Ch.52Heat (2)

*

Very slightly, when I squint, I can see Ms. Sylvia’s closed eyes.

Looking back, I’ve never been this close to someone outside my family—close enough to examine their face or feel their body temperature and muscle movements so completely.

My mother, who hugged and comforted me when I fell and cried as a child,

My sister, who stroked my head before I left for the academy,

And Layla, whom I embraced with all my strength to protect her just before she died—these were the only ones.

Like for most people, my family had always been the closest to me.

So what about Ms. Sylvia now?

At this moment, she was closer to me than anyone had ever been in my life.

There wasn’t even a scrap of cloth between us, and we were so close that we were breathing each other’s sweet breath into one another’s mouths.

My head feels like it’s melting from the heat.

It felt as if I was melting into her, becoming one with Ms. Sylvia.

I can feel flashes of light flickering before my eyes.

My vision grows hazy.

As my sight dulled, my body’s sense of touch sharply explored Ms. Sylvia’s form.

Her arms and waist, firm yet soft; her chest and back, taut yet warm.

And her cheeks and lips, sweet and soft like freshly baked fragrant bread.

The sensation of her tongue, hot enough to burn, intertwining wildly with mine sent electrifying shocks from my mouth all the way to my toes.

Each time our lips part, I embrace her body even more fiercely.

I was like a child throwing a tantrum, reluctant to let go.

She doesn’t throw tantrums.

She simply grabs my cheeks like lightning each time we part and pulls me back in.

The sticky popping sounds of our tongues and saliva mixing between our lips drown out the sound of the flowing river.

She fills my blurry vision completely.

Her skin, moist with dampness, gives off a strange sweet scent.

Every inch of my skin writhes, wanting to touch her without the slightest gap.

My heart, overheated beyond control, beats rapidly.

As Ms. Sylvia’s lips parted from mine, she took a deep breath.

Between her lips, as she slowly steadied her breathing, a plaintive voice flowed out mixed with rough breaths.

It was a voice as beautiful as her appearance.

“Ha… haa, Ash…”

“Haa… hmm…”

Ms. Sylvia slowly caressed my earlobe and whispered seductively in a sharp voice.

“…You keep touching me.”

“…What?”

“Ash… you’re being naughty.”

“…Ah, ah!”

I struggled in surprise, trying to pull my waist away.

I don’t know when it happened, but my legs were so entangled with hers that I couldn’t easily pull away.

As a result, I ended up moving in a way that seemed like I was rubbing between her legs and mine.

At that moment, Ms. Sylvia arched her back greatly and trembled.

“Haah! Mmh, Ash….”

“Aaaah, no, that’s not it!”

“…You’re much bolder than I thought.”

“I’m telling you it’s not! Please let go of my legs.”

Ms. Sylvia raised one corner of her mouth.

I already knew what that expression meant.

What could I do about that mischievous playfulness that bloomed in the most troublesome moments?

“…No.”

“Sylvia…oomph?”

She grabbed my buttocks firmly and pressed them against her lower body.

Her thighs, soft yet elastic, wrapped around my lower half like they were gripping a volcano.

I was so surprised that I convulsed and let go of her back.

Because of that, I dropped my head straight into the water.

I was so flustered that I was a bit late holding my breath, and water rushed into my nose.

The stinging pain, as sharp as her playfulness, made my nose tingle.

*

“Keh-hek, kek!”

I crawled out of the water and lay face down on the sand, spitting out the water I had swallowed.

Ms. Sylvia patted my back and giggled.

“Were you that surprised?”

“…”

“Ash… are you angry?”

I silently wiped around my mouth with my arm and stood up unsteadily.

As I looked around trying to find where I had left my clothes, Ms. Sylvia’s worried expression caught my eye.

Ms. Sylvia gently grabbed my wrist and said:

“I’m sorry.”

“…Phew, I was just startled from swallowing water.”

It’s true.

There’s no way I could be angry with Ms. Sylvia.

Though the fluffy atmosphere had already completely disappeared.

“Want to touch my breasts?”

Ms. Sylvia seemed to regret the loss of the heat that had filled us until just now, so she said something strange.

I smiled slightly and shook my head.

Today is over.

