The King's Mandate: Anomalous System

They passed comments on each other until their order arrived.

"Let's go now" Das grabbed the bags and stood up.

Elena followed him and left the restaurant.

"What's with you? Your mood keeps changing." Elena commented,

"What do you mean my mood keeps changing? I am trying to be as polite as possible.

"I don't know. I just feel like you are making fun of me."

"I am not."

Elena matched Das' pace and glanced at him, then asked, "Say, Das."

"Hmm?"

"What were you doing when I fell asleep?"

"..." Das was caught off guard. "Nothing. I studied?"

"Is that so?" There was a slight disappointment in Elena's voice.

"I was so sleepy that I didn't even bother to fix my clothes and all. Even the buttons and... if you had seen something..."

"If I had seen something?" Das questioned.

"I don't know. I mean, it would be embarrassing, but I don't know. It would have been my fault to begin with."

'Dammit! I feel so guilty. Should I tell her I was looking at her body?' Das pondered.

"I was even sweating." Elena looked at Das and said with a seriousness in her voice, "Did I stink?"

"Huh? No... in fact, you smell nice."

"...!" Elena's face flushed. 'What does he mean by I smelled nice?"

"I like your shampoo smell. It's really good. What shampoo and soap do you use? I might just get the same as yours."

"I don't use any shampoo," Elena answered.

"Don't lie. I mean, even now, you smell great. I can't get enough of this smell." Das was acting like a pervert, but he himself hadn't realized it.

"No... really, I don't use non-fragranced shampoo. They don't smell." 

"Then what else do you use? I love this smell."

"..." Elena didn't say anything and kept walking while looking downwards.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't use any fragrance, nor do I use any perfume for the smell," she muttered.

"Then what is this smell?"

Elena's  face flushed even more as she muttered, "It's my smell."

"Hmm? Your smell? What do you mean--- wait!" Das finally realized what Elena meant.

He also realized his earlier words.

"Then...wait. Wait, wait! I didn't mean it that way!" Das retorted.

Elena was trying to cover her face with her hands.

'What the hell did I say? I kept saying, I love your smell, and I love this smell because I was damn sure it was from some perfume. I had no idea she doesn't use them.'

'In other words, I just told her that I like her body smell?!'

'Whaddafuk!'

'This is so embraasing. I can't imagine how Elena must be feeling now.'

'I need to change this topic.'

Das cleared his through and asked, "Why don't you use any perfume?'

'No! Why are you going deeper!' Das was digging his own grave.

"I just don't like the scents."

'You too! Why are you answering even tho your face as red as blood? Try to change the topic!'

"I... see."

They both walked without saying anything.

"So..." Elena shot a glance at Das and continued, "You like my smell, huh?"

'Don't start it again!'

"It's not... like that. I had no idea you don't use perfumes."

"That means you like my smell, right?"

'Why is she being pushy all of a sudden?' Das took a deep breath, making sure not to show his nervousness on his face. "I don't know."

Elena grabbed Das' shoulder and squinted her eyes. "You like my smell or not?"

'Scary! She is scaring me!'

"Answer."

"I don't... dislike it."

"Then..." Elena turned her face to the other side and muttered, "Do you want to smell me?"

"..." Das was bewildered, not because of what Elena just said, but he was confused if he should smell her or not.

"Can I?" He asked.

Elena silently nodded.

Das closed his distance with Elena and brought his face near Elena, then sniffed once, twice, thrice... he kept sniffing.

They had forgotten that they were in the middle standing in the middle of the pavement. All the passersby were looking at them with a weird look on their faces.

'Dammit! What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn't I reject her offer? Why am I acting this?' Das still hadn't realized that.

Since the morning, he was having weird thoughts about Elena after looking at her skin. He hadn't realized that he was just...

Das gasped as he realized. 'Could it be that I am... horny?'

Das then immediately moved his hand to his crotch and sighed in relief. 'I am not hard. I should be safe.' 

He wasn't horny, but he was about to cross that limit.

'This is bad. Das, control yourself. She is Elena, the girl you... care about.'

'You are supposed to protect her from bad people, not to attack her yourself.'

'But...' He glanced at Elena only to see her face flushed in embarrassment. 'It looks like she doesn't mind.'

"Shall we go then?" Elena asked.

"Yeah."

Neither of them knew what they did, what they just did. 

'This is bad. The mood is so heated up. If we go to her house right now, I am afraid something might happen. What if I do something to her? No... I am sure I will do something to her. I don't think I would be able to control myself if we are alone. I need to do something.

Das made a rational decision. If they had gone straight home, something would have definitely happened.

"Elena!" Das said in a loud voice and tried to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go anywhere?--Wait! I mean, shall we take a detour?"

"Huh?"

"I mean... we just ate, so I think we should walk a little before going home."

"Then..." With a resolute expression on her face, Elena said, "Can we go to the shopping mall?"

"Shopping mall?"

"Yeah. It's a new one that opened just last week. Can we go there?"

'If we go there, then she would definitely take about two-three hours there, but...'

"Let's go." He thought it would be better to do what she wanted rather than making her angry again.