I had a feeling something was up.
Fitz-senpai, who'd hired me, had been acting strange.
There were other signs too.
Even granting that it was raining, the clouds had moved too fast.
It was winter — a passing shower was almost unheard of.
Someone could have been using magic.
But what would be the point of summoning rain?
Some kind of interference?
By whom?
Could it be one of the nobles where Princess Ariel had stayed?
What for?
Were they trying to assassinate Ariel?
And Fitz-senpai was in the way?
No — if that were the case, wouldn't something other than rain work better? Spears, for instance.
Did Fitz-senpai realize any of this?
She didn't seem to, yet she was oddly composed.
Maybe this level of interference was within expectations?
No, if that were so, she'd have mentioned the possibility of interference from the start.
Or was she the one trying to assassinate me?
Then she could have done it when she visited my room the other day.
What on earth was going on?
Brooding over it all, I nevertheless set about preparing a fire to dry our wet clothes.
I'd had the foresight to bring firewood.
Keeping a fire going with fire magic was possible, but having actual wood made things easier.
If monsters showed up, I'd need to relight the fire anyway.
And at night, losing the light would be a serious problem.
I set up the wood and lit it.
Once the flames had stabilized, I took off my outer gear.
The cold-weather outfit was soaked through, its outer layer frozen stiff.
Underneath, I was wearing my usual grey robe — which was also drenched.
Going by the feel of it, even my underwear was soaked.
I had a spare pair of underwear, so that was fine, but I decided to dry the outer gear and robe first.
I used wind magic and water magic in tandem to instantly dehydrate the fabric.
But going all the way would damage the material, so I stopped short of complete dryness.
I fashioned a drying rack with earth magic and hung everything up.
The clothes under the robe went the same way.
Now down to my underwear, I warmed myself by the fire.
Still cold.
I built a wall with earth magic to block the cave entrance.
Sealing it completely would risk carbon monoxide poisoning, though, so I left a gap near the ceiling.
Now, what about my underwear?
I couldn't exactly strip down in front of Fitz-senpai.
That's when I happened to glance at her.
"Nngh…"
Fitz-senpai was hugging her shoulders, shivering violently.
She'd taken off the outer gear, but still had her mantle and other layers on.
She'd catch a cold at this rate.
"You should dry —"
You should dry your clothes, shouldn't you?
I started to say it, then bit my tongue.
Fitz-senpai looked like a boy, but was a woman.
Moreover, she was hiding her identity.
She couldn't strip in front of me.
But leaving things as they was no good either.
What to do?
Hmm.
"Fitz-senpai."
"Wh-what is it?!"
Her reply came louder than expected.
Fitz-senpai, too, was clearly aware of the situation they were in.
She had to undress, but couldn't undress — that kind of standoff.
Hence the visible wariness.
This wasn't going to work.
I'd have to read the room.
"I've heard a rumor that the long-eared tribe considers it taboo to show their skin to other races.
I'll turn around and close my eyes. Please use magic to dry your clothes in the meantime."
"Wh—!?"
Fitz-senpai's startled voice.
Of course. She'd never heard of any such taboo.
If such a taboo actually existed, Elinalise was the walking embodiment of it. A living violation.
But if Fitz-senpai learned I held this mistaken belief, she'd see it as convenient.
I slowly turned my back and closed my eyes.
Then I listened carefully.
At best, I imagined Fitz-senpai stripping behind me and decided to enjoy the sound at least.
"…………"
"……"
But there was no sound whatsoever.
Even granting they were wet, taking off clothes — and drying them with silent magic — should produce some noise.
That was odd.
Maybe Fitz-senpai could change without making a sound.
Come to think of it, back in elementary school, there had been girls who changed into their swimsuits over their clothes. Remarkably dexterous.
In my elementary school days, there was no such thing as a changing room.
Both boys and girls changed right in the classroom.
Thinking back, it was a wonderful era.
After the internet became widespread, I'd found footage of those old changing methods online and thought, "Ah, so that's how they did it."
I was interested in those unusual changing techniques.
Academic interest.
Yes, this was academic.
Intellectual curiosity.
Absolutely not for pervy reasons.
If Fitz-senpai hadn't stripped, they'd freeze.
Thinking that, I peeked over my shoulder.
Fitz-senpai and I locked eyes.
Through sunglasses, yet I could somehow tell our gazes met.
I didn't look away.
Because Fitz-senpai's face was deathly pale.
"Fitz-senpai!"
