Sitting on the comfortable red couch in his aunt's office, Rain thought back to the beautiful moments they had shared here.
However, even after half an hour had passed, Celestia was still gone. And considering that this was where she spent most of her time in the manor, Rain wondered where she might have gone.
After waiting for her for a while longer and coming to the conclusion that she might not be back anytime soon, he dismissed the idea.
'As much as I'd like to wait for her, there's no way I can miss the academy today.'
Placing the sealed envelope in the storage ring, Rain stood up from the couch.
"If it needs to be handed over before tomorrow, I'll go over to her place tonight."
But before he stepped out, he froze in place, thinking about something.
Walking over to her desk again, Rain picked up a piece of paper and a pen, beginning to write in steady handwriting. With each new letter, his mood improved, and the smirk on his lips grew wider as he finished writing the note.
As Rain searched for somewhere to put it, he heard the melodic voice of the system.
[Aren't you afraid she'll kill you as soon as she reads this?]
Rain didn't stop what he was doing, answering her with a carefree smirk.
"You didn't understand her well enough, so just observe. I'm sure she'll be the one who likes it so much that not only will she not kill me, but she'll come to me herself."
Finally finding an inconspicuous spot on her desk where only Celestia could notice the note, Rain left it there and left the office, closing the door tightly behind him.
°°°°
The streets of the capital were particularly noisy in the mornings, and the laughter of children, together with the occasional shouts of the merchants, were constantly in Rain's ears. But he paid no attention to all that now, absorbed in his own thoughts.
'No matter what, I have to get Liliana back.'
From the situation with Celestia, Rain realized once again how unpleasant it was to have one of your women suddenly disappear. It again made him think of a plan to visit his home world and reclaim what was his.
And since the only way to travel to other worlds he now knew involved traveling through space, Sives was a major key to his plans. So Rain looked into his storage ring and turned to her.
"Do you have a way to go to outer space?"
Waking up after a long sleep, the wolf girl yawned a couple times and said with some melancholy in her voice.
"Forget it. At this point, the only thing waiting for us out there is imminent death."
Rain already knew this wasn't going to be an easy walk, so he was prepared for that answer. He immediately decided to find out the reason for her concern.
"Is it because of the corrosive cold of outer space?"
'Perhaps I could have bought something from the system store that would help me counteract it.'
But to Rain's surprise, Sives shook her head.
"No, the cold of space is the least of our problems. Because once we get in there, we'll both be killed almost immediately by members of my race."
"I see. Wait, did you say both? I realize they have reasons to kill me, but what about you?"
Rain looked with interest at her slightly moving flushed ears.
'It seems like I don't even have to make an effort to touch her.'
At that moment, Rain's attention was drawn to a crowd of his classmates at the other end of the square. As he looked closer, he realized the reason for their gathering, because he saw his twin sisters there.
Rain knew they were popular with the guys at their academy, so he wasn't particularly surprised by that.
Due to their beauty and strength, his sisters had earned the title of paired dragons during their time at the academy. They always appeared together and despite their identical appearance, they created a striking contrast with their behaviors, which drew the attention of others to them even more.
Eliana was hot for words and always preferred to say everything straight, which caused attention from the male part of the academy. Liana, on the other hand, was even more popular with the guys because of her aloof and cold demeanor towards others.
So now, they were surrounded by boys from their class.
Eliana was chatting animatedly with everyone as usual, while Liana stood quietly listening to what her sister was saying, nodding occasionally and ignoring those who addressed her directly.
As if sensing someone's gaze on her, Liana turned towards Rain and a smile immediately shone on her face.
"Brother!"
Liana unhooked herself from her sister and ran toward him, waving at him.
This action attracted the attention of the surrounding classmates, who were watching the girl run away with a sad expression on their faces. Some of them saw her smile for the first time, but they couldn't be happy about it because it wasn't directed at them.
Realizing that they had lost the company of the cold beauty, and hoping to make up for it with her hot sister, they turned to Eliana, only to see her frowning and following Liana.
All they had to do was throw a couple envious glances at the lucky bastard, who was surrounded by three beauties, and regretfully disperse.
Reaching Rain, Liana hugged his shoulder.
"Did anything bad happen to you in the rift yesterday?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with me. I'll tell you about it later."
'She knew where I was going to go in the rift, and given her inhumanly keen senses, she can guess my involvement in what happened.'
But Rain was sure that even if she knew the truth, she would never betray him. The more they were connected by the bond they'd gained after using the Ticket of Connection.
With that in mind, Rain tried to feel the bond between them and found that it had grown even stronger. It prompted him to look at her level of affection.
[Affection: 99999999999+]
'...Why do I get the feeling that this number has gotten even bigger?'
While Rain was trying to count the number of nines in her affection level, Liana turned her attention to the elf princess standing nearby.
"Hello, Sis–... Lady Aelorian."
Liana started, but stammered half a word and quickly corrected herself.
Aelorian looked at her with strange emotion.
'Sis? Did she just almost call me sister? But I don't look anything like her at all...'