My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend - Volume 8 - Chapter 3

The Youthful Summertime Steam Incident

What Lies behind the Bold Smile

Suzuri Kurenai

“Let’s have ourselves a late-night rendezvous. It’ll be our little secret,” I boldly said before standing up from my seat and turning my back to Joe.

Then, I walked towards the wall, pretending to admire the decorations before finally heaving a very heavy sigh, but softly enough that I thought nobody could hear. And yet...

“Suzurin?”

“Urk!”

I felt a hand suddenly touch my shoulder. I turned around and saw Aisa and Yume-kun, their eyes sparkling and grins stretched across their faces.

“Spill the beans. What’d you say to Joe-kun?”

“What was that sigh about? Are you perhaps nervous about something? Was it because of what you said?!”

“W-Well, uh...” Curse you two. You’re like hyenas! Do you know how hard I worked to look cool walking away after saying all that to him?!

“Oh? I think she’s getting red!”

“You’re so cute, President Kurenai!”

“Sh-Shut up! This doesn’t mean anything!”

What if Joe sees this?! Urgh! The heat is turned on too high here!

A Marriage for Love in the Warring States

Yume Irido

We left the Kitano Ijinkangai and took the subway from the Shin-Kobe Station. After a few transfers, we were well on our way to Arima Hot Springs.

“Look, Yume-chan! This Lawson’s not blue!”

“Whoa, you’re right. They’re brown, just like the McDonald’s in Kyoto.”

Right as we left the station, we ran into a very strange sight—a Lawson with a brown sign. We couldn’t hold back our excitement at seeing something so bizarre. Maybe they chose that color to be consistent with the scenery surrounding it.

After leaving the station, we climbed the hill along the river, passing by historic-looking stores and gazing at huge buildings that looked like hotels. As we did, the scenery gradually began to look more and more like a hot springs town.

At a certain point, we walked over a bridge to cross a river. There was a sign near the traffic light denoting it as Taiko Bridge.

“By Taiko do they mean...Hideyoshi Toyotomi?” I asked President Kurenai.

She nodded. “Yep. Apparently, he came here quite often. After all, it’s pretty close to Osaka Castle.”

“Oh, I see.”

“It was a so-called hot spring wellness retreat. He and his wife were apparently regulars,” she explained as she pointed towards a small area to the side of the bridge.

We passed it without giving it too much thought, but there was a pedestal with a statue of what looked to be Hideyoshi Toyotomi sitting on top of it.

“Apparently, not too far down the road, there’s also something called ‘Nene Bridge.’”

“Nene... Toyotomi’s wife, right?”

“Precisely. A statue of her is there, and she watches him from afar.”

Just as she said, a little farther down was a bridge with red bars and railing, and right around it was a statue of a woman in a kimono facing the statue by the Taiko Bridge.

“They’re almost like Orihime and Hikoboshi, with how a river separates them,” I remarked.

“It was incredibly uncommon for people back then to get married for love and not for strategic alliances, so they were a rare couple. I’ve even heard that because of their difference in status, her family was against it at first,” President Kurenai continued.

“Oh, I see...” Her family was against it...

Back then, family influence was much stronger, so the fact that the two of them had pushed the marriage forward despite that showed just how much in love they were.

“Well, after that, he shot up in importance and started collecting concubines.”

“Huh?”

“It got so bad that she even complained to Nobunaga directly.”

“Oh, wow...”

What a strong woman. The proactivity of a country leader’s wife is really in a class of its own. She was worlds apart from someone like me who wimped out at every turn.

After that, I got curious and decided to look up more about Nene’s complaint to Nobunaga. As it turns out, the letter he wrote back to her in response is still around. Essentially, what he said was, “That idiot won’t get a better wife than you, so don’t be jealous. Instead, conduct yourself boldly as his one true wife.”

Instead of getting jealous, be bold, huh? I glanced behind me at Mizuto as he walked with Higashira-san. She was taking picture after picture with her phone while he looked around with her. They were, of course, so close together that their shoulders almost touched. If they were careless, their cheeks might have even touched. There was no way that anyone who didn’t know them would see this and not think they were a couple.

I’m jealous. No, who am I kidding? I’m envious. I was the one who actually lived with him. How was a girl not named Yume Irido physically closer to him than I was? Though I always said that I was used to it, this thought occasionally crossed my mind, filling me with unease and confusion.

I liked Higashira-san, and I knew how important she was to Mizuto. I knew I didn’t have any right to tell her to stay away from him... I knew this, but I still couldn’t stop myself from wanting what she had. I kept asking myself why that couldn’t be me next to him. This isn’t good. Now the worries and complaints are starting to pile up in my head. Right now, all I should do is focus on enjoying the trip. That’s it.

Always Ready for Battle

Isana Higashira

“Hey, Isana, where do you think you’re going?”

After arriving at our lodgings, we’d decided to bring our belongings to our rooms after retrieving them from the front desk. For this trip, the males and females were separated into their own rooms, and as presumptuous as it might have sounded, I, Isana Higashira, was biologically a girl.

Though I fretted over my periods, I felt that being able to see breasts all the time made up for it, and thus, I accepted my existence as a girl. However, this was a time that I’d much rather have been a guy.

“Oh, nice! Reminds me of a school field trip!”

“Aisa, we need to go through our belongings first. We’ll have all the time in the world to play later.”

“President Kurenai, should we gather everything here?”

I-I’m in a room with so many strangers. Though I was well acquainted with Yume-san and Minami-san, staying in a room with three other people that I’d never so much as laid eyes on was playing this game on a much higher difficulty than I wanted to! I began to remember the pure isolation I’d felt during the summer study camp and began to restlessly look around for no particular reason.

If only Mizuto-kun were here. I could’ve simply clung to him as I’d done earlier! It might have been a little pathetic of me to have to rely on another person to conduct communications with others, but if I could alter my personality on a whim, then I wouldn’t have been in such a predicament.

“Are you done checking your things, Higashira-san?” Yume-san asked me gently.

“O-Ooh... Uha...” I replied in a voice all too bizarre.

Despite that, Yume-san didn’t seem to pay any mind. “If you’re missing anything, let us know, okay? We’ll need to check with the front desk.”

I nodded, but I could feel my heart sinking. If I was indeed missing something, there was absolutely no way I could voice that... The very act of speaking to someone else was too heavy a task for me. If anything, I was the type of person who would rather go without than talk to someone...so long as it wasn’t anything too vital, at least.

Fortunately, my bag had all my essentials. I’d only brought clothes and books. No matter what kind of mistake was made during transportation, I wouldn’t need anything immediately replaced.

However, just in case, I went to a corner of the Japanese-style room and inspected the contents of my bag, which my mother had helped me pack. Inside were books, clothes, a charger for my phone and my tablet, and some underwear... Huh? I don’t believe I recognize this. What is this red cloth...? After rummaging in my bag and pulling out the item in question, I discovered that it was a bra.

“Wha—?”

Even worse, it was of the lacy, see-through variety, aka super erotic. Wh-What is this?! It’s practically transparent! This would leave absolutely nothing to the imagination! While it was true that due to various circumstances, I’d needed to purchase larger bras, I had absolutely no recollection of having in my possession any of the salacious variety, which had clearly been designed for a single purpose! Where did this come from?!

“Oh? What do we have here?” I heard a voice from right behind me.

I jumped a little and spun around and saw Minami-san looking down at me, the bra still in my hands.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself somethin’ fun there, Higashira-san.”

“U-Uh, this isn’t as it appears...”

“Hm? Something wrong?”

As I tried to fool the eyes of Minami-san, the upperclassmen with her hair half down and half in pigtails, (Aso-san?) came over, her interest apparently piqued. When her eyes landed on the item in my hand, her eyes became as large as dinner plates.

“Huh?! What is that?! It’s so lewd and humongous!”

“So you really do have underwear for go time, huh?”

“W-Wait. Please, don’t misunderstand the situation! I-I had no knowledge of this being packed, and—”

“Oh, so what? This is someone else’s then? Judging by the size... No, it couldn’t be— Ranran?!”

“Lemme see this a sec, Higashira-san,” Minami-san said, swiping the bra from me before I could respond.

“Ah—”

“Wha—?!” After reading the bra’s tag, Minami-san toppled backwards.

“Huh? What’s the matter, Akki?!” Aso-senpai exclaimed.

“75...H.”

“Huh?”

Minami-san then showed Aso-senpai the tag, a blank expression on her face.

“Wha—?!” Aso-senpai flew backwards as if she’d been socked in the face.

“H...cup?”

“What does that even stand for?”

“H...”

“H...?”

Then the two of them looked at my chest and said in unison, “Honkers.”

That is actually not at all what that means! Sure, they’re large, but the “H” doesn’t stand for anything but “H”!

“Wait. Hold up, Akki. What would the difference between the top bust and underbust be?”

“I’m pretty sure it’d be either twenty-six or twenty-seven...”

“H-Huh? So her bust size is over a hundred?!”

“I-Incorrect! The last time I measured, I was only ninety-eight—”

“Ninety-eight?!” the two of them howled.

P-Please stop reacting in unison. It really startles me. 

Minami-san and Aso-senpai began observing my chest very closely. “I can’t think of anyone else who would need this bra, but...Ranran! Tell me your bra size!” Aso-senpai said, turning around to Asuhain-san.

She’d apparently been listening in, because she had an annoyed look on her face. “60F...”

“60F?!” This time, I reacted with the two of them.

Sixty centimeters... She must be referring to her waist or underbust, right? Regardless of how small her stature is...I’ve never heard the measurement 60F before in my life.

Aso-senpai held her head as if to fight back dizziness. “Urgh... Akki, I think I’m about to lose it!”

“Senpai, stay with me! Don’t lose to their massive tits!”

Minami-san and Aso-senpai seemed to be suffering from some kind of damage they’d taken, but my eyes were focused on Asuhain-san’s chest. Wow... How lewd.

After she ran off out of embarrassment, my eyes shifted back to the sexy, flashy bra that Minami-san was currently holding. Judging solely by size, it appeared to have been mine, but I had absolutely no clue as to when it could’ve come into my possession. I returned my gaze to my bag and saw a piece of paper peeking out from underneath my clothes. It was a memo addressed to me.

Here’s a cheat item, so close the deal. Got it? Love, Mom.

Mother... She must have snuck this in when she helped me pack. Is she perhaps the first mother in history to push this hard for her daughter to have her first sexual experience?

“Attention!” Aso-senpai demanded. “All those who have brought underwear for the purpose of battle, identify yourselves immediately!”

“We will judge you with the utmost fairness!” Minami-san shouted.

“For the record, I, Aisa Aso, have a black pair that I brought!”

“Senpai?! You can’t be pointing fingers if you’re doing the same exact thing!”

Before I realized it, I was caught up in chitchat with Minami-san and Aso-senpai. I didn’t even have the time to feel shy. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that every single pair of underwear that the president had brought was of the perverted variety.

“There is no day in one’s life that isn’t a battle,” she’d responded.

“We are not worthy!” Aso-senpai and Minami-san cried in unison.

Where I Belong

Aisa Aso

“I guess this is where we say farewell for now...Senpai,” I said, sniffling.

“Ugh. Knock it off with the obviously fake waterworks.”

I giggled and skipped back to the girl group after he brushed me off with the usual cold shoulder, which I’d grown accustomed to. The plan for the evening was for all of us to explore the hot spring town, so naturally, we needed to split into two groups—boys and girls.

Looking for souvenirs and experiencing different kinds of food was fun and all, but taking a dip in the hot springs was a must for girls! Since there wasn’t mixed bathing here, it was convenient that the guys and girls split up.

Well, having some time apart every now and then was important. Also, it gave me time to come up with a battle plan for tomorrow. But, if there was time today, it might be nice to just walk around—just the two of us.

“There’s a public bathhouse that we can enter for cheap. Let’s start there,” Suzurin, who’d thoroughly done her homework on the area, said as we walked through the town filled with wooden buildings.

