"Slow down, no one's going to take it from you."
Watching Clara stuff cake into her mouth one piece after another, Firefly rested her chin in her hands, smiling fondly at her.
"Muh yaochih yeh kouyi chee," Clara mumbled through a mouthful of cake, producing a string of sounds completely unintelligible to any normal person.
No, scratch that—it was just completely unintelligible, period.
Firefly: ?
Firefly blinked, straining to decipher what Clara had just said.
But after pondering for a good while, she couldn't figure out what those words were supposed to mean...
"You can have some too if you want."
After finally swallowing the entire mouthful of cake, Clara spoke clearly again. She pushed a few decorated cakes that matched Firefly's aesthetic toward her.
"Thanks, little Clara~" Seeing the cakes Clara had proactively given her, Firefly could barely contain the smile spreading across her face.
She picked up a fork, gently cut a small piece from one of the cakes, speared it, and brought it to her mouth.
Mmm... so sweet, incredibly sweet.
Was the cake itself this sweet, or was it because Clara had personally given it to her—making it a sweetness from the heart?
But from any angle, it was the most delicious thing Firefly had ever tasted.
Perhaps lost in the cake's sweetness, Firefly didn't notice a smudge of leftover cream clinging to the corner of her mouth.
Just as Clara randomly selected a lucky cake to unwrap, she spotted the cream on Firefly's face. She reached over and wiped it away with her finger.
"Huh?"
Feeling Clara's unexpectedly intimate gesture, Firefly's face flushed red.
Watching the cream Clara had just wiped from her mouth now on Clara's finger, a flicker of anticipation stirred inside Firefly.
She hoped—she hoped Clara would put that bit of cream into her own mouth.
That way, it would almost be like an indirect kiss, wouldn't it? Teehee~
Firefly felt a mix of expectation, shyness, and thrill.
Just imagining Clara tasting that cream sent a shiver through her, like sneaking a taste of forbidden fruit...
Under Firefly's hopeful gaze, Clara slowly raised her hand.
Firefly's heartbeat quickened along with the motion of Clara's arm.
Noticing Firefly's intense stare, Clara tilted her head in confusion.
'Poor kid, so young and already gone a bit silly.'
Clara sighed inwardly. Then, spotting a stray dog not far away, she flicked her wrist, sending the cream from Firefly's mouth flying right in front of the dog.
The dog, seeing food fall from the sky, happily licked it clean and wagged its tail in contentment.
Firefly: ...
Watching this entire scene unfold, Firefly blinked, utterly dumbfounded.
She had imagined countless possibilities—Clara eating the cream, Clara wiping it off with a tissue...
But she had never, ever imagined Clara would feed it to a dog!!!
Firefly, oh Firefly, what on earth were you expecting?!
Firefly covered her face, now so red it seemed about to drip blood. Steam seemed to waft faintly from her hair—looked like her entire brain had short-circuited.
Clara: ?
What's going on? Seeing Firefly's tomato-red face and the apparent steam rising from her head, Clara was baffled.
Did someone put chili in the cake?
After a long moment of thought, that was the only conclusion Clara could draw.
Would chili in cake even taste good?
Curious, Clara took her own fork, cut a small piece from the same cake Firefly had just eaten, and popped it into her mouth.
"Mmm... no spiciness at all."
Tasting only sweetness on her tongue, Clara grew even more puzzled.
If there's no chili, why did Firefly turn so red?
Could it have been drugged?
Clara tilted her head again, thinking, and arrived at another conclusion.
Nah, if it were drugged, she'd be feeling it too.
"Firefly, Firefly, are you okay?"
Unable to figure it out, Clara finally decided to just ask.
After all, they were part of the same Stellaron Hunter family. If something really was wrong with Firefly, she couldn't just ignore it.
"Huh?" Firefly jolted slightly, then quickly waved her hands. "I'm fine, I'm fine! I was just... thinking about something else."
"Thinking? What could make your face turn that red?"
Firefly's response only fueled Clara's curiosity.
"I-it's... it's just..." At that, Firefly's words instantly turned into a stammer, as if whatever it was proved deeply embarrassing to say.
Well... okay, it was deeply embarrassing.
Even though she'd dared to kiss Clara's lips last time, that was only under the influence of various positive buffs.
Now, not only were there no positive buffs, she had a few negative ones instead. How could she possibly muster the courage to say such a thing...
"Alrighty then↑, alrighty then↓. If you won't say, forget it."
Seeing Firefly's reluctance, Clara didn't press further.
Her main concern was whether Firefly was physically unwell. Since she wasn't, Clara had no more questions.
Of course, under normal circumstances, Clara would have schemed to worm the truth out. After all, Firefly's current state was pretty amusing.
But right now...
Right now, the primary mission was to finish all these cakes in front of her. (★ ω ★)
Gazing at the dozen or so cakes, a single, traitorous tear of anticipation escaped the corner of Clara's mouth.
In this wide world, nothing matters more than cake.
Clara raised her fork and plunged back into battle with the confections.
"Whew..."
Seeing Clara's attention fully return to the cakes, Firefly secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Wanting Clara to eat the cream from her own mouth... How could she ever say something like that out loud?
Eating cream from her mouth was basically the same as eating her saliva...
Even though they'd already kissed, it was just a brief touch of lips, nothing deeper.
Actually, Clara had frozen for a few seconds before reacting last time. Those few seconds had been more than enough for Firefly to take things further.
But... but...
She didn't know how! /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
In Firefly's mind, kissing was just kissing—lips touching was enough.
So she had absolutely no idea what to do next or how to proceed.
Thus, she had missed her golden opportunity.
She deeply, deeply regretted it. Regretted why she hadn't watched more videos during her downtime between missions...
Firefly: (.┰ω┰.)
…
T/N: Uma type firefly.
…
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