Reborn as an Evolving Space Monster: Harem Of Otherworldly Beauties-Chapter 337: Will You Come With Me?

"C-Can you stop joking around?" Roka stuttered.

"Fine, fine…" Cero smiled, taking a step back. "Can't even joke around these days, huh?"

"All you do is joke around." She muttered, pressing her lips together.

"True." He shrugged.

Roka scratched her shoulder as she thought silently for a bit.

'I said that, but I have no idea anymore. Maybe he isn't joking around. Maybe it really is the revenge of a broken heart. To me, I just ended up coming up with an excuse and running away. Even then, when he pulled me onto him, I told him to stop joking around… Ugh, even if I were to accept that he isn't joking around when it comes to… Us… I still wouldn't be able to-'

"Did you sleep well?" Cero asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Y-Yeah." Roka nodded. "I slept alright." She must have nodded her head a dozen times. "I actually um…"

"Yes?"

"How did you sleep?" She asked, changing her mind. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Ah." Cero scratched his cheek, looking away momentarily. "You know that I was out."

"Yeah… I actually um… Wanted to… Anyways, it's not my fault, is it? That you left?"

"Hm…" Cero thought for a moment, remembering the time he had spent on the streets of Wor, in the nightclub, and at that girl's mansion whose name he had already forgotten. "It very well might have been."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. I didn't think things would be awkward since… You know… You're always joking around…"

"It's not about awkwardness. I just had… A night." Cero shrugged.

"That…" Roka's eyes narrowed, perplexed. "Doesn't mean anything."

"Let's just say that things didn't go according to plan, so I ended up… Doing something else."

It was only once Cero said this that he was hit with a strange thought. It wasn't exactly a realization, as he really couldn't be sure.

'Had Roka and I… I probably wouldn't fucked those girls. In fact, it might be because she rejected me in her awkward -Stop joking around- way that I ended up doing so. I'm not even sure if she thinks she has rejected me or not… It might really all be joking around in her mind… I can't tell for sure-'

"I wanted to… To talk to you." Roka said, interrupting his thought.

"Yeah." Cero nodded.

"But when I left my room," Roka scratched her head, blushing slightly. "You weren't there anymore."

"Oh. I thought you were talking about now." Cero said without thinking.

The slight blushing quickly worsened. She remained frozen as her cheeks started burning up.

"A-anyways-"

"Wait." Cero interrupted, realizing. "You wanted to talk earlier? After you got to your room?"

"I-It's… Never mind." Roka shook her head. "It was stupid anyway."

"I don't necessarily hate stupid."

Roka pressed her lips together.

'It's because he always says stuff like that, that it's so tough to know when he's joking around and when he isn't!'

'She wanted to talk to me? After I left? Had I known, I would have stayed. Tsk. I'm disappointed. Slightly disappointed at myself, too. How am I choosing talking to someone over fucking hoes? Well, the someone is Roka… Damn, the old me would seriously hate the person I became. Oh, you prefer a heart-to-heart with someone you like over sex? You're a bitch. Yeah, that's probably what the old me would say.' Cero nodded to himself as he thought.

'I'm putting the blame on him again when I already came to the conclusion that I was the problem here… I need to stop the back and forth! Going in circles is a no-no! I've been doing that for months already, and where has it got me? Watching him fuck others or touching him in his sleep! This is no-'

"So what was it?" Cero asked suddenly, which made Roka shudder.

"W-What do you mean?"

"What you wanted to talk about."

"Oh." Roka nodded. "Right… I assume Raya talked to you about it?"

"Raya? What does it have to do with Raya?"

"Well, I asked her first, then she said that…"

'Oh, she thought I was talking about why we're meeting at Lith's, when I'm asking about earlier…'

"You would be the better choice. I thought it would be better to meet here, considering what I'm asking you."

"Raya didn't tell me anything about it." Cero explained, deciding to leave the other subject for later. "She said that she refused and suggested me. That's pretty much all."

"Alright, well…" Roka coughed, preparing herself.

It was tough to ask.

Not only was it related to the events of the night before, but asking Raya had been nothing more than a subterfuge. A way to aim at Cero without the whole thing being suspicious. Without the secondary concerns and goals to be noticed or revealed.

"As you know, I am leaving for Jin soon. I'll be leaving in five days."

"For two weeks, right?"

"More like three weeks." She nodded. "One week to get there, one week to get back here, and a couple of days spent there."

"Yeah, you told me already." Cero said.

"Well, I'm going there under orders of the Prime Minister. There will only be two or three people with me. It'll be a really small team. Discretion is a pretty important part of it."

"Why is that?"

"Well, we don't know Jin's motives. Plus, there's the thing… You know?"

"The thing…?"

"Yes." She nodded. "When we rejoined civilization, remember? When we were out of the wilderness."

'The wilderness constitutes solar systems here…' Cero thought, raising an eyebrow.

"That spaceship? The one that was waiting for us?"

"Oh, right. Yes, I understand. No one must know. Yes, it makes sense."

"Well, since it'll be a small team… I asked Raya and… Well… I wanted to…"

Roka started blushing again. Her eyes started running away. She felt incapable of asking while maintaining eye contact with him. It was an innocent and honest request. Or rather, it could have been, considering the time they had spent together, and how that time had been spent.

"I wanted to ask you…" The blushing Roka's fidgeting right hand took hold of her elbow. "If you would…" The discomfort felt and the effort exerted to ask were more than obvious.

"If I would…?"

Roka gulped and took a deep breath.

Moving her gaze to meet his,

"Will you come with me?" She asked. "Will you come with me to Jin?"