I’d always imagined a hot spring town being populated with couples walking around in yukatas, but to my surprise, everyone was pretty much wearing normal clothes. Suzurin had explained earlier that since the main road was a slope, it was hard to walk in geta.

“Aisa, I have to say, you seem to be trying pretty hard today,” Suzurin grinned at me.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“You’re just continuously going on the offensive, no matter when. I didn’t expect you to so boldly steal Hoshibe-senpai away like that.”

She must be talking about this morning. That was nothing. My pride almost feels bruised, knowing that she’s praising me for something so basic.

“Easy-peasy. After all, I’m a little serious this time.”

“‘Serious’...?” Yumechi asked.

She was my cute underclassman as well as my pupil. “Well, yeah,” I said, boldly. “You know how he’s a third-year, right? Entrance exams are over and after the year ends, third-years won’t be required to come to school, so who knows when I’ll be able to see him? With that in mind, I’m thinking of making him understand my charm before that happens.”

“Just be honest. You’re scared of him forgetting all about you after he graduates.”

Slander! There’s no way a girly, cute underclassman like me would be forgotten by an inexperienced guy like him! Or at least, up until now, that’s what I would’ve said.

“Well...yeah. Maybe. That might be part of it.”

At my sudden honesty and lack of denial, Suzurin looked surprised and blinked her infuriatingly huge, doe eyes. “So...you’re actually serious this time.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Up until now, I’d never wanted a specific person to like me. I’d always been the kind of person who wanted to be fawned over by many. Seriously, it could’ve been literally anyone. I just wanted someone to compliment me. Because of that desire, I was on socials and also made sure to talk to shy guys. But now...I didn’t care about anyone else. I just wanted this one person to look at me.

This was probably the first time I’d ever thought this way. Calling this “love” made me feel like I’d lost at something. It was embarrassing, but I was so scared and filled with desire that I couldn’t lie to myself.

I didn’t want anyone else to take him from me. The only person I wanted to be in his eyes was me. It didn’t matter how rude he acted. I was okay if he did that forever as long as it was to me and only me. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if anyone else took my spot. Wow, when did I start thinking like this...?

“Well, anyway, sit back and take notes, fellow single ladies. I’ll show you how to steal the heart of a guy in just these three days.”

“I’m impressed. You jinxed yourself so casually.”

“If anything, you’re jinxing me by pointing it out!” I know you’re only acting all composed like this because Joe-kun’s not graduating yet!

“Good luck, Senpai. I...I’m really rooting for you.”

“Yumechi! Thanks! I knew it! Having underclassmen is the best!”

Yumechi wryly smiled as I squeezed her tightly. I thought I noticed a glimpse of her falling deep into serious thought. Then again, I might have just been imagining it, so I immediately decided to scrap it from my mind.

Girls Don’t Really Have These Kinds of Conversations, but There Are Always Exceptions

Yume Irido

“Getting serious.” Akatsuki-san had said it, and so had Aso-senpai. They might have both played it down slightly by saying that they were only going to get “a little serious,” which was on brand for them since they rarely ever showed their true thoughts. But the very fact that they said “serious” meant that they were going into this with the appropriate amount of mental preparation.

What were the two of them getting serious for? For Aso-senpai, it was so she could still be with Hoshibe-senpai even after he graduated. But what about Akatsuki-san? It didn’t seem like she was doing anything too special yet, but I was certain that she had her sights set on Kawanami-kun.

Either way, both of them seemed close enough to the people they were interested in. And yet they were “getting serious.” What about me? I must’ve asked myself these two questions a million times by now: Am I getting serious? Do I think that there’s a need for me to get serious?

“Yume-chan! You’re taking too long to get undressed!”

In the middle of my long train of thought, Akatsuki-san appeared in front of me, fully naked. She seemed to have no fear and stood there, hands on her hips, with her towel over her shoulder.

“Akatsuki-san...shouldn’t you cover yourself a little?”

“Why? We’re all girls here,” she said with a skeevy chuckle.

You’re not wrong, but that absolutely doesn’t give you the green light to brazenly stand like that in front of others.

We were currently undressing in the changing room of the girls’ bath. But because I’d gotten lost in my thoughts and also wasn’t exactly used to bathing with others, I was hesitating a bit in front of my locker, facing it in a way to avoid others’ gazes. I’d been in the middle of quickly taking off my shirt, but it seemed that there were people who weren’t as shy about being naked in front of others.

“You feel embarrassed because you think there’s something to be embarrassed about! It’s normal to be naked here, so you should act normal and get naked!”

“I know, but...”

“Come on! Get naked! Hurry up! Show me!”

“What was that last part?!”

Very occasionally, Akatsuki-san would say some things that made me doubt her femininity. That being said, I knew she was joking, and I got the feeling that these kinds of outbursts had become more infrequent.

“Okay, everyone, I’ll be going on ahead!”

Akatsuki-san wasn’t the only one who was being bold. President Kurenai had also gotten naked without any hesitation. She began making her way to the bath, her plump butt in full view. I was somehow moved as I watched her walk away.

Sure, this was the first time I’d seen her naked, and her tender, porcelain skin was so beautiful that it gave me goose bumps. But more than that, her posture, the way she walked, the way she acted—it was all too natural. It was as if she had been born to be the center of attention. As a testament to that, Akatsuki-san had narrowed her eyes and glued them to President Kurenai’s butt.

“She’s more on the petite side, but her body’s fantastic. Her boobs aren’t anything special, but that just accentuates the appeal of her hips. Look at that bad boy! How many babies do you think she can pop out of tho—”

“Knock it off.”

I blocked Akatsuki-san’s eyes with my arm. In the near future, maybe it’ll become more commonplace to wear bathing suits at public baths.

“You have a pretty rockin’ bod yourself, Akki!” Aso-senpai, nude as well, said, a towel slung over her shoulder. “You’re very slender and tight where it matters. You do sports or something?”

“I help sports clubs out every now and then. But...” Now it was Akatsuki-san’s turn to grin at Aso-senpai while looking at her. “Paisen, you have the body of a model! That ‘routine’ of yours is so pointless!”

“It’s not pointless! I’m doing it because I want to!”

Aso-senpai, who’d taken off her clothes and unequipped the bra with the massive number of pads stuffed in it, was stark naked. Seeing her slender, long body like this really made me think she could make it as a model or a swimmer. Though naked, she seemed more picturesque than lascivious. I was reminded of the artistic nude paintings or even Venus de Milo. Her waist especially had me, a fellow girl, marveling at how narrow it was.

“You’re not in any clubs, right, Paisen?! What the hell’s up with your thin waist?!”

“Heh heh. Amazing, right? I’m working really hard at this, thinking that if I keep my waist thin, then my bust’ll get bigger.”

Suddenly, it was like Akatsuki-san had been turned into Aso-senpai’s lackey and was admiring her as she struck pose after pose. Akatsuki-san put her fingers together as if they were a camera.

“Yes! Yes, very nice! Click, click!”

“Um...Yume-san, is she...?” Higashira-san, watching with a confused look on her face, whispered in my ear.

“It’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, Higashira-san...”

She wasn’t aware of Aso-senpai’s vanity, so seeing the stark difference in her body lines must’ve been a big shock for her.

“Hawa...” Higashira-san made a strange sound as she stared at the modest slopes of Aso-senpai’s body.

It was starting to hit me that I really was surrounded by beauties. Both Aso-senpai and President Kurenai had gorgeous bodies. Asuhain-san and Higashira-san...well, it went without saying that they had great bodies too. Akatsuki-san did sports, so she had what people would consider healthy body lines. Everyone around me was way too high-level. Going into a bath with all of them makes me feel kinda...inferior. I unhooked my bra as I thought this.

“Hey...Akki?”

“Yes...Paisen?”

“A girl like Yumechi...”

“A serious and pure girl like her...”

“It’s kinda hot watching her get undressed.”

“It’s really hot.”

I felt a slight chill, so I quickly covered my chest with my towel.

“She might have the dirtiest body of everyone.”

“Oh, Senpai, Yume-chan has the dirtiest body even without getting naked!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” I cried out.

I sure would appreciate it if my upperclassman and friend stopped leering at me! They proceeded to run away, fake screaming and frolicking like children about how I’d snapped at them. Sheesh, those two... There’s a strange synergy between them that I can’t keep up with.

I was ready to go into the bathing area, but it seemed that Higashira-san and Asuhain-san were still changing. The former had only taken off her shirt, while the latter had only taken off her vest.

“Are you two okay? Embarrassed?”

Now that I thought about it, I felt like I remembered Higashira-san saying that she was embarrassed being naked around other girls. Maybe Asuhain-san felt the same.

“N-No, I’m not embarrassed at all,” Asuhain-san said, frowning, her fingers still on the buttons of her shirt. “It’s absolutely natural to take off all your clothes to bathe. I’ll be right behind you, so please go on ahead.”

“Okay... If you’re sure...”

She didn’t have to fake it. I found myself amused by her attitude. Then, she slowly began to unbutton her shirt. In the meantime, Higashira-san, who’d only taken off her shirt and was pretty much just wearing a bra and her skirt, seemed to be struggling with something as she wrapped her arms around her back.

“Apologies... I only recently purchased this bra, so I’m still unfamiliar with the placement of the hooks.”

“Do you need help?”

“Y-Yes, please...”

I walked behind her and put my hands on the back of her bra that stretched across her pale back. This bra has three rows of hooks. I think it’s so you can adjust the size of it to match your bust. But also, she has it hooked on the loosest row... Don’t tell me, she thinks she’s going to get even bigger? I unhooked the bra while feeling somewhat scared, and then there was a boing. Or at least, I thought I heard that sound. But there was no way. Boobs that had been freed from their restraints and were once again claimed by the force of gravity couldn’t possibly make a noise like that. B-But I could’ve sworn that they did...

“Phew... Thank you very much.”

“N-No problem...”

I left for the bathing area as if I was running away from seeing something fearsome. Now that I think about it...in the half year that I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her naked.

Four Fruit

“Whoa! The water’s golden!” Akatsuki-san exclaimed excitedly looking at the huge bath filled with water.

I wouldn’t have described the water like that, though. If anything, it was a dark reddish brown. I couldn’t even see the bottom of it. After giving myself a light rinse from the shower, I slowly submerged myself in the bathwater, being sure to leave my towel on the edge of the bath.

“Whew...”

It feels so good... We’d walked a lot today, which made the bath feel even more heavenly—as if it was massaging my body. I also really liked how the water was opaque enough that I didn’t have to worry about any of my body being seen. I could just lay back and relax.

“Phew, this bath is divine...”

“Senpai, you sound like an old man.”

“And what’s wrong with that? We’re at a hot spring,” Aso-senpai replied to Akatsuki-san. “Did you know that this one in particular is apparently featured in the Chronicles of Japan, Akki?”

“Wow, that’s about mythology, right?”

“Out of the thirty volumes, only the first two depict the age of gods,” the human Wikipedia, President Kurenai said, placing her towel on her head.

“Anyway, this place is great! I bet it’s ’cause the gods themselves took a dip in here. Probably...” Aso-senpai said, submerging herself up to her chin.

It was hard to believe she was the same person who’d been all fired up about stealing Hoshibe-senpai’s heart. She was in full relaxation mode. Or maybe she was simply recharging her batteries.

“Where’re the other two?” Akatsuki-san asked, turning around while seated at the edge of the bath.

“They’ll probably come out soon.”

Oh. Speak of the devil. Out of the changing room came the sound of two girls walking barefoot. Since Higashira-san was a little taller than I, it made Asuhain-san seem even shorter. That being said, the general vibe between the two of them was the same. After all...they both were bouncing and jiggling.

“U-Um, is...something wrong?”

“No, nothing in particular,” Higashira-san responded to Asuhain-san.

“Then why have your eyes been fixed on me this entire time?!”

Asuhain-san tried to lean over to cover herself from Higashira-san as she looked down at her, but Higashira-san followed suit and leaned over as well. Every action they took, they jiggled and shook...like pudding.

