Chapter 314 Ichinose Honami: I'll Only Become More Dependent on You
At 2:00 PM, Shimizu Akira finally finished drafting his gift list using a spreadsheet.
Kushida Kikyo loved dressing up and valued appearances; a high-quality, stylish scarf should be a good choice.
Horikita Suzune disliked flashy, impractical items and loved reading; a hardcover mystery novel would work.
Kamuro Masumi had a cold personality and preferred solitude; a pair of noise-canceling headphones...
Following this logic, he finalized the categories first, which would make shopping much more efficient. He at least had a clear direction, though specific styles and colors would have to be chosen on-site.
He checked his current balance. With the 1.5 million points transferred by Kanzaki Ryuji this month, added to his original 26 million, he had a total of roughly 27.5 million private points. With this much capital, he didn't have to worry about going bankrupt over Christmas gifts.
Just as he threw on his coat to head out, the doorbell rang.
Opening the door, he found Ichinose Honami standing there. Today, she wore a light beige turtleneck sweater with a dark brown plaid skirt and a cream-colored knit scarf. Compared to her usual slightly sexy attire, this outfit leaned more toward warmth and maturity—it was deep winter, after all.
Come to think of it, Hoshinomiya-sensei probably hadn't given her any "ideas" this time.
"Akira-kun!" Upon seeing him, Ichinose naturally opened her arms and leaned in for a gentle hug.
"What's wrong, Honami? Did something happen to upset you?"
Akira thought she might be in trouble and quickly patted her head.
"N-no! Nothing like that..." Ichinose buried her face in his shoulder, her voice muffled, though the tips of her ears were slightly red.
"It's just... I missed you a little."
Even though they had seen each other yesterday morning, it had been over a month since they had been this close. Akira took her hand, and the two sat down on the edge of the bed.
"If you miss me, feel free to come see me anytime."
"But... won't I be bothering you, Akira-kun?"
"You're overthinking it. Absolutely not." Akira shook his head and asked, "By the way, has the Student Council been busy lately?"
He remembered meeting Asahina Nazuna a few days ago and asked casually.
"Yes, very busy. Actually, I only have this one afternoon off. I have to go back to work tonight. I'll have to work overtime tomorrow and the day after as well," Ichinose replied softly, holding his hand.
"Overtime on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?"
"Mhm. During the holidays, many shops put up lights, ribbons, and bells. The Student Council has to check the wiring and facility safety of every single shop. It's easy for accidents to happen if something goes wrong. I remember during summer break, an elevator malfunctioned... Vice President Kiriyama emphasized that we must do a thorough inspection over the next two days."
"I see..." Akira understood immediately.
Japan placed great importance on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; since it was a holiday, many students would be out shopping and eating. The school didn't have a police force or a specialized department, so these safety checks naturally fell to the Student Council.
It was necessary to eliminate any potential hazards.
Wait, the elevator accident... that must be the one involving Sakura Airi, Hasebe Haruka, Shiina Hiyori, and Ibuki Mio. It seemed Vice President Kiriyama Ikuba was quite serious about safety.
'Wait? Is this guy... actually a reliable, good person?'
Ichinose blinked.
"Also, since I won't have much free time tomorrow or the day after... I wanted to give you my gift early." She took an elegantly wrapped gift box from her bag.
"However, Akira-kun, could you wait until tomorrow to open it?"
Akira took the box and felt its weight—it felt like a book or a thick notebook.
"I understand. Thank you, Honami. I'll wait until tomorrow night to open it."
He added with a hint of apology, "But, I actually haven't bought your gift yet."
Ichinose looked at him.
"It's fine! I was the one who broke the rules first, so you've done nothing wrong, Akira-kun." Traditionally, Christmas gifts were exchanged on December 24th or 25th.
"More than a gift... Honami, thank you so much for yesterday morning." Akira gently squeezed her hand.
"If you hadn't arrived in time, Ryuen wouldn't have left Class C so quickly."
Ichinose pressed his hand against her cheek.
"It was just a small thing. Besides, I only said what you told me to say. Furthermore..." Her tone became serious. "Ryuen-kun went too far. It was complete nonsense, slandering Kushida-san's reputation like that. Even if you hadn't messaged me, I wouldn't have sat idly by."
Akira brushed a stray hair away from her ear. Actually, this time Ryuen was wrongly accused. What he said about Kushida Kikyo was actually true. It was just that because his reputation was so foul, everyone assumed he was talking trash.
"Oh, right!" Having her earlobe accidentally brushed by his palm made Ichinose's cheeks flush. She took out her phone.
"Akira-kun, I forgot to transfer this to you last month, so I'm adding it to this month—two months' worth!"
Akira froze and was about to pull back his right hand from her face, but Ichinose gently pulled on his arm. It seemed she didn't want him to let go. He used his left hand to check his phone; the screen lit up with a notification for a 300,000 private point transfer.
