Redo of a Romanceless Author’s Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth
Chapter 417.

Chapter 417.

Chapter 417. We Encounter a Strange Spaced-out Girl Stranded on the Highway. (10/10)

When I stopped laughing and caught my breath, I stood up unsteadily. A third party watching this from afar might fall under the impression I’d lost my mind if they witnessed this spectacle. I’d definitely be perceived as some sort of creepy pervert or crazed lunatic about to do as he pleased with this spaced-out defenseless girl.

I’d tried everything I could think of by this point aside from physically wounding her. If she was stabbed, would that level of pain work? I definitely wouldn’t go as far as trying that.

Well, there was still a kiss. No, I refuse to accept that nonsense. Such a thing would not work in the real world. It’s a trap. I won’t be deceived by fictional stories designed to trick little children.

But what other options did I have here? I’d tried stimulating all five of her senses already. The only thing I could rely on now was nonsensical solutions like that.

I stared at her lips as I internally struggled to accept a reality where I kiss her and she wakes up. I shouldn’t overthink this. Science. If I kiss her, it’s purely for scientific purposes. I’d merely be conducting research, a feasibility study on waking Sleeping Beauties up with a kiss.

With her serene eyes open, it felt a lot harder to go through with it. Wait, does it really even need to be a kiss? What if I don’t kiss her and simply make her think she’s being kissed? A kiss could be nothing more than a placebo.

Yes, if this was truly for science, I had to establish a control group.

I covered her eyes with my left hand. I raised my right hand up and pressed the back of my hand against her lips.

“Dawn.”

“...”

“Nothing, huh? How about this then?”

I pressed the back of my right hand against my own lips where hers touched.

“An indirect kiss doesn’t work either? Does it have to be the opposite order?”

I pressed the back of my right hand against her lips again, then held it there for a minute. It turned out to be another failure.

Was it possible the key was a more passionate kiss? Did it require contact with a tongue? 

I licked my thumb then pressed down on her lips and brushed it against her lips. That too seemed ineffective.

What about… tongue on tongue contact?

Somehow this felt a bit too… lewd.

But… it was for science. Purely for research purposes. That was what I had to tell myself to cope with the peculiar situation I found myself in.

Damn though, I couldn’t help but think this was pretty good reference material I could use to write a steamy scene in a story.

My right thumb slipped between her warm moist lips. The tip of my thumb came into contact with her slippery tongue when it was only inserted up to fingernail length.

I guess simply touching her tongue isn’t enough to simulate it.

My thumb penetrated further into her mouth as it slid over top her tongue coated in stringy saliva. When my thumb slid in all the way down to the base, I rubbed her tongue back and forth then from side to side for a minute.

When I removed my thumb it was completely soaked in her saliva and a long string of saliva connected it to her mouth. 

“Not even that worked?” Did that mean I really had to try… the real thing?

No, this is stupid.

The fact that I’ve even entertained this is moronic to the extreme.

Even if I try it for real it’s not going to work. Despite my strong belief that a real kiss would also fail, as I’d already gone this far, I had to confirm it with 100% certainty. If it worked, great. If it didn’t work… well, at least she wouldn’t know this happened.

I stared at her slightly parted lips. They were cute and petite, undeniably attractive, and certainly left little to be desired.

I unconsciously found myself drawn in, even thinking kissing them directly would feel pretty good. My face drew closer to hers as I leaned in and slowly shut my eyes halfway.

When our lips were only a single centimeter away from touching, my left hand over her eyes slid down her right cheek. At that instant, my eyes locked with her serene eyes and my body stopped its advance as I froze in place. My mind immediately sobered up and I pulled away from her in a flash.

It’s not that she’d reacted just now, I just didn’t want to go through with it. I’m not falling for the trap. Absolutely not. Not again. No matter how strong the bait is. You’re not pulling a fast one on me this time world.

Forget it. I’ve got to forget any of this happened. If I don’t remember it, nobody will, and it will be as if nothing ever transpired here between us.

I gulped nervously. That was… a close one. Any further than that would’ve definitely been bad. Too dangerous.

“Haaaaaah.”

I slumped over the hood of her pickup truck belly-down and stared straight at the golden field ahead to cool my head off. Hormones and pheromones were a real bitch to deal with.

She didn’t smell bad at all the way she claimed. She just had a more natural scent around her. It wasn’t fragrant flowers like the city girls she described, but rather, the fragrance of crops from working out in a field. It wasn’t a bad smell as far as I was concerned. Personally, I found it very homely and welcoming.

Guys in the countryside not liking her definitely has to be her misunderstanding. There’s nothing to dislike other than… this I guess. It would certainly be quite difficult to deal with someone who might suddenly start to completely ignore and treat you like air as if you don’t even exist out of nowhere.

Maybe this is the root cause of her misunderstanding that guys aren’t interested in her. Maybe while they’re talking, this happens and by the time she comes to they’re gone and she thinks it’s because they dislike her.

Hmm… that could make sense.

Wait a minute… rather than a neurological problem… could it be possible this is something related to her soul? Rather than some sort of damage to the brain, perhaps it’s damage to the soul. If I wasn’t a devil in the souls business I’d have never considered such nonsense.

I don’t even know if such a thing is possible though, damaged souls. It might be hasty to jump to conclusions so quickly without any hard evidence. It’d be best to go to a hospital and have a doctor do an MRI scan for any brain abnormalities first before I assume it’s something soul-related.

A variety of new questions suddenly blossomed in my mind. Assuming soul damage exists, is it possible for devils to repair those damaged souls through contracts? Perhaps by using other souls to nourish and enrich it, it may be possible to repair a damaged soul through a contract.

But what if there are risks associated with doing so? A negative consequence that would impact me.

My curiosity had been piqued. I wanted to replace out. But there was no way to answer these questions right now. For the time being, I should take her to the city. She didn’t tell me where she lived so it wasn’t possible for me to bring her home anyway. So rather than wasting time doing nothing, I’ll head straight for the city with her and get her examined at a hospital.

We can buy a new battery for her car in the city after that and we can also trade in this old battery to avoid the core charge while we’re at it.

The only issue now is… how do I get her there like this?

If I was driving a car it wouldn’t be much of an issue, but a motorcycle made things much more difficult. She had to hold onto me, but could she while she was like this? She might fall off.

However, now that I think about it, she’s remained standing this entire time just fine. Earlier too when she had her thumb up out over the road she was in a similar state.

I grabbed her hand and tried pulling her forward a bit. I was ready to catch and support her if she fell, but it seemed there was no need. Her body autonomously stepped forward and she maintained her balance just fine on her own.

I held her hand straight out in front of her and let go. It remained in place.

A soulless doll or puppet. She was at best an empty shell that could be moved when her strings were pulled.

That was the best way to describe her right now.

How unsettling.

Well, this at least made things a bit more convenient for me.

I led her by the hand to my motorcycle. I placed my hand under her thigh and raised it up, passing her leg over the seat. Once she was seated properly, I put the passenger helmet on over her head, sat down in front of her, and wrapped her arms securely around my waist.

I didn’t bother to waste any more time. I gradually picked up speed and ensured her grip didn’t slacken. Thankfully, her arms were locked in place and it seemed safe to travel in this fashion to the city only an hour away.

Once we arrived, I could get her checked on.