* * *

Oh, here I am again.

Apparently, I got a little too carried away by the whole environment from my own world.

But now, I’ve woken up... at night.

Wait—night?

What time is it even?

I should check a clock, but before I could, something—or someone—held me back.

Oh no. It’s Kairi’s mother.

Well... she’s my mother now. But that doesn’t mean I can just possess her lightly.

She pulled me into a tight embrace, her... pair of peaks nearly making it hard to breathe. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

So... this is what she’s been feeling the whole time?

I tried to wiggle free, but that only made her grip tighter.Great. So this is my life now — suffocating under unsolicited maternal affection.

I mean, yes, Kairi’s mother is warm, smells faintly of herbs, and radiates that unshakable "I’ve kept you alive since you were a crying potato" energy. But still, these arms feel like an iron vice disguised as tenderness.

"...Mom?"My voice came out smaller than I intended. Kairi’s voice, not mine.

She stirred, mumbling something about "you’re safe now" before settling back into sleep.

Safe? Ha. I wish.

Because tomorrow, I’d have to face Helena again.

And Helena never just "talks" to you — she pries into your thoughts like a pickpocket rifling through someone else’s wallet.

And if my hunch is right, she’s still not over with whatever bloody feud she’s having with Arthur.

Now that is dangerous.

And the worst part? I think I’m stuck in the middle of it.

I tried to subtly escape first: a soft roll, a gentle shoulder shift.

No luck.

She hummed in her throat and tightened, as though if she woke entirely she’d find I’d evaporated. Her chest rose and fell against my face. I could smell rosemary and the faint copper of too many long nights.

This is when I learned Kairi’s upper-body strength had been outsourced to a committee of dainty things. My elbow jutted out — graceless, desperate — and the only result was that my cheek rerouted onto a new patch of warm fabric.

Fine.

I braced one foot against the bedframe and twisted like I was trying to slip a ring off a stubborn finger. It was a ridiculous ballet: me, parting like the sea; her, holding back like fate. Every wriggle drew a sleepy murmur from her lips. "You’re safe now," she said, half-dreaming. Safe. I was less safe and more oxygen-deprived.

Finally, with the elegance of someone defusing the world, I slid one hand between us, worked my fingers under her palm, and peeled the grip away. She took it like I was removing a splinter. I inhaled like someone surfacing for air—my lungs loved me immediately for the favor.

I slid off the bed and planted my feet. The room tilted; Kairi’s legs felt like newly assembled scaffolding. My own limbs, back in my head, complained about the downgrade in tensile quality.

I finally managed to wriggle free from the suffocating embrace, though not without an undignified amount of squirming, twisting, and one particularly graceless elbow jab.

"Ugh... no wonder you’re so light on your feet, Kairi," I muttered under my breath, brushing myself off and glaring down at my—well, her—body.

"You’re small. Not short, just... condensed. Like someone took the full blueprint of a person and decided to print it in ’economyic size.’"

I let my gaze drop to the chest area and immediately groaned.

Medium-sized, sure, but compared to my body? A downgrade.

"Honestly," I sighed, cupping them experimentally like a critic appraising a disappointing sculpture, "you have no idea how much volume and depth matters here. Bigger breasts aren’t just... ornamental. They’re structural advantages.

Better balance distribution, more surface area for heat regulation, improved shock absorption in high-impact movements—" I paused, smirking. "—and let’s not even get started on the psychological effect. You walk into a room with these, people think ’cute.’ You walk in with mine, and the room listens."

I gave a slow, dramatic shake of my head, as if genuinely pitying her.

"If I’m going to be stuck in your body, we’re going to have to address this once more... design limitation."

Still, the victory of finally slipping free from that hold made the roast taste even sweeter. My shoulders ached, my back tensed from contorting in ways I’m pretty sure were not medically advisable, and my breathing was shallow from the effort. But at least now I could move, and more importantly, check what I needed to check without someone’s arms locked around me like a clingy octopus.

I glanced down. Kairi’s chest — medium, certainly serviceable — and I felt a laugh rise that I could not help being smug about.

Honestly. I muttered into the dark, cupping the borrowed breasts like a scientist making unrequested observations. "You have no idea how much volume and depth changes things," I said aloud to Kairi’s sleeping form. "Bigger breasts alter center of gravity, change balance, affect posture, and—don’t laugh—can be useful for thermal regulation and shock absorption. There’s leverage, presence. With mine, rooms listen. With these... people feel comfortable and underestimate you."

Yes, I was roasting my current chassis.

Now, sue me.

Complaining helps me gather mental energy after being strangled by familial affection.

Once I’d gotten the blood circulating back into my arms, I padded across the room on bare feet. The moonlight coming in through the curtains made everything look a little too sentimental, like the opening shot of some melodramatic coming-of-age anime. Which, given whose room this is, feels disturbingly appropriate.

I scanned the space — neat enough to pass casual inspection, but there’s a certain... curated chaos to it. That subtle layering of items that says ’I’m tidy but only where it matters to me’.

Then my eyes landed on it.

The shelf.

At first, I thought it was just those regular books. Then the colors, the spines, the ridiculous variety of fonts started to register — and I knew. I crouched down for confirmation, running a finger along the edges like a detective dusting for prints.

The covers ranged from brightly illustrated fantasy epics to... well, things with suspiciously smug-looking characters on them.