Ch.140Negotiation (3)

“You’re looking at that fox, aren’t you?”

“… Huh?”

A strangely strong conviction.

Originally, Sylvia shouldn’t be able to see Pia, yet her voice, trembling like an untuned string instrument, carried an eerily firm certainty.

But I couldn’t understand why this fact made her so angry, so I slowly questioned her with an excuse, even though I suspected it wouldn’t work.

“What are you… suddenly talking about?”

“The fox, Pia was it? Your guardian spirit.”

“… P-Pia? Why?”

“What did she say to you?”

“…Huh?”

“Or did she grow up? She transformed into an attractive woman, right?”

Again, Sylvia cannot see Pia.

Yet, she made surprisingly accurate guesses.

Except for the part about becoming an attractive woman.

“No, Pia is still a little kid.”

“Is Ash into children?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then did that Pia tell you not to be close to me?”

It was an uncannily accurate judgment.

I was so shocked that I wouldn’t have been surprised if Sylvia had said, “Actually, I can read Ash’s mind.”

But I pretended not to know while breaking into a cold sweat.

If I told her the truth, I had an ominous feeling that Sylvia would somehow find a way to harm Pia, even though she couldn’t see or touch her.

“… No, what are you talking about? What’s wrong, Sylvia?”

“…”

“W-why are you suddenly bringing up Pia? I really don’t understand why you think that…”

“Because it was from that day.”

“…That day?”

“Ten days ago.”

“…”

Sylvia grabbed the blanket beneath me and said:

“That day when Ash skipped training, went home with that fox, and came back with this blanket!”

“I get it, so please calm down…”

“From that day on, Ash started avoiding me.”

Well, that was the day when the suddenly grown-up Pia asked me to stop having sex, so Sylvia’s guess was perfectly correct.

Sylvia began pressing down on both my shoulders with her palms.

“It hurts, it hurts.”

“You know what, Ash?”

“Ugh, w-what?”

“I was actually looking forward to it.”

“…Looking forward?”

“Yes. Looking forward.”

Sylvia’s voice irregularly hit off-key notes, creating a scary and eerie atmosphere.

The shadows on Sylvia’s face, shifting in the flickering campfire, and the smell of sizzling meat all felt somehow ominous.

Without realizing it, I reverted to formal speech that I had stopped using at some point.

“W-what were you looking forward to?”

“When I heard you brought a blanket from home, I thought it was incredibly stupid, but also very cute.”

“…”

“Right? A blanket? You brought a blanket for us to share. I’m not so innocent that I don’t know what that means. It sent shivers down my spine. I stomped my feet, shouted quietly ‘I must be crazy, Ash is so naughty,’ and I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to hug you because you were so cute. So that night, while shaking the dust off the blanket, I promised myself I wouldn’t let you sleep.”

Scary.

“But,”

“…”

“After thinking that and waiting for night to come,”

“Ah, it hurts… Sylvia, my shoulders hurt.”

“Ash wouldn’t embrace me.”

Sylvia pressed down on my shoulders even harder.

Even the wooden floor beneath the blanket creaked under the pressure.

“I thought it was because you were tired or surprised… but the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that.”

“T-that’s…”

“Ten days.”

“…”

“Ten days.”

Sylvia emphasized the words “ten days” with a voice full of malice.

“Ash.”

“…Yes?”

“Do you dislike me?”

I shook my head.

“Are you tired of my body now?”

I desperately shook my head.

“Right? So, there’s only one reason why Ash suddenly rejects me, isn’t there?”

“…”

“That fox, your spirit, said something to you. Right?”

I realized that Sylvia’s judgment had a more reasonable thought process than I expected, but I denied it to the end.

Because Pia had appeared behind Sylvia’s head, making a tearful face while putting her index finger to her lips and shaking her head.

She clearly meant not to say it was her doing.

I also didn’t want to act like I was betraying Pia, even if what Sylvia said was true.

“No, that’s not it…”

“Then why are you rejecting me?”

“… The training is so hard that I’m tired…”

“You used to do it even when you were tired before.”

“… I-I think I’ve been pushing myself too hard…”

“I can move instead.”

“Even if you start that way, you end up not being able to move soon, so I have to move anyway…”

“…”

I suddenly stopped speaking and quickly shut my mouth.

Sylvia’s face had turned bright red, visible even in the darkness.

I could feel her hands on my shoulders trembling.

Despite having better stamina and strength than me, Sylvia was very weak to pleasure and always collapsed quickly.

