Chapter 131 - I'll Overwrite and Save You
The moment we reached the front desk, Angelica leaned against me with a spoiled gesture.She clung tightly to my left arm, rubbing her cheek against it like a kitten.
...She's cute.
Seeing her like this, she looked like nothing more than a child her age, and I found my fatherhood being strangely stimulated.At the same time, an invisible rod of reason was also stabbing the guilt zone in my brain, over and over.
What the hell am I doing?
Can I really hold this girl?Didn't I decide to look after her as a father?Can I stay calm seeing Angelica in disarray, repeating "Daddy, Daddy" over and over?
No way. I'm not that much of a brute. As a person, as a member of society, I intend to have sound ethics.So I have to stop this outrage, right now...!
"Daddy, should we add the option to rent a cosplay costume?"
"Hey now, of course we're adding it."
"Yay! I've always wanted to try wearing something called a sailor uniform!"
I was a weak adult.The worst.A scoundrel.
Because I want to see Angelica in a different outfit than usual...By the way, where do I request the costume rental?
"So there's no reception desk at these kinds of hotels."
Having spent my youth in another world, I've never used a love hotel.So I don't really know how things work.
"...For those who want a cosplay costume, press button number 8...? Ah, so I just press this. Wait, you choose the room like this too?"
Where a reception desk would normally be, there was a row of square panels. And on each panel, a room was displayed.Apparently, if the screen is bright, the room is vacant, and if it's dark, it's in use.There are push buttons next to the panels, and the overall impression is like a ridiculously luxurious ramen ticket machine.
Surely, automation advanced out of consideration for the customers' embarrassment.I don't want to meet the staff face-to-face in a hotel like this, after all.
"Daddy, Daddy, look at that, look!"
"What is it?"
"There's a room with a huge wooden horse in the middle, what's it used for?"
"I don't really know either."
It probably has a use that Rio would like, but that's a world unrelated to us.Well, let's play it safe here... Let's choose a room with a large bed in the center and a glass-walled shower room.For the costume, I'll also pick a safe, ordinary-looking sailor uniform, not some lewdly arranged sailor swimsuit.
Playing it safe is best in everything.I experienced more than enough reckless adventures back in the other world days, so I'm completely full of that.
Reading the guide display, I press the button once.After waiting a bit, something slid down from the retrieval slot under the menu panel.A room key.It's just like a vending machine, I thought, feeling a strange sensation as I took it.
"Let's go."
Urged on by Angelica saying "Hurry, hurry," we proceed down the hallway.Overhead, we're illuminated by eerily glowing purple lights, and underfoot, a bright red carpet is laid out.The interior is such that even the air seems sweetly flavored.Just walking through a place like this is enough to make you feel indecent, isn't it?
"...It's here."
While we were doing that, we arrived in front of our target room.Once we open this, there will probably be no turning back.
"I'll say this now, while I have the chance."
"What?"
"Absolutely no contraception allowed."
"..."
"It's... not allowed, okay?"
Angelica looks up at me with upturned eyes, her expression pleading.Her plump lips glisten glossily, emitting a precarious allure.
This is bad. When I look into these eyes—I can't resist.
As if driven by some invisible force, I inserted the key into the keyhole.Slowly, the door opens.
"Wow... It's my first time seeing a round bed."
With pattering footsteps like a little girl's, Angelica runs up to the bed and dives onto it with a poof.Why does she choose motions that so precisely stab at my conscience?
A little late, I also enter the room and close the door.
The ceiling I look up at is high, and the chandelier hanging arrogantly seems to be sneering at me.Since I usually live under a fluorescent light with fly carcasses stuck to it, I just can't settle down.
"Can I take a shower first?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"No."
Why...? Angelica's eyes cloud over.She looks like she's about to cry any moment.But I, with a father's dignity, declare resolutely.
"The staff will probably come to deliver the cosplay costume, so it'd be awkward if you were naked before that."
"Ah, that's true."
Why is my will so weak like this?I should just say clearly, "I can't hold you after all," but when she looks at me with teary eyes, my heart breaks so easily.
I sit on the bed and cover my face with both hands.Just as I was about to collapse in sobs... Angelica started fiddling with the remote, and an improper sound started coming from the TV, so I made her stop.
