Kairos’ eyebrow twitched rather violently. For the first time in a long while, he was told off by Nicole. And the reason for it was… one that made him feel rather indignant, to say the least.
Kaede couldn’t help but laugh as she continued on.
“Hey, you aren’t getting ahead of yourself now are you?”
Nicole let out a small gasp.
“Eh? What do you mean?”
Though none of them could see, it wasn’t hard to tell that Kaede was smiling.
“I bet you thought I was going to coach you on how to do… that thing.”
Nicole coughed.
“W-What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kaede snickered.
“Don’t think you can talk your way out of this one girl!”
Nicole let out an embarrassed hum.
“What else am I supposed to think then?”
Kaede let out a sigh.
“Oh my innocent little lamb… After you get them in the mood, you can’t forget about foreplay! You gotta get their thing up all the way.”
Kairos sucked in a cold breath while this conversation was happening.
“I’m right here. Just so you know.”
Kaede giggled.
“Oh don’t worry, I know, little virgin boy.”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched. By now, she was completely back to her cocky self, but at the very least she wasn’t being as rude as she had been before. Though she would make the occasional insulting remark, it wasn’t really out of hostility. Nicole let out a clear hum, showing that she was thinking fairly hard.
“S-So what kind of thing is foreplay?”
Kaede cleared her throat.
“In essence, it’s the same thing as getting someone in the mood, but just more intense. Unlike just touching them or giving them looks that imply things, you have to go a step further. Maybe tease them a little bit, call them your baby boy to demean that manly pride a little bit. On top of that, both of your hands should be all over him, unrestrainedly touching him everywhere.”
Despite already being unable to see, Kairos closed his eyes in an attempt to further himself from this conversation as much as possible. On the other hand, Nicole’s breathing got a little heavier, showing she was getting excited just from hearing that.
“K-Kairos! Come a little closer so I can test it.”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched.
“This isn’t the most fitting time, don’t you think?”
To his surprise, Kaede spoke up in agreement.
“He’s right! From how he sounds, it’s fairly clear he’s not in the mood right now.”
Nicole let out a grumble.
“B-But I already did so much touching!”
Kaede sounded a little surprised.
“Ah, really? Huh… that’s a little strange. Even if it’s the work of an amateur, I figured that with what we were talking about he should be at least a little into it…”
Nicole took a deep breath.
“Mm… he’s always been like this. I… I’ve touched him a lot before and um…”
Kairos’ eyelid twitched.
“If you say it like that, it sounds way worse than it actually is.”
Kaede clearly seemed interested.
“Oh? What exactly have you done in the past?”
Nicole coughed sheepishly.
“E-Em… usually I grab onto his arm and stuff. And also uh…”
She trailed off, leaving Kaede sounding rather understanding.
“Well if it’s just that, then as long as he isn’t a complete horndog, that’s normal.”
Nicole’s coughing got a little more violent.
“Ah, that makes sense. I also touched his chest a little.”
Kaede didn’t respond immediately.
“Huh. For a second I forgot that Kairos isn’t actually a female.”
Kairos let out a sigh, but didn’t say anything else. In the end, he lost focus on getting any of the red crystals. He doubted that the other two were even trying to do the same thing, so he didn’t really see the point in that. It was supposed to be a creepy place with all the whispers, but Kaede’s energetic voice overpowered all of them, making it sound like they were actually at a slumber party.
Nicole scratched the side of her head.
“E-Em, why would you think Kairos is a female?”
Kaede let out a soft grunt.
“Well, usually it’s the guy that’s trying everything they possibly can to get in the girl’s pants. You also say things like… an embarrassed but horny virgin guy.”
Nicole fell silent. As for Kairos, he felt a sudden impulse to join in on the conversation. A smirk formed on his face.
“You don’t say. She has even groped me on many occasions, which honestly confused me more than anything.”
Nicole became quite flustered.
“Wha- I em… wait!”
Kaede began howling in laughter before slapping Nicole on the back a few times.
“Hey, hey, that’s a good thing, don’t be embarrassed! You have confidence, which was honestly the main thing I was worried about. Though if you’re just groping him, then maybe you have a little too much. It’s a little ironic to think I was going to have to work on your confidence when you’re even braver than me!”
Nicole stammered.
“I-It’s a g-good thing then!”
Kaede clapped.
“Yeah! Sounds like the two of you have already gone pretty far…”
Nicole seemed confused after hearing that.
“Hm? But… he’s never really gotten into it.”
Hearing that, Kaede sounded even more surprised than before.
“W-What? He really hasn’t gotten into the mood after that? Er… K-Kairos, sorry if this is a sensitive question but are you g-”
“I’m not gay.”
