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The warm morning sunlight slowly broke through the gaps in the window curtains, illuminating the quiet bedroom.
Mahiru's eyelids fluttered subtly before gradually opening.
However, the first thing she felt was not the soft surface of her pillow, but an unfamiliar sensation of warmth and a broad chest that felt firm yet gentle beneath her cheek.
Mahiru blinked her eyes, which were still blurry with sleep.
When her consciousness fully returned, she realized that she was lying in a position half-hugging Charlie's body, using the man's chest as her pillow throughout the night.
"...!!!"
Instantly, a wave of overwhelming embarrassment hit her head, causing her face to flush all the way to the tips of her ears.
"Kyaaaaaaaa?!"
In a peak of panic and embarrassment, Mahiru shrieked in panic.
Without a second thought, her small hands immediately pushed Charlie's chest with all the strength she possessed.
*THUD!*
That sudden push successfully sent Charlie's unprepared body flying and falling off the mattress, landing on the bedroom floor in a rather un-aesthetic position.
Even though physically Charlie did not feel the slightest bit of pain at all—given the toughness of a Level 6 adventurer's body from the world of Danmachi—the impact nonetheless woke him up in a daze.
With messy hair, Charlie sat himself up on the floor while rubbing his still-sleepy eyes.
"Ouch... Shiina-san, what's wrong? Did something happen?" He asked in a raspy, post-sleep voice, thinking there was a follow-up enemy attack.
Meanwhile, on top of the mattress, Mahiru did not answer right away. With ragged breaths, she hurriedly checked her own body's condition from beneath the blanket.
After ensuring that her sleeping pajamas were still perfectly tidy, none of the buttons were undone, and there was no strange feeling or pain anywhere on her body—which meant her purity as a maiden was still completely preserved—she finally exhaled a sigh of relief.
Facing Charlie's seemingly innocent question from down on the floor, Mahiru immediately shot him a sharp, fiery glare.
"How can Charlie-kun speak in such a casual tone without feeling the slightest bit of guilt?! E-Even though you actually dared to sneak into a girl's room and sleep in the exact same bed!"
"Huh?"
Naturally, Charlie could not just accept such an unfair, one-sided accusation. He let out a sigh, then looked up at Mahiru from below with a helpless gaze.
"Hey, hey, please don't twist the facts, Shiina-san. I'll remind you, last night it was actually you who came to the living room while clutching a pillow, and then begged me to accompany you to sleep here because you couldn't close your eyes."
"Eh...?"
Mahiru froze. In the next second, memories of last night's events flashed clearly through her head like a fast-forwarded reel of film.
Starting from her being terrified, talking about her parents, right up to the embarrassing line where she asked Charlie to be her human hug pillow.
Realizing that she was the one in the wrong, the red flush on Mahiru's face deepened further, but this time out of guilt. She hung her head deeply, not daring to meet Charlie's eyes.
"So-Sorry..." she murmured in a very quiet voice. "I'm sorry for my rude behavior just now... I really didn't mean to snap at you, Charlie-kun."
Seeing the change in her attitude, Charlie held onto the edge of the bed and stood up. He did not show an angry expression at all. On the contrary, he formed a thin smile instead.
"Forget it, I'm not mad at all. I already figured you would immediately forget about it upon waking up because of your exhausted mental state last night."
"But, what I appreciate more about you is your attitude of being willing to admit a mistake and immediately apologize. Nowadays, it's very difficult to find a woman who is willing to apologize without beating around the bush or looking for excuses."
Hearing that unusual praise, Mahiru instead puffed out both her cheeks, looking at him with a slight pout.
"What do you mean by that last sentence? Have you been viewing me as a shallow and childish type of woman all this time, Charlie-kun?"
Charlie immediately waved both his hands in the air, quickly denying the accusation while chuckling softly.
"Haha, of course not, never. How could I possibly think that? Rather, in my eyes, Shiina-san is the type of wife who is highly virtuous and every man's ideal."
*THUMP!*
The words "virtuous wife" instantly made Mahiru's heart beat wildly.
A red blush colored both her cheeks once more, with an even deeper intensity.
Trying hard not to look shy and flustered in front of the man, Mahiru cleared her throat softly and then quickly tried to change the topic of their conversation.
"Uhm... By the way, Charlie-kun." She turned her face slightly toward the window. "Hearing you constantly call me 'Shiina-san' like that... it feels so stiff, even though the two of us are already living under one roof. So... when there is no one else around or outside of school, you... you may call me using just my given name."
Charlie nodded in understanding without a single shred of hesitation on his face.
"Oh, really? Fine, Mahiru."
Seeing how smoothly, naturally, and completely without burden Charlie had just pronounced her given name, Mahiru somehow felt dissatisfied in her heart instead.
She pouted, then complained with a slightly cynical tone of voice.