It’s not like I was that aroused to begin with…

I spotted our discarded clothes scattered about ten steps away and moved toward them.

But my body wouldn’t go forward.

That was because Ms. Sylvia was still holding my wrist.

I looked at Ms. Sylvia.

She was holding my wrist tightly with her head bowed.

“Ms. Sylvia?”

“…Don’t go.”

“No, we should sleep… now.”

“I don’t want to yet. Not like this… I don’t want to.”

“What?”

Ms. Sylvia roughly pulled my wrist.

In that moment, I was dragged along by her strong arms without even being able to scream.

She caught me in her arms as I lost my balance and fell.

Ms. Sylvia hugged my head tightly against her chest and slowly fell backward.

“Wh-whoa! Ms. Sylvia?”

Naturally, I ended up lying on top of her.

Ms. Sylvia slowly released my head, then grabbed my arms again and rolled half a turn to the side.

In an instant, I was pinned beneath her.

She looked down at me silently and slowly caressed my cheek.

Having just come out of the water, our bodies were covered with clinging grains of sand.

Sand stuck irritatingly to both her hand and my cheek.

But Ms. Sylvia didn’t seem to mind.

She slowly leaned in to kiss me.

I was surprised for a moment but quickly adapted.

Without any resistance, I accepted her lips and touch.

No, rather, I embraced her more demandingly.

“Ah…”

Ms. Sylvia let out a shallow moan and slowly sucked hard on my neck and chest, creating red marks.

Then she kissed my lips again.

Like someone surfacing for air after diving underwater, she would explore my body with her lips and then come back up to kiss me repeatedly.

The wet smacking sounds echoed for a long time.

After a while, Ms. Sylvia raised her upper body slightly and ran her fingers over the red marks she had made with a satisfied expression.

I slipped my hands under her arms, embraced her back, and sucked hard on her collarbone that hung before my eyes.

I didn’t care about the sand either.

I need to correct myself.

It seems I am aroused after all.

“Aah, ah, mmm…”

Her traces were all over my lips, neck, and chest.

I too left plenty of my marks on her.

And lower,

Her snow-white breasts, like fluffy marshmallows.

I buried my face in that devilishly soft texture that makes one feel ecstatic.

That sweet surface—fluffy like lying on clouds, warm and elastically yielding—awakened an irresistible instinctive desire in me.

And that desire exploded when I discovered the small, firm protrusion standing alone amidst all that softness.

Without hesitation, I took it in my mouth.

An ecstatic scream that could never be put into words pierced through the sound of the flowing river and echoed in the night sky of the forest.

She hugged my head tightly as I tasted her breast, exhaling sweet sighs onto the crown of my head.

My mind melted away in that hot breath.

Afraid my teeth might hurt her, I nibbled gently with my lips.

I rolled it with the tip of my tongue, pressed it, tasted it, and then sucked it in with pursed lips.

Each time I did, she exhaled irregular breaths and alternated between tightening and loosening her grip on my head.

After who knows how long, Ms. Sylvia exhaled a long sigh and slowly released my head.

Her body collapsed heavily on top of mine.

It wasn’t that she let go—she seemed to have lost all strength in her body.

I slowly released her breast and pulled away.

The small protrusion in the center of her chest glistened with moisture.

Only after the saliva hanging like a thread from her chest to my lips slowly stretched and finally broke did I slowly raise my head to look at her.

Ms. Sylvia looked at me with dazed eyes and gently stroked my cheek.

Every time we moved against each other’s skin, there was a wet sound.

Among the liquids—river water, sweat, saliva, or perhaps tears flowing for unknown reasons—our rapid breaths dissolved.

Our saliva, our emotions, even this maddening pleasure bursting from our minds.

They mixed, flipped, and shook so deeply that mine and hers could no longer be distinguished.

The more tumultuous my heart became, the quieter the world grew.

Ms. Sylvia was the only human trace I could feel.

Ah,

I already knew, and yesterday’s experience made me realize even more clearly,

That in my remaining life, Ms. Sylvia is all I have left—not just for love, but as a friend, lover, family, and teacher.

I certainly knew this, but now I could vividly feel this fact in a slightly different way.

In this world under the faint moonlight from above, Ms. Sylvia is the only person I can feel.

