The Bond That Even Gods Cannot Break

"Ms. Cosmos!"

Sophia's desperate voice didn't reach the other girl. Melissa was unconscious while continuing to bleed; her body had not sunk because it was held by the handclasp. Quickly, Sophia grabbed her with both arms and swam with all her might to the elevated and dry ground.

The place was not necessarily poorly lit; like on the upper floor, there were some fluorescent lanterns, but these were the size of small apples. The fear of more giant insects coming out of the fruits existed, but there was no time for that now.

Supporting Melissa's head on a bunch of moss, Sophia began to check her condition. Her right and left arms had vertical cuts, and the school uniform beneath the girl was partially torn. Her head had a slight bump on the nape, likely acquired during the fall.

Terrified, Sophia checked the status, and her vision paled.

"20 points of... HP?"

The points that she began to recognize as the representation of their lives continued to slowly decrease.

Brushing the wet brown hair from her face, she put her ear over Melissa's airways, immediately realizing that she wasn't breathing. The fall into the river while unconscious probably caused her to swallow water.

In seconds, Sophia placed her open right hand over the chest line and used the still-clasped hand to press up and down at a steady pace.

"You idiot, don't you dare die again and leave me behind!!"

She desperately pounded on the girl's chest. In a few seconds, Melissa began to spit out water. She had started breathing again.

"Ms. Cosmos!" Sophia shouted, but Melissa still didn't respond; the girl was still unconscious.

Looking at the status window, Sophia paled even more when she noticed that the HP continued to decrease. Her blue eyes focused on Melissa's wounds; unless treated, the blood loss would quickly kill her.

Her panicked mind began searching for a solution, tears continued to stream down her face. She didn't want to lose Melissa; she refused to lose Melissa. 

First, she thought about stopping the bleeding, but her only hand scarf was lost during the fall. Her clothes could be torn into an improvised tourniquet, but she doubted she would have the strength for that when the fabric was wet. 

"What do I do? What do I do?" Her voice was lost among her sobs; tears and the lake's water had already smudged her simple makeup.

When the HP finally reached a tenth of the original, one last idea appeared in Sophia's mind. Her mind focused on the status window, more specifically, on the skill window of her class.

---

Lover's Comfort.

A mouth-to-mouth kiss from your lover will grant an HP boost. A full one-minute kiss will recover 10 HP. The intensity of the kiss may influence the speed of healing.

---

Reading the description, Sophia knew it was her only choice. Everything the system promised so far had been fulfilled, from the increased agility experienced by Melissa to a dangerous forest from another world.

With no time to blush with embarrassment, Sophia brought her face close to Melissa's. She had never done this before, but she knew she needed to do it now.

Her soft lips slowly touched Melissa's. The almost experimental touch was quick and shy. This was her first kiss.

Sophia felt her cheeks warm, but knowing it wasn't enough, she continued. The bodies of the two girls were cold due to the icy water of the lake, so she held Melissa's back and pulled the girl onto her modest chest in a tight embrace. Both her and the girl's lips were losing their rosy hue and turning into a pale blue.

Without further ado, she touched Melissa's lips again, her mouth moving in vertical motions as she explored her soft lips. As their lips met, Sophia could feel as if her brain was melting; the sweet and unfamiliar sensation she had never experienced sent shivers down her spine.

Sophia could feel the core of her body warming up, and she hugged Melissa even tighter. After a minute, just as the description indicated, she saw a jump from 8 HP to 18 HP. Looking at Melissa's body, she could see some of the smaller wounds closing in turns in a mysterious pinkish aura.

She needed to keep going. This time, following the description of intensity, Sophia realized she had to go further. She wasn't ignorant about romances, so she knew what 'intensity' meant in this case. Blushing slowly, she forced her tongue into Melissa's mouth.

Even in this situation, the breath of the girl in front of her was sweet. No, not only that, somehow even the saliva in her mouth was as sweet as honey in Sophia's mind. With bold movements she continued to explore the inside of Melissa's mouth. Her body diluted with pleasure gave herself completely to the task, almost in a trance.

As they were both soaked, wet sounds escaped from the movement on the stone floor. However, at this point it was impossible to differentiate whether the sound was coming from the water dripping from her clothes or from her sealed lips.

