Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 1041: Wet Dog

At the harvesting facility, Rook’s message reached Vespera while the vampire was being secured to a stretcher.

He flinched when she took her phone out. Vespera read the update beside the wrecked trolley.

Kaiden was resting. He had eaten. Yunohana was looking after him personally.

Her eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion. "Yunohana, you..."

"Let go!" The vampire thrashed, clawing at her.

Vespera pushed one foot into his neck, her thumb resting against the screen for a moment before she typed her reply.

"Tell him to rest as long as he needs."

"They’ll avenge me, cunt!" the vampire gasped as the medics lifted his stretcher.

Vespera put her phone away. The medics carried him past the steel door she’d torn out of its frame.

...

In Tokyo, Kaiden lay with his cheek against Yunohana’s robe while she finished tying the replenished cord around his wrist.

"There," she murmured. "I would be grateful if you could keep this one clean for a little longer."

"I’ll try my best." Kaiden’s eyes turned sly as he added, "But my stay so far has been rather eventful, so no promises..."

Yunohana’s eyes widened, and guilt swept through her. After everything he’d suffered here, she was fussing over keeping his cord clean while he lay exhausted in her lap because her nation just couldn’t keep trouble away from him for more than a few hours.

"I..."

Kaiden chuckled and caught her hand before she could apologize.

"I’m just messing with you, Yunohana."

Her lips trembled. "You have not said anything untrue, though..."

The guilt in her voice made his smile soften. He squeezed her hand.

"You’ve taken wonderful care of me, and I’m going to be okay."

Yunohana studied his tired face, her concern persisting despite his reassurance.

"You would be rather more convincing if you did not look so exhausted."

"Then it’s a good thing I have somewhere comfortable to rest."

Yunohana drew a breath. Her fingers tightened in his.

"I’m glad I can offer at least this much comfort," she finally said.

Kaiden smiled and rested with her until the ache in his neck eased. When he finally sat up, Yunohana kept a hand at his back while he moved into the space beside her.

They drank their tea together, close enough that her sleeve brushed his wrist whenever she lifted her cup. He was in no hurry to finish.

Sipping slowly, he couldn’t help but smile. "Wonderful. Scarlet was right. Your tea is truly world class."

Yunohana smiled alongside him. "Although that woman can be a handful at times, she knows how to make her host feel appreciated."

"I owe that woman a great deal. But yeah. She sure can be a handful..."

She giggled at that, hiding her mouth behind her sleeve. "I wonder how you’d handle her if you couldn’t threaten her into submission by bringing up Vespera’s name."

Kaiden’s face turned wry. "I’d probably have to spend half the guild’s budget on getting her enough wine to sedate her."

"Now you’re just being ridiculous!" Yunohana’s giggles grew into jovial laughter.

"A bit of an overstatement, sure... But based on my experience, she’s the kind of person you cannot help but admire until you get too close. Then you realize she’s a boisterous progression addict with very few hobbies outside of fighting."

"Hoho." Yunohana pinched his cheeks, her eyes full of playfulness. "Is the almighty, perfect Mister Grey complaining about a guild member of his? If he finds her so troublesome, the Shogunate Circle will gladly take the Flame Monarch off his hands."

Kaiden’s soft expression turned serious instantly. "I didn’t say that."

His declaration lost some of its authority as the shrine maiden was still pinching his cheeks.

"You certainly implied it, though."

"No."

"Merely saying no doesn’t take back what has already left your mouth. I was listening very carefully, you know~"

"..." He didn’t know how to react to this situation.

Bantering with this woman was far more entertaining than he ever thought, considering the aloof first impression she gave.

"I shall stop messing with you now," Yunohana announced softly, smiling. She released his cheeks from their imprisonment. "You’re still my sick patient, after all."

"Much appreciated..."

When she set her empty cup beside his, she remained where she was.

The breeze stirred the damp ends of her hair against his arm.

"You haven’t dried that," he said.

"You were unwell, so I rushed over."

Kaiden looked from her hair to the shoulder she’d injured for him.

"Would you let me?"

Yunohana glanced toward the folded towels on the bench.

"Kaiden, you have only just recovered enough to-"

"Sit here and hold a towel. I’m feeling ambitious."

Her mouth curved despite her attempt to keep it straight.

"If it tires you, you will tell me?"

"If your shoulder hurts, you will tell me?"

She considered him, then gathered her hair over her uninjured shoulder.

"Very well."

Yunohana turned sideways on the bench. Kaiden unfolded the towel and gathered her hair over it, lifting the damp weight away from the back of her robe.

"Like this?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Kaiden folded the towel over her hair and was about to begin rubbing.

"W-wait!"

Yunohana caught the towel with her right hand before he could begin the massacre.

"Are you taking revenge on me?!"

Kaiden froze with the towel between his palms.

"Revenge? What are you talking about?"

"Yes, revenge! I always knew you were a vengeful man, but to this degree? Surely I have not offended you so terribly that my hair must suffer for it?"

He looked from her face to the towel, completely bewildered.

"I was just going to dry it."

"By rubbing it between your hands like that?"

"...Yes?"

She turned farther toward him, her cheeks puffed with indignation. The way he’d gathered her hair inside the towel left her in no doubt about his intentions. If she let him begin, her carefully tended hair would become a tangled mess!

"I am not a wet dog, Kaiden Grey. Nor am I one of your college friends who needs a vigorous scrubbing after football practice."

"I wasn’t trying to-"

"I am a woman who takes her appearance very seriously. Extremely seriously, in fact. I had hoped that was apparent."

Her gaze dropped to the crumpled towel still trapped between his hands.

"Apparently, it was not."

Kaiden opened his mouth, but Yunohana was already drawing her hair free. She spread a section across her palm, safely out of his reach, while he tried to understand what was wrong with the towel.

"Do you know how much care goes into keeping my hair like this? The washing, the conditioning, the combing? You cannot simply rub it all together and hope it remembers where everything belongs."

"I-"

"Have you never done this for your girlfriends?"

"If you’d let me get a word in-"

"I think Miss Aria would strangle you if you approached her hair with those intentions. Have you seen how beautifully she keeps it? Of course you have. You’re the only one who gets to touch it."

Yunohana ran her fingers through the smooth ends, then held them up to show him exactly what she expected to preserve.

"And Miss Bastet? That lovely dark hair of hers? The poor woman might be crying by the time you finished ’helping’ her."

"I haven’t even started!"

Yunohana took the towel from him, and he held up his empty hands for inspection.

"Yes, because I intervened in time."