I felt as if only the two of us existed in this world.

It seemed like only she and I were breathing in this vast night sky and universe, in that frighteningly enormous void.

Only she seemed to shine.

I’m desperate.

Even though we were already together, I wanted to be even closer.

Even though we were kissing, I wanted to keep kissing.

Even though I was looking at her, I wanted to see her even more.

Had I ever thought that I would feel such emotions for someone?

That’s what I thought as I gazed at her face as she lay on top of me, pressing her large breasts against my body in rhythm with her breathing.

Of course, I had vaguely thought that someday I might marry someone and have children.

If I had lived a normal life without any troubles, perhaps Alice and I would have had such a relationship.

But could that peaceful future version of me have loved Alice the way I love Ms. Sylvia now?

I don’t know.

It’s hard to be certain.

No, it definitely wouldn’t have been the same.

Because I’ve never felt such intense impulses and great desires before.

This is the first time my heart has beaten like this.

Although Alice was a kind and cute person, perhaps because we had been together since we were very young, or simply because we had no sexual interest in each other, I never felt this kind of excitement.

Since entering this forest, my life has been a continuous series of heart-pounding experiences, both in good and bad ways.

Just having Ms. Sylvia beside me brings anxiety and fear of not knowing what might happen, but at the same time, it’s true that with her, I feel reassured and comforted that everything will be alright no matter what happens.

And now, I was wrapped in an intense urge not to be separated from her.

Have I become addicted to excitement and elation?

Or is this emotion what so many people call love?

I don’t know.

No one has clearly explained what love is, and even if they knew, they didn’t teach me.

As if it were an adult’s duty not to speak of it, they act pretentiously proper, those annoying humans.

So I couldn’t be sure if my feelings for Ms. Sylvia were love.

Perhaps, after all the recent misfortunes that have worn down my mind, anyone who stayed by my side would have been fine.

Wouldn’t it be the same for Ms. Sylvia?

Does she love me because I am “Ash Staff”?

Or would she have inevitably fallen in love with anyone who unfortunately entered this forest and got stuck here?

Ha, this level of arrogance is a disease…

I’m not even sure if she loves me yet.

Thinking coldly, there’s no way she would love me.

She’s a hero.

Why would someone so great love me?

Of course, I know Ms. Sylvia cares for me.

Seeing how comfortable she is with our bodies touching like this, she clearly has affection for me, and I could tell she feels sexual desire for me too.

But she might have just needed someone to ease her loneliness, and I happened to be that person.

I couldn’t tell if that was love.

But what about me?

Am I, like her, simply in need of someone to comfort me?

Like a bird with broken wings that has fallen into an inescapable pit due to unavoidable misfortunes that came like a typhoon in an instant, do I have no choice but to love the red-eyed snake that already lived in this pit in order to survive?

Am I just struggling to survive?

I kept getting that feeling.

Comparing Ms. Sylvia to a snake—

That’s quite a disrespectful metaphor for someone who is a hero to me.

But right now, somehow, that’s how I felt about Ms. Sylvia as she quietly caught her breath on top of me.

For some reason. It felt like she might open her mouth wide and devour me.

Why is that?

Is this passionate emotion and hot pleasure I’m feeling really just an illusion created to forget the pain?

Am I just physically and mentally dependent on her because I’m tired of splashing around in this pain and despair?

I probably don’t think so.

I probably… do like Ms. Sylvia.

I can’t help but like her.

She’s such a beautiful and wonderful person.

…Or isn’t she?

I keep getting confused about my own feelings.

I’m not sure.

I’m not sure, but,

“Haa… Ash…”

“…Yes”

“…So… good.”

“…”

If even this enormous emotion I’m feeling now isn’t love, I feel like I’ll never know love for the rest of my life.

Honestly, I was still confused.

My head was dizzy, and my thoughts weren’t organized at all.

But even if I was wrong, it didn’t matter anymore.

If I’m to be devoured, I’d prefer to be devoured by Ms. Sylvia.

I truly thought so.

“…Ms. Sylvia…”

“…Yes,”

“I want… to do it.”

She didn’t answer.

Only those red eyes flashed sharply like a snake’s.

.