The four of us could only watch in silence as the four fruits from their chest approached us. I’d always known that they were big. I’d even known that they were soft after touching them. But I didn’t know how pale their skin around there was and how no matter how much they bounced, they’d go back to their original position. This was unknown territory!

Despite having such huge and heavy assets, neither Higashira-san nor Asuhain-san was losing. What were they fighting against? Gravity.

Higashira-san’s were perhaps best described as being bell-shaped. The roundness of her lower breast made their weight very obvious.

On the other hand, Asuhain-san’s were shaped like rice bowls. They were beautifully hemispheric with a very defined, perfectly round shape. On second thought, maybe they were more shaped like regular bowls.

Those four white fruits rose and fell like the water in the bath before returning to their original shape. This sight packed an incredible punch. Before I knew it, we’d been turned into machines, only capable of moving our eyes up and down as we followed their boobs.

“Apologies for the wait,” Higashira-san said nonchalantly, kneeling down right in front of me.

As she did, I could’ve sworn that I saw her bell-shaped lumps stretch straight downwards, if only for a split second. In the meantime, Asuhain-san scooped up some of the bath water using the designated wooden bucket and poured it over herself. The droplets of water glistened as light came into contact with them, making her small body sparkle.

“There we go,” Higashira-san said, following suit.

As she brought the bucket over her shoulder, her forearm brought up one of her boobs as well, squishing it into a different shape. Her underboob drew a perfect arc that might’ve appeared on a math question. I looked up from the bath as the water flowed off of her as she poured it over herself.

“Um... Is something the matter?”

It seemed that Asuhain-san and Higashira-san had both finally noticed our reactions. Still, I couldn’t say anything. All I could do was deeply revere the miracles of their bodies. However, there was one brave enough to reach out towards the miracles in front of our eyes.

“Higashira-san...” Akatsuki-san almost groaned. She then sidled up next to her and asked with a very serious expression, “May I possibly touch your raw tits?”

“Wha—?” Higashira-san blinked as if in a daze.

In the meantime, Akatsuki-san stared at her fruit as if praying to them. “Don’t misunderstand. My request has absolutely no dirty motives attached to it. As a human being, my instincts are telling me to do this. Perhaps... Perhaps if I am able to touch them, something might change within me!”

“Like...what?”

“What I could never change before—my destiny, my fate, my life... That which eludes the understanding of humans but is predetermined for each and every one of us...”

“I-I see...”

There are times when I get the feeling that Akatsuki-san is a genius.

The very instant I began thinking this, I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. “Higashira-san...could I as well?”

“What?! Et tu, Yume-san?!”

“I-I’ll settle for poking—just one finger! Please!”

I desperately bargained with her, but I got the feeling that I was just making my request sound even dirtier.

“Hey, Ranran... Come over here for a sec?”

“No.”

“Please?! Just a second!”

“No! I have a really bad feeling!”

“Ran-kun... Would you kindly come over here?”

“E-Et tu, President Kurenai?!”

It seemed that Asuhain-san had her own believers requesting permission.

In manga, there’s always a stereotypical scene in which girls are all like, “Wow, did you grow again?!” But that never actually happens. That kind of scene is much more austere in real life. In fact, there’s even a religious faith in which that is of great importance, using the same logic behind the huge Buddha statue in Nara. Therefore, big breasts deserve the appropriate amount of religious devotion. We have to touch them.

After a lot of mulling it over in her head, Higashira-san averted her eyes embarrassedly. “I-If you insist...”

We received permission. Akatsuki-san and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“Okay.”

“One each.”

“Huh?!”

I went to the right of her, Akatsuki-san to the left, and we both extended our hands. I touched her pale skin, still wet from the bath water, with my finger. Though I’d barely put any strength into my touch, I felt the pad of my finger easily sink in.

“Oh...”

“Whoa...”

“Oh my god!”

“Whoa!”

The two of us let out various sounds of surprise and admiration. What the heck...? What the absolute heck?! Her breasts were so springy that no matter how much I pushed in or changed their shape, the springiness of her boobs was so strong that I could feel them pushing back on me, trying to return to their original shape. Beauty wasn’t just exclusive to how something looked; touch was important too.

“Ahn! P-Please be more gentl— Hyah! N-Not my nipples! Those are off-limits!”

Oh, right. No nipples. I’ll refrain from describing them. Apparently, according to the Ten Commandments, idolatry was not okay. All one needed to know was that they were cute and beautiful.

I found myself sighing with pleasure, even more than when I’d gotten into the bath.

“I feel like my life’s gonna be different from now on,” Akatsuki-san said.

As I stared up at the ceiling, enchanted by the experience, Akatsuki-san was partially desperately rubbing her breasts with the hand that she’d just used to knead Higashira-san’s breast. Perhaps she was hoping that whatever had caused the growth of the beautiful, huge breasts on Higashira-san’s chest would be passed onto her.

Higashira-san, with a tired expression, submerged her divine body into the red-brown water. “Is this really how it is with girls...? I truly believed this kind of situation was a fictitious event that occurred only in manga.”

“Heh heh...”

“Hm, well...”

Akatsuki-san and I both awkwardly looked away. Our eyes fell on Asuhain-san, who’d been captured by Aso-senpai. Her face was bright red as President Kurenai-san groped her, examining her breasts as if she was appraising them.

This definitely isn’t normal... I swear it isn’t...

“I suppose I know now. Mizuto-kun was fairly reserved when he did it, though.”

“Huh?” Akatsuki-san and I both snapped our heads towards Higashira-san at the unexpected statement.

“Uh... H-Hold on. What does that mean? Don’t tell me...”

“Wait, Higashira-san, has Irido-kun touched your boobs?”

“Yes. Why?”

Th-That miserable guy! He has such a calm face, and yet— Is he really out here vehemently denying they’re a couple while he’s touching her boobs?!

“Although, I suppose that was more of an accident. He immediately moved his hand away too.”

“An accident...huh?”

“Ha ha ha! He lucked into it?!”

Excuse me?! In the half a year plus that we’d lived together, not once had anything like that happened to me. Even in the year plus that we dated, he never even once touched my boobs!

“I don’t mind one bit,” Higashira-san said nonchalantly. “These things are bound to happen when you spend enough time together.”

No, they aren’t!

“Higashira-san, have you—” Have you seen him naked? I wanted to finish my sentence, but I swallowed these words.

That was close. I don’t know what came over me. I was so close to getting into a one-up battle with her and starting a whole new discussion. But...there’s no way she has. Yeah. There’s no way she’s ever had a chance to get into the bath with him. I’m the only one who’s seen him naked. I’m the only one who knows the most private part of him. Heh heh...

“Oh, right,” Higashira-san began, letting the top of her boobs breach the water like a whale surfacing for air. “That promiscuous boy is your neighbor, correct, Minami-san? I’m sure that you’ve had your fair share of erotic accidents.”

“Ah.”

You’re really going to ask that? I internally shuddered with fear. I’d purposely avoided asking her any deep questions about their previous relationship. They’d lived so physically close to each other for over ten years. There was no way that there hadn’t been at least one incident in all that time. Or maybe there were no incidents, but deliberate “accidents.” However, I didn’t have the courage to try and ask my friend about such private things.

I nervously checked Akatsuki-san’s expression. She had on a cryptic but bright smile.

“Hm... Who knows?”

“I believe that’s the precise answer someone would give if something had indeed happened.”

“Yeah, I guess. But you don’t really wanna hear all about how I ran into him at an awkward moment and pretended not to notice.”

“You’re practically revealing what occurred, though.”

Huh? What? I want details!

“Minami-san...” Higashira-san said casually. “I get a vague feeling about you.”

“Hm?”

“That you have experience.”

I froze. Or rather, I couldn’t tell whether it was me or if the hot water itself had frozen. “Experience.” Even I know what that really means. Did our physical nakedness extend to how open we were with our questions too? Higashira-san had perhaps unconsciously crossed a line, going into taboo territory.

Sure, even I had wondered the same thing. Akatsuki-san was always giving me advice, and sounded like she had a lot of relationship experience. Plus, there was a guy living right by her. I couldn’t help but be suspicious. If Mizuto and I had been living together when we were dating, I’m sure that at some point we would’ve...

I gripped my chest, my heart beating uncontrollably, while looking at Akatsuki-san.

“‘Experience’...huh?” Akatsuki-san smiled with a troubled expression before opening her mouth to reply.

The way she replied, though, I think I’ll keep between us.

Handmade Handcuffs

Mizuto Irido

“This croquette is crazy good!”

“Good thing we kept lunch light!”

“I bet this was all a part of Kurenai’s calculations. She’s crazy efficient at scheduling even when it’s for leisure time.”

“Whoa, they’re selling cider. Be right back.”

The guy group was mainly focused on walking around, sampling the various foods that the hot spring town had to offer. It wouldn’t have been surprising if people passing by didn’t think we were part of the same group due to how all over the place in terms of personality and looks we were. That being said, we did have one thing in common—we all had absolutely no interest in going into multiple baths over the course of a single day.

I held an apparently famous croquette as we walked down the hill, and as we did, I saw a roofed area in the distance where people were sitting on the ground. Well, that was my initial thought, but as we got closer I realized they were actually sitting on something, and their feet were submerged in water.

Oh, they’re in a foot bath. From what I could tell, it didn’t cost anything, and people passing by would stop here, take off their socks and shoes, and rest their feet inside. What a sight perfectly characteristic of a hot spring town.

“Huh?” Suddenly, one of the people enjoying said footbath turned to look at us from her spot on one of the wooden boards. “Oh, hey, it’s you, Senpai!” Aso-senpai said, turning towards us.

“Whoa. What’re you guys doin’ here?” Hoshibe-senpai asked.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed President Kurenai, Asuhain-san, Minami-san, Isana, and Yume with their feet in the stone bathtub as well. Before we knew it, we had naturally gravitated towards them.

“Have you guys already gone into any of the hot springs?!” Aso-senpai eagerly asked Hoshibe-senpai.

“Nah. What’s the point? There’s one at the inn.”

“So you’re walkin’ around and eatin’ instead? Whew, what a guy thing to do. We just got out of a bath.”

Hm, now that she mentions it, their hair and skin do look kinda glossy...I think. Honestly, I wouldn’t really know the difference. It’s not like I’m carefully observing them all the time or anything. How am I supposed to know?

“In that case, why don’t you at least try the foot bath?” suggested President Kurenai, who’d taken off her stockings, a grin on her face. “Some spots just opened up. I’m sure we can fit the four of you easily,” she said to Hoshibe-senpai while scooting over, making space between her and Aso-senpai.

I see... President Kurenai’s being her wingman.

Minami-san must’ve picked up on that because she energetically agreed. “Oh, good idea! Kawanami, Irido-kun—you two should take a dip too! You’re not gonna have one of these in the inn!”

“You’re so right! We came all this way to a hot springs town. Should enjoy everything it has to offer!” Kawanami, also taking the hint, immediately took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his pant legs, and sat next to Minami-san.

By accepting the invitation and also sitting next to a girl, he’d cleverly crafted a situation in which it felt only natural to follow suit and do the same. Those two really are like peas in a pod.

“Guess this is perfect for a spot to chill a beat,” Hoshibe-senpai said, sitting next to Aso-senpai.

As he did, Haba-senpai and I were left standing, but that wouldn’t last for long. Though I got the feeling that he didn’t want to sit, President Kurenai extended her hand and forcefully pulled Haba-senpai over to sit next to her.

I looked at the sight before me. We were split up into guy-girl pairs. What is this, a hostess club? I internally sighed and decided that in a time like this, it’d be best to sit next to Isana. But as I moved towards her...

“Here.”

I found that Yume had already made space for me next to her. She’d purposely made Isana move over a spot so there’d be an opening between the two of them. If I sat there, I’d be sandwiched in between the two of them, but if I chose to ignore her, it’d be extremely obvious that I was avoiding it. If anything, I got the feeling that the latter would be the more humiliating option.

