Dressing in the simple brown tunic she’d borrowed from Liana, Ayuna looked at the bed in the corner. She turned to Liana standing beside her, grabbed her hand, and smiled. 

 

“Nervous?” Ayuna said.

 

Liana grasped her hand back and looked at her. “Should I be?”

 

Ayuna tilted her head, smirking mischievously. “Maybe you should.”

 

Liana smirked back, though a little strained. “Why?”

 

“Who knows~?” Ayuna turned her head away and giggled.

 

Liana giggled with her, and they both started approaching the bed. Ayuna climbed into the bed and felt the softness of the canopy. She turned to look at Liana climbing in from the other side. 

 

“How did you even make such a thing?” Ayuna asked, clearly impressed. “Where did you get the materials?”

 

Liana edged toward the headboard, pulling the blanket to cover herself. “In the forest. There are a lot of useful materials there. I can make a lot of things with them.”

 

“Wow, such an inventive mind.”

 

Liana smiled. “Maybe I was born to be a builder, or a carpenter.”

 

Ayuna smiled. “Clearly you can do more than that. A hunter, a blacksmith, a scavenger, an adventurer….”

 

Wait, an adventurer…? That’s something very common in the isekai novels she’d read in her past life.

 

Saying up to that point, Ayuna suddenly realized something. “An adventurer… is there such a profession in this world as well?”

 

Liana tilted her head. “Why you ask? That's pretty common knowledge.”

 

Ayuna shook her head. “I don’t know. I vaguely remember it, but I’m not sure if it even exists.”

 

“Well, if it doesn’t exist, then you shouldn’t have known about it in the first place, right?”

 

Ayuna’s heart started beating faster, though she tried her best to stay calm. Poker face. Lovely face. Choose one… Alright…

 

“My head is a mess, Liana.” A wry smile appeared on Ayuna’s face. “I clearly have knowledge of something, but I just can’t seem to make the connection between some of the things I know.”

 

Liana edged closer to her and placed her palm on her forehead, whispering in concern, “Maybe I should just check up on you right now.”

 

Ayuna looked into Liana's eyes and caught her hand on her forehead. “I’m fine, really. It’s not that bad. Maybe we should do it tomorrow.”

 

“You sure?” Liana grasped Ayuna’s hand.

 

Ayuna nodded. “Yep.” She then made a big show of stretching and letting out an exhausted sigh. “I’m very tired today. The warm bath just now almost had me asleep. Why don’t we just rest for now?”

 

Liana looked at Ayuna for a second before sighing. “Yeah, it’s been a long day. I don’t know what happened to you before I met you, but it sure wasn’t something good. Losing one’s memory is a sad thing, Ayuna.”

 

Ayuna looked at Liana for a moment and then edged herself closer to her, holding her arm tightly, feeling her warmth, enjoying the scent of a woman just getting out of the bath.

 

She whispered, “Maybe so. But I’m not sad right now. Actually, I’m very happy, so, so happy that I met you. Anything else can wait for later.”

 

Liana looked at Ayuna for a moment, feeling warmth spreading in her heart. After a while, a smile appeared on her face as she pulled Ayuna into a warm embrace. 

 

“Alright.”

 

[+ 10 AP]

 

———

 

The night passed by peacefully. Fortunately, or maybe, unfortunately, nothing happened between the two girls. 

 

At first, they just held hands while closing their eyes, trying their best to sleep. Though, after a while, they realized that despite how tired they were, they just couldn’t seem to get themself to sleep. 

 

They kept trying for a while until Ayuna couldn’t take it anymore and decided to edge herself closer to Liana and hold her tightly in her arms. 

 

Liana was quite surprised at first, though she didn’t reject it. Clearly, this made her feel better, very happy in fact. She hugged her back. 

 

The two’s faces were very close to each other to the point that they could feel both their breaths on their faces. This made their hearts pound so fast. 

 

Ayuna started to think that this might not be a very good idea. It would make things worse. She thought that perhaps she could just say goodbye to the thought of being able to sleep tonight.

 

Then she realized, what if the reason why she couldn’t sleep had nothing to do with the excitement of sleeping together with Liana, but maybe it had to do with her skill? 

