“Mr. Siegfried… You don’t know either?”
“Yeah, he hasn’t shown up for training in days.”
Emily’s expression darkened further after hearing about Siegfried.
Ken Feinstein had been absent from the academy for five days now.
He had vanished without a trace.
“W-was something wrong? Did something happen?”
“…Hmm.”
At Emily’s words, Siegfried fell into deep thought.
“I think Ken can handle most problems on his own. Surely he’s dealing with something right now.”
“But…”
Despite Siegfried’s nonchalant attitude, Emily couldn’t feel at ease.
What came to mind was the week-long loop Emily had experienced,
and wondering if Ken had gotten caught up in something equally unbelievable made her anxious.
“If you’re that worried, I’ll help you look for news as well.”
“…I’d appreciate that.”
Unable to gain any solid leads, Emily was on her way.
She asked Adrian and Alicia, but they both didn’t know anything.
Mary was running around here and there searching for him, but there was no new information at all.
He had truly disappeared suddenly.
Where could he be…
Emily’s chest tightened with anxiety.
Please, …Please just be safe.
If she were to see him in a bad shape, she’d have no strength to endure it.
Fueled by that anxiety, Emily resumed her search throughout the academy and the city.
*
When I regained consciousness, I was seated in a chair.
I couldn’t even remember when I fell asleep, and opening my eyes left me confused.
The place was familiar.
It was the top floor room of the tower where I had always been with Raphne.
The only light illuminating the room was from the moon coming through the window, and the rest were turned off.
How long did I sleep?
While questioning that, I tried to rise from my seat.
But I couldn’t stand up.
My arms were tied behind the chair.
The sound of clinking chains echoed. But it didn’t hurt because they were padded.
It felt like a considerate restraint.
“…R-Raphne?”
I quickly realized who was behind all this.
And at my call, she emerged from the shadows under the moonlight.
“Ken… Are you awake?”
“Raphne…! What the heck is going on!”
“But you were the one who did something wrong…”
Her face wasn’t smiling gently as usual, nor was it crying in panic.
It was a cold expression.
Her lifeless, hollow eyes stared at me as if trying to consume me.
“Ken is a liar…”
Then she slowly approached me.
“You promised you wouldn’t abandon me…”
“I-I would never lie! I will never abandon you! That was true back then, and it’s true now…!”
“Liar.”
With her cold word, my voice trying to explain was drowned out.
And Raphne pressed closer to me.
“Liar, liar.”
She climbed onto my lap, sitting on top of me.
I felt her soft bottom on my thighs.
“R-Raphne…”
Her smooth legs revealed between the white fabric wrapped around her gripped my waist.
As she rubbed my thighs, she leaned in closer to me.
She looped her arms around my shoulder and brought her face nearer.
The intense fragrance of Raphne and her warm body temperature was too tempting.
I couldn’t look her directly in the eyes…
“I told you, I can’t live without you anymore.”
Raphne’s expression twisted with sadness as she said that.
She didn’t shed tears, but her face was filled with betrayal and despair.
That gaze pierced my heart.
“No… No, Raphne. I will not abandon you. …I just can’t let you rely on me so much in the future…”
My words were interrupted by her touch.
Raphne’s hand caressed my chin, her thumb brushed my lips.
“Listen, Ken, I’ve thought about it.”
“Uh, …what?”
Suddenly, Raphne smiled sweetly.
Her eyes still held emptiness and darkness, but her cheeks flushed,
and unlike usual, there was a certain seductive charm in her smile.
“If I die without Ken, I’ll die… And you will be sad if I die, right?”
“Don’t say such obvious things. Don’t talk about dying.”
“Such kindness, I’m happy. Ken.”
Then Raphne tightened her embrace around my shoulder, bringing her face even closer.
As she leaned in,
her lips almost touched mine, stopping just a hair’s breadth away.
With only a piece of paper’s distance between us, Raphne spoke.
“So I won’t die, and Ken won’t be sad. I will always stay with you now.”
“W-what does that mean?”
Uhu heh.
Her laugh echoed, sending shivers down my spine.
Then Raphne fell backward,
placing her weight on my shoulder, leaning back.
Her upper body came fully into view.
I was captivated by her form glowing alluringly in the moonlight.
“This pendant. I was so happy as it felt like a gift from a lover.”
She touched the pendant with one hand.
“But for Ken and me to be together, it’s just an unnecessary item.”
And she took the pendant off her neck.
“R-Raphne…”
“Now no one can disturb us, right?”
Removing the pendant meant Raphne’s curse would activate again.
This meant that no one could enter this tower anymore.
She was serious.
She genuinely intended to trap me here by her side.
“Raphne, think carefully…! This is no good for either of us!”
“Sorry, Ken. But once you get used to it here, it won’t feel so suffocating.”
“……”
“I’ll give you everything you want.”
Raphne’s hand caressed my cheek tenderly.
Then she touched my chin again, tracing my lips with her thumb.
Feeling her soft touch made my heart race.
Her breath felt somehow faster too.
“Hey, you know, I actually knew this?”
“What about…?”
“You sometimes looked at my chest with naughty eyes.”
“T-that’s…!”
Even now, my gaze inadvertently drifted to Raphne’s smooth skin.
I couldn’t deny it, but I wished to.
After all, I was a guy. When I was with an attractive girl like Raphne, it was only natural to look.
So I had no choice but to turn my eyes away.
“It’s okay, I’m not blaming you. Mmm, I actually like it.”
“…Huh?”
“I’ll give you everything you want now. I like that too, so it’s okay.”
Then Raphne wrapped her arms around my shoulder again, bringing her upper body closer.
She pressed against me tightly.
She buried my face in her chest.
