Hajime watched everything, brow raised, and thought, [Well, that escalated quickly.]
Now, he understands the source of that meat, making it impossible for him to ask for some; it would be highly inappropriate and potentially dangerous.
He could imagine an angry Tohru chasing him while unleashing her fire breath as he ran for his life.
[Let's forget it. Although.] he looked at Tio with a side eye.
[Nah, let's forget it.]
Hajime decided to forget about the meat part and focus on the marriage part. As a friend, he needs to congratulate his friend on being married. Thinking that, he nodded to himself.
"Congratulations."
Hearing my congratulations, Rihito looked at me with tired eyes and then turned away to deal with the girls.
Right then, Hajime felt a tug from his right side. He looked at Yue with questioning eyes.
Before he could ask anything, Yue spoke up.
"Let's get married," Yue said with a flat but serious tone.
"..."
Hajime, noticing Yue's longing and seriousness in her tone, nodded, "Sure, I intend to do that. We will get married after we get back to my world."
Kaori, seated across from Hajime, overheard everything and felt flustered and jealous.
"Wait! Hold on a minute. M-marriage? Isn't this too early?" Kaori's voice came out in a fluster.
Yue looked at Kaori with a smile, "Early for you, maybe, but not for me."
Hearing the tone, Kaori glared at Yue.
"What do you say?"
Yue smiled without looking away and said, "You heard me."
With that, they both started bickering, which had become a common thing between them at this point. Even Hajime said nothing and continued enjoying his food.
Tio, looking at the empty plate in front of Hajime, thought of something.
"Master, how about you…"
"Shut up! Don't ruin my appetite," Hajime instantly cut Tio off.
"Ehh!? B-but I didn't even say anything," Tio said in a wronged tone.
…
Rihito rubbed his head with a headache.
I looked at Shea, who was glaring at Tohru, shakingly pointing his finger. "Why you?"
As for Tohru, she had a smug grin that said, 'I have one over on you.'
"..."
My attention then went over to Shizuku, who was muttering with vacant eyes, "It can't be. Again, I was left behind…"
[Sigh]
Rihito expected Tohru to make her move eventually, but he didn't think it would be this soon. He should have seen it coming; eating that meat from Tohru was some kind of bizarre marriage ritual he had never known about.
[Guess I have to man up and salvage this situation. It's time to face the music.]
He first gets close towards Shizuku. "Shizuku."
She looked at Rihito with those vacant eyes.
"After we get to Erisen. Let's go on a date. All that marriage talk is too early for now. We have plenty of time to think about marriage after returning to our world."
Shizuku heard that. Her vacant eyes refocused. Understanding what he said, she replied with a slight blush, "Okay, but don't forget it? ok."
"I won't," calming Shizuku, I looked at the other two still bickering.
"Alright, you two, calm down."
Shea looked at Rihito, "No!! It's not fair. I also wanted to get married to you."
Rihito grabbed Shea's hand and pulled her into a hug. "You know I do intend to marry you, right? With a proper ceremony and with everyone as witnesses. So, for that to happen, can you wait?" he said sincerely.
"Really?" Shea asked with a visible flush.
"Of course."
"Hehehe…" Shea giggled, thinking about their future.
After calming Shea, I turned around and looked at Tohru.
"You know, I would have preferred a heads-up before the sudden marriage," I said, tiredly rubbing my head.
"Master, are you mad?" Tohru asked, looking worried. There were also slight tears in her eyes.
[Sigh]
"Tohru, I am not mad," I said, rubbing her tears away.
"Really."
"Does this mean you will be my mate?" she asked with hopeful eyes.
"Yeah."
[Well, it's not like I would have rejected her. Though I have one question.]
"Just one question. Why did you choose me, a human?" I looked at Tohru, curious to know the answer.
Tohru smiled. "That's a secret." She then turned around and skipped away.
"A secret, huh?" Rihito shrugged his shoulders. Well, he would think about that later. At least now he had calmed the girls.
Rihito then glanced at Myu, who was joyfully eating as if she hadn't heard any of the drama around her. Well, that was because Rihito had placed a silent barrier, keeping all the drama away. As a little child, she didn't need to hear anything about these things.
I sat in my seat and watched Myu happily eating. With a snap, I lifted the barrier.
With this, for a while, "I don't have to deal with a headache," Rihito thought. Or so he thought.
As I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, I robotically turned around and saw Shizuku smiling ominously while squeezing my shoulder.
"So, am I a headache now?"
Rihito, feeling a cold sweat, spoke out, "Did I say that out loud?"
"..."
Rihito didn't need anyone to answer that. By how Shizuku was smiling. He knew he did.
At this moment, he only had one thought [Seriously, give me a break.]
…
The Next Day, Early Morning
"Alright, everyone, let's get going," Hajime said, walking towards the large submarine resembling a somewhat mechanical shark.
==IMG==
"Wow? It's so big." Myu ran towards the submarine in excitement and wonder.
"Papa, Big brother, what is that?" She asked in excitement.
Hajime smiled at Myu and said, "This is a submarine. It will take us to Erisen."
"Wow, really?" Myu looked at Hajime with sparkling eyes.
"It's awesome! Did you and Papa make that?" she excitedly asked.
"Yeah," I nodded.
Hajime, feeling the praise of Myu, smiled at her as she ran towards the submarine.
Seeing her go, the girls went after her, making sure she didn't get hurt.
"Alright, we should head out", I called out.
Hajime then looked at me. "According to you, how much time will it take?"
"About 6 hours, give or take," Rihito said, scratching his chin.
"So, we should reach their till noon," Hajime said, sitting on the captain's seat.
"Yeah," I acknowledged.
Hajime pushed the lever as the submarine advanced toward the Erisen, where the 4th labyrinth, 'The Sunken Ruins of Melusine,' awaited conquest.
…
Chapter end
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==Insert IMG of something that can make me laugh==
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