"Honami? This is...?"
"Akira-kun." Seeing his confused look, Ichinose couldn't help but giggle. "It's the 150,000 points Class B promised you every month after the island exam! How did you forget that? Hehe."
Right! Akira finally remembered. Class B was supposed to transfer 150,000 points to him every month as part of the agreement for helping them take second place in the deserted island exam. However, as his personal points accumulated to such high levels, he had completely forgotten about it.
"Akira-kun, I think you care about me too much." Ichinose looked at him earnestly.
"I want you to keep 'me' and 'Class B' separate. While I always hope you'll join Class B and give us advice to make us better... I don't want you to take a loss regarding Class B because of me. If that happened, I would feel terrible."
She leaned forward slightly.
"So, no matter what, that 150,000 points must be given to you every month. If Class B ever treats you unfairly in the future, I will personally compensate you."
'I have to ask, how can there be such a good girl in this world?'
Akira's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily. Was she an angel? His right hand subconsciously tightened its hold. Ichinose seemed to sense his intent; her eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly closed her eyes.
The room fell into silence. Akira leaned down and gently covered her lips with his. He intended for it to be brief, as this was just the beginning. But in the next second, Ichinose actively responded. A warm sensation spread between them.
After a while, Ichinose slowly pulled away, her lips curling into a slight smile.
Finally... she was in an intimate rhythm with Akira again. She had tasted him once more.
"Akira-kun, sorry... I can only stay for about half an hour today. After this, I have to go buy gifts, and I have to handle things with Katsuragi-kun."
Her voice was soft and full of reluctance.
"Um... for this time, what would you like me to do? Should we start with the thigh-touching again? Like before, I'll take off one side of my stockings...?"
Looking at her proactive spirit of "sacrifice," Akira felt an immediate physiological reaction. 'This person... why is she tempting me again?'
But after a moment's thought, he just reached out and ruffled her hair.
"How about you leave this half-hour to me?"
"To you?" Ichinose was stunned, her face flushed.
"I-I understand..." It was true—the last few times they were intimate, she had been the proactive one. As a boy, Akira surely wanted a turn to lead.
Before she could fully process it, she saw Akira walk to the bed, go behind her, and gently place his hands on her shoulders.
"I noticed you've been twisting your neck and moving your legs while sitting. It's from being in the Student Council office too long, right? Your neck and shoulders... they're a bit sore?"
"Ah, yes! The Student Council has been so busy lately..."
"You've been too tired recently. The second semester just ended, the Paper Shuffle just wrapped up, and Student Council work started immediately. You came to see me today because you wanted to make me happy... but seeing you like this makes me worried."
"For today, let me serve you a little. Let me help you relax. Tell me if I press too hard."
Akira spoke as he massaged her shoulders with a steady technique. Honestly, as a guy, he certainly wanted to be intimate with Honami. It had been over a month, after all.
But from the moment she walked in, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and her unmistakable fatigue.
Tomorrow and the day after, she had to work. Honami was exhausted. When a partner is unwell, a mature man needs to exercise restraint.
The first two times, Honami took care of him, letting him rest his head on her lap. Now... it was his turn to let her rest.
Ichinose felt the soreness in her shoulders dissipate significantly. She really had been busy these days... and Akira had noticed. He was always looking out for her.
Akira massaged her for over ten minutes, then gently guided her to the bed, letting her lie on his pillow.
"By the way, Honami, have you prepared gifts for your other classmates yet?"
"That... not yet. Actually, I planned to go buy them right after leaving your room."
"Your schedule is way too packed." Akira was speechless. The poor girl had a mountain of tasks ahead of her.
"Do you at least have a list and a plan for what to buy?"
"I have a list! It's all organized... uh, that was one of the reasons I stayed up late last night."
"Send it to me. I'll buy them for you."
"Eh? But..."
"Don't worry." Akira seemed to see through her hesitation.
"I'll stay on a video call with you the whole time and pick them out according to the list. You just have to speak through the screen, so you're still the one choosing—I'll just be your 'personal courier.' During that time, you just lie here in my room and rest for a bit. How about it?"
Ichinose looked at him blankly.
"Akira-kun... you're too cunning." She buried her face into the pillow. "If you do this, I'll only become more dependent on you."
"Then don't leave." Akira said it naturally, as if stating a simple fact. He took out his phone and opened the video call interface.
"Come on, send me the list. Let me scan it first."
Ichinose sniffled and took out her phone, sending over an Excel sheet filled with notes. Akira took a quick look—good grief, there were dozens of names, ranging from classmates to Student Council colleagues and even several upperclassmen. Each person had keywords for their preferences and a budget range, some even with backup options.
"...You even listed the P.E. teacher?" Akira pointed to the line: XXX-sensei: Muscle Massage Gun (Budget: 3,000 points).
