Yoshida offered the apology sheepishly. Toka's eyes widened, and she froze in place.
"Ara... A date with your girlfriend, is it?" Kaoruko's voice was a silken purr, a knowing smile curving her lips as she observed the scene.
"W-Well... something like that... ahaha..." Yoshida forced a dry, brittle laugh past the lump in his throat.
"In that case, you won't be staying for lunch today?"
"No. We've planned to meet after we've both eaten, so... if it's no trouble, I'd like to partake as usual."
"Fufufu... Understood. I shall have it prepared for you."
Kaoruko's smile remained placid, her agreement a smooth acceptance of his lie. Though the estate housed a full staff of servants, meals were typically taken only by Kaoruko and Toka.
To alleviate even a fraction of their solitude, Yoshida made it a point to seldom refuse their hospitality.
"Very well. I look forward to today's lesson, Hirokazu-sama."
With a graceful bow, Kaoruko glided from the room, the soft whisper of her kimono trailing behind her.
"Alright, let's get started, Toka-chan."
"Mmph..."
'Huh?'
Yoshida addressed the girl now seated at the study desk, but her only response was a petulant puff of her cheeks. She stared rigidly forward, her attention fixed on the open notebook before her. He had, of course, previously informed Toka of his relationship status.
After closing the door behind Kaoruko, he settled into the chair placed beside the desk.
The study materials were laid out, perfectly prepared—notebooks open, reference books at the ready—yet Toka refused to even pick up her pen.
"Um... I'd like to start whenever you're ready..."
His prompting was met with stony silence; Toka remained a statue of puffed-cheek defiance.
'Sigh... What am I supposed to do with her...?'
"Sensei..." she finally whispered.
"Hm?"
"On this date... after your lunch... will you be doing things like... kissing? And... lewd things?"
"Huh!?"
The sheer audacity of the question, spilling so bluntly from Toka's innocent lips, made Yoshida's jaw go slack. He snapped his gaze to her face; her expression was deadly serious, her eyes boring into his with an intensity that stole his breath.
"I-I mean... I suppose... depending on the mood, such things could happen. But it's not a foregone conclusion, you know!"
'Though, given that this is Nino's first time experiencing it all... sex is definitely happening.'
"So... if the mood is right, you will do them?"
"W-Well... Look, this conversation is inappropriate. Come on, let's just start the lesson."
He reached for the reference book, hoping to redirect the suffocating tension. Instead, Toka rose from her seat with a sudden, decisive motion.
"Toka-chan?"
"Even I...!"
"?"
Before he could question her, Toka's hands flew to the shoulders of her dress. In one fluid, shocking motion, she pulled it down, the fabric pooling at her feet with a whisper of cloth.
"H-Hey—!?"
Yoshida's head snapped to the side, his eyes instinctively averting from the sudden expanse of bare skin.
"What are you doing all of a sudden!?"
"Please... Sensei... look at me..."
"No! That's not—!"
"Please!"
The desperate, heart-wrenching plea in her voice made him falter. His resolve to look away crumbled. Slowly, against every screaming instinct of propriety, he turned his head back toward her.
There stood Toka, her spine ramrod straight despite the vivid blush staining her cheeks. She was clad only in her underwear—a set of pure, virginal white.
The bra cupped breasts that seemed impossibly full for a girl her age, the swell of them straining against the innocent fabric. A tiny red ribbon adorned the front of her panties, a single childish detail that only served to accentuate the mature, womanly curves of her hips and thighs.
As he had suspected, the generous swell of her chest seemed to eclipse even that of the quintuplets.
"How is it...? Does seeing me like this... make your heart beat even a little bit faster?"
She stepped closer, her hands rising to gently cup his cheeks. The warmth of her palms seared his skin.
"Ah... y-yeah..."
"Fufufu... I'm so happy... Just like this... won't you please... take my first time?"
Her face drew nearer, her lips parting slightly.
"Absolutely not! You know I have a girlfriend!"
Yoshida's hands shot up, gripping her bare shoulders to hold her at bay.
"Please...! Just once...! Once is all I ask...!"
Even as he pushed, Toka resisted, her voice a frantic, desperate entreaty.
"I am the only daughter of the Hojoin family. Someday, I will be made to welcome some man I do not know, a political match I cannot refuse. So... please! At the very least...! At least let my first time be with the one I love...! That is my most fervent, desperate wish...!"
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks now, her confession a raw, bleeding wound laid bare before him.
'Damn it...' He thought.
...
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