"Well? What are you waiting for? Just do it already," Hayashi Shuichi said. He cast a casual glance around the area before leaning against a nearby wall to steady himself. Without a hint of shame, he tilted his hips back, presenting his rear. "Make it quick. I'd like to get home eventually."
"You...!"
Shuichi's skin was thick enough to deflect bullets, but Akane Koizumi's pride was far more fragile. A deep crimson flush crept from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.
Despite the late hour and the torrential downpour, the street wasn't empty. Passersby, huddling under umbrellas as they hurried along, began to slow their pace. They pointed and whispered at the sight of a young man brazenly offering himself for a thrashing in public, their murmurs punctuated by the occasional muffled giggle.
Akane could have used her magic to turn invisible before striking, but that would require focusing her mana. If she did that, she wouldn't be able to put any real weight into the blow—and she certainly didn't want to let Shuichi off easy.
However, his current posture left the witch caught between fury and humiliation. She couldn't bring herself to lay a hand on him under the scrutinizing gaze of the public. It was simply too embarrassing!
"Not going to do it? Fine, I'm heading home," Shuichi said with a lazy yawn. He hoisted his umbrella and made a move to walk away.
"Hey!" Akane barked, frustrated beyond belief. She maneuvered her broom, blocking his path. "You're not thinking of backing out of our deal, are you?"
"I gave you your chance," Shuichi replied with a nonchalant shrug. "It's not my fault you didn't take it."
"Th-there are so many people watching..." Akane's voice grew smaller as her cheeks burned hotter. "I'm not like you! I actually have a sense of shame!"
The witch huffed, kicking her legs in agitation so hard that her broom bobbed up and down in the air.
"Come with me. We're going to my house. I'm going to spank you there!"
Seeing that it was still relatively early and that Akane was dead-set on her "punishment," Shuichi could only nod in resignation.
"Let's get one thing straight," Shuichi added as a fair warning. "If I end up breaking anything in your house, don't come crying to me."
His words reminded Akane of his uncanny ability to nullify magic. She quickly added a new set of rules: "Once we're inside, you are not allowed on the second floor. No wandering around! You stay in the living room and nowhere else!"
Under the cover of his umbrella, Shuichi followed her back to the gates of the Koizumi estate.
He was just about to push open the iron fence when a deafening explosion erupted from the high-tech residence next door—the home of Professor Agasa.
Following the blast, tongues of orange flame licked out from the windows, accompanied by billowing clouds of acrid black smoke.
"Heh, another one," Akane remarked with a touch of schadenfreude. "I have no idea what that fat man is up to, but he manages to blow something up every other day."
"...Shouldn't we call the fire department?" Shuichi asked, looking concerned.
"No need," Akane said, waving a dismissive hand. "He's always prepared for his own disasters. He'll handle it."
True to her word, the mansion's automated fire suppression system kicked in almost immediately. Multiple jets of water sprayed down from the ceilings, quickly dampening the flames and thinng out the smoke.
"Cough! Cough, cough!"
Professor Agasa stumbled out of the front door in a sorry state. His white lab coat was stained with soot and ash, and his round spectacles were hanging crookedly off his face. He doubled over, clutching his knees as he wheezed for air, his plump face flushed a frantic red.
"I'm... I'm choking... that was too close..."
"Professor, you really ought to pay more attention to safety when you're experimenting," Shuichi said, caught between amusement and pity. He reached out to pat the dust off the older man's back.
"I was being careful..."
Agasa wiped his blackened lenses. He stopped mid-sentence when he realized who he was talking to. His eyes widened behind the glass. "Hayashi-kun? What are you doing here? Do you need me for something?"
"...No, I'm not here to see you." Shuichi pointed toward the two-story Western-style house next door. "The new owner of this place is a classmate of mine. I'm visiting her."
"You mean that cute young lady?"
Agasa adjusted his glasses and checked his watch. The hands were creeping toward eleven o'clock. The Professor's round face took on a rare expression of solemnity.
"Hayashi-kun," Agasa began, his voice heavy with paternal concern. "I'm not sure if it's my place to say this, but..."
"What is it?" Shuichi blinked.
"A man should be faithful," Agasa advised earnestly. "You shouldn't throw away a good relationship just for money. That little Reiko is such a lovely girl; you can't go doing her dirty like this."
"Professor, you've got it all wrong," Shuichi said, waving his hands with a wry smile. "The owner and I are just ordinary classmates."
Agasa clearly wasn't buying it. "Ordinary classmates visiting this late at night? Well then, tell me: what exactly are you here for?"
To get spanked by Akane?
Shuichi's lip twitched. If he actually said that out loud, Agasa would probably call the police on him for being a total deviant.
He rubbed his nose awkwardly. "...Look, it's just not like that between me and Akane."
"If it's not 'like that,' then are you doing this for the money?" Agasa gasped, a look of pure shock crossing his face. "I know you're a handsome lad, but becoming a 'gigolo' at such a young age is a tragedy!"
He shook his head in bitter disappointment. "That girl next door looks so sweet and innocent. I never would have thought she was the type to... at her age..."
"Hey, what's a 'gigolo'?"
Akane, who had spent her life studying magic at home under her mother's tutelage, tilted her head with genuine curiosity, her large eyes blinking in confusion.
"...It's a 'duck'," Shuichi muttered under his breath, using the common slang.
"A duck?" Akane looked even more bewildered, leaning in to inspect Shuichi's face. "You don't look anything like a bird."
Shuichi stared at her blankly before whispering the blunt truth: "It means a male prostitute."
"A male—?!" Akane froze. Then, she burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, nearly falling off her broom. "Hahaha! I didn't realize the fat man was such a keen judge of character! He saw right through you!"
Shuichi watched the witch double over in laughter, her whole body shaking. He asked in a chillingly calm voice, "If I'm the prostitute, what does that make you? The client?"
"I—" Akane's laughter died instantly. Her face turned a violent shade of red that reached her ears.
"You senile old man!" The witch screamed, shaking her fist at Agasa. "Do I look like the kind of girl who would do that?!"
In a fit of pique, she snapped her fingers toward the neighboring house. The fire that had just been extinguished suddenly roared back to life with a violent WHOOSH, and thick black smoke began pouring out of the windows once again.
"How did it start again?!" Agasa shrieked in terror, scrambling back into his smoke-filled home.
"Stupid, meddling old man!" Akane hissed from her broom, her spite still simmering. Just as she made a gesture to escalate the magic further, Shuichi grabbed her arm.
"Don't make it any bigger. You're going to catch your own house on fire at this rate," he warned, pointing at the narrow gap between the two buildings.
"Hmph. I have magic, what do I care?" Akane pouted, though she did lower her hand.
"Right," Shuichi said, lowering his voice. "And I suppose you want everyone in Beika City to know that a witch lives here?"
Akane went silent immediately. Magic was powerful, but it wasn't a cure-all—and witches were a dying breed. If her identity were ever exposed and humanity started another witch hunt, she would be the greatest disgrace in the history of her kind...
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