The Grandcypher

[Bloodedge]

Soon enough, Miki was sitting right next to him. His eyes shifted to catch sight of her leg-crossing and bouncing. Her thighs were... exposed. Very exposed. It could basically be said that she walked around in undergarments and small segments of armor from the waist down, and taking a peek at that visible flesh wasn't helping Kou either. His own legs began to move, knees swinging apart and then back together repeatedly. It, like Miki's choice of movements, provided a stimulation he should have been avoiding. Eventually, he thought to stop doing this. As Miki joked about finding a paper fan or giant mallet, he shifted until his back pressed against the wall at the foot of the bed. Like this, he kept one leg bent as it lay over the mattress.

... How strange it was that the bed had been situated sideways in his little hole. If one of them needed to get out, they'd have to literally go over the other to do so. Naturally, he envisioned quite a few 'accidental' situations as a result, but it was all conjecture. No matter the case, he kept the joking discussion going. "I'll take the mallet for extremes. If it's a paper fan though, I reserve the right to perv all I want. Take your pick as you like~" he said, closing his eyes as a grin overtook his face. He even took the time to wave his hand about in a gesture of grand extravagance.

[Apollymi]

It would seem that Miki wasn't the only one who couldn't sit still initially. He also managed to catch sight of her thighs, she saw this and had no problem with it. In fact she found herself shifting her legs just a tad to gauge his reaction. She switched them as naturally as she breathed and then their conversation continued with the lad managing to shift his position quite a bit. With this came the sentiment that mallets should be reserved for major infractions and that if she chose a paper fan as her method of choice against him, he'd perv as he wished. Her mood was still joking, maybe a tiny bit teasing. She brought her hand up to her chin with her fore finger and thumb shaped like a check mark. "Hoh? Seems like paper fan is going to be the best option then... I'll have one commissioned!~" she said slamming her fist into her open palm as if she'd had the best idea ever. Strangely, this wasn't really a joke. No, the lass didn't mind the idea of this lad perv-ing on her at all... that much would be obvious by how she interacted with the Dragonoid Akashi.

Ah, but she shouldn't be this way at all. She was a girl, there was a certain amount of forwardness she shouldn't present at all right? She was also a pervert and that was something to hide, way deeper within herself. In fact, in her general life experiences she had no desire to let people know the kinds of things she thought about. In fact, this was something which should have been hidden from everyone, so how did she manage to keep accidentally slipping such things into conversation around this lad. "So do you want to sleep on the outside of the bed or the inside?" she asked the lad, trying to distract herself. Though, admittedly such a question was also pretty perverse in her own mind. If he wanted to sleep outside she could climb over him to get in and out, creating some fun moments of intimate contact. On the other hand, if he chose to sleep with the wall at the other side, she could back him into it, pushing closer warmth and take charge of presenting herself to him in various ways. As her mind began to wander she spaced out quite a bit... once more.

[Bloodedge]

It could easily be said that Miki's extra movement was not in vain. He noticed it, and it even brought his eyes to a lock once more. Would he admit to this blatant staring without provocation? Absolutely not. Ah, but he was undoubtedly looking, and if anyone happened to be watching him... he was failing to avoid making it obvious. It didn't help at all that Miki's next words joked about the paper fan being her tool of selection. Was he to take that seriously? That wasn't possible, unless...

"Oh? Alright, let me know when it shows up. I'll start cashing in acts of perversion right away!" he said, still in that lighthearted tone this entire conversation had been carried on with. If he was meant to take her words even remotely seriously, then he would be finding out. What he'd actually do after making said discovery, though, was unknown even to him. Perhaps it would be something reasonable. Perhaps it wasn't even something worth the initial thought. Either way, their discussion eventually resulted in Miki addressing bed placement. "Oh... right," Kou said. He gave so much thought to the fact that this was a shared room, but not to the fact that they would be returned to a shared bed as well. This one in particular had a rather odd setup, and her query was one of importance. He looked down at the mattress, patting it with one hand, then rubbing the sheets. He didn't particularly mind either side, whether for perverted or functional reasons. Safety wasn't going to be an issue any time during which they slept, considering how high in the sky they would be. As such, there was no need to select the outside for the purpose of taking on dangers. With that in mind, he could only shrug in the end. "I really don't have a preference. Have your pick~"

