Vol 1 Chapter 9 – The Time We Kissed【Vol 1 — A Happy Childhood】

Suddenly, but it’s true: this magic-filled world also has fairy tales.

Stories people make up seem to naturally end up similar, even unconsciously, so I still get told fairy tales by my parents that are a lot like the ones I already knew.

One of them is that super cliché story where a hero takes a serious wound protecting a princess, falls into a sleep he never wakes from… until the princess brings him back with a kiss.
For the record, that one happens to be Aria’s favorite.

◯

When I came back to consciousness, my eyes still wouldn’t open, and I was more confused than I’d ever been.

What am I supposed to do about this situation?

First off, calm down and sort things out.

I saved Aria at the very last second, then got slammed by crushing exhaustion and passed out.
Thinking about it now, I can figure out the cause.

Mana depletion.

In other words, it was the backlash from burning through even the mana my body needs just to stay alive, all to build that wind spell.

That part’s fine.

Mana depletion might drop your bodily functions down to bare-minimum survival mode, but if you sleep for a few dozen minutes your consciousness comes back, and your life is never actually in danger.

Now, let’s put ourselves in Aria’s shoes, seeing me suddenly collapse in front of her and lie there like I’m dead.

First she panics.
Then she gets scared.
Not just that—if I put myself in Aria’s position, she probably thinks I collapsed because of her.
In reality, the blame lies mostly with me.

Anyway, that’s enough sorting out the situation. Next, let’s move on to what I’m dealing with right now.

“…Nn, ah.”

“…”

A sticky wet sound, way too sensual for the situation, keeps echoing.

Two small hands that are soft but oddly cool are clamped firmly around my cheeks, and something—or someone—is straddling my stomach.

“…Will, Will… wake up, please wake up… nn…”

A fragile, grief‑soaked little voice whispers in my ear, clinging to me.

And once again, my lips are sealed by something soft. She’s pretty passionate about it.
How are we supposed to feel about the sight of a four‑year‑old sticking her tongue into a three‑year‑old’s mouth? That’s seriously dangerous territory.

…Crap, what do I do?
This is a kiss, right? And this time it’s clearly not an accident.

Calm down. Okay? Calm down, me.
Just because I died a virgin in my last life and I’m still a virgin in this one doesn’t mean I get to lose my cool. She’s only four. She doesn’t really get how heavy this kind of thing is.

Fuu… okay, I’m calm.

So, what’s the right move here?

Ideally, Aria would stop kissing me, wait a bit, and then I’d just “happen” to wake up like nothing unusual happened…

“Haa, haa… nn… nn…”

Yeah, this is not ending.

I have to hand it to her—continuing even with breaths in between is impressive.

Where did things go so wrong?
No, I mean, I sort of get the lead‑up and the cause and all that!

Every so often, Aria presses her ear against my chest, and I hear these heart‑wrenching little whispers like, “It’s still beating… so why won’t you wake up, Will… hey, Will…”
Looks like she’s confirmed that I’m not actually dead.

As for why she picked kissing as her way to wake me up… if you asked me, I’d have to say it’s because she’s a kid.
She must absolutely believe in that favorite fairy tale of hers.
If I try to make sense of this situation, that’s the only chain of logic that fits.

Ah. My body’s starting to get kind of cold.

If I don’t get up soon, this is bad, right?
I need to move.
If I don’t move, I’m seriously going to die. Freeze to death.
I’m not ready to die yet.

And while I’m sitting here thinking all of that, my lips keep getting stolen…

“…Ah.”

“Nn… nn, nn—ah!?”

Ah, crap, I accidentally opened my eyes.

After a small pause, Aria’s eyes meet mine.

Our lips are still pressed together.

We just stare at each other for about five seconds and then—

“Ah—! No! Will, nooo!”

With a voice overflowing with embarrassment, Aria slaps her hands over my eyes.

“Um, Aria, c—mmph…”

“Nooo!”

Now my mouth gets covered too.
Aria is in full‑blown panic.

…Look, I get that you’re embarrassed, I really do. But can you please not thrash around while you’re still sitting on my stomach? Every shock hits direct… I’m gonna puke.

Shouting “Nooo!” and “Stop looking!” and “Don’t!” Aria shows zero signs of calming down.

And I can’t really fight back either.

My body’s already numb from the cold, and the mana depletion is making it hard to move at all. In that state, pinned down by Aria, I’ve got nothing.

In the end, I think it took her around twenty minutes to exhaust herself and calm down on her own.

◯

Right now, I’m holding Aria’s hand as we walk through the snow‑covered forest, trying to find our way back to the village.

We fell pretty far…

First we need to climb up somehow, then head in the direction of the village.

With no food and no water, this situation is already pretty dicey. We also have to watch out for monsters.
It’s great that I managed to save Aria, but at this rate that might end up not meaning much.

“…Uh, this way, I think.”

I mutter that and start to lead Aria when—

“Um, Will…”

“Hmm?”

“That kiss from before, um… that kiss was to save you, because you might’ve died… so, um, it doesn’t, um, it doesn’t count yet…”

Aria being all flustered like that is so ridiculously cute that, if this were a normal day, I’d absolutely tease her.
Unfortunately, time is not exactly on our side right now.
Not that I can say I’m not embarrassed too. Actually, I’m insanely embarrassed.

I just answer casually, “So that’s what it was. Thanks, Aria,” and wrap things up as smoothly as I can.

For some reason, Aria looks just a little unhappy, but I don’t really have the luxury to worry about that right now.

We hurry on.