"What do you mean you don't have a room available?" Mimi asked angrily, putting her hands on her hips as she glared at Filly.

"I-I mean...we don't have a room available." Filly said, her voice dropping to a worried whisper at the end.

"The king of Arls himself asked me to come here! Am I supposed to just sleep in a barn?" Mimi asked, her voice getting louder despite her desire to stay calm.

Filly gave a nervous laugh at the question, which only made Mimi angrier. Her eyes flashed as she opened her mouth to unleash a torrent of abuse that this lazy Filly Dee so obviously deserved, but her warrior's sense told her that someone had come up behind her. Mimi glanced over her shoulder, expecting some random bumpkin, and instantly swallowed what she was going to say when she saw that it was Totori.

"Hi, Mimi. Is something wrong?" Totori asked casually, looking back and forth between her and Filly.

"No. I mean, yes. This receptionist is telling me that all the rooms here are full." Mimi said, trying to regain her composure in front of Totori.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. You can stay with me if you want." Totori offered brightly.

"W-With you?" Mimi asked, her eyes widening.

"Sure." Totori said, reaching out to take Mimi's hand.

The feel of Totori's hand on hers made Mimi's stomach flutter. For a moment, Mimi's natural impulse to pull her hand away and say something ill-tempered rose within her, and it was only with considerable effort that she managed to tamp down on it. She was beyond those childish impulses. Or would be someday, and in the meantime, Mimi would force herself not to act like that.

"W-Well, maybe for a day or two. Until I find other accommodations." Mimi said, trying to sound as if she was as comfortable as Totori seemed to be with the idea.

Totori smiled and led Mimi out of the Adventurer's Guild, still holding her hand. The feeling of Totori's hand was occupying Mimi's entire focus, and even with her normally keen senses, she missed hearing Filly's satisfied sigh as she watched them walk out of the Guild.

They held hands all the way to Totori's workshop. As much as Mimi enjoyed holding hands with Totori, and she, in fact, enjoyed it very much, Mimi couldn't help but blush at the looks she had noticed they were getting. Most of the people of Arls were quite nice, and most of the looks they gave consisted of friendly and knowing smiles. They almost certainly assumed that Totori and Mimi were a couple.

A couple. Mimi had only recently begun to admit to herself that that was exactly what she wanted. For years, Mimi had told herself that she just wanted to be friends with Totori, or rivals, or something along those lines. The fact that she had laid awake in bed many nights, unable to get thoughts of Totori out of her head, was normal, wasn't it? Friends thought about each other like that. Didn't they? Mimi really didn't have any other friends to compare the situation with, and didn't dare confide in anyone, lest they tease her about it. Or tell Totori.

That was something Mimi was, quite honestly, terrified of doing. She'd rather face any number of dragons and krakens than admit, out loud, that she was in love with Totori. But she could never say it. Totori didn't think of Mimi that way, and if Mimi said what she felt, it would completely wreck their friendship. The idea that future interactions between them would consist of awkward silences and looking away from each other was something that Mimi couldn't possibly face. It was better this way. At least Mimi got to hold Totori's hand sometimes.

"Mimi, are you okay?" Totori asked curiously, looking at Mimi with a touch of concern.

"O-Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?" Mimi asked, unable to keep a note of her old defensiveness out of her voice.

"No reason." Totori said quickly, adopting the slightly soothing tone she used when Mimi's temper showed.

Totori opened the door to her workshop and let go of Mimi's hand. Mimi did her best to pretend that it was nothing, but her hand already felt empty.

Mimi sat at the wooden table next the cauldrons. Totori was putting the finishing touches on their dinner, which seemed to be wild mushrooms. Mimi wished she could help, but cooking was a completely foreign skill to her. And an unfortunate prior experience had made her wary of going near an alchemy cauldron.

It seemed strange to Mimi that a cauldron could make edible food, but she had learned to trust that Totori knew what she was doing. In very little time, Totori set two plates down on the table. Mimi looked down at the plate in front of her and saw that it was mushroom stew set over rice. She picked up her spoon and started to eat.

"How is it?" Totori asked, picking up a spoon as well.

"Really good! I'm impressed." Mimi said, biting into a mushroom.

"I'm relieved. I've never actually cooked with these mushrooms before. But Meruru said I should save these particular ones for you. I'm not sure why." Totori said, cocking her head to the side ever so slightly.

