Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 3 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 5===

When Basilisk reached the location two kilometers away from the volcanic island, my chance finally arrived. Since enemy contact would happen within three days at the quickest, everyone participating in the operation were summoned after dinner.

However, since Iris, Tia and I did not have particular tasks, we were excluded from the meeting.

I could not miss this excellent chance, so I left my cabin and made my way to Iris' cabin near the prow end of the ship.

Apart from cabin numbers, the girls' cabins also had their student numbers marked on the doors. B7—Seeing the plate that seemed to read No.7 of Brynhildr Class, I concluded it was probably Iris' cabin.

I tried my best to knock quietly. Then the door opened from the inside. Dressed in school uniform, Iris poked her head out.

"...Eh? Mononobe, what's up?"

"Well—Umm, didn't you invite me to your room last time?"

I scratched my cheek and replied.

"Oh, you still remember! I thought you already forgot!"

Smiling happily, Iris invited me into her cabin. Having lived on this ship for almost a month, Iris had left ample signs of someone living in this cabin. More specifically—It was very messy.

"Oh..."

Noticing pink underwear among the random mess of articles, I could not help but freeze.

"What's wrong—Eh? Ohhh! H-Hold on a sec, I'll tidy things up straight away!"

Blushing to her ears, Iris frantically ran about the cabin, gathering everything on the floor in a pile to create space. Only after making sure her underwear was out of sight, Iris let me into the room.

"S-Sorry about that. Come, sit down."

Iris scratched her head shyly and asked me to sit on the bed.

"It's okay, I've learned a bit more about you as a result, Iris."

"W-What did you learn?"

Sitting down next to me, Iris asked, shaken.

"You're not good at keeping your room tidy, right?"

"Ooh, d-don't say it out, please... Lisa-chan gets mad at me about this often too."

Iris slumped her shoulders dejectedly. I could immediately imagine Lisa lecturing at her to clean up her room.

"Speaking of which, back when I first transferred, you seem to have become closer friends with Lisa better."

"...Yeah, ever since the Leviathan incident, Lisa-chan has been caring for me often, but sometimes I'm scared of her, that's all."

Iris smiled wryly while she replied. Then suddenly thinking of something, she asked me:

"Oh right... I totally didn't notice, but Lisa-chan and Mitsuki-chan got into an argument, right? I heard Firill-chan say that you're working hard to resolve it."

"No really, what I did doesn't count as working hard..."

"It's not resolved yet?"

Seeing Iris with a worried face, I hastily said:

"Yeah, but don't worry. Right now, there's no spare time because of the Basilisk crisis, but I believe things will get settled soon."

Lisa was at the heart of the current operation. She definitely had no time to contemplate her "terms of forgiveness" to demand from Mitsuki.

"I see... That's a relief."

Iris breathed a sigh of relief then reached out to touch my left shoulder.

"...Iris?"

My heart skipped a beat. I called her name quietly.

"Mononobe, you seem to have taken the bandage off... Has the wound stopped hurting?"

"It's okay, the wound is almost fully healed. I can move freely now."

Saying that, I placed my left hand on top of Iris' hand that was touching my shoulder.

"Ah—"

Iris blushed. Seeing her react like that, I felt my heart rate skyrocketing.

Our gazes became entangled. There was a sweet yet anxiety-inducing silence, but we did not speak for a while.

"Uh, Iris, what did you intend to tell me originally?"

"U-Umm... Anything at all. What do you wanna know, Mononobe?"

"E-Even if you ask me what I wanna know, I..."

I did not know what to say in response to her question.

"Since it's so rare for us to be alone in a room... You should ask something that you can only confirm only now, right?"

Iris looked up at me and made this suggestion.

"Something that I can only ask now..."

"Yeah..."

Iris nodded. As soon as I met her gaze, I felt as though I was going to be sucked into her eyes, unable to avert my gaze. But her entire being felt so attractive, no matter whether her face, her body, arms or legs. My heartbeat could not calm down at all.

"...Iris, your hair is so pretty."

I finally turned my gaze to her hair then voiced exactly what I thought.

"Thank you... Then go ahead and touch it."

At Iris' urging, I lightly touched her beautiful silver hair.

