“YOU really, truly, absolutely, positively did something utterly worthless!”
“Yahh, yahh! Ih haahts! Uyaaah!”
In the dark, cold prison cell, Nichika was pushed up against the wall with her cheeks pinched by a furious Oswald. He let go of her cheeks with a crisp snap, causing her to fall onto the pile of hay.
Arms crossed, her master let her in on a truth that never occurred to her. “As long as I was safe, I could’ve come to rescue you later.”
“Oh yeah!”
“Hare-brain…” Sighing, he commenced examining every nook and cranny of the cell. Crouching, he touched the stone wall. “None of that matters until we escape,” he said, putting aside his annoyance for the time being.
“Can we escape?”
“Leave that to me. I’m used to breaking out of jail.”
“How many times have you been put in jail?!” Nichika quipped loudly. She took a good look around their cell.
It was more like a remodeled barn than a jailhouse. The walls were made of cut stones and the floor was just bare, hard dirt. The only window was protected by a solid grate on the outside, and the setting sun shone behind the cloudy sky. Nichika shoved to her feet and began inspecting the cell in hopes of finding something that could assist their escape.
“Anyways, why do you think that redhead is imitating me?” she asked the biggest question plaguing her.
“Just goes to show how famous and important the Spirit Priestess has become,” Oswald answered with his back turned to her. “It’s not that strange for people to exploit it for what it’s worth.”
“What about her weird concert?”
“Yeah, I’ve got no idea.”
What’s the benefit of acting like an idol and gathering groupies? I don’t get it…
“Aggggggh! Now what?” she groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I’m going to become the fake at this rate. They took away the magic orb, too.”
“Why not just throw all your responsibilities on that faker? Give her the staff and be done with it,” he suggested so casually her head shot up.
“Don’t even joke about it! I can’t go back home if I don’t fulfill my mission!”
“Do you really have to go home that bad?”
“Bad, bad, bad idea. The world is in a pinch. Besides, it’s my motto to finish what I start—wait, what?” Nichika lifted her gaze from the dirt floor. That brooding black back was silently examining the stone wall without glancing her way.
Is that his way of asking me not to leave?
What did his face look like when he said it? What did he mean by those words? Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Her heart paraded so loud she feared he could hear it in their quiet cell.
“U-Umm…” She worked up the nerve to ask when the stone in his hand moved.
“Yes!” Oswald jiggled the stone around, not caring that his apprentice was banging her head against the opposite wall. “I was right again. Wherever there’s a wall where the stones have been slapped on top of each other without much thought, there will always be one that’s loose.”
“…I hate you,” she cursed under her breath and peered at the loose stone over his shoulder.
The stone wobbled unstably and looked easy to pull out with some effort. From there they could remove some of the surrounding stones to make a hole big enough for a person to crawl through.
While Nichika was thinking about unhelpful things such as how it felt like they were playing Jenga, Oswald was thoughtfully rubbing his chin between his fingers.
“The guard only comes by once every thirty minutes, so he won’t be here for a bit. I’d still like some extra headway time, though…”
“Before they find out we escaped?”
“Yeah. I want to stall the guard here. Now to find what I can draw their attention with…” Oswald paused and stared at Nichika. Getting nothing but bad vibes from that intent look, she slowly stepped away.
“Wh-What? G-Going to make me do something weird again?”
“……”
Oswald offered a small smile in place of a response. Chills snaked down her spine.
“Eeek! D-Don’t come near me!” she shrieked to keep him at bay.
“Aw, come now. Don’t say that. You haven’t had your medicine yet, have you?”
“I still have some candies left, so I’m goo—ooph!”
Her back hit the stone wall. She had nowhere left to run. Oswald rested his left arm on the wall next to her face, and inserted his leg between hers, effectively cutting off all escape.
“Ah…”
His pretty blue eyes reflected the dull sunset, creating an enchanting color. The man gazed into the girl’s captivated eyes and he whispered in the sweetest, most tantalizing voice next to her ear.
“Moan as sensually as you can.”
Twilight enhanced the shadows. Nichika’s eyes bulged so wide they could’ve fallen out. Oswald chuckled and stroked her supple cheek. She quivered under his touch. His hand trailed a path down her smooth skin to her neck and cupped the back of her head. Her cheeks stained scarlet and her tightly shut eyelids fluttered from that simple touch.
“Hiyaah…”
Dropping a light kiss on the nape of her neck drew out a stifled moan. He captured the hand she tried to cover her mouth with and pinned it against the wall.
“You don’t have to hold it in,” he assured in a sultry voice.
But Nichika swung her head back and forth, fully conveying her hesitance. Seeing her reaction made him think.
His apprentice seemed to be embarrassed or ashamed of sexual pleasure. He wasn’t sure if that was due to her character or the teachings of this Japan she said she came from. The number of times he had touched her since they met exceeded what could be counted on both hands, and yet she resisted him every time.
Even though you’re totally into it, too.
Sure, she resisted at first, but as he went on she always melted in his arms. For a sadist like Oswald, he couldn’t deny cajoling her out of this stubbornness brought him a unique kind of pleasure. Of course, if she really rejected him or made it clear she didn’t want him to, he let her go. It’s just that she never did completely push him away.
After keeping her in suspense with his feathery kisses along her neck, he brought his face close enough their foreheads almost touched.
“By the way, what were you trying to ask me before?” he enticed.
Her eyes snapped open, but she dropped her heated gaze to the dirt floor, careful not to look him in the eye. He gently pulled her head closer and let his husky, low voice tickle the side of her ear.
“What I said means exactly what it sounds like. You don’t have to go back to your world. Stay with me forever.”
“!”
Aiming for that momentary drop in her resistance, he buried his face in her neck. The girl’s distinct rosy scent tickled his nose, and he tamped down the impulse to devour her right here and now. Not yet. It wasn’t enough for her.
Softly running his hand over her abdomen, he promised, “I’ll do something about the seed rooted in your stomach. Stay with me, smiling without a care in the world.”
“Without a care in the world? That’s not very nice…”
He wrapped both arms around her, preventing her from sliding down the wall as she melted with his touch.
“W-We can’t,” she breathed. “Now’s not the time for this…”
Contrary to her weak protests, she twined her fingers about his neck and pressed herself against the hard wall of his chest. He deeply indulged in her sweet, cherry blossom colored lips, focusing on all the sensitive spots. He slanted his mouth over hers again and again, and she moaned.
Making out with her brought him inexplicable pleasure he associated with dirtying a freshly cleaned shirt right out of the laundry. The girl in his arms was too pure. She shone so bright she lit up the world around him. Dirtying her until she fell to his level was the only way someone as filthy as Oswald could touch her. Between their kisses exploring each other’s mouths from different angles, the lack of oxygen in Oswald’s brain made him absently think, Drown in your pleasure and fall to my level…
Shallow. Deep. Long. Short. Through their various kisses, Nichika got the hang of it and returned his kisses in kind. All reason melted away with her pleasure, and her enraptured moans echoed off the cold jail walls. The silver thread connecting them snapped.
“R-Really?” she panted.
“Hm?”
Nichika lifted her head just as he was putting his hand under her jacket. Oswald stopped and asked what she was seeking confirmation of with his stunning blue eyes.
Out of breath and quivering from her exertions, she clarified in a raspy voice, “You need me, not the Spirit Priestess?”
Her heart-stopping eyes begged him to need her, and her expression was the most arousing thing he had ever seen. Cheeks awash in heat with her desire for him, the thin, translucent tendril slipping from the corner of her lips came down her chin, onto her soft, white chest.
“Oswald…”