Chapter 14
Although the three of us walking home at night wasn’t scary at all… now that it’s bedtime, and I think about the corpse we saw tonight… even as a boy, my heart is still pounding.
“Fei’er, I’m wearing the nightgown you bought me today! Is it pretty?”
“So scary.”
“Eh?” Qifeng stared at me, stunned.
“No, no, no! I wasn’t talking about you! I meant, seeing a corpse today… it was so scary.”
Qifeng put a fist to her lips, her face shy. “I… I thought you were talking about… m-me…”
“Eek, what’s with that! Besides, where did you even learn a word like ‘that’?”1
I glanced at Qifeng. In that pink, fluffy nightgown… she was so cute I couldn’t look away. I… kind of regretted not buying one for myself.
If we wore matching ones, it would really show off our ‘childhood friend’ status, right?
“Qifeng, aren’t you scared? As an Inspector, you’re probably a bit braver than I am.”
“But… having a criminal I was about to arrest die right in front of me… I’ve never experienced that before. Honestly, I’m more scared than both of you. But… it’s a good thing I’m not sleeping alone. I have you with me, Fei’er.”
“That’s true.”
Qifeng and I have each other, so of course we’re not scared.
But… what about Lian Qi?
She saw the body today, too. Is she… really not scared, sleeping all alone?
“But… I don’t know if Lian Qi is scared.”
“Eh? Silly girl, how did you read my mind? I’m worried about her, too.”
“Hehe.” Hearing me say that, she just grinned. “Lian Qi’s a girl, too. There’s no way she’s not scared, right?”
… (The provided text for this chapter contains a large number of empty lines, which have been omitted.) fix …
Qifeng said to me, fidgeting, “Fei’er, why don’t we… go ask her to come up?”
“Eh, eh, eh???”
I stared at Qifeng in amazement.
“You mean… the three of us… sleep together?”
“Yeah. Since you’re worried Lian Qi is scared, just ask her to come up and sleep with us. The bed is big enough, anyway. We can just squeeze a little~”
Um. Um.
Me, Qifeng, and Lian Qi… the three of us sleeping together… that’s something I’d never even thought of!!!
And I never would have imagined Qifeng would be the one to suggest it. I don’t know what word to use to describe her. Is it… “generous”? But… if Qifeng is okay with it…
Then I… have no reason to object.
“Since you’re okay with it, I’ll go downstairs and ask Lian Qi if she wants to.”
“I’ll go with you~”
I didn’t think Qifeng would be this enthusiastic.
Just like that, Qifeng and I went down the stairs, one after the other, to the first floor. I knocked on the bedroom door, found it was unlocked, and pushed it open gently. The light inside was still on. Lian Qi sat up in bed, staring at Qifeng and me in surprise.
“What’s… wrong with you two?”
“Lian Qi, are you sleeping with the light on because you’re scared?”
“Scared—? I… of course not. The light is on because I wasn’t ready to sleep yet.”
She was clearly already lying down to sleep. Such a liar.
I stood in the doorway. Just then, Qifeng peeked out from behind me, made a “whispering” gesture, and said to Lian Qi, “Fei’er came all the way downstairs just to ask… if you want the three of us to sleep together.”
“Eh, eh!? Silly girl, you, you, you—”
She just… said it directly!
I was so ashamed! She didn’t give me any room to soften the blow!
“Huh?” Lian Qi had a baffled look on her face. “What kind of stunt are you two pulling?”
“Qifeng and I… we’re both really scared from seeing the body tonight. So… we just wanted to ask if you… wanted to sleep together.”
I said it, blushing. This is the first time… I’ve ever… made this kind of request to Lian Qi.
“You don’t have to worry about the bed being too small. Even with three people, it won’t be crowded,” Qifeng added, backing me up.
“It’s not that I’m worried about the bed. I’m just… surprised that Fei’er would be the one to suggest it.”
As Lian Qi spoke, she looked at me with a teasing gaze, making me too embarrassed to look her in the eye.
“So… are you willing…?”
