Chapter 91 - Cheeky Lass

...

As we resumed our wildlife journey, the two girls' moods began to get better as laughter soon filled our surroundings, putting me in a very good mood.

Even while being on a bicycle, Jorah's tension hadn't gone down a bit as she continued to point towards exotic wild animals and exclaimed towards Celesta,

"Big Sis! Look at that one! It's so cute~! What is it called?"

Good for Jorah then, that Celesta was riding her bicycle right next to us without overtaking us one bit. As such, the previously slow tour of the zoo had become a speedy walkthrough instead.

"Let's see it's called Black-footed ferret. It's rare in this part of the world. It's said that it might be on the red list very soon."

Being the most knowledgeable amongst us, Celesta could identify most of the animals, while only missing out on some occasional rare ones. Jorah was still very impressed nevertheless as she kept on pouring her queries towards her older sister.

"Uh... it's such a shame that so many cute animals have been lost and can never be seen ever again."

Jorah looked a bit down as she mourned the loss of many wildlife species. Well, she isn't wrong in saying that. We humans must act more responsibly towards the other species living on our planet. Careless behaviour from our past has already ruined a lot of things for them.

"It just means that we have to treat nature more responsibly and with respect."

Hearing Celesta's words, Jorah became more determined than before as she clenched her two fists and spoke loudly,

"Hmm hmm. I would surely never do anything to ruin it. Big Sis, that one looks great too! See? Over there!"

Then again, it was too easy for the little one amongst us to become excited with another animal. I'm glad that she isn't the type to be stuck on a gloomy topic.

Although many things aren't very great in the world, we must always return to look towards the positives to avoid having our minds swallowed by negative thoughts.

While I was busy in my own thoughts, I heard Celesta's shout from ahead of me,

"Oh, yeah... Carene? Don't fall back, okay? Try to keep up with us!"

Even Jorah sitting behind me began to call out to me,

"Big sister Carene! Faster~!"

Strangely, I could feel exhaustion creeping up my body and mind. If I recall my own body stamina, I could go for hours on end when it came to sex. However, when dealing with physical activities, my body quickly becomes exhausted, just like right now.

However... I don't wish to be a burden to Celesta or Jorah. I-I must not let them notice my body's condition.

Faster. Pedall even faster, Carene!

"Haah... haah... y-yeah. I'm on it..."

...

In the end though, even paddling hard had its limits, as the two of them quickly found out about my body's exhausted state. And when I stopped pedalling abruptly, the two girls soon realised the harshness of today's non-stop schedule on my body.

While panting heavily and trying to catch my breath, I resigned myself in the end and called out towards Jorah & Celesta.

"J-Jorah... Celesta... I'm... can't..."

Jorah got off the bicycle at my voice and approached me as she closely examined my sweating face, after which she herself exclaimed at Celesta,

"Eh? Big Sis! Big Sister Carene's state doesn't look good."

Celesta, who had stopped some distance from us, soon became alarmed and rushed closer towards our side.

"Oh..? C-Carene?!"

Before I could even think up excuses to downplay my state, Celesta had already hugged me and began to scream in panic,

"You should have told us earlier. Why did you have to push yourself this hard?"

Although my throat felt like it was on fire, I still needed to let them know that I was fine before they judged the matter to be bigger than it really was.

"I-It's nothing... I can... get used to... it..."

As I tried my best to throw out some sentient words, Celesta quickly retorted my words with her own,

"Stay quiet for now and have some water. You look totally dehydrated. Stopping to have something to drink wouldn't have been a bother to us, you know?"

Very soon, I had been laid down on the patch of grass near the trees while Celesta continued to sit next to me with a very concerned face.

"Sorry... for troubling you two like this. And Jorah, I... am sorry to have ruined your day. I wanted to..."

Celesta looked like she wanted to say a lot of things, but found it hard to speak them out at the moment. It was Jorah instead who was sitting on the other side of me who sighed greatly as she spoke with a sad tone,

"Big Sister Carene, I will be honest with you. I am really mad right now. But not due to our day being ruined or something like that. It's because of you disregarding your own well-being in consideration of our enjoyment. Please cherish yourself a bit more from now on, okay..?"

Celesta rubbed her eyes quickly as she too began to speak up,

"J-Jorah is right. Next time, don't hesitate to talk to us. For now though... I think we should end the trip here. How about you, Jorah?"

Jorah nodded confidently as she stretched her thin body in apparent boredom and spoke casually,

"Yeah. I've had enough sightseeing for today. And it's kind of becoming boring to just see them in the passing."

I guess our trip really became screwed up due to me. And these girls... rather than blaming me for it, they are trying their best while worrying so much about me.

I... really owe a lot to these two, it seems.

...

As our sweaty selves slowly bled out our enthusiasm from observing the wildlife, eventually we decided to call it a day.

Celesta was very glad with Jorah's decision as she nodded encouragingly and spoke with a smile,

"Good. I'm glad that you feel the same way. Don't worry though, since we can actually come back again some time later. After all, it's much more fun to go around with the three of us like this, right~?"

Hearing her elder sister say that, Jorah jumped in delight as she hugged Celesta super tightly and cheerfully spoke to her,

"Yeah~!! It's an awesome idea! But, Big Sister Carene, you must come along next time with us too. I am sure it will be a lot more fun than today."

Even now, she is still worried about me. I must act as an elder here at least.

"Oh... sure. I am totally fine with that."

Jorah giggled in delight as she began to recount her excited thoughts to Celesta.

"Ehehehe, it would be a great opportunity for you to be able to spend some time alone with Big Sis as well, right~?"

