Harem Sync: Divine Edition

Chapter 117: EXPRESS

"Isabela, you have a spare." Haru repeated with his eyes closed, a monk’s voice at peace with the universe.

"Buy your own." Isabela stood up, grabbing Lilithine by the arm. "I don’t believe in this nonsense."

"But wait," Lilithine resisted slightly. "Haru won’t have mana if we don’t..."

Haru opened one eye, calculated the distance, and shot his hand out, grabbing Isabela’s foot.

"Punish me, my lady, but let her give it to me."

"I can—" Lilithine was already trying to pull away.

"YES!" Haru shouted.

"NO!" Isabela stepped on his face, precise,

and without remorse. "You opportunistic bastard."

"Isabela, he needs us..."

"No. He’ll manage."

Lilithine looked at Haru on the ground.

Haru looked at Lilithine with the expression of a castaway watching a ship pass by.

Lilithine went with Isabela.

Night fell slowly over the Sacred Wing courtyard.

Haru stayed there for a reasonably long time, watching the sky darken.

"Alright."

The bathhouse was occupied when Golden arrived, sound of water, door closed.

He almost stepped on the envelope on the floor. Looked. White envelope, no sender, carefully folded.

He looked down the corridor, a freshman turning the corner with a bag full of other envelopes, delivering door to door.

"So now we have couriers, huh?" Golden muttered.

He entered, closed the door. Looked at the recipient.

"To Haru Mizuki: Room 217."

"Oh, bastard." he called. "You got a package."

No answer from the bathhouse besides the sound of water.

"Fuck it." he said, opening it.

He went red.

A white, simple pair of panties, folded with a level of care that was comedic given the context.

No note.

The bathroom door opened.

Haru came out still covered in soap, hard cock pressing under the towel around his waist, hair dripping, saw the open envelope in Golden’s hand. Saw the contents.

"Nana nana... nananananana"

He sprinted, almost slipping on the floor, snatched it from Golden’s hands, ran back into the bathroom and closed the door.

Golden stood in the middle of the room.

Looked at the hand that had held the envelope.

Looked at the closed door.

Stayed silent for a very specific moment.

"This academy isn’t good for anyone."

Went to sleep.

...IN THE FEMALE WING...

Lilithine was returning from the dining hall when Isabela’s hand came out of nowhere, grabbed her wrist, and the next thing Lilithine saw was a wall.

"Where were you, saint?"

"In... the dining hall." She averted her gaze.

Isabela lifted her chin with two fingers, forcing eye contact, green eyes scanning every detail.

"Don’t lie to me."

Pause.

Lowered her eyes.

"You’re not wearing panties." she stated, her hand checking along the side of her dress, palm flat against her hip, then squeezing her butt..."You’re not, are you?"

Lilithine turned red, not pink but red, from her ears to her neck.

"Hey, redhead? Is she?" Kira asked from the corner.

Lilithine turned. Kira was sitting on Isabela’s bed with crossed legs, eating something, as if she had always been there.

"When did you arrive..." Lilithine exclaimed.

"No." Isabela let her go, went to the bed, lay down staring at the ceiling. She sighed deeply. "She took them off and sent them to Haru."

Kira stopped eating.

"You could’ve at least sent clean ones..."

"But Haru said the fresher—"

"THE MASTER IS IN HEAT OR SOMETHING..."

"He’s just a pervert." Isabela smiled at the ceiling, the kind of smile that appears when you don’t want it to appear.

"Come, Lilithine. Sit here." She patted the space beside her.

Kira looked at Lilithine with real attention for the first time, nose slightly raised, ears twitching.

"So she’s Lilithine?"

"How do you know me?" Lilithine asked suspiciously.

"Angel face." Kira said standing up. "Huge boobs." and grabbed her breasts.

"Kira, stop. Let her be."

"But she wanted to steal the master..."

"No one is stealing anyone."

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE." Lilithine said, not shouting, but her voice carried enough weight for everyone to stop.

Silence.

Isabela looked at her with the expression of someone about to have a long conversation.

"Sit."

...

The fireplace was lit.

The baron read the report twice, not because he didn’t understand it the first time. Because he wanted to be sure he had understood.

He summoned the guards.

Two men on their knees in the room, heads down, waiting.

"First." he said without looking up from the paper. "You finished Vandris."

"Yes."

"The custodians don’t know Haru is a Gamer."