Lian Qi chuckled. “Sure. If you and Qifeng don’t mind, then I certainly don’t see a problem.”
I thought to myself: Hmph. Qifeng is right here. I’d like to see you try to do anything to me!
And so, Lian Qi, in her pajamas and carrying her pillow, came with us.
Back in my bedroom, Lian Qi lightly tossed her pillow onto my bed. “Then I’ll sleep on the right.”
“I’ll take the left~!” Qifeng raised her hand high.
We hadn’t even lied down, and two-thirds of my bed was already claimed. I said helplessly, “I just knew I’d be the one sleeping in the middle.”
But, thinking about it, I’m kind of the “bridge” between Lian Qi and Qifeng. So sleeping in the middle isn’t wrong… As long as no one misunderstands and thinks I have “one on each arm.”
The three of us gathered on the bed, sitting up. You look at me, I look at you… The atmosphere is a little awkward. Sleeping with just Qifeng is fine… but adding Lian Qi… it feels a little embarrassing…
In the end, it was Qifeng who broke the silence— “Since we’re not sleepy yet, it’s fine! I propose we play a game!”
Eh? I thought. As expected of Qifeng. To think of using a game to bring everyone closer and ease the awkward atmosphere.
“Oh? Does your world have anything like playing cards? Playing cards in bed is a good option,” Lian Qi said.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have any…”
“How about… a pillow fight?” Qifeng said, patting her pillow eagerly.
“A pillow fight?”
“A three-way free-for-all?”
Qifeng’s suggestion is very advantageous for me. After all, there’s not much difference between a pillow fight and Whack-a-Mole. I raised both hands in agreement. That makes the vote two-to-one.
Seeing this, Lian Qi also quickly agreed. A violent game like this is to her advantage, after all. Hmph. As if I don’t know what she’s thinking. She would never pass up such a good opportunity to “grind me into the bed,” right?
“But! I’m declaring this now! No magic allowed!” I said firmly.
No… Lian Qi hitting me with a magic-infused pillow is no joke…
“Hmph. Fine, I won’t,” Lian Qi said, looking like she already had victory in the bag.
I feel like that girl… is definitely going to attack me first. And Qifeng, too. She loves roughhousing with me. I clutched my pillow, thinking… I have to be ready to fight both of them at once.
“Okay, I’ll count to three, and then we start!”
The moment the battle began, I used the god-like skills I’d honed playing Whack-a-Mole, and flattened Qifeng onto the bed with one pillow strike.
“Huh? What the…” Lian Qi looked a little dumbfounded.
Hmph. You’re always bullying me. Today, I finally get my revenge! I grabbed my pillow and unleashed my ultimate move on Lian Qi: “Continuous Ordinary Bonks.” Pillows rained down on her, beating her so relentlessly she had no chance to fight back, and couldn’t even get up.
Goose feathers flew everywhere. There’s… not a single worthy opponent. I got a little carried away, spinning my pillow just like I spin my hammer.
Lian Qi watched the pillow spin like a windmill in my hand, spat out a goose feather, and seemed unable to comprehend her defeat. “What… what is that technique???”
“Hmph-hmph,” I laughed smugly. “Now you know how strong I am, right?”
I feel like I’ve just become famous from this one battle. From now on, no one will ever dare to have a pillow fight with me again.
After that round of bloody slaughter, we finally used up our excess energy and could sleep peacefully. I slept in the middle. Qifeng slept on my right, hugging my arm, and quickly fell into a sweet sleep. I glanced at Lian Qi, sleeping on my left. She had been staring at the ceiling, but she turned her face, and our eyes met. In that instant, I saw her… awkwardly look away. I wonder if she was blushing?
I could tell she was a little nervous. It’s probably embarrassing to sleep together for the first time… She’s not acting like her usual self.
Of course… I’m the one sandwiched in the middle. I’ve been embarrassed from the very beginning!
Footnotes
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The text
问.问....(wèn…wèn…) is a clear euphemism. Based on Kefei’er’s embarrassed reaction, Qifeng is implying he thought she was asking for it or looked “sexy.” The ambiguity is intentional. ↩