She was hugging both shoulders, deathly pale, trembling.
Even from the outside, it was clear her body heat had been completely drained.
The temperature in a northern forest in winter was probably below freezing.
They'd been walking through that — body heat would be lost in no time.
I was cold too, after all.
The cave was gradually warming up, but
in soaked clothes, it was like sitting in ice water.
This was more than just catching a cold.
"At least change your clothes.
Or should I make a private room for you? No — I'll step outside the cave. That's what I'll do. That's best."
"Wait."
As I moved to leave, Fitz-senpai stopped me.
She was looking at me, shivering.
Then, shivering, she stood and walked slowly toward me.
She stared up at me.
"…………"
"……"
Shivering, staring.
As though trying to say something.
What was it?
What did Fitz-senpai want to say?
No — what did she want to do?
"You'll catch a cold…?"
"Yeah. Y-yeah, I will."
She answered in a trembling voice.
I was confused.
I couldn't read what Fitz-senpai was thinking.
"If you don't change, you'll be in danger.
When body temperature drops, people die, you know…"
"Yeah… I'll die at this rate…"
Fitz-senpai said that but showed no intention of actually undressing.
Well, I'd be in trouble if she stripped in front of me too.
I didn't know — I thought Fitz-senpai was a man.
Absolutely not a woman. That was the established understanding.
If only I hadn't closed my eyes.
"I can't take them off myself. Undress me."
……….
…….
….
What was this person saying?
"…If you can't undress yourself, I'll have to do it for you."
…What was I saying?
Oh no.
My hand was reaching toward Fitz-senpai of its own accord.
First, I touched her shoulder.
Cold.
And thin.
Undeniably a woman's shoulder.
Thin, delicate enough to snap.
And I was a man.
Man and woman.
The understanding that one shouldn't show skin carelessly applied in this world too.
"A-actually, I know that Fitz-senpai is a woman."
"Yeah. But if you don't undress me, I might die, you know?"
"O-okay."
What was going on?
I couldn't read her thoughts.
What was Fitz-senpai scheming?
Was this a honey trap?
If I undressed her, would some terrifying person appear from nowhere and calmly inform me that I'd learned a classified secret of the Asura Kingdom, then drag me off to a laboratory for dissection or something?
Never mind that I was currently in the process of undressing Fitz-senpai myself.
My hand moved on its own and removed her outer garment.
Peeling off the thick, front-opening jacket revealed a drenched white shirt.
A white shirt.
White fabric, even when somewhat thick, was translucent.
Fitz-senpai's undergarments came into my field of vision.
What wrapped her chest was not a bra.
It was the kind that covered not just the shoulders but everything from the chest down to the navel.
What was it called again — I couldn't remember the name.
Surprisingly mature.
The meager yet pure cargo it contained was not quite so mature.
But seeing it like this, clinging wet against her skin, it was undeniably there.
The two chest cushions that every man yearns for.
"Fitz-senpai…"
"What is it, Rudy?"
Rudy — she called me by that old, familiar nickname.
Something stirred inside me.
This situation — I'd tasted it somewhere before. Somewhere, somehow.
"I-I'm going to take it off."
"Mm."
Fitz-senpai's face was beet red.
Red all the way to her ears.
Hadn't I seen these reddening ears somewhere before, too?
I removed the white shirt, and pale skin was revealed.
Thin, delicate shoulders.
Neck so slender it looked like it might break, with neither muscle nor fat to pad it.
Seeing it this close, touching it with my hands.
Even my recently disappointing member stood at attention like a ceremonial sword raised skyward at a knight's investiture.
There was something about Fitz-senpai.
Something that stirred me into a frenzy.
I couldn't pinpoint it.
But there was a rush of excitement that made me want to pin her down right now.
"Haa… haa…"
Propelled by that excitement, I reached for Fitz-senpai's belt.
Clattering, I loosened the belt and grabbed the hem of her trousers.
Then I suddenly remembered something.
Come to think of it, something like this had happened once before.
I'd been five or six, maybe.
Something like this had happened.
From beneath the lowered trousers, pure white underwear appeared.
Unlike that time, the underwear hadn't come down along with the pants.
But water-soaked undergarments, naturally, let the fabric beneath show through.
Could it be… a barren wasteland down there?
"…Gulp."
Fitz-senpai silently pulled her legs free from the trousers and sat down before me.
In what was commonly known as the "girl sitting" position — legs folded to one side.
I sat cross-legged directly in front of her.
