Kibishi's POV

  Kibishi's Room

  Okay.

  So this was awkward.

  "..." I was wearing my new clothes that Mato had provided for me and Tao earlier. The bck shirt and pants, along with my shoes, as well.

  Not only that, though. Kuma and Yosei were sitting on my bed while Kujira was standing up and leaning against my wall with her arms crossed.

  And they didn't have any angry look on their faces either.

  But having all of them here with their eyes closed, WHILE being so calm about this, made me a bit uneasy.

  "Give it to us straight, Kibi. You caused that sense to get under The Founder's skin, did you?" Kuma asked with one eye open. She then put a pillow underneath her elbows, and I was between her legs.

  "... ugh..." I groaned while looking away with a hint of a blush.

  "I see, I see. You know, I get it. I, too, would be a dick to a man who doesn't know his boundaries," Yosei stated, then grabbed a pillow as well and hugged it.

  "And then diss someone you deeply care about without a care in the world? Talk about an asshole." Yosei gripped the pillow a bit tightly.

  Yosei and Kuma nodded at the same time and said, 'I see, I see,' a few times.

  "...I wouldn't go that far since it's his job..." I muttered, but loud enough for the girls to hear.

  "Then what was with that action you presented back there?" Kujira raised her left brow.

  "I u-uh..." I blushed some more.

  I couldn't be honest when there were eyes staring at me. I had had no problem doing it since I knew the adults had a different mindset. But to have people close to my age or even a bit older having an understanding of my actions made me self-conscious.

  No, that couldn't be all.

  Otherwise, I would have gotten over it by now....

  I thought it was BECAUSE there were people around my age who understood me that made things uncertain.

  Regardless, this should have been expected.

  Causing a scene in front of everyone just because I didn't like how someone said something didn't really give me an excuse to act the way I did before.

  But I will say that I didn't regret my actions.

  Protecting Tao's privacy was way more important to me, even if they had already gotten the measurements from her.

  "..." I narrowed my eyes in frustration.

  And now I knew why I had acted the way I did. But could I be honest about this with the girls? I mean, I didn't mind since it was nothing no one knew by now, but I kinda felt bad for causing them trouble as well.

  After a couple of thoughts, I decided to sigh and hold my head.

  "...I did it because I wanted to. There's no other reason than that."

  "Oh? That's why you acted like Prince Charming in front of your princess?" Kujira joked at me with a smug look. She was usually cold and blunt, too...

  "What's wrong with that?... Tao wasn't gonna say anything to him, so I stepped up to the pte. I don't regret standing up for her. That's the ONE thing I will always stand by for the rest of my life for..."

  I looked at my new shoes.

  Yeah, what was so wrong about it?

  "Well, it can't be helped," I heard Kujira's voice. I looked up at her and saw a hint of understanding. Her expression showed happiness while still having her normal cold atmosphere around her. "It IS someone you deeply care about, so your actions were justified. Just... try not to do this as a habit, okay?"

  "O-oh. Right," I nodded.

  Seeing that expression had taken my breath away. Don't get it wrong, I didn't think about her in any type of way.

  Wow.

  That thought process sounded a bit rude...

  Let me review that statement.

  It wasn't like my feelings towards Kujira had changed. At least, not yet.

  But I could tell that she meant what she said to me. Kujira, that is.

  Which reminded me.

  "Thank you for that. And... I'm sorry for the way I acted before, Kujira. I hope you can forgive me," I bowed my head at her.

  This made Kujira jolt in shock. Kujira, looking away, nodded back at me. She looked a little more shy.

  "D-don't worry about it... Thank you," Kujira nodded back at me.

  Wow.

  That was cute.

  But I didn't want to make things awkward between us, so I kept that thought to myself.

  "Why, aren't you a woman killer!" Kuma teased.

  "You're joking, right? I'm average-looking at best. There's no way any girl would like me," I joked back at Kuma.

  "What? Come on, you're plenty cute!" Yosei added in.

  "Okay, now you're just being nice, Yosei." I ughed it off afterwards.

  Yosei tilted her head in confusion.

  Wait. Was she for real?

  Yosei paused for a moment and then smiled at me.

  "You're serious, are you?" Yosei asked me as if she were the one who was shocked at this outcome.

  "Of course, I am. I know myself better than anyone out here, so naturally, I would say that I'm not that good-looking."

  Which was true.

  I didn't think anyone would want to go out with a guy like me.

  "Enough about that. I'm not sure what my type is anyway," I stood up and dusted myself off.

  Thinking about that at a time like this was not good. We had more important things to talk about.

  I looked and saw Yosei narrowing her eyes at me for some reason.

  Huh? What did I do?

  "You're pretty self-conscious about who you are, aren't you?" Kuma asked while standing up as well.

  "... Honestly, I can't really tell you how I feel about myself." I bluntly admitted with a frown.

  Honestly, I wasn't sure about myself entirely. My memories from my past life had been burned down as soon as I got captured by those creatures.

  Not to mention that guy who was with us during the capture of mankind.

  I vaguely remembered a dark figure hovering over me.

  The way he acted made my skin crawl. Almost as if he were on the side of "justice."

  I also remembered him commanding those creatures without any fear.

  That in itself could tell that he wasn't on humanity's side...

  Not only that, he wasn't being attacked by them either. That part in particur was VERY scary to think about.

