“Kent, am I not that attractive?”
“Huh?”
Catherine asked Kent with a serious expression as she looked at him. Her eyes were so clear and cloudless that Kent felt as if he might be drawn into them.
“Pffft, I know you care about me, Kent,” Catherine said.
“Y-yes. Catherine, you’re very important family.”
“Family, huh? I’ll accept that for now.”
Catherine said as if she could see right through Kent’s feelings.
“Catherine, why did you say you wanted to sleep together? We usually sleep together as family, but tonight there was a certain pressure, like we absolutely had to sleep together.”
When it came to sleeping with Catherine, Al and Hanako had been supportive. This had been bothering Kent.
“You figured it out? You’ve consumed a lot of divine power in the last few days, haven’t you? I won’t mention who you did what with, but you’re aware of it, right?”
“W-well, yes.”
At Catherine’s words, Kent’s mind flashed with the faces of the women he had been intimate with in recent days.
“That’s where I come in.”
“You come in?”
Catherine said it was her turn, but Kent still didn’t understand what she meant.
“My sleeping next to you helps restore magic power. Do you remember when I performed magic recovery on you before, though the method was different?”
“Ah, come to think of it, Pacorina took all my magic, and I couldn’t move. I think Catherine helped me then.”
Catherine’s words reminded Kent of the incident at the theater run by his classmate Elonnie’s grandmother.
“Yes, yes, that shop-attached fairy incident! You remember.”
“I remember. And you stormed the theater afterward.”
“Stormed it? Well, it’s true I took the Holy Knights with me, and it ended up like an attack, but the Holy Knights aren’t an anti-social organization. It was official duty, official duty.”
“R-right.”
Kent was overwhelmed by Catherine’s strong tone.
“A-anyway, no matter what anyone says, I’m sleeping with you tonight. Understood?”
“O-okay.”
“W-wait, Kent, why are you taking off your clothes?”
Kent, remembering when Catherine gave him a massage before, and they were both naked, started to take off his jersey. Catherine, her face bright red, looked surprised.
“Huh? Don’t we need to be naked like last time?”
“We don’t need to be naked. Just sleeping together is effective, so please keep your jersey on.”
“O-oh, I see.”
At Catherine’s words, Kent put his jersey back on.
“Ah!”
(Sh-shoot. If we had slept naked together like last time, he might have been tempted by my charm and attacked me. Stupid, stupid me.)
Catherine, embarrassed, had told Kent to keep his clothes on, but on second thought, she realized it had been a chance to become more than friends. However, she had already said it, and there was no taking it back.
“Well then, shall we sleep?”
“Y-yes!”
As Kent slipped into the bed and invited Catherine, she was snapped back to reality from her fantasies, and her voice cracked.
“Your back is so broad, Kent.”
“Really? You’re very warm, Catherine. With you here, I think I can fall asleep easily.”
“Goodnight, Kent.”
“Yeah, goodnight, Catherine.”
Kent turned his back to Catherine, and she snuggled up against his back as they both drifted off to sleep.
“Mmmph, mmmph, Marie’s chest seems smaller. Mmmph, mmmph, Ouch!”
“G-good morning, Kent. Did you sleep well?”
“Good morning, Catherine. Why did you pinch my arm to wake me up? That hurt a little.”
“Ah, sorry about that. It’s your fault, though.”
The next morning, Kent woke up with his arm pinched by Catherine. When he protested, she looked embarrassed, her face bright red.
“Still, Catherine’s sleeping-next-to-me effect is amazing. I feel so refreshed.”
“Right? Right? I am a Saintess, after all. Y-you know, just sleeping next to you makes my magic recover 1.25 times faster.”
“Hmm, that’s a pretty subtle effect.”
“It’s fine if you feel the effect, though!”
Kent had woken up feeling refreshed, but hearing the effect from Catherine left him feeling a bit underwhelmed.
“Well, I should probably start preparing breakfast. Can you sleep a little longer, Kent?”
“No, I’ll help with the preparations too.”
Catherine was about to get out of bed to prepare breakfast. Since Kent was also awake, he decided to help her.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
“Your knife skills have gotten much better, Catherine.”
“Have they?”
“Whoa, don’t point the knife toward me. Sorry for startling you.”
“Ah, sorry. My focus shifted to you, and my hands just moved. Teehee.”
As they started preparing breakfast, Catherine was cutting vegetables with a kitchen knife. Her knife skills were superb, and she chopped the vegetables with a light, rhythmic sound. Kent, impressed, called out to her, and Catherine turned to him. However, she was still holding the knife, and the tip grazed the air just in front of Kent.
“Before, you used to cut hesitantly, but now you’re reaching the level of a craftsman.”
“Lately, Mom hasn’t been waking up in the morning, so I’ve been making breakfast more often.”
Catherine tried to maintain a calm demeanor, but a pleased expression crossed her face when Kent praised her.
“By the way, Marie and Fuuko were sleeping together, right? From past experience, we should be hearing screams by now, but it’s quiet.”
“Kent, if you’re concerned, why don’t you go check on Mom and Fuuko? I’m almost done with breakfast, so I’ll continue with the preparations.”
“Understood. I’ll go take a look.”
Based on his past experiences, Kent knew that when Marie, who was a restless sleeper, shared a bed with someone, or when someone with little experience trying to wake Marie slept with her, they would often get entangled with a sleepy Marie and start screaming. However, this time, despite Marie and Fuuko sleeping together, there were no loud screams. This bothered Kent, and he mentioned it to Catherine, but she said she was busy and told him to go see them alone. Reluctantly, Kent decided to go check on Marie and Fuuko by himself.
Knock, knock.
“Marie, Fuuko, are you awake?”
“…”
“Hmm, no answer. Are they still sleeping? I’ll just… let myself in then.”
Kent knocked on the door of the room where Marie and Fuuko were sleeping, but he received no reply. It was highly likely they were still asleep, but for some reason, Kent felt a sense of unease and couldn’t shake it. He gently opened the door and entered the room where the two were sleeping.
“Waaah! Th-this is terrible!”
Upon entering the room and seeing Marie and Fuuko, Kent let out a scream of shock at their altered state.
