Kiss the Black Cat

Chapter 14: Kiss the Friend 2

Translator: Hasr11

Editor: Mirial

「To passing today peacefully.」

We clinked our glasses together and drank the wine. It was quite rare for me to drink without constraints with someone in my own room in such a manner. I didn’t feel hesitant, however, instead, it felt great.

I had never been a much of a talker, but with Nidel-dono my conversations often became lively. We had entered the royal palace around the same time, and when we talked about what we had learned, the conversation built up quite a bit. Nidel-dono often came over to my room, but we had yet to run out of topics to talk about, and spent our time comfortably, quietly having a pleasant chat. Nidel-dono smiled a lot more than I had expected too.

「Squad Commander-dono once again got the short end of the stick.」

Nidel-dono said, laughing lightly while tracing his glass with a finger. His hands looked beautiful, and were almost like a woman’s. Maybe it was because he often handled magic devices, but his fingers seemed quite dexterous.

I tilted my head at his words, focusing on that hand of his, and asked 「Is that so?」.

Nidel-dono often told me that I 「have work pushed onto you, and get the short end of the stick」, but I didn’t think so. Certainly I had my work cut out for me, but since I was in the Squad, it was only to be expected, and I was thankful for the experience it gave me.

When I told him my opinion, Nidel-dono chuckled, saying 「It’s precisely because Squad Commander-dono thinks so that work is unnecessarily pushed upon you.」. Nidel-dono did not mince any words, bluntly saying what he thought, but his tone of voice and smile were kind, and I didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable. Instead, I felt pacified.

「Leaving that aside, Nidel-dono, enough already. Can you stop that manner of addressing me?」

「What manner, Squad Commander-dono?」

Nidel-dono smiled cheekily. Seeing him feigning ignorance despite clearly understanding my question, I smiled wryly.

「You calling me “Squad Commander-dono.” It somehow sounds like you’re teasing me.」

「Ahh, but that’s exactly the case. It’s loaded with sarcasm.」

Nidel-dono laughed and my smile deepened. Nidel-dono had called out my name but once, when we had been guarding. Nidel-dono’s voice calling out 「Legato!」while I was fighting with the enemy, rang in my ears even now. It’s was also the first time I’d head Nidel-dono shout out so shrilly.

It made me strangely happy knowing that Nidel-dono was aware of my name and that he’d left out the honorifics.

「Then, what should I call you?」

「Just Legato is fine.」

「Don’t you use honorifics with my name too?」

「…That is true…」

「Well, nevermind. Then, I’ll call you that, Legato.」

Towards the end of the conversation, Nidel-dono called out my name in a soft voice. It tickled my ears and I felt somewhat embarrassed. However, it didn’t feel bad to hear Nidel-dono leave behind honorifics. It felt as if we had become closer.

I still couldn’t bring myself to drop the honorifics with Nidel-dono though. In my mind, Nidel-dono was someone with a higher position than me.

We enjoyed our conversation in a genial manner and drank wine. Nidel-dono did not seem to be someone who held his liquor well, as a faint flush appeared on his skin halfway through the first glass.

Nidel-dono, who was sitting on the bed, called out my name and patted on the spot on the bed beside him. I gave a wry smile, got up from my chair, and sat there.

Once I did so, Nidel-dono placed his head on my lap. While this has happened numerous times by now, I still felt embarrassed. Perhaps it was vestiges from his time as a cat, but Nidel-dono seemed to have caught fancy of my lap, and often asked for a lap pillow, especially when drunk.

I thought a woman’s lap would be better. I wondered whether there’s anything comfortable about a man’s stiff lap, but I did not mind giving a lap pillow to Nidel-dono.

I too, couldn’t let go of my feelings from when he was a cat. For instance, if a colleague from the Knight Order asked for a lap pillow, I’d politely refuse him, but I felt no sense of rejection towards Nidel-dono. Nidel-dono’s body itself being slender and his gestures having a cat-like atmosphere might be the cause.

Even in his human form, I felt like I was taking care of a cat.

When I, out of habit, petted the black hair scattered on my lap, Nidel-dono squinted his eyes. His figure reminded me of a cat squinting its eyes in satisfaction due to being petted well. If others saw it they’d wonder what two men, both of considerable age, were doing. They might even doubt our relationship. However, in my relationship with him I didn’t believe there was anything quite strange.

Within the amicability I held towards Nidel-dono, it wasn’t out of place to take care of his human form like a cat.

While one hand petted his head, another was caught by Nidel-dono, who’d already laid down. Nidel-dono’s fingers traced my hand as if to make sure I was present. Even when we were guarding the prince, Nidel-dono, in his cat form, often licked my hand. Come to think of it, at that time, I was not the only one who doted on Nidel-dono, Nidel-dono also frolicked with me.

Thanks to the black cat Nidel-dono, my life as a guard was quite heartwarming, but frolicking about with Nidel-dono like this, frankly speaking, was even more ticklishly heartwarming than when he was a cat.

The feelings of affection I held towards Nidel-dono were surely more than what ordinary friends had. But I felt that the affection Nidel-dono held towards me was far greater than mine.

I’m too was not that imperceptive of a man. I knew the meaning of the feelings Nidel-dono showed me.

It didn’t give me the slightest discomfort. I knew that I was endowed with both status and looks, and it was thanks to that that I’d received favour from various people up until now. However, to be loved by Nidel-dono, who was good at calmly judging people’s character, was a mysterious feeling, and despite us being both men, it made me happy. Why like a boring man like me? I wondered.

However, if you asked me whether I held the same feelings as Nidel-dono, the answer would be no. The feelings I held towards him, despite being something a bit more, were basically those of friendship.

But I had no intentions of pushing Nidel-dono aside. To be friends with him was a extremely joyful thing for me, as someone who hardly ever let my guard down around others.

