Chapter 34 – Healing

After lunchtime finished, Takei returned to attending his classes. Mathematics was the first class he had after lunch. Several students including Takei were currently battling the ultimate antagonist that was drowsiness. It wasn't unusual for many people to be sleepy during this class, since they had to intensively use their brain after eating a hearty meal.

As he was battling the urge to close his eyes and succumb to the darkness, Takei remembered something interesting that happened today. A childhood friend of his suddenly transferred to his school for an odd reason. She wanted to be with someone so bad that she switched schools with little notice. He couldn't wrap his brain around it, but he decided to cheer her on with her goal.

Since Rikka was also very good with studying, she was placed into most of Takei's classes. That meant she also placed into most of the classes that Takei and Akari shared as well.

As luck would have it, Akari and Rikka also had this class with him.

Takei had a great time watching their reactions when they finally met. Both of them looked shocked at first, but the two parties quickly recovered and showed each other their determined faces, even though Takei had no idea what they meant.

Luckily for him though, Takei's seat was in the back while Akari and Rikka's respective seats were in the front.

Looks like I can relax this time. Do I have a curse placed on me to never be able to have a peaceful life?

Although Takei consistently griped and moaned about his situation, he didn't entirely hate it. He knew he was changing for the better, but change was scary. Breaking the status quo was something Takei very much disliked.

However, fate would not let Takei do what he wanted.

"Alright, everyone please split up into groups of two for the next activity. "

The teacher announced such an event out of nowhere which resulted in an unprecedented situation to happen. A battle between the goddess and the newly termed "queen" was about to happen. Yes, a day hadn't even passed yet and Rikka was now being called the queen. Soon, the school would be recognized as the one place in the region that contained both superhuman beings, but that's a story for another time.

Akari and Rikka glanced at each other and nodded. While everyone in the classroom was busy moving around and conversing, the two pinnacle beings decided to participate in a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would partner up with Takei. In which the winner was...

***

"You seemed awfully happy earlier," Akari pouted.

Takei and Akari were now conversing about the day's events in his room. Although, one of the involved parties had an air of gloominess around them.

The winner of the competition turned out to be none other than the queen herself, Rikka. Takei didn't find out about the competition, but he knew Akari had been sulking the entire day after that certain class period.

"Are you jealous?" Takei asked, while tilting his head in order to try and find out what her motive was.

Akari looked down, refusing to look him in the eye. "What if I was?"

Takei realized that he was once again seeing the rare bashful face of the goddess. He turned and tried to get her to look at him in the eyes, but to no avail.

Akari's confession actually feels real now... Is this the right choice to keep ignoring it? How do I actually feel about her?

Hotly debated questions were quickly resurfacing in Takei's mind. He still couldn't tell what these feelings in his heart were. After a few moments of thinking about it, he reached a conclusion. Takei believed that the current him was incapable of deciphering the feelings in his heart.

At that conclusion, he decided to put it off for now and decided to focus on present events.

Akari was definitely feeling jealous about Takei partnering up with Rikka. The question was still up in the air however.

How am I going to make her feel better? Ah, what if I do that? Well, whatever. I don't have much besides my dignity to lose.

Takei raised his hand and lowered his palm on Akari's head. In other words, he gave her a head pat.

"W-w-what?!" Akari yelped.

The goddess's face turned a bright red as she realized what Takei was doing.

Takei's face showed a confused expression. "You don't like it?"

After a few moments of contemplating and enjoying the continuous head patting, Akari reached a conclusion.

"I do..." she bashfully muttered.

Takei smiled as he realized that Akari was slowly melting into a puddle of water in his hands. The goddess's face crinkled with happiness as she shriveled from the gentle hand that was embracing her head. Takei seemed to also be enjoying the experience, since a small smile crept onto his face.

He then switched to a more gentle slow rubbing motion that was well received by the goddess. It seemed that slowly running his fingers through her hair was the correct choice in this scenario.

"Mmm," Akari seductively let out a moan.

Hey, stop that. You're going to make me lose my sanity.

After a few more moments of head patting, Takei decided that his mental state had reached its limits. He slowed down the rubbing at first, and then he lifted his hand from her head. Akari looked sad that the service ended, but she quickly recovered and looked at him with content eyes.

"Has this service satisfied you, my princess?" Takei asked.

Akari laughed at Takei's playful joke. "Hm, it indeed has. You are forgiven."

Then, they both started laughing at each other after acting out such cheesy parts. The sugary atmosphere returned once more to greet the two love struck idiots, is what Eiji would've said in this scenario.

As Takei was still recovering from laughing really hard, Akari asked him a question that rattled his nerves like no other.

"What type of girl do you like?"

---

Akari's True Affection Meter: 15 -> 20%

The meter is moving at an exceptionally fast pace. It's probably due to the exp boost of graduating from the previous meter + Akari's feelings growing stronger day by day.