  Cree...

  "I'm here," I heard a voice after someone opened my bathroom door.

  I turned and saw Tao return—whoa!

  When she stepped out of the bathroom, I could see the clothes fitting perfectly on her body.

  Firstly, the way the clothes rested on her made Tao look like a model. The way her bck shirt had the zipper gently resting on the middle of her chest made me feel so ha—gd that she had new clothing.

  Oh.

  And she was also wearing a cap-like thing... I think.

  But it looked good on her, so that's what counted!

  Anyway, Tao was also wearing a cute bck shirt, high-thigh socks, and some boots.

  I gazed at Tao's hands and saw some white gloves. Oh. Was that her bracelet on her wrist? That was a nice touch as well.

  It also seemed like she had a turtleneck of some kind. Almost matching mine. All in all, Tao looked cute.

  There was no other way to describe the way Tao looked.

  I COULD have expined in very specific detail. Like, for example, the way she looked to me was a mixture of a lost heroine in a storybook. A strong and powerful woman who was gentle but would be rough when it was time to battle.

  Not only that, but her figure looked good in those clothes as well. You could see whenever she moved, her hips moved in a certain way, too. Same with her... c-chest.

  Thinking about that made me disgusted by my imagination.

  I couldn't help it. I'm human, after all. Those types of thought processes pop up every once in a while.

  But still, I had to control myself so that I didn't make her uncomfortable.

  There had been way too many times when I had stared at her. Sometimes it was from the same pce and sometimes from different locations. Mostly from her chest to her thighs. Though, unconsciously, since I always looked away when I realized.

  I had caught a glimpse of her doing the same, though, so I guessed it was even at that point. Looking at me, that is.

  It was like an angel that was assigned from the heavens themselves. The way the silk of those thigh socks really brought out the beauty of them.

  Huh.

  Now that I thought about it, the capes looked like angel wings. Truly, in my humble opinion, there was no greater sight than my best friend right here.

  Yup.

  I liked seeing cute clothes on her. They suited her perfectly.

  "U-um..." Tao said shyly.

  Tao then held her right arm nervously. "Do I... look that good to you?"

  "?!"

  I almost screamed, "Of course you do!" but held myself back.

  No, I didn't want to sound weird and creepy.

  But then again, if I didn't answer right, I might hurt Tao's feelings. Yeah, this was a problem. I wasn't sure how to respond to—

  "Oh wow. He's staring very hard, Tao..." Yosei said in amazement.

  "Ah. I'm starting to get the general idea of why he acted that way with The Founder now..." Kujira added with a hint of a smile. Again. Strange that she wasn't being cold to me right now.

  Kuma cpped her hands together as if she were praying to the gods. "Thank you for the full-course meal."

  "You're not even trying to be subtle about it anymore, are you, Kuma?" Kujira sweated.

  "L-let's move on! I think we'll be te with these meaningless questions!" I shouted in a panic.

  Kuma, Kujira, and Yosei stared at me in an angry way. I flinched at that and took a step back.

  "W-what?" I asked.

  They were all looking at something. I then followed suit—huh?!

  I saw Tao looking gloomy while staring at the ground.

  "Y-yeah, that was a stupid question, right?" Tao gripped her right arm as if she was in pain.

  Oh. Now I understand.

  "I-I was just—!"

  "No, it's fine. I'm such a weirdo for asking if a couple of clothes look good on me. Of course, they wouldn't. I'm not even that pretty, so it's understandable..." Tao whispered in shame.

  "N-no! You're already pretty as is!"

  "You don't need to worry about me..." Tao slowly headed towards the exit.

  "No, wait, please! I really didn't mean it in a way that would hurt your feelings! Please wait, Tao!" I panicked even more as I raised my arms in fear.

  I then quickly followed behind her.

  The others deeply sighed and shook their heads.

  Well, wasn't this the consequence of my actions? Now my best friend feels bad about my sentence about the conversation being meaningless. All I had wanted was to move on from the topic before anything got intense.

  And look how that had turned out.

  Soon, I met up with Tao and apologized with all my might. At that point, I was pleading for her forgiveness. Tao wasn't cold enough to not forgive me and she did forgive me for saying such a thing to her.

  But I felt like I needed to do more than just accept that she forgave me.

  The others just stood behind us. Watching the event unfold.

  This continued for a couple of minutes until we returned to the meeting room.

  That was when we would start our mission.

  "N-no! You're already pretty as is!"

  "You don't need to worry about me..." Tao slowly heads towards the exit.

  "No, wait, please! I really didn't mean it in a way that'll hurt your feelings! Please wait, Tao!" I panic even more as I raise my arms in fear.

  I then quickly follow her behind.

  The others deeply sigh and shake their head.

  Well, isn't this the consequence of my actions? Now my best friend feels bad about my sentence about the conversation being meaningless. All I wanted we to move on from the topic before anything got intense.

  And look how that turned out.

  Soon, I met up with Tao and apologized with all my might. At that point, I was pleading for her forgiveness. Tao wasn't cold enough to not forgive me, and she did forgive me for saying such a thing to her.

  But I felt like I needed to do more than just accept that she forgave me.

  The others just stand behind us. Watching the event unfold.

  This continued for a couple of minutes until we returned to the meeting room.

  That's when we'll start our mission.