Nidel-dono, who was touching my hand, grabbed my shirt near my chest and pulled me towards him. I did not resist and bent my body towards him. When I did that, Nidel-dono, who had raised his body up, brushed his lips against my cheek. I accepted it. For me, touching Nidel-dono and frolicking about with him, was within the limits of friendship.

I met Nidel-dono’s pitch-black eyes at point blank range. Nidel-dono didn’t turn them into weapons, but I thought he was nevertheless handsome. If he’d been in the Royal Palace Magic Order and had been trained more properly, he’d have got a position of his own and would have certainly gotten along well with the members of the Knight Order. I thought so, looking at his way of handling people and his judgement.

But I felt that being a member of the Technological Order suited him as well.

While I locked eyes with Nidel-dono, his hands brushed my head and patted me multiple times. It’s been a long time since I’ve been patted by a person, I thought.

「Touch me in many ways, just like when I was a cat.」

Nidel-dono stared at me with eyes that were slightly moist due to the alcohol and opened his mouth in a whisper.

「Nidel-dono, such words will lead to misunderstandings.」

「I’m inviting you.」

When I subconsciously returned to using polite speech, Nidel-dono gave a sly grin. That’s right, I was being invited, I realised.

「When one drinks, such feelings do arise.」

「…Well, that is true」

「Even the serious Squad Commander-dono feels it, I see.」

Perhaps my affirmation was unexpected, but Nidel-dono opened his eyes wide and laughed mirthfully. I didn’t know what kind of person Nidel-dono thought of me as, but I didn’t think I was a person with that great integrity. Especially in regards to relations between men and women, people who were acquainted with me would often be astonished, saying 「You sure get swept away at once when you’re invited.」 「Indecisiveness and kindness are different things.」was another thing I was often told. I was careful, though, because I was in a position that carried responsibility.

While looking at Nidel-dono, I wondered whether to accept or reject his invitation. It wasn’t as if Nidel-dono’s gender was a problem. When I was young, I’d slept with a man on request, so there was no confusion there. Though not public, same-sex relationships in this country weren’t uncommon.

While I was going in circles, thinking of various things like If I reject the invitation, it’ll become awkward with Nidel-dono, seeing Nidel-dono’s slender nape and his slightly flushed face due to the alcohol, I thought that anything was fine.

I was also a man. If there was a meal set in front of me, Well let’s eat it for now, was what I’d think. I liked petting a Nidel-dono’s hair too, and I wanted to pet his body just like when he was a cat.

「Then, I won’t hold back.」

When I, after reaching a conclusion, said that, Nidel-dono, after making a slightly surprised expression, grinned.

*

*

*

[R-15 Alert!]

I held Nidel-dono, who was sitting on one corner of the bed in my arms, and pushed him down onto the middle of the bed. Nidel-dono quietly watched what I was doing with amused eyes.

I undid the clasp of the black robe he always wore, and put my hand inside it. When clad in the robe, his figure wasn’t easily discernible, but as I’d thought, when I actually felt him, Nidel-dono was slender.

*

*

「You’re thin…」

While muttering subconsciously, I slipped my hand under his clothes. The bare skin I touched with my hands was smooth. His skin felt like it didn’t belong to a man the same age as me, and reminded me again of his fur when he was a cat. It didn’t lose in smoothness.

「…Legato, put out the lights.」

Once told by Nidel-dono, who was lying face up on the bed, I left the bed for a moment, and made the room slightly darker. I also brought the lube and other things. I didn’t know if we were going to do it till the end, but there was no trouble in being prepared.

「You’re completely prepared, huh.」

Nidel-dono, who was sprawled on the bed, noticed me and chuckled. Taking off my coat, I once again leaned over that slender body.

「Legato is experienced in such matters, huh.」

「I wonder…It’s been a long time now.」

That’s right, the fact that it’d been a while was also one of the reasons I’d accepted Nidel-dono’s invitation. Since it’d been a long time, I wanted to do it.

I took off Nidel-dono’s robe and clothes. He obediently yielded to my hand. I thought I would get tense due to the guilt of laying my hands on a friend, but as expected, I held a relaxed attitude towards Nidel-dono, calming me down.

Nidel-dono, now completely exposed, had a beautiful body with good proportions. So much that I felt it was a waste for it to be hidden by the robe. Perhaps it was the robe or perhaps due to being holed up the tower, but his skin was pale.

Nidel-dono’s figure fuelled my excitement. I’d thought there was the possibility that I wouldn’t be inclined to it, but now the first hurdle had been crossed.

Just like when I was cuddling him as a cat, I petted Nidel-dono’s whole body with my hands. The soft and comfortable feeling of touching him was identical to that of a cat. Nidel-dono’s pulse was transmitted through his skin. Nidel-dono squinting his eyes and lightly stirring reminded me of a cat yet again.

However, what the figure radiated wasn’t cuteness, but seductiveness.

Seeing Nidel-dono’s figure, I realized that he too was a person who possessed sex appeal.

I caressed his skin with the palm of my hand and stimulated the two projections on his chest. I rubbed them with my thumbs, and as I stimulated them further whilst kneading them, Nidel-dono’s breaths became shallower. He wrapped his legs around me, as if to excite me as I nested between his legs. I licked his collarbone. Licking didn’t feel bad.

I brought the hand that was playing with his chest further down, grabbed his buttocks, and while taking care not to use too much force, kneaded them. I sucked with my lips everywhere on the upper half of his body. When I licked his sides, a muffled gasp came from above, and his legs were thrown into chaos, colliding against my body.

His reactions weren’t half bad. The thing within my underpants became hotter. While continuing to knead his buttocks, I decided to do him till the end. I wanted to try putting my thing inside that slender body, no matter what.