Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 277: Pink Room

"Fine." Oathran held up a hand. "But if we get caught—"

"We won’t get caught."

"—if we get caught, I’m blaming both of you."

"Deal."

Eastiel was already moving. "Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go—"

Arkai caught his shoulder. "Wait. What’s the plan?"

"Plan?"

"Plan, Brother. We can’t just—"

"I have a plan."

They both turned to Oathran.

He was looking at the opposite gender’s dormitory. "I’ve done this before with Cecilia," he said. "The window on the east side has a loose latch."

His gaze moved to the roof. "The gargoyle on the corner blocks the light from the guard’s post. If we go single file, stay low, move between the bells—"

"Between the bells?" Eastiel asked. "Those things are loud."

"They only ring if you touch them. Don’t touch them."

"And if I do?"

Oathran looked at him. Smiled.

"Then you’re on your own."

Arkai snorted. Eastiel scoffed. "You lied. It’s impossible you’ve done this with Cecilia. She’s not the kind of person who would sneak between bells—"

"I’ve seen the interior of her dorm room," Oathran cut him off. "There’s a lot of baby blue and pink."

Eastiel and Arkai were immediately convinced.

Baby blue and pink.

Baby blue and motherfucking pink.

Girly schoolgirl Cecilia’s dorm room. Holy girly schoolgirl Cecilia’s dorm room!

They looked at the dormitory... then at each other. The night was dark, the corridors were empty.

"Fine." Arkai’s voice was decisive. "Let’s go."

They moved.

Three shadows, slipping through the dark, heading toward a loose latch and a gargoyle and a woman who would probably pretend to be surprised when they knocked on her door.

And in the darkness, three legends became schoolboys again.

***

Knock, knock, knock.

Cecilia’s eyes flickered open.

The room was dark since her curtains were drawn and her lamp extinguished. The only light came from the pale sliver of moon filtering through the gap where the fabric didn’t quite meet. Well, also partly from the mage clock glowing softly on the nightstand.

Almost three in the morning.

Knock, knock, knock—

She sat up slowly, her hair falling around her shoulders, her skimpy pajamas, thin straps, soft fabric, entirely inappropriate for visitors, riding up as she moved.

It wasn’t the gods again... right?

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her feet found the floor. Her diary lay open on the desk, its pages filled with her handwriting. She walked past it without looking, her mind still thick with sleep and her body moving on autopilot.

She opened the door and saw—

Three handsome high school boys were crouched in front of her door.

They were low, knees bent, backs hunched, heads ducked, trying, apparently, to be... stealthy?

The moment the door opened, all three scrambled.

They rose. Straightened both their bodies and their dignity, attempting to look casual.

Eastiel got there first. He leaned against the doorframe ’effortlessly’, a man who had definitely not been crouching like a goblin two seconds ago. His golden eyes gleamed in the dim light.

"Hey, babe." His whisper was low, smooth... though unconvincing.

Cecilia blinked. Blinked again.

Her brain, still half-asleep, processed slowly. Her eyes moved from Eastiel’s carefully casual expression to Arkai’s subtly rigid posture to Oathran’s quiet smile.

"Where..." she asked, voice thick with sleep. "Where were you guys all day?"

"Let us come in first." Arkai said, trying not to sound urgent, his eyes scanning the corridor behind them, checking for watchers, for witnesses, for the dorm matron who would absolutely murder them all if she found three boys sneaking into the female wing at three in the morning.

Cecilia stepped aside.

The three of them moved.

And immediately jammed in the doorway.

Oathran’s shoulder caught on Eastiel’s. Arkai’s arm wedged between Oathran’s chest and the frame. They tilted, twisted, tried to go sideways, tried to go around, tried to go through each other in a silent, frantic, and undignified scramble.

Broad shoulders. Narrow doorway. No coordination.

Cecilia pressed her lips together.

Her eyes watered. Her shoulders shook.

Before her, the three most powerful men she had ever known fought for dominance against a wooden frame and lost.

She couldn’t—she couldn’t—

"Pfff—"

A laugh escaped her.

Eastiel’s head snapped toward her. "Don’t." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

She bit her lip.

"Huhu—"

More laughter.

"Cece." Arkai’s voice was strained. "Don’t. "

Oathran just looked at her. Grey eyes bright. Mouth twitching.

Cecilia pressed both hands over her face and wheezed.

"Is it the bell route?" Cecilia’s voice was still thick with sleep yet also light with laughter, her hands dropping from her face as she watched them finally untangle themselves from her doorway.

"The bell route," Oathran confirmed, straightening his uniform with the practiced dignity of a man who had definitely not just been stuck in a doorframe with his two younger brothers.

Click.

The door closed behind them.

Cecilia leaned against the wood, her back pressing against the grain, her eyes moving from one face to another. Oathran looked calm and satisfied, Arkai still had some lingering embarrassment, and Eastiel had barely contained glee.

And then they stopped.

Arkai and Eastiel had frozen in the middle of her room. Their heads were turning, slowly, taking it in. The pale blue walls. The soft pink curtains. The little ceramic animals lined up on her windowsill.

The books stacked neatly on her nightstand, the pressed flowers tucked into the frame of her mirror, the diary lying open on her desk with its pages still exposed to the night air.

A girl’s room. Their girl’s room.

Arkai’s throat moved. His eyes were fixed on the little wolf figurine among her collection, grey, small, its ears pricked forward like it was listening.

...Rinne?

Considering what they were planning to do tonight, Arkai reached out and made it face the window. He paused, still feeling that it wasn’t enough, then reached again and opened a drawer to put the little grey wolf inside.

Eastiel had drifted toward her bed’s wispy pink curtains. Everything smelled good. Then he moved to her window, his back to them, his hand resting on the sill. The moonlight caught his profile, softened the sharp lines of his jaw.

"It’s very pink," he said.

"It’s not pink, it’s blush."

"It’s pink."

"It’s blush, Eastiel."

"Cecilia. Your curtains are pink. Your rug is pink. Your pillowcases are pink." He turned. "You are sleeping in a pink room."

"It’s not—"

"Brother." Oathran’s voice was patient. "Let her have her pink room."

Eastiel opened his mouth. Closed it.

"It’s nice," he said finally. "The pink. It’s... nice. I like it, I was just teasing you."

Arkai snorted as he looked around once more to see if there was anything that would... make him feel awkward tonight. "Rather than that, help me hide all the things with wolves in it..."

"Why?"

"Just help me. They kinda remind me of Rinne."

"Oh, damn, right. We can’t let him watch..."

"Why do you have to spell it out...?"

Meanwhile, Oathran moved.

His hand caught Cecilia’s wrist. His body pressed her back against the door. His mouth found hers hungrily and she was laughing against his lips, her hands coming up to grip his uniform, her giggles muffled by the kiss.

"Your Majesty—"

"Mm."

"We were talking—"

"We’re done talking," Oathran concluded.

Cecilia glared at him, her fingers fidgeting on his belt buckle. Her cheeks were flushed from the kiss and the weight of three pairs of eyes fixed on her in the soft pink glow of her room.

"What are we going to do, then?"

The three men chuckled.

"What else?" Eastiel asked lightly, teasingly, but his golden eyes had darkened. He was watching her fingers on Oathran’s belt, watching the way she moved, the way she hesitated.

Arkai stepped closer, his body heat a presence at her shoulder. He answered for her.

"We’re training for triple penetration, right?"