Hesitation.

"Yes..."

One guard swallowed. "Does the baron still think Gamers are just a common group?"

"Baron, about Haru being a Gamer... it’s kind of..."

"I know what a Gamer is."

Different silence.

"Huh?"

"From the first day Haru admitted he was one, I knew."

The two kneeling guards didn’t know whether to speak or breathe.

One risked it: "May I ask something, Baron? If you heard him confess he was a Gamer... and society abhors them... why didn’t you execute him?"

"Because I could have executed him whenever I wanted." The baron placed the report down slowly. "And because he is useful."

He took a sip of whisky.

"You’ve been with him along the journey. You’ve seen the evolution of a Gamer. Their understanding of things is different."

He paused.

"And I managed to place what I love most under one’s protection."

The guards didn’t know if it was lament, indignation, or satisfaction.

None of the three, perhaps.

Or all three at once.

One swallowed again, knowing what was coming.

The baron took another sip.

"Yukihime."

Long pause.

"So that is the supposed name of my granddaughter."

The guard raised his trembling hand.

"Actually, Baron... her name is now Haru-Yukihime Mizuki Valtherion."

The baron stared at the fireplace.

"Why Valtherion... if I didn’t raise her. If I barely know her. If in order for someone to be called Valtherion I must... give them that name or share family ties, why?"

Pause, already knowing the answer, but wanting it spoken aloud.

"She is Valtherion because she is your granddaughter, Baron. And she is your granddaughter because she is Isabela’s daughter..."

"So Yukihime is my daughter’s daughter, therefore Valtherion, logical... but before Valtherion her name has Mizuki, and about Mizuki?"

The guard slowed down, seeing the baron’s face. "...she is Mizuki because she is Haru’s daughter. They got married. They have a house in the capital. In a beautiful district, they even have a maid... and... and..." He stopped completely.

Silence in the room.

Only fire.

"So that’s how it is." the baron said very slowly. "The one I placed to protect my daughter... had the audacity to marry her."

Pause.

"And adopt a daughter."

He finished the whisky.

Placed the glass down with excessive care.

"I’m going to the capital."

...

Next Day, Sacred Wing Courtyard

Same afternoon. Same attempt, cultivation, same result.

Lilithine couldn’t look at Haru directly, looked away when he spoke, looked away when he didn’t speak, looked away when he looked at the tree near him. "He didn’t even return my panties"

"By the way." Haru said after the tenth failed attempt. "Could you teach me another element? I only know Ignition, which I learned from Isabela."

Isabela frowned.

"I don’t remember ever teaching you Ignition. I don’t know how you learned it."

"The day I touched your breasts for the first time." Haru said naturally. "The heat was so strong my body absorbed it."

Isabela went red.

Opened her mouth.

Haru cut in: "It’s the power itself. Not me, it was the scene."

Kira raised her hand.

"The master already has my ability!? if not, I’ll let him use me whenever he wants."

"Watch your tongue." Isabela turned to her.

Lilithine stood there imagining, involuntarily, unwillingly, without asking to imagine, the dynamics of that group.

"My God."

"I can’t stop thinking about what they do... how can they talk like this so normally..."

"My God."

"Lilithine."

She blinked. "Huh?"

Haru was looking at her, directly, without ceremony.

"Teach me something new. An element. Anything."

Lilithine looked at him for a second.

"He wants me to teach him something."

She felt something that wasn’t anger. Wasn’t shame.

Something smaller, warmer, harder to name.

"Take off your shirt." she said.

Everyone looked at her.

Lilithine turned red again, but didn’t back down.

"So I can see your meridians. I can’t guide the training without seeing."

Haru took off his shirt without comment.

Kira whistled.

Isabela looked away with too much effort.

Lilithine removed her gloves slowly, finger by finger, and placed her palms on Haru’s back.

She closed her eyes.

And began.

It was the first time in weeks she had touched someone without gloves.

Her skin was cold from nervousness, she knew it was, she tried not to think about it.

"Relax your shoulders." she said.

Haru relaxed.

"More."

"I already did."

"You didn’t. Your shoulders are at your ears."

Isabela made an agreeing sound from where she sat.

Haru exhaled. His shoulders dropped two centimeters.

"Like this." Lilithine said.

Energy began flowing from her palms slowly, entering through the meridian points on his back.

"I will apply the induction method to teach him how to..."

:::