Vol. 9 Chapter 3.1 – Shima Natsumi Is Loved

This is a combine Chapter of 3.1 , 3.2 & 3.3

Shima-san’s Potential

Several days had passed since the chaotic harem-member draft meeting.

It was eleven in the morning, on a day during summer vacation when I originally wasn’t supposed to have any plans.

I was standing in front of the statue near the station of some middle-aged guy with a small mustache whose identity I honestly had no idea about──commonly known as the Chobi Statue──while looking at my smartphone.

As more girls joined the harem, the number of exchanges on social media increased. Even though I found it kind of troublesome, I couldn’t stop the slight grin from creeping onto my face.

Exchanging messages with girls like this was something I never could have imagined doing until just a little while ago.

Just following the timeline was already pretty fun in its own way, but lately everyone had started competing with one another to send me pictures.

A lot of them were photos taken in the bath or sexy shots of them wearing rather revealing underwear.

I figured they were probably trying to appeal to me to call them into the bedroom.

But, of course, it wasn’t everyone.

I never got anything like that from Shiratori-san and for some reason Kei-chan only ever sent me pictures of sweets.

And then there was Shima-san. For some reason, all she ever sent me were pictures of Tashiro-san. Old and new ones mixed together. There were pictures of Tashiro-san from when she was in elementary school, as well as recent ones.

They weren’t sexy shots or anything like that, either. Just normal pictures of Tashiro-san looking cute.

‘Shima-san seriously likes Tashiro-san way too much…’

Anyway, as for what I was doing in a place like this, the truth was that I had gotten a message from Masaki-chan last night.

『Fumio-kun, please! Go on a date with Natsumi-chan tomorrow!』

I didn’t know the reason but I didn’t have any plans anyway, so I agreed.

Shima-san was part of Masaki-chan’s faction now and knowing how caring Masaki-chan was, maybe she was worried about Shima-san, who, contrary to her cheerful personality, was actually rather reserved.

Once I said okay, she immediately sent me the meeting place, time, and even a detailed date plan.

Calling her caring didn’t even begin to cover it.

‘That’s so like Masaki-chan, or… how should I put it…’

As I continued staring at my smartphone for a while, Shima-san appeared.

She was wearing a sleeveless blouse with a long linen skirt.

The earth-tone coordination made her look a little more mature, and she was really cute.

Her makeup was natural, but since she normally went without any makeup at all, seeing her wearing some felt incredibly refreshing.

“Did you dress up for me?”

When I asked that, she blushed and looked away.

“W-Well… even I wanna have ya think I’m cute…”

“Yeah. You’re cute, Natsumi.”

“W-Wait… S-Stop it! That’s embarrassing, I’m tellin’ ya!”

Watching Shima-san turn bright red and repeatedly make strange, incomprehensible movements somehow brought a smile naturally to my face.

×××

“Mm-hmm, looking good, Shima! The Confinement King is completely smitten with you! See that?! First Favored Consort, Shima really can do it when she tries!”

“Hatsu-chan, you’re getting way too excited. They’re going to notice us.”

I──Haneda Masaki──was hiding together with Hatsu-chan behind the signboard of a pachinko parlor in front of the station, secretly watching Fumio-kun and the others.

The fact that the two of us were wearing sunglasses as disguises probably made us look extremely suspicious, but well, this sort of thing was all about getting into the mood.

Officially speaking, the story was that Natsumi-chan had said,『I’ve never gone out alone with a boy before』so I decided to arrange a date for her.

Hatsu-chan had a boyfriend named Hiratsuka-kun until fairly recently and even though I had never actually dated anyone myself, I had at least gone to the movies or an amusement park with boys before.

So the fact that Natsumi-chan had absolutely no experience like that was honestly quite surprising.

“But are you really okay with this, First Favored Consort?”

“With what?”

“If the Confinement King realizes how cute Shima is, he might start doting on you less often, you know?”