"So soft, it feels very nice to touch."

"Fufu, I'm so glad that you're touching my head, Mononobe. You're always patting Tia-chan and Ren-chan's heads, I'm so jealous."

Iris remarked a little unhappily.

"Well, it's because Tia and Ren feel like little sisters to me, so I subconsciously... But Iris, your hair isn't something I can touch casually."

"Why?"

"If you ask me why... It's because I'll get nervous."

Hearing my answer, Iris tilted her head and made a surprised look.

"In that case, you're nervous right now?"

"That goes without saying..."

I combed Iris' hair with my fingers and nodded in admission.

Then Mitsuki's face flashed in my mind. I recalled back when I was hospitalized, what she had said to me when we were alone in the sickroom.

—Please handle Iris-san's kiss with upfront honesty, okay?

If I was going to bring that up, now was the only time.

"...Iris, is it really okay for me to accept that kind of thank you reward from you?"

"That kind of thank you reward? What are you talking about?"

"...I-I don't need to spell it out, right? O-Of course I mean the kiss that time."

I listened to my own hoarse voice while explaining to her.

"Eh? Oh—"

Iris' face went red.

"Iris, your reaction implies that you thought of that kiss as special, right?"

Initially, I thought all she wanted to express was gratitude, nothing more, because she had acted too normal. But after knowing she felt conscious about that kiss too, I could not calm my feelings.

"...Right. Although we greet one another with kisses between family, that's on the cheek... A-A kiss on the lips, Mononobe, you're my first..."

Iris replied. She was blushing all the way to her ears.

"For me to be your first... Is that really okay?"

Hearing me ask that, Iris lowered her head and nodded in affirmation.

"If it's you, Mononobe, my second time... can be yours too."

Hearing that, my heart jumped intensely. I could not tear my gaze away from those gorgeous pink lips.

So this really was the case? I was not imagining her favorable impressions of me, Iris actually felt—

My heart rate quickened and my palms grew sweaty.

Then I had no choice but to reply to her seriously. Since Iris had confessed to such an extent, I had to voice my feelings too.

I gulped to moisten my throat that had become parched by the time I noticed.

I inhaled then exhaled.

Then I took a deep breath again and spoke while breathing out:

"Iris, I—"

I made my decision to put my thoughts into words, but Iris looked up in alarm and covered my mouth with her hands.

"N-No! Don't say it out yet!"

"...?"

I asked her with questioning eyes then Iris took her hands off my lips, a wry smile on her face.

"Because... If it's a saddening reply, I will be very depressed. The operation is about to start, if I'm in that kind of state... I won't be able to keep up with the operation in an emergency."

"No, but—"

"Even if it's a gladdening reply, now's not the time either. Because you must fight for Tia-chan's sake next!"

Iris looked at me with serious eyes and persuaded me.

To be honest, I really did not want to drag this on longer, but pressured by Iris' vigor, I could only nod in agreement.

"...Got it. Then let's talk again once Basilisk is taken care of."

"Thank you, Mononobe."

Iris breathed a sigh of relief then thanked me.

"It's just that this kind of dialogue is kind of unlucky on the battlefield..."

"Oh, I know that one! I'm going to get married after the war... That kind of dialogue, right?"

I had no idea where she heard it from, but Iris followed up on the subject I raised.

"Yeah, but I've seen many people on battlefields. In my view, it's not simply a matter of luck."

"What do you mean?"

"The more serious a person's personality or the more reason they have to return, the less they want to use that kind of thing as an excuse. As a result, they will force themselves harder than the others, desperate to survive, which makes them die early, of course."

Hearing my explanation, Iris instantly began to panic.

"D-Don't die, Mononobe! I-If it might make you die, I don't mind canceling our promise from just now!"

"No need to be that worried. Compared to the others, we're safest on standby on the ship."

Indeed, Iris and I were simply watching from the sidelines. If something unexpected happened, perhaps we might come in handy, but the plan's success hinged on that not happening, right?

"R-Right... Okay, in that case, I'll wait for your reply, Mononobe."

"Great."

I nodded clearly as a promise.

There was an increasing number of reasons not to lose, but that was not going to slow me down.