Chapter 29

“Hey Ryuichi, I’ve got something to say to you.”
“What is it?”

It was the final day of the Golden Week holidays in early May, and the school break was drawing to a close. School would start up again tomorrow just like always. Ryuichi had planned to spend his last day off relaxing alone, but right at the very end, an unexpected visitor showed up. And she hadn’t come alone.

“I hope we’re not intruding, Ryuichi-kun…”

Satsuki was also standing there, looking up at him with a dejected expression. While Chisa showing up wasn’t particularly unusual, he never expected her to drag Satsuki along with her. True, Satsuki had asked him if they would meet again if she went back to the club, but he had never imagined in a million years that he would end up hosting her at his own place alongside someone he had just met.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that, Ryuichi. Isn’t having three people around much livelier and more fun?”
“This is my apartment, you know?”

It certainly wasn’t Chisa’s home, yet she had already popped open a can of beer and looked slightly tipsy. Satsuki was sipping a beer of her own, but unlike Chisa, she wasn’t drunk. Though Chisa had dragged her here, Satsuki seemed to feel a bit guilty, shrinking into herself out of sheer politeness.

“…Good grief. Today only, got it?”
“Understood. I’ll come visit again, though.”
“……”

It seemed talking sense into Chisa was a lost cause.
Well, even if she took over his room and drank his alcohol, Ryuichi had no particular intention of complaining now. He would just make her pay him back with something else instead.

“In that case, you can pay me back with your body later.”
“I know. Besides, I want you to hold me anyway.”
“Pfft!?”

Satsuki spat out the mouthful of beer she had been holding at Ryuichi and Chisa’s exchange.
She managed to clap a hand over her mouth just in time to avoid a full-blown spray, but a few stray droplets were leaking out from under her nose in an awkward mess. Ryuichi handed her a tissue without a word. A lady wouldn’t want anyone seeing her like this, and Ryuichi was capable of at least that much basic consideration.

“Th-thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”

Watching Satsuki blow her nose with a tissue, he couldn’t deny she had the adorable, timid charm of a small animal. With her bangs hiding her eyes, she still gave off that gloomy first impression, but her refined features and stunning figure more than made up for it.

“Satsuki really is a beauty, too, you know.”
“Hyoee!?”

Her startled squawk was ridiculous, but genuinely cute.
The old Ryuichi would have pounced on her the second she stepped foot inside his apartment, breaking her down in body and soul with the techniques he had cultivated. But his current self had zero intention of getting physical unless the other person was genuinely on board. Well, that was how a normal person operated, which just proved how abnormal past-Ryuichi had been.

“Right? Satsuki has such gorgeous facial features, so keeping them hidden away like that is just such a waste.”
“That’s… well… it’s just embarrassing.”

Clutching her beer can with both hands, Satsuki shrank into herself even further.
Satsuki was quite short, possessing a petite frame, yet the remarkably large breasts that seemed entirely disproportionate to her small body had undoubtedly attracted plenty of unwanted male desire over the years. In fact, Chisa had mentioned to Ryuichi earlier that Satsuki harbored a mild phobia or deep-seated awkwardness when it came to men.

(If she’s already uncomfortable around men, getting dragged to a place like that against her will must have been straight-up traumatizing.)

Though she hadn’t quite cut ties with that friend who dragged her there, she had at least mustered up the courage to start turning down sketchy invitations. Regarding that change, Satsuki had told him:

“You told me back then to say no when I’m uncomfortable, Ryuichi-kun. Ehehe, whenever I think of Ryuichi-kun’s words, it gives me courage.”

He hadn’t said it with the intention of encouraging her, but it seemed Satsuki drew strength from his words. Unintentionally or not, becoming someone’s pillar of support wasn’t a terrible feeling for Ryuichi.

“Ryuichi-kun is a kind person. I’ve always believed that.”

Shizuna had said the exact same thing about him.
He hadn’t seen her today, but he had practically spent the entirety of Golden Week glued to Shizuna’s side. She had spent their phone calls endlessly chattering about how she couldn’t wait for tomorrow and how badly she wanted to see Ryuichi already.

“Oh, that’s right, Satsuki. Didn’t you mention it earlier? Go on, ask him.”
“Eh?! N-No, wait, but… um… well…”
“Hm?”

At Chisa’s prompting, Satsuki began to panic.
She kept darting quick glances at Ryuichi, looking away the second their eyes met. The bright red flush blooming across her cheeks was clearly caused by more than just the alcohol. Facing Ryuichi as he tilted his head in confusion, Satsuki seemed to reach a sudden resolution and made an unexpected proposal.

“Um… I want you to hold me from behind. I heard from Chisa-san that being held in Ryuichi-kun’s arms makes you feel instantly safe and at ease, so…”

When Ryuichi looked over at Chisa, she nodded enthusiastically.

“This guy is unreal, seriously. Even though he’s younger, he’s got this… what do you call it? Boundless capacity. It’s like an instinctual realization of ah, so this is what a reliable man feels like.”
“Glad to hear you think so… Satsuki, you’re hammered, aren’t you?”
“I’m drunk. But… I still want you to do it.”

Meeting her pleading gaze, Ryuichi let out another sigh. Figuring it was just the rambling nonsense of a drunkard, Ryuichi beckoned Satsuki over anyway. The moment he did, a bright, happy smile lit up her face as she hurried over to his side.

