In the hallway.
"Alright, Grandpa, I'll take care of it. It won't affect my studies, okay? You don't need to worry so much... Okay, I get it..."
Yuki Suou stood by the window, speaking into her phone with a sense of helplessness.
"Creeak—"
The sound of a door opening came from behind her.
Yuki Suou turned to look.
She saw Ayano Kimishima emerging from the activity room, slightly hunched over with her head lowered.
Yuki Suou, slightly surprised, lowered her phone a little and looked at her. "Ayano, what's wrong?"
Ayano Kimishima stiffened slightly, clasping her hands in front of her stomach. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, Lady Yuki, my stomach... suddenly doesn't feel well. I need to go to the restroom."
"Did you eat something bad?" Yuki Suou asked with concern.
"Maybe... I caught a chill last night..."
"Oh," Yuki Suou didn't seem too suspicious.
After all, from her perspective, her maid and Fumiya Jin had only met once before; they could hardly be considered acquaintances.
So, naturally, her mind didn't jump to the possibility of "the two of them doing something in the activity room."
"Then you should hurry and go. The campaign isn't that urgent anyway."
"Okay," Ayano Kimishima nodded and quickly left.
Arriving at the restroom.
"Pant... pant... pant..." Her attempts to calm her breathing finally gave way.
Thump... thump-thump... thump-thump... Even now, her heart was still pounding wildly.
The girl gasped for air, her body went limp, and she leaned weakly against the tiled wall next to the sinks, nearly sliding to the floor.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror above the sinks...
Her cheeks were flushed crimson, so red it looked like blood might drip from them.
Luckily, the light in the hallway hadn't been bright, she had kept her head down, and Lady Yuki hadn't looked too closely, so she'd gotten away with it. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known how to explain herself.
"How... did it turn out like this..." Ayano Kimishima murmured.
Recalling what had happened in the last few minutes, she found it hard to believe.
She had told herself she was just complying with that guy's outrageous act, just enduring it to make him spare her young mistress...
But the moment she received his "education," her mind went completely blank.
It was as if her whole being had ascended to the clouds—light, warm, and comfortable... completely immersed in a pleasant sensation, oblivious to the world around her.
She had even forgotten to breathe... If he hadn't stopped just in time, right when she was at her limit, she felt she might have suffocated.
All of this felt incomprehensible, unacceptable to her.
After all, she was supposed to be suffering, bearing the assault of a scoundrel on Lady Yuki's behalf...
How could she possibly enjoy something like that?
No matter how you looked at it, this was just wrong!
And there was another discovery that drove her to despair...
During those few minutes, she had thought of her young mistress, remembered that she was right outside the activity room and could finish her call and walk in at any moment.
But in that moment, the strongest emotion that surfaced within her wasn't panic or shame...
...but... a thrill.
Or rather... excitement.
"I must be going crazy."
Ayano Kimishima found it hard to accept this side of herself.
She forced her body up, moved to the sink, turned on the tap, cupped some water in her hands, bent down, and splashed her face with the cold water...
The physical temperature of her cheeks quickly dropped under the cool tap water.
This went on for almost a minute...
Then she finally lifted her head.
She took out a handkerchief and wiped the water from her face.
The cold water had indeed caused most of the deep blush to fade from her face.
Her heart was still beating fast, but at least it was no longer pounding like a hammer inside her chest.
Ayano Kimishima let out a long sigh of relief, lowered her head, and put the handkerchief back in her pocket.
Then she saw it again—that dark spot near the upper part of her skirt...
Her recently cooled cheeks immediately began to feel hot again.
"This must be a dream."
It has to be.
And the most terrifying, most horrible nightmare at that.
She bit her lip, thought for a moment, then suddenly turned on the tap again, lightly wet her hand, and sprinkled some water on her skirt...
Only then did she readjust her breathing, compose herself, and walk out of the restroom...
---
4:20 PM.
A white van pulled into the parking lot outside the Kadokawa Shoten building.
"We're here, you two," the middle-aged driver said, turning back to the two young people in the back.
"Okay," Fumiya Jin nodded, then turned to look at Shiina Mashiro, who was sitting... or rather, leaning against him.
At that moment, Mashiro's head was resting on his shoulder. She was fast asleep, showing no signs of waking.
In fact, when Fumiya Jin had gotten home, Mashiro had been sleeping in her futon, and he'd had to practically drag her out. He was the one who had put on her clothes, her shoes, and even tied her shoelaces.
Although there were some rather titillating moments in the process, Fumiya Jin, who was in a hurry for his appointment, had no time to savor them. All he felt was the exhaustion of being a father.
As for why she was so sleepy in the middle of the afternoon...
That really had nothing to do with Fumiya Jin.
The previous night, after dinner, Mashiro had suddenly said she wanted to do an oil painting and needed to buy supplies like a canvas and paper, and she wanted him to go with her.
Fumiya Jin considered that he'd wrung quite a few "benefit points" out of her, and besides, Miss Shiina was genuinely cute, so he went with her to the nearest shopping district and bought a set.
After that, Mashiro had holed up in her room to paint. The sounds of her painting continued even after he fell asleep... Fumiya Jin had no idea what she was painting.
When he went into her room earlier, the canvas was covered by a white dust cloth, and being in a hurry to get her up, he didn't have time to lift it and see.
Thinking back now, she had probably painted all night, which was why she was so drowsy today.
"Mashiro, wake up," Fumiya Jin said, gently shaking her.
This was the name Mashiro had asked him to use when they got home after buying the art supplies yesterday.
Before that, Fumiya Jin had mostly called her Miss Shiina.
But after she specifically brought it up, Fumiya Jin also thought that using her full name was a bit of a hassle.
Besides, their current relationship, while a bit strange, had undoubtedly crossed the line of ordinary friendship long ago.
At home, whenever they were together, they would naturally get clingy, with some casual touching and all that...
So, Fumiya Jin decided to accept Mashiro's suggestion and call her by her first name.
Mashiro finally woke up a little. She forced her eyes open, raised a hand to rub her sleepy eyes, but remained leaning against Fumiya Jin as if she had no bones: "So sleepy..."
"Mmm..." Mashiro mumbled drowsily, not wanting to wake up. Instead, she slid from his shoulder into his arms, looking like she wanted to go back to sleep.
Fumiya Jin had no choice but to shake her more forcefully. "Time to wake up, we have to take promotional photos. This is to promote Your Name.. You don't want the promotional efforts for this work to be affected, do you?"
"It shouldn't be too complicated. You can get a good sleep as soon as we're done and back home, okay?"
Faced with the girl's lazy and unguarded posture, Fumiya Jin couldn't help but adopt a gentle and indulgent tone.
"Okay..." the girl nodded obediently and reluctantly pulled herself out of his embrace, sitting up.
Fumiya Jin opened the car door, got out first, then extended a hand to the wobbly girl inside, helping her out of the vehicle.
But once she took his hand, the girl seemed to have no intention of letting go, even wrapping her other arm gently around his.
Fumiya Jin didn't mind. In her wobbly state, if he didn't hold onto her, she'd probably fall after just two steps.
The two of them walked towards the parking lot exit like this. They hadn't gone more than a few steps when they saw a kind-faced middle-aged woman approaching them.
It was Ms. Andou.
Her eyes lit up as she saw the state the two were in.
"Well, well... have our two little geniuses arrived?"
__
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