Mimi looked at Totori quizzically but continued eating. Meruru was an expert on mushrooms that could be found in Arls and Mimi had no reason to think that Meruru had any ill will toward her. Maybe she thought these mushrooms were best served to those with aristocratic palates, like Mimi. They did taste very good. In fact, they gave Mimi a warm and pleasant feeling of contentment.

"This is delicious. But I'd love to eat anything you've cooked, Totori." Mimi said with a smile.

Wait. Was that too much? Why did Mimi say something like that? She had been thinking it, sure. But that was the kind of thought that Mimi always kept to herself, and for some reason, it had come out of her mouth easily. Mimi didn't feel the near-panic she sometimes did when thought she had made a fool out of herself in front of Totori, however. Why was that?

"Thank you!" Totori said, beaming back.

Mimi blushed a bit but continued to eat. It seemed like she couldn't get enough of the mushrooms in front of her.

"I was so happy to hear that you came to Arls, Mimi. Meruru needs all the strong adventurers she can find." Totori said seriously.

"I didn't come here for her. I came here for you." Mimi answered automatically, seeing Totori's eyes widen slightly.

"You did?" Totori asked curiously.

"Of course! I hate it when we're not together." Mimi said with an honesty that shocked herself.

Totori's eyebrows climbed higher as she thought about what Mimi had said.

"I didn't know that, Mimi. Maybe I should have stayed in Arland..." Totori, frowning slightly.

"It's not your fault. I didn't say anything when I should have." Mimi said, continuing her surprising streak of honesty.

"But I should have paid more attention to how you felt. I'm sorry, Mimi." Totori said apologetically.

"It's okay. I'm glad we're together now." Mimi said, trying to make Totori feel a little better.

"I'm glad too." Totori said, smiling again.

That...could have gone worse. Mimi gave an inward sigh of relief that she hadn't said anything truly embarrassing. Why was she being so honest all of a sudden? Mimi hadn't felt like this before she started eating the mushrooms Totori had cooked. Did they have some kind of weird effect? Mimi looked down at her plate, wishing she had come to this realization earlier. She had already eaten every mushroom on her plate.

"Do you want to take a bath first, Mimi?" Totori asked, having also finished her food.

"Could we take a bath together?" Mimi asked, the question coming out her mouth automatically.

Totori blinked as Mimi went pale. Did she really just ask if they could take a bath together? Mimi hurriedly opened her mouth to say that it was a joke. But the words wouldn't come out. Try as she might, Mimi was unable to tell a lie right now. It wasn't a joke, and Mimi really did want to take a bath together with Totori.

"Sure! That sounds fun." Totori agreed, after a momentary pause.

Totori stood up from the table and bade Mimi to join her. Which Mimi did, a little unsteadily.

The bath chamber upstairs was a small room that contained a large, wide wooden barrel that was filled with water. A small, burning red orb sat at the bottom of the bathtub. Mimi didn't know what it was exactly, but it was easy to determine that it was the cause of the gentle wafts of steam rising from the water. Totori dipped a finger into the water, nodded, and grabbed a pair of metal tongs that were leaning against the wall. Mimi watched as Totori carefully used the tongs to remove the red orb, and then put it down on an open sack filled with sand. The sand cooled the orb quickly enough to cause it to turn to a dull orange.

"Amazing, isn't it? It heats up when it makes contact with water. It's perfect for baths!" Totori explained eagerly.

Mimi nodded along, trying to look as fascinated with Totori's alchemy exploits as Totori herself was. Totori then produced a small multicolored pod and dropped it into the water. Rainbow bubbles started to appear on the surface until the water was completely covered with them. That made Mimi feel a little better, at least. The bubbles would provide them both with a little bit of modesty. But before either of them got in, they had to take their clothes off. Totori turned so that she was facing away from Mimi.

"Would you mind unbuttoning my outfit? It's tough to reach sometimes." Totori asked, moving her light brown hair away from the buttons on the back of her outfit.

With her face becoming quite red, Mimi unbuttoned the back of Totori's multi-colored blue outfit. Mimi quickly noticed two things: That Totori did not wear a bra underneath her outfit, and that the smooth, unmarked skin on Totori's back showed no sign that she ever did. That image was going to be difficult for Mimi to forget. As soon as her task was done, Mimi wheeled around so that she did not see anything more than she had to.

