✦ ✦ ✦
Lew stared at it resentfully as Shii cast a healing spell on her. It wasn’t an attack, you doofus. Just pure carelessness on your part.
“It’s no fun getting hurt by something like this, so you all better be careful.”
Despite the minor accident, Leila and Nell took the lead in assembling the tent, since the former was quick to figure out how to put things together and the latter was used to them thanks to her job. After that, it didn’t take long for us to finish.
“We’re done!”
“Yaaay!”
“Nice...and spacious.”
“Okay, we’ll start by putting out enough futons for everyone...”
I went inside and took out the right number of futons from Inventory, laying them down with a poof. I’d considered sleeping bags to really set the mood, but I didn’t think they’d be comfortable to sleep in, so I’d decided against them and gone with regular futons. Discomfort meant fatigue and stress. No thanks. I’d bought something else too, though.
“And for the pièce de résistance—a buttload of cushions!”
“Wooow!”
“Wooow!”
“Wow...”
I pulled a bunch from Inventory and scattered them all over the place. The little-girl gang went wild, squealing and jumping into the piles.
“Again you waste your DP on such frivolity... What, pray tell, will you do with all this?”
Lefi propped her hands on her hips and sighed in exasperation.
“Sorry, sorry. I just couldn’t help it... Ha! Did you really think I’d say that?! Take my cushion beam to the— Whaaat?!”
Lefi foiled my surprise attack by grabbing the cushion I threw at her.
“You naive fool! Have you no notion how obvious you are?! Now you take my ‘reflect on your wasteful spending’ beam!”
“Gaaaaah!”
Since it was just a cushion, it wouldn’t hurt no matter how hard she threw it. But the “reflect on your wasteful spending” part hit me like a truck. I stumbled in shock and retreated from the sheer force of her attack.
The kids grinned as they watched us.
“Troops! Looks like we’re about to engage in a cushion war instead of a pillow fight!”
“Commander Iluna! Corporal Shii reporting for duty! I’s ready to go!”
“Corporal...En here. Preparations for cushion bombing are complete.”
Holding cushions in both hands and eyes sparkling, they were ready to fire. The wraith triplets, still possessing their dolls, were also whizzing around happily while holding cushions. Rei, in particular, was raring to go with how many cushions she had floating in the air using her telekinesis. Oh yeah, she was gonna be the one to watch out for on this battlefield.
“Ha ha! Okay, then I’ll join in too! Take this!”
The First Cushion War. The one who started it all was the hero, Nell. The one who took the hit was Lew, standing next to her.
“Ahhh! I’m down! Time for me to counter— Joke’s on you! Here’s a surprise attack instead!”
“Oh dear, you got me, Lew. I suppose I’ll have to join in as well, then. What do you say to this?!”
“Mwa ha ha! Thus do we commence the First Cushion War!”
“Troops, charge!”
“Chaaarge!”
“Saboteur...En. Cushion trap setup complete.”
“Whoa! Ha ha ha! Dang, you got me!”
The little girls charged at me with their cushions, and we all fell backward on the stack of futons behind me.
“Strike now, wee ones! It is your chance to bury him alive in that pile of cushions!”
“Oh nooo! I’m done for!”
After they did exactly what Lefi commanded, I stood up and began my counterattack. And so, we enjoyed throwing cushions at each other for a good while. The women hard-focused me. By my estimate, I probably took three times as many hits as the kids. Going for this big-ass tent had been the right choice after all.