Hearing the '+1' notification sound chime again and again, Fumiya Jin felt utterly innocent.
How could she tarnish my good name out of thin air!
I was just desperate to save her, it wasn't on purpose. How can that be considered creepy??
"Ugh... so dizzy..."
Nijika's eyes were spinning. She leaned in his arms for several seconds before recovering from her dizzy spell.
Coming to her senses, she realized she was leaning against Fumiya Jin, and her cheeks instantly flushed red.
But she knew she'd overexerted herself and lost her footing. Fumiya Jin had only caught her to help, so she didn't feel offended—in fact, she felt a little guilty.
However...
That guilt lasted for only a few seconds.
When she felt a strange, embarrassing tingling sensation coming from two places...
When she realized *how* Fumiya Jin was holding her...
She started to feel quite offended!!
"Hey, hey, hey! Where... where are you grabbing?! L-let me go!" the girl struggled hastily.
Fumiya Jin cooperatively let her go, looking at her with an expression of pure innocence. "I couldn't help it," he said. "You were about to fall flat on your face. In the heat of the moment, I couldn't be too picky."
"S-still, you can't just touch me wherever!!" Nijika said, her face bright red.
"Alright, my bad, my bad," Fumiya Jin apologized magnanimously. "My arms were still a bit numb, so my grip wasn't very stable. I had to choose the best way to exert force, otherwise I might not have been able to catch you."
"I guess I can understand that..." Nijika bit her lip. "Touching my butt or whatever, I'm not that sensitive... But... the other place is... just a little unacceptable, isn't it..."
"Huh?" Fumiya Jin looked bewildered. "Did I touch somewhere else?"
Nijika glared at him indignantly. "Don't you know where your other hand was?"
Fumiya Jin lowered his head slightly and pondered for a few seconds, appearing to recall exactly where his other hand had been.
Then, as if struck by enlightenment, he said, "Oh, you mean chest... But there's not really anything there, is there? It's not even bigger than mine. I didn't even notice."
Although Fumiya Jin said this to tease the girl, it wasn't entirely nonsense.
After all, he had previously witnessed the fullness of a full moon firsthand.
In comparison, he could only feel a sense of tender pity for the small crescent moon... not many lewd thoughts.
"Huh???"
Nijika's eyes went wide.
She stared at Fumiya Jin in disbelief.
"You-you-you-you-you! What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"
"I'm just telling the truth," Fumiya Jin said, puffing out his chest. "If you don't believe me, feel for yourself."
"Is that the issue here?!" Nijika's cheeks puffed out in anger, like a stressed little pufferfish.
"Fine, if you don't dare," Fumiya Jin used a simple goading tactic. "Let's bet a milk tea with all the toppings. Loser buys. You in?"
"Who would make a bet like that with you? You're so childish!" Nijika turned her head away, refusing to take the bait.
But.
Patience might bring temporary peace.
But taking a step back only made her angrier the more she thought about it!
Especially with Fumiya Jin looking at her with that smug, teasing glint in his eyes...
"You're on!"
...
...
Half an hour later.
In the small shopping street nearest to Fumiya Jin's house.
Nijika stood outside a convenience store, holding a super-deluxe 'grand slam' milk tea overflowing with pudding, coconut jelly, and other toppings, quietly sipping it.
She was clearly the winner. And she had crushed him by a large margin.
Yet her expression was dazed.
She was even questioning her life choices.
"Having to compete with a boy in the chest area... why do I feel even more pathetic!" she mumbled under her breath.
"It's fine," Fumiya Jin said as he walked out after paying, carrying a large bag of groceries. He had happened to overhear the girl's whisper. "Small is cute too."
"Who wants to hear that kind of awful consolation! So creepy!" Nijika shot him an indignant glare.
[Trait Activated.]
[+1]
Fumiya Jin almost burst out laughing.
Life is full of surprises.
Nijika truly was a treasure trove of cutting remarks!
"Still smirking, you jerk!" Nijika walked over irritably and gave his shin a light kick.
"Don't be mad," Fumiya Jin soothed. "If you're really that unsatisfied with the current situation, I can help."
