"..."
"...Uhm!" She tried to say something to break the awkward tension.
"Y-Yes?" I immediately replied.
"No, I just..." She sat up from my lap, "We should... go inside, after all... I think."
"Eh? And what ever happened to waiting for them?" I imitated her prim and pure personality, "Y'know, the whole "I made a promise to Throne!" thing from earlier."
"I know what I said." She pouted, "But after giving it some more thought, I think you were right after all. They'll join us when they figure it out."
Pfft, yeah right. You just don't want them to see you acting all weird around me. Well, I can at least side with that, 'cause I'm feeling pretty excited myself. Vastoria and I, what happened just now was definitely not my imagination. Before I knew it, I acted on impulse and jumped the gun a bit, but I think she liked it. On the other hand, my heart's killing me because she still hasn't given me an explicit, verbal answer. A poke to the cheek is a sweet way to put it, but I'd much rather hear her say it clearly.
"Lemme guess, you wanna go somewhere they won't see us?" I grinned.
"Yes-No! No, nothing weird like that!" She bit her tongue, "J-Just... I'm worried one of them might've seen us."
"Ah, you think?" I glanced back at them, "You shouldn't worry about that, the wall is pretty thick and moggy, plus they were facing away from us."
"There's always a small chance they saw." She fretted.
After a brief pause, I finally figured out why exactly she was worried. Yep, it's definitely Sheep. He always struck me as the type to see what others could not, so he might've actually somehow seen us. Throne's kind of dense, or at the very least extremely uninterested in other peoples' affairs, so I have no qualms about him. Oh Gods, I feel like a criminal, when all I did was kiss a cute girl!
"Nah, even if they found out somehow, it's not like they would care all too much." I shrugged it off.
"Yeah, but... How can you be sure?" She sheepishly asked, "What if they're, y'know... from an era against it?"
...Oh boy, that'd sure be a doozy. Right, I did say I felt like a criminal, but if that were truly the case, then I might as well be. I'm not completely sure on Throne's case, but Sheep does hail from the pre-TV era. Now I know that doesn't quite narrow it down by much, so in truth his opinion on two girls kissing can range from extremely hot to extremely blasphemous... Yeah, let's not sit around and find out.
"Lead the way." I turned to the Shrine's entrance.
"Got it." She nodded.
The path began out quite normal. A short staircase led us down to a cobblestone pathway which twisted and turned in all sorts of discomforting directions. More often than not, one of us would get disoriented and bump into one another before hastily apologizing. Now I'm all for any extra skinship I can get with my new girlfriend, but I also really want my ability to walk straight back. It feels like I'm drunk off my ass in here...
"Ah, there it is." Vastoria picked something up from the ground, "A fork in the road."
"Heh, nice one." I giggled at the punny reaction before she handed it to mr, "Wait, is this the same fork you found last time?"
The same fork... she gouged that other guy's Eye out with? The same fork he in turn tore her ribcage open with? I'm asking this because—if that's well and truly the case—then that fork gets a whole other air to it. She noticed my careful attitude when handling it in my hands and was quick to correct me.
"O-Oh no, don't worry!" She took it from my hands to hastily explain, "See the ridges? The other one had lines on it, whereas this one has flowers instead."
"Ah, I see!" I chuckled, if not purely to help clear the awkward tension, "Wait, but if they're not the same..."
"Then we really did advance time." She clenched it tightly, "The Shrine changed, albeit barely enough for it to be noticeable. I wonder if the shield is further down where we found it as well."
Despite what she said, it appears she still knew her way around navigating through the Shrine just fine. Granted, there were no other paths to take but the one leading down, so it's less like she knew her way through a labyrinth and more like she knew there was nothing to be wary of. Yeah, she just sped right through until we found a spiral staircase.
"This is the end of floor 1." She put her hand out to stop me, "From here on out, be on the look out for booby traps. Floor two was littered with them last time I was here..."
"Hehe."
"What?" She then rolled her Eyes, "Oh come on!"
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"I didn't say anything... yet!"
"So you're planning on saying it!" She covered her chest up despite the fact she had my shirt on, "Please, this is serious! We could die, y'know?!"
"I know, I know..." I shrugged, letting her take the lead on this.
On the surface, she seemed meek and insecure, but when we went down the Shrine's entrance, it was as if a switch was flipped inside her very being. She's still the same Vastoria I know and love, but something about her demeanor has changed. I can't explain it, but I definitely feel safer behind her back. That being said, another great part of practically breathing down her neck is that I can do this.
"Boobies~" I whispered gently.
"I told you not to say it, dammit!" She fussed, flipping around to scold me, "You-!"
Just then, a dart whizzed past her hair and hit the wall on the other side. We both stared at it in shock and disbelief. Had I not whispered that just now... Had she not stopped to turn around and scold me...
"Boobies save lives..." I gawked at hers as my reward.
"Stop that!" She craned my head back up to meet her gaze, "My Eyes are up here... And they're very thankful."