Kairos immediately cut her off as he felt a headache coming on. Nicole let out a soft sigh.
“I thought that before too, but it doesn’t seem to be that. It’s just… he’s always so unresponsive!”
Kaede let out an inquisitive hum and seemed to be deeply lost in thought like she was actually thinking of the solution to world hunger rather than why Kairos’ thing wouldn’t move.
It took her quite a while, but she eventually let out a gasp as though she had come to a revelation. The only thing missing was her screaming out eureka.
“Nicole! Are you by chance childhood friends with him?”
Nicole hurriedly nodded.
“Y-Yeah!”
Kaede quickly followed up.
“Did you have a lot of contact with him while you were younger?”
Nicole spent a second thinking to herself before speaking up.
“I-It was a little more than average I’d say!”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched when he heard that.
“I wouldn’t say that…”
Kaede laughed when she heard that.
“I get it now! I know why all your advances aren’t working!”
Nicole reached out until she was able to grab onto Kaede’s arm, like she was drowning and that was the only thing that could keep her up.
“Really?!”
Kaede spoke triumphantly and exaggeratedly.
“Why, he’s put you in probably the worst place ever! The dreaded and feared… friendzone!”
Nicole let out a gasp, but froze up soon after.
“Um… that doesn’t sound too bad. Why is it so scary?”
Kaede tutted several times and waved her finger back and forth.
“You don’t understand. If you’re in the friendzone, then almost all of your attempts to seduce the man will hardly work out properly! Any moves you make will only seem like you’re being friendly instead. Before anything else, you gotta shift how that man thinks of you!”
Nicole sounded rather distraught.
“Ah! How do I do that?”
Kairos cleared his throat and began waving his hand around violently, though they couldn’t see that.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on. First of all, I’ve already accepted her confession, ok? We’re just friends for now, because we’re still in the apocalypse.”
Kaede let out a gasp like she was terribly offended.
“Friendzoning her after accepting her confession?! You’re evil!”
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.
“How the hell is it friendzoning if I accepted her confession? Sure I might be postponing the relationship but it’s definitely not friendzoning.”
Kaede let out a sigh.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be if you agreed to be a couple! Why are you even restraining yourself here?”
Kairos clicked his tongue.
“There’s no time in the apocalypse. Declaring ourselves as lovers would just be fake because there really isn’t any time for us to spend with each other to justify that claim.”
Kaede suddenly fell silent, which seemed a little random.
“You… you can’t do something like that!”
Kairos blinked a few times
“What do you mean by that?”
Kaede sucked in a cold breath, like she was in pain.
“If you really accepted it, then you would accept the relationship! You wouldn’t break it off for something as stupid as not having time! Of course both of you have your circumstances, but that’s why you set those boundaries and… and…”
She had run out of breath, leaving her gasping for air. By the end, she sounded quite desperate. Nicole spoke to her softly.
“I-Is everything ok? I’m not that offended by how Kairos dealt with things. I mean our label is definitely friends but…”
Even in the darkness, the sound of her voice made it clear she was smiling.
“We’re basically a couple.”
Kairos coughed violently.
“Wait, wait… we’re still friends. Still friends.”
Kaede took a little while to speak but she did eventually rather calmly.
“Oh… well!”
She cleared her throat and became cheery once more, which had startled Kairos a little bit.
“The friendzone is more than just that! I think what’s happening here is that while on paper you think Nicole is your lover, in your mind you still see her as a friend!”
And now, Kairos got his turn to be confused.
“What? How does that make any sense?”
Kaede clapped repeatedly, moving past her little breakdown immediately.
“Of course it makes sense! Why would you feel like that otherwise?”
Nicole was mumbling something to herself before she tugged onto Kairos’ sleeve.
“You… think of me as only a friend? I-I don’t hate it but…”
Kairos let out a sigh as his headache got even worse. But then, he came to a sudden realization. They had been walking in this place for hours without keeping track of where they came from.
“Uh, hey does anybody remember the way back?”
Nicole grumbled.
“You’re changing the subject!”
Kairos coughed. Although that was true, it was still a fact that they were indeed lost in this really deep cavern with no clear idea of where the entrance actually was.
“That’s not important right now. We have to find a way to get back. I… wasn’t paying attention to where we were walking because I was focusing on the conversation.”
Kaede was rather nonchalant.
“You’re overexaggerating the problem here, we can just walk back, can’t we?”
Kairos sighed.
“It’s… not that simple.”
He remembered almost getting lost despite not walking that far when he first was in a dungeon. But then, his ear picked up on one of the nearby whispers.