Chapter 295 56.2 Map Awareness?

GUIDANCE

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Sighing heavily to herself, Guidance found herself ruminating over everything that had happened over the past few days. Or maybe it was only a day? Still, with so much that had happened between then and now, it almost felt like weeks since they'd last had a decent amount of rest.

Even now as she lay unmoving in her bed, she couldn't find it in herself to sleep despite her overwhelming fatigue. It seemed as if all of the stress had gotten to her, and even her own nature to be lackadaisical with problems she couldn't handle by herself couldn't save her. It was just that the whole world seemed to conspire against her by making sure that her failures were front and center at every waking moment. From the minor glitches that only she could, to even the very world itself seemingly changing more and more away from being a game and into something more real... Her precious world was starting to become more and more unrecognizable with each passing day.

"What the hell is even happening anymore..."

She shook her head as she finally decided to turn on her bed and sit back up. Looking out at the open window, the darkness of her beloved imagination gave her little comfort as she was reminded immediately of what was inevitably coming. She didn't know how or why she even thought about it, but she had a distinct feeling that their so-called adventures were about to get a turn for the worse.

"Seriously... Can I even fix this anymore?"

Absently, Guidance pulled out her [Keystroke], her [Manifest] quickly coming to her beck and call as its lights blinked into existence. Guidance absently stared at the empty prompt floating in front of her, the blinking lack of input seemingly mocking her before she decided to do something about it.

Slowly, her fingers moved. Even without purpose, her instincts as a fledgling programmer came to life, randomly writing down code without rhyme or reason. In fact, they were all complete garbage, each of them doing little to nothing as they didn't have a specific goal in mind.

"What am I doing with my life..."

Letting out another sigh, Guidance decided that she was being stupid again and stashed her [Manifest] once more. Not that it would ever truly leave her due to the inherent nature of [Manifests] themselves, but it would at least allow her to get away from the one thing that she knew she had power over.

Standing up, she knew that she had to move on from all of the doom and gloom currently plaguing her mind. There was more than enough of it happening with Shizu already, and she didn't want the usually bubbly and cheerful princess to be dragged down to her level of sadness and despair. Not to mention Moriya's... Well, she was pretty sure that he was doing rather well for someone that had just gone through a literal warzone.

Seriously, for him to...

"Damn it... Am I really getting turned on from that?"

Guidance felt blood rushing through her cheeks as the image of her unconscious form being railed by her boyfriend flashed through her mind. Somehow, for some reason, she felt hot and bothered by the act. And they were literally out in public as well. Did he have no shame to the point of even getting her involved in such debauchery?

And even worse, was she somehow getting aroused by it?!

"Ugh... I have to get my head out of the gutter," Guidance awkwardly chuckled to herself, her cheeks still red as she shook her head. "This isn't proper at all..."

And still, her mind kept repeating the same image in her head without her own prompting. Slowly but surely, she felt all of her prior exhaustion evaporate as it was replaced with a feeling that was far more pleasant than her previous depression.

Frankly, this was better for her current mental state. She did say that she was going to move forward and be normal, and what better way was there to pick herself up than for her to participate in a bit of casual stress relief with her boyfriend?

"I did tell him that we're supposed to do things properly once we're here..."

Her old self would've probably been embarrassed by her own thoughts if she were still with her. But fortunately, she was a changed woman. She had more experience, and she was just straight up no longer a virgin living in a religious household.

"Right! I might as well get my due for what he did to me!"

Laughing at her stupid idea of coping, Guidance patted away a bit of the moisture starting to drip down her thighs before preparing herself to leave the room. After making sure that she was halfway presentable, she opened the door to make her way up the bridge. Moriya was surely still there even at this late an hour, and with the rest of the party being asleep, they would surely have the bridge all to themselves anyway.

"H-Heh... Fvck, I'm having a lot of steamy thoughts right now..."

She couldn't help but giggle in excitement as she worked her way up the [Rig]. She didn't think that she was this pent-up, but apparently, her heightened state of emotions also applied to being aroused.

With each step that she took, her own body felt like it was already priming itself for some hot action. Of course, she already expected it to happen, but it felt stronger this time. Maybe getting done while she was asleep caused her body to build up instead of having a proper release?

Well, it wasn't like it would matter in the long run anyway. She was going to get some stress relief and sleep like a log right after. There was no way that anything could stop her from her-

"Lady Guidance?"

The dev flinched at the sudden callout. Turning around, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight of Shizu walking toward her.

"Shizu?" Guidance couldn't help but ask. "What're you doing still up?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing," the princess chuckled. "As for why I'm still up, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to seek you and Moriya out."

Guidance blinked at the faint blush adorning the princess. Shizu looked... different from earlier. She looked radiant, and the earlier despair that followed her like a cloud had all but dissipated. The dev was glad that Shizu had recovered, but still... it felt like her friend and technically-creation wasn't saying everything just yet.

Still, she shrugged as she replied. "I see. Want to come with me then?" Guidance offered. "I'm on my way to see Moriya myself. We might as well go to the bridge together."

"Oh, he's still up there?" Shizu excitedly asked as they both began to walk up the stairs leading up to the bridge. "I thought you two would be together by now, actually."

"I tried turning in early for the night," Guidance explained herself. "But since I can't sleep anyway, I might as well join him for the night."

Inwardly, Guidance was already seething at Shizu's presence. Normally, she wouldn't mind the princess's presence at all. In fact, she welcomed it. But right now, she wanted some alone time with her boyfriend, and Shizu being there with them might just prevent her from getting that sweet stress relief.

'Dammit... Do I just wait until she goes back down or something?' the dev inwardly thought to herself. 'I can't just lay it on thick with her there with us. Even I'm not that brazen enough...'

"Say, why are you even looking for us?" Guidance suddenly asked, carefully probing the younger woman. "Can't sleep as well?"

"Well, that, and I plan on doing something with you two..."

Shizu trailed off, and Guidance couldn't help but notice the blush on the princess's face intensifying with each passing second. She had a feeling that- Wait...

Didn't Shizu say that she wasn't going to take no for an answer from them anymore? In regards to the.. well, offering herself to them?

All of a sudden, all of her apprehension went out the window as she looked at the princess in a different light. If that was truly the case, then they might as well be trying for the same thing.

"Don't worry too much about it, Shizu. I'm sure we'll both agree to whatever it is," Guidance serenely reassured. "In fact, I'll even help you if it comes to it."

"Really?"

"Really," Guidance smiled with complete confidence. "We'll both get our way tonight in one way or another."

By the time they both reached the door to the bridge, Guidance had a good feeling that their night was about to be amazing. And with both of their objectives aligned, getting Moriya to say yes would be a cinch.

"We're here," Guidance announced as they stood in front of the bridge. "Anything else you want to tell me before we go in?"

"Nothing that I'll get to say to Moriya later anyway," Shizu smiled. "Thank you, Lady Guidance."

"No, Shizu. Thank you for even wanting to be with us."

With a smile, Guidance opened the door. There would be more to this night than usual, and she would make sure to enjoy every second of it.

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