Xiao Ling felt a bit hot.
How strange.
He’d clearly set the AC to the lowest temperature.
Why did he still feel hot?
Could it be the air conditioning wasn’t cooling properly?
No, this was way too hot.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
After carrying Denia back to her room last night, he’d kept playing until past three in the morning.
So right now, Xiao Ling was severely sleep-deprived.
He struggled to open his eyes.
The first thing that barged into his vision was a delicate collarbone and an imminent, ready-to-burst expanse of snowy white.
???
Come on, man.
Testing a cadre like this first thing in the morning?
Xiao Ling had indeed seen plenty of iconic scenes in anime where the male lead wakes up to a face full of “cleanser,” but this was the first time it had ever happened to him in real life.
It made him directly fail to keep his gun holstered.
But judging by the impressive scale…
he had a rough idea which little troublemaker was in his bed.
“Aemeath, have I ever mentioned that men and women are different?”
Xiao Ling shifted his gaze upward and, sure enough, met a pair of eyes sparkling like stars.
“If you keep teasing me like this, what happens when one day the beast in me wakes up and I just take you right here on the spot?” He flicked Aemeath’s head in exasperation.
On the surface, Xiao was very calm.
Inwardly, however, he was already in full drama mode.
It was pressing right against his leg…
As expected, a person’s self-control was at its worst right after waking up, Xiao Ling thought with a straight face.
“And whose fault is that, with a certain little sleepyhead snoozing away so soundly?” Aemeath didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty.
She was even a little smug about her successful prank.
“Couldn’t be helped.
I called and called and you just wouldn’t wake up.
Had to use a little trick~”
“Don’t give me that.” Xiao Ling tweaked her nose.
“What’d you wake me up so early for?”
“Chisa already finished making breakfast.
You hadn’t come out after ages, so she was worried you’d oversleep and miss breakfast.
I volunteered to come wake you~ ehe!” Aemeath tapped her own head and stuck out her tongue — a classic moe pose.
Aahh…
looked like he really did need to adjust his sleep schedule.
Making others wait for him to get out of bed and eat was rude.
“Fine.
Let me get up and wash up first.
Tell her I’ll be down in a bit.” Xiao Ling fondly ruffled the pink fluffball’s little head, then got out of bed to wash up.
“Got it!
Mission accepted!”
After watching Xiao Ling head off to wash up, the shyness Amy had carefully hidden away now bloomed into two crimson flowers on her cheeks.
…
“Ah, Senpai, you’ve finally come.”
Chisa wore an apron.
It seemed that for the convenience of cooking, that head of loose, silky black hair had been efficiently tied up into a bun.
Without makeup, she lost a touch of allure but gained a measure of pure, innocent charm.
“Sorry, sorry.
Stayed up way too late last night.
Only just got up.” Xiao Ling scratched his head, rather embarrassed.
Chisa suddenly leaned in closer and observed that her Senpai’s complexion was quite haggard, even sporting faint dark circles.
“I don’t know what Senpai’s living habits were like before, but it’d be better to cut back on staying up late from now on, okay?” Chisa admonished with a serious tone.
Mm…
and it’ll weaken your constitution too.”
Amy: Weaken his constitution?
From what I saw, A-Yu’s plenty…
spirited!
“Mm-mm, from now on I’ll be good and go to bed early.
May lightning strike me if I don’t!” Xiao Ling half-jokingly raised three fingers in an oath.
“Don’t say such unlucky things!” Amy immediately bent his raised fingers back down one by one.
“Everyone’s going to be happy together for a lifetime!”
Chisa smiled faintly and invited, “Breakfast is ready.
Would Senpai like to come enjoy it with us?”
“Being able to taste Chisa’s cooking is my honor!” Xiao Ling smiled and pinched Chisa’s little round face, then walked toward the dining table together with Aemeath.
And Chisa whose face had been pinched, in a corner no one saw, quietly blushed.
…
At the dining table, three girls with distinctly different eating styles were having breakfast.
Linae, when eating, still didn’t pay much attention to appearances.
She went with the flow.
If it was good, she’d take big bites — her main thing was having a great appetite.
Sigrika eating was the complete control group to Linae.
When she ate, she was the very picture of a proper young lady — small bite by small bite.
Whether a dish suited her palate or not, you could tell just by looking at the smile on her face.
Denia was an independent track all on her own.
Have you ever seen someone shove food into their mouth while also dozing off at the same time?
Couldn’t really blame her.
After all, this girl had only fallen asleep about half an hour earlier than Xiao Ling.
Right now she was in the same sleep-deprived state as him.
Seeing the other three girls already eating, Xiao Ling pulled out the chair next to Denia and sat down to eat too.
Aemeath very naturally sat down beside him.
Chisa, having removed her apron, sat beside Linae.
He glanced at the food on the table.
Rice porridge, boiled eggs with soy sauce, steamed buns, dumplings — wait, how come there were also pickled vegetables and peanuts?
Looks like Chisa’s acceptance of Chinese-style breakfast was pretty high, huh?