“No need to worry about that. After all, I’m the only girl Fumio-kun has ever given a love letter to. No matter how hard everyone else tries, I’m still number one, and all the others are just part of the crowd.”

“Ha! Big words! I heard that I was the one the Confinement King used to admire. In other words, I was the unattainable flower on a high peak! Obviously, the Confinement King would prefer me!”

“Yeah, yeah. Good for you.”

When I casually brushed her off, Hatsu-chan made an annoyed face.

Right at that moment, Fumio-kun and Natsumi-chan started walking.

“Looks like they’re moving. Umm, first up is…”

“Indeed! Lunch at that stylish café recommended by the Third Favored Consort! Let us follow them!”

×××

I──Shima Natsumi──was looking at Kijima’s back as he walked a little ahead of me.

‘At times like this, I thought the guy was supposed to match his pace with the girl and walk beside her… Well, it’s Kijima, after all… He’s probably not used to dates or anything like this.’

With a wry smile, I shifted my gaze toward his hand.

‘His hand… Would it be bad if I held it?’

Even though we had already gone as far as doing sexual things together, something as simple as holding hands somehow felt incredibly difficult.

‘I wanna… hold his hand.’

I quietly reached out and pinched the hem of Kijima’s shirt.

“Ah, sorry… Was I walking too fast?”

When Kijima turned around, I gave him a small nod.

I couldn’t get the words out.

‘W-Wait, what? What’s with me? This ain’t like me at all. But my face is burning… My throat’s dry. Why the hell am I this nervous? It’s Kijima, for crying out loud!’

“…Your hand.”

“My hand?”

“…Um… I wanna hold it.”

‘So embarrassing! What the hell am I saying…?’

Then Kijima gave a soft chuckle and took my hand.

It was what they called holding hands like lovers──with our fingers intertwined.

“Shima-san, you’re really cute.”

“S-Shut up, idiot…”

‘Acting all calm like that… Damn, it seriously pisses me off. Why am I the only one who’s gotta be this nervous…?’

“Shall we go?”

Even while grumbling about him in my head, I let him lead me by the hand and looked up.

Before I knew it, the corners of my mouth had curled into a smile.

Because as Kijima walked ahead, leading me by the hand, I noticed that his ears were bright red.

×××

We had lunch at a stylish café, then went to see a movie together.

At the theater, we kept holding hands the entire time.

We watched a suspense movie. After all, Hollywood romances just aren’t my thing.

I can’t really argue if someone calls me childish, but that aggressive『I love you!』stuff is just too heavy for me. I think something softer and more subtle is better.

When I mentioned that to Masaki before, she told me, “Natsumi-chan, your idea of romance is still stuck in 『Ri〇n』 and 『Na〇yoshi』, isn’t it?”

But she’s probably right.

After the movie ended, we stopped by a fast-food place for a break. The suspense movie had been pretty interesting. Kijima seemed to have enjoyed it too and he looked a little excited as he talked about it.

“Man… I kinda figured out halfway through that girl was the culprit but isn’t it cheating to reveal she was actually over forty?”

“Seriously. But it was pretty good… Whenever I watch that kinda suspense stuff on TV, Shiratori immediately tells me who the culprit is. Sometimes she’s so bad about it that just a few minutes in, she’ll go,『This guy’s the culprit.』Then once she’s ruined it and I don’t feel like watching anymore, she changes the channel to whatever she wanted to watch in the first place. That girl, I swear.”

“Ahh… Yeah, I can totally see her doing that.”

“And I can’t go watch suspense movies with Hatsu-chan, either. With her, it’s always stuff that goes BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!”

“Action movies?”

“Yeah, yeah. One time we went to see a suspense movie, she thought about everything so hard I swear smoke was practically coming outta her head.”

“Ahh… I can picture that too. She doesn’t seem like she’d be very good at reading between the lines or looking for hidden meanings.”

