In the bathroom.
In the steaming hot bathtub.
Yuki Suou was soaking in the water with a lost and bewildered expression, leaning back against a human pillow. Her watery eyes were slightly dazed, exuding a sense of questioning all her life choices.
After a long while, she finally whispered, "Is this... right?"
"Yes, yes, yes, it is." A voice responded from behind her.
The girl snapped back to her senses, and with it came anger.
Turning her head, she glared fiercely at Fumiya Jin. "Right, my foot! Of course you'd think it's right, you beast! You've never even confessed, we haven't gone on a date or anything, and then suddenly... you just..."
"There was nothing I could do. I gave you a chance, didn't I?" Fumiya Jin said, wrapping his arms around the girl's soft body and lowering his head to gently press his chin against her smooth, delicate shoulder. "You didn't run away yourself, so what was I supposed to do?"
"Don't give me that! You clearly did all of this on purpose! You were deliberately baiting me, you think I couldn't tell?" The very clever Miss Suou, having calmed down now, had evidently figured out the entire sequence of events. "You absolutely planned this all out in advance. You'd already decided you were going to... to do that to me, right?"
"Who knows?" Fumiya Jin smiled noncommittally. "What's done is done. Let's just enjoy the bath for now."
"You... Aaaah... I'm so mad! How did I fall for your stupid trick?!"
Yuki Suou's defenses were crumbling. She was furious and flustered, but had nowhere to vent her frustration.
After a moment's thought, she simply turned around and bit down hard on Fumiya Jin's shoulder.
It was a pretty hard bite.
"I'll bite you to death, you big pervert!"
Fumiya Jin, however, endured the pain without a sound. Instead, he gently stroked her back. "Easy now, easy now. Even if you bite him, he's still your husband."
Those words made Yuki Suou tremble slightly.
She looked up, gazing at Fumiya Jin with a forlorn expression. "You have the nerve to call yourself my husband... Shameless. Especially after using such dirty tricks..."
"If being shameless is what it takes to get the adorable Miss Suou as my wife, I believe no man could refuse. I certainly can't," Fumiya Jin said, gently stroking her smooth back.
"You... You think a few sweet words right now will appease me and make me forget this ever happened?" Yuki Suou pouted. "Aren't you oversimplifying things a bit?"
"Not at all. I'm just saying what I truly think," Fumiya Jin said, looking at Yuki Suou with a serious expression. "Miss Suou is just so incredibly cute."
Seeing his serious face and hearing those words, Yuki Suou felt a damnably pleasant, even sweet, feeling bubble up inside her...
She bit her lip.
So infuriating.
But this time, she wasn't mad at Fumiya Jin.
She was mad at herself.
"Hey, you..."
"Yes?"
"Say... say something more..."
"Say what?"
"Just... what you just said... the things you truly think... Say a little more. It has to be the truth!"
"Oh, that... Alright," Fumiya Jin laughed. Cradling the supple girl in his arms, he brought his lips close to her ear and began whispering words of praise and affection.
...
The bath lasted for half an hour.
By the time Fumiya Jin and Yuki Suou dried off and emerged from the bathroom, the clock showed it was already past seven. Both of their stomachs were starting to growl.
The two returned to the living room. Fumiya Jin helped the girl to the sofa, but then he suddenly noticed that the long main sofa was covered in a few too many wet spots to be sat on, so he had her sit on the side sofa instead.
At this moment, Yuki Suou's body was not yet completely dry, making it unsuitable for her to change back into her school uniform. So, Fumiya Jin gave her one of his own T-shirts to wear as a temporary bathrobe.
The same T-shirt looked quite oversized on the girl's slender frame, reaching halfway down her thighs.
But the pair of long, fair, and tender legs beneath it were incredibly eye-catching, whetting one's appetite at a single glance.
Yuki Suou glanced at the obvious wet patches on the main sofa, and her cheeks, already pink from the hot bath, turned an even deeper shade of red.
Moreover, a certain suggestive aroma hung quite noticeably in the air.
"You rest here for a bit, I'll go make dinner," Fumiya Jin said. "The three of us can eat together tonight."
Hearing the words "three of us," Yuki Suou finally remembered the other resident upstairs.
The thought of this person coming down for dinner later made her expression change slightly...
Wait a minute, if she comes down later and sees this situation...
"It's fine, Mashiro probably won't mind," Fumiya Jin said after a moment's thought.
"How could she not mind?" Yuki Suou found this hard to believe.
Just then, a flash of inspiration struck her mind. She recalled the stories Fumiya Jin had told her before about what had happened between him and Miss Shiina.
At the time, Yuki Suou had thought he was just joking, just running his mouth, and hadn't taken it seriously at all.
And that judgment was based on the premise that she "didn't think he was that kind of person."
But now, her opinion of him had changed—he wasn't even a person anymore!
Therefore, the conclusion drawn from that earlier judgment instantly crumbled.
Yuki Suou suddenly put two and two together. She turned to Fumiya Jin and asked, "Wait, what you said before, about the things that happened between you and that Miss Shiina... they weren't... real, were they?"
Fumiya Jin's expression became a bit strange. "Which things are you referring to?"
He didn't answer directly.
And that, in itself, was an answer.
Yuki Suou understood at once, and her face darkened.
She shot to her feet.
Enduring the slight tearing pain, she grabbed Fumiya Jin by the collar. "You'd better be joking!"
"Don't make a scene, I'm going to cook for you," Fumiya Jin said, holding her.
"Cook my foot! I'm already full from being so mad at you, you big scumbag!"
"You can't say that. I clearly let you go, you were the one who refused to leave..."
"You're still saying things like that?! I... I'm gonna bite you to death!"
...
...
The next day.
Saturday.
The Ijichi sisters' rented apartment.
Even though it was a day off, Nijika Ijichi woke up a little after six and couldn't fall back asleep.
But it was too early, and she felt it wasn't appropriate to do anything yet.
So, she lay in bed, forcing herself to wait until seven-thirty before she finally took out her phone and sent a message to the group chat.
This was the LINE group that Fumiya Jin had created after returning from Yuki Suou's house last Sunday.
Currently, there were only the three of them in the group.
"When should we meet up? Should I head over now?"
Less than half a minute later, she saw Fumiya Jin's reply.
"Let's meet at my place at two in the afternoon. I have something to take care of in the morning."
When Nijika Ijichi saw this message, she stiffened slightly, a faint trace of disappointment appearing on her face.
Pursing her lips, she murmured to herself, "Not until the afternoon... That's so long..."
And just as she let out a small sigh, wondering how to get through the painfully long morning...
Knock, knock, knock—
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Not her bedroom door.
But the front door of the apartment.
___
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