As he spoke, he casually slid his hand up to gently stroke the soft curve of her waist.
In a low, teasing whisper meant only for Mai's ears, he added, "Besides, we certainly couldn't finish it all by ourselves, right?"
"Hmph!"
Mai huffed out a breath in sheer frustration. She was deeply upset. He was literally giving away her homemade bento, using her culinary effort to feed another woman right in front of her!
Furious, she tightened her inner grip completely, refusing to let go of him.
Sigh... Haruto let out a soft breath.
Even for him, there were limits to how much teasing she could handle before things got out of hand.
"Eek?!"
Before Mai could process what was happening, Haruto firmly scooped her up into his arms, shifting her position entirely.
"Wait! Put me down! She'll see us!" Mai panicked, her heart hammering against her ribs.
But Haruto just chuckled, a confident glint in his eye. "Relax. Don't worry about a thing."
"Did you forget about the special ability I acquired from our trade?"
Mai's eyes widened in sudden realization as her memory clicked. "You mean..."
"Exactly what you're thinking."
"Right now, Kasumigaoka's perception of us is completely blocked. She literally can't see or hear a thing."
True to his word, Kasumigaoka remained entirely engrossed in her delicious meal, completely oblivious to the fact that Haruto was currently holding an invisible, flustered girl in his arms right in front of her.
Haruto gently removed Mai's hands and pinned them along with her wrists against the cold stone ledge of the rooftop.
She at the moment had a hesitant expression on her face which made him stop for a moment.
He then asked her, his voice dropping to a low, intimate murmur, "Mai, are you worried about something?"
Understanding completely what he meant, Mai bit her lower lip, her dark gaze flickering nervously as she replied, "Not really."
Haruto noticed her hesitation, his expression softening just a fraction. "Tell me, what are you worried about?"
Mai lowered her head, speaking softly, "I... I'm afraid that one day I might really disappear completely, and I won't be able to respond to your feelings anymore."
That was her deepest fear—that her pubrescence syndrome might eventually fade her away to the point where even Haruto couldn't remember her existence.
"So that's what it is," Haruto said, a reassuring smile forming on his lips. "If that's the case, let's fix it right here and now."
He leaned in and pressed a warm, lingering kiss to her forehead. A radiant, crimson light enveloped her body as he granted her his special blessing.
"Ah?!"
Mai immediately felt a sudden, profound change within her body, a surging wave of powerful energy flowing through her veins.
She reached up and touched a pair of shimmering earrings that had materialized beneath her ears, while faint, beautiful red dragon scales flickered across her arms and cheeks.
"What is this?!"
Mai was utterly shocked by her sudden transformation.
* [Name]: Mai Sakurajima
* * [Abilities]: "Dragon Strength," "Cognitive Disappearance," "Haruto's Blessing," "Inherent Device: Void Star"
* "Dragon Strength": Grants the physical body the devastating strength of a dragon.
* "Inherent Device: Void Star": Earrings that can control or erase the existence of objects.
These abilities made her exponentially stronger, but what stood out most was the evolution of her pubrescence syndrome and cognitive disappearance.
"Now that you have my blessing, you should understand what has happened to you."
Mai gazed down at the dragon scales on her arms, and with a single thought, they vanished beneath her skin.
She could also feel deep inside her mind that she now possessed the absolute ability to restore people's perception of her whenever she chose.
"Don't even think about testing your new abilities right now," Haruto warned, seeing the gears turning in her head. "Unless you want Utaha to suddenly notice us right here."
He nodded subtly toward Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was still seated a few feet away, happily engrossed in her bento box.
"!!!"
Mai, suddenly remembering that the novelist was still sitting right there, quickly abandoned the idea of restoring her presence.
She looked up at Haruto with a complex, breathless expression.
"So you actually had a way to restore my presence all along."
"This specific method wasn't something I was completely sure about," Haruto admitted honestly.
The blessing triggered unique evolutions based on a combination of his power and the individual's inner desires.
It was now clear that Mai's abilities had evolved alongside his, resulting in her gaining powers that matched his own draconic nature.
It was a pleasant surprise.
For now, though, Mai was the absolute center of his attention.
"Now that your worries are gone, Mai, are you ready?" Haruto asked once again, his hips pressing firmly against her.
"W-Wait, right here?!"
Mai gasped as she felt the overwhelming heat of his body against hers.
Her final worry had vanished into thin air, and the person she loved was right here, the one who had taken away her fear of fading.
The fierce affection and relief she wanted to express surged through her, but words felt entirely useless.
She realized the only way to truly share her overflowing feelings was through the deep, desperate closeness of their bodies.
With her long hair cascading down her shoulders, she rested her chin on Haruto's shoulder, her voice dropping to a trembling whisper.
"She... she really won't notice us, will she?"
Her newfound, rare vulnerability made Haruto's smile widen.
"Don't you trust me?"
"I do, but... doing this right in front of her feels so bizarre."
"So, that's a yes? Then, here I go."
"Wait, no—ah!"
Haruto didn't give her another second to hesitate.
With a smooth, practiced shift, he parted her thighs and drove straight into her hot, slick core in one deep, unyielding thrust.
Mai let out a sharp, muffled cry, her fingers digging desperately into the stone ledge as the sudden, intense fullness stole the breath right out of her lungs.
The physical contrast of making love in the open air while another person sat just paces away sent a dizzying wave of adrenaline and forbidden pleasure straight through her.
Haruto began to move, setting a slow, agonizingly deep rhythm that made her whole body shiver.
Every heavy push drove her further against the cold wall, her inner walls clamping down tightly around him in sheer reflex.
"Haah... Haruto... too deep..."
She whimpered softly into his neck, her hips instinctively bucking upward to chase the friction, completely surrendering to the overwhelming sensation as the quiet afternoon wind blew past them both.
*****
20+ Advance Chapters are available on Patreon.
With Exclusive Character Arts On It.
So Be Sure To Check It out.
patreon.com/ITz_DeaD