“Exactly. But Hatsu-chan, ya know──”

Just as I started saying that, Kijima suddenly reached out and pressed a finger against my lips.

“Instead of Tashiro-san, I think it’s about time you told me more about yourself, Shima-san.”

That caught me completely off guard. It felt like my body temperature shot up all at once and my eyes instinctively darted around.

‘W-W-Wha…?! K-Kijima, of all people! Saying something that… that ridiculously smooth…’

“M-Me…There’s…There’s nothing that interesting about me…”

“It’s only natural that I’d want to know more about a girl I like, isn’t it?”

“L-Like… You like…”

This was bad. Was this what people meant when they said their face felt like it was on fire? I could even feel my eyes starting to grow moist.

“Shall we go…? We’ll probably be out late today. Is that okay?”

“G-Go…? Um…Staying out late would be…kinda difficult.”

The instant those words left my mouth, the smartphone I had left sitting on the table suddenly vibrated.

A message from Hatsu-chan appeared as a pop-up on the screen.

『Shima, I already told your mom you’d be staying over at my place tonight!』

I reflexively looked around.

But Hatsu-chan was nowhere to be seen.

‘E-Even so… That timing’s way too perfect…’

Kijima saw the message displayed on my screen and smiled.

“Then… I guess tonight, I’ll take the whole night to learn everything there is to know about you, Shima-san.”

×××

“So easy! What was that!? She’s way too easy! Natsumi-chan, how did she make it this far without some guy tricking her? Emotionally, she’s basically at a middle-school level, isn’t she!?”

As soon as the two of them left the restaurant, the First Favored Consort lifted her head from where she had been keeping it down and started making a fuss.

“What are you talking about? Shima is by far the most maidenly of all of us. Though in Shima’s case, she becomes friends with practically anyone right away. It’s simply that, until now, people have hardly ever been conscious of her as a woman.”

From my──Tashiro Hatsu’s──point of view, all I could say was, Why are you only realizing this now?

“…Even so, her face was bright red all day today. Even though she and Fumio-kun have already done it plenty of times…”

“Mm…Well, isn’t that exactly what makes Shima so modest and maidenly?”

In truth, I suspected that, in Shima’s mind, having sex with the Confinement King simply wasn’t connected to romantic feelings at all.

“But still, First Favored Consort, I’m grateful to you.”

“Even though you’d be lonely if Fumio-kun took Natsumi-chan away from you.”

I quietly narrowed my eyes.

Now that Shima and I had ended up in different factions, I had come to realize firsthand just how dependent I had been on her.

Around that time, the First Favored Consort had come to me for advice, saying, 『Isn’t Shima too dependent on me?』

Perhaps『codependent』would be the right word for it.

I had begun to think that Shima and I really did have a somewhat distorted relationship.

And that was why we had arranged this date.

“But still, that’s Fumio-kun for you. I didn’t tell him any of the details but he still properly treated Natsumi-chan as an individual girl in her own right…”

“Mm. As expected of my Confinement King.”

When I puffed out my chest proudly, the First Favored Consort pursed her lips as though refusing to be outdone.

“I’m telling you, he’s my Fumio-kun.”

×××

Tonight, instead of going into 『The Confinement King’s Bedroom』, I booked a room at La Vian Rose, a love hotel behind the station. Since we had come this far, I wanted to keep the date feeling like a proper date all the way to the end.

The hotel fee wasn’t a problem either. When I told Mom I was going on a date, she gave me some spending money.

Quite a lot, actually.

“You’re going on a date with a young lady from a good family, after all.”

She probably thought I was going on a date with Fujiwara-san.

Even after we entered the room, Shima-san remained standing there, fidgeting awkwardly.

She looked so cute that I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.

When our lips met and our tongues intertwined, I could feel the strength leaving her body.

“Ah… nn… Kijima… I guess… I really do like you after all.”

“I know.”

“The way you said that… kinda pisses me off.”