As Melissa's tongue had no resistance, Sophia could trace it completely, up, down or at any other angle she wants. Sophia's tongue devoured Melissa's insides and fed on her sweet saliva.

How many minutes had passed? Her eyes, which were open the entire time, just watched Melissa's beautiful face regain its color while the pink aura covered her entire body. Slowly the blood that covered her disappeared and her appearance gradually improved.

Sophia's grip on Melissa's body against hers became tighter and tighter as the kiss intensified.

“Eeek...?” After a long time, Melissa's amber eyes slowly opened and she moaned in confusion. Her vision was very blurry and she could see almost nothing but a beautiful silver haze.

When she regained her consciousness, she began to be assaulted with strange sensations invading her brain. What was that sweet feeling? While she didn't understand the source she only craved more and more of this intoxicating pleasure.

Unconsciously her tongue also began to move, with each shock from the invader of her mouth she trembled and twitched. The invader slowly caressed her in all directions making a warm heat spread through her mind. Somehow her own tongue no longer considered her whatever was an invader. Letting the intruder do whatever she wanted as long as it made her feel good.

Both the pleasant smell of citrus fruits and the pleasant warmth were somehow recognizable in her confused brain. A desire to have more of that grew stronger and stronger inside the brown-haired girl. Melissa's free left arm quickly grabbed the silver mist in front of her and brought her closer.

"A-Ah...! Hyaaah!" A pleasant and familiar voice reached Melissa's ears, and her confused mind was finally back to full consciousness.

In Melissa's vision, all she could see was a beautiful woman with wet silver hair and tear-filled blue eyes staring at her. The beautiful woman was someone Melissa knew, but the situation they were in now was a blur in her mind.

Their faces were so close that Sophia filled her entire field of view. The silver hair tickled her nose. When her eyes lowered a bit, Melissa noticed that both sets of lips were together, and she immediately blushed. Somehow, her arm was around Sophia's neck.

Her face immediately turned as red as a beet. She quickly tried to pull away from Sophia, but their joined hands prevented it, and both fell to the stone floor.

"W-What's happening? What were you doing? What was I doing?" Her confused voice directed questions at Sophia. She could still notice the shiny thread of saliva connecting their lips.

Without answering her questions, Melissa was immediately embraced by the crying Sophia between sobs.

"Eewk...! Melissa! Melissa!" The beautiful silver-haired girl squeezed the confused Melissa tightly against her body. Tears once again streamed down her eyes. "I thought you were going to die... Thank you, thank you!"

Despite being weaker, she was a few centimeters taller than Melissa, allowing her to envelop her entire body.

"What are you talking about? Wait, where are the bees?!" Melissa was frightened as she looked around for the bees. When she found no sign of them, she sighed in relief.

Then, sitting and observing the silver-haired girl with her makeup completely smeared, she calmed her agitated mind and began trying to clean Sophia's face.

"Calm down now, snow curls. Explain to me what happened, without skipping anything."

The girl still sobbed, her right hand never letting go of Melissa's wet sweatshirt.

"Your HP dropped below 10... Eewk...! I didn't know what to do, so I used the ability that said it would recover HP."

Melissa's mind finally grasped the situation; She then corrected the girl in a low tone. 

"Our HP, you mean, right? Since if I died, you would die too." Although she expected a confident look in response to her correction, Sophia only showed doubt and then shock.

"It's true... I would really die with you." When Melissa heard Sophia's almost inaudible voice, she realized something.

While crying, she continued to exert effort to try to revive the girl. Not even once during the act did she think that if Melissa died, she would die too. From the depths of her being, she just didn't want to lose Melissa.

Having finally noticed this, Melissa felt her face warm as she looked away.

"Uh...! Since you saved me… I won't complain about having my first kiss... So, thank you…" She spoke only once and in a very low tone. If Sophia didn't have good hearing, she would have missed her words. "But now, what will we do?"

Finally releasing her hand from Melissa to wipe away the running makeup, she began to think about what they would do now. At that moment, a notification they hadn't seen until now appeared in a window.

[Congratulations, you leveled up]