"Help?" Nijika paused for a moment. "With something like this... how can you help?"
"While massage can't change much after adulthood, a teenage girl's development hasn't stopped yet. Appropriate stimulation should have some effect. It requires very professional techniques and delicate methods, but for the health of my dear teammate, Miss Nijika, I'm willing to go through the trouble of learning," Fumiya Jin said with a completely sincere expression.
"What!" Nijika rolled her eyes. "There's no way that's possible! How could I let a boy massage... massage *that* kind of place!"
"A doctor has the heart of a parent. Don't overthink it," Fumiya Jin said, dead serious.
"Pfft, pfft, pfft! I don't want such an indecent 'parent'!" Nijika stuck out her tongue. "You big pervert!"
[+1]
...
...
12:15 PM.
Fumiya Jin had been watching TV in the living room for a while.
It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but Nijika had kicked him straight out of the kitchen.
But now, as the sounds of bustling activity continued to drift from the kitchen, so did the pleasant aroma of home cooking. It made his stomach seemingly squirm and rumble.
After a solid week of instant noodles, he was truly starting to miss a proper meal.
He slowly got up, walked to the kitchen doorway, and peeked inside.
There, in front of the stove, was the girl in an apron. She hadn't noticed his arrival and was focused on stir-frying, holding a wok in her left hand and a spatula in her right.
Her movements weren't as practiced as a mother who had been cooking for decades, but she was still proficient. It was clear she cooked often.
Her slender, petite back would normally make one think of her as young and delicate.
But in this moment, fused with the aura of a good wife and wise mother, it radiated a surprising allure through the contrast.
Watching her just then, Fumiya Jin was suddenly reminded of a certain scene...
Perhaps on some morning in the future, he would wake up to find the spot beside him in bed empty, though her lingering scent and warmth remained.
He would get up, go downstairs, hear a noise from the kitchen, and go to take a look... and what he would see would be a scene just like this one.
Then he would silently walk up and hug her from behind, but because his steps were too light and silent, he would startle her so much the spatula would nearly fall from her hand.
Then, after recovering, the girl would chide him playfully and pat him, but without pushing him away... just letting him hold her like that as they cooked together, whispering intimately.
...How nice that would be.
Thinking of such a scene, his corpse felt warm, and even the livor mortis seemed to fade.
Smack—
Fumiya Jin slapped his cheeks.
Hah.
Fantastizing again.
It's nothing more than an impulse, a delusion driven by the human instinct for procreation and countless hormonal urges.
When is reality ever that wonderful?
Fumiya Jin's heart grew cold once more.
Women will only slow down the speed at which I draw my sword.
"Huh? What are you doing here again?"
Nijika seemed to have heard the slap, turning her head to glance at him before teasing him a little. "Looks like the smell made you hungry. So impatient."
She picked up a pair of clean chopsticks from the side.
She picked up a small piece of scrambled egg from the wok, blew on it gently to cool it down.
Then, cupping her left hand underneath, she walked over and brought the egg to his lips.
"Open up, say ahh—"
she said, as if coaxing a small child.
Fumiya Jin was slightly taken aback, but he complied and opened his mouth.
The girl rose slightly onto her tiptoes and carefully placed the piece of egg in his mouth.
"How is it?"
Fumiya Jin chewed for a moment.
The heat was controlled well and the saltiness was just right. For a home-cooked meal, it was quite good, but that was all.
It wasn't exceptionally delicious, nor did it have any ingredients that would make him glow with shock like in *Chuuka Ichiban!*.
However...
When Fumiya Jin saw the sparkling anticipation in the girl's glistening eyes...
"Yeah, it's delicious," Fumiya Jin said with a nod.
"Heehee... I do it every day, after all. Even I have a few things I'm good at." Nijika smiled happily, lifting her pale chin proudly. Then she said, "Okay, go wait now. Lunch will be ready in ten minutes, tops."
With that, she bounced back to the stove and got back to work.
Fumiya Jin nodded and returned to the living room, his expression blank.
He picked up his glass and drank some water.
But it was as if construction had started upstairs.
Thump-thump... thump-thump... thump-thump...
So noisy.
_____
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