Nice Boat

A chilling atmosphere flowed through the room.

Even Claudia, who always smiled gently, was now staring at Asha with a stiff expression.

Veronica blinked as if she had heard something unbelievable, then glared at Asha with constricted pupils.

In that icy atmosphere, Asha opened her mouth to say it was a misunderstanding, but.

Her body flinched and stiffened at the sound of laughter coming from below.

She was worried that Cecil might get hurt.

However….

She felt that keeping her mouth shut in the current situation would be even more dangerous. Putting aside why those two were getting so heated.

The moment Asha swallowed hard and opened her mouth to explain.

Cecil, who had slipped out of Asha’s embrace, stood on the floor, crossed her arms, and declared.

“Asha-nim and Cecil did ‘hole matching’, so they are in love!”

“….”

“….”

A strange silence, different from the previous one, settled over the room.

Asha felt her face growing hotter and hotter, so she pulled her hand out from under the blanket and fanned herself. It felt as if steam was rising from her crimson face.

Claudia chuckled and said to Cecil, who was standing there.

“…If that’s the case, I did it too?”

“Ah, I know. But that… wasn’t done out of love….”

“No, I did other things too. And I *am* in love?”

“W-wait a minute. W-what are you all talking about!?”

As Asha, who had been fanning herself, burst out, Veronica approached Asha.

Then she placed her hand on Asha’s pale neck.

“Y-you, you crazy bastard!”

With her face flushed crimson, she grabbed Asha’s pale collar and began shaking her back and forth.

“Ah, no, *cough*! W-what, what’s wrong, all of a sudden!?”

“What, what’s wrong?! Y-you, you incorrigible philanderer!”

A flustered Cecil didn’t know what to do, wavering between the two, while Claudia pretended to stop them but subtly egged Veronica on.

Asha’s tied light pink hair flew wildly, and her well-fastened pajamas came undone, revealing her bare skin.

Because she wasn’t wearing underwear, her soft and dainty breasts were exposed.

At that sight, everyone except Cecil paused and cleared their throats.

Only then did Asha, freed from Veronica’s seemingly calmer grip, glare intensely at the subtly encouraging Claudia, then slowly re-fastened her pajamas.

‘…M-Master, why didn’t she make me wear underwear?’

Asha, tidying her clothes while thinking ungrateful thoughts, looked around.

After being grabbed by the collar and shaken, she thought with a clearer head.

How did it come to this?

What… did I even do?

…First, it seemed she needed to sort out the situation.

Asha cautiously opened her mouth.

“Um… I have one question.”

“Yes!”

“What kind?”

“…Well.”

She already knew that Claudia felt affection for her. And from what she confirmed yesterday, Cecil seemed to feel the same way.

…But Veronica too?

“H-hold on… D-do you all… like me?”

Asha chose her words carefully.

She wondered if she was being a bit self-absorbed, but wasn’t what was happening right before her eyes exactly that?

In response to Asha’s question, Cecil smiled brightly and replied.

“Yes! Cecil likes Asha-nim!”

Claudia, who was right next to her, said calmly as if she couldn’t be outdone.

“You knew, didn’t you?”

Veronica looked back and forth between the two, then her face flushed red.

‘…If I back down here, it’s over.’

Because if she said no to that foolish, dull person now, it would be no forever.

Veronica mustered her courage and nodded her face, which had turned red like an apple, like a broken machine.

Seeing the reactions of the three, Asha’s mind became complicated.

‘…What in the world is this?’

However, without time to ponder, Cecil suddenly hugged her tightly! Then, with sparkling eyes, she looked at Asha and spoke.

“But Asha-nim, you like Cecil the most, right? Because we did hole matching!”

“…If you put it that way, I did it too, so it should be the same, right?”

Claudia sat next to Asha and wagged her tail gently. Her fluffy, good-smelling tail tickled Asha’s body.

“…I, I did it too, you know!?”

Not to be outdone, Veronica, huffing, also came closer, sat next to Asha, and grabbed her hand that was resting on the bed.

With all sorts of body scents entering her nose, Asha’s head spun.

She was confused whether she should think this was the peak of her life, or if it was because her body had changed that things had turned out this way.

‘If you think about it, isn’t it because my body changed that this happened….’

Whether to be happy about this or sad.

Asha, still trying to clear her confused mind, shook her head and wriggled her body to escape the gap between the three.

“Um… E-everyone, I-I appreciate your feelings, but….”

Three pairs of eyes gazed at Asha.

