Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, spilling across Shikime Natsu's face.
He opened his eyes, stretched lazily, and got up to wash up. Once he finished, his phone buzzed with a new message.
Who on earth would be texting this early in the morning?
Surely it wasn't Horikita Suzune? After all, he had essentially crashed her dream last night. If that dream of hers had continued uninterrupted, it might actually have turned into quite the pleasant fantasy by her standards.
But surely she wouldn't go so far as to bombard him with messages first thing in the morning, blaming him for disturbing her dream? What would that even be? Like dreaming you were assaulted, waking up, and then filing a police report against someone?
He checked the sender. It was Kamuro Masumi.
Shikime Natsu chuckled to himself, mildly impressed that she was up this early, and opened the message.
[Kamuro Masumi: Morning, Natsu. I'm outside your dorm room.]
The corner of his mouth curved up on its own.
They had only parted ways a short while ago last night, and here she was, already at his door first thing in the morning. Unable to wait even a little.
So this is what a girl in the throes of new love looks like.
Unexpectedly... clingy.
He walked to the entrance, gripped the door handle, and pulled it open.
Outside.
The beautiful girl with long purple hair was standing there quietly. The instant the door swung open, Shikime Natsu caught it clearly — that brief, involuntary flash of joy in her eyes.
It didn't last long, though. Kamuro Masumi seemed to realize she'd been too obvious. Slightly flustered, she slowly looked away, her cheeks tinting pink, wearing an expression that was just a touch shy.
"Good morning, Masumi," Shikime Natsu said with a warm smile.
"...Good morning, Natsu."
Kamuro Masumi gave a small nod.
"Come on in."
He stepped to the side to let her through. The two of them walked inside.
Shikime Natsu closed the door behind them and asked casually, "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"
Kamuro Masumi shook her head. "Not yet."
"Perfect timing, then."
He smiled. "Sit for a bit while I get something ready. What do you feel like? Toast, or something else?"
He turned to head toward the kitchen.
However.
Just as he took his first step, he felt it — a pair of small hands gently cupping his face.
Those little hands were slightly cool, carrying the crisp freshness of the early morning.
Shikime Natsu instinctively stopped. He started to turn his head in mild confusion.
Before he could even register what was happening, a delicate, pretty face filled his vision.
Kamuro Masumi rose up slightly on her tiptoes, eyes closed, and pressed her lips to his.
A light kiss.
Soft. Warm. Carrying that faint, sweet fragrance unique to her.
It didn't deepen — just the simple, gentle press of lips against lips.
After a moment, Kamuro Masumi slowly let go and took a step back.
Their eyes met.
Shikime Natsu looked at the girl before him — face flushed crimson, yet eyes sparkling brightly — and couldn't help but smile.
"Masumi..." he said. "I didn't know you'd already picked up the art of the surprise attack."
"This is..." Kamuro Masumi turned her head away shyly, fingers fidgeting with the hem of her clothes as she explained in a small voice. "...a morning kiss."
"A morning kiss, huh?"
Shikime Natsu let out a soft laugh, his tone laced with gentle teasing. "We only just had a goodbye kiss last night, and now you're already here with a good morning kiss?"
"Still..."
He reached out and gave her head a light ruffle.
"Getting such a wonderful gift first thing in the morning really does put a man in good spirits. Alright, go sit on the bed for a bit — breakfast will be ready soon."
With that, Shikime Natsu walked into the kitchen in high spirits and got to work.
Kamuro Masumi obediently settled onto the edge of his bed.
Her hands rested on her knees, posture prim and proper, but her gaze drifted. It lingered on the neatly made bed for a moment — she seemed to think of something, and her cheeks reddened a shade further. Then her eyes wandered over to the bookshelf beside it.
Shikime Natsu's bookshelf was packed full — all kinds of titles lined up from end to end.
Kamuro Masumi stood, walked over, and scanned the spines one by one.
The Long Season. Farewell, My Love. Rear Window... And there was the novel written by Shiina Hiyori's father, sitting alone on its own little row. The rest were mostly mystery and detective novels.
In the kitchen, Shikime Natsu was frying eggs. He glanced over his shoulder and caught Kamuro Masumi browsing the shelf.
"Looking for something to read, Masumi?" he asked, flipping the egg in the pan.
"Most of those were recommended by Hiyori — they're all leaning toward mystery fiction, but they're genuinely interesting."
