I woke up wrapped in the arms of Tsubaki. She had come to my room the day before just after showering and told Hephaestus that she was going to watch over me while I recovered. Which meant that she took me home and used me as a sleeping pillow.

She had been cautious enough not to crush my mending bones, so it had been a comfortable night, though I felt drool in my hair. I’m sure that many others would kill me to take my place.

I patted Tsubaki’s arm to wake her up, but she didn’t. Another glob of drool landed on my head. This time I pinched her. She banged her head against mine groaning.

“Ahhh, I think you gave me a TBI,” I said as she let me go.

“Hmm? Yes I would like some water please,” Tusbaki said sleepily.

“What?”

“Oh, good morning Kova,” she said, stretching.

What a beautiful sight. Maybe I should become a painter so I can draw her, no that's cringy and would take too long, I’ll just make a camera or something.

She noticed my gaze and grinned childishly.

“If you want them you can have them.”

“Huh?”
“They only get in my way, maybe I should cut them off and give them to you,” she said, holding up her breasts.

“Ew no, that’s disgusting. Also please don’t maim yourself.”

I shook the image of a bloody Tsubaki holding a plaque with two tiddies on it out of my head.
“Aww what? You’d kick me out of the “harem” if I became too lost these or became too ugly? Huh Kova?” she said, her eyes thinning slyly.

Damn I thought the Goddess hadn’t mentioned it, she had said nothing about it yesterday. Maybe it was my mother that told her, just another parent trying to ruin their kids dreams.

“No of course not, it’s not just your beauty that I love but also your childish glee whenever you see something that excites you,” I said dramatically.
Tsubaki's smile widened. 

“That might have worked on Lady Hephaestus, good effort though.”

I shrugged, a slight pain running down my broken arm.

“I’ll get you embarrassed one of these times.”

“Sure you will, you little lady killer you. Come here, let me pinch those cheeks.”

I tried to move out of the way but she chased me down and pinched my cheeks until it looked like I had a bunch of food stuffed in my mouth.

I got dressed and ready to head out.
“Where are you going?”

“To visit Rose, I’m pretty sure she's going to be pissed at me so I might as well sucker all the empathy from the wounds while I can so she’ll forgive me.”

“Wow, devious.”

“I like to think of it as thinking ahead and using my resources properly.”

“Well the Goddess said that you need to stick with people for the next week, just for some protection,” Tsubaki said, though there was a look on her face that said she didn’t think anything was going to happen.

“So you’ll be coming along?”

“No, someone else.”

“Ooh who is- please no.”

“Yup, your favorite, John.”

I was now convinced John was secretly an Evilus member that would one day betray the Familia. Why else would he constantly be popping up. I bet his real name is Varticius or something like that. Impossible to pronounce, but at least it’s memorable.

—

-Rose-

“Leave,” she said coldly.

Kova stopped his hand which had been pulling out a third ham stuffed potato puff. It was early morning and the Guild was working in full swing. She had heard about what happened down in the dungeon from another worker and now the Guild was attempting to make a patrol list for the inside of the Dungeon that Familias would be a part of.

Before it had always been attacks outside the Dungeon, but this development meant that the already dangerous Dungeon was potentially many times more deadly, especially to smaller Familias and solo adventurers.

Adventurers like Kova. Who had recklessly joined in on a fight between a Evilus party and a party of Ganesha Familia members.

Rose had let herself get soft with Kova, he had never come out with serious injuries or done something reckless. He was one of the most methodical adventures she had ever been an advisor for, and she had let herself forget that regardless of how trustworthy or reliable they were, adventures were basically walking corpses from the moment they first signed up in the Guild.

Her own father had been one, and he had left Rose’s mother with nothing. They had never been officially married, him always too busy with his Dungeon diving, and her mother busy working as a seamstress.

When he had died fighting the Goliath on the seventeenth floor, Rose and her mother had been heartbroken. Rose had always looked up to him, until after he died when the two of them were thrown to the wayside. His Familia did nothing to help them, not a single Valis, not a place of shelter for a single night, nothing.

Rose’s mother worked herself ragged to feed her and send her to the educational district so she could one day rely on herself, and like the idiot she had been Rose decided to take a job at The Guild as an advisor.

She had thought that she could change things, that she could make it to where more Adventurers came home to their families, and that they weren't left forgotten.

Then after dozens of adventurers that she had been advising died one after another she realized that she was pushing back a tide with a piece of paper. Her and every other Guild employee eventually turned cold and distant with the adventurers, their faces blurring as they cycled through one after the other.

She blamed herself for forgetting that despite him being a kid Kova was no different.

“Well I wanted to go over the sixth floor-”

“Leave, you're not going into the Dungeon today based on your outfit. Once you decide to go in you can come see me so I can inform you about the next few levels,” Rose said. “Also please stop bringing me food, it is unprofessional.

She was redrawing the line, Kova looked a bit sad for a moment, but gave her a strained smile.

“Sure, I’ll see you in a few days,” Still he placed the potato puff on the front desk before turning away to join a plain looking man that waited for him.

Rose stared at the potato puffs for a while, until noticing that someone else had walked up to the desk for some business. She swept the food off the desk and into a trash bin, a bit of pain in her heart as she did so.

She wanted to go home and sleep, the little exchange already putting her in a bad mood for the day.

-A/N-

While 80% of people think they can tell when someone is lying most people only get it right about 50% of the time.

Btw the Rose background is made up because as far as I know she doesn't have one.