From this direction, Mimi couldn't see anything, but that didn't stop her from hearing things. Like the soft sound of Totori's outfit falling to the floor or Totori taking off her blue boots. Mimi's imagination went into overdrive and she tried her best to distract herself by undressing quickly. This did stop her from imagining what was going on behind her, but it did nothing to lessen the blush in her cheeks.

Mimi probably should have taken her time more when it came to undressing. She had pulled off her red cape, purple tunic, lilac stockings and underwear with a bit too much haste. It meant that she had to stare awkwardly at the wall until Totori got into the bath. The bra Mimi had been wearing was an expensive lilac one that matched her stockings, but she wondered whether it was really necessary. She didn't need much support, and if Totori didn't bother to wear bras, maybe Mimi didn't have to either. The sound of Totori getting into the bath cut short her musings, but Mimi waited for a few seconds before glancing out of the corner of her eye to see that Totori was in the tub.

"Come on, the water feels really good." Totori said with a sigh, leaning back in the tub.

Mimi covered herself shyly with her hands as she stepped up to the edge of the bath. It might have been better to pretend to be fine with her nudity like Totori seemed to be, but Mimi was blushing enough as it was without exposing herself completely. Mimi dipped a toe into the water and found that it really was the perfect temperature. She stepped into the bath, sank down into the water and didn't stop until most of her body was safely concealed beneath the bubbles.

"Is the water too hot? Your face is really red." Totori asked with some concern.

"N-No, the water's fine." Mimi answered quickly.

Mimi would have really preferred a larger tub. Totori was only a few feet away from her on the other side of it. The bubbles helped, but Mimi's imagination was happy to fill in the blanks for her. She tried to think of something else, but every time their toes made contact beneath the water, it made Mimi focus on the fact that, yes, they were both naked in the same bathtub.

"Turn around. I'll wash your back." Totori said, fishing around for a washcloth beneath the bubbles.

Mimi gulped slightly before turning around. Totori found the washcloth before long, and Mimi braced herself not to jump when Totori first touched her with it. She succeeded only part of the way. Mimi's body didn't react, but her mouth was another story. Mimi let out a cute noise of surprise as soon as Totori started to move the washcloth over her back. Mimi instantly started to blush even more, if that was possible, but Totori only giggled slightly in response.

Mimi didn't realize how tense she was until her shoulders had begun to relax from the gentle movement of the washcloth. Totori moved it over her back, up to her shoulders and around her neck. This made Mimi sigh in deep satisfaction as she felt the tension leave her muscles. Totori, seeing how Mimi had responded, kept washing her. Totori washed all around Mimi's neck and even cleaned behind Mimi's ears. Totori then gently raised Mimi's arms above the water so she could wash them too. Mimi obliged, feeling happy for the first time that she had suggested this. Totori thoroughly washed Mimi's underarms, then moved to the rest of her arms. Totori paid special attention to Mimi's hands. A small amount of dirt would accumulate beneath Mimi's fingernails whenever she practiced with her halberd, and Mimi didn't always have the patience to get rid of it. But Totori did. She made certain that the nails on both of Mimi's hands were immaculate.

"All done! Unless you want me to keep going?" Totori asked, cocking her head slightly.

"P-Please. Keep going, I mean." Mimi said shakily.

Why was her mouth betraying her like this? Mimi had tried to clench her teeth together to prevent herself from answering Totori's question honestly, but it hadn't worked at all. Totori looked into Mimi's eyes for a brief moment, then smiled in the seemingly-innocent-but-not-really way that Totori did when she wanted to tease someone. Totori brought the washcloth back to Mimi's neck, then moved it forward so that she was washing Mimi's collarbone. Totori, ever so slowly, moved the washcloth down until she was washing the front of Mimi's chest. Mimi's nipples were as hard as diamonds at this point, and she was certain was about to let out an embarrassing noise as soon as Totori touched them.

"Ahh!~" Mimi gasped as soon as one of her nipples were brushed.

Totori giggled after hearing Mimi's cute gasp. She lingered for a while here, giving both of Mimi's nipples plenty of attention with the washcloth. Totori then leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on Mimi's cheek.

"You're so cute, Mimi." Totori said, smiling at Mimi's evident embarrassment.

