Pants and Exorcism

From the perspective of Elize, who has become Eric

The seventh basement level was a puzzle-solving area, and I knew the solutions well.

"The Village of Liars and the Village of the Honest" is a classic numerical reasoning puzzle often featured in middle school final exams as part of dungeon preparations.

There are also floors featuring well-known puzzles like Nonograms and Tangrams. I occasionally think it's pointless to just memorize the solutions to these mathematical puzzles, but no one seems to care.

So, we arrived at the eighth basement level.

Wisps and undead were swarming everywhere.

I was really hoping for Akira's exorcism magic to work here.

"Leave it to me!" he said confidently.

Akira chanted the exorcism spell and attempted to roll his R's... but failed!

He glanced at me furtively.

What? Does he want me to show my pants?

I'm not ready for that kind of thing.

I mean, it would be okay if it were Akira looking, but...

And today, I'm just wearing ordinary striped pants, not my special "battle" pants.

No! What am I thinking!

I'll support Akira in a normal way, the usual way!

"We'll sing together. Even if you mess up, it's okay," I told him.

Akira began the exorcism spell, and I supported him with a chorus that included some rolled R's.

The spell was successful!

The swarm of wisps was wiped out.

"Let's go!"

Akira shyly grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

How cute.

He must see me as more than just a friend. Being special to him really strokes my ego.

"Elize!" he said as we ran.

"If we win this race... I have something I want to discuss. About our future..."

"Wh-what?"

Could it be, could it be a confession of love?

I enjoy making Akira's heart race, and I love being together like this, but I'm not quite ready for that step.

What could he possibly say to me, given that I'm really a man?

What if he says, "I love you! Show me your pants every day!"?

But if it's Akira, if it's him...

No, no, no, no! What a fool I am!

Akira would never say something like that!

That would make me just some perverted woman!

He's never made such comments about pants.

It's just me, always fixated on showing him my pants.

No, no, no, no!

"What's wrong? You're all red," he asked.

"It's nothing..." I couldn't look him in the eye.