CHAPTER 71: NOVEMBER 1ST

It is a new day.

With the phone alarm ringing off near the young man’s motionless arms, his eyelids shot open and he took a deep breath.

--Liohime Kitagami, the Thief-For-Hire Shinigami Soldier, had awoken in the early morning of November 1st, and he lay there in silence, processing his thoughts as the phone continued to ring.

Then, after a few seconds, his feeble hands reached out and ended the noise as he sighed, before sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

He faced the sleeping beauty next to him, and sighed once more, noticing the naked upper half of her body that had been exposed as the bed cover had been flung over to his side.

No, he did not have sex with this woman. She was just uncomfortable with wearing clothes while sleeping at this point, and Liohime’s efforts to scold her about keeping her clothes on were to no avail.

Then, he could see a small bulge emerging from underneath the light bedsheet in front of him, and he rolled his eyes.

Good grief. Seriously?

A natural reaction. Yet, at an important time like this, he could not hide his disappointment in himself and leaned forward, shaking the figure who continued to sleep next to him gently as he whispered:

"It’s time to wake up, Shihon."

"Mmm...."

As expected, she was a deep sleeper, and with the dreams that she had confessed to having, he was convinced that she would never want to wake up from them if she had the option to. Thus, he had to try a bit harder.

"Shihon, wake up, will you?"

"Mmmmm....Master, I’m.....not ready...yet...."

Ah, she’s talking in her sleep again, he concluded, and his right eyebrow raised as he hesitated to persist. Just what was she dreaming about this time, though-

"Hehehe.....Mas...ter....you....I’ll move faster now....mmmph..."

E-Eh..?

His eyebrow twitched, and after falling into silence for a few more seconds, he scolded himself for other thoughts that were trying to creep into his mind before shaking Shihon with all his might.

"SHIHON!!"

"C-COWGIRL!!!"

"Huh!?"

"Huh?"

The drowsy Magical Beast Girl stared at him after finally being awoken, and she blinked before pouting.

"Master....you killed off my best dream yet."

"Yeah, I bet."

"Wanna listen to how it went?"

Sure, why not? I’m pretty sure that I can narrate it into an R-18 scene-

"No thanks. I think I got the gist of it."

....Thanks, Liohime.

Easily slipping out of the bed, he hobbled over to the window and swished the curtains to the side, basking in the sky that remained dark despite it being morning.

This is it.

The day that marked the beginning of the Paradisus Legion had commenced.

He turned back and faced Shihon with a confident spirit and declared:

"Get ready, Shihon, because today is the day that we- YOU WENT BACK TO SLEEP!?"

Sure enough, she had gone straight back to bed, and Liohime palmed his face.

***

About two hours later, the duo had bathed, eaten, and triple checked the belongings in the suitcase. As the mission would be held in a completely new regional landmark, ensuring that the necessities were taken along was an absolute must.

"Alright, I think that should be everything. What do you say, Shihon?"

"Yeah, I think that’s it."

"Nice."

With Liohime now wearing his favorite Shinigami Soldier suit with his latex military cap and Shihon in her own hooded robe-like clothes, they both slumped onto the living room couch and breathed a sigh of relief.

And immediately, Liohime’s phone that lay beside him rang, causing him to pick it up with haste and cup it to his right ear as he crossed his legs.

"Hello? Oh, Chief.....H-Huh? You’re already outside? Oh....please just give me about one minute, I’ll be right there."

As the call ended, Shihon spoke up.

"Impressive. Your boss really did decide to pick you up at five in the morning."

"Yep. Alright, then."

With no time to rest, he held his breath and stood up, looking straight at Shihon, who stood and tilted her head slightly.

Without warning, she immediately walked up to him and placed her right hand on his left cheek softly.

"You’re really nervous right now, Master, I can tell. You don’t have to hide it."

"-hk, damn it. Yeah, I guess I am."

She kept her hand on his cheek and rubbed it slightly as she answered, "Just calm down, Master. Everything will be alright."

"....Right."

"Like you said, we’re partners, and we’ll rely on each other. Therefore, I’ll always be by your side whenever you need my help. I have faith that together, we’ll do our best."

"Yeah."

She then averted her eyes, speaking in a lower tone.

"Uh....about last night..."

"Last nigh....? O-Oh."

The Halloween Festival. And, the events that occurred during that festival.

A hue of red emerged on Shihon’s face.

"I-I should have asked if it was okay to initiate the kiss back then...I’m sorry."

"Ah, it’s fine."

"No, really, I lost a bit of control when you said that you-"

"It’s fine, really," Liohime assured her with an awkward smile. "It’s not like you took my first kiss or anything, cause-HKKKK!!!!??"

A really painful feeling came from his left cheek, and it took a split second for him to realize that it was from a pinch.

"I-I’m sorry!! I didn’t mean to...!!"

"Tch, because you said that you loved me, I’ll ignore that statement, but you’ll have to prove that love even more so now."

"Yes Ma’am!" he replied with a zealous expression while saluting, afraid to deteriorate her mood any more.

"S-So serious for no reason...anyway, let’s not keep your old geezer waiting."

"Okay. [Mental Link: Recall.]"

With those words, Liohime began the execution of his first ever recall of Shihon into his mindspace after testing it out a few days prior.

With this command, he would be able to make his own Magical Beast Girl disappear and enter his mental inventory so-to-speak, in order to summon her at any other time when in need.

As her body began to slowly disintegrate into light green sparkles, she smiled, keeping her endearing eyes fixed on him before giving her final advice.

"Do your best, Master. Good luck."

And with those words directed at him, Liohime Kitagami exhaled deeply.

"I’ll try....no...."

I will.

"...I’ll give it my all, with you by my side."