Love You

VOLUME 1

Season 2, Episode 1

Episode 1:

Another usual morning breakfast in the Kanda household.

"Wasn"t last night just so much fun?"

"It was absolutely enjoyable, was it not, my boy?"

"Hahaha, we definitely have a lot of changes of clothing installed for us early this June, don"t you think, Shun?"

"Go stuff yourselves!"

Really, he had had enough of his parents poking fun at him. Last night was definitely not fun.

While it was nigh impossible for the entire family to sit and eat together for every meal of the day, the one which they all tried their best to observe was breakfast - family bonding and whatnot.

Today though, there was one extra family member sitting at the breakfast table with them.

With her long golden hair and travelling mantle draped across her shoulders, it was no surprise that Rosalie stood out amongst the other occupants of the table.

The fact that she was just sitting there, complacently flipping through wedding pamphlets made that sight all the more surreal.

"Live the Dream - A Fantasy Hotel Wedding"

"Presenting: Your Wedding"

"Solemn ceremonies"

"Expectant mothers, Rejoice"

Cheesy words and phrases like these just seemed to jump out from the pamphlets.

""Let us weave our magic through that silent, blissful moment", Shun, why would people want to have spells cast upon them during their wedding?"

Rosalie"s brow furrowed in confusion.

Looking at her, Shun felt another wave of throbbing pain at the back of his head.

Oh G.o.d, please don"t let this become a morning routine.

"Rosalie, dear, what kind of wedding would you like?"

Another unnecessary question from Shun"s very unnecessary mother, Manami, wafted out from the kitchen.

Shun would bet that they were both there to ruin his life.

"The ceremony should be held in the church of a small town."

Rosalie"s reply was once again, quick and to the point.

"First, I"d have to exchange letters with Shun, and we"d have a lover"s tryst. Then we"d make a decision to elope, and finally, we"d run away into the sunset - "

Rosalie"s version of a wedding drew heavily from her experience with that one in-game wedding event.

Time to interrupt before things got any worse.

"Ahem! Mom, when"s breakfast? I"m starving."

Fortunately for Shun, Manami really wasn"t all that bright.

"Oh my, you are such a romantic, Rosalie!"

On another note though, there was no sound of objection from Mikoto as she had already left for school. Her school was, after all, located much further than Shun"s, and as such, she had to set off earlier in order to be on time for cla.s.s. However, today, before leaving, she glared accusatorily at Shun before leaving, promising him the "Trial of the Sister" when she returned.

What did "Trial of the Sister" even mean anyway?

And then, food arrived at the table and there was no more time to ponder.

–

Today, they partook in a traditional j.a.panese breakfast.

Gaping at the food before her, Shun could practically feel Rosalie salivating as her eyes alighted upon the neatly arranged dishes produced from Manami"s magical hands.

Barely a few seconds later and the stately warrior princess had foregone all semblance of dignity, and with one rice bowl in hand, proceeded to dig in and eat as if there were no tomorrow.

And then -

"Shun."

From the looks of things, Rosalie had just remembered something.

"What?"

Putting down her small bowl of soup in front of Shun, Rosalie spared another lingering glance at it before relinquishing it to finally meet Shun square in the eyes.

"This bowl of soup is my betrothal present for you."

Excuse me?

Clearly, Rosalie had just read about this in one of those G.o.dd.a.m.ned wedding pamphlets.

"Oh, my dear, we humbly accept your present!"

"Well now, all that leaves is the location of the wedding ceremony, hmm?"

There was no doubt that Shun"s parents were extremely thrilled.

"Are you nuts?"

Shun levelled his glare at his madly chuckling parents as if they were some form of extra-terrestrial organism.

A-Anyways, it wasn"t as if Rosalie even really liked him.

She just happened to mistake him for "Shun of the Dragon Spirit", that"s all.

–

"You are, indeed, quite formidable."

Rosalie stared at the plate of tamagoyaki piled up before her, looking for all the world as if she were about to take on the high mountains of Takagahara before stretching her hand into the pile and picking up a dozen pieces to stuff into her mouth.

"My dear girl, you really ought to get some new clothes!"

Manami smilingly interrupted Rosalie"s feud with the seemingly unending pile of tamagoyaki.

"That"s a wonderful costume you"re wearing, but as a girl, you really should have more clothing!"

She seemed wonderfully happy talking to Rosalie about that. Maybe she felt as though she"d gained a new daughter or something.

"What kind of clothing would you like, Rosalie?"

"Something with a high defence stat."

Rosalie"s answer came out strong and unhesitant.

"That, I definitely cannot ever take off. Although, to be more accurate, what I would wish for would be more of an armour, not clothing. The "Eternal Armour" I have equipped right now, which also happens to be a secret treasure of the Dragon tribe, is a perfect example of an armour with extremely high defence stats. To find one that is better than that would be quite difficult - "

"Ro-Rosalie, here, have my tamagoyaki too!"

Shun then proceeded to stuff his roll of tamagoyaki into Rosalie"s mouth, effectively shutting her up for the time being.

He was beginning to find out that it was quite easy to get the hang of controlling and subduing Rosalie. Kind of sad, really.

–

"So does that mean you"re against all that inappropriate exposure that"s so popular amongst the young people nowadays?"