As she slumped against me, I pushed her down onto the bed. We kept kissing while undressing each other, then embraced.

“Ahh, ahn! N-No… I’m telling ya, that’s naughty…”

We caressed each other all over and licked one another, and hearing her cute moans only made my excitement rise higher and higher.

Eventually, unable to hold myself back any longer, I entered her and began thrusting my hips intensely, carried away by the surge of emotion.

I rubbed forcefully against her insides, which had completely melted into softness.

“Natsumi!”

“Aahn, K-Kijima! Kijima… i-it feels good! Feels so good…!”

And while calling out each other’s names, we reached climax together.

When I leaned in to kiss her again, she wrapped herself in the sheets, her face bright red as she squirmed.

“This is… seriously embarrassing. It feels way too much like we’re an actual couple…”

“We’re going to live together after we graduate anyway, so isn’t it a little late to be embarrassed now?”

“I’m basically just an extra who comes along with Hatsu-chan…”

I couldn’t help giving a wry smile. Contrary to her outwardly cheerful demeanor, I really liked this reserved side of her personality.

“Tashiro-san is Tashiro-san and Shima-san is Shima-san, right?”

When I said that while looking her in the eyes, she smiled shyly.

“I… I guess so…”

“So… tonight, I’m going to have you tell me all sorts of things about yourself, Shima-san.”

“That’s fine, but… um… Kijima, before that, I… well… I want ya to make me feel good one more time…”

“Even though you just cum a little while ago?”

“…Is that bad?”

The way she said it, looking up at me bashfully, was ridiculously cute.

But if we just kept having sex like this over and over, we might end up getting nowhere near actually talking about her.

I thought for a moment.

“Okay, then. If you can do an impression based on the prompt I give you, we’ll do it one more time. If you can’t, then we’ll spend a while talking instead.”

“An impression? That came outta nowhere… Well, fine. I’m actually pretty good at that kinda thing.”

I came up with a prompt that I was certain she’d never be able to pull off.

“Then imitate an ostrich being chased by its natural enemy, screaming at the top of its lungs as it runs for its life.”

“…An ostrich?”

It was supposed to be an utterly unreasonable request.

But I would soon be made painfully aware that I had seriously underestimated her potential.

[『Ri〇n』 『Ribon』 (りぼん), and 『Na〇yoshi』 is 『Nakayoshi』 (なかよし). They’re both long-running Japanese shōjo manga magazines aimed mainly at younger girls, especially elementary to middle-school readers. The author partially censors the names with 〇, probably as a playful way to avoid directly naming the magazines.]

Chapter 3.2 Asakusa

The Confinement King-sama was away on a date with Shima-senpai.

A date with the Confinement King-sama──for someone like me, Gokiburi, that was a dream within a dream. I could only be unbearably envious.

And so, with none of the Favored Consorts-sama coming by tonight, we were leisurely enjoying some tea in the dining hall.

“Hey, Gokiburi. What d’you think about Takada-sama?”

Mukade rested her elbows on the table and asked me in a languid tone.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, whether she’s gonna end up joining the Confinement King-sama’s harem at this rate.”

“Hmm… I wonder? Head Maid-sama said that once she reaches the target amount, she’ll restore her original appearance and set her free… Mimizu, has Takada-sama said anything about it?”

“Sounds like Taka-chi intends to do that too… She said she’s quitting the shop once summer vacation ends.”

Then Sanadamushi cut in with a derisive chuckle.

“Hah, no way that’s happening. I’m sure the Confinement King-sama is thinking she’ll eventually be unable to stand it anymore and come crawling back anyway.”

“That! That’s exactly it! That’s the part that doesn’t really click with me.”

At Sanadamushi’s remark, Mukade straightened up and eagerly jumped into the conversation.

“What doesn’t?”

“See, unlike everyone else, I’ve got experience, right? I used to have sex with my boyfriend pretty often too, and yeah, I thought it felt good and all. But honestly, it was never so good that I couldn’t live without it. No matter how huge it is. Of course, I’d still like to have the Confinement King-sama take me at least once.”