[Apollymi]

The movements of her legs had been noticed. A subtle smile crossed Miki's face as she realized this lad was watching her, and doing so unabashedly. For reasons she couldn't begin to explain this made her happy. To be technical, it was probably confirmation that he found her attractive. Beyond that, it showed that he was losing a bit of his more standoffish nature. Knowing that the lad was beginning to loosen up around her gave her an additional sense of peace, something to look forward to even when in their shared living space. His next words after being focused on her legs for so long, were a confirmation of taking advantage of what she'd said. Even if this entire conversation was meant in jest, it wasn't entirely one to Miki. In fact, she might have just been using it to test the waters a bit, before sitting down to have some more serious interactions and conversations with her new roommate.

"Hai hai, I'll put it up there when it's ready~" she mentioned pointing to an empty space over the doorway which seemed to be in need of an extra decorative piece or two. To be fair, she was quite serious about this. And yes, she would indeed commission a paper fan of marvelous quality just for the sake of keeping going a joke about perversion that she actually possessed. Perhaps, maybe the lad would realize she wasn't really joking and take advantage, if nothing else, they could simply converse about it at some point and make some headway that way. Moving right along, it seemed the lad didn't have any strict amount of care where in the bed he slept. This was both good and bad, for Miki, as she could see the usefulness of both situations and though she didn't know it yet, Kou felt about it in a similar fashion. When told to have her pick she began thinking about it, strangely aloud. "Hm, well it isn't like we have to worry about break-ins and I wouldn't use you as a body shield. So, there isn't any reason I can't sleep on the outside... ah, but... I do roll out of bed a lot, it'd be much easier to roll between the wall and you than the middle of the bed and the floor," she mumbled to herself. Crawling in and out of bed around him, was also a bonus, incidental romance being what it was. "I'll take the wall I think... and try not to roll too much," she said with a minor light tint on her face.

[Bloodedge]

With that answer, he could only assume this to be a bit much for jokes. If she'd been speaking completely in jest, she surely would have veered from the topic one way or another. The simple fact that she continued it, meant at least consideration of the idea. Kou ─ or rather, Yugi ─ often used this method of approach when having no intentions of revealing his puzzle-solving ability to others who needed unknown puzzles solved. "... Naruhodo. You're serious. You wouldn't mind if I said something perverted right now. Maybe even─" Once more, he stopped himself. His first few words were spoken with purpose, but the rest was his usual thought process simply leaking out through his mouth. It was a habit, the way he carved a path toward conclusions in puzzles.

As for the bedding issue, he had an idea what Miki's choice would be. He didn't want to present any favorites of his own, considering it would certainly be for perverse reasons, but there was indeed a reason he imagined Miki would fit best inside. For that same reason, she made that very selection. Of course, Kou couldn't know about any other purpose in this choice, but that didn't matter at present. "Hai. I remember the sleep-rolling, but I figured I'd leave you the choice anyway. There's a certain way I like to wake up, so I figured there was a chance you'd become attached to... well, waking up by falling out of bed. Anyway, no worries. You can roll all you like; I won't mind. I'll be the best damn wall this world has ever seen!" he said, flashing a cheesy grin and a thumbs-up to accompany it.

[Apollymi]

Oh? Was Kou thinking aloud, again? Yes, yes he was. And this time, Miki got a little more insight into the boy actually understanding the way she approached the situation surrounding them. "Sou ka...I'm actually being obvious enough now," she said aloud also accidentally. She felt that this version of herself wasn't quite as direct as she would have liked. She even had evidence that this was the case, given what Seriri had to say after interacting with her Dragonoid self. Whatever the case, she was willing to leave the lad mostly to his own thoughts about the matter, and was happy knowing that he at least got the sort of thing she was talking about. And true enough to his thoughts, she wouldn't have minded at all if he said or even did something perverted in the present moment because she had been very truthful about having interest in him, and perverted things were on the menu, as far as she was concerned.

