In a sudden jolt, Shu snapped his eyes open.
A voice from his dream still seemed to be echoing in his ears—
"How could Shu make that kind of face?!"
The voice was very familiar, like a clap of thunder splitting through his slumbering consciousness.
But his mind hadn't fully awakened yet. The sensation was too fast, and it vanished just as quickly.
Before he had time to dwell on it and turn those words into a concrete image, the voice dissolved into a buzzing ringing in his ears. Along with the fragments of the dream, it rapidly faded and sank into the depths of his subconscious.
The world was gradually being translated by his delayed senses into a chaotic mess of information. From this, his brain filtered out the most important signals of the moment.
Heavy...
Very heavy.
Something was pressing down on him.
Squeezed.
Very squeezed.
Something was pressed flush against his side.
Tight.
Very tight.
Something was gripping his wrist.
It took Shu's brain several seconds to piece together these scattered sensations into a complete picture. By the time he realized what exactly he had pieced together, it was already too late.
Is this something a person can even imagine?
He couldn't believe it.
Then, inch by stiff inch, he turned his head and looked toward his side, where a steady stream of warm breath was hitting him.
It was a face that could only be described as magnificent.
Long white hair scattered like snow spirits, her cheeks, bearing a hint of adorable curve, were pressed against the crook of his neck, her breathing even and soft.
Her eyelashes were very long, shimmering with multicolored light in the morning sun, trembling slightly under Shu's gaze.
Her lips were slightly parted, naturally forming an unconscious little curve that looked both playful and cute.
It was Kiana.
It was a wild Kiana who had somehow crawled into his bed.
Shu's pupils began to earthquake, and even his brain was trembling along with them.
The picture his brain had formed was real.
The heavy weight pressing on his stomach was the culprit behind his current lack of blankets. Kiana's sleeping posture was indeed terrible; she kicked her blankets, and had even excitedly kicked off both blankets.
Even though one of those blankets hadn't even been on her, but was the final line of defense for the poor soul lying next to her.
The fact that she hadn't kicked the poor soul away along with the blankets was already a testament to his sheer luck holding out.
And his wrist...
One of Kiana's hands was gripping his wrist tightly. It was a forceful grip, as if she were holding onto something incredibly important that she absolutely couldn't let go of.
The force was so strong that Shu could barely feel his own hand.
At this exact moment, Shu's brain successfully and completely short-circuited.
His entire body jerked violently, as if he had been electrocuted.
And this jolt woke Kiana up as well.
She stirred, her light-catching eyelashes fluttering, and then she groggily half-opened her eyes.
Those pure blue eyes were clouded with the haze of someone just waking up, like they were covered in a layer of fog.
She looked at Shu, who was right in front of her face, blinked softly, and almost closed her eyes again. Shu seriously doubted she had actually seen anything.
A soft, milky whine slipped from Kiana's throat:
"Mmm... let me sleep a little longer~"
With that, her eyes closed again.
Her breathing returned to an even rhythm almost instantly, indicating she had completed the process of falling back asleep in just a single second.
As if nothing had happened at all.
Shu: "..."
He looked at the sleeping face inches away, feeling the warm breath against his neck.
That leg was still draped over his stomach.
That hand was still gripping his wrist.
That face was still buried in his neck.
Shu's heartbeat—
Thump-thump-thump... thump-thump-thump...
It was beating so fast it felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.
He took a deep breath.
Calm down.
Calm down, he told himself.
This is the suspension bridge effect. Just the suspension bridge effect.
...
This was absolutely not the suspension bridge effect.
The suspension bridge effect was a physiological response after a fright, an erroneous misattribution of arousal.
Right now... did he have any other excuse he could use to justify this?
His short-circuited brain finally began to slowly resume functioning.
He started to analyze the current situation.
The first certainty: he wanted to leave right now.
But he couldn't just get up. He physically couldn't.
The leg Kiana had draped over his stomach wasn't just resting there softly. She was pressing down on him with considerable force, treating Shu like a body pillow she could knead and squeeze at will, holding him tight in her embrace.
And that hand was an even bigger problem. Shu felt like the artery in his wrist was being pinched shut. Blood couldn't flow, and his brain had lost all connection to that hand.
All of this made it impossible for Shu to get up normally. If he wanted to get up, he had to—
He had to reach out and move that leg.
He had to pry that hand loose.
And what was the problem with that?
Kiana was currently only wearing a pair of shorts, clothes Shu had found for her the night before last.
Which meant right now, Kiana's legs were bare.
Shu didn't even need to lift his head to imagine what the leg pressing on his stomach looked like, because those exact legs had been dangling in front of him all day yesterday.
Shu simply turned his head and looked at that quiet sleeping face.
Kiana's breath ghosted across his face, causing Shu to stiffly turn back to stare at the ceiling.
Let's try a different thought process!
Eh? What if Kiana wakes up on her own and leaves on her own? Would that work?
Shu forced himself to optimistically imagine this future that only required "inaction" to achieve.
This was indeed an excellent option. So, what would that future look like?
Possibility Number One: Kiana wakes up, realizes she's lying next to him, pressed up against him, with her leg draped over him.
She would scream.
Then, amidst the screaming, she would slap him across the face and send him flying, just like she did with those two blankets.
Possibility Number Two: Kiana wakes up, realizes she's lying next to him, pressed up against him, with her leg draped over him.
She would be silent.
Then, she would silently pull up the blanket she had mercilessly kicked away, shield herself with it, and look at him in terror with eyes that screamed, What did you do to me?
Possibility Number Three: Kiana wakes up, realizes she's lying next to him, pressed up against him, with her leg draped over him.
She would...
She would—
Shu didn't dare think any further.
He knew that no matter which possibility it was, it was terrifying.
Ah... it seems my life is going to end right here...
Shu stared blankly at the ceiling, looking as if he had lost all strength and means of resistance...
No, he actually did still have one means of resistance. It was the plan he had instantly discarded earlier.
Life versus purity has historically been a highly debated proposition in human history. Shu had also pondered this exact scenario more than once...
He used to think he was a noble human being, a staunch supporter and even practitioner of the philosophy: "I fear not being smashed to pieces, I only wish to leave my purity in this world."
But in this moment, Shu suddenly realized his own true answer.
To hell with purity.
He wanted to live.
...To truly, actually live.