Inverse System

Chloe went in to take her bath, letting her stress melt away into the therapeutic waters. She exited the bath, wearing a baggy white shirt and a pair of pajama shorts. She saw the rest of them, Rein, Emria, and Saphrilla, sitting at the dinner table, waiting for her to finish.

"Hey, you finally out? What were you thinking about in there?" Rein asked as they were waiting for her, making her blush and look away.

"It's none of your business," pouted as she sat beside Emria on the opposite side of the table to Rein.

The girls looked at them with an air of confusion, then shrugged it off, too hungry to think. They began digging into the food, leaving no room for conversation as they all ate until they were stuffed, the girls becoming drowsy as Rein escorted them to bed, saying goodnight to Chloe in the process.

He tucked them in bed then made his way to his room, getting in his own bed for a good night's rest. However, before he could properly attempt to fall asleep, he heard his door creak open, seeing Chloe standing there with a pillow and blanket in hand.

"Chloe? Why do you have a pillow and blanket?" Rein whispered as she approached the side of his bed.

"Well… You don't sleep with a blanket for some reason… So I had to bring one," she stuttered in her speech as the embarrassment shone through her voice, Rein still as confused as ever.

"That's not the issue here—" Rein hastily spoke, interrupted by the wind caused by the spread-out blanket that slowly floated down on him, Chloe setting her pillow beside his and laying her head on it.

"W-well, you said that I had to apologize somehow… And since we didn't have time earlier, I thought now would be a good time," she fidgeted as the blanket landed on both of them, Rein quickly pulling it off of him as he wasn't used to sleeping with one.

"Haha… You know that was a joke, right? I don't think we should be doing this Chloe…" Rein slowly uttered, stopping mid-speech as he saw her trembling lips begging him to let her stay.

"We don't have to do anything. This is just to make it official, ok? To consolidate it, we just have to sleep together," she explained, which made Rein raise an eyebrow.

"Consolidate? Isn't that for getting married?"

"Please Rein, just so my father won't have an excuse to dismiss our relationship. Really, we don't have to do anything. I'll be under this blanket anyways, so you don't have to worry," her face was lingering red as Rein scratched the back of his head, finally giving in.

"Ah, what the hell," he set his head down on the pillow. "Just so you know, I just want you to know how hard it is for me to 'not do anything'. I don't want to put you in discomfort, but I'll try my hardest this one time," Rein turned his head the other way, not wanting to give in to temptation.

"Rein…" She smiled as she closed her eyes, slowly fading away into a deep slumber, her hand emerging from under the blanket to graze his back as she lost consciousness.

Rein felt it, then reached his arm under his body, grabbing hold of her hand as he also fell asleep.

The next morning, Chloe woke up, seeing her hand intertwined with Rein's as she opened her eyes, blushing and swiftly moving it away, getting up off the bed in a hurry.

"When did that happen..?" She thought to herself as she calmed down.

"Rein!! Chloe!! Wake up, you need to go to school!" Emria said as she barged into Rein's room, Chloe swiftly hiding her blanket and pillow behind a cabinet as Emria looked into the room.

"Chloe? What are you doing in Rein's room?" Emria asked curiously.

"O-oh! I was just… Waking him up too!" She nervously laughed.

"Okay… Then why are you in your pj's?" She questioned.

"I was… On my way to get my clothes from the dryer in the bathroom! I passed by Rein's room on the way, so I thought I might as well wake him up while I was here!" Chloe swiftly came up with a story, impressing even herself with her quick thinking.

"Hmm… Okay! Saphy's making breakfast right now. Get Rein up and get changed!" She skipped back to the kitchen, Chloe letting out a huge sigh of relief as Emria left.

"That was a good story you came up with. I'm impressed," Rein turned his head back around to face Chloe, who was still in shambles after the stress of the ordeal.

"You were awake?! Why didn't you say anything?!" She whisperingly yelled.

"What did you want me to say? 'Yeah Emria, Chloe definitely did not sleep in my bed last night!'. Is that it?" Rein mocked as he got out of the bed.

"Wha- whatever, just get dressed," Chloe walked out of the room to go get her change of clothes.

Both of them got dressed and headed back to the kitchen table, where they had some of Saphrilla's special elven pancakes.

"These are sooo good! Teach me how to make them Saphy!" Chloe gushed as she chewed on the pancakes.

"Ahaha… I'm not so sure I'm suitable to be a teacher… *especially since the student would be unteachable*," she remarked, saying the second half of her words under her breath, to which only Rein could hear.

"Aww, that's a bummer. I wish I was a better cook! I can't let Rein cook for me in the future!" She blurted without thinking, Rein facepalming as the two girls curiously turned their heads to Chloe.

"In the future?" Emria sounded.

"O-oh! I mean the near future, obviously! I thought maybe I could learn to cook to make it easier on Rein and you two girls! Ahaha…" She once again expertly recovered from her blunder, the two girl's curiosity dimming down as their question was answered.

"I could teach you after school Chloe. We both won't be doing anything after class, right? Unless you're going on a commission," Rein proposed, to which Chloe sprung up in excitement.

"Really! No, I'll make sure not to take any commissions! I'm yours for the afternoon!" Her face froze as she realized what she said, frantically trying to explain that she didn't mean it the way it sounded, everyone in the room laughing as they finished their breakfast.