I dare not make a move.
There is a (cute) devilish monster that is currently occupying my side.
If I budge even a millimeter I risk waking the monster from its slumber.
Oh, this monster just so happens to be Ray. Who, if you didn't know, is my girlfriend. Also, she is super cute. Especially when she is curled up into my side and her hair is going absolutely everywhere. Her beautiful platinum blonde hair is now shoulder-blade length.
If I should wake her, I am undoubtedly to be assaulted with relentless abuse (of both the affection and physical nature). Truly a troubling scenario. However, the only person I can blame for this wondrous situation is myself.
Thank you, self.
I just lay there with nothing but my thoughts and Ray’s regular breathing to keep me occupied.
It seems like ever since that fateful day when the IEC contacted humanity, my life has moved so fast. It's only been about four months and so much has happened.
Like, take a look at this list;
Ive, spoken to an alien, traveled outside of the solar system, had my entire nervous/skeletal system replaced, reunited with my cute childhood friend, attended a grand dance, gotten inducted into an order that is totally not a cult and became a space wizard. Oh, and the goddess of this totally not cult just so happens to be a small childlike goddess (who is also my aunt, long story). Then I'm dragged into the first trial of Humanity’s game and forced to travel to various planets in the milky way. Also, we were shot out of the sky once and crashlanded on a deserted planet for a week.
Then, at the end of that trial we picked up a new friend, an angelic guy that is far too good at attracting mates (yet somehow has the resolve to continually refuse them). We then had some adventures and did some training. As a part of this training, we gained yet another ally, a massive Itokin that wields a gigantic war hammer. By the way, their title is “Breaker of Universes,” I'm sure glad they are on our side.
Oh, then I was contacted by my ‘father’. Who revealed he has been working for an alien organization and led us back to Earth. Where it was revealed that I was actually one of his experiments and am a hybrid of a long dead race from another plane of reality (hence the aunt thing, I said it was a long story).
If that wasn't enough, I then started dating Ray, my cute childhood friend that I have known since I was six. Minus the time where I kinda ghosted her for three years. I wonder when she will stop holding that over me. Perhaps when I give her an explanation for my actions… which I think will be hard.. But that's a story for another day, this has been too heavy already.
So yeah, now I'm lying in bed with my cute girlfriend sleeping by my side. Somewhere in this compound are my friends/allies, Initae, Emil and Rigar. Probably thinking of new tortuous ways to train us to get stronger.
I'm all for getting stronger. But I do wish they would take it a bit easier on us. We are only human. Well, Ray is. I've got a bit of latent god within me.
I think I accidentally moved my arm a smidge. Of course, the gods wish to punish me for my foolish movement. (wait, can I blame unknown deific entities for my failures if my aunt is basically a god of this plane?)
“Mmh, good morning my darling Ko.”
“Good morning, my darling Ray.”
(still quite sleepily) “Mhm, that's never going to get old is it? Waking up to you greeting me with my name. Also, your side is ridiculously cozy.” She says, as she somehow bores even deeper into my side.
“Well, I can assure you, it won't get old, even after tens of thousands of times.”
“Geez, what a clever way to say you're gonna spend your entire life with me. Now, gimme headrubs.” I comply with the devil’s demands, she is cute after all. Would you refuse to give a cute girl headrubs if asked? Definitely not, unless you're a coward (or committed already, if so, reasonable reason for refusal and congrats).
As I stroke my fingers through her silky-smooth hair, I come up with a great rebuttal. “Are you saying you won't be spending your entire life with me?”
“Of course that's not true. I've been committed to staying by your side for nearly fifteen years now.”
“I uh” Before I get a chance to finish my sentence, Ray suddenly extricates herself from my side and in a physics defying movement, manages to kiss me. Then goes back to laying at my side, this time resting her head on my shoulder.
“You don't gotta finish that. We've got all the time in the world, right. We are the Moonlight Duo, and you know what that means.”
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“Luce lunae per aspera ad astra et ultra, of course.” At my response, she makes a contented sound, not sure how else to describe it. Her hand lazily moves to grab my own and holds it loosely.
“You know, I'll still love you no matter what, right? Human, god, sociopathic mass murder. I'm here for it all. Right by your side, as I always have been whenever you've let me.”
“Of course I know that. I'll still love you no matter what you might turn out to be. Who knows, you might be some anti god or something, the perfect foil to my almighty power.”
“Hmm, I think I like that image. The all powerful super cute boyfriend reigned in by his super normal human girlfriend.” I blush heavily at the complement, but luckily she cannot see my face.
“You're far from normal. After all, your super duper cute. The cutest in all the realms. Plus you're a genius, and great with people. Plus you can shoot a gun, pretty klacking well too. Also, you're the bestest friend one could ever ask for. Also, you're really beautiful. You can also really down your liquor, you even outpace many Arkans. Also, did I mention your pretty? Well, if I didn't, allow me to say it, you're the cutest, prettiest, beautifulest, most gorgeous girlfriend any guy or gal could ever ask for.”