The cave floor was rough and uneven, digging into my shins.
"Rudy."
I could tell Fitz-senpai's gaze was directed slightly downward.
At the tent I'd just set up.
As expected, Fitz-senpai's body was making an invaluable contribution to my tent-pitching efforts.
"One more thing left."
One more thing.
I knew it wasn't the underwear.
By now, I understood.
I reached for the sunglasses.
"……"
I removed them.
And there, as I'd half-expected,
was a face I recognized.
A face I'd once thought would grow into that of a handsome young man.
A beautiful face I'd figured I'd benefit from being around.
And that face was far more lovely than I'd ever imagined.
Still youthful, but lovely beyond any other word.
Sharp eyes, a high nose, thin lips.
The power of long-eared genes?
She resembled Elinalise, but with that approachable quality unique to half-bloods and quarter-bloods.
"Um, Fitz-senpai."
"What, Rudy?"
The way she tilted her head with a flushed face — it was exactly the same as before.
How had I failed to notice until now?
Hair. Right.
Her hair color was different.
It should have been green.
Now it was pure white.
Well, hair color could be changed easily enough.
Bleaching wasn't particularly difficult.
"Could it be that Fitz-senpai's real name is Sylphiette?"
"…………Yeah."
Fitz-senpai — no, Sylphie — blushed, smiled, and nodded.
"Yeah… yeah…"
That smile, before my eyes, crumbled into tears.
Before it became a full-on crying face, she threw her arms around me.
"I could finally say it…"
Sylphie murmured, and her skin was cold.
---
Some time had passed.
I couldn't hide my bewilderment, but at the same time, I felt as though everything had clicked into place.
"Ngh… snff…"
Sylphie was sniffling and crying, still clinging to me.
Just like before.
She was still a crybaby.
And still soft.
Thin, looking like she had no fat whatsoever, yet when you held her, she was soft.
Maybe she used fabric softener.
"I-I've been waiting, all this time. In Buena Village, I've been trying so hard, all this time."
I'd heard from Paul about how hard Sylphie had worked after I became her tutor.
I silently stroked her hair.
Sylphie hugged me even tighter.
Then she raised her head.
Her face was a mess of tears and snot.
Looking at it, I had no idea what to say.
"……"
But Sylphie was different.
She looked into my eyes and spoke.
"For a long time, always, I've liked you…"
I was aware that my jaw had dropped.
"I liked Rudy. I like you even more now.
Please don't leave me. I want to be with you forever."
My mind went blank.
I was stunned that Sylphie had said she liked me.
Sylphie had always been glued to me since we were kids.
You could say I'd deliberately cultivated that.
But now it was different.
At least for the past year.
I'd known Fitz-senpai as someone worthy of respect.
Someone who stood on her own, without depending on anyone else.
Or perhaps the dependency I'd planted in her still lingered.
But at the very least, I'd relied on Fitz-senpai.
I'd relied on someone knowledgeable who thought of things on my behalf.
And the "Silent Fitz" was a person whom Princess Ariel trusted deeply.
And now.
That person had confessed to me.
My chest went hot.
I was at the peak of confusion — I still hadn't fully processed that Sylphie and Fitz-senpai were one and the same.
But I was filled with a joy so intense I wanted to dance.
In that instant, I suddenly thought of Eris.
Come to think of it, had I ever told her I liked her?
I'd said let's become a family.
But that had been her suggestion.
Had I ever said anything to her, from my side?
How did I feel about Fitz-senpai — no, about Sylphie?
I needed to think about that more.
But if I didn't say something now.
She might disappear again.
"I like you too."
I said.
I took Sylphie by the shoulders and gently pushed her back.
She resisted, but it was feeble.
Her face was a disaster of tears and snot.
I softly stroked her head and leaned in.
"Mmm…"
Sylphie's lips were soft.
A little snot-involved, but that didn't matter.
When the kiss ended, Sylphie had stopped crying.
She gazed at me with flushed cheeks and a dazed expression.
"……"
I was at a loss for words.
Words weren't needed anymore.
If love had been confirmed and put into words.
Next came the act.
After love came
sex.
I knew it was crass of me, but two years' worth of suppressed urges were on the verge of explosion.
Sylphie didn't resist.
She lay down on her back beneath the blanket I'd prepared, docile as could be.
Maybe from the start, that had been her intention all along.
This commission — going to a place where no one was around to reveal her true identity.
No — enough with the cynical thoughts.
