136 — Camping (6)

Ignoring the usual bickering of the two dragons, I climbed up to the cabin.

And I lay down.

Sleeping in nature. In such a pleasant atmosphere.

Just lying down is so enjoyable.

As I stared blankly at the shimmering lake, Rurin, apparently tired of fighting, climbed up to the cabin.

She staggered over to me, then surprisingly sat down quietly and looked down at me.

Since my eyes were closed, Rurin might have thought I was asleep, and I felt her intense gaze.

Rurin slowly moved her hand and very carefully touched my nose. Then she touched my eyes.

“You.”

“You.”

For now, I continued pretending to sleep.

Then I heard Rurin’s big sigh.

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

Surprised, I opened my eyes, and Rurin made a soft noise and twisted her head.

“The real sleeping you hugs me when I touch you! You’re not hugging me now.”

“What? Me?”

Such a sleeping habit? Good grief.

No wonder I’ve been waking up with Rurin in my arms without realizing it.

The limits of my mind are this terrifying.

I thought I had controlled myself well before.

“Do you want to hug? Is that why you touched me?”

Even before.

It’s still the same now.

Rurin appears proactive but doesn’t initiate physical contact or active courting herself.

I still don’t know why.

So, she likes to be held by me and tries to create such situations.

“Are the dishes done?”

“Come to think of it, I did the dishes because of you!”

Suddenly, she pouted again.

Is this a silent rebellion because she lost because of me? Is she sulking? Both?

“Are you sulking?”

“You killed me, so I had to do the dishes! I’m not sulking, I’m angry!”

“Killed you? It was just a game, it couldn’t be helped.”

“I would die for you!”

“Even in a game? Where’s the Rurin who was confident she’d win?”

“That Rurin doesn’t exist. Never did.”

Rurin started pretending to be uninterested. Her lips still pouted. Come to think of it, her lips looked different than usual.

I didn’t notice when we kissed earlier, maybe because the light was dimmer. Her small, cute lips.

Her lips.

I couldn’t hold back and asked bluntly.

“What’s with your lips?”

“Lips?”

Rurin tilted her head and brought her finger to her lips.

As her finger pressed into her lips, it sank softly. Her chapped lips became more noticeable at the edges.

Yes, Rurin’s lips were very chapped.

That’s the state of her lips.

This is an emergency.

I don’t want her lips or hands to chap. I just had her wash dishes, but I want to apply hand cream immediately.

I was surprised and grabbed her face with both hands. I examined it closely, bringing my face near to check her skin condition with my eyes.

“Huh, huh?”

Rurin made a strange noise and tilted her head. Her body shivered slightly.

“What, what are you doing? You.”

After a moment of silence, she gently removed the hand from her lips and asked softly.

“Your skin is fine. But why are your lips like this?”

Her skin wasn’t bad compared to her chapped lips. Was it the weather causing her lips to chap first?

“It’s always like this around this time. Even in dragon form, my skin cracks a bit. It’s my nature. My nature.”

“Really?”

Nod, nod.

Rurin spoke as if it were nothing, but her chapped lips were too much to bear.

I don’t think it was this bad last year.

“And also…”

“And also?”

“Kissing you… Con… Mmph!”

Rurin started to say something but quickly covered her mouth with her palm and clammed up.

The hasty action was suspicious, but I didn’t press further.

I don’t necessarily believe secrets are more beautiful when kept, but sometimes it’s better to leave them alone.

“Well, anyway.”

“Don’t just brush it off!”

“Brushing it off!”

“Brushing it off makes it feel like I lost. Hmph!“

She quickly covered her mouth as if to hide something, then pouted and clung to me, pulling my hair.

She’s bad at initiating physical contact but good at attacking, especially biting. I’m not prey.

The more she does that, the less I want to ask. A sort of rebellious psychology.

Anyway, I subtly summoned lip balm. Lip balm is for chapped lips. Using a simple summoning spell, I called Rurin over with the lip balm in hand.

“Okay, stop being annoyed and come here.”

Rurin, who had been pressing down on my head and huffing, approached.

“What?”

“This.”

“That?”

Rurin took the lip balm and looked at me, her face asking what it was.

“You apply it on your lips. Try it.”

“Oh! That? The thing that makes your lips red?”

Rurin seemed interested, probably thinking of lipstick.

“No, no. It’s to prevent chapped lips.”

“Prevents chapped lips? I didn’t know such a thing existed.”

With a face full of joy at discovering something new, Rurin held the lip balm and inspected it curiously.

“Open the cap.”

Following my words, she opened the cap, revealing the lip balm. A soft floral scent wafted from the pink lip balm.