In short, I was in checkmate. Hats off to you if you planned this, Yume. I walked over, a slight feeling of defeat in my mouth, and sat between the two of them, dipping my bare feet into the water.

“How is it? Nice, right?” Yume asked, looking at me.

I could feel the warmth of the water seeping into my feet. Any muscle fatigue I’d had felt like it was melting away. I had to admit, it was pretty nice.

“It’s been a while since I’ve walked around this much, so yeah it’s nice. Still not sure how this differs from a regular bath at home, though.”

“You should try the hot springs—they’re much nicer. The water’s cloudy and gold. Right, Higashira-san?”

“True...” Isana yawned. Her eyes looked unfocused and she kept blinking over and over again.

“Tired?” I asked.

“Yes... My morning began at a much earlier time than usual, and I took a bath already...”

“You were fine in the bath,” Yume countered.

“That’s because none of you would allow me a moment’s rest.”

“H-Hey, don’t make it sound like we did something dirty! Although, I guess that’s not too far off base...”

Uh...explain? What exactly happened in there? Isana began to doze off for real, gradually leaning more and more on me. When her shoulder touched mine, her warmth flowed into me. It must be because she just got out of the bath. Now that I was this close, I could easily tell how fluffy her hair was and how soft her face was, like a baby’s.

“Don’t actually fall asleep here,” I said. “There’s nothing to lean back against, so it’ll be hard to support you.”

“I humbly request your best efforts to do so regardless...”

“Well, I humbly decline. Hey!”

Isana rested her head on my shoulder, her hair brushing against my cheek and the nape of my neck. I could smell a sweet, clean scent characteristic of someone who’d just gotten out of the bath. Fine. Not having much choice, I wrapped my arm around Isana’s shoulders in place of a back rest.

“You better not be mistaking me for your pillow...”

“Your chickens are coming home to roost. You only have yourself to blame for letting her use your lap as a pillow who knows how many times,” Yume said in an accusatory tone.

“I don’t let her—she does it all on her own,” I countered.

I had never ever invited Isana to use my lap as her own pillow. Not a single time.

“I get her, though,” Yume added. “Being here’s really relaxing.”

“It’s really that nice?”

“Oh, right, you’re always quick to get out of the bath. You just don’t appreciate baths as much as I do.”

Yume stretched out her legs in the water, lifting them up slightly. The part of her legs that protruded from the water sparkled from the droplets. Her legs were so clean and smooth, unlike mine which had visible pores. I couldn’t help but stare.

As I did, my eyes inevitably moved their way up to her kneecaps, which were sticking out of her rolled-up skirt, and then to her thighs. I had to force myself to quickly pry my eyes away and look down at my own legs.

“You should take your time when you get in the hot spring. I mean, how many opportunities are you gonna get to come to a place like this? Hey, your skin might even get super soft,” Yume said, faintly smiling at me, a light coat of lip balm on her lips.

Now that I got a closer look, I noticed that Yume’s skin was as smooth as a baby’s and slightly flushed, just like Isana’s. What am I getting flustered about, though? I’ve seen her right after she’s gotten out of the bath at home. This shouldn’t be any different, but...

“So what, you wanna see me with soft skin?” I asked.

“Heh heh. Maybe a little.”

As we had a casual conversation with each other, I felt her pinky lightly brush against mine as it rested on the wooden board we were sitting on. Suddenly, electricity flew from where she touched me. This has to just be a coincidence. Just a little of an overreaction from me...

“You already have really beautiful skin and a baby face— You know what? I bet if you entered the hot springs, you might exit as a girl.”

But I couldn’t move away. She intentionally began rubbing her pinky against mine.

“What kinda ancient manga trope are you referencing?”

“I wasn’t, but, oh, I guess there was something like that back in the day. I might have seen it on Netflix.”

It started with my nail, and then she slowly worked her way back until she reached my knuckle. Her pinky began to burrow in between my fingers towards the skin fold, intertwining her pinky with mine.

“Old anime have so many episodes. It’s so easy to lose track of time once you start watching,” she said.

She began to dig into my skin fold as if she were playing with it. Did she want something? Maybe I was just misunderstanding things, but there was a certain interpretation of her actions that I couldn’t get out of my head. Mulling it over twisted my brain in knots. I needed to take a chance. Was she just toying with me? Or...

I took my ring finger and burrowed it in between her fingers.

“Nnh...”

I couldn’t be sure, but I was almost positive I heard a faint sound come from her. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to look at her face and confirm it. But I could’ve sworn that I heard an almost...moan come from right beside me.

Yume’s slender fingers felt softer than I remembered. I rubbed the side of her middle finger as I made my way towards the skin fold, just as she’d done to me. Her ring finger that had been in the way moved up just the tiniest bit, making it easier to touch her middle finger.

The tiniest thread that’d been holding me back snapped. I began to move my fingers one by one across Yume’s hand, starting from her knuckles and ending at her fingertips. Then, I gradually moved my palm over her hand. The world went completely silent. All I could focus on was how soft, smooth, and small her hand was.

I’d almost never thought that my hands were big, but her hands were completely covered by mine. Times like these, I could really feel the difference in our genders. I wanted to chase that feeling more, so I slid my palm towards her wrist.

It was so thin that it felt like it could snap at any given second. If I moved my thumb a bit, I would’ve been able to wrap my entire hand around it, like handcuffs in a sense. As long as I did that, Yume wouldn’t be able to run away. I felt a faint beating through the pads of my fingers. I could feel her pulse.

I wasn’t sure exactly when, but our conversation had ended.

My Childhood Friend Can’t Be This Cooperative

Kogure Kawanami

Very nice! A very bittersweet atmosphere had descended on the foot bath, and I couldn’t help but internally press the like button as a spectator. The Irido siblings weren’t the only ones cozying up to each other. Aso-senpai was going on the attack, boldly pressing her shoulder against Hoshibe-san. The student council president was barefoot in the water, playing with Haba-senpai by rubbing his feet. The only thing ruining this picture was Higashira, who’d passed out on Irido’s shoulder.

It was totally worth it to set things up so that the guys and girls would be paired off. I was also grateful that the girls were so willing to play along. After all, the guys I was with were super passive.

“You’re in a good mood,” Akatsuki said from next to me.

I tried to hold back a huge grin. “Well yeah. Who coulda guessed things would go this according to plan?”

“I really don’t get you. So just any ol’ couple does it for you?”

“Course not. I don’t give a crap about those loose couples going from fling to fling. I think romance is best served innocent and pure.”

“Oh, I see. In that case, the student council’s perfect, huh?”

“You sound like you know more than you’re letting on... Oh right. When the heck did you become friends with the student council girls?”

“Just kinda happened during the sports festival when I was on the cheer squad. We’re pretty good friends now. I might even have some insider info.”

“Huh?”

This was the most obvious bait in history, but I couldn’t help but take it. This was the student council we were talking about—a collection of bona fide beauties. There were tons of different rumors goin’ around about them, but every last one of them was very good at keeping secrets. Even with my information network, I couldn’t get anything solid.

Akatsuki grinned. “Curious, aren’t you? You wanna know all about their crushes.”

I do. Buuut I can’t jump on this opportunity too fast. She’ll just keep dangling information about them in front of me, keeping me dependent on her.

“What do you take me for? I’m more in the know than you’d think,” I asserted.

“Oh? Whatcha got?”

“I know Aso-senpai gave Hoshibe-san a homemade lunch during the sports festival. I also know the student council president and Haba-senpai disappeared somewhere together during the cultural festival too.”

“Uh-huh... So basically nothing, right?”

“Come again?”

“See, the thing is, girls become pretty loose-lipped when you befriend them.”

Say...what?! Before I knew it, I was excitedly looking at Akatsuki’s face.

“Hee hee,” she snickered impishly. God dammit! It’s not fair that you get this opportunity just ’cause you’re a girl! “Wanna know? Of course you do, don’t you? If you say ‘pretty please with a cherry on top,’ I might give you one of my prized rumors as a treat.”

“Urgh...”

“Hm?” Akatsuki leaned her shoulder against me and pointed her ear at me.

Dammit! I don’t have a choice. Goodbye, pride... “Pretty please...with a cherry on top.”

“Heh heh.” Akatsuki grinned from ear to ear. God, you piss me off! “Okay, this stays between us, got it?”

Then she beckoned me to lean in and moved towards my ear. I felt her breath on my earlobe, and then she lowered her voice to a whisper. It tickled my eardrum as she spoke.

“So you know, Aso-senpai? She’s prolly gonna confess to Hoshibe-senpai on this trip.”

My eyes widened and my head spun to face Akatsuki. Her usual grin was on her face, but I could tell she wasn’t kidding.

“You...serious?”

“Super serious.”

I shot a side glance at the girl with her hair half down and half in pigtails sitting next to Hoshibe-san. Aisa Aso had stolen the hearts of many guys at our school with her devilish cuteness ever since she was a first-year.

Most girls who tried to act like she did would just come off as cringey, but her beauty was a great asset to make it all come off as natural. The trade-off was that other girls tended to not like her.

Despite her flirty reputation, I’d never heard of her actually going out with anyone. Most people said that her ideal man was too godly for any of the guys in the school to match, but now, everything was starting to fall into place. She hadn’t dated anyone because she was aiming for the heart of the former student council president, Tohdo Hoshibe.

Hoshibe-san was pretty famous in his own right. Not only did he have stellar grades, he also used to be on a sports team. Add in his above-average height, and you got yourself a bona fide chick magnet...at least on the surface.

I’d heard that he’d always laughed at the idea of getting a girlfriend, saying it would be more trouble than it was worth. That being said, that kind of attitude combined with his looks only served to make him even cooler, resulting in girls being even more into him.

If a girl like Aisa Aso, who was adored by guys, and a guy like Tohdo Hoshibe, who was adored by girls, started dating...that’d be the birth of a power couple.

“Hey, Senpai, let’s take a selfie!”

“Ugh. Pass.”

“Then I’ll just take one, ’kay?”

“You know you need someone’s permission before taking their picture, right?”

“Say ‘cheese’!”

“Don’t you dare post this.”

Aso-senpai steadied her phone and moved in towards Hoshibe-san, making their shoulders touch and angling her chest so it was as close to touching him as she could get it. That body spacing... Her method of attack... Yeah, there’s no mistaking it. She’s going in for the kill.

“See? What’d I tell you?” Akatsuki said proudly.

But...something was off. “You... What are you planning?”

“Hm?”

“You give me shit for being a voyeur and now you’re feeding me information?”

Something’s up. What’s in it for her? She’s definitely planning something.

“I’m friends with Aso-senpai, and as her friend, I wanna cheer her on. Telling you helps because I know that you’ll do whatever you can to make things happen between them.”

She’s...not wrong. It checks out, but there’s something about her words that feels...planned. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was fishy, but before I could press any further...

“Okay, everyone, we should get going. We shouldn’t hog this spot,” the student council president said.

“Roger!” Akatsuki said, shooting to her feet.

I didn’t have a chance to continue my questions. Akatsuki immediately started calling out to the other girls.

“Wakey wakey, Higashira-san. Come on, Yume-chan, let’s go!”

Higashira rubbed her eyes, and Irido-san looked like she was lost in the clouds as she responded with a dazed, “Oh... Right...”

I lost any chance I had at talking to Akatsuki any further.

“See you at the inn, Senpai!”

All I could do was watch as the girls gradually disappeared up the hill. Something’s up... What’s gotten into her?

After the girls were completely out of sight, I heard Irido let out a long, heavy sigh. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he seemed redder than usual.

“You good?” I asked.

“Yeah...” he said in a difficult-to-interpret tone before drying off his feet in silence.

“We should get goin’ too,” Hoshibe-san said.

And with that, the four of us left the foot bath.

Could You Stop?

Tohdo Hoshibe

We walked around the hot spring town until the sun set, and then we returned to the inn to take a dip. Other than that, we didn’t have anything especially planned, so we had free time until dinner was served.

