Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid! - Chapter 1: E-Eh?! I haven't felt like this since high school...

Tohru.

Why do you do this to me...making me feel all..weird.

I never...ever thought that I would even consider such thoughts with a dragon...

(A really cute dragon though...)

"Oh, Miss Kobayashi, shall we breed before returning?"

"We won't!"

"But its a great chance!"

"What kind of chance? Also, don't say those things out loud."

"I get it. I'll go after you without a word, then!"

"That's not what I mean..."

Eh..? What sort of chance would b..breeding at a hot springs have... Also how would that even work?! I mean we're both female right? Well...technically she's a dragon but-

I look down at Tohru, currently sleeping peacefully on my lap.

..but I would like to see what she meant by that...heh...breeding. With her little horns and piercing ruby eyes and her...chest and...and what the hell am I even thinking about...!

What was it about this trip that made me more weird around Tohru? I always saw her as a close friend and maybe a roommate and obviously a dragon. Hmmm...a really eccentric dragon. At least it was better than spending Valentines Day alone again. Much better. Seeing every one I know playing and having fun.

"It really was fun," I said without thinking. Ok...Maybe I could've said that more like Tohru.

"Yeah," Takiya replied similarly.

Wow. A lot has happened this year huh? I got a maid, moved in to a bigger apartment, won a kotatsu, ate food far beyond my ability to make and made new friends... I couldn't have done it without you, Tohru. Thank you...Tohru-

"Elma, please be quiet," she grumbled while getting up from my lap. "You're too loud."

"What'd you say?!" Elma replied bitterly.

"What about it?!"

Jeez...there goes my hope of a quiet trip back home...

"Urgh...what time is it...?" Kobayashi thought as she awoke from her nap on the couch. "I must have passed out..."

She turned her head to look at the clock, only to be greeted by Tohru's embarrassed face, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh. Hey Tohru," Kobayashi moaned.

"H-Hi! Kobayashi..." Tohru replied nervously.

She jostled her body to get up but stopped when she felt a pair of arms under her back, where she had been sleeping.

"Tohru?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Why are your arms under me?"

Tohru couldn't be any more surprised at what she had heard. You couldn't fit any more exclamation points above her head.

"O-Oh! That! W-Well you see...umm...," she stuttered while struggling to meet Kobayashi's expecting dead fish eyes.

"Er...you fell asleep on the couch! A-And I didn't want your back to be all sore if you slept until morning...so I wanted to carry you to your bed! I promise I wasn't trying to sexually assault you or anything- although...if you wanted me to then-"

"E-Eh?! Where did that come from?!"

"Could you please ahh...go back to sleep so I can carry you to your bed~?"

Such a weird girl. I don't know what sort of fantasy she's trying to play out here but I guess its harmless enough.

"Sigh...well I'm already awake so-"

"Miss Kobayashi, please close your eyes," Tohru sweetly whispered.

She complied and felt her body being lifted up effortlessly, with Tohru's arms wrapped around her torso so snug she could have called it comfortable.

She slightly opened one eye to see Tohru's gentle face looking back at her, before morphing into an upset one.

"No! You're not awake yet!," she yelped.

Kobayashi quickly played dead, but no dead person would've been grinning ear to ear, which was what Kobayashi was doing. Maybe it was because being in Tohru's warm and delicate yet extremely powerful arms was actually reasonably comfortable; or because Kobayashi was taking part in a scenario which Tohru (probably) thought about countless times.

She heard the goodnight exchanges between Tohru and Kanna, and was laid down in her bed as gently as a dragon egg on its nest.

"Goodnight, Miss Kobayashi," Tohru whispered in her ear. "Daiski-"

"Can I open my eyes now?," Kobayashi said inciting a groan from Tohru. "I'm kinda hungry."

Tohru's eyes lit up like diamonds when she heard the last part.

"Y-You are?! What would you like to eat?"

"Eto...anything goes."

Tohru practically flew towards the kitchen faster than mach 1 speeds, and loaded up the good old microwave with leftovers from however long ago; she forgot when she made that huge batch of omurice. After waiting for an excruciating period of a minute, she was back next to her master, who remained in that same position.

"Hai!...Say aahh!...," Tohru squealed. She must have been waiting an eternity for this scenario.

"Aaah?.."

Unsurprisingly, Kobayashi was baffled by the maid's eccentric behavior, but she let it go as she usually does. She was too tired from that trip to care anyway.

"Aaahh...mmm...*gulp."

"Aahh...mmm...*gulp."

"Aaaahh...*snore..."

"She's so cute!," Tohru screamed internally. "I just wanna hug her and...argh...no! I am her trusty maid! And I will do amazing maid things for her and she'll definitely reward me with all the hugs and headpats I could ever dream of!"

With that thought, she cleaned the rice off of Kobayashi's cheeks, draped the sheets over her, and pretend kissed her goodnight (as in kissing the air around her forehead).

"Goodnight...Miss Kobayashi," she whispered once more. "Daiski-"

"*...snore..."

"Hmph!," Tohru puffed before leaving to do maid things around the apartment.

Despite that, they would both be going to sleep having fulfilled what they wanted that Valentine's day.