Yumeko bent down and scooped the girl up, and a soft, sweet scent slammed straight into her skull.
It radiated from beneath the girl’s skin, body heat warming her natural fragrance, mixed with the cozy warmth of just waking up from bed and the fresh scent of shampoo.
The scent poured out from the top of her head, her hair strands, the collar of her nightgown at her nape, forming a complete cocoon of softness and sweetness that completely obliterated Yumeko’s sense of smell.
Yumeko’s footsteps faltered.
Her green pupils dilated instantly under the assault of that scent, her breathing rhythm completely thrown off.
She slapped her palm against the face Yumeko leaned in, shoving that head away with force.
“Get me out of here right now!”
Yumeko’s pushed-away face wobbled in the air, then she blinked, like someone violently awakened from a beautiful dream.
A dazed smile still hung at the corner of her mouth, her green eyes reflecting the girl’s disgust-filled face, and then she nodded vigorously, her flaxen hair whipping through the air in an arc.
She leaped down from the 23rd floor.
[Detected host has escaped the imprisonment environment. Escape countdown initiated: 30 days remaining. Please maintain your free state within this period. Reaching zero counts as mission success. Good luck.]
Thirty days.
Rina stared at that number for a moment.
Not long, not short, enough for many things to happen, and enough for certain people to catch up.
And once they reached the ground…
“Put me down! I’ll walk on my own!”
Yumeko visibly wilted at the command from her little cute one in her arms, but the command of this soft, sweet little cute one was absolute.
She set the little cute one back down on the ground with extreme reluctance.
The moment Rina’s feet touched the ground, she realized she was no longer in Hisaki’s temperature-controlled living room.
The outdoor heat surged at her from all directions, wrapping around her arms, neck, and thighs exposed outside her nightgown.
The hot wind clinging to her skin brought a sticky, unpleasant sensation.
Then she noticed… people around her were staring.
She was used to being looked at in the living room, but now she was standing in a public place.
Her pinkish-white nightgown, her two legs wrapped in white silk stockings that shimmered with a pearlescent glow in the sunlight, and a pair of pale blue slippers meant for indoor wear on her feet.
A gust of hot wind lifted her skirt hem, and she reflexively pressed it down with her hand, the tips of her ears flushing red.
She needed to change out of these clothes.
The sooner, the better.
But before that, there was one more thing.
Her ID card.
Her household registration records should still be at the orphanage.
As long as she went to the orphanage to pull her records and get a real ID card, she’d never run into that “can’t stay at a hotel without an ID” problem again.
Then she thought of something very important.
Her money.
Last time at the amusement park, she’d gotten 4,000 yuan in cash from Hisaki in exchange for forty kisses.
Rina stopped in her tracks.
That was the first money she’d ever earned with her own body in her life, hidden in the deepest corner of her closet, sealed in a ziplock bag she’d swiped from the kitchen.
She hadn’t brought it out.
She stood there, her silver-white hair drifting gently in the hot wind.
Sadness welled up from her chest, gathering in her sky-blue eyes as a single full teardrop that trembled but didn’t fall.
Could she go back now?
If she went back to get the money now, what if Hisaki came home early?
But she really wanted that money.
It was the first payment she’d ever earned through her own physical labor, even though the way she’d earned it made her face burn just thinking about it.
A single tear spilled from the corner of her eye, slid down her cheek, paused at the tip of her chin for half a second, then dropped onto the collar of her nightgown, spreading into a small dark water stain.
Yumeko was off to the side processing the disappointment of being “ordered to put the little cute one down” when she suddenly noticed the girl’s shoulders trembling slightly.
She looked down and caught the full sight of that tear sliding off her chin.
The little cute one was crying.
So adorable.
So cute.
Adorable to the point her heart was about to stop.
Wait, why was the little cute one crying?
Rina lifted her face.
Her sky-blue eyes still held unshed tears, her eye sockets red, tiny teardrops clinging to her lashes, her lips pressed together slightly, and then she spoke in an extremely soft, barely audible voice.
“Uu… um… could we go back for a bit?”
“I forgot my money……..”
Yumeko’s heart went through a roller coaster of shock in that moment.
The arrogant little commander who’d been barking orders moments ago was now pleading with her in this tearful, soft, dress-clutching, whispering tone.
The destructive power of that gap moe was a hundred times that of her commanding tone from before.
Yumeko felt like she needed to lean against a wall to stay upright, but there was no wall to find, so she could only press her hand to her chest and answer in a voice of near-reverent, completely-sunk devotion.
“It’s a must!”
Oh right, little cute one.
Now was finally the chance to ask the other’s name.
“What’s your name?”
“Shiraze Rina.”
Rina.
She’d never even told that name to her kidnapper.
The kidnapper had called her Shiro from the very start, and she’d never corrected it.
She’d been called it for so long, she’d almost forgotten she had a real name.
“What a cute name. Can I call you Rin-chan?”
“Whatever.” Rina replied flatly.
Soon, everything went smoothly…
Yumeko took Rin-chan to retrieve her “treasure”… a total of 3,948 yuan.
Rina held the stack of bills in her palms, her sky-blue eyes shining again. The red around her eyes from crying hadn’t fully faded, but the corners of her mouth were already lifting, letting out an extremely satisfied, nasal sigh.
She counted each bill one by one, every single one carrying the memory of her lips’ warmth.
Then she looked up at Yumeko.
“Take me to the nearest clothing store.”
Yumeko nodded firmly.
“Orders received, Rin-chan!”