Chapter 38

The next day.
Whether it could be called a final break with his grandfather or not, Ryuichi was mulling over the conversation from the previous night.

“…Things got that messy, so I wonder if he’ll cut off my bare-minimum living expenses.”

It was a just-woken mind, but thinking about the future naturally cleared the sleep from his eyes. After an exchange like that, it would be wise to consider the possibility that the remittances he had been receiving up until now might be stopped.
At the very least, Ryuichi had saved up a fair amount of money. In the past, an older woman he had been involved with had handed him money as a way of thanking him for satisfying her.

“I haven’t really spent it, so it’s practically sitting there as surplus anyway. Besides…”

If push came to shove, he always had the option of dropping out of high school and working. Well, considering Ryuichi’s circumstances, it might turn out to be quite a thorny path, but the managers of the club and bar had told him time and again to come to them if he ever got into trouble, so working there might not be a bad idea.

“Snn… Ryuichi-kun…”
“…I’m… number one…”

Two types of sleep-talking drifted over from the side: one cute, and one foolish.
To his left was Shizuna, sleeping while clutching Ryuichi’s arm, and to his right was Chisa, in a goofy posture with her pajamas rolled up and her stomach exposed.

“…Geez, leave Shizuna aside, you’re going to catch a cold.”

Gently pulling his arm away from Shizuna, Ryuichi moved over to Chisa and pulled her pajamas back into place. There was no trace of the big-sisterly side she had shown yesterday, nor the reassuring presence she had provided for Ryuichi. Still feeling the chill perhaps because it was morning, she curled up around her blanket and stopped moving.

“Satsuki is… in the living room?”

The place they were currently in was Satsuki’s bedroom, where all four of them had huddled together to sleep yesterday. Seeing that Satsuki wasn’t there, she must have already been awake, and Ryuichi left the bedroom to head for the living room.

“Ah, good morning, Ryuichi-kun.”
“Morning, Satsuki. You were up first, huh?”
“Yes. The three of you were sleeping so peacefully that I just couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”
“Heh, one of them was snoring away, though.”

Guessing who that referred to, Satsuki placed a hand over her mouth and laughed.

“That’s terrible, Ryuichi-kun. She had a very cute sleeping face, didn’t she?”
“Well, I’ll admit that much, sure. That woman is genuinely… a good big-sister figure.”
“…Ryuichi-kun.”

Sitting in a chair, Ryuichi laughed as he said that, and Satsuki, likely recalling yesterday’s events, immediately approached him. Then, she grasped Ryuichi’s hand tightly with both of hers.

“…I can say with confidence that I’m loved by my father and mother. So I can’t fully understand all of Ryuichi-kun’s pain. But to the extent that I’m able, I can help put Ryuichi-kun at ease.”
“Hey now, sure yesterday ended like that, but I’m not thinking about any of it anymore, you know? If anything, my mind feels clear and light somewhere inside.”

Ryuichi’s words were no lie. There were trauma-inducing words that had served as the darkness in his heart and had been hurled at him time and time again.

“You’re not needed.”
“You should never have been born.”
“I don’t want to think of you as my son.”

Such words of self-denial had planted unhealing scars deep within his heart. Some people might say it’s all in the past so don’t worry about it, or that fretting over it forever is unmanly. Even so, to Ryuichi, those words were a curse that had wounded his younger self and continued to corrode him for years.

“Ryuichi is wanted by us. He is by no means an unwanted existence.”

Chisa’s words from yesterday resurfaced in his mind. He had never known the joy of being needed by someone like that. Yesterday, Ryuichi had wept from joy for the very first time. The moment when warm things had seeped into his chest courtesy of Shizuna, Chisa’s words and feelings had swept away the final pitch-black darkness.

“…I really realized how important human connections are after all. In the end, by intertwining my body with women, I was just indirectly venting my hatred toward that psycho hag. But recently, having a lot happen and getting to reflect on things… it made me truly realize that I’ve been saved.”

Though Ryuichi’s memories of this world didn’t mean his fundamental nature had completely flipped, a change had definitely occurred in his mindset. The Ryuichi of the original world had ultimately viewed women as mere objects until the very end, but anyone looking at him could tell that things were different now.