I sat down on a bench in the lobby, wearing a yukata, and began flipping through my phone. It honestly wasn’t too bad going around the place with my underclassmen, but it was important for everyone to get some time to themselves every now and then. Spending time by myself in an inn beyond what any high schooler could afford was very quaint.

“Senpai?”

Or at least, it would’ve been, had a familiar voice not suddenly called out to me. I looked up and saw Aso’s similarly familiar smile looking down at me. For the record, “familiar” in this case meant her usual, forced, flirty smile.

“Whatcha doin’ here all by yourself?”

“Nothing. That’s what I’m doing.”

“Heh heh, the lone wolf attitude doesn’t suit you at all.” Aso grabbed her sleeves and shook them to the side of her body.

Realizing that I was ignoring her, she walked in front of me, leaned down, and looked me in the eyes, still shaking her sleeves.

“Don’t you have something to say to me, Senpai?”

God, she just does not give up. Aso, too, was donned in a yukata, and I was annoyed by how such a simple garb felt fresh on her just because of how revealing her usual clothes were. She looked pretty nice when she didn’t try so hard. I frowned at the irony.

“Clothes really make the person, huh?”

“Oh, so you’re saying I’m the cutest in the world?”

“Sorry, are we speaking the same language right now?”

“Yep! Senpai-nese!”

I guarantee there’s no way—even in your made-up language—that what I said can be interpreted like that. Aso proceeded to sit next to me without even asking. She immediately scooched over until our shoulders just barely didn’t touch, not giving me a chance to leave.

And then, she whispered in my ear. “Good job today, Senpai!”

I tilted my head away from her. “On what?”

“You worked hard to lead your underclassmen around, didn’t you?”

“Wouldn’t really say I worked hard. If anything, I feel like Kawanami was leading me around.”

If it was just me and the other two guys, I would’ve agreed that I’d have worked hard to lead them around, but with Kawanami being as proactive as he was, I’d been able to take it easy.

“I think the very fact that you made an atmosphere that allowed the first-year, Kawanami-kun, to lead everyone around is plenty praiseworthy. After everything’s all said and done, you’re good at looking after others.”

“Don’t praise me. It feels like you’re trying to manipulate me.”

“I’m being serious, though.”

For just a split second, I heard a tone of pure seriousness in her voice. At first, I thought that I’d heard someone else, but when I turned around, it was the usual face of my underclassman.

“Listen. I’m being serious. I really think you’re amazing, Senpai.”

“Are you okay? What happened to your usual cringey way of talking in the third-person?”

“Well, if I don’t take a serious tone, how are you supposed to take me seriously?” she said, putting her hand on mine. It was almost like she was grabbing it. “You’re an amazing person. You’re smart, athletic, and a good judge of character. And...no matter how much I annoy you, you never push me away.”

“Not for lack of trying...”

“Now who’s not being serious? If you really wanted to get away, you wouldn’t keep hanging around the student council after resigning.”

I fell silent. The reason I kept popping into the student council was because I was wondering whether they were doing okay. Of course, I had absolutely no reason to worry with Kurenai as my successor. Even as the vice president, she’d been more president-like than I, the actual president. I knew then that she’d do a much better job than I. If anything, I was most worried about...

“I might have already told you this, but I’m an older sibling,” she continued. “Heh heh, easy to tell, isn’t it? Since I’m always looking after my little sister, I’m starved for affection.”

“So what, I’m supposed to be the older brother you never had?”

“Yep. You’re my dependable older brother. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

“Not one bit. Having a little sister like you would just tire me out.”

“Then...” Aso squeezed my hand. “Would you stop being my older brother?”

Uh...what? If I stopped being her older brother, then what would I be instead? Ugh, what am I thinking? I was never her brother in the first place. But her eyes—those serious eyes of hers—were almost pointing towards the answer.

“Hm? Pfft. Senpai, are you getting the wrong idea?”

“Huh?”

In the next moment, it was like there was a paradigm shift in her face. She’d gone back to her usual, teasing smile.

“Don’t tell me you were thinking that you could be my boyfriend instead of my older brother?”

“No...”

“Oh? You sound kinda irritated. Did I hit the nail on the head or something?”

“God, you’re annoying!”

I pushed her shoulder away from me, prompting her to giggle and stand up.

“Well, I’ll see you later. I think you should be a little more honest, Senpai.”

With that, she left with a spring in her step. I watched her, head in my hand as she disappeared. There was an annoying mixture of jumbled-up feelings inside me that wouldn’t go away. What’s your problem...? Are you gonna keep goofing around or be serious? Pick a lane.

Dishing about Your Love Life Is the Most Fun

Aisa Aso

“Heh heh...”

As we ate the luxurious feast in front of us, I couldn’t stop smiling. I’ll give a hint why. It wasn’t because the food was really tasty. Okay, that was part of it. But there was something even more enjoyable than that—the image of Senpai’s face that I’d saved in my head.

“Heh heh heh...”

His had been an expression of pure surprise. He was actually thinking about us maybe becoming an item. Jeez. He might act all aloof, but he really is a guy. You don’t have to hide it, Senpai.

“Aisa...” Suzurin suddenly put her chopsticks down.

“Hm? What’s up?”

“Fine. Do it.”

“Do what?”

“Brag.”

As soon as she said that, Yumechi, Ranran, and Akki’s heads flew towards Suzurin.

“A-Are you sure, President Kurenai?!” Yume cried.

“I don’t really think that’s a good idea!” Ranran pleaded. “It’s gonna ruin the food!”

“Wow, your magnanimity knows no bounds,” Akki said with a smirk.

I don’t really get what’s going on, but I can tell that you’re all being rude.

Suzurin rested her head in her hand. “Having her grin like an idiot for the entire meal would ruin the enjoyment even more. I think it’s best if she just gets it over with and lays everything bare.”

“Huh? Lay what bare? Aisa has no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Enough of that. Something happened with Hoshibe-senpai, right? Speak!”

Aw, why’re ya so scary and mad? Is it because things aren’t going well with your special someone?

“Well, if you wanna hear that badly, then I guess I don’t have a choice. I might just have to spill every last embarrassing detail.”

I wasn’t kidding about it being embarrassing, though. This was supposed to be a secret between me and Senpai. But it looked like they’re all just dying to know, so I had to tell them. Yep, no choice but to do just that. So then, I proceeded to tell them everything that had happened.

“Isn’t he so cute?! But it’s like, I can totally tell he has a thing for me. Aw, man, what am I gonna do?”

For some reason, Suzurin and the rest just stared at each other in silence.

Uh... Where’re the squeals? Shouldn’t you guys be blushing since everything was so cute?

“Your attitude led me to believe the two of you kissed, or something along those lines,” Suzurin said.

“I legit thought you asked him out...” Akki muttered.

“I’m surprised you can get that excited over something so minor, Senpai,” Yume scoffed.

Harsh!

“This is cause for celebration! I made him of all people hide his embarrassment! It’s a huge victory!”

“Not to be rude, but are you sure it wasn’t just in your head? He called you ‘annoying,’ didn’t he? Maybe you should be taking his words at face value,” Ranran said.

“Don’t burst my bubble!”

Ranran was always like this, throwing reality in my face. How could she do that to me when I was her upperclassman?!

“Regardless, even if he was hiding his embarrassment,” Suzurin interjected. “You’re much easier to please than I thought. If you’re bouncing off the walls from that, then what are you going to do if something actually happens?”

“If you’re gonna be all smiles like that, at least save it for something meatier,” Akki chimed in. “After all, if you react like that when something good happens, it’ll show on your face when something bad happens too. It’s a hundred times more annoying to deal with someone down in the dumps than someone who’s on cloud nine.”

“That’s true...” Suzurin continued. “There’s nothing more annoying than a girl whose emotions are all over the place.”

“Hard agree!”

“You’re calling me emotionally unstable?!”

I’m mentally strong if anything! I shrug off all the hate I get from girls like it’s nothing!

“W-Well, shouldn’t we be happy that there’s some progress?”

Oh, Yumechi! Having a cute understudy like her is really the best!

“She’s been unable to make any progress for a year, right? I don’t think it’s too strange for her to be this happy getting such a minute reaction out of him.”

“Urgh. Your words are stabbing me all over.”

She’s right, though. It’s been a year without any progress. Even though I look like the type who plays with guys for fun, I’ve yet to get anywhere... Is it really that bad to have just the looks of that kinda flirty, loose girl? It’s better than actually being one, right?

“Now she’s getting all depressed.” Akki frowned.

“S-Sorry, Senpai!” Yumechi apologized. “I think how you acted was really cute!”

“R-Really?” I asked through sniffles.

“Yeah! You were so much cuter than the way you usually act for no reason—like you’ve got everything in the bag.”

“‘For no reason’... Is that how I usually act?”

“W-Wait. No, that’s not, uh...”

You can’t even look me in the eye! You call me “Master,” but that’s what you really think of me?! I could cry right now. Girls are so scary and two-faced!

“Don’t get so down, Aisa,” Suzurin said, picking up her chopsticks. “You’ve gotten a lot better than how you used to be just a year ago.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?!” I screeched.

“Was she really that much worse back then?” Yumechi asked, tilting her head.

Uh, your phrasing makes it sound like you think I’m plenty bad right now!

“‘Worse’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. She used to try and put moves onto Joe whenever she got a chance. It got to the point where I flat out asked our upperclassman, the general affairs officer, why they had ever recommended Aisa be appointed to the student council.”

“Oh yeah, we were like cats and dogs back then. Aha ha ha!”

“This is no laughing matter. I was seriously thinking of ways to get you forcibly removed.”

“So, what changed?” Akki asked. “You two seem pretty friendly right now.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Suzurin said, flashing a cryptic look at me. I have a bad feeling... “For better or worse, people change when they’re in love.”

“Oh! Yeah, Aso-senpai definitely seems like the type to change because of a guy!”

Akki, you’re pretty rude to your upperclassmen too. “You make it sound like I was into him first,” I said, pouting. “For the record, he approached me.”

“True. You generally avoided Hoshibe-senpai in the beginning.”

“Huh? Really?” Yumechi said, surprised.

Suzurin grinned. “He’s aloof, and teasing a guy like that is no fun. If anything, he was hard for her to deal with. Despite her looks, Aisa’s surprisingly not good with conventional guys. She only really comes alive when there’s a shy guy she can dominate.”

Then I heard a stifled laugh, the origin of which was Isana-chan, who’d been quietly eating her food until now. Realizing that all eyes had fallen on her, she began to panic.

“A-Apologies, please ignore me! I most certainly wasn’t thinking about how you’re such a stereotypical otaku princess that it was hilarious!”

“Well, you just said it out loud,” Akki quipped.

Isana-chan, realizing what she’d done, began blabbering in a panic. That being said, I wasn’t really annoyed or anything. She was right. I was the otaku princess type—at least on the inside, not bodywise.

“At any rate,” Suzurin continued, “she didn’t really get involved with Hoshibe-senpai too much in the beginning. But you’ve seen how Hoshibe-senpai looks after others. Apparently, he noticed how cringey she was being and talked to her every now and then to check up on her. Then, before she knew it...”

“Hold up! You make me sound like such an easy woman!”

“Aren’t you?”

You bitch... Not even a moment’s hesitation.

“For your information, something did happen. Until then, I really did find him annoying!”

“Oh, really? Why don’t you enlighten us all as to what that ‘something’ was?”

Oh crap. I just dug my own grave!

Suzurin’s lips curled into a faint, cryptic smile. “You like boasting about your love life, don’t you? Then by all means, go ahead.”

Yeah, I like talking about how things are going, not how things started! This just feels like I’m being vulnerable.

“I’m not alone, right?” Suzurin asked. “You all want to hear, don’t you?”

“Yeah!”

“Definitely!”

Yumechi and Akki responded with eyes full of wonder. Realizing that I no longer had anywhere to run, I sighed and began to reluctantly recount what happened roughly a year ago.