That remark was going too far.

We all instinctively frowned in displeasure.

“Isn’t that just because Mukade’s boyfriend was lousy at it?”

“Well, someone unpopular like Mimizu wouldn’t understand.”

“Mukade, are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

“Now, now.”

I calmed down the worked-up Mimizu while steering the conversation elsewhere.

“B-But… setting Takada-sama aside, the Confinement King-sama’s harem keeps getting bigger and bigger… so we need to figure out some way to get him to lay his hands on us too, right? At this rate, once a year passes, we’ll have to leave this place.”

At that, Sanadamushi gulped down the rest of her tea and put on a smug expression.

“In that sense, I’m already one step ahead! After all, I’ve had the honor of servicing the Confinement King-sama with my mouth!”

“I mean… if you actually got as far as putting his penis in your mouth and he still didn’t sleep with you, doesn’t that just mean you’re not attractive enough?”

“All right! Mukade, get outside!”

“Go fight a dragon or something instead! Idiot!”

“Now, now…”

Sanadamushi was practically radiating murderous intent, while Mukade stuck out her tongue with a『bleh』and I stepped between the two of them.

Then Mimizu placed a finger against her chin as though thinking before speaking.

“But seriously, if we’re going to appeal to the Confinement King-sama, the sooner the better, right? If even more Favored Consorts-sama join him from here on, our chances are only going to keep shrinking.”

“Well…yeah. Becoming a Favored Consort might be impossible, but if we could at least become Apprentice Quasi-Favored Consorts…”

“The problem is how we’re supposed to appeal to him, right?”

Sanadamushi nodded, and Mukade joined in as well.

I racked my brains too.

The truth was, we didn’t have that many opportunities to meet the Confinement King-sama. Under those circumstances, just what could we possibly do to make him want to summon us to his bedroom?

“Me!”

“All right, Mimizu-kun.”

Mimizu suddenly raised her hand, and Sanadamushi pointed at her.

“The Confinement King-sama has somewhat S-type tendencies, right? So what about appealing to him as a clumsy girl?”

“I see. Clumsy maids are popular in manga and stuff too. They make you want to tease them, or something like that…”

“But what exactly would you do to act clumsy?”

At my question, Sanadamushi thought for a moment before speaking.

“Like running with a piece of toast in your mouth and crashing into him around the corner of a hallway…”

“If you crashed into him, you’d kill him.”

Mukade gave her an utterly exasperated look.

“I thought maybe a stronger impact would make me more memorable…”

“Yeah, he definitely wouldn’t forget it. Just for a completely different reason.”

“Buuu…”

As Sanadamushi puffed out her cheeks, Mimizu gave a wry smile and spoke up.

“Then how about this? You know how they do this all the time in dramas? I trip at the top of a hill, and a whole bunch of oranges spill out of the paper bag I’m carrying and go rolling everywhere, then he helps me pick them up.”

“I guess we’d just have to hope the Confinement King-sama eventually acquires an ability that lets him create slopes inside the Room…”

When I gave a wry smile, Mimizu immediately went, “Then, then!” and offered another idea.

“I-I pull a handkerchief out of my pocket, but it turns out to be a pigeon. Then I go, 『Oh nooo! I accidentally put a pigeon in my pocket instead of my handkerchief!』”

“Why a pigeon?”

“Because it’d be memorable, right? And it sounds fun. A string of international flags would work too…”

“Why does every one of your ‘clumsy girl’ ideas turn into some kind of entertainment act?”

Then Mukade, who had been silently listening to the conversation, finally spoke up.

“I was thinking about it, and maybe the whole clumsy-girl act is actually kinda dangerous…”

“Dangerous?”

“Think about it. There’s someone here who’s even more of a genuine sadist than the Confinement King-sama… What if we caught her attention?”

An image of enormous breasts flashed through my mind.