“Tastes great.” After trying a few bites, Xiao Ling gave the chef who had prepared this breakfast considerably high praise, then he buried himself back in his food.
Chisa, seeing how satisfied her Senpai was with the meal she’d busied herself half the day making, revealed a contented smile behind her rice bowl.
After Xiao Ling speedily finished one bowl of porridge and was just about to get himself another, the corner of his eye caught sight of Miss Fleet Snowfluff stirring the porridge in her bowl with her spoon — but her mind was clearly elsewhere.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Xiao Ling poked Aemeath’s oval face.
Amy, whose spirit had been wandering the heavens, only snapped back to reality at this moment.
Then her face started showing signs of heating up again.
“Ahaha…
I was just spacing out.”
“Not to your taste?” As the head chef, Chisa cared a great deal about her companions’ opinions.
If Amy didn’t like it, then that was something she’d need to improve on in the future.
“No, no!
I’m eating right now!” Not caring that it was hot, Aemeath hurriedly stuffed several mouthfuls of porridge into her mouth, and then promptly burned her tongue.
“Mmph~ it’s really good.
Chisa’s cooking just keeps getting better and better!”
Aemeath’s ears had gone completely red.
She couldn’t exactly say she’d suddenly zoned out because she’d been startled by the “Little Ling”, could she?
How embarrassing would that be?!
This little interlude came to a close.
Xiao Ling was happily enjoying his second bowl of porridge when, all of a sudden, no sooner had one wave subsided than another rose.
Someone’s little foot was being rather restless.
It suddenly started rubbing against Xiao Ling’s calf, and even showed faint signs of continuing upward along the calf.
A stocking-clad foot continuously brushed back and forth against Xiao Ling’s leg, making him more than a little distracted.
Can’t a guy just eat in peace?!
Bro Ling needed only 9.1 seconds to figure out who the owner of this little foot was.
Among all the girls present, only one was wearing stockings today…
He shifted his gaze toward Denia.
Sure enough, this girl was trying to catch sight of his embarrassed expression.
Wait, what?
Not only did she not stop upon being discovered, she got even more excited?!
Xiao Ling silently warned her with his eyes, but received in return a lazy, seductive gaze tinged with playfulness.
‘Someone’s clearly enjoying himself too, yet still has to put on the act of a righteous gentleman.
How cute~’
Xiao Ling felt as if he could hear Denia’s teasing, mocking voice.
Just as he was pondering how to make this girl obediently surrender, a similarly fine, smooth sensation came from his other leg.
Wait, Aemeath, what the heck are you joining the fun for?!
Xiao Ling shifted his gaze toward Aemeath.
Sure enough, this girl wore the mischievous, gleeful smile of a prank well executed.
Honestly, at that moment, Xiao Ling had the distinct impulse to drag them both back to his room and enforce justice on the spot.
Xiao Ling’s reason: Ah!
No!
No!
No—!
(Otto voice)
Ughhh— just having them dangled in front of him without being able to eat was still way too agonizing!!!!
(Put up with it~ If I let you eat now, how would I keep writing this book?
The day you share a grand bed and enjoy the bliss of a full harem is still far off~)
No, he couldn’t take it anymore.
Since you two show no mercy, don’t blame Xiao for being ruthless!
I’m going nuclear!
One Two Three Freeze!
Nobody move!
Two loud slaps rang out.
Denia and Aemeath simultaneously felt someone deliver a heavy smack to their thighs — and it was even roaming deeper inward, about to touch that sacred territory which absolutely could not be casually violated.
‘Pervert, drop dead!’
Xiao Ling only felt both his legs take heavy hits at the exact same time.
He was sunk on the spot from the pain.
(A heart-to-heart blow!
(Critical hit!))
The commotion these three stirred up was truly not small, causing the other three girls, who’d been out of the loop, to lift their heads from their rice bowls and check the situation.
Then they saw Denia, her face as red as a freshly ripened peach, biting her lip with a certain indignation.
The glisten of tears at the corner of her eyes — who knew if it was from pain or embarrassment.
Aemeath, likewise red-faced, looked absolutely furious, practically gnashing her teeth.
Steam could faintly be seen rising from the top of her head, like a tea kettle boiling over.
And Bro Ling?
Oh, his head had crashed right onto the table.
His entire body was faintly trembling — the complete picture of total incapacitation.
Who’d have thought that Rover, who stood so tall and unshakable in the game, would one day have a defeat CG of his own.
“Er…
what just happened?” Linae carefully ventured.
“Nothing happened!
×2”
“Nothing…
happened…
(dead).”
The three of them, at this moment, had instead reached a unified front.
Linae looked at Denia and Aemeath, red-faced, emphasizing in perfect unison that nothing had happened, and at Xiao Ling’s on-the-spot crash-and-burn scene, and decided she’d better just rein in that overflowing curiosity of hers.
And so, this morning gathering of six drew to a close amidst warmth and an unending stream of little incidents.
Comment it and let me know.