Right now, above all, I had to make sure I didn't repeat my past failures.
"…Sylphie, this is your first time, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Yes. My first time… Is that bad?"
"No, it's not bad."
It was ideal, actually.
But.
But if I failed here, it could end up like last time.
I never wanted another Eris situation.
This time, I could not fail.
I absolutely could not fail.
I reached for Sylphie, cautiously, carefully.
"…………"
"…Um, Rudy?"
Before I knew it, the tent had collapsed.
---
About an hour had passed.
The rain had stopped.
Perhaps from holding each other so long, our bodies were warm.
Our clothes were nearly dry, but I was on the verge of tears.
I was devastated by my own uselessness at the critical moment.
This kind of shock never got easier, no matter when or how often you experienced it.
This time was especially rough — it wasn't some prostitute I'd bought or a passing adventurer.
Sylphie seemed shaken too.
Though apparently less so than me.
She was laughing it off with a wry smile, putting herself down.
"It's not your fault, Rudy. I mean, look — small chest, not much appeal…"
"No, Sylphie, you're very attractive.
I'm sorry. I've been like this for three years."
"R-Rudy…"
I told her about myself.
Everything.
That I'd had my first experience three years ago, and since then, had been unable to perform.
That I'd come to the Magic University to find a cure.
And that I'd failed to find one, and today had arrived.
"I made a fool of myself in front of you, Sylphie. I'm sorry."
I prostrated myself.
There was nothing wrong with Sylphie's body.
If anything, she drove me wild.
Her chest was small, sure, but her limbs were slender, her waist was thin.
The proportions were perfectly balanced.
A body plucked straight from the image of a young girl — dead center in my strike zone.
Besides, over these three years, Sylphie was the only one who'd managed to get me up.
I couldn't possibly have complaints about her.
The problem was simply my own timidity.
"R-Rudy, don't say that. It's not embarrassing, so come back here."
Sylphie's voice was full of pity.
I felt equally pathetic.
"I want to come back more than anything, but this is the one thing I can't control…"
"Not that — your speech. Drop the formal language."
Sylphie let another tear slip.
I hurried to wipe it away.
"Sorry. I got a little flustered."
I was drowning in guilt.
Lately I'd been speaking almost entirely in keigo.
Maybe that's why it slipped out naturally.
"…But you've been using formal language this whole time, so isn't it fine?"
"It's fine, but… Rudy's keigo makes me feel like there's distance between us."
Is that so?
First I'd heard of it.
Maybe Eris and Ruijerd had felt the same way.
And Zanoba, too — come to think of it, I didn't really use formal language with him.
"From now on, formal language is banned."
"Okay."
"There it is again."
"That much should be fine, right?"
"Haha… yeah, I guess."
That exchange lightened the mood a bit.
But it had been a while since I'd dropped the formal talk.
Come to think of it, since arriving in this world, I'd always spoken in keigo.
After that, neither of us took the lead in conversation. We just sat together, side by side.
Listening to the crackling of the campfire.
Both of us in our underwear.
If I tilted my head just slightly, I could look down at Sylphie's collarbone.
Her slightly loose undergarments, viewed from above, offered fleeting glimpses of something cherry-pink and lovely.
In that position.
In that setting, I suddenly opened my mouth.
There was something I needed to ask.
"Come to think of it, Sylphie — why did you cross-dress… no, what happened after the teleportation incident?"
Why she was serving as Princess Ariel's bodyguard.
Why she'd dyed her hair white.
Why she'd hidden her identity.
I wasn't sure if I had the right to ask.
But I should.
"Yeah, hmm, where to start…"
Sylphie began to talk, bit by bit.
Starting with her training in Buena Village.
How she'd tried to find out my whereabouts from Zenith and Lilia, but ended up being drilled in healing magic and etiquette instead.
How she'd made a pendant for me.
"So this pendant was handmade by you, Sylphie?"
"Why do you have that pendant?"
I'd hidden the pendant inside my shirt.
I hadn't wanted Elinalise teasing us about matching ones.
Now that I'd stripped, it was on full display.
"Lilia had it. But she never said a word about you."
"Probably because she thought I might be dead, and kept quiet about it."
"I see."
Maybe it was Lilia's way of being considerate.
Hearing it was a dead person's keepsake — opinions would vary on whether that was good or bad.
"Um, can I keep going?"
"Sorry, sorry. Go ahead."
What happened after the teleportation was nothing short of a saga.
