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"Spirit reactions..." Hearing this, Riku rolled his eyes. After such an intense battle, spirit reactions in this area had long maxed out. Removing the dust just masked some of it.
Besides, even if detected, no races would really care. Lower races would be scared, and only the Heavenly Wing Breed among the higher races might notice—and that's about it.
After all, the fight's already over—why bother?
Still, as Zhu Bi said, bathing together to understand the 'heart' and this kind of interaction probably wouldn't hurt him.
"Riku, Zhu Bi makes sense. It's up to you, sis won't stop you," Korone teased with a grin.
"Well then, Zhu Bi, come with me," Riku finally gave in, deciding not to hesitate like a coward. After all, he already took down Fia, so Zhu Bi shouldn't be a problem. She'd be his future wife anyway... should be fine...
"Okay. Looking forward to bathing with Riku," Zhu Bi nodded quietly.
With a strange feeling in his chest, Riku took Zhu Bi toward the bath.
Korone stared thoughtfully at Jubi's back. Jubi was a mech-armor type, but her behavior didn't seem very mechanical — she showed a lot of human-like traits.
"Chasing after a heart, huh..." Korone murmured. "But she clearly already has one."
...
Riku's personal bathroom was decorated with tiny crystal stones all around, serving as light sources, making the whole place look beautiful.
Right now, Riku was helping Jubi wash her hair while she sat by the edge with her legs dangling.
"Hey, Riku, let's play a game," Jubi suddenly said.
"A game? Why play a game now?" Riku asked, puzzled.
"Because I want to," Jubi said softly.
Just then, the mechanical headpiece on Jubi's head suddenly lit up with tiny halos, and an international chessboard appeared out of nowhere.
"Didn't you say you were worried about elven sensors?" Riku covered his face in disbelief.
"It's okay. The battle just ended — this little bit of elven detection won't get noticed," Jubi said calmly.
"..." Hearing that, Riku's hand paused in surprise as he looked at Jubi. She actually knows how to mess around with this stuff now?
"Riku, if you win, you can do whatever you want to Jubi," Jubi slowly said while her small hand fiddled with the chess pieces.
"Why haven't you given up on that idea yet?" Riku raised an eyebrow.
"If I win, you have to do a deep-level communication with me," Jubi said, ignoring Riku's comment.
"What's the difference?" Riku couldn't help but tease. "Besides, you don't have a 'hole', do you?"
"If Jubi can reference some data, she can create the perfect 'hole' that gives you the best sensation possible," Jubi said confidently.
"Using your godlike powers for this kind of weird stuff? That's just tragic," Riku said, covering his face again.
But referencing data… Fiana's figure was pretty close to Jubi's. If she used that as a reference…
Suddenly, strange images popped into Riku's mind — like Jubi watching while he was with Fiana. The thought shook him so much he quickly pushed it out of his head.
Cough cough, no thinking about that!
"Riku, were you just excited? You do have feelings for me, don't you," Jubi said quietly, clearly not fooled by his reaction. "Please, just follow your heart and go wild on me."
"Go wild… You don't have a hole, but you do have a mouth," Riku mumbled, his brain in a bit of a mess from yesterday's situation with Fiana helping him out.
When he realized what he'd said, his face went stiff. He'd said something he shouldn't have.
"I see now. Jubi understands. I really missed that point. I'm so sorry," Jubi's eyes suddenly sparkled with a strange light, and she smiled knowingly. "Riku isn't uninterested in me — I'm glad."
"..." The topic was drifting too far, and Riku didn't even want to respond. If this kept going, he'd be walking down the path of no return again.
"Riku, let's play the game," Jubi said.
"Riku, let's play. If you don't, I'll consider it my win, and then I get to have that deep-level communication with you," she added with a slightly stubborn tone.
After a few seconds of silence from Riku, Jubi spoke again, sounding a bit pouty.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Riku said, snapping out of his thoughts, nodding.
In an instant, Riku and Jubi started their high-stakes chess game.
But compared to Jubi, the mech-armor type, even a genius like Riku couldn't win. After battling for a while, he finally lost.
Then Jubi, following certain rules, "went wild" on Riku — though honestly, Riku enjoyed it.
Whatever, it was totally worth it — three years of this was a steal. Besides, she was his future wife, legally too. Forget about feeling guilty.
"....."