"Hey… Fu Hua, you should undress." Kazami called.
"You might think it's embarrassing, but if you stay like that, your fever will get worse." He began to make his way to 'Tang-Ji's' still body, walking straight through her ethereal form.
'Fu Hua?'
'Who is this person? Why does she look like me?'
"Alright." Tang-Ji's body groaned softly, her once-still form now beginning to move.
She meekly took off her soaked jacket and reached for the clasp of her skirt. Kazami swiftly turned his gaze away before she noticed his wandering eyes.
When she tried to step out of her skirt, Fu's body tumbled from the bed. With her body in such poor shape for the first time in her life, Fu didn't know how weak she had become, now lacking the strength left to remove her clothes on her own. Kazami, who caught her on his chest before she hit the floor, also seemed to understand that.
He could feel Fu's body heat through her clothes. He clicked his tongue; her temperature had grown higher since the last time. Her condition was worsening by the second. He didn't want her to do anything unreasonable—any more than this, and she might die. Kazami knew what he had to do and gulped.
"Fu Hua," with a nervous voice. "Those clothes—should I help you out of them?"
Tang-Ji's jaw fell open as she watched the two huddle on the floor. She would have hit him for making such a boorish suggestion, if she could.
Fu blushed heavily, her sapphire eyes widening from embarrassment. Even though she was embarrassed by the idea of showing her skin directly to Kazami, she knew that she couldn't undress on her own.
"Sure… please do." She nodded reluctantly, avoiding eye contact with him.
He himself was just as embarrassed, but he forced himself to make the suggestion. He was earnestly worried about Fu, and it wasn't like she didn't understand that. That was why she decided to entrust her body to him.
Fu set aside her own concern, suppressing her own embarrassment, and accepted his suggestion. In this situation, it was out of the question for Kazami to be strangely conscious of the situation and stir up her own shame.
Right now, he was the only one who could help Fu. For the sake of her pride, he'd strip her clothes off quickly and professionally. He had to focus; having any guilty thoughts was forbidden in this moment.
Kazami steeled his resolve and reached for Fu's stockings. He started by gently pulling down the fabric that clung to her skin.
'Having those glued to her skin like that is probably unpleasant,' he thought as he began to unfasten Fu Hua's garter belt that the stockings were attached to, putting a finger into the space between one stocking and her thigh, brushing gently against her leg, and continuing to roll the stocking down.
Witnessing what Kazami was doing to 'her' body, Tang-Ji was mortified. She could see the strain in his eyes as he tried his best to avoid eye contact with any off-limits areas.
'Well, I guess he is a boy…' Tang-Ji thought as she cringed.
Kazami rolled down more of the damp black cloth, revealing more of her clear, unblemished legs. As much as he tried not to, the sight of Fu's slender, supple legs caused some bad thoughts to form within his mind. He swallowed the thought and tried to continue in earnest, finally stripping off one leg.
Continuing his work, both of Fu's legs had been made bare, their entirety exposed to his eyes. The sight was mesmerising, and Kazami burned the image of her unblemished, beautiful legs into his brain.
He wiped his face as he tried to keep his composure.
'How the hell am I meant to be professional in a situation like this? I can already feel a 'disturbance'. Kazami thought nervously. His heart pounded so heavily just from removing her stockings that he thought it might just explode from his chest.
As he unzipped her skirt, he made sure that his hands didn't wander, lest he receive the full extent of Fu's fury. He glanced up at her briefly to make sure that he was in the clear before he pulled off her skirt, only to see her flushed, bright red face.
Immediately he looked back down, his face now as flushed as hers from an overwhelming desire to comfort this adorable creature. In one swift, gentle motion, he removed her skirt and forced his unclean intrusive thoughts away, his eyes now locked squarely at the ceiling.
Kazami continued cautiously, trying his best to avoid eye contact with her. He elevated his body and took the button of Fu's shirt in one hand. Starting from the bottom of her neck, he undid her buttons one by one without touching her skin.
It was hard to grasp the buttons of her shirt, as they had become so damp from soaking up all the snow and now clung tightly to the plump shape of Fu's chest. Forced into such a delicate situation, Kazami had to avoid rushing or being rough in any way.
Finally unfastening the last button, he took her shirt's collar in his hands and unwrapped the front of her top smoothly, flinging cold water across the room. He moved to her left arm and pulled off the damp fabric, exposing Fu's shoulder, pulling away a veil that concealed her skin.
As he moved onto the next arm, her breathing pattern changed subtly, her voice now letting out quiet, but not quite silent, whimpers as he continued undressing her.
Peeling off the rest of the wet shirt, the light now exposed her lace brassiere, which held her breasts tightly. Kazami blushed harder at the young woman's softness as her white belly squirmed and contracted alluringly with each breath.
He wished he could bash his head against a wall, just so the impure thoughts would go away, so that he could get away from the risqué thoughts he was having about his friend.
Now completely exposed, save for her underwear, her entire body glistened lightly from the moisture left behind from the snow and cold sweat. His work was done, now all Kazami had to do was find a way to preserve her body heat or cover her with some form of blanket.
But before he could do anything, Fu reached for his sleeve and pulled it softly.
"...Kazami… please undo my bra." His eyes went wide, and his face was now glowing red. "It's really hard to breathe... Just unfasten the hook." Ragged breaths, the words thin as thread, barely held together.