She remains silent. I move to look at her, but she quickly pushes my head away, “Nope, you can't look right now. You'll just have to imagine my perfect cuteness from your memory for a few minutes.”
“Aww, is my cute girlfriend getting all flustered at just a few compliments. I have plenty more if you want to hear them. I haven't even started describing your assets. Let alone your personality traits and behaviors.”
“Stupid darling Ko, you're such a jerk. But, you're a cute jerk that loves me a lot, so I guess you can get a few, million, free passes for your jerk-ness.”
Well, it's a good thing she is currently not letting me see her face. Cause it means she also can't see my face. Which may or may not be blushing up a storm equal to her own.
Eventually, she lets me see her cute face again. Thankfully my own has returned to normal as well.
She proceeds to bury herself deeper into the covers and nuzzles into my side. Naturally, I take this as a sign and resume my headrub routine. There is something nice about that spot that she is nuzzling into. It's like she is simultaneously tickling me, but also scratching a deep itch that has been bothering me for my entire life.
We stay like that for what must be several hours. Just snuggling up together under the covers. No one can stop us if we just wanna laze around in bed all day. Honestly, that doesn't sound so bad right about now.
Just give up on the whole Humanity’s Game thing.
Retire to a quiet countryside, get married, buy a nice farmhouse and just live out the next few centuries with Ray. We can watch tons of anime. Read all the light novels and manga we want. Heck, we could even play those online net games that I always wanted to play with her.
I’d wake up. Ray would be snuggling into my side. I'd give her a few headpats and she would try (and succeed) to keep me in bed like the cute devil she is. We’d end up cuddling in bed until noon. When we would finally get hungry and decide to go make food.
Together we would cook something. Using my super duper secret ingredient (which has had a powerup recently by the way), we could make pancakes or waffles, or uh, something else im sure. Those may be the only two things I know how to make, but, id learn, together with Ray. Maybe we could attend some of those couples cooking classes you sometimes see in anime.
Then we would sit on the sofa and eat our food. Snuggled up next to each other under a blanket. We would watch some anime and just relax. Maybe we would get sleepy again and fall asleep on the sofa.
It would be dinner time when we woke up, so we would start cooking and have a nice meal. Then we would hop in the bath and wash each other's backs. Then retire for the night.
Then repeat it all over again. That sure would be a nice life.
“Hey darling, are you aware that our crescent moon emblem isn't really true to what an actual crescent moon looks like?” Ray’s critique of our emblem comes out of nowhere after hours of silence. It snaps me out of my silly fantasies and I realize that more important things are still to come. So I must remain focused on our goals.
Though, I still think that wouldn't be too bad of a life. One day, after we have served our terms as administrators of all humanity, we will make that fantasy into reality.
“Hmm, what's that darling? I guess you're right. Well, I can't imagine the tailor has ever actually seen the moon, definitely not enough to know about its exact phase cycle. Lets just say it was a stylistic choice and not some lazy misrepresentation by the designer.”
“Hmm, okay. More headpats now, less talking. More cuddling.” Naturally, I comply. She is quite a cute devil, if I haven't mentioned that yet. Even if I have, it is really important to reinforce that she is realllllllly cute. Like, super duper cute. You definitely need to find a picture of her, whoever is reading this. Like, your mind will be blown away by how cute she is. Like, I'm not joking, you'll pass out due to the shock of how cute she is. Now, she does have a little bit of a devilish side. But in my opinion, that only adds a great contrast that makes the cuteness even greater!
Somehow, it feels even more cozy than before. I guess that brief intermission in the cuddling session did wonders to improve the overall quality of the cuddle. I must perform more research into this field of science. I shall dub it, cuddleology. I will endeavor to collect as much data as I can, as arduous as it may be.
I shall embark on this task, to cuddle with my cute girlfriend Ray as much as possible. For the greater good of not just mankind, but the entire universe.
Unfortunately, it seems that further data collection shall have to wait until another time. As, our wonderful lazing around in bed is interrupted by a message from the one body that probably has some authority over us.
(Base AI):”Attention General Ducker and General Inan. We are currently receiving a priority 3 transmission from the IEC. Please gather in command room 2 for the reception of the communication.”
Unfortunate that my studies must be halted, just when they were getting to a good point.
Regardless of what should come next. Together, my super cute girlfriend Ray and I shall conquer it together. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 52
A/N: Greetings dear reader. Author here. Wow, I managed to write an entire chapter where Ko didn't move from his spot once. Like, at most he got nudged a millimeter. I hope it wasn't too boring, I tried my best to make it interesting and wholesome. Hopefully it gave you a piece of that nice bubbly feeling.
Fun fact: the word ‘cute’ in its various forms appeared a total of 25 times in this chapter (1.2% of the total words!).
As always, you should know the drill by now. I shouldn't have to restate it at this point. Any support is much appreciated! Even you being here is a massive help. Until next time, dear reader.
- Cathrix
Humanity’s Game has a discord! Come chat about the story, or other things.