 

Passive - Natural Magic Absorption 

Automatically absorb the mana in the air and use it to replenish the user's energy and stamina, and also use it to repair the damage done to the user’s body.

 

“Natural Magic Absorption.” This skill was clearly what kept her from being tired back in the BloodHorn forest. She doubted that even if she kept running all day, she would even break a sweat.

 

Her body would automatically absorb the mana in the air and constantly replenishing her energy and stamina. It was a wonderful skill, but what if it had its own downsides as well? Like, maybe, not being able to sleep due to not getting tired at all. That sounded wonderful at first, but she was now in an unfamiliar world. 

 

If Liana slept while she stayed up all night, what would she do? Watching her sleep all night long?

 

Ayuna pondered about it for a while.

 

Well… maybe that’s not a very bad idea… Maybe she could do what a vampire boyfriend did to her human girlfriend while she was asleep. That would be creepily romantic…

 

Thinking up to that point, Ayuna couldn’t help but smiled and giggled softly.

 

“What?” Liana’s whispery voice interrupted her giggles. She looked at Ayuna, caressing her back and whispering, “why are you laughing?”

 

Ayuna kept giggling for a while. She held Liana tighter and whispered back, “Nothing. Just thinking of something funny.”

 

“Something funny?”

 

“Yeah. I just couldn’t bring myself to sleep. So I thought maybe I could just watch you sleep all night long, Liana. That would be great, don’t you think?”

 

Liana took only a few seconds to realize what Ayuna was saying. Once she did, her face went red, and she felt the urge to pull the blanket to cover her face.

 

Seeing this, Ayuna giggled once more. She reached out her hand and gently squeezed Liana’s cheek. “If I can’t bring myself to sleep, that is.”

 

Under Ayuna’s mischievous gaze, Liana felt her heart beating faster and faster. After a while, she couldn’t take it anymore. She let out a sigh and suddenly hugged Ayuna very tightly, burying her face in her blossom. 

 

Calm down. Just calm down, she told herself, trying her best to steady her breathing.

 

Ayuna, having her face buried in the soft pair of watermelon, was in pure bliss, or… that’s what she thought at first, but Liana’s embrace was so strong; she started to feel suffocated. 

 

“L-Liana..” She tried her best to squeeze out her voice. “I-I can’t breathe…”

 

Liana snapped out of her thoughts and quickly released Ayuna before looking at her in a near panic. “I-I’m sorry… I-I..”

 

Ayuna started coughing a couple of times before she started giggling again. Seeing this, the apologetic Liana tilted her head, not knowing what to make of this.

 

Ayuna giggled for a while before she stopped and reached out her hand to pat Liana’s head. “I’m fine, Liana,” she said. “Though, I’m quite surprised at how much love you’ve shown to me through that embrace. It’s very strong to the point that it feels suffocating~” After saying that, Ayuna started giggling again. 

 

Liana was stunned for a moment but then she just sighed and shook her head. She looked at Ayuna and smiled wryly.

 

After that, the two girls didn’t say anything more. They just kept holding each other, enjoying their warmth and their scents. Ayuna closed her eyes, not because she wanted to sleep this time, but she just enjoyed the moment.

 

Though, without her noticing, after a while, she started to fall asleep…

 

———

 

The familiar darkness visited her once again. Though, this time, it didn’t feel as comfortable as before.  No, actually, it did feel the same. She still felt like if she went into the pit of darkness down below, she would feel extremely good.

 

But… this time, there was something else.

 

Looking up, on the opposite side of the darkness, she felt something even better. It was a warmth far stronger than the comfort of the darkness down below. The warmth was very, very strong as if a gentle sunshine awaited her up there.

 

Even from down here, she could feel this much warmth. What if she went closer? What if she swam upward, away from the darkness and toward the warmth? How much warmth would she feel then?

 

She wanted to know, to find out. So, she went up and up and up, shooting upward like a rocket into space. The closer she went, the better she felt. 