Even though her face was turned away from his, he could tell that she was just as embarrassed as he was. He observed how Fu's chest rose and fell heavily. It was probably true that the brassiere that held her chest down could be painful for her, especially in this weakened state.
Kazami swallowed. "D-do you really want me to do that?"
"Yeah, it's fine... If it's you, then I don't mind." She was in pain, and he couldn't reply with reluctance.
"Y-Yeah… got it. Leave it to me." He was feigning as much calm as possible.
Slowly and gently, he inserted his finger underneath the hook and unfastened it with a snap. In an instant, the bra fell off, and her breasts, which had been held back, sprang out softly before Kazami, with his eyes closed, swiftly wrapped a towel around her.
"Now, get under the blanket quickly," his eyes still tightly shut.
"Sorry… Kazami. For troubling you," she mumbled.
"It can't be helped. You caught a nasty fever after lying out in the snow for so long." He attempted to distract her from the awkward situation they were in; however, what came out of her mouth next was unfathomable.
Fu Hua stood up, the towel still wrapped tightly around her.
"...Kazami..." she whispered softly.
He sat alert, waiting for her to continue.
"Do you want to… do it with me?"
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tang-Ji cried out as she sat up in the snow.
"Where am I? What happened?" she whispered as her eyes darted around her surroundings. Upon careful observation, it seemed that she was still outside of the mansion, albeit wet and cold and covered half in snow.
The memories of the dream moments ago flooded into her mind. The dream of that shack, of Kazami and that girl, 'Fu Hua'.
That girl looked exactly like she did.
'That was a dream, right?' She didn't have long to contemplate, as the coldness and wetness set in, its grasp chilling her body to the bone.
'I hope that wasn't foreshadowing for stuff that's about to happen. I'd die from embarrassment if he saw me naked like that right now.'
However, she couldn't deny that she needed body warmth from another person in order to survive, even if she had to get it from Kazami.
As she tried to push herself up to a standing position, her arms gave way, and she fell face-first into a fresh pile of snow. The situation seemed awfully familiar.
Again, she pushed herself up to try and stand, but this time she met Kazami's face right in front of hers. She let out an ear-piercing scream and dashed away, something unthinkable for someone who was just falling over herself.
"Jeez, Tang-Ji, is that how you treat your friends?" he winced, pressing his fingers against his ears.
Tang-Ji's knees began to buckle as her outburst of strength began to leave her. However, before she could again feel the icy embrace of the fresh snow, Ukiyo appeared beside her and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up. "You'll be alright now. We have a blanket for you."
She let out another shrill screech—this time of relief—before wrapping her arms securely around Ukiyo.
She did not seem to mind but was shocked at how quickly Tang-Ji seemed to both recover and lose her strength. The girl holding her was ice cold to the touch, and Ukiyo softly returned the hug.
Kazami frowned, somewhat envious that Ukiyo received a hug while he received disgust and near-deafness. "Are you alright? Hurt anywhere?" He cut into her celebration.
Tang-Ji glared at him, her eyes teeming with distrust.
"I'm alright… Just a bit cold and wet," she winced, her gaze now softening.
Suddenly, Ukiyo threw a blanket over Tang-Ji's head from behind; it was fluffy and warm. Ukiyo nodded at her.
She looked around, now securely wrapped up in her thick, fluffy blanket.
"Is it over?" There was a large hole in the side of the mansion where the trio seemed to have escaped from.
"Yep. It's all over now, and I sure am glad." Kazami let out a tired groan.
He turned to Ukiyo now. "Any ideas where we go from here?" She nodded and pointed over the horizon, east of the mansion they just came out of.
"And what's over that way?" His gaze stayed flat, unimpressed by the vague answer.
Her answer was blunt: "The second delve."
"It is the second stage of this world and takes us a step closer to our exit." She motioned towards Kazami and Tang-Ji, asking them to follow her to the entrance of the delve.
Tang-Ji piped up, "Wait, I think we should warn other players about this place. We all almost died today. I think we should make sure nobody else falls into the same trap." Kazami nodded and made his way to the two large doors of the building.
As he wrote the sign, memories of the place filled his head. He had hoped there would have been some good in that house of horrors, but he found nothing but danger and fear.
He dropped a text box at the side of the door, hoping that other players, if there were still any left, would see it and not rush into danger like he had.
DO NOT ENTER!!!
BOSS ROOM AND DANGEROUS MONSTERS AHEAD!!!
MAKE SURE YOU ARE PREPARED!!!
Kazami stepped back from the door and admired his surroundings one last time. He glanced over at Tang-Ji, and for the first time since the death game started, he gave a genuine smile.
Then something moved behind them.
At the edge of the white stood seven little figures, no taller than children, their shapes blurred by the falling snow. They lifted their hands and waved.
Kazami froze.
A prickling ran down his spine, so sudden and sharp that every strand of hair along his arms and at the nape of his neck seemed to rise with it. It was not the winter air that stopped him. It was them.
He rubbed his eyes hard and looked again, half-convinced he had taken one blow too many to the head.
Nothing.
Only snow. Only silence.
His mouth tightened, but he said nothing.
'Funny. No matter how dangerous of a situation I'm in, snow always reminds me of home,' he pondered for a moment before turning his back on their tomb.
"Let's go before we freeze to death in this god-forsaken place." He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.
Ukiyo, voice cool as frost: "Then let's be on our way."