"Last night, I snuck up on my parents' room wearing my mom's pants and imagined my dad doing me."
"Relatable."
What the fuck, dude?
Mai, Maki and I were going to exorcise our first curse, and unfortunately, I overheard what two dudes were talking about.
Is this common? And what the fuck do you mean by relatable?
This world is cursed in more ways than one.
"Are you there yet, Naoya?" Mai's voice cut through my internal screaming.
I exhaled in relief and turned back to them. "Yeah. Sorry. Just… heard something I didn't need to hear."
Maki squinted. "You look like you stepped on something gross."
"That's an accurate description of what I heard."
It had been a week since I gave them the artifacts. A surprisingly peaceful week.
We trained every day. Maki learned how to move with her new equipment, her body adapting frighteningly fast now that she had a way to see. Mai practiced breathing, reflexes, and trigger discipline; in simple words, she was practicing with moving targets. She was still jumpy but no longer froze at every shadow.
And somewhere along the way, without any announcement or ceremony, they started calling me by my name.
Not "Naoya-sama." but… Naoya.
I noticed it the third time it happened but didn't correct it.
"…I'm still older, you know," I said as we walked through the crowded street. "You could call me Nii-san or Aniki. Which builds character."
Maki snorted. "How about 'pervert'? I think it suits you better."
"…That came out of nowhere."
"It didn't," she shot back. "You're the one who suggested nicknames."
Mai giggled softly.
I sighed. "I regret nothing."
"We just don't want to call you Nii-san, Naoya. It feels like there will be a wall formed if we start calling you that, a wall we don't like."
I didn't understand what Mai just said. If anything, it feels like we will become close siblings.
The street was packed—vendors shouting, people brushing past, noise everywhere. It was our first real mission outside the estate, and even though it was supposed to be a low-grade curse, my attention kept splitting between the environment and them.
Then Mai suddenly grabbed my hand.
I stiffened for half a second before looking down at her.
"I might get lost," she said quietly. "If we're not close."
That… made sense. Crowds were dangerous. We were kids, after all.
"Alright," I said, nodding. "Stay close."
On instinct, I reached out with my other hand and grabbed Maki's wrist. She immediately went rigid.
I glanced at her. "…You okay?"
Her face was bright red, like a strawberry.
"Are you sick?" I asked seriously. "If you are, we can turn back. You won't fight properly if—"
"I'm fine," she snapped.
"You don't look fine."
"I said I'm fine!"
"…You're definitely not fine."
Mai looked between us with a sly smile. "Maki, your ears are red too."
"I KNOW."
I raised an eyebrow. "You sure you don't have a fever?"
She yanked her hand slightly but didn't pull away completely. "…Just walk."
I shrugged. "Suit yourself."
We moved on, the crowd thinning as we approached the abandoned building the curse had been reported in. The air started to feel damp here. Even without focusing, I could feel the subtle pressure of something that didn't belong.
Mai swallowed, and her grip tightened around her gun, which he placed on her hip as we approached.
Maki steadied her breathing. I could feel it through her wrist. She was nervous but not panicking.
Good. This is already good for the first try.
I stopped at the edge of the alley and turned to them
"Alright," I said quietly. "Rules."
Both of them looked at me.
"No rushing and definitely nothing heroic. If you do shit like that, we will go home. If anything feels wrong, we retreat. Pride gets people killed."
Maki nodded; Mai nodded faster than her. I smiled; they looked like two bunnies.
I tightened my grip just slightly. "And remember, you're not alone." For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Maki muttered, "…You're annoying." With a beetroot-red face.
"Naoya, hug me," Mai suddenly said.
She remembers her mother's class. It was probably taught to her to be a good housewife or something, and unlike Maki, she did take those classes seriously, as she thought that would be her destiny to marry off into some family or something like a servant to the next head, which is Naoya. And the irony is that now she wanted to become more than a maidservant to Naoya.
"Hug you? Why?" I asked. We are at the start of a battle, and the curse is next door. So what's with the hug?
"I am nervous. If you hug me and say it's all going to be okay, then it will help me relax a bit." As always, Mai's explanation made sense.
They are still children; of course they are nervous. In a normal case, it should be an adult that would be supervising, but nobody will bother to accompany Maki and Mai after all.
So I just hugged Mai. "As long as I am here, you don't have to worry about anything." Then I give Mai a pat on the head.
Just then, Maki tugged my shirt. "Me too. I am also nervous."
To which I also give her a hug and a pat.
"Say I am quite the big brother material, right? If you call me Nii-san, then I will give you a hug wherever you are feeling down."
Mai and Maki looked at each other and spoke at the same time.
"No."
~~~
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100 POWER STONE FOR BONUS CHAPTER
Posted some extra 30 chapter in patron, if you are interested check it out, link is the synopsis.