my upper body is these bandages wrapped around my wounds.

Theres also that in the center of my exposed chest.

A strange lingering memory.

That area is slightly warmer than the others

One discomfort after another.

I put my hand on my mouth.

My lips.

A warm moisture.

Strangely enough, they feel wet.

I silently looked at Seras back.

Shyness

Nervousness

Surprise

Regret

Guilt

Awareness.

I could read intermingling emotions from her.

[.]

Achoo.

Raising my upper body, I touch my bangs.

I then called out.

[You still cant sleep?]

Seras calm shoulders twitched in response.

Taking a deep breath, she replied.

[My apologies.]

What was that apology for?

[Why are you apologizing?]

[I- Im sorry]

[.]

I should probably pretend that I didnt notice it.

[Should I make you sleep with my skill?]

Thats also probably better for Seras with the way she is right now.

Slightly shrinking her body smaller, Seras replied.

[Yes, please.]

[<Sleep>]

Shortly after, I began to hear the regulated sounds of her breathing.

Turning over, Seras lies down on her back.

I look at her sideways to see how shes doing.

It seems that shes completely sound asleep.

[..]

I take a deep breath.

I had a slight hunch of what happened.

After the battle against Civit, Seras kept a reasonable distance from me.

Yes Consciously so.

She was probably looking out for me.

She doesnt want those emotions to get in the way of my journey for revenge.

Even so

[Shes more daring than I thought]

Im a little surprised.

No

[But well this is how it turned huh.]

However, this happened way too sudden.

A lonely journey of escape, in which youre exhausted both physically and mentally.

And in the middle of the road, you finally met someone that you felt comfortable with.

In a situation where youre driven to the corner

And you were saved in a way like that

If our situation was reversed

If it were Seras that had saved me instead

[It wouldnt be weird for me to be infatuated with her However]

Before I fell unconscious

I had only planned to sleep after Seras herself fell asleep.

And yet I fell unconscious.

On Seras lap, I completely fell unconscious.

Completely.

[I see.]

I look towards Seras as her chest regularly move up and down.

[Even I]

Before I noticed it

[Ive also come to trust you this much huh.]

After we had some rest, we left the cave and hurried straight to our destination.

The skies were still dark after we left.

However, the sky brightened up soon as sunrise came.

The morning of this day is rather quiet in the Demon Zone.

The crisp, clean air pleasantly fill my lungs.

We didnt encounter any minor hindrances along the way.

Is it because the monsters in the vicinity had decreased after yesterdays slaughter?

Or perhaps, is it that the monsters have perceived us as dangerous beings now?

Anyway

[Touka.]

Eve stood next to me.

[Yeah.]

We checked out the map.

From hereafter, we finally entered the domain where the Witch lives.

The glowing dot showing our position and the glowing dot showing the witchs position.

The two glowing dots showing our positions were about to overlap with each other.

[Theres no turning back now, Eve.]

My lips curved up a smile.

[Well Theres no way youre going to turn back now that were already in front of our goal.]

Umu.

The pensive Blood Champion nodded her head.

[Obviously.]

And thus- We stepped into the Witch of Taboos domain.