"Because Onizuka-sensei helped me move documents last time..." Ichinose explained quietly. "And he said his shoulders were stiff lately."
Akira shook his head.
"Your shoulders are stiff too, you know! Just relax for now!"
When he stepped out of the dorm and reached the entrance of Keyaki Mall, he stopped and checked his phone. On the video call screen, Ichinose was lying obediently on the pillow,
showing only half her face and a pair of bright eyes. The background was the ceiling of Akira's room; she looked like a small animal tucked into its nest.
Wait—the coat she was using as a blanket, wasn't that the one she "borrowed" from him last time? ...Whatever, ignore it for now.
In the sports store, Akira found the massage gun according to her instructions. He held up two colors to the camera. "Black or dark blue?"
"Black, please. It suits Onizuka-sensei better," Ichinose's voice came through the earphones.
"Got it." Akira put the black one in the cart and moved to the next area.
"Next... cute socks for Hoshinomiya-sensei. Embroidered logo or printed?"
"Embroidered! The quality is better and the color won't fade as easily."
"Roger that."
And so, Akira navigated the mall with the shopping cart, following Ichinose's clear instructions. She seemed to know everyone's preferences perfectly: Shiranami Chihiro liked subtly scented hand cream, Kobashi Yume needed a scarf long enough to cover her ears...
Occasionally, when faced with a tough choice, Akira would point the camera directly at the product for Ichinose to judge. She would study it seriously for a few seconds before giving an accurate answer. Two hours later, the cart was overflowing.
As Akira pushed the cart toward the checkout, Ichinose's voice came through the earphones, sounding a bit dazed. "Akira-kun... how many people are left?"
"Last two. Cute stickers for Asahina-senpai, and..." Akira paused.
"A thermos for Vice President Kiriyama. Which color? Matte black, dark gray, or navy?"
Ichinose's voice grew fainter.
"Black... the Vice President... suits..."
"Honami?"
The only response was the sound of steady, peaceful breathing. Akira softened his movements and scanned the final items.
Looking at the screen, Ichinose had indeed fallen asleep, her face pressed into the pillow, her lips slightly upturned. It looked like she was having a good dream.
Only then did he end the call.
-
-
-
The snow started falling harder. Akira looked at the several bulging shopping bags at his feet and felt a headache coming on. There was too much stuff; he had bought gifts for dozens of people at once.
Just then, he saw Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, hair messy and looking like he just woke up, strolling into Keyaki Mall. Ayanokouji saw him and was about to wave when Akira's eyes lit up.
"Perfect timing, Ayanokouji! Help me carry these bags back to the dorm. I owe you a meal."
Ayanokouji gave him a "dead fish eye" stare. He had just come out to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere, only to get saddled with a major chore. But since it was a request from Akira, he nodded.
He silently picked up the two heaviest bags and turned toward the dorms.
Akira watched his back and smiled. He didn't feel bad about it; between friends, this level of mutual aid was normal.
He turned back to his own list and started picking out gifts for Kikyo and the others. It took another forty or fifty minutes to finish his own shopping.
On the other end, Ayanokouji had sent a photo: all the bags were neatly piled at Akira's dorm door. Akira headed back with his own bag of gifts. When he moved all of Ichinose's gifts into his room, she was still sleeping soundly. Her posture hadn't changed, except she had curled into the blanket more tightly.
Akira organized the gifts by category, went to the bathroom to wet a towel with warm water, wrung it out, and gently placed it on the side of Ichinose's neck. She hummed unconsciously and her lashes fluttered, but she didn't wake up. Akira sat at the desk, took out his winter homework, and decided to start with math. He had to do an hour of homework every day, after all!
The snow continued outside. It wasn't until after 6:00 PM that Ichinose slowly woke up. She blinked blankly at the ceiling before bolt sitting up.
"What time is it?! Did I oversleep—eh?"
She saw the mountain of bags in the corner, the navy gift box and white bag sitting on the desk, and finally her eyes landed on Akira, who was writing his homework.
"...Akira-kun?"
Akira turned around.
"Awake? Perfect timing. All the gifts are bought. Want to check them?"
Ichinose slid off the bed and ran barefoot to check the bags. With every item she pulled out, her eyes brightened.
"The massage gun, towels, hand cream, bookmarks... they're all correct! And you even put name tags on all of them! And sorted them by class! This saves me so much trouble!"
"Your list was excellent." Akira closed his workbook. "Hungry? I bought bento; I can heat it up."
"I am!" Ichinose nodded vigorously, then remembered.
"Ah, but I have to go back to the Student Council. Vice President Kiriyama said we have a short meeting tonight..."
"I asked Asahina-senpai; yours starts at seven!" Akira stood up and walked to the microwave. "You still have half an hour."
