endless path, infinite cosmos

chapter 171

By the time Vahn had arrived at the Babel Plaza, he was stuck on whether or not he should return home or go visit some of the other girls. It had been nearly a week since he had seen Tiona and Ais, but Vahn also wanted to make sure he was in a secure place for when he needed to return to the orb. Even just a few seconds would translate to several extra days for Eva, so Vahn didn't want to be late. Since it was already approaching 4 PM, Vahn decided it would be best to head home and then visit the other girls later.

After walking for another forty or so minutes, Vahn arrived back at his house and entered through the courtyard. When he opened the door, he came across Anubis and Tina, who had been waiting for him. Vahn had been curious, so as he approached he spread his domain out to see how quickly they could respond to his scent. He didn't know how they were able to detect him so easily since his scent shouldn't carry through walls when he isn't nearby.

By the time he had reached the side-path, Vahn had noticed the two separate from the other auras before rapidly making their way through the corridors to arrive in the foyer shortly before his arrival. As Vahn was genuinely curious, the moment he saw the two girls, he asked, "How are you able to react to my arrival so easily? Is it my scent?"

Anubis smiled at his question while Tina flushed a bit and hung her head down like she was embarrassed to answer the question. Vahn was even more curious by their reaction, but before he asked Anubis said, "It's pheromones. Master may not be aware of it himself, but you've been marked by several people. For chienthropes, our sense of smell is around fifty times stronger, while cat people are around thirty times stronger than humans. Unless you mask your scent, the moment you enter within a few hundred meters, we'll always be able to pick up your scent."

Vahn was curious, so he transformed into his Bih form and began smelling his own body. He immediately recognized a lemony fragrance that also smelled subtly like grass. Though he wasn't sure how he knew, he recognized the fragrance to belong to Chloe. However, other than his normal musk, Vahn couldn't smell anything else. Anubis laughed at his actions as she explained, "Males are naturally more receptive to female scents, while females are actually receptive to both male and female pheromones." As she spoke, she leaned forward and sniffed slightly before saying, "I can smell Chloe's scent on you, as well as a few subtle fragrances from other people."

Tina nodded her head and continued, "Yes, you have a very strong scent of Chloe. You must have done something bad~nya..." As she spoke, Tina gave Vahn a 'stern' look with her cute little face. Vahn felt like he was about to be lectured, so he quickly explained the situation to the two girls. Hearing that Vahn had approached her and that they were both in private, Tina ended up letting him off with just a mild reprimand. She told him that, even if he was in 'private', it was still in a public venue where anything could have happened.

After their short discussion, Vahn excused himself to his bedroom to 'change' into something more comfortable for the rest of the evening. He asked the girls to make sure everyone had a bath and that they should have an earlier dinner compared to the last week. Anubis nodded her head in response, but Tina followed him to the room. Fortunately, instead of entering with him, she stood outside and waited for him to change his clothing. He still had around two minutes before he had to enter the orb, so Vahn quickly changed his clothing before laying down on the bed and pulling out the orb. The moment the timer approached zero, Vahn immediately inserted his consciousness into the orb.

Eva had been waiting on the bed next to where she knew he would appear. The moment his body materialized, she immediately took her favorite spot on his stomach and kissed him on the lips without saying anything. Vahn was mildly surprised, but her actions weren't outside of his expectations so he just reciprocated her affectionate display. Though it might have seemed 'sudden', it was, in fact, her reuniting with him after nearly being apart for four years. Every time he returned, she had an increasing amount of passion when she embraced his body to alleviate the feelings of loneliness that had accumulated since his last visit.