God Of Crafting

Waking up, I already knew I couldn't be back at my place.

The cushions… were just too soft, too comfortable, too relaxing.

And the bed back at my home was nowhere near this kind of quality, making my brain scatter for clues long before I actually opened up my eyes.

But the more awake I grew, the worse and worse the situation became.

'This isn't just the bed alone that's so comfortable, is it?' I asked myself, using the slow breaths of my acted-out sleep-breathing pattern to slowly drive my nerves to a fake-out calm.

'Well, whatever it is, I can't really change the reality by ignoring it, can I now?'

This was exactly how I grew up to be, to be a small man who would rather run from responsibilities than face them head-on, despite all of my parents' attempts to set me on the straight path.

As it turned out, it took a whole, full year of being beaten up at the institution - I believe the guys at the institution called it "breaking someone in" - for me to grow up a bit and start facing the world as a man should.

And with this very approach, I breathed out before slowly driving my eyes open.

Nothing jumped on me the moment I revealed I was no longer asleep.

No army of police and layers surrounded me to charge me for an assault, breaking into this unknown place, and then making me rot in the prison for the rest of my days.

Chihiro didn't come out of the shadow the moment I opened my eyes either, nor did any of his cultivator henchmen, ready to punish me for all the things I did to his daughter.

No.

All I had to face as I woke up… Was Claire-ritto, still going strong since I rolled it up, with the sole exception of Claire's face now sinking below the layers of the blanket and leaving only a thin line of her face, right at the level of her eyes, above the cloth she was wrapped in.

'How cute…' I couldn't stop myself from thinking just this one thing as I looked down and started into those big, brown, startled eyes of hers.

With her face hidden like that, Claire looked like some sort of a scared yet still curious animal, looking me up and down with those eyes of hers while keeping the rest of herself safely hidden in the blanket.

'I guess that's when I cross, waking up next to a world-class beauty off my to-do list, huh?' I thought while slowly coming to the realization that Claire-ritto was still in the very same spot as she was when we went to sleep… simply because my left arm was still wrapped over it, holding the whole thing in place and disallowing Claire any chance at escape.

"Morning…"

In the end, no matter how startling or new it was, this was going to be our new reality… That is unless Chihiro came storming in to pluck my heart, eyes, and balls out for the great sin of getting down and dirty with his daughter, a possibility I still considered as real and likely as the next most ordinary event under the sun.

But rather than worrying about Claire's father who still has yet to reveal his presence here, I opted to focus on two things.

First, Claire who was right within my reach, and then the process of daily life… Or, in other words, the usual grind that kept calling my name, especially with how much importance both this cute piece of an animal from the last night and her father put to my abilities and potential.

'I wouldn't want to disappoint them, huh?' I thought, still waiting for Claire's reaction to my greeting, only to soon come to the realization I wasn't getting any. And as I looked down to see if she was actually awake… our eyes met.

The startled expression was still there, lingering in her eyes… Alongside the sparks of curiosity, a barely visible blush of excitement on her cheeks, excitement expressed how one of her hands somehow made it out of the blanked-based burrito and ended up pressing against my chiseled abdomen as her fingers traced the outlines of my muscles.

'To think all those years of hard training would come and gain their worth in such an unexpected way…'

Just the momentary, entranced gaze of this girl as it fell upon my well-maintained body made all the efforts necessary to obtain it, justified… No, worth the end result.

And her startled look whenever her fingers would press slightly harder against my muscles only for excitement to nearly blow out from her eyes as she looked up, as if to share it with me, only to be slapped with a fresh dose of embarrassment and have her expression revert to that of a startled animal…

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I closed my eyes and snuck my right arm underneath Claire-ritto, all in a bid to pull her closer to my chest, gently pressing her head against my exposed torso that she was checking out so intently just a second before. "Are you in any pain? Can you move? Or maybe you came to regret everything that happened yester…"

"No!" Out of nowhere, Claire suddenly perked up, even going as far as to raise her head and thus deprive her face of the protection of the blanket that, as all in the world knew, was the greatest form of defense against monsters and nightmares.

Yet, by looking up, Claire's face ended up just an inch away from mine… And what was even worse for her and better for me… Or actually worse for my heart as well, all of the emotions I managed to make out from just the sliver of her face were now in full display, all for my eyes to savor and for my heart to melt down as I did.

"I do not regret it!" Claire stated out loud and clear… Only for her cheeks to then cover in an even more intense hue of red. "I-I… I w-was just… unsure on how to act now that we… y-you know…"

It was a whole new experience for me to watch this confident and bubbly girl suddenly grow so timid and restrained. To hide her face as much as she hid her body, despite how we couldn't bare ourselves any further to each other than how we did it back in the bath…

"And you are not sure how to act?" I asked, leaning my head down only for my heart to melt down when Claire timidly brought her gaze down as well, as to avoid my eyes, before gently nodding her head up and down.

'Just what kind of a cute animal is this?' I thought as my desire to protect this adorable burrito exploded in my heart.

'I'm a simple man, huh?' I thought, gritting my teeth as I realized that if this was all but a honey-trap… then I swallowed the bait, the hook, and the line of it.

Then again, was it wrong for me to quickly grow a soft spot for a girl that cute and, if my memories served me right, that… willing?

'No.'

My mood suddenly worsened… Or should I say, grew more serious?

'Even if she's willing because of her position in this situation, her role… Abusing this sort of convenience will only bring us pain in the long term. Even if she served herself to me on a silver platter, I still need to make sure I'm worthy of every bit of affection she will show me!'

This thought aside… I still ended up hugging Claire-ritto to my chest, struggling to deal with just how precious she was in the moment.

"I mean, I'm the same, am I not?" I muttered after taking my sweet time to react to Claire's worries. "Strip away the brave front, and I'm scared little virg… Well, I guess I'm not one anymore, but that doesn't change I have no idea how to deal with having such a beautiful and nice girl right next to me as I wake up."

Moving my left hand, I snuck it within the warps of Claire-ritto, all for the sake of reaching the back of her head and then brushing my fingers through her hair in a bid to calm her down a bit and fill her soul with a sense of reassurance.

"So, how about we both just… take it slow and try to figure out how to live our new lives one step at a time?"

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