“If I remember right...it was during the sports festival.”

My Seriousness

I wanted someone to look at me. I realized that I had this desire after a play for my elementary school’s arts festival. As someone who was naturally good-looking, I was easily chosen as the star of the play.

I became the heroine of the story as I stood on the gym’s stage. My classmates praised me, and their parents applauded me. Then, the next day came, and everything went back to normal. It was then that I felt that “normal” wasn’t enough.

Now that I knew what it was like to be fawned over, everything else felt extremely mundane. Why aren’t people looking at me more now? They were just looking at me yesterday! If back then I’d joined a theater troupe, and truly tried to become an actor, this might have been my origin story as a girl who chased her dreams of making it big. But I had neither the proactivity nor the passion to do that. All I could do was carry around the dissatisfaction of not being fawned over and aimlessly go through day after mundane day.

In middle school, I tried writing poems, doing weird makeup, and other stereotypical “finding yourself” kinda stuff. But I was never able to translate these things into actual activities. If I were talented, maybe I could’ve satisfied my need for attention from streaming, but I wasn’t. I knew my limits. That’s why even in high school, I was only ever able to tease shy boys. Even now, I have no clue why my upperclassman recommended me to the student council. After all, my peer was the Suzuri Kurenai. I didn’t match up to her at all. She was a genius in every possible meaning of the word. No matter how I looked at it, she was the main character, and I was a mere side character. That might have been why I found it so fun to try and mess with Joe-kun.

He didn’t really give me any fun reactions or anything, but Suzurin did. It was hilarious to see that same girl, lauded as a genius—a genuine ball of charisma—get pissed when I tried to do anything to him. It was so funny, I couldn’t help myself. Thinking about how a main character like that had her head filled with thoughts of me made me so happy.

For the record though, this isn’t some yuri story. This was more like how people send annoying replies to social media posts of famous people. There was a certain sense of fulfillment that came from having someone amazing spend even a little of their time dealing with you. Having someone else’s greatness overshadow your own insignificance was such a petty type of self-pleasure.

That’s how small a person I was, and it didn’t take that long for him to see right through me.

“Aso, you should do things seriously or not at all.”

This happened after the sports festival ended. This was the first big job that I’d finished on the student council. He called out to me just as I was about to leave. Everyone had been so satisfied with how we’d pulled things off.

I thought he was talking about my work on the student council, so I was a bit upset. “I think I did my job pretty well...”

“Yeah, you’ve got skills. You did everything flawlessly—well everything except stuff that involved Kurenai.”

I jumped a little. It felt like I’d been stabbed deep inside my chest. Then, as if to protect myself, I felt a great anger explode out of me.

“She’s the one bothering me! Why am I the one being yelled at?!”

How can you say that without knowing anything?! How can you say that when you haven’t even been looking at me?! All you ever do is laze around. You’ve never even tried to talk to me! Don’t talk like you know the first thing about me!

Back then, he was really great at doing anything and everything, and it was hard to believe that he had anything he was particularly worried about. This was especially true since he’d been the one to bring Suzurin onto the student council. He was the same kind of person as Suzuri Kurenai. There was no way he’d understand a side character like me.

But then...

“If you try to buy attention with cheap tricks, you’re only gonna get somethin’ of equally cheap value.” He kept landing critical hits. “Is that really good enough for you? If so, then forget my lecture, since it’s so off base and all.”

He only said things that hit me right in my vulnerable spots. “Goodbye...” I said meekly, and then I ran away.

His assault of logic that hit me right where it hurt the most almost brought me to tears. But my pride just barely wouldn’t allow me to play off my weakness with tears, so instead I scurried away.

I was pissed. So pissed. After suppressing the tears, all that was left was rage. Why did he have to say that to me? Sure, he was the student council president, and sure, he was my upperclassman, but it didn’t give him the right! We hadn’t even talked to each other that much. How dare he look down on me like that?!

How dare he accuse me of not doing my best?! I was doing my best! If not, then I wouldn’t have been doing exercises to maintain my figure! If not, then I wouldn’t have been stuffing my bra! I hadn’t cut corners even once! You’re just a damn virgin loser who doesn’t understand girls!

“Onee-chan! Dinnertime!”

Before I knew it, it was already nighttime. I’d returned home and dived into my bed. While working out my anger, hours passed. What’s going on? Even I’m surprised. How could all of this time have passed with me cursing him out in my head on repeat?

What was worse, this continued the next day as well. I’d remember his words and get angry. Whenever I saw him during student council, I’d try to find every last fault I could with him, almost as if I were his mother-in-law. Sometimes he’d talk to me and I’d pretend like nothing was wrong, while in my head, I was cursing a storm at him.

What did he even mean by “do things seriously”? After a while, that’s the question that I began to ask myself. What did that even mean? I wasn’t holding anything back no matter what I did, so what was there left to do?

It was true that I was a coward who could only go after people weaker than I, but if I tried any harder at that, I’d feel bad. That’d just be picking on the weak even more. I’d been purposefully holding back. If, for example, Joe-kun got serious about me, it wouldn’t have been funny how incredibly horrible things between me and Suzuri Kurenai would’ve gotten.

That’s why... That’s why I decided that if I was going to get serious about something, I needed to aim higher, not lower. For example, maybe a big guy like Senpai, who I had difficulty dealing with.

“Whatcha up to, Senpai?”

You’re the one who told me to try my best. Remember, you’re the one who wanted me to get serious. I’ll show you what Aisa’s like when she gets serious.

My desire had always been for someone to look at me, but now, it wasn’t just “someone.” Now, I want you, Senpai, to look at me. Look at me. This is me being serious.

A Fool

Joji Haba

After our meal, we decided to relax and play a game on the console that Kawanami-kun had brought. As he purchased various materials on the screen, he asked Hoshibe-senpai a certain question.

“Huh? Who’ve I dated?” Hoshibe-san repeated.

“Yeah. I mean, you look like a pretty popular guy. I’m sure you’ve had at least a couple of girlfriends.”

“You’re not asking if I’m with someone, but who I’ve been with?”

“If you were already in a relationship, you wouldn’t let Aso-senpai come on to you like she does.”

I’d landed on a blue square, increasing my money—I wasn’t doing anything too flashy, but this conversation was making me anxious. The topic of Hoshibe-senpai’s past love life wasn’t something that had ever really come up until Aso-san had started acting the way she was now.

At the very least, I’d never heard any kind of exciting stories like that when he was the president. Though there had been a moment when people were saying that he might have been dating the upperclassman who was formerly in charge of general affairs, we suspected that he might’ve dated before that.

After all, he’d once been a spectacular basketball player; in fact, he was even his team’s ace despite only being a first-year. Add his height into the equation and you had yourself a prime candidate for a popular guy.

“Hmm, past girlfriends...” Hoshibe-senpai said pensively, not reacting whatsoever as his avatar in the game was attacked by the Poverty God. “I had one in middle school, but it only lasted, like, a really short amount of time.”

“Oh, really?” Kawanami-kun sounded very intrigued.

The other first-year, Mizuto Irido, finished his turn in the game and then picked up the book he was reading. Despite this being his first time playing this game, he’d figured it out almost instantly and was now casually switching between reading and playing.

“What was she like? Who asked out who?” Kawanami-kun asked.

“She was normal. Not extremely cute or ugly—a completely average girl. She asked me out, saying that she fell for me watching me play, but...”

“But?”

“She broke up with me because I spent all my time with the team and not her.”

Kawanami-kun looked conflicted. “Is it...okay if I laugh?”

“Sure. Sure sounds like a joke, doesn’t it?”

“Ah, but girls really do be like that sometimes. It’s like the things they say are completely different from what they actually want. Do they expect us to be mind readers or something?!”

“Heh. Yeah. Most people would make the connection that if I’m on a team, I can’t really hang out after school. It’s like, did she really think that just because we started dating, the time we could spend together would magically increase or somethin’?”

“Yeah, there’s a lotta people out there—not just girls—who don’t think things through. Anyway, so what happened with her?”

“Well, I only ever saw her when she came to watch the team practice, so I never ran into her again after she broke things off. Not sure if she found it awkward or if she was just fed up with me.”

“Kinda messed up if that’s how she felt about you after everything. Kinda selfish.”

I could more or less imagine what this person looked like without knowing them at all. Every day they’d see a cool hero, giving his all at practice. It wasn’t like idols that she could only see through her computer or TV screen—she was seeing him up close, in person. She idolized him from a distance, but realized that she might be able to touch him if she reached out. Charmed by the possibility of that, she worked up the courage and found that she reached him much easier than she’d expected. But even so, accomplishing that didn’t change anything.

“What a fool. She got it in her head that she could actually break out of the background,” I suddenly mumbled. Hearing about how foolish and pathetic she was made it impossible for me to stay calm. “Everyone has a place where they belong. Getting it into your head that you can actually break out and become something else only results in undeniable proof of how lacking you really are being shoved in your face.”

I didn’t say this to contribute to the conversation. I couldn’t care less if anyone heard me. Maybe that’s exactly why I’d said it, because I didn’t expect anyone to listen to me. But Hoshibe-senpai was.

“Well, you’re not wrong,” he said as he seemingly searched his memories. “But...back then, there were a lot of girls cheering up a storm for me. Still, though, she was the only one to actually ask me out.” He said this in such a calm tone, I knew it was the truth. “Personally, I respect the hell out of her for that courage.”

He...has a point. Maybe I’m just a fool. A failure of a fool, even.

Even If I Can’t Believe

Suzuri: 10 p.m. B1 vending machines.

I had no choice but to follow her instructions. I used my naturally faint presence to slip out of the room. The game corner was in the inn’s basement, and since it was so late, the only light came from the flashing arcade cabinets. There wasn’t a single soul around...except for a certain girl in a bunny suit next to the vending machines. Wait, what?

I did a double take. There sure was a girl in a bunny suit. For a second, I thought I was seeing things, but the light from the vending machines illuminated the familiar face of Kurenai-san—the very same person who’d called me out here. The person lauded as a prodigy ever since she entered our school, the charismatic student council president that every student in our school looked up to—that very same person was for some unknown reason wearing a very risqué bunny suit.

Even worse, she had her back to me. If she were facing me, that would’ve been plenty awkward—where would I even look?—but viewing her from behind presented an entirely different challenge. I could see the pale of her back through the suit’s opening and how the suit was digging into her butt. I was in danger.

Kurenai-san was on the smaller side and might not have had a large chest, but her butt was on the slightly larger side. This was probably something that only I knew because of how many times she’d thrown herself on me. Plus, maybe it was because of her bone structure, but despite being on the smaller side, she still had an hourglass figure with wide hips, which made her body seem so incredibly feminine.

The sight of her body in the bunny suit with black tights digging into her skin, suggestively advertising her beautiful hips, nearly had me only wanting to see her from behind.

Suddenly, our eyes met, making my heart skip a beat. Crap. Has she realized I was staring at her? I felt more and more awkward by the second. I wanted to run away, but Kurenai-san had most likely predicted all this from the start.

“What’re you doing over there, Joe? Come closer,” she said, peering over her shoulder.

She knows. I knew she’d know. Of course she’d see through my hopelessly immoral lust. Knowing that arguing was pointless, I followed her instructions. The closer I moved, the brighter her skin became. All I could do was look away in an attempt to pretend I wasn’t interested.

Kurenai-san giggled. “Oh? Just where might you be looking? I don’t see anything over there.”

“Sorry...”

“What’s there to apologize for? I haven’t the faintest idea,” she said while pressing a button on the vending machine.

She grunted a little as she bent over to retrieve it, sticking her butt out towards me. Suddenly, I felt a strong gravitational pull towards it. No matter how much I told myself I wouldn’t look, my eyes kept being sucked back to her butt, which bounced like a lure bobbing on the water.

The bunny suit emphasized the various curves on her body, and it was hard not to notice the pale skin that lay beneath her tights. Having all of this practically shoved in my face was awakening my carnal desires whether I liked it or not.