"Oh my, now that"s how a lady should act! A woman"s modesty is her greatest treasure! As expected of our Shun"s bride!"

He gave up.

Those people where beyond saving.

Wordlessly, he lifted his bowl of miso soup to his lips and drank deeply.

Sneaking a glance at Rosalie, he couldn"t help but remember about that "Eternal Armour" that took him ages to win and forge in-game. Rosalie had said that she was equipped with it in real time, but most likely, they were all unable to see it due to the game"s setting, which allowed the armour to be worn by the character, but not seen by the player.

The producer"s probably wanted the gamers to enjoy the visuals.

Who knew it would come in handy in such situations?

–

The television that morning was plastered all over with news regarding yesterday"s terrorist attack.

"It"s amazing! We"ve checked areas of up to two kilometres radius from the National a.s.sembly Hall, and yet, miraculously, not a single person was found dead or injured!"

The news anchor proceeded to cap the report with a summary of how the current half destroyed National a.s.sembly Hall was really just the result of a stray missile colliding into the building at the very end. Then, the news went on to discuss the fates of the apprehended terrorists, as well as the struggles j.a.pan was having with some country or the other.

Phew, safe!

Shun knew from experience that all people would ever take in from the piece just now was that something important had happened, but that was as far as it got.

No one would ever remember the specifics of that night.

With that relieving, yet strangely awkward thought about the layperson"s attention span, Shun tried to force a closure on yesterday"s incident.

Unfortunately, he was faced with a constant reminder that came in the shape of Rosalie, sitting so peacefully opposite him, all but stuffing herself with hijiki seaweed.

How someone could even eat with all that chaos lying so heavily on their conscience, Shun would never know.

–

"Pooches and Kitties"

Finally, after a straight run of 14 hours, the news regarding yesterday"s terrorist incident came to an end. However, that did not mean that Shun was any happier to see the next programme that was scheduled for airing.

Seriously, didn"t those people have anything better to do than parade their pets around on some stupid reality TV?

"Today, we"d like to welcome to the screen, Tarou-kun! Tarou-kun is 2 years old this year. Standing in front of the shop, Tarou-kun greets all his customers with unadulterated affection and adoration."

The scene then zoomed in on a Shiba Inu dog with a warm wet nose and lolling tongue, as it wagged its tail at the camera.

The pair of chopsticks beside him had stopped, hung fused in mid-air.

Rosalie had stopped attacking her food.

Uh-oh.

Something was definitely wrong.

Turning around to face her, Shun noticed blood.

Streaming down from her nose.

Rosalie was having her first ever nosebleed.

"Tarou-kun is happiest when he"s out taking long walks with his owner!"

The bleeding was not stopping.

"Rosalie, your nose! It"s bleeding!"

Reaching for a tissue, he handed it to her before things could get any worse.

"And that"s all for today from Tarou-kun! You lucky dog!"

All that blood was going to dye the tissue red.

And through the entire commotion, cheeks aflame and eyes lit with a wild fire of l.u.s.t, Rosalie sat still as a log, practically glued to that little dog on the television screen.

Strange.

It wasn"t as if there were no dogs in "Dragon Bless". Quite the contrary, in fact.

However, not once was there a mention of the fact that the main heroine of the game would get a severe nose bleed whenever she met one.

Oh, how her enemies would have rejoiced!

Inside, Shun felt his young heart shatter into pieces.

–

He came down again to the sound of Rosalie and his mother, whispering rather busily in the kitchen.

Shun had gone up to grab a few of those new printouts before heading to school, but it seemed that in those few short moments, Manami and Rosalie had already planned something devious.

I don"t want to know.

Seeing as there was a completely new member of the house present today, the Kanda family knew better than to leave her alone at home right from the get go. As such, Manami decided to take the day off of work in order to keep Rosalie company and to take care of her.

"I"m headed off to school!"

Shun called out, hoping to make a quick dash and escape before -

"Oh, Shun!"

His mother was wearing that face again.

She was undoubtedly up to something.

Oh G.o.d, what is it this time?

If not for the fact that Rosalie was standing in front of the kitchen stove, wearing an ap.r.o.n and clutching a ladle, Shun really would have just left his mom mid-sentence.

"It"s. A. Secret."

His mom grinned at him.

No mistakes this time. She"d already done whatever it was. She always had when she smiled like that.

"Isn"t that right, Rosalie-chan?"

Turning to face him, Rosalie nodded in a.s.sent.

And then suddenly

Don"t cook

Oh, so that"s what they were about.

If Rosalie"s ap.r.o.n and ladle hadn"t already given the game away, it was now dead obvious what they were up to.

After all, whenever Rosalie tried her hand at something she had never done before in-game, for that very first time before conducting said action, a pop-up window would appear in front of Shun, requesting his input.

"You never know, something amazing might actually happen today! Look forward to it and have fun at school, okay?"

Manami threw a look at Rosalie.

Her turn now.

"Antic.i.p.ate it!"

She pointed her ladle at him as if it were a sword.

However, the ladle was not a sword.

Shun watched as that one unrestrained movement caused it to fly out of her grip at an unbelievable trajectory.

s.h.i.t.