Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 5 Episode 3 (section)

===Part 8===

「My my, Lux-kun, you are slightly late. Philuffy has been waiting long you know?」

After Lux changed back into his uniform and entered the inn, the headmaster Relie came as though she had been waiting.

There was no time left, so Lux immediately headed towards the entrance.

The place’s interior was designed with glossy olive brown color and red carpets. And then, the dull orange color of the chandelier illuminated the room. Lux found the girl’s figure when he arrived there.

「Sorry I’m late! ……Phi, chan?」

Lux who called out like that instantly stiffened on the spot.

The one who was there wasn’t the usual Philuffy.

She was wearing a faintly pink colored dress that was decorated with frills and countless ribbons.

Her hair that was usually split and tied up to the left and right was bundled up with a small barrette, giving her a hint of an adult impression that was the opposite of her childish look.

Although her voluptuous breasts that protruded out pointedly and also her absentminded expressionless face were exactly as the usual Philuffy, and yet──her fairytale-like beauty caused Lux to mistake her for a different person.

「Welcome back, Lu-chan.」

That slow paced voice and the faint nuance of happiness pulled Lux back into reality.

「Ri, right. I’m back……. Tha, that’s──the dress, it looks good on you.」

The face of his childhood friend that he should be familiar with for some reason looked more dazzling than usual. Lux couldn’t look straight at her.

「Thank you. Then, let’s go.」

「Both of you be careful. ──Lux-kun. Take care of my little sister okay?」

Lux nodded at Relie’s words and he left the inn together with Philuffy.

The capital where the sun had set was covered with the curtain of night. The light of the stars and countless lamps faintly illuminated the streets.

Lux took the hand that Philuffy quietly offered and they headed to the central street.

The national park was located further at the center of the central block. The path from there that connected to the cathedral that was a bit north from it, and then continued until the castle was the main route of the country founding anniversary.

At this time, because the festival was approaching the end, it was the custom to spend one’s time slowly while worshipping the statue of spirit that was carried from the cathedral until the castle using a horse carriage.

By offering prayers to the spirit statue that was passing by before one’s eyes, people wished for safety for the whole year.

Lux was also heading to the central street that was crowded with people in order to do that too, but,

「Eh……?」

Suddenly Philuffy’s feet stopped walking. Lux turned around and he titled his head in puzzlement.

Philuffy stared fixedly at Lux’s face with an atmosphere that was different from usual.

「What’s wrong? To pray to the spirit statue, we have to get a bit nearer──」

「Rather than that, let’s go there, Lu-chan.」

Philuffy turned a straightforward gaze to above.

Ahead of her gaze was the location further than the national park, the third floor of the cathedral.

「Surely we can pray, from there too.」

「Ri, right……. Got it.」

Lux nodded at Philuffy’s words and the two entered the cathedral.

 

「──Are you really, okay with here? We cannot pray without the statue right before our eyes here though?」

「Yes.」

Philuffy nodded. Lux followed what she said and sat down there.

The second floor of the cathedral was opened to the public until the end of the anniversary. Lux and Philuffy were sitting side by side at the jutting out balcony of that second floor.

From there they could look down and watch the spirit statue above the horse carriage that was passing through nearby right at that timing.

However, perhaps because a lot of people tried to look at the statue from nearby, there was practically nobody around the two.

The two sat side by side on a stone bench while staring at the street and the people that were colored by faint light through the surrounding’s gap.

It was a quiet time with both of them not talking to each other.

「Say, Phi-chan. Is there something you want to buy or anything──」

Lux spoke to Philuffy so as to not make her bored, then,

「Lu-chan, you can rest you know?」

「Eh……?」

When Lux tilted his head, Philuffy’s innocent golden pupils peered fixedly into Lux’s face.

「Lu-chan. You look tired, but I’m happy, that you’re thinking about me.」

‘I’m not tired.’

Lux tried to immediately refute like that, but his thought halted.

Because in fact, he had fun with Krulcifer and Celis, but because he had walked around the capital that he was unfamiliar with under the blazing sun, it was true that he was tired.

