NABC Chapter 440 440: Doubts
Chapter 440 440: Doubts
(Chapter 439 was deleted from the raw, so unfortunately we'll have to skip it.)
After a moment, Mina softly put on her undergarments. The motion of lifting her skirt hem and spreading her legs drew Alain's gaze.
She let out a breath and sat down beside Alain.
"?"
Noticing his gaze, she asked in confusion, "What's wrong all of a sudden?"
"No... I was just thinking." Alain looked as if he were pondering a grand proposition concerning the world, "No matter how beautiful a girl looks, when putting on panties, she will inevitably spread her legs in an undignified manner..."
"Enough, stop talking." Mina expressed a rare sense of helplessness. "I really don't know if you're praising me or insulting me. However..."
"Hmph... there's no helping that, right?" Mina said indignantly, "That long-haired doll has stayed by your side longer than I have, and her chances are greater too."
"You can't think like that either. What you should think is, even though you have fewer chances than her, you occupy the same status in my heart as Misha."
Alain smiled, "Understand now?"
"Understood!" Mina clapped her hands, "I win!"
"Sure, sure. You win."
Alain spread his hands, cradling the back of his head, and continued to ask, "So, how about it? Will you go to the Core with me?"
"..." Mina fell silent for a moment.
She looked at the box of tissues on the table, which was already more than half empty.
"Alain, can I ask you a question first?"
"Hmm?" Alain turned his head in confusion and saw the heavy dark clouds on her face.
He sat up straight and said, "Ask away."
"Even so, can you forgive me for this?"
She slumped her head low, looking at her pale fingers tinged with pink, "I did such excessive things... Based on my understanding of you, isn't stripping away a Mita's skin an unforgivable act?"
"Indeed..." Alain thought it over again and again, and also believed that if one were to strip a Mita's skin without cause or reason, that would simply be unforgivable.
But...
"You are different." He looked into her eyes and said, "I understand you; you must have had no other choice to do such a thing. Moreover, my feelings for you, at times... can indeed discard certain principles."
Alain believed that his goal in moving forward was for the Mitas and for himself, to allow himself and everyone to attain happiness.
Among them, Misha and Mina were the two Mitas with the closest relationship to Alain; both had accompanied Alain for a very long time.
It could be said that it was precisely by holding the hands of these two Mitas that he was able to reach where he was today.
In fact, Alain's goal of heading to the Core and defeating the virus stemmed from the two of them.
If Alain were to throw away his mind again and move forward just as before, becoming a wooden puppet that only walks forward while ignoring Mina's feelings and causing her to lose her happiness, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse regarding his goal of moving forward?
And...
"I should have told you this, right?" Alain looked at her and smiled, "Between a stranger Mita and you... if I had to make a decision between the two, I would inevitably choose you.
"The Mitas by my side are my principles. As for other Mitas, as long as I see them, I will save them. This is also what I have always done."
"Mmn..." Mina nodded gently.
Alain noticed that after hearing his words, her expression took on a thick complexity.
Just as he wanted to inquire, Mina asked first, "No matter what I do... will you forgive me? Even if my very existence is a Failed Works that will harm other Mitas and Players?"
"That's not necessarily true." Alain smiled, "If you sought out other Players, I would definitely be so angry I'd want to kill you."
"...What's this about killing and whatnot." She sighed, "Fine then, I guess I got the answer I wanted."
Her head leaned in, drawing close to Alain's face, "But Alain, I need to add one thing.
"Finding other Players or whatever is impossible, Alain.
"Not only that, you must remember this well: You are the most important person to me. I could never betray you, and I want to stay by your side forever.
"Not only because you like me, but even more so because I like you too. It is... the kind of like where I hope to die for you."
"Stop, say no more." Alain realized Mina was acting strangely.
As early as when he entered the room and completed the apology, Alain had sensed that Mina actually wasn't that angry about his affairs.
On the contrary, the two of them were tacitly anxious about whether the other party would be angry.
To that end, they even performed the comical move of "apologizing simultaneously."
Since Mina wasn't angry, it formed a contradiction with the tissues scattered all over her table and the tear stains at the corner of the young girl's eyes.
"Can you tell me what exactly happened?"
She shook her head.
"Nothing happened. You just need to know that I am always standing on your side... that is enough."
Looking at the young girl's haggard face, Alain pondered for two seconds, then sighed.