Celesta's face turned bright red as she lightly scolded Jorah with no actual anger,

"Jorah! You... I told you not to talk about that, right?"

Jorah winked at me once mysteriously before she flashed an apologetic smile at Celesta as she spoke,

"Sorry~~... Then, I think the next time the three of us shouldn't waste our time in the bird-watching area. I would have a lot more new fun ideas to try out for the next time."

...

After all, browsing through one-third of the zoo area was already a big achievement. After some persuasion from Celesta to visit again in a few weeks, Jorah became complacent as she excitedly began to plan out her next trip and her strategic route to conquer it.

"Okay, okay. Since we are all so exhausted, I declare it to be our Special lunch time now. Having a picnic lunch here in the zoo would certainly be a unique experience. What do you think, Jorah?"

Jorah seemed to completely agree with Celesta's sentiments as she quickly replied,

"I totally agree with that! Also, I remember to have spotted a good place nearby. Let's go there before anyone else gets it."

After Celesta checked my condition again, which had improved by a lot after half an hour's rest, she gently patted my head and spoke to me in a soft voice,

"Okay. Carene, you can ride with me for now. And, Jorah? Take care of the other bicycle for a bit, okay? Y would be fine by yourself, right?"

In response, Jorah smirked to herself and replied back in a cool and confident manner,

"No worries, no worries. I will be totally fine. Hehe. be careful Big Sis, or you will be left behind to taste the dust, okay?"

Facing the obvious provocation from her younger sibling, Celesta smiled fearlessly in response. After making sure that I had sat down safely, both of the girls nodded to each other as Celesta spoke pridefully at last,

"Oho~? Then let's see who can go faster!!"

...

Actually, it was really cute how she was so seriously engrossed in the task, making me realise that Jorah was still a little girl at heart, as she showed behaviour suiting to a lively fifteen-year-old girl. Her often displayed mature attitude had made me subconsciously treat her as an intellectual girl all of the time, but maybe I had failed to observe the childishness hidden deep within her.

As Celesta kept on pedalling faster and faster, she still looked back to observe me from time to time as she enquired,

"Carene? You are fine back there, right? You can grab me if you feel dizzy or something."

I had closed my eyes partially due to the strong wind hitting us and spoke absentmindedly,

"Y-Yeah? Then, I will accept your offer."

As my hands circled Celesta's waist, a sudden jerk made my hands slip down her stomach as they inevitably made me do something very strange.

"Ah! C-Carene... not there..."

Hearing Celesta scream abruptly, I woke up from my half-asleep state and realised my own grave error as I swiftly pulled back my hands and chose to apologise to Celesta before the matters became too big.

"Oh... sorry about that! My hand just slipped by itself. Sorry to have touched you there by mistake..."

Celesta was breathing very roughly as she gulped down her saliva a few times before she weakly replied to me,

"N-N-No, it's fine... Since it's you..."

Due to our high-speed movement, I could only catch half of her sentence, as I tried asking Celesta again,

"Huh? What did you say??"

Celesta's body jerked suddenly as she replied back in a flustered manner,

"N-Nothing! Be careful, Carene. Hold on tight. Jorah is already so ahead of us. We must not let that little girl get too ahead of herself!"

Seeing Celesta so engrossed in the little contest, I decided not to disturb her too much and replied simply,

"Oh... okay."

...

Having made up our minds to end our sightseeing, the turn finally came for us to engorge ourselves with Celsta's heartily prepared cooking.

Since she had woken up so early in the morning and had been cooking a lot of tasty dishes for the three of us, it was a perfect way to end our trip on a happy note. Certainly happiness for our tongue and tummy.

"Hehe. I win! See? I told you not to be so careless with me. Big Sis. I am totally awesome today, right~~?"

Jorah was already posing mightily, as proud as a peacock as she flaunted her victory while smiling smugly at Celesta, who had arrived a bit later. However, I could confidently say that it was probably due to considerations towards me that Celesta actually held back too much.

Celesta rolled her eyes at her sister's arrogant display and chose to focus on the task at hand.

"Yeah, yeah. You win this time. Happy? And, is this spot your talking about?"

Hearing Celesta mention that, Jorah recalled their objective as well, as she quickly replied back,

"Oh... yes! Did you see how amazing it really is? It's in the shade, and it is not too wet either. I am sure that having our lunch here would be totally fine!"

Celesta turned to observe the place for a moment before she turned towards me and asked,

"You are right. What do you think, Carene?"

Well, I couldn't tell the difference between this place and the one before but still chose to agree with them as I nodded in agreement.

"Ah... it looks good to me too."

Jorah laughed in delight as she hugged Celesta's arm and spoke in a spoiling manner,

"Then, it's settled! Hey, Big Sis, my tummy is rumbling. I am really hungry right now. Let's have our lunch quickly... okay?"

Celesta smiled full of affection towards Jorah, while she also turned towards me and spoke,

"Sure. Come sit with me, Carene. Jorah you can sit here too."

Jorah instantly sat down at the designated place as she rubbed her own belly pitifully and spoke,

"Ehehehe... my tummy is going crazy with anticipation! Big Sis, you surely kicked off a feast today for us, right? Didn't you~?"

Jorah had been really anticipating the tasty dishes cooked by Celesta and quickly began to devour most of her favourite stuff. Even if she was childishly enjoying herself with the food, with her being a very cute young girl, it was still very pleasing to watch.

Celesta too, was very happy as she watched her little sibling enjoy her hand-cooked meal. When I felt her expectant eyes turn towards me, I too, began to fill myself with the tasty treat placed in front of me.

...

A/N: New games are a lot of fun!

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