“Mmm…”
My face was buried beneath her skin.
I felt her soft, warm body heat through her skin.
If I focused, I could hear her heartbeat and the fragrant scent of Raphne surrounding me.
It was a dangerously intoxicating aroma that triggered my instinct as a male.
My mind was overwhelmed by a single thought as my body got heated.
“You wanted this all along, right? Me too…. I’ve always wanted this.”
Then Raphne gently stroked my head, which was nestled against her chest.
“Hehe, Ken is like a baby.”
No, if I stay like this…
Just barely keeping my composure, I resisted the intoxicating instincts and pulled my body away from her embrace.
“…Ah.”
“This isn’t okay, Raphne…! A girl shouldn’t be teasing like this… It’s not right!”
“…Why not?”
“Because things like this should be with someone you love…!”
“I love you, Ken.”
Her gaze sparkled as she looked at me.
With flushed cheeks and a worried expression, she didn’t seem to be lying at all.
“I really like you, Ken.”
Then Raphne leaned closer again.
“I’ve always seen you as a man.”
Me, with this body?
I never thought about it.
But Raphne’s trembling eyes were pleading that her feelings were genuine.
Her hot body temperature.
Her face rapidly approaching mine.
“Ken… Do you not like me?”
“T-that’s…”
Her face was getting closer, so much so that a gentle brush could bring our lips together.
“Do you… like me?”
And with that question…
…Mmm.
Raphne’s lips pressed against mine.
…R-Raphne.
Raphne slowly moved her lips, savoring the moment.
With each motion, her moist lips and warm breath washed over me.
Soon enough, our tongues naturally intertwined through the gap that formed between us.
“Uh huh, mmm…. Haa…”
The sound of our lips exploring each other echoed in the quiet room.
My heart started beating so hard that it felt like it was going to explode.
Raphne’s grip around me tightened even more,
and our bodies pressed against each other forcefully.
Her desire for me was conveyed through her heated lips and breath.
Lost in the intertwining tongues,
I soon became so overwhelmed with excitement that I could scarcely think.
Pffft.
“…Haa.”
Raphne’s lips parted.
A thin thread hung delicately in the moonlight between our lips.
Our breaths were heavier than usual, and her face flushed with excitement.
“Ken… Was this your first kiss?”
“…Yeah.”
“It’s my first kiss too. Hehe, we exchanged kisses.”
And Raphne pulled me close.
“Look, Ken, you’re excited too.”
As Raphne pressed her lower body closer, she teased me.
I had no control over my body’s reactions as a man, and she smiled happily.
“Ken, tell me… Do you like me?”
“……”
If I answered.
If I say I like Raphne here.
What would happen then?
…There’s no need to think deeply about it.
Choosing that option here would lead straight to the bad ending.
So I kept my mouth shut.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to say it. Someday, I’ll hear your true feelings.”
Raphne whispered in my ear while stroking my hair.
“So let’s stay together forever, alright?”
Her soft voice made me unable to respond.
I knew she wouldn’t hear anything I said right now.
*
Five days had passed since I was bound by Raphne.
During that time, she looked truly happy.
“Goodnight, Ken. Hehe.”
“…Yeah.”
When she slept, she always hugged me tightly and buried her face in my neck.
Her breaths while sleeping tickled my neck, but I didn’t mind it.
…There’s no chance to escape.
Even while sleeping, I remained restrained.
Sometimes she would loosen the bindings for my comfort, but even then, chains were secured around my ankles.
Above all, I couldn’t just escape recklessly.
Raphne’s mental state was too dangerous right now.
Even when I tried to explain everything during the survival event and left the room.
On the last day, Raphne became absolutely frantic to the point of trying to escape the tower.
If I forcibly left this place,
Raphne’s feelings would still remain unresolved.
That’s why I couldn’t even consider fleeing using skills like Calorie Burn.
For things to resolve correctly, I needed to change Raphne’s thoughts entirely.
I needed something that would ensure her I would not abandon her, without misinterpretations.
But how do I do that?
No matter how much I explained, Raphne wouldn’t listen now.
Though my statement about not abandoning her seemed to bring her joy,
she still didn’t change her thoughts about wanting to restrain me.
“Here, aah~”
“Mmm mmm.”
I accepted the food Raphne offered me.
Honestly, aside from the uncomfortable restraints, I didn’t have major complaints.
I was free to use the bathroom or wash when necessary, and anytime I needed something, she provided it all.
Of course, I didn’t ask for anything inappropriate.
If I crossed that line, I’d probably never be able to escape this place.
The only challenge was that since being restrained, Raphne had taken to sticking close to me, which was hard to endure.
But I was a man with a mental strengthening skill.
I could resist this level of temptation.
“Ken… I want to kiss.”
I can… resist this, right?!
*
“Is this the place?”
Standing before a dilapidated tower sticking out in an unexpected location,
Siegfried pondered.
Five days had passed since the disappearance of Ken Feinstein.
No matter how much he inquired, there was no one who’d seen him last.
To be precise,
the last person to witness him was Siegfried himself.
Thus, he recalled his last meeting with Ken.
That’s right! Please let Emily know I went first!
The image of him running off with a joyful smile.
He said he was going to give someone a gift, didn’t he?
The direction he took was the same as the path he always walked after training.
In other words, it was the same location where he always went for breakfast.
Because of this, Siegfried began searching every location that Ken might have gone to.
And stumbled upon this tower.
“This is truly an unpleasant sensation…”
A throbbing pain in his head and his body’s instincts urging him to escape were screaming at him.
This chilling sensation at the back of his neck told him that Ken was indeed here.
Having come to that conclusion, Siegfried ignored his body’s signals to flee and opened the door of the tower.