That’s right──the ultimate sadist among sadists, the First Favored Consort-sama.

‘…Yeah, that really wouldn’t be funny.’

All of us instinctively went pale and then Mimizu abruptly changed the subject.

“R-Right, right… Changing the subject, during that draft meeting the other day, Amamiya-senpai officially joined the Confinement King-sama’s harem, right?”

“Ah, yeah. She became an Apprentice Quasi-Favored Consort, didn’t she?”

“Exactly! And Lili-sama was saying that the Confinement King-sama seems to have taken quite a liking to Amamiya-senpai. Apparently, she thinks he might start summoning her pretty often from now on…”

“Seriously!? Is it happening? Is the age of Amamiya-senpai finally coming!?”

When I eagerly jumped onto the topic, Mukade let out a less-than-enthusiastic response.

“Ehh… But Amamiya-senpai likes girls, doesn’t she?”

“She does?”

When Mimizu tilted her head, Mukade gave her an exasperated look.

“You seriously didn’t know? Remember during the spring training camp? She stayed in the bath practically the entire time. She was staring at the new girls’ bodies like crazy.”

“Ehh!? That was the reason!?”

“So, what exactly did the Confinement King-sama like about Amamiya-senpai?”

“Apparently… her pussy feels incredibly good.”

At that, all of us immediately snapped back to reality.

“That doesn’t really help us, does it… Our first problem is figuring out how to get him to sleep with us in the first place…”

“Yeah…”

Then Mimizu suddenly clapped her hands together.

“Mukade! Come to think of it, you said your boyfriend was the one who confessed to you, right? What was it about you that made him fall for you?”

“Hmm… It’s kinda embarrassing saying this myself, but… He said it was 『the girlish side I occasionally showed』 that really got to him…”

“Girlishness, huh…”

“Maybe we should grow our hair out?”

“Hair?”

“You know what people always say. Like, when you pass by someone and your hair brushes the tip of his nose, and then the scent of your shampoo makes his heart skip a beat!”

“…Pretty sure all we’d smell like is blood.”

“Ugh… Well, we could work hard at washing that out… But just any ordinary shampoo wouldn’t be enough, right? It’d have to be a scent the Confinement King-sama actually likes…”

“What kind of things does the Confinement King-sama like?”

“The other day, he seemed to really enjoy eating yakiniku…”

“「「「That’s it!」」」”

We all shot to our feet.

“If we look delicious! In other words, we need to make him feel like he wants to sink his teeth into us!”

“Lili-sama did say that appetite and sexual desire are closely connected.”

That was right.

I remembered something Lili-sama had said before while we were casually chatting──that the Confinement King-sama’s success rate when hitting on girls went up dramatically when the girls were hungry.

Following that logic, surely men must also feel more like having sex when they’re hungry.

Somehow, without even realizing it, we had all gotten incredibly fired up.

And once that happened, we wasted no time putting our plan into action.

We dragged some meat and a tabletop roaster out of the kitchen and started grilling as much meat as we could in the dining hall.

Then the four of us maids stuck our heads out over the roaster.

The delicious smell of sizzling meat made all of us instinctively sniff the air.

There was no way anyone could resist such an alluring aroma.

“Hey, this might actually work!”

“We’ll have carnivorous guys coming straight for us!”

“No way the Confinement King-sama isn’t a carnivorous type!”

Chattering excitedly, we continued letting the rich, juicy smoke soak into our hair.

But then I suddenly regained my composure and took a step back.

No matter how much he liked yakiniku, would a man really be attracted to some girl passing by who smelled like grilled meat…?

And as I watched my coworkers happily fanning the smoke toward themselves with their hands, continuing to let it seep into their hair, I was struck by a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Ah… I saw this in Asakusa.”

If I remember correctly, it was called a jokoro.

Apparently, there was a belief that bathing yourself in its smoke would make you smarter.

