Rose seemed to wake up in the middle of the night.
She awoke feeling a chill.
How long had she been asleep? She activated the watch function. 11:45 PM.
She hadn’t even slept for two hours yet. She decided to try to sleep again.
As she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, she heard a sound from behind her.
There was no one else here but her and Kanata. What was going on?
Kanata seemed to be getting up, maybe to go to the bathroom?
But the footsteps were slowly approaching her.
…！！… Come to think of it, she was alone with Kanata!
I-it’s the middle of the night… Kanata is a man, and I’m a woman… which means… N-no way!
But but! Kanata said he was known as a gentleman in his unit!
Ah! Ashes once said that a man who calls himself a gentleman is definitely not a gentleman!
They always say men are wolves… and Kanata’s nickname is Kenrou!
The footsteps were right beside her. Kanata was behind her as she lay on her side!
Her heart was pounding, she could almost hear it beating!
What should she do, what should she do!? There’s no way she could push Kanata away!
As she spun her thoughts and eyeballs around in her mind, what covered her was… a Military Coat.
Footsteps receded, followed by the sound of a Sword being sheathed, and then silence returned.
…Stupid, stupid! I’m so stupid! Why was I thinking such things! He just put a coat on me!
Ugh, was I a perverted girl…?
I’m sorry, Kanata, for suspecting you. The Military Coat is a little heavy, but it’s warm.
…Thank you. You’re kind.
After apologizing and thanking him in her heart, she decided to try to sleep again.
She woke up at 6:00 AM to her alarm app.
“Good morning, Rose. Awake?”
“Yes. Good morning, Kanata. You put a coat on me, thank you.”
She decided to pretend she just noticed now. It was okay to tell a little lie like this, right?
Rose handed the Military Coat back to Kanata.
“You looked a little cold. I can maintain my body temperature with an app.”
“There’s an app like that!”
Kanata put on the Military Coat, then raised his index finger.
“It’s a secret, okay? It seems to be a newly developed app.”
“Understood. I’ll keep it a secret ♪”
“That’s right. Yesterday, I tried wiping my arm with boiled water, and the medical app diagnosis showed no problems. Are you a high-immune 5th-generation model, Rose?”
“Yes, so it’s okay to wipe my body!”
“Ah, I’ll be outside. Call me when you’re done. I’ll take care of my toilet needs then too.”
“…Don’t peek, okay?”
“There’s no point in looking at breasts that don’t reach a B cup.”
I have them! They’re just barely a B, but I have them! But I don’t want to tell him my size!
While she ground her teeth for the first time in her life, Kanata went outside the cave.
It’s nice and carefree to take off clothes without the help of a maid. When she got back, she’d do it herself.
Even with a bonfire, it was chilly when she was completely naked. Getting a cold here could be fatal. She had to wipe herself down quickly!
She used a cloth torn from her skirt as a towel to wipe her body.
She had torn it up so much to use as a towel that her long skirt had become quite short.
She hoped the search party would arrive before it became a miniskirt.
! On top of the skirt she had taken off… there was something like a string…
“Kyaaaaaa~!”
“What is it!”
Rose clung to Kanata, who had rushed back in a panic!
“A-a snake…”
She closed her eyes and pointed to where the snake had been.
H-hurry and do something! She disliked ghosts, but she disliked snakes even more!
“…A snake, huh. Yes, that’s a snake from this forest. We can’t let our guard down. …Ah, it’s gone.”
“Gone? It’s not here anymore? Are you sure?”
“It’s already left the cave. …Um, well…”
“Well what? Is there something else!”
“Uh, um, how do I say this…”
…She was… completely naked…
“Kyaaaa! Close your eyes! You idiot! Pervert!”
“…Pervert, you say? You screamed, so I came running.”
Even so! That’s one thing, and this is another!
“…You can open your eyes now.”
“Here. That was a good punch.”
It wasn’t a punch. It was a slap.
“…You saw it, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t.”
Lies. His eyes were darting around. Like a tuna that would die of oxygen depletion if it stopped swimming!
“I’ll forgive you if you tell me the truth. You saw… all of it, didn’t you?”
“…I didn’t see all of it.”
“See! You’re looking! Where were you looking! Where!”
