Chapter 92 - Ninety-Two: Good Day

Chapter 92: Chapter Ninety-Two: Good Day

I woke up with a smile on my face.

I don’t know why. I couldn’t remember dreaming about anything. But my body felt light, and the ceiling looked beautiful.

Fenra was next to me. Curled up. Close. The gap from last night was gone. She’d migrated in her sleep, or I’d migrated in mine, or we’d both migrated toward each other in the dark like two things that forgot they were supposed to keep distance.

Her face was right there. Silver-white hair across the pillow. Ears twitching in her sleep. Lips slightly parted.

I leaned over and kissed her.

Soft. Warm. Her lips tasted like sleep and bread crumbs from last night’s dinner.

Her eyes snapped open.

Her amber eyes were wide. Processing.

"N-N-N-NOEL?!?"

Her entire face went red. Not pink. Red. The inside of her ears went red. The bridge of her nose went red. Her tail shot straight out under the blanket like a pipe.

Fenra was, by all means, the cutest being in all creation.

"Good morning."

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU— YOU JUST— ON THE— MY MOUTH—"

"Yeah. Good morning."

"YOU CAN’T JUST—"

Pixia was already hovering above us, arms crossed, glowing bright with the energy of someone who’s having fun at this.

"Oh, so we’re doing THIS now? Yesterday he comes home crying like a lost puppy, today he’s kissing the wolf. What’s tomorrow? A marriage proposal? Are you gonna--Eh!?"

I reached out and scooped Pixia off the air with one hand. Held her against my chest. She was warm and tiny and her wings buzzed against my palm like an angry phone.

"I missed you so much," I said.

"LET GO OF ME. I am a FAIRY PRINCESS, I am not a STRESS TOY—"

"I missed you."

"— and you can’t just GRAB people in the morning without — wait. Did you just say you missed me?"

"Yeah."

"You saw me couple of hours ago."

"I know."

"...Seriously, what the hell happened to you?"

I smiled. Put her back on the windowsill. She sat there, legs dangling, staring at me with the expression of a mother who’s baffled at her child’s behavior.

Fenra was still frozen on the bed, both hands covering her mouth, ears flat, tail vibrating.

"...You kissed me," she whispered through her fingers.

"I did."

"On the mouth."

"That’s where kisses go."

"You’ve never... you never..."

"I know."

"...Do it again?"

"Later."

"...Promise?"

"Promise."

Her tail hit the mattress so hard the bed frame creaked.

◇◇◇

I went to the academy later that morning.

The usual gauntlet. I walked through the east corridor toward the lecture hall, and they came at me like clockwork.

"Hey, Noel! Do you want to grab dinner tonight? I found this place with private rooms and the doors actually lock—"

"No thank you."

"Good morning, Noel! Let’s go to the library after second period. I reserved the restricted section, the one with the couch—"

"I’ll pass."

"Noel! I brought you lunch! And also myself! The lunch is optional!"

"Appreciate it, but no."

"Noel~ My dormitory. Tonight. I already moved the furniture."

"Not tonight."

"I measured the alchemy lab desk again, and if you sit on the edge and I—"

"No."

"But I made a diagram—"

"Still no."

By the time I reached the lecture hall, I’d turned down eleven women. Eleven in one hallway. Some of them I’d slept with before. Some were new. All of them heard the same word they’d never heard from me.

No.

◇◇◇

The whispers started before I sat down.

"Did he just say no to Thalia?"

"He said no to EVERYONE."

"I heard he turned down the ethics committee dean. THE DEAN. At nine in the morning. She went back to her office and closed the door."

"Is he sick?"

"Maybe he has a girlfriend?"

"He has a HUNDRED girlfriends."

"Maybe he has a real one now?"

"The School Whore said no. To everyone. On the same day. What is happening."

"Maybe his dick broke."

"Dicks don’t break."

"Well SOMETHING broke."

I sat down in my seat. Third row from the back. By the door, like the transfer student taught me. Opened my notebook. Picked up my pen.

Cassius, two seats over, was staring at me. He’d been in the back row for weeks, silent, done trying. Now he was looking at me with an expression I couldn’t read.

"...What?" I said.

"You said... no," he said. Quietly. Like he wasn’t sure the words were real.

"I said no."

"To everyone."

"To everyone."

He stared at me for three more seconds. Then he turned back to his notebook.