This happened somewhat later, but naturally, there was no way something like this would actually get the Confinement King-sama to lay his hands on us.

The only effects it had were that whenever we went near the Favored Consorts-sama, they started saying they were getting hungry.

And according to Sanadamushi, the magical beasts she trained against also started getting strangely excited whenever she came near.

Asakusa:It is a place name in Tokyo

Chapter 3.3 Before Nightmare

The morning after spending the night with Shima-san.

After seeing her off beyond the ticket gates at the station──she had said she had something to take care of and needed to be home before noon──I headed toward the shopping district.

It was nine in the morning. I figured I might as well grab some breakfast before heading home, so I made my way toward a fast-food restaurant. But the moment I looked inside through the glass────

“Eek!?”

────my voice caught in the back of my throat.

A cheek flattened and distorted from being pressed against the glass.

My eyes met those of a girl who had her face plastered against the window from inside the restaurant with a splat.

At houses out in the countryside, you sometimes see geckos stuck flat against the windows and she looked exactly like that.

Worse still, she was someone I recognized.

“Kei-chan… what are you doing?”

I stared at her, thoroughly creeped out.

Then I noticed the person standing behind her and let out an even louder,

“Geh!?”

She had an expression that radiated pure displeasure.

Well, I suppose you could say she looked the same as always, but there stood Shiratori-san, narrowing her eyes at me as though she were looking at something filthy.

She jerked her chin, clearly telling me to come over.

No, no, please spare me, I thought as I shook my head.

In response, she glared at me with an absolutely terrifying look.

‘…She’s seriously scary sometimes.’

Technically, she was part of my harem now and Lili had told me that she had done quite a lot for my sake during everything that happened this time, but…

When I reluctantly stepped inside the restaurant, Kei-chan came pattering over from the table seats and took my hand.

“Kan-chan, over here…”

“W-Wait, Kei-chan!”

She took me by the hand and led me to a table for four. Sitting there, besides Shiratori-san──who, as usual, wasn’t smiling in the slightest──were two other girls.

“Sit.”

Shiratori-san patted the seat beside her twice.

I figured she’d just glare at me again if I resisted, so with a halfhearted『Okay…』I obediently sat down.

Then, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, Kei-chan sat sideways on my lap.

“Um… Kei-chan?”

“What?”

“You’re kinda heavy.”

“…It’s fine.”

Yeah, well, I already knew resisting her would be pointless.

I gave a wry smile and looked up, bringing the two girls seated across from me into view.

One had short hair and looked every bit the lively, energetic type. The other had her hair in twin tails and seemed much more quiet and reserved.

They were different types, but both were petite.

And both were completely flat-chested.

‘Well, I can’t really help noticing that first… I’m a guy, after all.’

The two girls were looking at me with somewhat bewildered expressions.

Then the twin-tailed girl timidly asked Shiratori-san,

“Um… who is he?”

“Takasago’s keeper.”

“Kan-chan!”

Shiratori-san spat out the answer in a bored tone, only for Kei-chan to immediately talk over her.

That conveyed absolutely no useful information.

With no other choice, I introduced myself with a wry smile.

“I’m Kijima… a third-year.”

At that, the short-haired girl tilted her head, while the twin-tailed girl sucked in a startled breath.

‘Huh? What’s with that reaction? They don’t recognize my face, but there’s something about hearing my name that surprises them?’

An awkward atmosphere settled over the table before Shiratori-san turned toward me and spoke.

“These two… The short-haired one is Satou, my junior in the track-and-field club. The twin-tailed one is Kizuna. She’s Satou’s classmate.”

“Ah, okay… Nice to meet you.”

I gave them a small bow, and Satou-san immediately leaned forward with obvious curiosity.

“Kan-chan-san, are you perhaps… Takasago-senpai’s boyfriend?”

“Uh, well… I’m not her boyfriend…”

‘I’m not her boyfriend, but… how do I put it? We do have a physical relationship… What are you even supposed to call that? Friends with benefits? …Not that I could actually say that out loud.’

