Splash.
In the mist-filled bathroom that felt almost like a fairyland, accompanied by the soft patter of water, Harutaki, freshly rinsed off under the shower, stepped into the bathtub. He relaxed his muscles and slowly let his whole body sink beneath the water.
His slightly sturdy arms stretched forward, sending ripples spreading out in gentle arcs, as if reflecting the restless surface of his own heart. There were no raging waves within him, only the image of a girl as graceful as a swan, lightly tapping the surface of a lake with her toes, spinning round and round in widening circles.
Unbidden, the scene of his parting with Shihou surfaced in his mind.
“Harutaki-kun, I really like this gift. Thank you…”
A warm spring breeze threaded through the quiet night streets, lifting the jet-black, silky hair of the beautiful girl like sothing out of a shampoo comrcial. It plucked at the tangled strings of Harutaki’s heart, while the hydrangeas blooming early in the roadside flowerbeds rustled softly along with the wind.
With one hand gently pressing down the shoulder-length hair that had been lifted by the breeze, and the other holding her dark gray skirt that almost lted into the night, the girl wore a mischievous smile.
“Good night. When I get back, I’ll have to brag to Izumi properly. Hehe. I’m really looking forward to seeing you again at school next ti, Hoshikawa~”
Thump, thump.
Harutaki pressed a hand to the left side of his chest, feeling how even now, just recalling that mont made his heartbeat speed up.
Perhaps this was the feeling of youth and romance he had been chasing.
There had been nothing more than simple hugging, barely any skin contact at all. Yet the thrill and sense of fulfillnt it gave him far surpassed the kisses and hotel rooms that had once beco routine with his ex-girlfriend.
…
Woooo.
The roar of a hair dryer set to level three filled the bathroom. As Harutaki swung the nozzle back and forth to dry his hair, he held his phone in the other hand, scrolling through and replying to ssages as usual.
Ren had sent a group photo from a karaoke gathering during the holidays, saying it was a sha Harutaki hadn’t been able to join.
Harutaki: Next ti for sure~ [photo] – Unread
He sent back a photo of himself and Ayaka at Chidorigafuchi.
If he rembered correctly, Ren was still single, wasn’t he?
Harutaki couldn’t quite understand things like this. Ren had the looks, the build, and a great personality. He was easily top-tier among the so-called normies. Yet over the past month, Harutaki hadn’t heard anything about him dating anyone.
The second chat on Line was from Tazaki.
Tazaki sent a sweaty selfie with a towel around his neck, proudly boasting in the caption that he’d stuck with it.
Harutaki: Rember to watch your diet.
Miho and Haruto had spent the holidays together with Ren, so their ssages were similar. The difference was that Miho ntioned that several girls were interested in Harutaki, while Haruto complained about how terrible the food at karaoke was.
Harutaki: Send their IDs please. I’ll take good care of them~ [starry-eyed cat]
Harutaki: You can’t sing in a restaurant.
Since it wasn’t bedti yet and Miho and Haruto seed to be on their phones, replies ca quickly.
Nishihara-san: Scary scumbag卍 – Read
Haruto: That’s true lol [grin emoji] – Read
After that, he looked through the remaining chats.
Nogami was probably out shopping again while school hadn’t started yet. After changing into new clothes, she’d taken a full-length mirror selfie and sent it over.
A white off-the-shoulder ruffled T-shirt. One hand holding her phone, the other pinching her slender waist. Below that was a sea-blue pleated skirt and… black stockings?
Her already near-perfect leg lines looked firr and tighter. Beneath the thin fabric, the pale skin of her thighs showed faintly through. The way her knees and ankles stood out created layers of light and shadow, giving her legs a strangely three-dinsional presence that seed to leap out of the photo.
Harutaki swallowed, and as his gaze moved back upward, it swept past her bare shoulders, completely unencumbered by straps.
Which ant that under that T-shirt, Nogami was probably wearing nothing at all. At most, maybe just nipple covers to prevent accidents.
However, the mont he caught sight of the faintly scornful smile peeking out beneath the phone, his mind cooled a little.
What a “bad woman,” he thought. Before deciding to wear this and send it to him, Nogami had surely already guessed his reaction. That was why she wore that kind of smile.
Bzz.
The phone suddenly vibrated.
Nogami-sama: ? – Read
She must have noticed that the unread indicator had turned to read, yet no reply had co. Nogami promptly sent a single “?”.
Before he could figure out what to say, a second ssage arrived.
Nogami-sama: Pull your pants up. [samurai Shiba with a straw hat – Read
Harutaki: Thanks, already done. – Read
The ssage was marked as read imdiately, but it took about half a minute before Nogami replied.
Nogami-sama: So pitiful. Small-fry virgin [sweaty smile emoji] – Read
One day I’ll let you taste how scary a small-fry virgin can be, Harutaki muttered to himself. In the end, he just sent a “good night,” and Nogami replied almost instantly with a copy-pasted one of her own.
Her first ssage today had been sent half an hour ago. He couldn’t help but wonder if she’d been holding her phone the whole ti waiting for his reply.
Of course, that thought stayed firmly locked in his heart. There was no way he’d ever ask it out loud.
The last chat with a new ssage was from Sae. Sanada didn’t even qualify as a surface-level friend to him, so she naturally wouldn’t contact him in her free ti. If anything, if Sanada ever suddenly struck up a conversation with him, that would be when he needed to be on guard.
Sae: [image][image] – Read
Sae: [image] – Read
Sae: [image] – Read
Hamburg steak, Frankfurt sausages, pork cutlet rice bowls. All food, just as he’d imagined.