Stop. Know your place. Internally, I beat back the animal fighting to break free. As I did, Kurenai-san finally stood up and turned towards me.

“Seems like someone enjoyed the show.”

Seeing her in the bunny suit from the front was powerful in its own right. The outfit wrapped around her waist almost like a corset, highlighting the slimness of her waist and the size of her breasts. Also, I wasn’t sure if it was because the size of the outfit wasn’t perfect, but there was a small gap in between her breasts and the suit. I felt like I could see a little more skin than I was supposed to.

“Why...are you wearing that?”

“We were playing a penalty game. The winner got to choose a cosplay for the loser to wear. I was a little too lazy to change out of it, so I just headed straight over.”

“You’re lying... I’m just noticing it now, but there’s a yukata on the bench over there. You wore it over the bunny suit, then took it off when you got here.”

“Heh heh... Perceptive as usual.” Her bunny ears bounced as she moved to the bench to pick up the yukata she’d taken off. “Take a seat. You’re gonna tire yourself out if you keep standing there.”

Though she had picked up the yukata, she didn’t put it on. As I calmly sat on the bench, Kurenai-san gave me one of the cans that she’d bought.

“Here.”

As she leaned forward, she made sure to emphasize her chest. The top half of her outfit wasn’t exactly tight against her body, so I began worrying that I might be able to see inside. Fortunately, it seemed that she’d taken that into account.

“When I put this on, some of the girls got incredibly worked up. Apparently, it invokes the ‘ass effect,’” she explained, sitting down next to me while rolling the can in between her hands like a hand warmer. ‘Some of the girls’? One hundred percent, she means Aso-san. “Now I’ve learned the truth: girls have more weapons than their breasts, so I decided to give it a go as soon as possible.” At first, I thought she was just trying to shoot me a flirty look, but then she grabbed me by the shoulder before I could even react and brought my ear close to hers. “Are you in the mood to put a baby in me?”

She giggled, pulling back as I froze up at her words. I could only let out a long sigh. “Why are you only ever this vulgar around me?”

“Even if a girl is pure, she can still become a little vulgar in the presence of her crush. Also, isn’t it a rush for an honor student like myself to talk dirty? Or at least, I’ve read that to be the case.”

“I must sound like a broken record at this point, but...throw whatever you’re reading in the garbage.” The advice she gets is so spot on, I can’t deal with it.

“Oh, by the way, if you’d like me to bear your child, I’d prefer if you held off until after we’ve graduated. However, if you want some ‘trial runs’ before doing the deed, we can do so to your heart’s content.”

“Girls aren’t the only ones who dislike dirty jokes, you know.”

“Usually I’d heed your warning, but not today.” Kurenai-san teasingly giggled, hooking her finger around the chest area of her bunny suit. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt such a passionate gaze. I think it’s a little unfair for you to tell me to act more appropriately after bathing me in that lust of yours.”

“Urk.” I had no comeback. Today, I had no way of regaining my footing against Kurenai-san. As if to fan the flames, she began tugging on the fabric around her chest.

“By the way, this fabric is surprisingly tough. It doesn’t really feel like it’ll rip at all. Wanna try?”

“I’ll pass...”

“Oh, don’t be like that. I know you were looking at the space between my chest and the bunny suit. You don’t have to steal glances—you can just look as much as you’d like. C’mon, dive in.”

Kurenai-san was definitely getting a big head. She began lightly tugging on the chest area while leaning forward. I backed up in order to avoid her, but that had a limit, and I’d reached it. I fell back onto the bench with Kurenai-san on top of me. Usually, one would think that she’d move away, but instead, she sandwiched my hips in between her thighs, literally mounting me.

I looked up at her as a faint smile spread across her face. “Kurenai-san...please move.”

“No.”

I could feel her butt on my lower half. I let out a stifled scream, which seemed to amuse her, because she giggled.

“I decided that I’m not going to let you run today. Not until you admit to your lust for me.”

“Just what about this is so fun for you? Knowing that I felt that way about you would only gross you out.”

“Sure, if it was any other guy, I’d be grossed out. But I’d be ecstatic if you said you felt that way about me.”

“Why? Someone only after your body would be the lowest of the low, regardless of who it is.”

“Well, you only ever look at other people. You’ve never talked about yourself.”

I had no response.

“That’s why I’ll be happy if you talk about yourself in any capacity. It’ll make me feel like we’re finally on the same level.”

This is all in your head. We live in different worlds. Even if it weren’t, a person like you absolutely can’t move into the background to be with someone like me.

“Listen, Joe...” Kurenai-san put her hand on my cheek and stroked around my temple with her thumb. “You might think that I’m the type of person who can do anything with ease, but...there are things that I have to try hard at too.”

I had no words.

“Even right now, I’m doing my best to hold back my embarrassment. I feel like my face is about to burst into flames. Even though I’ve said all this, I’m internally regretting having said anything at all.”

Yeah, right. You look and sound perfectly fine. But then again...I knew that she wasn’t the type to lie like this.

“It takes a lot of courage every time I tell you that I like you, Joe. It may not seem that way to you, but I’m always serious. So, don’t you think you should give me a response at least once?”

“Personally, I respect the hell out of her for that courage.” Suddenly, Hoshibe-senpai’s words played in my head. Though he complained about his ex, he still praised her for the courage she’d shown. He probably hadn’t been too in love with her, but he seemed thankful for the experience.

I’d shrugged off every advance that Kurenai-san had made on me so far. After all, I had no right to be with someone like her. The spotlight was on her, the main character of this story. Someone like me didn’t have any right to be next to her. That’s why I didn’t want to hurt her over this flight of fancy of hers—this almost punch line of a scenario.

That’s why I kept rejecting each and every last one of her attempts. But all I’d done was trample all over her courage. I’d hurt her and continued to hurt her. I wasn’t so stupid to think that she’d merely been playing around—that she’d go through all this effort over and over again just for the sake of a joke. But still, I couldn’t believe it.

All my life, being alone had been natural. Being ignored had been natural. Not being noticed had been natural. It was hard to believe that the first person who really saw me was a beautiful person like this.

“Kurenai-san, I...” I still can’t believe it, but if you’re going to be courageous, then it only makes sense for me to be as well. “I was incredibly...turned on by you.”

Kurenai-san’s eyes widened and then widened even further. Seeing her face like that made me feel like my head was about to explode. I began to immediately regret speaking up. I wanted to disappear. But still, Kurenai-san didn’t let go of me.

“Heh... Heh heh.” Her shoulders began shaking. Then she grabbed my face with both her hands, making sure I couldn’t get away as she stared straight into my eyes. “What part of me?”

“Uh...what?”

“What part of me specifically turned you on?”

“Do I...have to say?”

“Of course. You’re not leaving until you do.”

I really wished she would just let me off the hook. I almost felt like I was about to cry, but I knew that there was no getting away from her.

“Your back...was like porcelain. Your shoulder blades and the outline of your shoulders—the places that I can’t usually see...”

“Okay. What else?”

“Y-Your...butt. The way the clothes dig into it...”

“Okay. What else?”

“Your chest... The way I can almost see it is...”

“What else?”

Every time she asked, she moved her body closer to me. I could feel her soft mounds squish against my chest, her soft breath caress my neck, and a sweet scent waft from her body. The stimulation seeped into my brain, paralyzing me.

That’s why, more than words or actions, the hardest piece of evidence showing how stimulated I was came from...

“Huh?” Kurenai-san let out a sound of surprise as she turned to look at her butt. She’d noticed a certain sensation against her. “Is this...?”

“I-I’m so sorry...”

I couldn’t help it. In this position there was absolutely no way for me to hide it. Kurenai-san’s face gradually became redder and redder. Then, her body began to shake and break out into a cold sweat.

“J-Joe... Uh...”

“Y-Yes?”

“My courage for today...may have run out.”

Huh?

While I tried to make sense of things, Kurenai-san quickly got off of me and held her yukata to her chest. “I-I’m really sorry! Bye!” With that, she ran off like the wind.

All I could do was watch her run off from my awkward position on the bench. I was almost sure that her sweet, paralyzing scent lingered around my head. That was...cute. Remembering how Kurenai-san got flustered like that was enough to make me go crazy. She was very cute.

The “I Definitely Could’ve Gone All the Way” Committee

Suzuri Kurenai

I quickly redonned my yukata and returned to the girls’ room. It seemed that Ran-kun was the only one present.

“Welcome back, President Kurenai. Where did you go?”

“Oh, I just went to get a drink,” I said calmly while making my way to the rest space by the window.

I sat in one of the chairs and casually opened the can that I’d bought. Internally, I was screaming. I definitely could’ve gone all the way! There was no doubt. The mood was right and everything! If I just hadn’t chickened out... But of course I was going to chicken out! Though I’ve heard about how these things go...I can’t believe that the very same extremely cute Joe would just suddenly...suddenly... Ahhhh!!!

What is wrong with me?! I never got nervous when it came to other things, so why did I have to freak out right then and there?! This entire time I’d acted like nothing fazed me, but suddenly I’m showing just how much of an innocent girl I was!

We totally could’ve done it. We totally could’ve gone all the way! Sure, the location might not have been ideal even if no one had been around, and doing that kind of thing in public is kinda... Yeah. I was the type of person who was considerate of others, and thus would want to choose the right place. So, yeah, it wouldn’t have happened there, but...it totally could’ve!

I want to sleep. Thinking this, I decided to go and collapse into my futon, but the bunny suit I was wearing underneath my yukata was in the way. I wonder what outfit I should wear next time... I thought as I began undoing the fastener on my back.

Once the Lid Is Opened

Mizuto Irido

“Hm?”

After we stopped playing the video game, I left to find a good place to read in the inn, when I ran into a familiar face.

“Oh, Mizuto-kun.”

Sitting on one of the couches in the now silent lounge were Isana and Yume. Isana looked up from her tablet, while I could’ve sworn that Yume glanced at me and then awkwardly averted her gaze.

“What’s the matter?” Isana asked. “Have you perhaps been cast out by your group?”

“No, we’re just all doing our own thing.”

I was a little concerned about what was going on with Yume, but first, I needed to respond to Isana.

“What about you two?”

“Same boat. Yume-san and I were exploring the inn. It has many interesting areas! But now, I’m showing her the pictures I took and the ones I drew today.”

“Oh, really?”

They’re finished enough to show other people? I was kinda curious, so I moved closer and took a peek at her tablet.

“I-I’ll be right back. Bathroom,” Yume suddenly said.

It was as if we were the same poles of a magnet. When I got closer to her, she moved away. I watched as she ran away...in the opposite direction of the bathroom. Suddenly, I remembered what had happened at the foot bath, which was almost as incomprehensible as a fleeting daydream.

Up until now, I’d been keeping my cool and trying not to cross the line, but those fleeting emotions of mine had made me go past it. I still felt guilty and confused about what I’d done.

“Mizuto-kun, take a seat.”

“Right...”

I pushed away the jumble of emotions inside me and sat next to Isana, taking Yume’s seat. It was still warm from when she was sitting here only moments ago. The thought nearly made me hesitate.

“The Ijinkangai was wonderful, wasn’t it? The compositions are quite moving, wouldn’t you agree?”

Isana seemed utterly oblivious as to what was happening inside me, and without hesitation, she leaned her shoulder against mine so she could show me the compositions on her tablet. Oh no... This might be one of those days.

My gaze was irresistibly drawn—even more than usual—towards the cleavage peeking out from her yukata, her porcelain nape, and her silky hair that brushed against it. The unfamiliar setting, so different from our normal lives, seemed to accentuate these traits even more. No, I think the lid of restraint holding me back is still open.

Isana remained entirely unaware, which explained why she was sticking to me as she usually did. Her body had a different softness to it, something that guys didn’t have.

She began speaking in a voice that tickled my ears. “It’s been rather challenging to turn all of this into art. I’ve no idea whatsoever what the logic is behind each individual part. Perhaps it’d be better if I studied that, but that seems like more effort than I’m willing to expend...”

