After that strange conversation with Hexael, it only took 15 minutes for me to reach Ayane's house, luckily my heart calmed down after that, although I really don't understand why I felt weird about Hexael's words.
As soon as I go to knock on Ayane's door, she appears, I think she was already expecting me to show up here to be so quick.
"Setsuna, you came fast! Great, I'm already fully ready, I couldn't even make dinner because I was too excited for this! We have to go now so I can register at the base!" Ayane says with a big smile.
"Sure, let's go right now, but you should take care of your diet, no skipping meals to go fight evil!" I tell her, and she nods.
"I know, I was just too excited to think about that at the moment, but I won't be doing that anymore, and I'm not even hungry now."
"If that's the case, then it's all good, let's go," I say as Ayane excitedly heads towards the base, but I stop her, wanting to try something, although it may be bold.
"Ayane, not like that, I have a faster method," I tell her as she comes back.
"Faster?" She questions, and I nod.
"Yes, we can jump between the buildings, it's the most efficient form of transportation if you only consider physical abilities," Ayane can fly using her barriers, but she doesn't know how to do that yet.
"B-But isn't that dangerous, Setsuna?" Ayane asks, a bit nervous.
'She still doesn't know how to do that...' I think of a way to take her there safely.
"Do you want me to carry you?... just until we get there, and that way you can see how it's done, and then you can practice, like real magical girls, even if we fall from the buildings, it barely hurts," I say, a bit nervous.
"Plus, after trying a few times, you'll quickly get the hang of it and see that it's really fun to do this."
I may be rushing this a bit, but fortunately, Ayane nods, as she also seems excited.
"I never thought of doing that... but it could be fun! See to learn, right?" She speaks with a shy smile.
"Yes... see to learn..." It's a good catchphrase, but it literally means to see, copy, and replicate if taken in the most literal sense of the phrase.
With that, we both walk a bit, getting closer to the area of buildings as I guide her to a good alley to climb up.
"Okay... I'll teach you how to climb up first," I approach Ayane and put my hands behind her legs, moving her body and placing my hands on her back, near her neck, carrying her like a princess.
"Now that I think about it, this is kind of embarrassing," She speaks a bit flushed, while I take a deep breath and carry her to the nearest building, as we are already in our costumes, so we don't have to wait.
"This is how you should do it to climb up, Ayane, first look at the wall to see if there are no balconies, stairs, or things you might hit while climbing," I say, seeing the empty wall, perfect for this.
"Then with that, you have to jump from one wall to the other, taking advantage of the momentum to climb up, just like this," I say, jumping from one side of the wall to the other as I climb.
She seems momentarily frightened by the sudden climb and movement, but looks at everything attentively.
"Always be careful when stepping on the other wall, not to slip or use too much force and end up breaking the wall and falling," I give her advice, which she nods shyly.
"And there, that's how you can climb up to the top of the building carefully and safely, and from up here, you just need to run and jump from one building to the other, carefully," I say, starting to run and jump across the street from one building to the next.
"W-Wow, that's kind of fun and kind of scary, but I like it, it's very peaceful here," Ayane speaks excitedly after looking down during the jump, I keep running and taking her with me, I knew she would accept it.
Because she always liked to be carried like this by me and her family in the past, there's something about it that makes her feel more special and cherished, even though I'm a new friend, she fortunately accepted it, albeit timidly.
She takes the opportunity to look at the view, not paying much attention to me, I'd like a little of her attention, but I guess it's fine like this.
'...' I look at her, who looks at the city as we jump between the buildings, she seems sad and nostalgic, probably remembering something from her family.
'Tsk... if I were with her...' This is one of the downsides of not knowing her well, I can't give her the attention and words she needs right now, she must feel lonely without her parents.
"You seem sad..." I say to her, catching her attention.
"A-Ah, it's nothing... I just remembered my mom a bit, look, it seems we're just one block away," She changes the subject, we were so distracted that we barely noticed the passage of time.
"Okay," I just confirm, placing her on the roof of the building.
"You can jump down from here carefully, and you won't get hurt, just try to aim for the ground with caution, to see if there's nothing underneath, and try to land as if you were continuing your steps forward," I tell her how to descend.
Climbing buildings and jumping from them will be of great help to her in the future, it's good that she already learns to do this.
"Setsuna, thank you... I needed that," Ayane just murmurs, referring to being carried, as she jumps off the building carefully.
'...' This accelerates my heart a bit, I'm glad I was able to help her, even if just a little.
"It was nothing..." I murmur, jumping off the building down there as well, it seems she feels more lonely than I thought, if she let me carry her just to receive a hug.
"Hey, Setsuna, look! There are other teams!" Ayane speaks, already regaining her usual excitement as some teams of magical girls come out of the building.
