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I extended my hand out to her.
“Murderer!”
Miorine raised her tone when she told me that. I wasn’t sure what to say since I didn’t know why she was mad at me.
I had just reached where she was inside the ship right about when she was going to get attacked. She was on the ground, and I came down from Aerial to pick her up.
Was she mad at something I was doing?
Looking down at my hand, I realized what it was.
“Oh, sorry about that!”
I almost messed up! She wouldn’t want to grab my hand if it was dirty like this. It was completely soaked in the puddle I fell in. I always end up getting myself filthy because I trip all the time, I’m used to it but someone like her is very hygienic…
Ah, I should’ve remembered, she even keeps her fingernails clean.
I wiped my gloved hand against the front parts of my outfit that weren’t dirty. Only half of the liquid stuck while the other half floated away in the air.
My hand was cleaner but my outfit became a big mess.
I looked back at her.
“Oh. Looks like I got your face dirty too.” Oops, I shouldn’t have made such a mess in the first place.
I extend my other hand out to her cheek. I attempt to wipe the blood and gunk spread on her skin, but it didn’t quite get it off and I ended up smudging it more.
Miorine stared at where my thumb made a new trail on her face.
“Sorry I didn’t do a good job…”
Hm, I wouldn’t be able to take care of this here.
She still looked upset.
“Don’t worry! There’s a place to clean up close to this area.”
Thinking that’s what she wanted, I grab her hand myself and try to lift her up, but she resisted.
Hm maybe that's not it.
She still didn’t speak. She wasn’t staring at me anymore either, but rather at Aerial’s hand that landed flat through the balcony we stood on.
Oh, I assumed she was upset, but she’s probably actually scared?
She’s probably never seen anyone die before.
“Don’t worry, the first time I saw someone get killed it was a bit scary too.
“But my mother told me it has benefits you know?
“It wasn’t really scary when I knew it was to save you and the others. I had a hard time being confident before but it’s not so bad when I know it’s helpful to you.”
It felt really great to show up on time and be useful.
I finally get to show how capable I am to protect her.
Is she happy with me?
I came at the right moment to save both her and her father, how cool! It makes me giggly.
But yet right now, she still looks shaken up.
Maybe it’s because I couldn’t explain it well enough. Or maybe it’s because she almost got shot? I check to see if she got hurt anywhere, but it didn’t look like she had her own blood on herself.
Since she isn’t capable of moving on her own, I guess it’s up to me to move us forward instead!
This time, I leveled up my grip to pull her to me, being sure I was strong enough to.
“Woah!”
She’s way lighter than I expected, not to mention with the low gravity while I tugged her. She ended up falling against me, making us stumble backward together.
It was really embarrassing.
“Hehe. This is just like a while ago when you hugged me, you remember? There there.” I rubbed the back of her head as we embraced.
“You can cry against me.”
With her in my arms, I was able to feel exactly how her body shook.
She was so small, and I needed to protect her.
“It was scary wasn’t it?”
You almost got shot, and I saved you.
I guess I worried too much previously that you wouldn’t rely on me, but you showed me that you would.
And now I’m repaying that.
“I’ll keep being with you, forever, I promise Miorine. You’ll always be safe.”
I was happy.
Her hair looked more stained in red, and I realized I was using the wrong hand to pat her. But a part of me felt weirdly happy seeing how her beautiful white hair looked this way.
It’s kinda like we’re matching hair color a bit right?
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself…
But then it clicked in my head that my whole outfit was dirty, even at the front. It ended up dirtying her even further when we were hugging, I was too caught up in the moment to notice.
I pulled away from her despite how I didn’t want to, but still kept a hold on her arm so she wouldn’t collapse.
While facing each other, she finally managed to stare back at me. It was a weak stare but it still made me smile big.
”I promise Miorine, you just have to endure a bit. We’ll get to a shower in only a while, okay?”
I haven’t ever felt as hopeful as I did during this moment. If I can keep being strong like this, we can maybe start to become closer as groom and bride.
I’m be someone she can always count on.
I’ll be the one she comes to first when she needs support. I’ll be the only one able to come to her aid no matter what.
It’s all thanks to you that I can feel so confident.
“Let’s get going then.”
I was about to turn around when I realized I forgot something very important in front of me.
“Oh no! We have to head quickly!” I wasn’t paying attention to anything else besides Miorine, so I totally forgot that we should've headed straight to the infirmary for her father.
That must’ve been why she looked so off, her father needed immediate care but all I was doing was dragging time out.
“I’ll get both of you where you need to be in perfect time, no need to worry!”
And like that, I dragged both of them forward with me.
It was kind of funny now that I looked at us.
We were all bloodied.
As we moved forward, I was excited for what more I could do next.
My head was racing with thoughts, I was practically skipping as I walked.
In my head, the same single line I held dear, the cause of all of this, it kept on repeating.
Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two.
Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Run, gain one. Move forward, gain two…