“Why not just study the bare minimum? You might be better off if you just look things up only when you need to, instead of throwing yourself into studying. That way you’ll avoid getting bored like you usually do,” I suggested, trying to put out the fiery emotions inside of me.

It’s fine. This is just how we always are. There’s nothing wrong with her being this close to me. Just as I was finally cooling off from the sudden outburst from inside me, Isana suddenly began touching my shoulders and chest.

“H-Hey! What are you doing?” I asked, doing my best to not give away how much this freaked me out.

“Heh heh,” Isana giggled happily. “You really are my safe place,” she said, squishing my cheeks with her hands.

Her small palms sank into my skin. “Being around unfamiliar people made me quite nervous, so please allow me this opportunity to recover.”

“What am I, a save point?”

“I would consider you more of a respawn point if anything.”

Meaning that you’ll always come back to me in the end? She continued to knead my cheeks. As much as I wanted to push her off, I got the feeling that touching her anywhere would not be a good idea right now, so I stayed frozen.

“Hm?” Isana tilted her head. “Where’s your usual resistance? Is it perhaps time for a kiss?”

“No, it’s not... The fabric of the yukata’s kinda thin, so it makes it hard to touch you.”

“What do you mean? Touching you is no problem for me, so you should also touch me without reservation.”

You just don’t get it! Do you even know how much your boobs are poking out?!

“Hm?” Isana furrowed her eyebrows, finding something suspicious. Then she moved her face close to mine. I tried to turn away, but with her holding my cheeks, my movement was limited.

“You’re...somehow cuter than usual.”

“H-Huh?”

“It’s as if my inner sadistic desires are being stimulated. In other words, it feels much more worthwhile to tease you.”

Uh...whatever you’re thinking, stop. Right now.

The next instant, Isana grunted, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me into an embrace. I felt her huge, soft boobs squish against me. The sensation was similar to water balloons, but there was a more raw...direct feeling to them. I felt like I was starting to see stars. Wait...she’s not wearing a bra!

“Your body is as stiff as a board,” she whispered into my ear. “Have you finally succumbed to the allure of my breasts? This must be the power of Arima Hot Springs melting away your self-control.”

She continued to press her boobs against me, seemingly enjoying it. The buoyancy of them was so great that no matter how much she pressed them against me, they bounced back to their original shape. My eyes widened.

“Heh heh. This kind of opportunity doesn’t come every day. I’m going to celebrate by making you even more embarrassed. Like this!”

“Hey, stop!”

It was as if she was getting revenge for all the times I hadn’t reacted to her. She must’ve been bothered by that up until now.

That Can’t Be...

Ran Asuhain

I gasped and hid behind a corner. All I could do was shiver with surprise. One minute ago, I saw the familiar faces of two people in the deserted inn lounge—Mizuto Irido and Higashira-san. By the time it registered in my head who they were, they’d already gotten right into very inappropriate activities.

I would’ve understood if she was simply leaning her shoulder against his, but the amount that she was touching his face, the proximity of their bodies—the hugging! Though there might not have been anyone around, it didn’t give them the right to do these things in a public space!

It was obvious that Mizuto Irido and Higashira-san were not just friends. No matter how much they denied it, there was no way that a guy and a girl could be that physically close to each other if they were not in a relationship of some sort.

I’d thought that Higashira-san was more on the shy and modest side, so I’d assumed that Mizuto Irido had usually been the one to go on the offensive, but the scene in front of me told a different story. It seemed that Higashira-san was the aggressive one.

I-I knew something was up! I should’ve known from when she was ogling my breasts in the bath! But given how meek she seemed, I never would’ve guessed that she was so immoral! I wanted to yell at my past self for thinking even for a minute that we were the same kind of person just because we had a shared boob problem!

What they were doing was definitely something that only a couple would do. They weren’t simply getting physically closer to one another. It was like there was no reserve or hesitation between the two of them—like their hearts were melting into one.

This might have been the first time I was seeing this kind of thing so up close and personal like this. There’d been couples when we were walking around, but they were acting appropriately in public—around others. When they were alone, though...this must be how they acted.

I felt neither envy nor admiration. Though I got the same kind of feeling of wonder one gets while watching something unusual through the bars at a zoo, I had no desire to mimic the behavior. If anything, I was confused. If he didn’t act like that, couldn’t Mizuto Irido claim the top spot at our school?

He’d already done it once during midterms. If he just focused even a little of the attention he put towards Higashira-san on studying, couldn’t he surpass Irido-san and take first place? I want to be first, not just once—forever. Was dating someone so great that he was willing to throw away his chances of winning? I don’t get it. Not one bit. Would...Irido-san, Aso-senpai, or even...President Kurenai know the answer?

No way. There’s no way that President Kurenai of all people—a person who has no equal—would ever let her head run amok with thoughts of boys.

Expelled from Paradise

Kogure Kawanami

“Heya! I’m here to hang out... Huh?”

I’d been lying in my futon, playing with my phone, when a yukata-clad Akatsuki peeked her head into our room.

“All alone, Kawanami? Where’s everyone else?” she asked, surveying the room.

“Off doin’ their own thing. All the guys here are introverts.”

Hoshibe-san was the type of person who’d go with the flow, but he was primarily a person who preferred to be by himself. It went without saying that Irido and Haba-senpai were both loners. But also, the reason that we’d split up to do our own things hadn’t just been because of their personalities.

I looked up at Akatsuki as I continued to lie down. “What about you? Same thing happenin’ with the girls?”

“Yeah. They’re all off doin’ their best.”

“Heh heh heh. Thought as much.”

At least for us, everyone started going off on their own after Haba-senpai disappeared. I’d already confirmed that the student council president had said something to him back at Starbucks. There was no doubt that she’d asked him to meet her later. In fact, they might’ve been flirting right that very minute!

“Gross. What’re you grinning about?” Akatsuki asked, standing by my pillow while looking at me as if I were trash.

I stared as the hem of her yukata fluttered. “I saw your panties.”

“You liar. I’m not wearing any.”

“For...real?”

“Nope! Were you hoping I wasn’t?” she asked, grinning.

This kinda struck a nerve. “Hell no. I was just scared of rumors about a girl going commando in a public space.”

“Aw don’t worry, nobody would know anyway. The yukata’s long enough. Anyway, isn’t it better when you can’t see the outline of panties through the yukata?”

“Hold up. So are you wearing any?”

“Wanna check?” she asked, beginning to pull up her yukata, flashing her porcelain thighs. This kind of behavior from her wasn’t enough to elicit anything from me, but I had a feeling that if we continued this conversation, things would get bad, so I refrained from commenting.

Akatsuki proceeded to sit next to me. “So, how’s the trip been for you so far?”

“Frickin’ fun! Getting a front seat to the student council love show is a welcome surprise.”

“You should thank me then, since I’m the one who invited you.”

“Uh-huh.”

After that, we spent some time just playing with our phones.

“Are you really happy just watching other people’s romances?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“What’s this all of a sudden? Yeah, I am. I’ve said that like a thousand times.”

“I was just wondering if you got envious or anything.”

“Nope. I’m done with romance. You of all people should know that.”

“True. Well...I guess if that’s okay with you, then that’s good.”

I looked at her face, feeling kinda suspicious of the way she was acting. I could’ve sworn that I saw a little bit of sorrow in her young, almost middle schooler-looking face.

“There’s something really up with you today.”

I’d felt this ever since earlier today. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off about her. It was the faintest feeling—kinda like when you have a pebble in your shoe. It was that amount of unpleasantness.

“It’s nothin’ really,” Akatsuki said calmly. “It’s kinda like I took a bite out of an apple after a snake egged me on.”

“Speaking cryptically like you’re smart really isn’t your style.”

“Oh, shut up. I wanna sound cool every now and then too!”

She’s referencing the Bible, right? Adam and Eve, if I remember correctly. They took a bite of an apple that gave them knowledge of good and evil and then they’re expelled from paradise. Hm, knowledge of good and evil?

“So, what, you just now learnin’ common sense? Could’ve used that ten or so years ago. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so traumatized.”

“Yep. True.”

Though I’d just said that jokingly, she’d surprisingly agreed. Her response felt like it had a certain weight to it, catching me off guard. Akatsuki hugged her knees as if she was trying to curl into a ball. Then she turned to me.

“Kawanami, you should get a new girlfriend.”

“Huh?”

My brain couldn’t keep up. All I could do was blink in confusion.

Akatsuki faintly smiled. It was as if her emotions had been scraped away. “It’s like...I don’t know our boundaries anymore—they’re blurring. Regardless of if we’re friends, broken up, or how we are now, chugging along in limbo...something’s gotta give. That’s why you should get a girlfriend.”

“Couldn’t you just get a boyfriend?”

“You got in the way of that. Remember when I proposed to Irido-kun?”

“Oh...” Right. I forgot about that. “Then just choose someone who’s actually available! Girl or guy—doesn’t matter.”

“Hm, I don’t think I can. Not sure it’s possible to love anyone more than I love Yume-chan.”

“Then maybe it’s just best for one of us to force it?”

Who cares about our boundaries blurring? What’s wrong with staying in limbo? Sure, there were a lot of problems left unresolved. For one, there was my allergy. I’d also never told my parents about our relationship, and she still teased me all the time for shits and giggles.

But what was wrong with that? It wasn’t like anything she did to me was life-threatening. Life wasn’t a game in which we had to solve each problem that came up in quests. We definitely weren’t gonna get any money or experience points even if we did.

We didn’t need to do anything. We could just ignore our problems. Who cared about boundaries? I was perfectly okay with how things were now. She might’ve said something about something happening that couldn’t be taken back, but there wasn’t anything I could think of that I wanted to take back.

Is it really so bad?

“It’s really bad,” Akatsuki stated clearly, declaring that things couldn’t stay the same. She was saying that our relationship couldn’t stay like this. “If I’d been a normal girlfriend, you wouldn’t have ended up with that weird allergy. It’s a scar that you have to bear because of me. That scar’s gonna be pushed onto whoever falls in love with you, and I can’t let that happen. I can’t just act like nothing’s happened between us, and I definitely won’t be able to just smile and talk normally to the girl you date. Knowing that, can you really say that you still want things to stay this way?”

As long as I had this allergy, I was bound to make someone cry. This wasn’t an exaggeration. I wasn’t that dense. I knew that there’d be people who’d fall for me, and I knew that I’d reject all of them. It’d all be because of the scar that Akatsuki had left.

“You might be okay with it, come to terms with it, and find a way to enjoy life, and that might be good enough for you, but...what about the girls who fall for you? They’re all gonna be unfairly rejected just because of what I did to you. Then to add to that, your childhood friend—the very same person who hurt you—will still be by your side like nothing happened. There’s no way they’ll accept that.”

“That’s...true.”

There might have been some truth to what she was saying. I might’ve only been thinking about myself. Maybe I didn’t have any knowledge about good and evil.

“I’ve made up my mind,” she mumbled before suddenly straddling my stomach.

“H-Hey.”

“I used to think that if you were okay with things, then I’d be okay too, but I know better now. I know what I have to do.” She pinned my shoulders down. Her eyes sparkled with seriousness as she looked down at me. “Ko-kun, I... I still like you.”

“Urgh.”

Suddenly unpleasant memories flashed through my head. Though I thought I’d already come to terms with them, the scars remained. A chill ran across my body, making my hairs stand on end. My love allergy was flaring up.

“I’ll cure you,” she said, as though she weren’t bothered by my reaction at all. “If you still say that you don’t want a girlfriend, then fine. But I’m definitely gonna cure you. I can’t push this problem onto someone else.”

There was a certain unpleasantness in her eyes as she smiled. It was as if she’d moved on. As if she’d made up her mind. Her smile was eerie, but unwavering.

“Hey, Ko-kun?” Though her voice was sweet, it felt like a sharp blade. “Have you heard of exposure therapy?”