“If I tell you, you’ll strangle me! I saw your breasts, I’m sorry!”
“Pervert, pervert! What kind of gentleman are you!”
Kanata, the pervert, protested as Rose lightly hit his chest instead of strangling him.
“No, that was an accident! What do you want me to do!”
“You didn’t see anything else? Tell me the truth! Did you see the mole on my butt too?”
“Huh? I didn’t see a mole on your butt… ah!”
“I knew it!! You looked at my butt too!”
“Leading questions are unfair!”
“It’s your fault for falling for it! Oh, oh, I can’t believe it! Perverted Kanata!”
Wahhh, my nakedness… was seen.
After that, the gentleman (Kanata) and the lady (Rose) had a fierce negotiation for about an hour.
The conclusion they reached was to pretend it never happened. There was nothing else they could do.
“You absolutely mustn’t tell anyone, okay!”
“I won’t. I don’t want to be on the dead list of the knights who serve Rose.”
“You must also erase it from your memory, urgently and swiftly! Understood?”
“Yes. Your Majesty!”
My lord. How I wish that were true.
Why are we enemies? God is so cruel.
“Yes, there is no need for such formality. So, Kanata, what are we doing today?”
“Before Rose woke up, I calculated the food and water. Both are scarce.”
“W-what should we do?”
“Even if it’s not perfectly clean, I think there’s a somewhat better water source. Near a better water source, we might be able to procure better food. It’s a forest like the wilderness, but there are people who live in the wilderness.”
“That’s true.”
“The basic strategy is to search for a place where we can secure food and water while we still have some left.”
“…If I wasn’t here… if it was just you, Kanata, couldn’t you have escaped through this forest?”
Kanata showed Rose the compass attached to the hilt of his survival knife.
The needle of the compass was spinning like a top.
“With things like this, if we tried to run through it, we’d just get lost.”
“Then, why not use the stars in the night sky as a guide…”
“It’s too risky to move at night when the Mutant Creatures are active. If absolutely necessary, I’ll try to escape carrying Rose, but that’s a last resort. Didn’t I tell you before? I have an expert searcher among our companions. Our chances of success are higher if we wait for her to come.”
“She? So that expert searcher is a woman?”
“A woman, or rather… well, she’s definitely a trustworthy companion. Not just in terms of her abilities.”
Rose didn’t quite understand what he meant, but she knew Kanata was confident that his companion would find them.
For now, all she could do was believe.
“Let’s go look for some edible fruit or something.”
“Understood. Protect me well. I’m counting on you!”
Kanata and Rose decided to go search for food in the forest.
They explored the forest until noon, but only found a few fruits, with no significant harvest.
“Ah! I forgot the water.”
“It can’t be helped. Here.”
Kanata handed her his water bottle, and she gratefully accepted and drank it.
It felt like the water was soaking into her tired body, and she felt a little better.
“Thanks.”
After returning the water bottle to Kanata, she noticed. This was Kanata’s water bottle, wasn’t it?
Which means… a French kiss!?
“What’s wrong? You’re blushing. You haven’t caught a cold, have you?”
“N-no, it’s just…”
“If something’s wrong, tell me honestly. Hiding that you’re unwell won’t change the situation.”
“…Um. I just thought… that it was Kanata’s water bottle…”
“Is there something wrong with my water bottle…”
Kanata seemed to have realized it too. He turned away, as if he didn’t want her to see his blushing face.
He’s kind of cute.
“W-we should head back to base soon.”
“It’s not even noon yet. Are we done exploring? We’ll eat lunch and go out again?”
“No, the clouds are looking ominous, so we’ll stop exploring for today. It might rain, lucky us.”
“Lucky? Rain in this situation isn’t exactly welcome.”
“It’s a chance to get clean water. Let’s go back and prepare to collect rainwater.”
So that’s what he meant. Rainwater would probably be better than the contaminated spring water in the forest.
Rose walked close behind Kanata as they started walking back to base.
His back isn’t particularly large, but… it’s a reliable back.
Rose didn’t know if Kanata was a pervert or pure-hearted, but she knew he was reliable ♪
She often saw news about baby pandas at Ueno Zoo… weren’t there pandas in Wakayama too?