His mouth did something. It might have been a smile. It was gone too fast to tell.

◇◇◇

By noon, the rumor had gone through every floor of the academy. By afternoon, it had reached the faculty lounge. By evening, three separate women had left notes on my desk asking if I was dying.

Jesus Christ...

I wasn’t dying.

I just didn’t want to.

At least, for today.

I couldn’t explain it. I couldn’t point to a reason. There was no calculation behind it, no spreadsheet, no cost-benefit analysis. The math still worked. The numbers hadn’t changed. The SP was still there. The title was still active. Every woman in this building was still +50% more interested in me than they should be.

And I just didn’t want to.

I walked home through the evening streets. Fenra was at the gate. She saw my face and her tail started going before I reached her.

"Good day?" she asked. Two words. Practically a speech.

"Yeah," I said. "Good day."

She pressed against my side. We walked home.

For some reason, it was a good day.

◇◇◇

I sat on the bed with Fenra next to me. Pixia was on the windowsill, legs dangling. The morning light was coming through the window at that angle where everything looks a little bit golden.

I had Fenra’s tail in my hand. I was running my fingers through the fur, base to tip, slow and even. She was pretending not to enjoy it. Her ears said otherwise. They were pointed straight up and trembling at the tips.

"Your tail is getting thicker," I said.

"It’s winter coat," she mumbled. Her face was turned away. The back of her neck was pink.

"It’s not winter."

"...Pre-winter coat."

"It’s spring."

"Pre-pre-winter coat. Stop asking."

I kept stroking. She kept not telling me to stop.

Pixia watched from the windowsill with the face of a scientist observing lab rats.

"You’ve been in a weird mood since yesterday," she said.

"Good mood."

"That’s the weird part. You don’t DO good moods. You do pragmatism with a neutral face. Sometimes you do pragmatism with a slightly less neutral face. That’s your whole range."

"Maybe I’m expanding."

"That’s what worries me."

I tugged lightly at the tip of Fenra’s tail. She made a small sound and her whole body tensed.

"D-don’t pull."

"Sorry."

"...You can keep going. Just don’t pull."

I went back to the long strokes. Her shoulders dropped. Her breathing slowed down.

"Hey Pixia."

"What."

"How long have you been with me?"

"For a while now. Why?"

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About how you’re the only person in my life who’s never asked me for anything."

Pixia opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

"That’s not true. I asked you for a window that doesn’t leak."

"I fixed the leak."

"You put a sock in it."

"The sock works."

"The sock is DISGUSTING."

"But functional~"

She glared at me. Then her glow softened. Just a little.

"You’re being sentimental," she said. "I don’t like it. It means something bad is about to happen."

"Nothing bad is about to happen."

"The last time you were nice to me unprompted, you asked me to count the sexual economics of two hundred women."

"That was different."

"Was it?"

"...Yeah. It was."

Fenra’s tail curled around my wrist. She did it unconsciously. Or maybe not. With Fenra the line between instinct and intention was always blurry.

"Fenra."

"Mm."

"You happy?"

Her ears flicked. She turned her head just enough to look at me with one amber eye. The question confused her. Not because she didn’t understand it. Because no one had ever asked.

"...You’re warm," she said. "And you’re here. And you’re touching my tail."

"Is that a yes?"

"That’s everything."

I kept stroking her tail. She kept leaning into it. The apartment was quiet except for the sound of fur under fingers and Pixia’s wings buzzing softly on the windowsill.

I didn’t want to break it.

But I had work to do.

"Alright." I gave the tail one last long stroke, base to tip. Fenra shivered. "I need you two to go buy bread."

"Bread?" Pixia raised an eyebrow.

"From Rose’s."

"You’re sending both of us? For bread?"

"I want the good bread. The braided one. Fenra knows which one."

Fenra’s ears went up. "The one with the seeds?"

"The one with the seeds."

"...Okay." She slid off the bed. Her tail was still puffed up from the stroking. She tried to flatten it with her hand and failed.

Pixia flew to Fenra’s shoulder. "This is suspicious," she announced. "For the record, I am noting that this is suspicious."

"Noted~"

"Whatever you’re about to do while we’re gone—"

"Bread. Seeds. Go."

They went.

The door closed. The apartment was empty.

I waited ten seconds to make sure Fenra’s footsteps were down the stairs.

Then I opened the system.