Their sleeping situation was mostly decided by her soon after this point. And it seemed that the lad had no problem with what she decided. His claim being that he'd make himself into the best wall ever, and that she could roll as much as she liked in her sleep. "Hm, I haven't really thought about how I like to wake up. I am sort of used to doing it that way because of someone waking me abruptly after I've stayed up too late..." she said explaining a bit of how her rolling habit was developed. "Arigatou gozaimasu, I'm sure you'll be the most comfortable wall I've ever encountered," she offered the lad with a knowing smirk. "By the way, you specifically can assume I am not joking when I say things like that to you... I enjoy this sort of thing, coming from you... in moments like this," she said flashing him a large smile, a bit of the realest version of herself shining through in this moment. If she was being perfectly honest, she was never really joking around how things that revolved around the white haired lad with her. In fact, it could be said that she wanted to know the realest version of the lad possible, as such she didn't mind his perversions, his jokes, or his mumbling ranting thoughts.

[Bloodedge]

"Sort of, yeah." It seemed that, though he could not piece together the puzzle that was Ashikaga Kimiko, Kou did have a few pieces to work with. Perhaps time would allow him to see the full picture, but for now... he was content to collect it bit by bit. Those were the best puzzles, after all. Things unfinished, things which only offered pieces as drip-fed information, these were all puzzles which gave the solver time to appreciate the mystery as it came together. In this case, he was mostly experiencing the offering of Miki's internal workings through speech. She even freely claimed certainty that he would be a... comfortable wall, as it were. He had the audacity to look abashed in the wake of this claim, but their conversation was too uninterrupted thus far ─ unlike others before it ─ for the lad to look away this time. "Hai hai! Angelsoft Wall Celestial Witcher Kou, they call me."

Lo, there was more to discover. Miki spoke again, stating that she wouldn't normally be joking when offering such clauses... to him in particular. She enjoyed the idea of his perversions? That wasn't possible, and yet... they did consume the same sources of media. Only a degenerate could read the musings of the duo writers known as the Aeons. "... Sou ka." Oddly, he felt a wave of relief crash over him as his eyes closed. A few moments of silence ensued before he chose to make use of this information. If she was fine with it, he'd test the waters in a way. Of course, Kou wasn't going to outright spew everything previously flooding his mind, but he did think of one thing to say... in a roundabout way, even. "So... is that why your legs are so all over the place?"

[Apollymi]

"Hoh? A direct answer even, progress." Miki replied with the sort of shortness her speech generally maintained, but there was a teasing quality to it. Like her tone wasn't meant with anything resembling venom but instead as a mere observation. it marked a welcome change in their dynamic which, pleased her to no end. To add to their rather random and jovial discussion the lad before her went on to seem a bit bashful about her assertion that he'd be comfortable to press against in the night. The name he chose for himself following this moment of bashfulness, brought a grin to her face and more teasing words from her lips. "Oi oi... That name needs some work-shopping. I mean it covers the basics of your talents, but it's definitely a bit too intense as is~" she teased once more. Miki found it very easy to talk to this lad, and beyond that, when he was receptive like this, it was an amount of fun she couldn't begin to explain.

And there was more fun coming. Apparently Kou seemed to find a bit of relief in Miki's statements surrounding her lack of joking when it came to the things they discussed. And much to her surprise the lad decided to test the waters immediately, though a bit indirectly. The commentary which came from him was about the semi-constant movement of her legs, which seemed to draw his eye ever so often. She chuckled immediately, finding this to be an excellent way to broach the subject, and finally allowing her legs to settle in their crossed position left over right, since she'd been found out. "Oh? That's the angle then... just gonna admit you've been staring at thighs this whole time..." she said in a manner which seemed serious only to break out in a smile. "Of course it's why it was happening. I thought I saw you looking a bit ago, and I figured I could see if it was actually a thing... experiment was a complete success by the way. You were unabashedly staring for quite a while..." she said with devious light coming into her eyes. It might have been strange, but she truly didn't have a problem with being ogled in such a way by Kou in particular. Perhaps because he'd already proven that it wasn't simply her body he wanted, she found his attention that much more worthwhile to capture and much more rewarding in general.

[Bloodedge]

"Oi, I'm working on a puzzle here. Direct answers the indirect, and vise versa." It was a simple enough answer as far as he was concerned, and very much the truth in his experience. Indirect puzzles could be solved with a direct approach once understood, and those which seemed concise were tricks that required thinking outside the proverbial box. As for his name, perhaps it did need a bit of work. It wasn't much of a bother, though; he was only messing about. "Ah, you're right! Angelsoft Wall Celestial Witcher Kou Guy! That's the one!" he said, even taking it upon himself to laugh at his own joke.