Rurin sniffed the sweet scent and instinctively tried to lick it.

“No, no. It’s not for eating. You apply it on your lips.”

“Hmph, it smells sweet. I want to eat it.”

“Even if you taste it, it’s just the scent. It doesn’t taste like much.”

“Is that so. Huh.”

Is she a dragon or a puppy? Why does she like sniffing and tasting so much?

I suspect she might have been a puppy in a past life.

Anyway, Rurin finally started applying the lip balm. But her actions were very clumsy.

She applied it roughly, smearing it all over her lips and around them.

“You… You’re supposed to apply it only on your lips. Not share it with your skin.”

Rurin, applying the lip balm to her nose, looked at me with a puzzled face.

“Doesn’t it prevent chapping? Then I should apply it to my skin too!”

“No… That’s not right. It’s only for your lips. Your skin is fine.”

“Why are there so many conditions?”

Rurin frowned, looking annoyed. I had no choice but to take the lip balm from her hand.

“Watching you is frustrating, I’ll do it.”

“Hehehe, that’s only natural. Serve me!”

With a face saying she should have done this from the start, Rurin approached closely and puckered her lips.

At this point, a scary thought crossed my mind that this might all be part of a plan.

The culprit looked at me with innocent eyes, a face asking to apply it quickly.

No way.

I shook off the doubt and wiped the messily applied lip balm with a handkerchief.

“Ugh.”

Rurin grimaced. After wiping it off, I began applying the lip balm to her small lips again.

As the lip balm touched her dry lips, they started to come to life, looking more moist.

The pleasant scent tickled my nose, and Rurin closed her eyes, enjoying the lip balm being applied.

“Hmm, it feels strange. When you apply it, it feels…”

“What feels strange?”

“I don’t know…”

Swipe, swipe.

“Huh, huh… If you do it like that…”

“Hey! I’m just applying it normally, don’t make weird noises.”

As the lip balm touched the corners of her lips, Rurin made strange noises, her eyes fluttering, and her eyebrows twitching.

When I removed the lip balm from her lips, she opened her eyes and looked at me. She touched her lips with her hand and answered with a curious expression.

“It feels moist. And it’s sweet.”

“Huh? It shouldn’t taste like much.”

“Hehe, I don’t know. It’s sweet.”

She pressed her upper and lower lips together to taste it, then took the lip balm from me.

“In that case, I’ll do it for you too.”

“Me? My lips aren’t that dry.”

“Still, you and I are a set!”

Rurin lunged at me and started applying the lip balm to my lips. No, it was more like painting than applying.

The lip balm in Rurin’s hand moved carefully, leaving a trace on my lips each time.

It felt a bit strange.

It was completely different from applying it myself. I could feel Rurin’s breath from her very close face.

The ticklish feeling made my whole body tingle.

Swipe, swipe.

Whether she knew my state or not.

No, she definitely didn’t know, but Rurin’s hand kept moving in small swipes.

“Hehe, all done!”

Soon after, the lip balm was removed from my lips. She distanced herself with a satisfied face.

“How is it? You.”

“How is it? You, you applied it well. Why were you so bad at it alone…”

“That’s because I didn’t have a mirror, obviously.”

With a mischievous smile, Rurin started rolling around in the cabin again.

Roll, roll, roll.

She stopped at my feet while I was sitting.

Then she stood up as if she had remembered something.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“Earlier… Even though I lost because of the kiss! There’s definitely one more…”

Yeah, it’s still there.

“Huh, huh?”

I didn’t wait for Rurin to finish her sentence. It had to be done anyway.

Actually, a kiss is nothing special without the burning emotion of love.

If the boiling emotion doesn’t mix with the act of tongues meeting, it’s just contact.

But if you truly love, you feel the other through a kiss, drawing each other closer as your mind fills with emotion, with love.

And at this moment, my heart felt ticklish, like something was boiling inside.

My lips soon began to explore Rurin’s lips.

A few minutes later.

Our lips, and even our noses, were now shiny with smeared lip balm.

“You…?”

Rurin looked at me with teary eyes. When I lightly touched her lips with my tongue, she mimicked the motion.

“You, I…”

“Yes?”

We looked at each other like that for a moment. The emotion heightened.

Yeah, it’s so funny I could die.

“It’s so funny! Your nose is shining!”

“Yours is the same!”

And that lovely atmosphere disappeared thanks to the effect of the lip balm making our entire faces shine pink.

All that was left was loud laughter.

“Your face looks so weird. Hahaha!”

“Yours looks weird too! Pfft.”

And so the camping night deepened.