Chapter 99

Crunch.

The abundant juice of a soft peach spread through her mouth, followed by the sweet taste of cream.

And finally, the crisp texture of the crumble served alongside it...

It was a total package! Her face naturally broke into a wide grin.

Chinami happily worked her plump cheeks, eating the dessert with a look of pure bliss.

Finding her adorable, Renka let out a soft chuckle.

"Is it that good?"

Chinami chewed her peach thoroughly, swallowed, and nodded.

"Yes. Why aren't you eating, close friend?"

"I'm drinking my coffee."

"It's good with coffee, too. Here, say 'ah'."

Chinami speared the largest slice of peach with her fork and held it out to Renka.

Renka politely declined with a smile.

"I'm fine."

"I said, say 'ah'."

"I told you, I'm fine. You eat it."

At the second refusal, Chinami looked disappointed.

It was very sweet of her to offer a piece of her absolute favorite fruit.

But honestly... Renka was sick of peaches.

This was the inevitable result of eating a peach dessert every single time she met with Chinami.

"Did you get the limited edition Momo-nim Merchandise?"

"No. There are so many Momo fans lately that getting it is like plucking a star from the sky."

The 'Momo Squad' was the affectionate nickname for Momo's fandom.

Having spent so much time with Chinami, Renka was well-versed in everything related to Momo. She asked, "Are there still that many new fans joining the squad?"

"Of course. Momo is so cute. Even junior Matsuda is showing interest in the squad."

Renka's eyebrow twitched.

She hadn't expected Matsuda's name to pop up here.

"Even Matsuda...?"

"Yes."

Did that mean Matsuda was interested in Momo-nim Merchandise on top of anime figures?

She could sort of understand the figures.

The show he watched this time was an action series with incredible animation. Plenty of guys who hadn't previously cared for anime were watching it, and many became fans because of it.

But Momo was a little... suspicious.

Sure, Momo was a cute brand.

But it didn't suit someone like Matsuda at all—a guy who, to put it nicely, oozed masculinity.

'Is he doing this to win Chinami's favor...?'

She didn't want to be prejudiced, but her guess was probably right.

Not that she thought poorly of him for it.

Sharing interests to win over the opposite sex was a solid approach.

But she couldn't help worrying because the target was Chinami.

She'd decided to just watch for now, but...

Vzzzt—!

Startled from her thoughts by the vibration of the Cell Phone on the table, Renka glanced at the screen.

[Hello, President. I apologize for reaching out out of the blue. I'm training at home, and if it isn't an imposition, I wanted to text you to ask about the waist-parry counter.]

The text was from Miura Tetsuya.

His passion for Kendo was truly impressive.

His initially abysmal skills were visibly improving day by day... He was a junior with a lot of potential.

"Who is it?"

Chinami asked, having already finished more than half her dessert.

Renka, sitting comfortably with her legs crossed, replied.

"It's Miura."

"Do you mean our junior, Miura Tetsuya?"

"Yeah. It seems he doesn't quite get how to execute the waist-parry counter."

"He's a junior with a great thirst for learning. When I saw him spar last time, he seemed to have talent, too..."

"Right. He's also showing interest in competitions, so I'm thinking of training him up for the winter tournament."

"Oh! Really? I was planning to send junior Matsuda to the winter tournament too. In that case, should we focus their training on the team matches? It would be a wonderful sight if our students ended up on the same team."

Matsuda in a tournament?

Setting aside his personality, he would probably achieve pretty good results.

Assuming they entered a five-person team competition, if they assigned positions by the book without any tricks, the role that fit Matsuda best would be...

The vanguard, capable of decisively seizing the early momentum and boosting the team's morale, or the center—the third position, capable of turning the tide of the match or solidifying a lead.

Both were crucial roles, but the vanguard suited him exceptionally well.

As for Miura Tetsuya, he wasn't vanguard material.

But he had a good eye and a sparring style that dragged his opponent into a mud fight...

The second vanguard position would suit him—a role where he could maintain the momentum gained by the vanguard with a draw, or even in defeat, leave the opponent feeling bogged down.

It would be even better if he won.

Regardless, they were both undeniably talented club members.

The fact that Director Goro was practically drooling over them said it all.

Even if Matsuda's talent was far superior.

"Matsuda wants to compete in the tournament?"

"When I asked him, he was positive about it."

Positive?

He hadn't seemed that passionate about it... She was suspicious.

"Come to think of it, the training camp isn't far off. Is it time to start preparing?"

"Yeah. We need to get ready before it gets colder."

"Where will it be?"

"We haven't decided yet."

"I hope it's somewhere with a stream this time. I'd love to dip my feet in the water while looking at the stars after training."

Chuckling at Chinami's specific plans, Renka sent a reply to Miura and nodded.

"I'll look for a nice place with the director."

"Junior."

It was Thursday, the day before Friday.

Wearing my newly purchased Bogu—everything except the Men—I had been practicing strikes behind the Club Room when Chinami called out to me with a serious face. I pulled back my shinai.

"Is my posture wrong?"

"No. Your posture was good."

"Then?"

"You must not hurt me."

Where did this suddenly come from?

I approached Chinami, wondering about her out-of-the-blue remark.

"What do you mean?"

"I ended up seeing it."

"Seeing what?"

"A massage video. In it, a very pretty model was screaming under the hands of a vicious masseur. There were crunching sounds coming from all over the model's body. And that's not all. When he massaged her head, he made a fist and roughly scraped the area behind her ears with his knuckles."

I wondered what she was talking about, but it seemed she had been doing some advance research on the massage she'd be getting tomorrow.

If there were crunching sounds, it was probably a heavy acupressure massage like chiropractic therapy. Of all the things to watch, she had to watch that.

No, let's consider it a good thing.

If she had watched a video of an aroma or Swedish massage where the person took off their top, Chinami would have been too scared of the exposure to want the massage at all.

"I have no intention of going that hard on you."

"By 'that hard'... you mean it will still hurt...?"

"No, I misspoke. I'll only give you a gentle massage. Didn't I tell you? You'll feel pleasantly relaxed afterward."

"Yes."

"It won't hurt, so please don't worry."

Relieved, Chinami's expression brightened.

However, she still looked a little tense.

Since she had always reacted so sensitively to my touch, she seemed genuinely worried about what would happen when the day came.

I sat next to Chinami and offered her a gentle smile to reassure her.

"As I mentioned last time, if you don't like the massage, just tell me to stop. I'll stop right away."

"...Do you really mean that?"

"Of course."

"But what about the disappointment you'd feel if I make you stop? You're doing this massage for me, junior. If I just tell you to stop..."

You really don't need to worry about that.

Because the word 'stop' will never come out of your mouth.

Rather, you'll probably beg me to continue once you feel that electrifying sensation for the first time in your life.

"Are you already worrying about quitting?"

"Ah...! It's not that... I'm just saying... Well, should we get back to practice now? I'm going to teach you a new technique this time."

"A new technique?"

"Yes. The Upper Stance primarily focuses on attacking the head. The opponent using the Middle Stance knows this very well, so they place more emphasis on defending their head. We use that psychology against them by pretending to strike high, then attacking the waist."

"How should I do it?"

"I'll show you a demonstration, so keep your eyes peeled and watch closely."

Chinami grabbed her shinai and stood up, looking for a flat spot on the ground.

It was incredibly cute watching her hop around to avoid a jagged rock sticking out.

No, simply everything about Chinami was cute, and I wanted to melt her into a puddle as soon as possible.

"Go on."

"Yeah, thanks. Have a safe trip home, Miyuki."

Tetsuya gave his farewells with his usual naive face.

Smiling brightly, Miyuki waved at the bastard as he stepped out of the car.

"Good work today. Bye, Tetsuya."

"Yeah. Oh, right... do you want to have dinner together with our families tomorrow night?"

"Dinner?"

"It's been a while since your parents and mine got together. I figured it would be nice to have a meal and catch up. I mentioned it last time, don't you remember?"

"Did you...? Sorry. I've been a bit out of it lately... I'll ask them today for now."

"Alright. Let me know."

"Okay."

Wearing a satisfied expression, Tetsuya closed the backseat door and headed toward his house.

As I watched his foolish back retreat and started the car, Miyuki turned to look at me.

"If my mom says yes... is it okay if I come over late tomorrow? We haven't really hung out much lately, and my mom did suggest having a meal with Tetsuya's family."

"I don't mind."

It was fine to readily agree to something like this.

If Miyuki hadn't already fallen for me, I would have stopped it no matter what, but right now, it wasn't an issue.

For her, Tetsuya was already on the back burner.

No matter how much he tried to appeal to his masculinity, it wouldn't work on the current Miyuki in the slightest.

Rather, it would only highlight what a loser he was and bore her.

Or maybe not? They had gotten along fine until now, so she might just play along without thinking much of it.

Come to think of it, I still needed to finish painting Miyuki's room in my colors...

I should drop by there again sometime soon.

"Thanks for understanding. If I can slip away in the middle of it, I'll come over and cook something delicious for you."

"Do that. The necklace I gave you is still hanging in your room, right?"

"Yeah. Of course it is. I look at it every single day to cheer myself up."

Would Tetsuya see that necklace tomorrow?

Miyuki would probably be so eager to come to my place that she wouldn't even invite Tetsuya into her room to hang out.

I did kind of want to crash that dinner party without an ounce of tact.

I wanted to touch Miyuki under the table and see her get flustered while struggling to manage her facial expression.

If I didn't have plans with Chinami, I would have jumped right in... But there would be other opportunities later, right?

Anyway, what a coincidence.

How could Tetsuya bring that up with such perfect timing?

This was exactly the kind of NTR story where the dense protagonist inadvertently helps the blonde bastard build his harem.

It wouldn't be right if I didn't live up to Tetsuya's expectations, would it?

Having spent a Friday that seemed ordinary but wasn't, I dropped off Tetsuya and Miyuki and went to meet Chinami.

Outside, it was raining, fitting for the autumn rainy season.

It was gloomy and cold—the perfect weather to enjoy what was about to unfold.

The place Chinami had asked me to meet her wasn't her apartment building, but a shop in the downtown district.

A place that regularly sold several types of Momo-nim Merchandise.

After parking, I walked inside, only to let out a chuckle as Chinami hurried over to me from near the entrance with quick, short steps.

"You look excited."

"Looking at Momo-nim Merchandise is always exciting. For your information, I have every piece of merchandise here at my house, except for one."

It was a small shop, but it seemed to have just about everything. And she had bought all of it except one...?

Chinami's love for Momo-nim was astounding no matter when I saw it.

"You could have come and browsed with me. Why did you come here first?"

"Ah, there was a reason for that."

Chinami opened the bag in her hand.

Inside was a set of stickers densely packed with tiny Momo-nim faces, showing a variety of expressions.

"These are the newly released Momo-nim Emoticon Stickers. I came early and bought them just in case they sold out. Luckily, by the time I finished paying, there were exactly two sets left."

"But I only see one? Was it limited to one purchase per person?"

"No. There were two sets left... but I left one behind for the next person."

If it were me, I would have bought both just to see the next person's distorted expression.

"I see. You really are kind, Master."

When I praised her with a bright expression, Chinami giggled and said, "As fellow Momo Squad members, we have to help each other out. Now, shall we go get that heart-pounding massage?"

A heart-pounding massage, she called it.

That was a naming sense entirely fitting for Chinami.

I would have to make her heart truly pound.

"No luck with the secondhand trade?"

"No. Nothing has gone up for sale. It would have been nice to do the transaction with my reliable junior by my side..."

"That's a shame."

"It's fine. I didn't think I'd be able to get it in a short amount of time anyway."

"If you do manage to find it... make sure you contact me or Inoo-sunbae and take one of us with you. Got it?"

"I'll keep that in mind."

Chinami's energy was running quite high.

Had seeing all the Momo-nim Merchandise lined up everywhere given her a sense of peace and vitality?

That seemed to be the case.

Chatting in an amicable atmosphere, we got into the car and headed to the love hotel I had booked in advance.

"By the way, junior, are you an employee at a massage shop? Or do you have some experience in it...?"

Chinami's earlier high energy vanished without a trace as she asked the question.

It was funny how her voice lowered, as if she were slightly nervous.

Keeping my eyes fixed on the road ahead, I answered concisely.

"No."

"Then how did you secure a place for the massage? You didn't rent out a whole massage shop, did you?"

"I didn't do anything on that grand of a scale. But that is a good idea. I'll have to seriously consider it next time."

At the mention of 'next time,' Chinami's body gave a small jolt.

Did she really think it was going to end with just this one time?

I was a little disappointed.

"I-is that so...? Then where are we going today...?"

"We just arrived. It's right there."

I pointed diagonally through the windshield as the wipers swept back and forth.

Following my finger, Chinami's eyes stopped on the signboard of a particular building.

"Hotel... Raffia...? Is this the place?"

"Yes. That's it."

"But this is a Hotel...? Are we doing it at a massage shop inside here? Are they available for private use?"

It wasn't a standard Hotel, but a love hotel.

A newly built love hotel fully equipped with various concept rooms, at that.

Smiling broadly at Chinami, who was tilting her head in complete confusion, I turned the steering wheel and pulled into the Hotel's parking lot.

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