Miki went on to clarify things. Indeed, that had been the reason behind her leg movement. What's more, she decided to point out his admittance of staring. Well... that part wasn't planned, but these things happened. He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head as he came clean. "Well, yeah? You just leave 'em hanging out there for the world to see, so... it kinda naturally draws an eye, doesn't it?" he questioned. Just then though, he came to a realization. "... Wait. Did I just fall for the Jinx thing? I did, didn't I? Is this the part where I flip it around, and point out the thing about you wanting me to look? You were shifting around for a while."

[Apollymi]

Apparently Kou considered this a puzzle he was solving. "Hoh? And who am I to interrupt, carry on." Miki said encouraging the lad to continue with his process regardless of already being able to reach her own conclusions. She understood at least what he was trying to to do, using the inverted nature of the things presented to find out the information he wanted to know. Of course, she had no problem being open with the lad if that was what he wanted, that being said she wouldn't keep him from his fun. Speaking of fun, the lad went on to workshop his new name and came up with a minor alteration which caused laughter from Miki. "Hahahaha!~ Sounds like the name of a fifth evolution trading card!" she exclaimed finding the whole thing a bit too funny to let go of.

Moving right along, it seemed that in pointing out that the lad had been staring she received another bashful reaction. He claimed that her legs were out there for the world to see and thus it was only natural for him to look and she could agree to a particular extent. "Hm, sure... only natural the first time. The second and third time... was all you," she said with a chuckle. But she wasn't chastising, if she wanted not to be seen she wouldn't have been. He even drew a connection to a fictional character they were both aware of, and it was Miki's turn to look a bit abashed. "Yeah, you fell for it. But... oi oi, don't go turning this around on me!" the blonde exclaimed, while crossing her arms over her chest and turning her nose up in the air. "I had to figure out if you were actually looking. You aren't always easy to read after all... and it's not like I have a problem with you looking or anything," Miki mentioned managing to look a bit sheepish. She had undertaken her activity under the guise of figuring out how he felt about her one way or another. But she didn't expect to be called out in such away, even so, she was happy in the knowledge that Kou was actually seeing her as she was and at face value accepting her.

[Bloodedge]

And carry on, he would. This was easily the most immersive 'puzzle' he'd ever worked on. So long as he could continue working to solve it, he would take a great deal of satisfaction in doing so. As it seemed now, perhaps he could continue doing so outside of his own head. This one was even interactive in a way, throwing new curves his way at every opportunity. She had apparently been keeping track of his eyes' movements, or rather... their lack of movement after finding her form a few times. Sure, he could take the blame for that. He couldn't, however, avoid throwing the situation back at Miki herself. The simple fact that she didn't deny her end, was confirmation itself. Not to mention, she then took a very tsundere approach to admitting just that. "Figuring out if I was looking could have been a lot more simple than that, you know? That was almost a display. Jinx did the same thing, and that─" Again, he paused. He was just about to mention how the scene he referenced ended, but thought better of doing so. Instead, he cleared his throat as if he intended to veer away from the clause's conclusion with that.

[Apollymi]

While Kou was content to try and figure out Miki, the blonde lass had been doing the same to the lad. In fact, she was less surprised by the things he said than before. He made the claim that she could have gone about figuring out if he was looking in a much simpler way. And though that might have been true, the way she'd done it did a few extra things. She managed to remain playfully huffy. "I mean there might have been an easier way, but it wouldn't have told me what I needed to know... madness comes with methods, even Jinx's," she said firmly. Of course, she realized Jinx's methods led to some pretty drastic situational changes. Especially the ones he avoided mentioning presumably on purpose. Even so, this was real life and she didn't have to worry about such extremes. Instead the methods of extremes allowed her to find a place of comfort to approach this lad's avoidance from. She found herself looking back at him and then she couldn't even keep in her fake indignation. "Admittedly, I might have gotten a bit carried away, but I can't be blamed for that. It was kind of... nice knowing I could create such a situation. It's come quite a long way considering..." the lass said calmly. Kou was exactly the type who initially avoided all extra contact with her, even past their 'sketchy' phase. With that in mind, she was beginning to wonder if she wasn't his type aside from having a pretty face. As such she couldn't help but take advantage at least a little when it was serving her other purposes.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed Miki was content to have achieved an additional feat with her excessive approach. That was all fine and dandy, but it left Kou wondering if she intended to make something of that development, or if she was simply doing the same thing he had been. Time would tell, as far as he knew. "Sure, but nothing irrational can exist. There's always some deeper meaning to everything. That's what I think." If nothing else, he would share this philosophy. He thought it was a fair trade, considering what he'd been granted in the form of a view and some... titillating banter, so to speak.