"You really are very adept, Charlie-kun... You must be very used to smoothly flirting with and calling girls out there by their given names like that."
"Ah, I forgot, that can be seen from the fact that you yourself once said you already have three girlfriends in your world of origin."
"..???"
Charlie truly did not know and could not fathom why Mahiru's mood could suddenly turn bad and full of sarcasm like this, even though just a few seconds ago their relationship had just improved.
Because he was too lazy to think about the complexities inside a teenage girl's head, Charlie chose to directly explain his reason.
"You misunderstand, Mahiru. My reason for being able to call other people by their given names without any burden like that is purely because I am not a native Japanese person."
"The fact is, since a long time ago, I have never been able to understand the Japanese culture that splits names into family names and given names, where only people who are considered close are allowed to call someone by their given name. To me, having grown up with an outside culture, such social rules feel highly strange and troublesome."
"But that has been a tradition for a long time, and everyone in this country does it without protest." Mahiru tried to defend her country's culture in a quiet tone of voice.
Charlie did not counter that small debate anymore. He only chuckled softly while performing some light body stretching to loosen up his slightly stiff muscles after sleeping in the same position all night long.
With casual steps, he walked toward the bedroom window and opened the cloth curtains wide, letting the bright morning sunlight enter fully and banishing the remnants of the quiet night's warmth from inside the room.
"By the way, because of yesterday's incident, school is dismissed for a full week, so you actually don't need to wake up this early." He turned to look at Mahiru, who was still sitting on top of the bed. "You can go back to sleep again if you still feel drowsy."
Mahiru shook her head firmly. "No need. I am completely awake now, and I have no intention of going back to sleep."
"Alright then."
Charlie waved his hand briefly and then walked away, leaving the bedroom so that the girl could have her private space to get ready.
While Charlie stepped toward the corridor area, Mahiru immediately got off the mattress and diligently began to neaten the sheets, pat the pillows, and fold the thick blanket they used last night until it was tidy and clean just like before.
A few minutes later, Mahiru stepped toward the bathroom to wash her face.
The moment she opened the door, she found that Charlie was already in there, shirtless with a small towel draped around his neck, busy brushing his teeth in front of the sink.
Seeing Mahiru enter that not-so-spacious room, Charlie automatically stopped his movements for a moment. He shifted slightly toward the side, providing an ample amount of empty space in front of the sink so that the girl could stand there comfortably.
Mahiru formed a thin smile as a sign of thanks. She reached out her hand to take her toothbrush stored inside a cup, applied an adequate amount of toothpaste onto the bristles, and then began to brush her teeth quietly right beside Charlie, facing the exact same large mirror.
In the midst of the morning silence that was only filled by the sound of toothbrushes scraping, Charlie turned on the water tap and was about to rinse his mouth.
Seeing this, Mahiru, who was still holding the toothbrush in her mouth, swiftly picked up a cup, filled it with clean water from the tap, and then handed it to him.
Charlie accepted the cup with a small nod of his head, then began to rinse thoroughly and wash the leftover toothpaste foam from his mouth.
After he finished, he reached out his hand to open the door of a small storage cabinet located right above the mirror, took out a wooden hair comb belonging to Mahiru, and proffered it to the girl.
Mahiru, who at this time was still busy brushing her teeth, glanced toward the comb. Instead of accepting it, she stared at Charlie's reflection in the mirror and swayed her shoulders slightly, giving a cue with a somewhat unclear voice because her mouth was still full of foam.
"Char-wie... towong bantu sikatwakan wambutku..."
Hearing that veiled, spoiled request, Charlie could only comply with the 'Angel's' wish. He took up a standing position right behind Mahiru's body, letting the girl focus on finishing her tooth-brushing activity.
With highly slow and careful movements so as not to hurt her or pull her hair roots, Charlie began to help comb through Mahiru's long, flaxen strands of hair that were as smooth as silk.
The girl's hair felt incredibly soft between his fingers, wafting a fragrant scent of flower petals that soothed the sense of smell.
However, from a standing position in the back like this, Charlie's gaze naturally fell right toward the lower part of Mahiru's head.
Because Mahiru was bowing slightly toward the sink, her long hair being combed forward automatically exposed the back of her neck.
Charlie could see very clearly the shape of the nape of the girl's neck, which was pure white, smooth, and looked incredibly beautiful beneath the bathroom light.
(All this time, I've often seen scenes in various anime or read manga where male characters would frequently become suddenly flustered or lustful just from seeing the exposed nape of a woman's neck.)
(In the past, I always thought the reactions of those anime characters were too exaggerated and made no sense.)
But now, after seeing Mahiru's utterly enchanting nape for himself from such a close distance, Charlie finally began to somewhat understand; that single body part did indeed possess its own aesthetic appeal that was capable of scattering a man's focus in an instant.
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