Silence was the bridge between them. A long, long silence, with no conversation in the corridor at all.
Until Elena couldn't hold it anymore and asked carefully.
"The condoms I understand, I won't be needing those, but these other things... um, do they have to be used together with the handcuffs?"
She pointed at the rod-shaped, ball-shaped, and mask-shaped items in the bag, her expression full of genuine confusion and complete innocence.
She genuinely had no idea what any of them were.
Ms. Club immediately took on the expression of someone stating the obvious.
"Of course they do. It's not that you can't use the handcuffs without them, it's more that handcuffs combined with these produce an effect that's greater than the sum of their parts. Really. Trust me on this one."
As if worried Elena wouldn't believe her, Ms. Club added an extra point for emphasis.
"I've been doing this a long time. Every time I use them, I use the full set. See, I even buy them as a full set. And what does that tell you? These things just work better together!"
She delivered this with complete sincerity and genuine conviction. Elena blinked, looking a little lost, and accepted the bag from her hands.
She had fully believed it. She now believed these items were components, each one essential, like a machine and the gears that made it run, you couldn't leave any of them out.
She lowered her head and thanked her quietly.
"Oh, oh, I see... um, th... thank you."
Ms. Club heard it perfectly well this time, but deliberately pretended otherwise, leaning slightly forward.
"Hmm? What was that? Didn't quite catch it."
Elena paused. Then, as if making a decision, she lifted her head with genuine seriousness and gave a proper nod.
"I'm sorry I was rude just now. I was just a bit flustered. Thank you for helping me even after I was so impolite. I really don't know what to say."
Ms. Club blinked, honestly puzzled. Rude? When?
That little animal puffing up her fur and stamping her feet counted as being rude?
That counted as impolite?
When exactly did that happen... I genuinely didn't notice, she thought privately.
Elena gave her one final sincere thank-you, then turned to head back to her room.
"Oh, wait!"
She called Ms. Club back, rummaged around in the bag through all the strange objects, found the box of thirty-six condoms, and handed it back to her.
"This thing... this one I know what it is, I genuinely won't be needing it."
Ms. Club accepted it back with a quiet hum.
"You're young, just be careful about safety, okay? I'm telling you, you should really, ah, forget it. Even if I say it you won't listen."
Elena assumed Ms. Club was warning her to be careful in case Raphael woke up and attacked her, and nodded with complete seriousness.
"Yeah, I know. That's exactly why I need this."
She held up the bag of novelty items as she said it, the total earnestness of her expression forming an absolutely absurd contrast with what she was actually holding.
In that one moment, a cascade of thoughts bloomed in Ms. Club's mind like mushrooms after rain.
Titles like My Adorable Girlfriend Forcibly Loves Me, Love Under the Handcuffs, Reborn: The Awakened Queen System, The Dominant Girlfriend's Secret Training...
Her eyes glazed over for just a second. Every book she'd ever read flashed through her mind in rapid succession.
She cleared her throat and offered one heartfelt farewell.
"Good luck."
Elena gave a firm nod, turned, and walked back into her room with the expression of a soldier stepping onto a battlefield.
The door clicked shut.
What happened after that, Ms. Club had no way of knowing.
But from where she stood, it was surely going to be a passionate story, the kind that only belonged to youth.
"Ah, to be young..."
She thought back to her own youth.
Back in those days, she'd been considerably wilder than this little girl.
---
Back in the room, Elena walked over to Raphael and immediately covered her eyes with her hand.
Apparently the couch was extremely comfortable, or the heating had relaxed him too much.
He was now sprawled out in a full spread-eagle across the cushions, and the bag she'd hung over him earlier had slid to the floor.
Elena sprinted back to the bedroom, dug through the wardrobe, and found a brand new comforter still in its packaging.
"You're getting the good one for free..."
she muttered, carrying it back to the living room and draping it over the relevant portion of him with eyes averted. She exhaled.
She stood there for a moment, thinking, then pressed the back of her hand to his forehead to check his temperature.
No fever. She exhaled again, properly this time.
"Okay, good... if he had a fever on top of everything else that would be a whole thing."
Then she noticed his left hand.
Or rather, where his left hand should have been, the wrist ending cleanly in empty air.
"...Did he get mixed up with the mob or something?"
She turned it over in her head for a while. Then she reached into the bag, found the handcuffs, and examined them.
The main body was solid metal, the inner rings lined with a soft furry padding layer, apparently designed so they wouldn't damage the wrist.
She studied them for a moment, figured it out, and cuffed Raphael to the couch without much difficulty. Securing that part took maybe two minutes.
The next thirty minutes were spent staring at the rod-shaped item, turning it in her hands, pressing various parts of it, trying to work out what on earth it was supposed to do.
"...Like fixing a TV and then finding a whole box of spare screws afterward. Whatever. It doesn't matter. The important part is handled."
With the wild beast safely contained, she finally felt settled enough to actually look at the man she'd dragged home.
Sharp features. Clean proportions. Black hair. A scar crossing one brow, the kind that suggested something interesting had happened to put it there.
He had a very strong there's a story here quality to him.
As for his build...
She couldn't help glancing downward. Past where the comforter began, where it had shifted slightly, was the thing that certain magazines only showed at tantalizing angles.
"He really does have an eight-pack," she said aloud, squatting down beside the couch in quiet amazement.
Then she fell into a fierce internal debate.
*Should I touch it?*
She couldn't pretend she wasn't curious, she'd been single since birth and she was an adult, for goodness' sake. It was natural to have some interest in these things.
Her mind divided neatly in two.
Angel Elena, wings and halo, was firm: absolutely not, touching someone without their knowledge or consent is harassment, it is in fact illegal, we are not doing this.
Demon Elena, bat wings and little horns, cackled gleefully and pointed out that she had saved this man's life, she was his literal rescuer, what was a little touch between a life-saver and the life-saved?
It wasn't like anything would fall off.
The seconds ticked by.
Then a gust of cold air pushed in through the window, she'd left it cracked earlier, and hit the half of her that was still damp from the rain. She shivered head to toe.
"Okay. Shower first."
Elena shuddered, grabbed her change of clothes, and headed for the bathroom.
A little while later, Raphael shifted on the couch.
He made the sound of someone who has just slept remarkably well, a soft, satisfied rumble, and slowly opened his eyes.
In his pupils, the river of fate joined a new tributary.
[The second of the 'new-7 Cardinal Sin' was detected.]
[Witch: Elena Silva.]
[Cardinal Sin: Idealism.]
[Sinner: Ms.Club.]
[Cardinal Sin: hedonism.]