Rei Ao: "Co on, don't make a big deal out of this. I only invited Michiru here because she got in touch with Kanna. It's just more convenient for us to coordinate."
Yumiko Miura: "Jeez, you scared . I thought maybe you'd barely left Yukinoshita's bed before moving in on a new girl."
Michiru Hyōdō: "…"
Michiru felt like she'd just stumbled onto sothing... huge.
Yui Yuigahama: "Ahem, um, how's Yukinon doing?"
She was worried about Yukino, being such a close friend and all.
Rei Ao: "Pretty sure she's still asleep."
Yumiko Miura: "Heh, I bet you wore her out. By the way, Rei Ao, do you have any pictures of her looking totally wrecked? Send them! I need a good laugh."
Yui Yuigahama: "Yumiko, th-that's really not okay, you know?"
She did try to stop Yumiko, but for so weird reason, Yui felt a tiny flicker of guilt and excitent. She also kinda wanted to see what the always-serious Yukinon would look like in that situation.
Rei Ao: "She'd never let do that, so don't get any funny ideas. Besides, I don't have any photos."
Yumiko Miura: "Ugh, what a waste. That was the perfect chance to roast her."
Yui Yuigahama: "Hmm…"
"…"
But, in fact, Yukino was already awake, sitting on the couch listening to Yumiko trying to badmouth her. Her fists were clenched. Thankfully, Rei Ao didn't actually have any photos—and seeing him think about her feelings made her look at him with softer eyes.
"Yukinon, it's weird… why's your room sll so funky?"
Haruno Yukinoshita wandered out of the room, looking puzzled.
"…"
Yukino's ears burned. She had tidied up the ss and tossed aside towels after getting up, but Rei Ao's lingering scent was too strong to disappear that fast. And obviously her sister had never dealt with anything like that before. Luckily, Yukino had a ready-made excuse. She put on a frosty expression. "If you hadn't thrown up all over last night, Sis, my room wouldn't sll like this at all."
"Ah… right…"
Haruno forced a laugh. She really had blacked out from drinking, so throwing up wasn't exactly far-fetched. She didn't suspect a thing.
"Sorry, sorry. To make it up to you, let your big sis take care of you for lunch today, all right?"
"…"
Yukino just dropped it, sa as usual. Haruno wasn't put off—she was used to Yukino acting like that. anwhile, Mabel, who was standing nearby, opened her mouth like she wanted to call Yukino out on that lie but couldn't bring herself to say a word—mostly because Yukino had "warned" her to keep quiet around Haruno. Haruno didn't seem to mind that she was being ignored and cozied up to Yukino on her own.
"Hey, Yukino, did you wake up with a stiff neck or sothing? You're walking pretty gingerly."
"!!!"
Yukino's body stiffened up. The reason for her stiff movents was the gentle-but-rough treatnt she'd gotten from a certain soone, which had left her both exhausted and craving more. But of course, there was no way she could say that. So, once again, she lied. "When Mabel and I carried you ho last night, I managed to hurt my back."
"Oh, gotcha…"
A look of concern flashed across Haruno's face, and she grew more serious.
"All right. I'll head out and buy so nourishing food to help you recover!"
She quickly changed into her now-dry clothes and headed for the door. Just as she slipped her shoes on in the entryway, she whipped her head around like she sensed sothing—only to see Mabel peeking out of the living room at her, eyes full of hope. Curious, Haruno asked,
"Mabel-san, is there sothing you'd like to say?"
"I, um… I…"
Mabel stamred awkwardly, like she wanted to talk but couldn't. That's when Yukino called out crisply from the living room,
"Sis, please grab so ice cream and snacks while you're out."
"!!!"
Mabel's eyes practically sparkled.
"?"
Haruno was surprised. This stunning, ethereal-looking girl was way more… innocent than she'd thought. "Innocent" was the polite way of putting it. If she wanted to be blunt, she'd call the girl a full-blown child despite her mature figure. Before this, Haruno had assud soone with such a chilly vibe would be as aloof as Yukino, but apparently not. The way Yukino treated Mabel was part big-sisterly, part motherly. Haruno found it pretty amusing.
"Sure thing! I'll pick up a bunch of tasty snacks."
"Thank you so much, Haruno-nee-san, you're an absolute angel!!!"
Mabel was practically in tears from happiness.
"Haha."
Haruno, entertained by being called "big sis" and "angel," was starting to grow pretty fond of this adorable, contradictory girl. It was like taking a liking to a cute little pet.
Once Haruno was gone, Yukino said coldly, "Mabel, I believe we need a little talk."
"Ugh!!!"
A chill ran down Mabel's spine. This was bad. Yukino was about to settle the score with her!
While Yukino was busy grilling Mabel, Michiru had finally pieced together all the info from the chat group. She'd already heard the basics about other worlds and all that. Sure, it was surprising, but learning that dragons were real had softened the blow.
What really made her speechless was the very over-the-top "body usage rights". On top of that, apparently over ninety percent of the people in the chat group had made deals with Rei Ao, and a bunch of them had relationships on par with Mai and the others.
"Th-this is… whoa…"
Seeing her stunned face, Rei Ao remained calm.
"That's what I ant when I said I'm 'special.'"
"Special, as in… a total player?"
Michiru gave him a sidelong glance.
"Yeah, you could say that," he admitted without hesitation.
"…"
They fell silent for a mont.
"…Sigh."
Michiru took a deep breath. "Honestly, I should've realized you and Mai were more than just friends. There's no way she'd be that comfy around you at school otherwise. And yet I kept myself totally in the dark, even liking you without suspecting a thing. I'm such an idiot."
She looked up at the sunny noon sky and then smiled. "Hey, it's almost lunchti. Let's grab sothing to eat, yeah?"
"Back ho?" Kanna asked.
"Nope. I've got a lot on my mind, but overall, I'm feeling pretty good. Let's go treat ourselves. How about crab?"
"Crab? Is it yummy?"
Kanna was curious.
"Sure is. I think you'll love it," Michiru said, smiling before turning to Rei Ao. "You coming?"
"Sure," Rei Ao replied.
It was obvious Michiru didn't want to dig any deeper into what they'd just been discussing, and Rei Ao went along with it. He figured they'd drop it for now—she needed ti to process everything.
~~~
400 Powerstone Bonus Chapter!
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 200 Chapters Ahead of Others!
User Comments
0 comments from readers