"Yes, I see..." I wonder who the extra member of our team will be, unfortunately, just me and Ayane together wouldn't be a good idea, since neither of us is a very good direct fighter, and I won't be able to reveal two of the weapons I have.
'Well... I believe that Ophelia or whoever chooses the teams will choose something good,' I think as I go to the entrance of the base, where Ayane is already enthusiastically greeting the magical girls, who greet her back with a smile on their faces.
...
...
...
"Miss Ophelia... are you busy?" I hear a voice through the communicator I usually leave active on the desk.
"You can speak, I'm just painting a picture," I say, painting the lines of Setsuna's chest in the painting, I think this one is turning out well.
'I wonder if it should be a very pink tone or maybe a paler tone like her hair,' I think, doubting whether I should add a more opaque tone to the painting.
"Miss Ophelia, Setsuna has arrived with Ayane, who wishes to register and then join a team," my secretary says.
"Hmm... have them come to me," I had said that if Setsuna came for something like this, she should be sent to my office.
'I think I'll put my secretary with her...' My secretary is quite strong and would kill for me if I asked.
"Alright, Miss Ophelia," my assistant says as I adjust the support of the painting and pull it a little further away, from this angle they'll only see something if they come behind my back or get too close to the desk.
I continue painting my picture, but I don't like the result, I've never seen Setsuna naked, so it's hard to say what tone suits her best, this is the third painting I've done and I can't find the perfect tone.
'Maybe using a light salmon pink would be a good idea.' I'll need to ask for that paint later, but now I hear the sound of the elevator, it seems they've arrived, I switch to a softer brush as they knock on the door.
"Come in," I say to them as I take a better look at the painting, only half of it is done, so there's only the upper half of Setsuna's body, but since Setsuna came back here, I can take a better look at her.
"Good evening to both of you," I say as they greet me equally, Ayane seems excited while holding some papers and a pen, while Setsuna has that captivating apathetic look.
"You can sit down, don't mind me too much, I'm busy painting this picture and I can't stop now, as the paint used would be horrible if I took too long to complete it," I tell them, and they just accept the excuse.
It's a fact, stopping this painting now that I have the perfect model right in front of me would be an insult to art.
"Okay, you can finish, Ophelia, I still need to sign these papers and it will take a while," Ayane says excitedly, while Setsuna just agrees.
"Great, I heard from the secretary what you want, so I'll think about the team for you, I believe it would be good to put you two together and a more experienced veteran to guide you," I say, which makes Setsuna agree with me.
Ayane soon begins to sign the papers while Setsuna stares at me, I take the opportunity to memorize more of her body, especially her facial expressions and her gaze at me.
'I knew it, it's salmon pink.' I'm using a pastel pink, but that's not it, the pastel pink will never be able to achieve the perfect result.
'Matte white and opaque black.' I memorize two more colors to ask my secretary to deliver to me later, while I turn my attention back to the painting.
I wonder what Setsuna's reaction would be if she saw me painting a picture of her, with her completely naked in the painting, unfortunately, I'm an artist who doesn't like to exhibit personal art, so no one other than me will appreciate these paintings.
"Setsuna, could you do me a small favor? I'm painting a model based on my imagination and memories, but it's a bit difficult without a reference," I say to her without telling her who the "model" I chose for the painting is.
"...Could you stand still in that corner over there so I can have a good reference? I believe Ayane will take a little while to sign the papers and she will need total silence," I say, looking at Setsuna, who briefly looks at Ayane and agrees.
"Okay." She goes to the corner I mentioned, giving me a privileged view of her body.
"Could you take off your coat? It's quite thick and hides a lot of the body anatomy, especially your arms and torso," My speech is extremely professional, and she doesn't suspect anything as she takes off her coat.
Unlike others who can't hide their lust and perversion, for me this is extremely easy because I have a finely crafted mask for it since my childhood.
And this mask has only gotten better with each passing day, currently only Septarion has seen through my mask, and that's because he has a slight elevated perception of feelings that is still quite low, only letting him see traces.
And when he discovered mine, I stopped hiding them in his presence, which made him discover more and more of my personality and hobby.
'Hmm, her body has the most perfect curves I've ever seen.' Neither too exaggerated nor too little, it's simply perfect, her breasts also seem great in that white dress.
They are large, but again, nothing exaggerated, like two perfectly ripe fruits ready to be picked.
'I think I understand how to replicate this in the painting.'
"Thank you very much, Setsuna, this was very educational, you are an excellent model," I compliment and thank her with a sweet and gentle smile, while I focus on my painting.
And so, the three of us remain silent, only with the sound of the pen on paper and the brush on my painting.