“Sit here.”
“Y-Yes!”

Satsuki obediently lowered herself right into the space between Ryuichi’s legs as he sat cross-legged on the floor. Settling back with her spine pressed flush against his chest, she let out a soft sigh as Ryuichi wrapped his arms around her.

“Whoa… this is amazing.”
“Right? This guy is an absolute wizard of seduction, seriously. Such a dangerous man.”
“Don’t go calling me a menace…”

Well, Ryuichi was well aware that he possessed a natural knack for drawing women in. Aside from Shizuna, he rarely clicked with people his own age or younger, but older women like Chisa and Sakie tended to adore him. His sharp, delinquent resting face might intimidate people, but it apparently carried a certain contrasting charm of a younger boy underneath.

“This really isn’t my style at all. Hey Satsuki, you’re acting awfully defenseless right now. Do you have any idea what you’re inviting?”
“T-Tch…”

Whispering right against her ear made Satsuki’s entire body shudder.
Without a shred of hesitation, Ryuichi let his hand brush against her bountiful chest. He figured that if this frightened her enough, she would pull away and the joke would be over, but Satsuki made no move to escape. Instead, she let all the tension drain from her body, leaning her full weight trustingly against him.

“Look, Ryuichi, the moment this girl stepped into this apartment, she already made up her mind. Well, honestly, if I were in her shoes, I’d fall hard for someone who swooped in to save me like that, too.”

Hearing Chisa put it so bluntly, Ryuichi still didn’t feel any sudden compulsion to sleep with her just for the sake of it.

“Hey Satsuki, do you even realize what you’re getting into? I’ve got other women besides Chisa, you know? Granted, I’m not running around as wildly as I used to, but at my core, I’m still just a piece-of-trash guy.”

After listening to Ryuichi’s warning, Satsuki paused for a long moment before offering a quiet nod of acceptance.

“…Good grief. Why are the women who gravitate toward me always like this?”
“Ahaha, I’ve heard all sorts of stories from Shizuna-chan, and her situation sounds pretty wild too.”
“You could say that.”
“…Um!”

Satsuki suddenly raised her voice, cutting through their banter.
Ryuichi and Chisa blinked in shared surprise and turned to look at her. Her face was several shades redder than before as she blurted out:

“If there are already a lot of girls taking up your time, then adding one more shouldn’t be a problem, right?!”
“…Woah.”

Spoken with absolute, unwavering conviction, Ryuichi couldn’t help a dry laugh at how boldly straightforward she was being all of a sudden.

“…Women really are a mystery sometimes.”

With that, Ryuichi leaned in and captured Satsuki’s lips.
Before long, three naked bodies were tangled together across the mattress. Neither Ryuichi with his muscular physique nor the two women with their alluring curves hid a single inch of skin. It was a scene straight out of a man’s paradise, with Ryuichi sitting right at the absolute center of it all.

“How was it, Satsuki?”
“…t was incredible. Did I… was I screaming too loud?”

At Satsuki’s nervous, anxious question, Ryuichi and Chisa both exchanged a nod.
Looking like she was about to burst into tears, Satsuki didn’t bother hiding her face with the blanket. Instead, she buried her face straight into Ryuichi’s chest to muffle her embarrassment.

“Fufu, looks like Satsuki is completely head-over-heels for Ryuichi now, too.”
“…Yes. I’m completely head-over-heels.”

With her eyes swimming in a dreamy haze, Satsuki looked up at Ryuichi. Since she had pinned her bangs back with a hairpin, her striking beauty was fully exposed for the world to see; flashing a look like that at any college guy would guarantee endless misunderstandings.

“Don’t go showing that face to anyone else.”
“Okay.”

To be entirely honest, getting physically intimate this quickly after just meeting was abnormal, but Ryuichi was still Ryuichi through and through. He didn’t overthink it, and since everyone involved had consented and accepted it as their current reality, there was no reason to fret.

“I’m gonna go take a shower.”

Grabbing a fresh change of clothes, Chisa headed off toward the bathroom.

“…Ryuichi-kun.”
“Good grief, when you act like this, you really do seem like a little kid.”

Watching Satsuki rub her cheek affectionately against his chest like a pampered pet made it impossible to view her as anything other than a small, harmless animal. Amidst that pillow-talk atmosphere, however, Ryuichi recalled a lingering question he had been meaning to ask. A vague sense of déjà vu that had been bothering him for a while.

“Hey Satsuki, by any chance, do you have a younger brother?”
“I do? I have a younger brother who’s the exact same age as you, Ryuichi-kun… Why do you ask?”
“……………”

Figures, Ryuichi let out an internal sigh.
There was a boy with the surname Shirasaki in Ryuichi’s class, a guy who constantly hung around with Souhei. He had also been part of the group when Ryuichi ran into a disguised Shizuna out in the city.

“His name is Akira, by the way… Ah, come to think of it, doesn’t he go to the same high school as you, Ryuichi-kun?”
“…So that’s how it connects.”

It seemed his hunch had been spot-on.
And yet, another hazy, lingering memory continued to scratch at the back of his mind… though Ryuichi still couldn’t quite put his finger on it yet.