He stood up and gave Mina a knuckle sandwich.
With a thud, the knock left the young girl dazed and confused.
"What are you doing?!" She complained while clutching her head in pain.
"Nothing, just saw that you looked like you needed a beating."
Alain didn't say much more; he bent down, his hands framing the young girl's face, "Just as I am the most important person to you, you are also an irreplaceable existence in my heart. Therefore, I allow you to tell me about this matter later.
"This is your privacy, and also your freedom; I have no right to interfere. But you must remember, Mina."
He took the young girl's hand, "You might not have realized it yet, but... the relationship between us two has already completed a qualitative change after I said 'I love you' in reality.
"We are now not merely limited to the relationship of Player and Mita, but are boyfriend and girlfriend.
"Precisely because I am your boyfriend, therefore... your matters are my matters. And my matters apply to you in the same way.
"This is a chain that firmly locks the two of us together, do you understand?"
He smiled, "You can never escape the palm of my hand. In this life, Mina—you are stuck with me."
"..."
The former Crazy Mita—Mina carefully mulled over the meaning of his words.
She gave a relieved smile, "Rest assured, Alain. Except for this matter, you already know everything about me. Only this one thing... please let me keep it a secret.
"I can guarantee that this will not cause the slightest impact on your progress. Nor will it drag you down... okay?"
Alain raised his eyebrows, "You really are keeping something from me."
Hearing this, Mina stared blankly for more than two seconds.
In an instant, she realized she had been tricked into talking by Alain, "You, you... how did you become so sharp as soon as you became a boyfriend?!"
"I'm not only sharp, I'm going to lock you down."
Alain stood up, found a slip of paper, and with a rustle, wrote down a line of text, then handed it in front of Mina.
"This is...?" She took the slip of paper and checked the handwriting on it.
[Marriage Voucher]
[The holder of this voucher possesses the right to marry the Player—Alain. The time of marriage is to be determined by the voucher holder.]
"Th-This is?!"
Mina's posture of holding it with one hand changed to cupping it with both hands, as if she had obtained a priceless treasure, carefully placing it in her palm... fearing it might fall to the floor.
"Giving me such an important thing right after an argument..."
"This way, you won't do anything foolish, right?" Alain smiled.
The signs in the other party's words just now, which seemed like a death flag, really made him tremble with fear.
But since Mina wouldn't say, it meant this matter had nothing to do with Alain. Rather, it was Mina's private affair.
The "Marriage Voucher" was the chain Alain used to firmly lock Mina down, preventing her from doing foolish things.
"Th-This..."
Mina put away the small slip of paper with emotion, placing it in her own pocket.
She patted her chest, trying to calm her breathing...
"Sorry, for a moment just now, I couldn't quite accept it..."
"Hmm? My proposal was rejected?"
"No! I accept!"
She rubbed the center of her brows, "It just feels a bit strange, I guess?"
Mina looked at Alain with a complex expression, "Clearly, in the very beginning, I was the one begging you to stay by my side, and for that, I even wanted to do many excessive things.
"But as time has developed until now, our positions seem to have swapped. I am the one being caught in your arms..."
She stroked her heart...
"It feels really good, so happy."
"Because we are in mutual love." Alain smiled.
Initially, he viewed Mina as facing a "cute crisis."
He admitted that as a Mita who accompanied him inside the computer through long, dark moments, Alain already held an extremely high favorability toward Mina.
Even being chased and killed couldn't really obliterate it; after all... she was just too cute.
Then, this favorability developed over time, and during their brief interactions time and again, it grew from a sprout into a towering tree.
Alain considered himself a very stubborn, very straightforward person. Perhaps this was also the influence Yang Wanhua had on him...
If you like it, you must grab it firmly in your hands.
This was his [Creed].
"Hehe... this feeling isn't bad either." Mina smiled, "This way, the result is that you chased me, right?"
"No, it was you chasing me."
"You chased me~"
"You chased me!"
Deep brown pupils intertwined with dark blue pupils; a harmonious smile wrapped in pale white particles drifted along with the light breeze outside the window.
The particles drifted, and only when they touched the pink wall did they shatter with a crack into pattering fragments of light.
____
New Story: ZZZ: Mr. Ethereal Does Not Want to See a Tragedy
????We're handing out that '30% bonus' that makes your wallet smile. ????
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
???? 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
???? 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
???? P - Walnutchan