Instead of feeling awkward after being caught, the three of them only seemed unusually calm.
Tamamo looked at Kuro with half-lidded eyes, her fox tails moving slowly beneath the blanket like foxfire dancing in the dark.
"Ara ara~" she murmured softly. "i was only making sure Master wouldn't freeze alone tonight."
Her smile was gentle.
Far too gentle.
Like blue fire that appeared warm, yet silently melted even the hardest layer of ice without making a sound.
On the other side, Osakabehime immediately lowered her face slightly, though her ears had already turned red.
"W-Wait, don't make me sound like the main culprit here!" she protested quickly. "Hime only joined because they said it was… a strategy to maintain body temperature!"
Yet the more she spoke, the quieter her voice became.
Her fingers fidgeted restlessly beneath the blanket, like a shy little serpent that originally only wanted to hide behind a branch, only to end up coiling far too deeply around it.
Kama let out a soft giggle at her reaction.
"Even though Osakabehime-san was the one who didn't want to stop earlier."
"Ka-Kama!!"
Tiny traces of foxfire seemed to flicker around Tamamo as she laughed quietly.
"Fufu~ when you think about it, Master really is too calm," Tamamo said. "So we simply wanted to see… whether that ice could truly melt."
Kuro gently rubbed his temple.
"…Do the three of you realize it's already past midnight?"
"That's exactly why it's past midnight," Kama replied lightly.
She leaned a little closer, her faint smile relaxed like a serpent comfortably coiled around its favorite branch.
"Isn't the deepest part of the night the perfect time for fire to look its warmest and most beautiful?"
The room fell silent again.
Only soft breathing and lingering warmth drifted through the dark air of the bedroom.
Kuro looked at them one by one before letting out another long sigh.
"…I'm starting to think room confinement wasn't an effective punishment for you after all, Kama."
Kama's smile only grew sweeter.
And somehow, that made her feel far more dangerous.
The silence after that should have marked the end of their conversation.
Yet strangely enough, beneath the cramped blanket, the atmosphere only grew warmer.
Within the dim darkness of the room, the three girls remained close to him, their warmth slowly blending together like small flames touching in the middle of winter—gentle and calm, yet warm enough to slowly melt even the hardest ice.
Kuro could already tell this night would not end peacefully.
The next second, his brow twitched faintly as he felt a limit that was becoming increasingly difficult to endure.
Kama, seated in the middle, noticed immediately.
Moving lazily like a serpent slithering along its favorite branch, she shifted closer, allowing that fragile boundary to collapse little by little until, something resembling a warm stream of fox fire finally found its way toward its first source.
Tamamo and Osakabehime both fell silent.
They allowed Kama to receive that warmth first, holding it carefully like a small flame protected from the cold night air.
Once the flow subsided, Kama's smile turned playful.
She pulled slightly away from Kuro before glancing toward Osakabehime.
Then moved closer.
Osakabehime jolted softly, her eyes widening for a brief moment.
"Mmmghrg... hmm... hnnn..."
The thin boundary between them disappeared alongside their mingling breaths, while the fox fire Kama had gathered slowly flowed toward its next source.
Osakabehime trembled faintly.
"Glup... glup..."
Her eyes gradually became half-lidded, as though allowing that fox fire to melt the layer of ice she had been desperately maintaining until now.
"Hmmm... nnn... lick... hhha... slurp..."
Meanwhile, Tamamo once again moved lazily like a serpent enjoying its favorite branch, sliding up and down in a calm yet almost intoxicating rhythm, seemingly searching for the most comfortable position amidst the growing embers.
As for Kuro, he merely stared flatly at the three women.
Especially Kama and Osakabehime.
He stayed silent for several seconds before finally letting out a long sigh.
"...You three are getting along far too well for people who only just met."
His tone remained flat.
Yet his eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing Kama's victorious smile.
"Kama."
"Hm...?"
"Stop treating my warm fluid like a toy you can pass around however you want."
Kama did not answer immediately.
Only after she slowly pulled away from Osakabehime, leaving behind a faint thread of warm breath between them, did the corner of her lips curl into a mischievous smile.
"Heh... but isn't it only natural for fire to spread once the ice starts melting?"
Tamamo merely narrowed her eyes in amusement, her shoulders trembling faintly as though she were trying to hold back a laugh.
Meanwhile, Osakabehime immediately turned her face away, clearly far too embarrassed to respond.
Eventually, Kuro pulled the blanket away and let it fall onto the floor, finding it more distracting than comforting at this point.
Not long after, Tamamo slowly pulled her face away before moving forward again, just as Kuro rose from the sheets and sat upright.
Now, Tamamo was extremely close in front of him.
Almost at the same moment, the other two girls moved closer as well.
Kama settled on his right side, while Osakabehime remained on his left.
Their warm breaths brushed against the skin of Kuro's neck, followed by soft little bites that felt like lazy serpents toying with their prey without any intention of letting it escape.
At the same time, Tamamo began moving once more.
Her movements were slow.
Almost monotonous.
Yet that calm rhythm was precisely what made it dangerous, like a small flame quietly burning away and slowly melting layers of ice little by little without giving anyone the chance to pull away.
The fox fire surrounding them gradually intensified.
Its warmth blended together with their soft breaths in the dim darkness of the room, making the air feel heavier and increasingly intoxicating.
"Ugh..." Kuro's voice caught faintly at the edge of his breath. "Three... at once... this feels way too excessive..."
A brief pause followed.
Kuro closed his eyes for a moment before leaning back weakly once more.
"And here I was... not even planning to deal with two flames at the same time tonight... ugh... plans really do melt away halfway through..."
Kama was the first to react.
She slowly lifted her face from Kuro's neck, her half-lidded eyes filled with amusement, like a serpent watching its prey gradually lose direction as the venom began working a little too well.
"Eh~? But isn't this Master-san's own fault?"
Her fingertips moved lazily across his chest, almost like a small serpent coiling itself comfortably around a warm tree branch.
"If you let three flames gather together in such a cramped place from the start... then naturally the heat becomes difficult to control."
On the other side, Tamamo let out a soft laugh.
It wasn't a loud laugh, but a gentle sound that almost melted together with the warm foxfire surrounding them.
"Fufu... but I'm... hgah... actually... ahhh.... quite... hnn... surprised, you... know?"
Her movements never stopped.
That calm rhythm only became smoother and steadier, as though she were deliberately keeping the embers alive without giving Kuro any chance to properly calm himself down.
"And here I thought... haah... someone looked so confident... ah... dealing with... a single fox fire... hngg... before."
Tamamo's tails swayed lazily behind her.
"Who... hhh... would've thought three... hngg... at once would... haah... make the ice crack this... quickly?"
On Kuro's left side, Osakabehime immediately turned her face away the moment she heard their conversation.
Yet unlike before, she did not actually move away.
Instead, she remained close to Kuro's neck, her warm breath still brushing against his skin from a distance far too intimate.
"W-Wait... don't say it like that..."
Her voice trembled with embarrassment.
"It makes it sound like we're actually preying on someone..."
Kama immediately let out a soft laugh at that.
"Isn't that exactly what's been happening this whole time?"
Osakabehime jolted.
Her face flushed even deeper while the fox fire surrounding them flickered faintly, as though reacting to her embarrassment as well.
Meanwhile, Kuro simply rubbed his temple slowly.
"…I'm starting to feel like this room has turned into a serpent's nest."
______
Author's note:
How was it? Did you like it, guys? 😏
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