Dimensional Descent

An explosion went off in Aina's mind. Of all the things she thought would happen today, this was the very last. For a moment, she couldn't sense anything else but the sensation on her lips. Her heart fluttered, her blood ran hot, and her lower belly pulsed with an odd feeling she would have trouble putting into words.

Her weight subconsciously fell onto Leonel, her palm pressing to his chest and her lips weighing heavier on his as though to fuse with him. With how Leonel had sat up and how she kneeled on both legs, the shift in balance wasn't a lot, but it was usually more than enough to force someone else to waver. And yet, Leonel's body was like a sturdy wall, not shifting in the slightest even as Aina leaned into him.

Little Blackstar, who had fallen into complete silence the moment Velasco had appeared, tilted his little head to the side. Even with all the emotional intelligence in the world, the little mink was ultimately still a child and this situation was confusing nonetheless.

They had gone from Leonel playing the part of valiant hero, to Aina unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks at his expense, to Leonel nearly dying, then to Aina meeting a man she was incredibly nervous around, then to Leonel being insulted maybe worse than he ever had in his entire life, all to end in…

A kiss?

When Aina's foggy mind cleared and the reality of it all snapped into place, she pulled back quickly, her palm leaving Leonel's chest and becoming a fist that pressed into her own. She breathed heavily and erratically, her mind all over the place and her body flushed red.

Aina didn't seem to want to look Leonel in the eye. There was something about this that felt wrong. She was one part happy, another part apprehensive, and a large part confused about how she should be feeling.

she had never experienced it with someone else, something in her intuition told her that

was she who had found herself leaning heavily into him as though wanting for more. And yet, she felt like she had flown to another

did you do

that she lacked true stature in Leonel's heart, and in the next… He was making her feel as though

just a matter of fact. And,

not an

"Isn't it?" Leonel smiled.

her hang onto his every word like this. The Leonel she remembered was charming, but he also had

change brought about by his goal? If Aina was honest, she hadn't spent enough time with Leonel post his decision to pick up on this change. It might

far more difficult to ignore. It awoke a bit

After a second deep breath, she had returned to her baseline, her flushed

it to me, in real words." Aina

thought

I can't focus on the task at hand or make harsh and necessary decisions when you're around. In the time we weren't together, my progress was far faster than anything I've ever