After an extended period of time, Totori moved the washcloth lower. She scrubbed Mimi's belly thoroughly before moving the washcloth over to Mimi's bellybutton. Mimi couldn't help but wince as Totori used a finger to push the washcloth into her bellybutton and swirled it around, making it squeaky clean.

Totori moved the washcloth even lower, filling Mimi with a sense of panic. She opened her mouth to say that she was clean enough already, but the words wouldn't come out. As much as Mimi wanted to avoid the absolute embarrassment of having Totori wash her there, she had a deeper desire for Totori to do it. Totori paused for a few seconds, but as Mimi gave no sign that she wanted her to stop, she moved the washcloth lower.

"Ahhhh!" Mimi gave a loud moan as soon as Totori gave the barest brush to her pussy lips, the electrifying feeling there overwhelming her.

This did not cause Totori to hesitate. If anything, the sounds Mimi that was making only emboldened her. Mimi's face was scarlet as she let out increasingly embarrassing moans. Totori did an extremely thorough job of washing between Mimi's legs. She moved the washcloth over every centimeter there and paid extra special attention to the places that cause Mimi to moan louder.

Every time that Totori brushed the tiny nub between Mimi's legs, the feeling was indescribable. Mimi doubted she could have held in her moans even without the effect of the mushrooms, and that caused Totori to focus there. The feeling was building toward something that Mimi had never experienced before. It scared her a little bit, but judging from the fact that Mimi hadn't told Totori to stop, evidently, she wanted to find out what it was.

After 30 seconds of continuous rubbing, the electrifying feeling was starting to radiate outward from between Mimi's legs. A wave of heat that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water rolled through Mimi, and she was dimly aware of letting out several loud shrieks as it consumed her thoughts.

Eventually, the amazing feeling crested and began to recede. As it left her, it seemed like it was taking most of her strength with it. Mimi started to sink lower in the water and was very grateful when Totori quickly held her up.

"Mimi, are you okay?" Totori asked softly.

"Y-Yeah. I'm okay." Mimi answered, trying to clear her head.

Mimi's thoughts were clearing rapidly. Totori's face was only inches away from her. Her eyes were filled with both curiosity and concern for Mimi. At that moment, Mimi decided that she was going to kiss Totori. She wouldn't have a better chance. Mimi leaned forward and kissed Totori softly on the lips. Totori's eyes widened, but she quickly began to kiss Mimi back. It was a slow, hesitant kiss for both of them. But it was long overdue.

After the bath, Mimi allowed Totori to help dry her with only a modicum of embarrassment. Totori knew every inch of Mimi's body by now, after all, so what was the point of hiding anything? She was quite tired at this point and yawned more than once. Totori understood and left to get a nightgown for Mimi. She returned after a minute and pulled one of her old nightgowns over Mimi's head. It was rather small for Mimi, but she would just have to make due.

Mimi did make a vague offer to sleep on the sofa in the main room of the workshop, but Totori wouldn't hear of it. She simply took Mimi's hand once again and led her to the bed on the second floor that Totori slept in. Mimi might have balked at sleeping together with Totori, assuming the mushrooms would have allowed her, but she was so tired that she gratefully slid under the covers. After turning off the lamp on the bedside table, Totori joined her, and Mimi reflexively nestled closer to her.

"Good night, Mimi." Totori said quietly in the darkness.

"Good night, Totori." Mimi murmured.

Right before falling asleep, Mimi was struck by the desire to tell Totori she loved her. But judging from the fact that she managed to stay silent, the mushrooms no longer affected her. That was probably for the best. Mimi could take her time saying it.

Meruru yawned as she closed her eyes, appreciating the comforting presence of Keina beside her. She hoped that her plan had worked. It was a simple matter to tell Filly to deny Mimi a room at the Adventurer's Guild for the night. She had then told Totori that they were all out of Mandra Roots, meaning that her teacher had left the workshop to get more right around the time that Mimi would be trying to check into the Guild. Meruru spied them coming back to the workshop, hand in hand, and decided to make herself scarce for a day or two. The rest would be up to the truth-inducing mushrooms that Totori would hopefully cook for Mimi. Meruru's plan left a lot up to chance, but in her experience, love would find a way. Meruru yawned once more before drifting off to sleep.