“More importantly, were you okay yesterday? It was the second time for Satsuki, but I feel like I pushed you pretty hard yesterday.”
“Ah… fufu, I’m fine. But I was surprised, you know? There are three of us, yet just how incredible are you, Ryuichi-kun?”
“Ah… well, I suppose that’s practically one of my strong points?”
“Fufu, it’s manly and wonderful ♪”

He didn’t think this could be called wonderful, but Ryuichi gave a wry smile. This was something that even Ryuichi himself was startled by, but the libido possessed by this body was truly staggering. Of course, he didn’t go around rutting like an ape on a daily basis, but once the switch was flipped, Ryuichi would take the initiative no matter if there were three partners.

(This body is just off the charts in various ways. Even if I say so myself, from my past life, something like this is unthinkable.)

Ryuichi shuddered anew at the high-spec nature of his own physique. That aside, Ryuichi let his gaze wander over Satsuki’s entire figure.

“Ryuichi-kun?”

She was dressed in a white knitted short-sleeved top paired with a black skirt. An overwhelming allure emanated from the clothing that embraced breasts larger than Shizuna’s or Chisa’s. If Ryuichi were in Akira’s shoes, he wryly understood that having such a seductive older sister around twenty-four/seven would indeed drive a guy mad.

“You really do have an erotic body, Satsuki.”
“…”

It was an utterly straightforward and tactless remark, but Satsuki dyed her cheeks a faint crimson and smiled happily.

“If other men or my brother said something like that to me, it’d be creepy, but coming from Ryuichi-kun, it makes me happy.”
“I can dish out words like that as much as you want.”
“And that’s what makes me happy. Hearing it from someone who has captivated not just my body, but my heart as well, makes me happier than anything else.”

At times like this, Ryuichi would sometimes wonder why such good women kept gathering around a guy like her—or rather, a guy like him. It was a bad habit of the current Ryuichi to think that way, even though they had clearly stated of their own accord that they were thoroughly captivated by him and wished to stay by his side.

“Ryuichi-kun, it was really fun having you come over yesterday. You even introduced me to Shizuna-chan, and I made a new friend.”
“Is that so. Then I’ll have to come by again. I can come for personal visits too, right?”
“Of course. Please do come visit.”

With a kiss planted on his cheek as if to carry those hopeful sentiments, Ryuichi spent the time there until a little past noon, after which they broke up for the day. Chisa mentioned she would relax a bit longer before heading home, and Satsuki seemed to agree to that as well. Although Ryuichi had been the catalyst, the two of them had grown remarkably close.

“Well then, see you both.”
“Let’s meet again. Chisa-san, Satsuki-san.”
“Yeah. See you two later.”
“Please do come visit again.”

At the parting of ways after exchanging those words, Ryuichi turned his gaze toward Chisa.

“Thanks for everything yesterday, seriously.”
“What are you talking about? It’s only natural for someone who knows you.”

Ryuichi and Chisa gazed at each other for a brief moment, broke into matching smirks, and slapped their hands together with a sharp snap. After that, Ryuichi departed the apartment alongside Shizuna.

“…How should I put it, that really was a great gathering.”
“It really was. I was so happy to meet Satsuki-san, and seeing the depth of Chisa-san’s feelings made me think I want to stay even stronger myself.”

Shizuna said this while hugging Ryuichi’s arm. Through yesterday’s events, Ryuichi’s mindset and his feelings toward them had grown even stronger. Above all, the one who had melted Ryuichi’s heart the most was Shizuna.

“Hey, Shizuna.”
“What is it?”
“Next time we have a day off, how about we head somewhere far away?”
“I’m going.”
“Ah, got it.”
“…!”

Shizuna abruptly cast her gaze downward. When Ryuichi asked what was wrong, Shizuna replied like this:

“Um… Ryuichi-kun’s smile was so bright… It’s making my heart race like crazy.”
“…”

He hadn’t intended to be quite that obvious, but apparently, the shift in Ryuichi’s state of mind was manifesting clearly enough for anyone to see. As they planned their outing together like this, Shizuna’s house came into view.

“See you later, Shizuna. Next time is when we go out together.”
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it.”

Exchanging those words, Ryuichi watched Shizuna’s back as she walked away. Gazing at that retreating figure, Ryuichi thought about how truly fun it had all been, while simultaneously feeling a slight pang of loneliness at parting ways like this.