She felt like prey before predators, and her body trembled, but Asha continued to speak.

“I, I’m still… um… my b-body is like this, and….”

Her red lips trembled.

Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to her.

If she answered here, wouldn’t all their relationships shatter?

Just like how things turned out this way once her body changed.

That… she didn’t want.

“For now, um… c-can’t we just… stay as we are now…?”

In some ways, it might have seemed like a bold harem declaration, but.

Only women were in the room.

No, a former male and three women.

She felt a strange sensation.

Three pairs of blinking eyes.

It seemed to take a moment for them to understand the words that flowed from Asha’s mouth.

Claudia, who was the quickest to catch on, chuckled and pressed her body against Asha.

She took Asha’s soft hand in her firm one, then elegantly kissed it and opened her mouth.

“So, in the end, we’re all on the same starting line now. You wanted to say, ‘Who will win this young lady’s body… no, her heart…’ right?”

Asha’s emerald eyes shone with confusion, then filled with bewilderment.

T-that’s not what I meant?

“Ah, no, when did I ever say such a thing!?”

“To ‘stay as we are now’… isn’t that what you meant? I’ve been eyeing you for a long time, you know?”

“Th-that…?”

While Asha was flustered by the sudden confession, Veronica also strode over and approached the two.

“…If you count by years, I’ve been at it longer, so why don’t you give up?”

“…Huh?”

Veronica, who had dropped a bombshell, pulled Asha’s soft cheek and turned her head.

“…Well.”

Veronica thought.

She seemed to have liked Asha for even longer. Seeing Claudia’s flirty behavior, claiming she’d been eyeing Asha from before, made anger surge within her.

…Perhaps she hadn’t known back then because no one else was approaching Asha.

Now that someone was openly flirting right before her eyes, she couldn’t suppress her rage.

Veronica glanced at Claudia.

‘Let’s make Asha not even think about returning to her original body. Until then, no cutting in line for any of us.’

Looking back now, it was a ridiculous thought.

Not only was it a promise that wouldn’t be kept.

…Wouldn’t it actually be more likely for her if Asha returned to her original body?

Veronica thought so.

After all, she wasn’t doing this because she liked Asha’s changed appearance.

That would only be good for that fox-like Beastfolk.

So, wasn’t it Claudia, who was wagging her tail like a fox next to Asha, who made such a suggestion?

‘I could help her.’

There’s also plenty of money at home that Asha likes… and their interests are similar….

…Isn’t it worth a try?

It’s a win if Asha returns, and a win if she doesn’t.

As for children… she could either have them with ‘that medicine/drug’, or she could just give birth to them herself.

Veronica added more strength to the hand holding Asha’s.

So she couldn’t escape.

Following that, Cecil clung to Asha’s stomach and mumbled.

“…Then I will try my best so that Asha-nim will like Cecil the most.”

Cecil, rubbing her soft cheek against Asha’s stomach, which was stiff with tension, smiled faintly.

“Hehe… Asha-nim.”

The situation seemed to have somehow worsened.

Asha, unable to say anything, was too preoccupied trying to understand the things she had just heard.

The two of them spoke as if they had been eyeing her from way back.

It seemed the period was longer than she had thought.

‘…Since when?’

She didn’t feel… any such signs?

It was a situation incomprehensible to the brain of an alchemist who was technically not a virgin but had never once experienced romance, neither in her prematurely ended past life nor in this current life where she was diligently living.

A fluffy tail, a firmly held hand, a face rubbing against her, sweet body scents, warm body heat pressing in from all sides.

Rattle, rattle.

The window, rattling in the strong wind, somehow seemed to foreshadow what was about to happen.

At that moment, the door opened and Ariel entered.

Ariel, who had come with underwear, remembering Asha had forgotten it, saw the four people huddled together.

Judging by the atmosphere… it seemed something strange had happened.

‘…This is my karma.’

Ariel shook her head inwardly and walked, step by step.

“…Excuse me for a moment while you’re having a good time.”

Ariel, gently pulling Asha out, turned Asha’s body so her companions couldn’t see, then removed her pajamas and helped her put on underwear.

“You completely forgot.”

“…Ah, no.”

Asha grabbed Ariel, who was trying to quietly leave as if she hadn’t been there.

She grabbed Ariel’s hand and quickly fled from the room.

The three people, who had been staring blankly at the somewhat suggestive scene, finally came to their senses and left the room to chase after the two.

Anyway, there was nowhere to run.

Outside.

Rumble!

Because a storm was raging.