As I stumbled over my words, Shiratori-san answered for me.

“The relationship between a rare animal and its keeper.”

“…I see. I understand. That must be difficult.”

Satou-san seemed to have accepted that explanation somehow, but… was that really something she should be accepting so easily?

“You know about Kizuna, right? About this guy.”

When Shiratori-san brought her into the conversation, Kizuna-san nodded hesitantly.

“Y-Yes…um…He’s in the same class as my Onii-chan…”

“Same class?”

“Her surname is Tachioka. Tachioka Kizuna.”

“Tachioka-kun’s… little sister?”

My eyes widened in surprise.

Beside me, I heard Shiratori-san let out a soft chuckle.

‘Huh? Did she laugh? Did she just laugh?’

I quickly turned to look at her, but Shiratori-san was wearing the same displeased expression as always.

Meanwhile, Kizuna-san was staring at me with an unusually wary look in her eyes.

‘What the hell… is with this atmosphere?’

I was confused, but Kei-chan paid no attention to the tension whatsoever. She tugged on my shirt and whined like a spoiled child.

“Kan-chan, apple pie… aaahn.”

“Ah, okay, okay. Hold on a second.”

I picked up the apple pie from the table and brought it to Kei-chan’s mouth.

Chomp.

“Yum-yum…”

As Kei-chan happily munched away, Satou-san let out an impressed『Heeh.』

“Wow… If Takasago-senpai is this attached to you, you must be a seriously good person. Even if your looks are kinda… you know. Actually… this whole Beauty and the Beast vibe is pretty adorable.”

‘Yeah… you’re pretty rude, Satou.’

“By the way… why exactly was I called here?”

When I asked that, Shiratori-san answered without so much as a smile.

“Because it’s amusing.”

“Eeeh…”

‘Shiratori-san… I seriously don’t understand you.’

Setting that aside, the way Kizuna-san kept looking at me was really bothering me.

There was no way she could know that I had turned one-third of Tachioka-kun into a woman, but I could practically feel something close to hostility radiating from her gaze.

Still watching me cautiously, Kizuna-san asked Shiratori-san,

“Um… Senpai, this person is…”

“There’s nothing to worry about, right? That broadcast the other day should’ve cleared him of suspicion. The culprits were Kasuya-senpai and Teruya-senpai.”

“B-But, Shiratori-senpai! You said you remembered, didn’t you? That this person… um… confined you…”

“I was probably implanted with false memories. Demons turned out to actually exist, so something like that isn’t impossible either. This ugly guy was framed as the culprit. He just has the face of a criminal, so I convinced myself it had to be him.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but could you stop insulting me as naturally as you breathe?”

When I instinctively pouted, Satou-san tilted her head with a blank expression.

“What’re you guys talking about?”

“You’re not unrelated to it either, Satou. You were confined by the culprit too, remember?”

“Ahh…that got exposed on TV the other day, right? That Kasuya-senpai was the culprit. But if Kasuya-senpai really was the one who did it, I kinda wish they hadn’t erased my memories…Getting kidnapped by a handsome guy sounds super exciting, y’know?”

At Satou-san’s remark, Kizuna-san frowned.

“That whole thing… Onii-chan says it’s definitely a lie… and if Onii-chan doesn’t believe it, then I don’t either…”

The atmosphere somehow turned heavy after that and for a while, none of us said anything.

Once the girls finished eating, we left the restaurant right away.

In the end, I never got to eat breakfast, while they said they were going to see a movie and then do some shopping.

‘Seriously… what was all that about?’

Shiratori-san leaned in and whispered into my ear as I involuntarily let out a sigh.

“You’d better remember Kizuna. That girl has an extreme brother complex. There’s something dangerously reckless about her──like, for her brother’s sake, she’d happily skip right over things like morals and the law… Consider this a little freebie, Confinement King-sama.”