Harutaki: Careful. Before you catch up to Sanada-san in height, you might catch up in weight first [sighing cat] – Unread
However, just as he changed into his pajamas and was about to head back to his room to pack his schoolbag and go to sleep, his phone suddenly rang. The na on the screen made him pause in confusion.
He’d just replied to Sae. Why was she calling him now?
“Hello? Good evening?”
“Harutaki, um… there’s sothing I need to tell you. It doesn’t really feel appropriate to say it on Line…”
Hearing the unusually hesitant tone in Sae’s voice, Harutaki couldn’t help trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
“A confession? I accept. Let’s start dating.”
“What… what confession, what dating?!”
In the background of the call, the voice of an unfamiliar middle-aged man suddenly rang out.
Then ca the sound of the phone being set down roughly sowhere, followed by Sae’s faint, embarrassed shouting.
“It’s nothing!”
“Dad, don’t eavesdrop on my calls!”
“If you keep squatting outside my door, I won’t talk to you for a whole month!”
At the very end, Harutaki could still hear a yell from the other side of the line.
“Tell that brat nad Harutaki to co see ! You hear ?!”
Sorry. Even if I hear you, I can’t reply.
Imagining himself being interrogated by a furious, daughter-doting dad, Harutaki swallowed hard. Thank goodness he and Sae were just good buddies.
Yeah. Just good buddies.
About two minutes passed before footsteps approached the phone again. Sae’s voice finally ca back, tinged with awkwardness.
“M-My dad is kind of… um…”
“I get it. Just joking threats. Every father does that…”
“Then… um, Harutaki, you’d better find so ti to co over to my place.”
“Huh?”
The smile on Harutaki’s face instantly froze.
“He might really drive over and wait outside your house…”
“Please spare …”
After weakly complaining, he took a deep breath and steered the conversation back to why Sae had called him at this hour.
“So, what’s the important thing you had to call about?”
“It’s about Chouko. Rember how I asked my dad to help before?”
The mont he heard it involved Shihou, a bad premonition rose in Harutaki’s chest.
“Dad ca back late tonight from overti. He said the higher-ups at the police station already gave instructions to deal with that scumbag using the harshest thods.”
“You think it’s because of Shihou’s family?”
If Sae thought this was important enough to call about, that ant Nogami and the others knew too. They all knew that Shihou had run to Tokyo after falling out with her family.
“Who else would avenge Chouko if not the Shihou family?”
“Um… ?”
“Tch. You’re just lusting after her body! Honestly…”
Harutaki’s joke successfully kept the conversation from turning too serious, but it did nothing to dispel the gloom that had settled over his heart.
How had the Shihou family learned about what happened to the girl?
Had they been monitoring her all along? Or did they have friends within the police system?
And if the Shihou family knew their heir had nearly been hard, why had they quietly disposed of the criminal without making it public, and without contacting Shihou herself?
Thinking back on how Shihou had been today, she did seem a little down, but it felt more like she’d been upset by Sato-senpai, not because of her family.
Just then, Sae’s voice ca through the receiver once more.
“Anyway… Chouko and I have only known each other for a few days. We just beca friends. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for you to tell her about this, Harutaki?”
Before Harutaki could answer, Sae hesitated and added softly,
“If it’s really hard to bring up, I can say it inste—”
“I’ll do it.”
Passing the responsibility to soone else was never Harutaki’s style. Letting a girl who cared about him shoulder it instead went even more against his personal code.
“Thanks for calling specially to tell . I’ll be sure to thank you properly in my dreams tonight. Good night.”
“Spare the gross high school boy dreams. Good night.”
After saying goodbye and hanging up, the pleasant mood he’d gained from his bath vanished instantly. The sudden news weighed heavily on his shoulders, making even his steps back to his room feel sluggish.
He hated the fear that ca from the unknown, and he hated even more the helplessness of knowing sothing yet being unable to do anything about it.
Thump.
Throwing himself onto the bed, Harutaki stared blankly at his chat with Shihou for a while. In the end, he closed Line and turned off the screen, choosing not to tell her right away.
He was worried that Shihou would panic if she found out her family had learned about what happened. But she also had the right to know the truth.
Still, given how serious the matter was, he felt it would be better to tell her face to face at school tomorrow. If she reacted badly, at least he could comfort her a little. Over ssages, he wouldn’t be able to see her expressions or properly reassure her.
Despite the unparalleled convenience brought by phones and calls, there were tis when Harutaki preferred talking to people in person. Cold text couldn’t convey sincerity, distorted voices couldn’t capture subtle expressions, and no matter how clear a video call was, it still couldn’t let him hold the cute girl standing in front of him.
As for how to deal with whatever questions the Shihou family might raise…
Harutaki let out a quiet breath and placed his phone on the desk nearby. He told himself that things would work out sohow. No matter how powerful the Shihou family was, they weren’t his enemies. And as the one who had saved Chouko from a scumbag, there was no way they’d do anything unreasonable to him.
Worst case scenario…
He’d just go be Nogam-samai’s dog.
Amusing himself with that thought, he felt both anticipation and unease about returning to school tomorrow. He looked forward to seeing those pleasingly lovely girls again, yet worried about how Chouko would react when she heard the news.
In the end, he knew this was a problem he would have to face sooner or later. There was no way he could, or should, run from it.
Not just for himself, Hoshikawa Harutaki, but for her as well—Shihou Chouko.
Since he’d failed at playing the villain before, he might as well try playing the hero again.
…
We will be giving out 5 bonus chapters after reaching 25 vote on !
Feel free to leave a vote or review!!
18/25
Reviews
All reviews (0)