Chapter 24: Discussing 2

She clenches her hands into fists. "All this is just way too unfair. None of this happened to me yet I'm furious at this horrible injustice, so I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling. But here you are, doing your best to not only take the next step in your life, but you waited for a year in that terrible, dignity destroying situation until I appeared, the person you believed could give you the best chance at living your life the way you wish, and you grabbed that chance. I've never met nor heard of a stronger person than you in my entire life. As far as I'm concerned, you are the epitome of bravery and determination, a person I can look up to for the rest of time."

She trembles for a second under the weight of my words before disappearing from my sight. I simply can't follow her movements physically. In the next moment I feel a heavy object crashing into my chest, almost making me fly away. I look down to see Ayame hugging me with her arms wrapped around my waist with a strong enough grip that I had to gasp for air for a second. She nuzzles her head into my chest as she rests on my body.

I'm beyond shocked at how daring the timid girl's actions are but I don't hesitate to reciprocate her actions as I place my right hand on her back and embrace her closely with all my strength while using my left hand to gently pat her head. She doesn't even flinch from me using my full force besides snuggling her face up and down on my chest, which might be a little hurtful in some other scenario but right now I couldn't care less, plus I already knew that she was a superhuman hiding in a slender girl's unassuming body.

I continue encouraging her as I whisper, "I know it might not sound very reassuring coming from a guy who is in his mid twenties while being level 1, but, as I promised when we met, we will make everyone pay who has wronged you so that you can move on with your life properly."

I felt a nod of her head on my chest as she pulled me even closer with her hands. Soon the heavily barred floodgates finally broke down as muted sobs echoed through the corridor. I continued to caress her while embracing her even tighter as I whispered reassurances into her ear, doing all three actions at the same time.

For a great warrior who was to inherit the clan, showing weakness must've been a big no-no in her life. I'm happy to see her open up to me to this degree, and that she sees me as someone she can show this vulnerable side of hers to.

After about fifteen minutes she seems to have calmed down, so I decide to speak up, "sorry for yapping on and on, but I got really sad when I saw your dejected state of being. I hope I didn't overstep my boundaries."

She shakes her head. "You didn't…" She lessens her gripping strength in her arms so that my bones can finally take a relaxed breath. "I'm the one who should be sorry… I didn't consider your low level and more or less attacked my master. A lesser man would've used this to chance teach me some so-called obedience or whatever but you instead bore with the suffocating pain and tried to make me feel better."

I don't reply, I just continue stroking her head gently. Her silky hair is really pleasant to the touch.

She looks up into my eyes after wiping her tears and tilting her neck at quite a steep angle due to the difference in our height, and mumbles with a hint of red on her delicate cheeks, "that was my first hug… Not even my parents embraced me as a child…"

Damn, warrior clan education must be quite harsh in this world with the elders shouting 'there's no place for love and affection on the battlefield!' and all that macho jazz. It might create strong soldiers but also affection-starved humans it seems. At least her mother could've cuddled with Ayame before putting her to sleep or something, but who am I to say?

If she wasn't betrayed she surely would've become an amazing Samurai and next head of her clan. She doesn't look a day older than 20, I would say she is at most 22, (unless humans age differently here than on Earth, something to investigate later) and she also spent a year in captivity but she is already level 14. I wouldn't even be surprised if she spent all her adult years as a slave, yet she is so strong, so her clan's education was clearly delivering quite the admirable results.

I can't hold myself back anymore, her teary eyes, her crimson cheeks, her tight embrace force my hand. I Lift both my hands to her face and cup her cheeks, then I lean in and kiss her on her forehead. This was not a flirty action on my part. Ayame just seemed like someone that really, really needed some affectionate gestures.

She freezes completely, like a deer surrounded by a pack of starving wolves.

The Samurai girl looks at me with wide, unbelieving eyes for a few long seconds before averting her eyes and instead going back to her previous state of resting her head on my chest as if she was hiding, then I hear a very flustered, timid voice, "w-w-what are you doing?! You know I can beat your butt if I want now, right?"

I grin, "oh, really? Go ahead then."

A long silence ensues that is only interrupted by my barely audible strokes of her hair. "Ayame, I know that you are an extremely strong, talented, and ambitious woman. I can also tell that you are dealing with some deep-seated trauma, so I would like to let you know that you can hug me or talk to me or whatever you find comforting should you wish to, however, I want to make something very clear to you." This gets her to once again look into my eyes, "I have no, or to be more accurate and plain, I have absolutely, utterly zero interest in becoming your friend or big brother figure."

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