When I pointed this out, Sylvia clamped her mouth shut and began glaring at me.

I couldn’t tell if her red face was due to anger or shame, but one thing was certain:

I had touched on something I shouldn’t have.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…No, wait a moment?”

“I always surrendered before Ash.”

“Sylvia?”

“Hmph,”

In one swift motion, Sylvia pulled out the blanket from under me and threw it over her head.

The blanket completely covered my lower body and her head.

Under the blanket, Sylvia began pulling at my pants.

“Wait, what are you—!”

“Then, if I drain you completely before we properly start, there won’t be a problem, right?”

“Wait, Sylvia. Just a moment! Ah—”

As I threw my head back with a gasp, Pia shook her head and disappeared again.

*

The next day,

While I lay suffering from muscle pain, Sylvia left me behind and headed to the forest with a smooth face full of color and a smile.

I let out a faint groan as I slowly sat up.

Despite the training becoming more intense, I could feel my body changing as I recovered from muscle pain faster and faster.

As I slowly got up and sat at the entrance after opening the cabin door, Pia appeared beside me with a sullen face.

“… You did it again.”

“Come on, you know I couldn’t help it.”

“Pervert.”

“… Sylvia’s the pervert.”

“Isn’t it weird that Ash does it so much too?”

“It’s not weird.”

“Why?”

“Because I like Sylvia.”

“…Ugh, I’m more embarrassed.”

“Shut up.”

I lightly tapped my waist with my fist.

Perhaps excited after a long abstinence, Sylvia was much more intense and passionate last night than usual.

She was always hot and instinctive, but last night was more like…

It was closer to animal mating than a relationship between people.

Of course, animals probably don’t do those things with their mouths or breasts, but…

“At least we were always under the blanket.”

“The sound is more of a problem than the sight,”

“I can’t do anything about that.”

“Uuuugh”

Pia hugged herself and shuddered slightly.

Despite her words, she didn’t seem particularly upset or angry with me.

Probably because she understood it wasn’t something I could avoid by my own will.

Pia sighed and slowly opened her mouth.

“Hey… Ash.”

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you tell her about me?”

“…What are you talking about?”

Pia stared at me and said:

“If you had said your spirit told you to stop… she probably wouldn’t have accepted it, but at least she wouldn’t have taken out her frustration on you like that,”

“Taking out her frustration?”

“She kept going until you cried out in pain.”

“… Yeah, that was taking out frustration.”

“So why didn’t you say anything? It’s not like Sylvia could harm me anyway,”

“Hmm,”

Pia stared at me intently.

Though she had grown, Pia’s youthful face still looked very cute.

Seeing Pia’s drooping ears and tail, I thought she might be feeling grateful, sorry, or guilty that I didn’t use her name as an excuse until the end.

I quietly sighed and stroked Pia’s head.

Pia silently rested her head on my shoulder.

“I’m going to live with Sylvia. That means Sylvia will always be by my side.”

“Yes.”

“And Pia, you’ll be with me from now on too, right?”

“Yes, because I like Ash.”

“That’s why.”

“Huh?”

Pia flapped her ears slowly, as if she didn’t understand.

“You’re both family that I’ll be with for life, so I wanted to avoid Sylvia becoming hostile toward or disliking Pia.”

“… I see.”

“I hope someday Sylvia will be able to see Pia too.”

“Then… won’t Sylvia hit me?”

“Come on, even Sylvia wouldn’t…”

‘You’re looking at that fox, aren’t you?’

Suddenly, I remembered Sylvia’s malicious expression from last night.

“…”

“…”

“I’ll protect you as much as I can.”

“… Mm,”

Pia moved her head resting on my shoulder back and forth for a moment, then nuzzled into my chest.

Then she slowly crawled between my legs, climbed onto my thigh, and snuggled against my body.

“Pia, I’m in pain from muscle aches.”

“Ash.”

“Yes.”

“You know…”

“Yes?”

Pia slowly blushed and asked in a small voice:

“That thing you and Sylvia do…”

“…Pia?”

“That…”

“…Wait,”

Pia asked me with a seductive expression that didn’t match her age:

“Does it… feel really good?”

I answered without taking a breath:

“No.”

“…Huh?”

“No!”

“W-what! It’s not like I particularly… want to do it…”

…This is a big problem.

I think I finally understand why parents don’t have sex in front of their young children.

I’ll have to somehow persuade Sylvia.

.