The bento was chicken cutlet rice from the mall's food court. Once heated, the aroma filled the room, and they sat at the small table by the bed to share the meal. Ichinose ate quickly, clearly famished.
"Slow down." Akira moved his chicken cutlet to her plate. "Don't choke."
Ichinose chewed with puffed cheeks for a while, then whispered after swallowing, "Akira-kun... thank you for today."
"For what?"
"Everything." She put down her chopsticks and looked at him seriously.
"Thank you for the massage, for buying the gifts, for the bento... and," she pointed to the small white bag, "is that for me?"
"Mhm. But you can't open it now. Wait until tomorrow."
"Akira-kun really follows the rules."
"A promise is a promise." Akira packed away the bento boxes.
"It's about time. I'll walk you to the Student Council building. It's snowing hard and cold tonight; keep warm."
Hearing this, Ichinose's eyes grew watery again. Today... she had been cared for by Akira the entire time. Usually, she was the one taking care of him.
"Akira-kun, you're too good to me... I feel like I don't deserve this much care."
"Don't say that, Honami. I'm the one who should apologize. The thing with Kikyo and Masumi... it must have been hard for you. I should be apologizing to you instead."
"Mhm... I told you before, it's not your fault." She shook her head gently.
"It's because you're so excellent that so many people are naturally attracted to you. And you... can't bear to hurt anyone, so you chose that way."
Over a month ago, Akira had told her about dating both Kushida Kikyo and Kamuro Masumi.
Just as she said now, Ichinose didn't blame him; instead, she had already made up excuses for him. Akira felt quite guilty hearing this.
She was likely the only girl among them who hadn't gotten angry upon hearing about his "harem" plan. Her personality was just too good!
"Actually... at first, I thought you and Kushida-san were dating. So when I found out the truth, it might have actually been good news for me." she said softly.
"I'm the newcomer. And even if you only intended to date one person... given my feelings for you then, I might not have been able to stop myself from trying to interfere. I might have hurt the girl you liked. So, I actually feel like I need to apologize to Kushida-san and Kamuro-san too."
Akira reached over to pull up her coat zipper.
"No need. You've done enough for those two." He really felt her words were an exaggeration. Whether it was Class B helping Masumi by leaking questions or Honami rushing over to chase away Ryuen for Kikyo—hadn't she done enough? Interference? Impossible. He just treated it as sweet talk.
But Ichinose knew she wasn't lying. She leaned in toward Akira and whispered, "Akira-kun... I want you to keep touching my face. Stroke my cheeks, ruffle my hair... I really like it when you do that to me."
"Okay." Akira smiled. After spending time with her, he realized Honami was surprisingly good at acting spoiled and initiating intimacy.
Akira reached out, his palm pressing against her cheek. Her skin was fine and cool, like high-grade porcelain.
He stroked her cheek with his thumb, then her earlobe, and finally slid his fingers into her soft hair, smoothing it out stroke by stroke. Ichinose closed her eyes like a cat being petted, letting out a soft hum. She tilted her head slightly, burying her face deeper into his palm.
"Akira-kun's hand... is so warm," she murmured.
"You're dressed a bit light." Akira used his other hand to pull her collar tighter. "Remember to wear more next time you come out."
"Mhm... I will!" she replied, but didn't move.
After a few minutes, Ichinose checked the time and finally let go of his hand reluctantly.
"Next time... next time I will definitely pay you back! This time I didn't do enough, letting you take care of me all day... next time I'll definitely make you feel great! When I'm free during winter break, I'll ask Hoshinomiya-sensei for some new 'knowledge.' I definitely won't lose to the other girls."
'Wait, what does "new knowledge" mean? Is it what I think it means?! Honami, you're too good at this! Too proactive!'
It took another ten minutes for Akira to help move all her gifts to the dorm entrance. As they said goodbye in the hallway, they unexpectedly ran into Shiranami Chihiro.
"Shimizu-kun... good evening." Her voice was quiet, but she initiated the greeting.
"Good evening, Shiranami."
Akira waved at her before heading downstairs. After the help during the sports festival, Chihiro could now greet him naturally. But he wondered... did she still like Ichinose? What would her reaction be if she knew about his relationship with Honami? Another headache waiting to happen!
Back in his dorm, Akira organized his own gifts. Nothing seemed to be missing. He shouldn't be in a rush tomorrow.
Just then, his phone rang. It was Horikita Manabu.
"Shimizu, come find me tomorrow morning at ten. I'll be waiting for you on the first floor of Keyaki Mall. I assume you haven't forgotten the favor you owed me from the first month. It's time to fulfill your promise."
With that, he hung up, giving Akira no time to respond.
Horikita Manabu was as decisive as ever, hating wasted words. The former President's favor—the surveillance camera rental? Finally, it was time to pay it back.
It almost certainly had to do with opposing Nagumo Miyabi.
Read ahead (160 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting