Vol. 2 Chapter 44 – Asahi Hikaru’s Sunday

Asahi Hikaru’s Sunday begins at seven in the morning.

“Ngh…”

A habit ingrained in her body, she wakes up almost simultaneously with the alarm.

Stopping it almost before it sounds, she next remembers that this isn’t her own room.

Beside the bed she’s sleeping in, lies the figure of her beloved, asleep on a futon laid out on the floor.

Gazing at his still-sleeping face, she thinks, ‘I wonder when he’ll finally sleep together with me.’

“Heeey, it’s morning~…! Wake up~…!” (Hikaru)

After savoring his sleeping face for a while, she shakes his body to wake him.

“Ngh… Ah, ahh… Morning…” (Reiya)

“Morning~!” (Hikaru)

Bathed in the morning light streaming through the window, she, already fully recovered, responds with a smile.

She feels like kissing him once around this point, but holds back for now since he just woke up.

And so, after waiting for him to fully awaken, they head to the washroom together.

She applies toothpaste to their matching toothbrushes and finally rinses with matching cups.

After that, she remains alone in the washroom and begins preparing for a shower.

Getting her change of clothes and fresh underwear ready first, she takes off her pajamas and nighttime underwear.

Entering the bathroom, she checks the shower water temperature, then begins washing her body.

She always starts with her left arm, then right arm, left shoulder, right shoulder, around her neck.

Then, as she reaches her torso, she notices something.

‘I feel like they’ve gotten a little bigger again…’ (Hikaru)

She mutters while checking the two mounds on her chest.

‘They definitely feel a bit heavier…’ (Hikaru)

She says with even more conviction, lifting both breasts from below with her hands.

Though it’s a change unnoticeable to others, they have certainly grown larger.

As an aspiring professional athlete, she was exceptionally sensitive to changes in her own body.

And for a tennis player engaging in high-intensity exercise, breasts becoming too large was not good.

In addition to simply increasing weight, they could also hinder movement.

Although held down by underwear, there were limits during intense exercise.

In fact, she knew of players who had undergone reduction surgery because they were a hindrance.

‘But boys say they like them bigger… I wonder if Reiya-kun is like that too…’ (Hikaru)

Hikaru ponders, looking down at her own.

She hadn’t asked him directly, but she had heard it as a general opinion in conversations with friends.

If he, without exception, was also like that, then their growth was welcome.

‘Come to think of it, the girls in that manga were both big…’ (Hikaru)

She recalls the figures of the women on the covers of the books confiscated two nights ago.

She herself was relatively large compared to other girls her age, but not quite like them.

‘Then, it should be okay if they grow a little more…’ (Hikaru)

Reaching a temporary conclusion, she finishes her shower.

Exiting the bath area, she dries her body, puts on the clothes and underwear she had prepared, and dries her hair with a hairdryer.

She washes her face, applies toner and lotion for skincare, then puts on light makeup.

A morning routine drilled into her by her mother, who taught her that ‘professional sports are entertainment, a job requiring the readiness to be a spectacle.’

However, now she did it with the feeling of wanting her beloved boyfriend to see her looking even a little bit prettier.

Facing the mirror, she practices smiling just once before leaving the changing area.

Returning to the room, she finds him having prepared breakfast.

Bacon and eggs with toast, a light menu considering the exercise to follow.

He had even prepared her favorite strawberry jam for the toast.

A surge of affection wells up, and still warm from the bath, she hugs him.

She loved how he would accept it, albeit with a troubled smile.

After savoring him both mentally and physically, he tells her ‘It’ll get cold,’ and she reluctantly takes her seat at the table.

The topic of conversation during the meal was exclusively about the summer vacation starting this week.

“Speaking of summer, it’s finally here…” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, finally…” (Reiya)

They nod to each other with a solemn atmosphere.

Summer means the sea, mountains, festivals, fireworks.

A lineup of events coveted by couples, but what they were most looking forward to was naturally not that.

“Plum Software’s latest game is finally coming out!!” (Hikaru)

Yes, what the two of them were most looking forward to was the release date of the globally anticipated blockbuster.

“You already took the release day off, right?” (Reiya)

“Yeah, I begged my mom super hard, saying I absolutely needed that day off.” (Hikaru)

“The tournament is close, but are you okay with that?” (Reiya)

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Plum games are good for your health, and besides, my condition would be worse if I had to go to the US halfway through playing without finishing it.” (Hikaru)

He gives a wry smile at Hikaru, who says this laughingly, half-joking.

Finishing breakfast while mutually building anticipation, they perform light stretching afterwards.

After about twenty minutes of flexibility exercises on the bed, she looks towards him, thinking she’d like to kiss him now.

However, he was facing his computer with a somewhat serious expression, so she gave up.

There was still time until her mother, Mitsuki, arrived to pick her up, so this time she stood up and turned on the game console.

Controller in hand, the game to play was already decided.

SEKIHYO: SHODOWS DYE TWICE

Playing this famous title every morning was said to be good for health and beauty.

After swiftly defeating even the final Sword Saint in the most difficult boss rush mode, just as her skin gained a nice glow, a notification arrived on her smartphone.

Confirming it was a message from her mother, Hikaru began preparing to leave.

Seeing this, Reiya also stood up from his chair to see her off.

“Alright then, I’m heading out~!” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, see you later. Be careful.” (Reiya)

Exchanging words of temporary farewell, Hikaru then closes her eyes with an ‘Nn’ and stands on tiptoe.

This act, initially embarrassing, was now part of their daily routine.

Reiya too, looking accustomed, places his hands on her shoulders and gently kisses her.

After a few seconds of contact, they pull apart and gaze at each other.

The surge of emotion compels them both, without prompting, to repeat the same action.

And so, after repeating it about five times, the message urging her to hurry arrived from her mother.

Hurriedly doing it one last time, Hikaru leaves her lover’s room.

Exiting the apartment building, her mother’s car was parked by the road.

She quickly gets into the passenger seat.

“Did you have fun this week too?” (Mitsuki)

To her mother who asked,

“Yeah!” (Hikaru)

She replies with a beaming smile.

The car starts moving, and inside, Hikaru relentlessly regales her mother with stories about her boyfriend.

Twenty minutes, enough to make Mitsuki slightly exasperated, pass in the blink of an eye, and the two arrive at the tennis club.

Hikaru changes into her gear in her locker room and immediately begins practice.

Jogging, flexibility exercises, agility training using the court.

Following the teachings of her mother, whose career was cut short by injury, she prepares meticulously, taking her time.

And so, after finishing her warm-up, she moves onto full-fledged practice.

In the morning, she focused on practicing her favored strokes to get into form.

In rallies simulating actual matches, she accurately drove powerful shots into the corners like a machine.

It was clear to everyone that her condition was already reaching its peak ahead of the next tournament.

Three hours passed in the blink of an eye, so focused she didn’t even notice Mitsuki muttering, ‘This is why I have no choice but to let her stay over…’

Noon arrived, and she ate lunch in the club’s dining hall.

She finished the entire meal planned by the sports nutritionist, thinking, ‘It’s a little bland~.’

Next, she moved to the reception room for an interview with a sports writer.

Starting with talk about the upcoming US Open Juniors, then about her impending pro debut.

She answered questions about expectations for future Grand Slam victories with plenty of lip service.

Finishing with the reporter, she picked up her smartphone during the break before afternoon practice.

New gear I got from the company sponsoring me! How is it? Does it suit me? (Hikaru)

She sent a selfie in her brand new white gear to Reiya via PINE.

It suits you great. (Reiya)

One minute after that simple message—

Super cute. (Reiya)

Receiving the slightly bashful postscript, her energy recharged to maximum.

And so, she tackled the afternoon practice with even greater concentration, completing the entire menu before heading home.

In the car on the way back, she first reported to Reiya that practice was over.

Next, she uploaded today’s picture to her own social media.

Just as ‘like’ notifications started flooding in at tremendous speed, she noticed her total follower count had surpassed 900,000.

The cover effect is amazing~, she thought with surprise, somewhat detached, then began replying to the accumulated personal messages.

Including the class PINE group, there were a total of five girls’ groups plus individual chats, and just responding to all of them took considerable time.

The content was mostly about plans for the summer vacation starting in a few days.

Where to go, summer cram school is tough, want a boyfriend.

Amidst such conversations, one particular message caught Hikaru’s eye.

We're planning to go to the beach together during summer vacation, wanna come too, Hikaru? (Miyako)

The sender was her friend, Sakuramiya Kyo.