It could be said that Miki had gotten a bit carried away. Obviously though, Kou didn't mind at all. For a moment, he had almost been able to treat the situation just as he would have in normal game scenarios. Alas, this was no game. His choices would affect his actual future, and being reprehensive about things would only take him so far in such a case. Still, the direct approach was not quite part of his nature. So long as he couldn't tell what was going on in Miki's mind, he would remain so to some extent. "Considering what? Anyway, it's not like I minded or anything. I'm just a guy, remember? No doubt you didn't forget that mix-up when we met. I thought you were an NPC at first, and I was gonna... well..."

[Apollymi]

After speaking, Miki was rewarded with some philosophy by Kou. It seemed the lad saw deeper meanings in everything, that explained quite a bit about how his mind worked, so the blonde could do nothing but accept it. As they conversed, she seemed to get more comfortable. Her body settling in a bit more atop their shared bed and her back leaning against the wall. "Sou ka, that's one way to think about it... I'll keep that in mind," she said and not very surprisingly she meant it. She kept a lot of things this lad said in mind, for the simple sake of enjoying the novelty of the things he presented to her.

They were having some very interesting conversations. It was initially very similar to early game interactions between characters, but they weren't actually characters. They were people who played such games and who looked into them a bit with critical minds. One such critical moment would come from the blonde lass in this moment. After of course, Kou relayed that he didn't really mind her getting carried away in the way she had, and even brought up on his own his earliest reaction to thinking she was an NPC. "Considering I can't really tell what is going on in your head," said the girl her expression becoming thoughtful. "I don't really pretend to be a people person or anything, but I can usually tell a pretty straightforward way to progress any given situation, but that wasn't as clear with you..." she mentioned carefully. "You might just be a guy, to you. But you're definitely unique as an existence. I mean even past the initial sketchiness of our interactions, I couldn't really tell if you were interested in me or not... I thought that you might only see me as a friend so I tried to back off a bit. But I couldn't really let it go after all. It's kind of a bad habit," she admitted her own slightly obsessive behavior. She wasn't sure what it was, but her words felt strangely decisive. "With everything that's happened since Atlantis though, I was considering that we were likely on that first path again. This time with a lot more knowledge of each other than we had initially and that... excites me." The girl confessed that the idea of proper romantic endeavor with Kou was something she considered worthwhile and even managed to confess whatever misgivings and strange behaviors she'd had before.

[Bloodedge]

"It's a good way to think. Even if it's wrong, it never hurts to consider a deeper meaning. Maybe even... something deeper can be added by thinking it up," he said. In truth, that was very much a thing Kou had done himself. A few situations here in this world, he'd thought of without rationalizing the true depth behind them... but had applied said depth during consideration. As a simple matter of fact, all of these situations revolved around Miki.

Miki wasn't a people person; that much was clear. She could be considered a businesswoman rivaled by few, if any, but she had yet to show any true ability to deal with people outside of such scenarios. Nevertheless, their discussion would take a rather serious turn. Miki expressed a certain amount of confusion regarding his opinion of her. As strange as he found that, he supposed they were in a world of virtual perfection. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't see you as anything," he said, though it was a lie in all technicality. "Well, if anything, you proved yourself to be a valuable comrade at first. Once I started to recognize who you were, that changed. I'm surprised, though... an idol who doesn't assume someone would be interested? That's odd, but then... you're never in a group either. Either way, I think I'd be the only one to be having questions like that─" Ah, he was thinking aloud again. This time was just a bit different. He wasn't accidentally speaking his thoughts aloud, but instead... he was speaking already, and he was accidentally reverting to his puzzle-solving pattern of thought.