 

This warmth… It felt… so good…

 

“Mmm…,” Ayuna hummed and slowly opened her eyes. In her blurry vision, the first thing she saw was the face of a very beautiful woman. She was sleeping very peacefully. Her eyelashes looked even longer when she closed her eyes. Her cherry pink lips parted slightly.

 

A sleeping beauty. These words suddenly popped into her head. 

 

For a moment there, she had no idea where she was or who this sleeping beauty was. Though, after recalling her memories, she finally realized her current situation.

 

Right, she’d got transmigrated yesterday. A lot of things had happened, and she even nearly got killed. If it wasn’t for the sleeping beauty in front of her, she didn’t know what would have happened to her. Maybe, she would have been dead already.

 

Staring at the sleeping beauty right in front of her eyes, she smiled gently, reached out her hand, and caressed her cheek. Her thumb brushed against her smooth, soft skin.

 

Liana felt something. Her closed eyelids flickered for a moment before they suddenly opened.

 

Seeing Ayuna’s smiling face right in front of her with her hand caressing her cheek, Liana was surprised for a moment. Though, after a while, she started blushing faintly as a gentle smile appeared on her face. She caught Ayuna’s hand on her cheek, squeezing it gently.

 

“Morning, Ayuna,” she whispered.

 

Ayuna’s smile deepened as she whispered back, “Morning, Liana.”

 

For a few seconds, the two just kept looking at each other with gentle smiles on their faces. After a while, Liana finally broke the silence.

 

“Did you sleep well?”

 

Ayuna squeezed Liana’s hand back and brought it to her chest. She looked Liana in the eyes, still smiling, she said, “Never better.”

 

Liana smiled deeper, and the two continued looking at each other for a long while…

 

After the bath, this must be it. Another bliss…

 

———

 

Ayuna sat on the chair at the table, looking at Liana’s back. Liana was busy with something in the kitchenette. She’d told Ayuna she would make her breakfast. Ayuna didn’t have any doubt that it would taste really good. Liana was a very capable person after all. 

 

Though, she also thought that it would be funny if the food turned out to be bad.

 

Wasn’t that quite a popular trope in a lot of animes? A very beautiful and capable woman who was perfect with everything turned out to be a terrible cook. It would be funny if that really happened.

 

Thinking about it for a while, Ayuna smiled and shook her head.

 

Nah, that’s unlikely. Liana lived by herself for a long time, that’s what she said. So, she naturally had to make food for herself. Even if she turned out to be a terrible cook, at least it should be edible enough.

 

No need to worry…

 

“Breakfast’s ready~” Liana’s voice broke Ayuna out of her thoughts. She walked to the table with a tray in hands. She grabbed two bowls on the tray and placed it on the table. 

 

Ayuna took a look at them and smelled the aroma. It’s just normal soups mixed with some kind of herbs she didn’t know about.

 

Ayuna was clearly impressed. The smell really wet her appetite. With her passive skill “Natural Magic Absorption,” she doubted she would need to eat anything, but the aromatic smell was so good she felt like started digging in right away.

 

She turned to Liana and smiled. “Looks pretty good. Smells even better.”

 

Liana smiled back and moved closer to her. 

 

Ayuna noticed this and got off the chair. She looked at Liana and smiled mischievously. “Same routine?”

 

Liana knew what she meant. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks. That made Ayuna giggle softly.

 

With a rather stiff movement, Liana sat down on the chair, her heart pounding. She didn’t know why she got so excited. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this. More than that, they even bathed together already, so this normal act of intimacy shouldn’t excite her that much…

 

Thinking about it for a while, she finally concluded that it must be because of Ayuna being too cute for her to handle. She couldn’t help getting excited every time they shared intimate moments. She even doubted this excitement would ever go away even after they lived together for a very long time…

 

Liana snapped back to reality once she felt Ayuna climbing onto her laps. This familiar sensation, feeling it once again, Liana couldn’t help but blush more and more. Her heart beat even faster.

 

There was only one chair in the house. Yesterday, she thought that she should make more now that she didn’t live alone anymore. 

 

Though, now, she started to doubt that decision.

 

Maybe, it’d be better having only one chair after all . It would make things more… comfortably uncomfortable…