Following that were the specific dates and names of participants.

Mostly familiar names, including some boys.

Until now, Hikaru hadn’t been very keen on invitations involving the opposite sex, but she didn’t reply immediately, instead gazing out the window in thought.

Sea, swimsuit, want to show him, cute, lots, happy.

Wicked desires by her standards filled her mind.

If it's okay to invite Reiya-kun too, maybe I'll go. (Hikaru)

After agonizing over it, she replied with the condition that was, for Hikaru, the most important.

The message was marked as read immediately, but a reply didn’t come back right away.

Maybe it’s already full, she thought, not dwelling on it further and moving on to the next response.

Just as she had replied to about half of them, she arrived home.

Dinner, bath, then free time until bed.

Lying sprawled on her bed, she suddenly thought, ‘I want to hear his voice~.’

Sitting up, she launched the call app on her computer and saw he was online too.

I'm back! Let's play something! (Hikaru)

Welcome back. What do you wanna play? (Reiya)

She sent the chat message, and a reply came back instantly.

I'm in the mood for a tense battle, so Escape from Gunma!! (Hikaru)

Roger. We got quite a bit of gear last time, so let's try tackling some tougher PMC tasks today. (Reiya)

After that, they enjoyed gaming with voice chat connected until around the time the date changed.

“Okay, see you tomorrow! Bye-bye! Good night~!” (Hikaru)

“Yeah, good night.” (Reiya)

Exchanging their second farewell of the day, the voice chat disconnected.

Even knowing they could meet again soon, this moment always made her sad.

“I wish we could be together forever~…” (Hikaru)

Throwing herself onto the bed, she muttered to herself while gazing at the ceiling.

“Ha…! Wouldn’t living together solve that!?” (Hikaru)

Struck by inspiration, she shot up from the bed.

“But, living together as high school students… Mom probably wouldn’t allow that…” (Hikaru)

However, realizing the height of the realistic wall standing in her way, she flopped back onto the bed.

Rolling onto her side, she looked through the photos taken on their zoo date.

It was fun, I want to go again, she thought, ruminating on the memories, and drowsiness began to set in.

Just as she was drifting off into the world of dreams, ‘Ha!’ she remembered something and stood up.

‘Mom’s on the first floor, right…’ (Hikaru)

Confirming no one was in the hallway outside, she locked her room door.

With a solemn expression, she took two books out of her bag.

On their covers were half-naked women depicted in maid and bunny suits, respectively.

Yes, the age-restricted manga confiscated from him two days ago.

At the time, with him present, she couldn’t examine the contents.

However, Hikaru had been incredibly curious about them ever since.

Gulping, she reached for the books.

For her, who had lived solely for tennis, the contents were unknown territory.

She felt a sense of immorality, as if about to touch upon some kind of religious taboo.

Is this really okay…? she worried, but curiosity won out slightly.

Steeling herself as if smashing the ball onto the opponent’s court, she resolutely turned the page.

――――――

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――

Ten minutes later, a flushed Hikaru opened her closet.

She took out the autographed Roger Federer poster from the back and sealed the two books in its place.

Feeling feverish and restless, she lay down on the bed.

‘I wonder if Reiya-kun wants to do things like that too…’ (Hikaru)

The vividly depicted mingling of man and woman, different from learning about it as abstract knowledge, stuck in her mind.

Even knowing it was wrong, she couldn’t help but imagine herself and him in that situation.

‘Of course he wants to… He’s a boy…’ (Hikaru)

Muttering that, she recalled the events that took place on this very bed a little while ago.

The day he first said he liked her, the first time they kissed, the first time he touched her body.

It was interrupted by her mother’s return home, but what would have happened if they had continued?

Imagining that ‘if’ assaulted her with a heat like her entire body had caught fire.

‘What should I do… I might not be able to look him in the face properly tomorrow…’ (Hikaru)

Burying her face in the pillow, she kicked her legs in embarrassment.

‘Ugh~… I’m such a bad girl~…’ (Hikaru)

The more she tried not to think about it, the more vivid the images became.

Trying somehow to suppress her raging emotions, she reached for her smartphone.

And, considering the possibility of a ‘just in case’ scenario, she checked the price of a bunny suit on an online shopping site.

Click. The hands of the clock all pointed to the apex.

Thus, Asahi Hikaru’s Sunday ended.