None of them were library loans. Shikime Natsu had found returning borrowed books far too bothersome, so he'd simply used his ability — infinite printing — to produce his own copies. With his photographic memory, every word and punctuation mark was perfectly reproduced.
Hearing his voice, Kamuro Masumi — who had been absorbed in searching the shelf — went slightly rigid.
Her face flushed scarlet in an instant, like a perfectly ripened apple. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, pressing her lips tightly together.
Shikime Natsu watched her hesitant, unspoken expression with a mix of amusement and curiosity.
"What's wrong? Why's your face so red?"
He turned off the stove, plated the food, and walked over to stand behind her at the bookshelf.
"If there's a book you want, just say so. Even if I don't have it here, I can track it down for you."
That was one of his genuine advantages — any book that existed in the world, he could get his hands on.
"Though..."
He bent down slightly, bringing his face close to her ear, voice dropping to a murmur.
"If it's just a matter of finding a book... why are you blushing like that?"
His warm breath brushed against her ear. Kamuro Masumi felt like she might actually combust.
She turned around. Tilted her head up. Those violet eyes of hers were hazy now, misty at the edges — looking both innocent and heartbreakingly adorable.
She bit her lip. Then, finally summoning her courage, she said it in a voice barely above a whisper — a voice only the two of them could hear.
"I want... an erotic book."
"...Huh?"
Shikime Natsu froze completely.
Even he, for a brief moment, genuinely questioned whether his ears were working correctly.
Kamuro Masumi just said... what exactly?
An erotic book? That kind of book?
The Kamuro Masumi who always came across as slightly cold and tsundere?
Was actively asking for that kind of thing?!
The gap between image and reality was staggering.
Shikime Natsu, unable to fully believe it, asked again to confirm.
"Masumi... what did you just say you wanted?"
Kamuro Masumi's face had progressed well past red and into the territory of something liable to draw blood. But now that she'd already said it once, she squared herself mentally and repeated it:
"I said... I want that kind of book!"
This time, Shikime Natsu heard it with perfect clarity.
Those words had unmistakably come from Kamuro Masumi's own mouth. No room for doubt.
Seeing the stunned look on his face, Kamuro Masumi waved her hands in a panic, stumbling over her words to explain.
"Th-That's — don't misunderstand, Natsu!"
"I'm not some kind of weird person!"
"It's just..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller. Her eyes began darting everywhere.
"We were planning to... do that kind of thing soon, right? But I've never... learned anything about it, never looked into anything like it before..."
"And I heard that guys usually have those kinds of books in their rooms..."
"So I thought... maybe I could find one here... and mentally prepare myself a little..."
By the end, her voice had faded to almost nothing. She buried her face downward, completely unable to meet his eyes.
Ah. So that's what this is.
Shikime Natsu had a moment of sudden understanding — and then he burst out laughing. He couldn't help it.
This is way too adorable.
She actually came to browse his bookshelf for study materials before taking that step with him?
That clumsy, earnest approach of hers was genuinely irresistible.
"Masumi," he said, working hard to keep a straight face.
"I completely understand your desire to prepare. But... I don't have any books like that. Not in this room."
"And besides—"
He gestured at the neatly organized, entirely visible bookshelf.
"Even if I did have that kind of book, do you really think I'd be dumb enough to leave it out in the open where anyone could see it? If someone spotted it, my entire reputation would be ruined in an instant."
Kamuro Masumi blinked.
Then her face went even redder.
Right.
She really had been incredibly dense.
Of course something like that wouldn't be sitting out on the shelf in plain sight for anyone to stumble across. Obviously.
And considering how often other girls came by Shikime Natsu's room... if any of them had spotted something like that...
His image would have completely collapsed.
"Ugh..."
Kamuro Masumi pressed her hands over her face, mortified to her core. She felt genuinely, thoroughly idiotic.
Shikime Natsu watched her writhe in embarrassment and, still smiling, reached out and gently pulled her hands away from her face.
"It's fine, Masumi."
"Actually... you don't need to go through any of that."
He looked into her eyes, his tone shifting into something warmer, with a faint undercurrent of suggestion.
"Think about it. Theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience are completely different things."
"What you read in a book is just information on paper. It can't teach you what it actually feels like."
As he spoke, he leaned in a little closer. The distance between them shrank.
"The only way to truly understand... is to experience it yourself."
Kamuro Masumi's face immediately deepened in color.
