Appetite

Leonel almost couldn't refrain from laughing as he watched Aina run away like a frightened rabbit. Even a while after she had disappeared into the room she chose, he could still feel the softness of her frame. 

Behind the closed door, Aina slipped down to the floor, her face a beet shade of red. Her heart beat wildly and completely out of her control. It made her breathing seem somewhat erratic and anxious. 

The last time she had been so intimate with Leonel… her legs had been blown off. So, it was safe to say that she wasn't really thinking about how embarrassed she should or shouldn't have been. 

But this time, there wasn't such a looming elephant in the room. It was almost too much for her to bear. 

It was only a long while later that Aina's heart finally calmed. Ironically, it was because she could hear the same moving waters Leonel had just moments ago. Just listening to them made her feel the same peace Leonel had. 

Aina reached a hand toward one of her military pockets and pulled out a cracked bracelet. 

It was quite funny. Considering all the treasures she had, a mere C-grade defensive treasure was practically useless garbage. But, other than her ax, this had been one of the only things she managed to hold on to in her injured state back then. 

She looked at the bracelet until the sudden end to the rushing waters woke her up. She quickly put it away, the hazy look in her eyes clearing. 

At that moment, a knock came from her door. Unsurprisingly, it was Leonel. He was the only other one in the Abode Setting to begin with. But, what Aina hadn't expected was that when she opened the door a black blur would suddenly pounce at her. 

Her first instinct was to reach for her ax, but she instantly realized that she had taken it off her back. She felt safe in this place so she wasn't constantly on her guard. 

It wasn't long after that she realized that even if her ax had been on her back, she wouldn't have been able to get to it in time. This black blur was simply too fast. 

A strong force collided with Aina's chest, causing her to take a step back. But, when she looked down, she found and adorable little mink using its small claws to latch onto a few of her countless pockets. 

Little Blackstar, seemingly feeling a familiar intimacy with Aina through his connection with Leonel treated her like a playmate too. Unfortunately, though Aina was stronger physically than Leonel, her body's defenses were far weaker. So, what would be a playful nudge to Leonel almost knocked Aina's breath away. 

"Little Blackstar." Leonel reprimanded. 

There wasn't much he could do about the little mink. The little guy was simply too fast… It also didn't help that Blackstar treated Leonel like his pet rather than the other way around. This left Leonel feeling somewhat helpless. 

Aina took a deep breath to recover before looking down at the little mink. A light smile played her features as she slowly reached a hand forward to pat Blackstar's small little head. 

"This is your beast partner?" Aina asked. 

"Mhm." Leonel nodded. "The little guy is pretty powerful but is too playful. I thought that he was growing more mature because he started to take more naps recently, but now he's back to his usual antics."

Aina blinked curiously, gathering the adorable little mink in her arms. Blackstar seemed to quickly realized that compared to around Leonel's neck and the top of his head, Aina's chest was the much more comfortable place to be. It wasn't long before the little guy showed no intention of returning. 

"How did you manage to contract him?" 

"Well…" Leonel scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. After some hesitation, he finally told the truth. 

"—Pchu!"

Aina couldn't refrain from laughing, her light giggle tickling Leonel's ear drums. 

"Hey, hey. Is there a need to laugh so hard? We share a relationship of equals." Leonel said defiantly. 

"Mhm, mhm." Aina nodded but continued to play with the little mink, a happy smile on her face. 

Leonel sighed as he watched this scene. It seemed that not only did he lose his beast partner to Aina's chest, he lost Aina to the little mink. Life truly wasn't fair. 

…

The next few moments between the two were quite peaceful. 

Within the dining area of the Abode Setting, Leonel brought out some of the foods he had bought before leaving Terrain. However, Leonel was shocked to find that Aina didn't only match him in how much she ate, but she even somewhat surpassed him. 

Leonel had spent months within a Zone with Aina, but he hadn't noticed this before at all. After a while of thought, though, he understood. And when he did, he felt somewhat bad. 

In the Joan Zone, he and Aina had always hunted for their own food. Since he was the long ranged attacker amongst the two of them, it obviously fell onto his shoulders. But, he always only captured one beast. 

He would always take most of the beast and leave behind what he thought would fulfill Aina's appetite, not realizing that he was underfeeding her at all. 

This time, however, because he was curious about Terrain's cuisine – after all, this was the first time he was tasting another world's food – he had brought back way too much, thinking he could just store whatever was left within one of the snowglobes to preserve it until next time. 

However, what he had never thought of was the possibility that between the two of them, clearing out such a large amount of food was a simple task. 

Learning this about Aina didn't make Leonel like her any less. In fact, he felt happy once again because he was learning more and more about her the longer he spent with her. 

He didn't apologize for his mistakes in the past, he just etched this into his mind. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. 

At the same time, he made a mental note to be more observant in the future. For whatever reason, Aina didn't seem to like to divulge such things openly. It would be up to him to decode this beauty. 

"Hm?"

Aina looked up with a cute and innocent look in her eye. But, contrasted with the massive beast leg she held in her hand, Leonel couldn't help but smile at the adorable image. 

Though the beast leg was larger than half Aina's body, Leonel was certain that it would probably only take Aina half an hour at most to wipe it clean. 

Leonel shook his head. 

"We should talk about the Fort and how to approach it." Leonel said. 

Aina paused mid-bite. The truth was that she too wanted to take down Royal Blue Fort, she also had friends within. But, they had to think of the normal citizens as well. If things devolved the way it did last time, they would be doing more harm than good. 

So, how should they do things this time?