Anime Girls are Moist

Chapter 1172 1,171: Long Awaited Return!

The barrier of space shattered at his fingertips.

The fine motes of light had not even finished scattering when the salty tang of sea wind carried his figure down into that familiar warm yellow glow.

The moment his feet touched the floor, the solid wooden boards let out the faintest creak, as if the house itself were softly saying, Welcome back.

A few pairs of slippers sat crookedly by the entryway, sizes ranging from thirty-six to forty-two, the fuzzy fabric on top long since flattened out from wear.

A dragon-shaped sticker Tohru had drawn was stuck to the shoe rack, its tail twisted crooked like a braid.

From the kitchen came the sharp clatter of a spatula hitting the floor.

Then came the rapid slap-slap-slap of slippers against the boards.

A dragon tail swept around the corner before its owner did.

Tohru practically drifted around the bend with her whole body pressed to the wall.

There was a smudge of flour in her hair, and one side of her apron had come loose.

She threw herself straight into Rei Ao's arms, her dragon tail coiling around his wrist, the tip wagging so fast it left afterimages.

"Rei Ao! You finally decided to come back!"

She tilted her face up, her voice so bright it felt like it could blow away every dark cloud that had built up over the past month.

She rubbed her head back and forth against his chest, smearing flour all over the front of his clothes.

"I'm telling you, I made stew for you!"

"It's the recipe you said tasted really good last time!"

"I even saved your favorite tail meat for you!"

She started counting on her fingers.

"I was seriously thinking that if you still didn't come back today, I'd take the meat with me and go find you in the pirate world."

"Emilia even said that was too reckless, but—"

Before she could finish, she tripped over the tip of her own tail.

She pitched forward, only to be steadied when Rei Ao caught her by the back of the collar.

Silver hair came into view from the other end of the hallway as Emilia walked over carrying a cup of warmed barley tea. Her amethyst eyes curved into soft crescents.

She held the cup out toward Rei Ao, her fingers tight around the rim, the knuckles faintly pale.

Clearly, before that tea had gone cold, she had reheated it more than once.

"Welcome back."

She paused, her voice soft and gentle, carrying that clear, cool quality unique to the elves, like melted snowwater in spring.

"Did you run into any trouble?"

She said it lightly.

But the faint blush at the tips of her ears gave her away completely.

During this whole stretch of time, she had waited by the front door every night until late.

She said she was "keeping watch by the entrance," afraid that Rei Ao might come back and find no one there to greet him.

One night, Tohru had gotten up in the middle of the night to sneak some food and found Emilia dozing beside the shoe cabinet.

Her silver hair had spilled all over the floor, and she was still clutching the half-finished scarf in her hands.

From the sofa came the small sound of someone pushing up their glasses.

Futaba nudged the pair that had slipped down her nose back into place and tapped out a string of code on her tablet.

The waveform on the screen flickered a few times before finally stabilizing.

Leaning against the armrest of the sofa, lenses reflecting the cold glow of the display, she let a faint smile touch her lips.

"Welcome back."

A flurry of footsteps came clattering down the stairs.

Sora came running down hand in hand with Illya, both of them wearing matching rabbit pajamas, the floppy ears on top bouncing as they ran.

The moment they reached the bottom, Sora let go of Illya's hand and darted to Rei Ao's side, grabbing one sleeve while Illya took the other.

They stopped right beside him.

Neither of them was willing to step any closer, but neither was willing to let go either.

"Rei Ao, Rei Ao!"

Sora tilted her head up, her voice full of that soft, sweet childish warmth, like cotton candy melting on the tongue.

"Did you bring us presents?"

"Illya and I saved up candy for a whole month just for you!"

After saying that, she turned to look at Illya, who nodded from beside her.

She opened her mouth, but in the end only managed a soft little "Mm."

The tips of her ears had already turned red.

Rei Ao knew exactly how serious these two were about hoarding candy.

Last month, Sora had dug out the chocolate Tohru had hidden away and declared it "emergency rations."

Tohru had chased her around the living room twenty times for it.

In the end, it was Emilia who had finally calmed the whole mess down with a brand-new box of candy.

But Rei Ao had flipped over his pillow once.

Underneath it were three fruit candies, their wrappers all wrinkled.

Every single one had been wiped clean.

There was a soft sound at the bedroom doorway.

Mai Sakurajima stood there with her arms folded, leaning against the frame.

Her loose off-white loungewear fell to her knees, showing off the smooth lines of her calves.

The ends of her hair curled naturally, and one brow arched slightly.

Her gaze swept from top to bottom over Rei Ao, taking in the lingering smell of smoke and gunpowder still clinging to him.

That rough scent from the pirate world—mixed with saltwater and the reek of battle—

felt utterly out of place in this warm, cozy living room.

"So you still remembered how to come back right on time?"

She tilted her head, her tone lazy, like a cat that had spent the whole afternoon basking in sunlight.

"I was starting to think you'd gotten so comfortable in that little paradise of yours in the pirate world that you forgot which way this house's front door opens."

As she said it, the fingers clutching the hem of her loungewear loosened a little.

Rei Ao reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist.

His fingers settled against her soft side, and he lowered his head to kiss her.

At first, Mai struggled twice, one elbow braced against his chest, not really pushing hard enough to mean it.

Within seconds, she stopped resisting.

All the longing she had been holding back came rushing up at once.

The girls in the living room tactfully looked away.

Tohru, meanwhile, kept watching with her tail wagging, openly curious.

Sora's eyes were covered by Emilia's hand, and she grumbled, "Kids aren't supposed to watch that."

…

Soon enough,

Mai was leaning in his arms, her cheeks faintly flushed.

Her fingertips brushed along his jawline, her breathing still a little uneven.

"So you do have a conscience after all."

She shot him a glare, but every trace of complaint had already melted out of her voice.

What remained was something faintly sour.

Whether it was jealousy or the grievance she had been bottling up for the past month, even she probably couldn't tell.

"At least you remembered to come back and make it up to me."

She paused, as if suddenly remembering something.

Then she tapped a finger lightly against his chest.

"Oh, right. Yukinoshita Haruno's been looking for you for almost a week now."

"She even called my manager asking if you'd vanished off the face of the earth."

"She said she had something urgent to discuss with you and wanted to know when you'd be back."

"Haruno?" Rei Ao raised a brow.

"That's right."

Mai slipped out of his arms and smoothed down her hair.

"She said it herself—'If Rei Ao doesn't come back soon, I'm going to show up at his door and block him in myself.'"

She copied Haruno's tone, dragging out the last syllable with deliberate meaning.

"Guess how many times she called me?"

Rei Ao tightened his arm around her.

Then, in one motion, he scooped her up into his arms.

Caught off guard, Mai let out a small cry and grabbed at his collar.

The hem of her loungewear slipped down, revealing a stretch of pale leg.

"No rush."

His gaze swept over everyone in the living room, all of them staring at him expectantly.

Tohru's tail was wagging like a fan.

Emilia still stood there holding the barley tea that had already gone cold.

Illya and Sora were clutching each other's sleeves.

Futaba pushed up her glasses, but her eyes were no longer on the tablet.

The same data from ten minutes ago still sat on the screen.

A teasing curve lifted the corner of his lips.

"We can talk about Haruno later."

The living room lights glowed with a soft warmth, while night had only just begun to spread across the sky outside the window.

"First, I need to make up for everything I owe all of you."