"Ehh! I want to watch it!"
"It's not something someone under eighteen should watch."
I had heard that the TVs in these kinds of hotels are set to indecent programs, and this place truly doesn't disappoint.Just as I was steeling my resolve to never enter one again, there was a knock-knock at the door.Along with a thud, the sound of something being placed in front of the door.
I see. So it's a system where they leave the ordered item in front of the entrance without entering the room.Meaning, come get it yourself.
"Well made."
This is service that caters to the user, hospitality, right? Impressed, I open the door and retrieve the sailor uniform.
"...Should I try putting it on you?"
Come to think of it, I don't have a high school girl attribute. In fact, it's outside my preferences. If she wears this, Angelica's danger level might actually decrease...?
"Daddy~. Let's take a shower together~. Hey, Daddy~?"
I picture Angelica in my mind, having put her arms through the sailor uniform.She'll surely be incredibly cute. It's originally a Western-style outfit, so a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes is bound to wear it perfectly.
And then, I'll fall into the illusion that I'm really dealing with a foreign high school student—
I'll regret it.
"H-hey, Ange."
Still gripping the uniform modeled after a school outfit, I turn back toward Angelica.
"Let's stop after all. If we go any further than this, we won't be parent and child anymore."
"..."
Angelica stares at me with a blank expression.A face like a toy she was absorbed in playing with was taken away. My conscience is in constant pain, but even so, there's something I have to say.
"I got swept up in the mood and came all the way to a place like this, but I think I should be your father."
"...Please continue."
I feel a slight terror at her businesslike tone, but I can't back down here.
"You could find a boyfriend as many as you want if you looked, but I'm the only one who can be your father. Yet if I hold you, this relationship will be destroyed."
"Is that your true feeling, Daddy?"
"Huh?"
Angelica lies face-up on the bed and speaks with a provocative expression.
"I've started to understand you lately, Daddy. You say things like 'I'm deliberately not holding you for your sake,' but really, you're only thinking about yourself, aren't you?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Daddy, you're the type of person who likes to follow the rules inside yourself. Your goal is to fulfill your own ideal image of a father, and my wishes are secondary, right? That's why you can come all the way to a place like this and act like a father without a care. Even though I, of all people, am saying I want you to fulfill the role of a man, not a father. You're the worst."
"...Maybe so."
Member of society. Adult male. Father. Hero.I might be a coward who finds peace of mind by living according to those "positions."But don't most people live like that?
"Daddy is the worst... tactless... thoughtless... a coward... always has women other than me around him... really, really..."
Could it be I've stepped on a landmine?Is this turning into a situation where she vents all her pent-up frustrations?
Just as I brace myself, Angelica energetically jumps off the bed.Wondering what she'll do, she walks toward me with a fierce expression, heels clicking.
Ah, this is a slap.Fine, I'll accept that much.
I gently close my eyes, but no matter how long I wait, the expected impact never comes.
Don't tell me she's too short and couldn't reach?That said, Angelica is in the low 150s and I'm 170, so there shouldn't be that drastic a height difference.
I quietly open my eyes.
Then, the sight of Angelica crouching down and unzipping my fly jumps into my vision, and I hurriedly hold her head down.
"Hey."
"What now? Don't get in my way."
She glares at me sharply with upturned eyes. Scary. It's completely different from the seductive upturned eyes from just before.
"...Um... Angelica... -san...?"
"Too bad for you, Daddy. I love Daddy, who is the worst, tactless, thoughtless, a coward, and always has women other than me around him."
"...W-what did you say...?"
"Hehe. Did you know, Daddy? They say the sign a woman is getting serious is 'happily talking about the faults of the man she's dating.' I didn't really understand it before, but now I understand it sooo well..."
"Where does a Holy Maiden learn something like that!?"
"The Holy Maiden's temple only prohibits men from entering; women from outside can come in, you know? So there are opportunities... to talk with married women and prostitutes."
Angelica gazes at my crotch with an enraptured look.
"Daddy, if you hold me, you'll hate yourself from guilt, but that's fine. Because I'll love Daddy twice as much as before to make up for it. It's what you call plus-minus zero."