「That’s why──it’s no good if you don’t rest properly, you know?」

When Lux fell silent, Philuffy said that and lightly tapped on her thighs. Her eyes turned on him as though urging him to do something.

「……Wait!? That, do you mean──?」

「Sleep here. The seat, is a bit hard after all.」

It seemed that Lux’s imagination was right on the mark.

This was that thing called a ‘lap pillow’, but because Philuffy was wearing a summer dress, the length of her skirt was as short as the academy uniform or perhaps even shorter.

When she sat down, those white charming thighs were exposed, so his head would lie down on there.

Furthermore depending on the direction Lux’s face was turning at, it felt like he would be able to peek until the depth of Philuffy’s skirt with impunity in that state.

Lux unconsciously imagined that and he gulped, even so,

「I, I’m fine. Be, besides, because it’s night this place is not standing out but, if other people see us from below──it will be a bit embarrassing.」

「I don’t, really care you know?」

「……Isn’t that right.」

Seeing Philuffy saying that with her unchanging serious face and tilted head, Lux thought that he failed to convince her.

And then, Philuffy who entered this mode of hers would not relent by any means.

In the end, Lux could only yield.

「The, then……I’ll borrow your lap for a bit okay?」

「Nn……」

Seeing Philuffy nod slightly, Lux slowly put his head on those thighs and laid down on the bench.

「Uwah……!?」

Instantly the softness that touched the back of his head and the nape of his neck caused Lux to raise his voice spontaneously.

The sensation of slightly cold skin felt pleasant to his body that was flushed from the summer’s heat.

And then, when he breathed in the faint sweet smell wafting from Philuffy, strength left Lux’s body.

(For some reason, this feels really good……)

On one hand Lux felt his heart throbbing hard from the softness of her thighs and the sensation of the skirt’s smooth fabric, but on the other hand there was the pleasant feeling of relief that would make him fall asleep at this rate.

Suddenly a refreshing wind blew. Philuffy softly caressed Lux’s head.

「You can sleep like this. I’ll wake you up when the spirit statue goes to the castle.」

「Ah, ok……. Then, please.」

When Lux turned his gaze to right above him, he had to look at Philuffy’s face across her large breasts, which made his gaze to wander around spontaneously.

He felt slight embarrassment and hard throbbing in his heart toward her body that touched him.

And then Lux slowly closed his eyes along with a mysterious tranquility.

 

「…………」

Above the balcony where only the faraway tumult and the night wind could be heard, Philuffy gazed at the city’s lighting with the head of Lux who was starting to make small sleeper’s breathing staying still on her lap.

Her face was expressionless like usual, but there was the same hint of tranquility like what her childhood friend, the young man, had emerging there.

「Lu-chan. You see, I’m actually not as you think you know?」

Philuffy dropped her gaze on Lux’s face with her usual dispassionate expression and voice.

「In the past, when Okaa-san died from sickness, everyone cried a lot──both Otou-san and Onee-chan, they looked really suffering. That was why, I didn’t cry. So that everyone wouldn’t worry, so that they wouldn’t be even sadder than that, I pretended to be alright all the time, even when other painful things happened. But──」

Philuffy paused her words momentarily and slowly inhaled slightly.

[[File:SaijakuBahamut v5 11.jpg|thumb|right]]

「When Lu-chan covered up for me at the palace, and at Ries Island too, at those times I actually wanted help. Even when I pretended to not notice, Lu-chan always noticed for me.」

The thing that she lost without noticing while she was pretending to be all right.

Since she was a child, she had been hiding all this time, locked behind that expressionless face.

The true feelings that even Philuffy herself didn’t notice, Lux made her notice it.

「Thank you, Lu-chan. For finding me──」

Her usual expressionless face crumbled slightly and Philuffy smiled.

She gently caressed the young man’s hair and look into that face lovingly.

And then, she slowly put her lips on the lips of the peaceful face of her sleeping childhood friend.