Thrown into the sky, falling, monsters everywhere.
She'd happened to save a princess, and become her bodyguard.
Before she knew it, her hair had turned completely white.
She'd lived a stomach-churning life in a place where values were wildly different from what she knew.
Targeted by assassins during a power struggle, driven out of the royal capital.
Traveling with people who were inexperienced at journeying, sometimes deceived, falling into desperate situations.
And while trying to rebuild at the Magic University.
I'd shown up.
"I'd disguised myself, so I understand, but hearing 'nice to meet you' was still a shock, you know."
"Sorry. But Sylphie, if you'd told me sooner, I would've figured it out."
"Ah… yeah, yeah, you're right… S-sorry, it was my fault for not saying anything… I'm sorry…"
Sylphie was spilling big, fat tears.
On this matter, she'd clearly been tormented by her own doubts too.
It was obvious from what she'd just told me that she hadn't withheld the truth out of malice.
I had no intention of blaming her.
"I'm the one who should apologize — a whole year and I never noticed. I'm sorry."
Well, from what she'd told me, she'd been hiding her identity, and
Sylphie apparently believed I'd completely forgotten her.
If she thought I'd forgotten, telling me might just result in her identity being spread around.
I was originally a Boreas — there was even a chance I was an enemy.
Staying silent was the right call.
And during that year, I'd shown no signs of looking for Sylphie.
If she thought I wasn't even worried about her, it would be no wonder she couldn't bring herself to say anything.
Yes, it couldn't be helped.
Various circumstances had gotten in the way.
In the end, her identity had been revealed anyway, so I figured it was all for the best.
I put my arm around her shoulders.
Sylphie rested her head against my shoulder.
Her shoulder was cold — I needed to hold her closer to warm her up.
"And so, I couldn't find the courage, but somewhere in my heart, I thought maybe it would be okay to stay in this relationship as it was."
"It wasn't a bad relationship, honestly."
Apparently, in recent months, she'd started to feel anxious.
Beautiful girls had begun gathering around me.
She'd thought that if she didn't do something, she'd lose me.
I was in an ED state, so that worry didn't apply to me.
Well, if someone like Nanahoshi had produced a cure, I might have been grateful to her and eventually swayed her way.
And so Sylphie had cooked up various schemes.
Her recent stay had apparently been part of one.
But I'd been too dense and it had ended in failure.
"You really are dense, Rudy."
"I have no comeback."
In the past, I'd sworn to myself I'd play the dense type.
I could no longer mock the dense protagonist.
When various circumstances tangled together, you really did become oblivious to the affection aimed at you.
If sexual desire had been a little more involved, I might have caught on…
Maybe the dense protagonists of the world were all suffering from ED too.
"So I fell right into that scheme this time?"
"S-sorry. It ended up feeling like I tricked you."
"No, I think this was exactly what needed to happen."
If things had continued as before, I'd have kept treating Fitz-senpai as a man indefinitely.
I probably wouldn't have even remembered Sylphie, come to think of it.
"Oh, by the way — does Princess Ariel know about all this?"
"She does. Actually, Ariel-sama came up with the plan."
"I see."
My worries had been unfounded then.
If Sylphie had acted alone, I might have preferred to remain ignorant.
Still, it was probably for the best that "Fitz" continued to exist as "Fitz."
"But Ariel-sama was pretty torn up about it.
'Rudeus Greyrat's intentions are unclear. What is he thinking?' — that sort of thing.
She apparently didn't expect you'd come to treat that condition, though."
There were rumors about that, but she said Ariel hadn't believed them.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
"In that case, should I join Princess Ariel's camp?"
I wanted to stay out of power struggles as much as possible.
But if Sylphie asked me to lend her my strength, I'd do what I could, however limited.
"I'd like you to help, but
Rudy, you don't want to get involved with the Asura Kingdom, do you?
If so, you don't have to force yourself."
Sylphie said that with a shy smile.
Without the sunglasses, her cuteness multiplied a hundredfold.
And as for me — my crotch was heating up again.
Before I could help myself, I licked her ear.
"Hyah!?"
"Oh — pardon me."
Her startled yelp immediately cooled things down.
I couldn't seem to control it.
But having a reaction at all was reassuring.
You could say my recovery was progressing nicely.
Thanks to Sylphie.
"Thank you, Sylphie."
"Huh? For what…?"
Sylphie tilted her head.
We hadn't made it to the very end, but for now, this was enough.
That's what I felt.