"That calculation is off in many ways..."
"Honestly. You're such a frustrating person, really. Even though I can tell you're properly lusting after me, you always, always resist at the very last moment. If you just did it once and got it over with, you'd definitely stop caring about all this."
"Is that the line of a sixteen-year-old maiden!?"
"They do say 'a woman's no means yes,' right~?"
A sadistic color dwells in Angelica's gaze.
"Once I make you feel really good, ethics and all that won't matter anymore, right? Prepare yourself. From now on, I'll make you fall to pleasure."
"Aren't the genders reversed? Huh? The genders are reversed here, right?"
"Saying such cute things. Don't you know that when an old man makes a face like that, it just turns the other person on more?"
To Angelica, who is reaching out her hand while licking her lips, I show my smartphone in a half-crazed state.
"A-alright, I get it. If you're going to be like that, I have a plan too. If you keep pushing for baby-making any further, I'm going to report this right now. Got it? The police will come."
"...? But if you do that, won't it be Daddy who gets arrested? In this country, if an adult and a minor do lewd things, basically only the adult is found guilty, right?"
"Ah, that's right. You understand well."
That's exactly why, I say with a smile.
"If I report this now, I'm the one who gets hauled away. In short, this is a social self-destruct button."
"...! D-don't tell me, you're taking yourself hostage...?"
"You finally understand. That's right. If I feel like it, I can have the nice officers arrest me anytime. If that happens, I'll be isolated in prison, and you and I won't be able to see each other for a long time. Can a super daddy-con girl like you endure that kind of life?"
"...Ugh... You've thought this through..."
To my beloved daughter, who has started sweating profusely, I press the attack while I have the chance.
"If you understand, let go. A male parent and his daughter should maintain an appropriate distance. Your breasts have been touching my shin for a while now!"
"...No... I want to stick close to Daddy..."
"Don't be selfish. I'll turn myself in."
"No... I don't want Daddy to get arrested, but I also don't want to not be able to rub my boobs against Daddy..."
"Nothing problematic that comes out of your mouth surprises me anymore..."
I hear a sniffle.
"...Why is Daddy so mean like this...? I just want to have Daddy's baby and use the leftover breast milk to raise Daddy over again, that's all I'm thinking...? Because it irritates me that Daddy was raised by another woman, I'm trying to clean-clean your life for you...?"
"Your dangerous true feelings are coming out more and more, huh? Huh? What on earth is that emotion of yours?"
"It's romantic feelings, obviously!"
To Angelica, who is grabbing both my legs with teary eyes, I retort that there are definitely weirder feelings mixed in there too.
"W-well, fine. Whatever form your desires take, I understand your feelings well."
"..."
"In response to that honest confession, I'll say something too."
Huh? Angelica looks up.Toward those eyes swollen from crying, I tell her with all the manliness I can muster.
"Part of it is that I feel moral resistance to holding you."
"...Yes."
"But besides that... well... um. There's a fear that if I hold you, I'll get completely absorbed in it..."
"Meaning?"
"I-I mean, that it'll feel too good, be too happy, and I'll end up wanting Ange every day like a monkey..."
"...Ohhh? What would that be like?"
"Well, you know, day and night, in various places, in various positions. ...If that happened, it'd be bad for Elsa too, right? See, thinking that I might get too obsessed with you and my feelings for her might fade... that's no good, right?"
"Haaah..."
Daddy really is so dense, she says with an exasperated voice.
"You only say things that precisely motivate me. Are you okay?"
"What?"
"It's okay, Daddy. Leave everything to me. I'll make you completely forget about Elsa-san with this body."
Saying that, Angelica forcibly pushed me down.Even though I'm superior in both arm strength and weight, why does this phenomenon occur?
I don't really know either, but it might be related to the fact that when Angelica, on her knees, clung to my lower body, my dominant leg ended up enveloped by her breasts.
In that state, I bent forward to hide a change in a certain part that I absolutely must not show my daughter.Then I lost my balance and collapsed, overcome by Angelica's weight.
In short, it was my own doing.
"...Ugh...!"
As I fell on my side, Angelica pounced on me as if she'd been waiting for this.
"It's okay... It'll be over before you finish counting the stains on the ceiling."