Those already-hazy violet eyes grew even more misty and unfocused, making her look unbearably cute — and, in a helpless sort of way, dangerously appealing.
Looking at her like that, Shikime Natsu felt something stir in his chest.
But he also knew better than to push.
So he smiled again, and said gently:
"It's okay. There's no need to rush. Whenever you feel ready, we can—"
"There's no need to wait!"
Kamuro Masumi suddenly reached out and grabbed the hem of his shirt.
Cutting him off mid-sentence.
Shikime Natsu looked at her, mildly startled.
Kamuro Masumi drew in a deep breath — the look of someone making a momentous decision. She raised her head and met his eyes with unwavering resolve.
"We do need to rush! If we wait any longer, I think someone else is going to take your first time before me."
By the time she finished saying that, her face was hot enough to fry an egg on.
But she didn't back down. She followed it up at speed:
"Tonight. Come to my room!"
Having dropped that bombshell, Kamuro Masumi spun around like a startled rabbit, yanked the door open, and fled.
She didn't even manage to close the door properly behind her.
Thud.
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Shikime Natsu stood rooted in place, slightly dazed.
That escalated... rather quickly, didn't it?
He'd only been teasing her a little. Pointing out the difference between theory and practice.
And Kamuro Masumi, unable to find any erotic books to study from, had apparently decided to skip the theoretical preparation entirely and jump straight to practical application tonight?!
That's... impressively bold.
Still.
Since Kamuro Masumi had gone that far — had even issued a direct invitation to come to her room tonight — there was simply no way, as a man, that Shikime Natsu was going to back down.
He was absolutely going tonight.
After all.
This was his official girlfriend personally asking him over.
Refusing would be a failure of manhood, plain and simple.
"Though..."
He glanced at the two portions of still-steaming breakfast sitting on the table and shook his head with a helpless sigh.
"This breakfast... Masumi just wasn't going to eat it, huh?"
Right at that moment.
His pocket buzzed.
He pulled out his phone.
Of course it was from Kamuro Masumi.
[Don't bother making breakfast for me.]
[Also...]
[Don't come to my room before 10 PM tonight!!]
Reading that, Shikime Natsu broke into an outright laugh.
It seems...
The girl has quite a lot of preparations to make.
Psychological steeling, perhaps. Or other kinds of preparation entirely.
Understandable. It was her first time, after all. Nervousness and fluster were perfectly natural.
Shikime Natsu pocketed his phone and settled into his chair in a thoroughly good mood, beginning to work through the breakfast that had now become a solo meal.
Meanwhile, the Kamuro Masumi who had sent that message was still flushed pink all the way to her ears.
In truth, she hadn't planned to rush things like this. But...
She looked at her phone's contact list, at the name: Sakura Airi.
That girl put her under an unbearable amount of pressure.
Because of their shared connection to Shikime Natsu, the two girls — both of whom had their own intelligence networks — had inevitably come into contact. Kamuro Masumi knew that Sakura Airi was aware of Shikime Natsu's intention to build a harem, and that Sakura Airi had her own desire to monopolize him.
News of yesterday's shopping trip had already reached Sakura Airi. Last night, after Kamuro Masumi returned to her room, Sakura Airi had messaged asking whether she and Shikime Natsu were dating. That wasn't something you could hide, so Kamuro Masumi had confirmed it. After that, Sakura Airi had gone silent.
Kamuro Masumi knew perfectly well that Sakura Airi wouldn't take this lying down. Even knowing about the harem plan, Sakura Airi would almost certainly try to claim Shikime Natsu's first time for herself. That had been weighing on Kamuro Masumi's mind all of last night.
She was the first girlfriend. And in this particular matter, she had absolutely no intention of yielding.
She had originally thought she'd give herself at least a week to mentally prepare. But in her panic, she'd blurted out tonight, and now that she thought about it, she couldn't help but bury her face in her pillow.
Would Shikime Natsu think she was a terribly improper girl? It was only the second day of their relationship, and she was already thinking about this — and had even gone to his room to look for those kinds of books...
What is wrong with me. I feel like I've gotten stupider somehow...
On the other side, Shikime Natsu finished his breakfast with no intention of simply waiting around in his room until evening.
He cleared the dishes, gave the room a quick tidy, and headed out.
He'd barely made it out of the dormitory building when he spotted a petite girl standing at the base of the stairs.
____
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