With a quick peck to the lips, she smugly turned back around and continued onwards, making doubly sure each and every step she took was a safe one. Geez, she's so cool...!
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"Watch out for that tripwire." She stepped over it, "Duck under this one. There's another dart trap on the wall over there."
"Don't worry, I'm just following what you're doing." I explained, "Save your breath and focus on remaining alert."
"That's smart on your end, but I still feel a need to explain everything." She kept walking, "Pressure plate down there."
"Pressure plate?" I furrowed my brows.
"Hey!" She lifted my leg up the moment I stepped on it.
The pressure plate fell through the moment I made contact with it, quickly closing itself off at around what would be ankle height. Had it not been for her quick reflexes, I would've just lost my foot right then and there. Right, in here we can feel everything, so I bet she just saved me from a world of hurt...
"I-I'd rather you announce them, after all..." I shrunk back in embarrassment.
"I'm glad to hear it." She finally put my leg down, "Just remember—Reaction time is key. When I tell you to move, you move."
"Got it." I nodded, "But damn, now I see why you wanted more comfortable clothes to move in. This dress really wasn't made for dungeon crawling."
"Last time I didn't have any clothes on, so I didn't have to worry about them getting caught anywhere." She offhandedly suggested, "If it gets too difficult to traverse in that dress, feel free to take it off."
"Whoa, hey?" I did a double take, "Aren't we skipping a bit too many steps here, dear?"
"You can joke all you want, but I'm being serious here." She stopped to once again look at me, "If you were to get caught in a trap because of the dress I made you wear... I don't know how I would live with that."
Her face was serious. She was worried about my safety, and she had every right to be. This dress, I told her to swap our clothes because she said it was difficult to walk around in it. Now I know what she meant, but I still don't regret doing what I did.
"...I'm not gonna undress just yet." I reassured her, "There's no need for that. But, if the time does come, then I'll think back on your advice."
"Suit yourself." She joked, "No pun intended."
"Heh, I will." I giggled, the giggle turning into a chuckle, and then a laugh, "Haha, I will! I will suit myself!"
For whatever reason, the two of us laughed like she just said the funniest thing in the universe. It was just an accidental pun she made at the end of the day, but for some reason we couldn't stop cackling and guffawing. Frankly, it got annoying pretty quickly, yet I couldn't stop myself. Somehow, I felt it would be rude to be the first to stop laughing. I don't know why I thought that, but I did, and it led to us continuously laughing until we were short of breath. Eyes watery, throats dry and minds devoid of reason—That's what we had been reduced to.
"Bahaha! Baha... Ha-ha..." I looked around at the dark and dreary stoney interior.
"Hahaha! Haha!" She, however, kept laughing at full force, though she too found something was amiss.
"Oh." I saw it, finally, "Phahaha! Look, it's because of that!"
"Huh? Oh, pssh! Would you look at that!" She burst out into a fit of laughter, "Laughing gas, is that what that is!?"
A Green gas had been sprayed out from a crevice in the brickwork. For how long exactly, I can't tell, but due to its silent dispersal, it's very possible this has been wafting through the hallway for a while now. As for why it made us laugh like crazy, we didn't know that either. Most probably, the laughter is just a debilitating side-effect. If I had to assume, breathing it in for an extended period of time would probably prove dangerous, so we best hurry along.
"Hey, dooface!" She giggled as she grabbed my wrist, "You trying to get yourself killed!? Take a chill pill, silly! Booby traps, remember?"
"Pfft! You said booby!" I couldn't take her seriously, "Alright, genius! Take us to safety since you're so smart and all!"
"Will do!" She cheekily stuck her tongue out with a rowdy thumbs up, "No promises, though!"
"D'oh, just who did I entrust my life to...?" I asked myself this stupid rhetorical question for reasons unknown.
With a speedier pace than before, we hurried through the rest of the layer, making sure to avoid any and all traps that were in our way. Obviously, due to our impaired senses and hastier rush, we ran into a few close calls before we made it to the next staircase. In our panic, we tumbled down the stairs until we hit the mossy floor at the very bottom. The giggly effect on my psyche had mostly dissipated by now, but before I could even get a word in, Vastoria put her hand over my mouth and hid us up against the wall.
"Mph!" I struggled a bit before I heard a loud fluttering sound just on the other side of the doorway.
"...Phew." She breathed a sigh of relief the moment the flutter left the vicinity, "Sorry, are you okay?"
"Yeah, a bit scratched up, but mostly fine." I checked my wounds, picking away the pebbles that got stuck onto my skin, "What was that sound just now?"
"Mn, how do I go about explaining it..." She nervously beat around the bush, "How are you with bats?"
"Don't like 'em." I replied immediately.
"And cockroaches?"
"Ew, even worse!" I shivered.
"I see." She tried phrasing it nicely, but ultimately gave up, "Yeah, you're not gonna like what I'm about to tell you."