That night, Shiginomiya—rare for her—started asking Akira a whole lot about the Literature Club. Of course, that wasn't really what she cared about; what she wanted was intel on "Hitomi."
But Akira didn't actually know that much about Class Rep, so he could only share some basics: she was probably the daughter of some big family, had a few childhood friends, valued friendship, was great at cooking, and so on…
He didn't let a single thing slip that he shouldn't. After all, he knew that his and Class Rep's "interactions" were the type that would only invite misunderstandings.
Even though he and Shiginomiya weren't dating, if she found out he'd been having a grand old time with another girl, her affection for him would definitely take a hit—she might even start putting up walls. That would be a disaster.
As for Shiginomiya, she locked all this "enemy data" about her love rival firmly in her mind. Once she learned that Hitomi's full name was Anri Hitomi, the enemy's true identity came into focus.
As for what she looked like, her personality, her background—Shiginomiya didn't really care about any of that. None of it mattered.
What mattered was: Anri Hitomi… that woman had just officially declared war on her!
As the saying goes, "A woman's scent tells all"—the two girls had already had a soul-to-soul exchange, leaving their own scent on Akira as a way of staking their claim.
In the animal kingdom, leaving a scent—like with urine—signals "this is my territory," and adding your scent over someone else's is an open, direct challenge.
But Shiginomiya didn't get all worked up—when it came to romance, her mind was surprisingly sharp.
If Anri Hitomi had already gotten close to Akira, she wouldn't need to go in circles like this, sending a warning through roundabout means.
In other words: Anri Hitomi hadn't confessed yet. She didn't dare confess. And smelling Shiginomiya's scent, she panicked.
Like a cat with its tail stepped on, fur bristling in alarm.
With that in mind, Shiginomiya felt the advantage is mine. What's Anri Hitomi got? She's nothing to worry about!
If covering up Akira's scent was so easy, why hadn't she done it sooner?
She'd left her own scent on Akira for a while now, and only today did Hitomi fire back—that just meant she was out of moves.
It showed that Hitomi didn't have that many chances to get close to Akira… But she could snuggle up to him every day under the pretense of "foot massages."
Could Anri Hitomi do that?
Feeling a bit smug, Shiginomiya still couldn't ignore the threat. So she retaliated by stepping up her seduction game.
And poor Akira could only feel that Shiginomiya's affection for him had mysteriously leveled up again. Her main symptom: acting more and more relaxed around him.
Like stepping out of the bath in just a towel and asking him to towel and blow-dry her hair. Or taking off her stockings right in front of him and tossing them onto his face. Or suddenly catching him in a judo-style leg lock when he was lying on the bed… Shiginomiya, that move is totally illegal, you know.
Akira couldn't help wondering if she really thought of him as just her bunk-bed buddy. Did she really have to give "little bro" this much of a treat?
But just feasting on eye-candy without any "firefighting" left Akira seriously pent-up. The difficulty of his self-control challenge had jumped up a level.
His only choice was to cool himself down in a cold shower and scrub himself head-to-toe again—this way, no one would complain about his scent anymore…
The next morning, when he met Class Rep, she leaned in and sniffed him. All the "bad smells" were gone, and her mood was visibly brighter.
Heh… Someone's feeling guilty. Can't keep it up, huh?
From Akira's own clueless reaction, it was obvious—his roommate had just secretly left her scent on his bed, nothing more. It wasn't the kind of "scent" you get from rolling around in bed together.
So Akira definitely didn't have a girlfriend yet, and wasn't looking for one.
Which meant she—Class Rep—was still the closest person to him.
Even living together, their relationship was no big deal.
After their secret skirmish, both girls walked away thinking the other was a total amateur, not worth worrying about.
...
Completely oblivious, Akira was thinking about his to-do list for the day.
He dug through memories of art styles from his previous life, trying to put them into words he could use to guide Aizono Momo.
After school, he headed to the Literature Club. As soon as he entered, he excitedly declared to Aizono Momo:
"All right, Aizono-san, from today on, I'm going to give you all kinds of directions! Fair warning—my standards are pretty strict!"
"I—I'll do my best!"
Seeing Akira so serious, Aizono Momo straightened up, nerves on edge but fully focused.
"I might even get involved with your art style. If there's ever something you don't get, you have to tell me. I'll explain exactly why I want you to change it."
"Okay, I'll try my best to understand!"
Aizono Momo never even considered questioning Akira. In her eyes, Akira was a pro—someone who could actually publish light novels. She was just an amateur. The fact that he wanted her illustrations at all was already an incredible honor—how could she possibly have any complaints?
So from then on, it was Akira giving directions and Aizono Momo taking notes.
The character sheets for all the first volume's major players were finished in no time—the pace way ahead of what Akira expected.
Since there was still plenty of time, he started working with her on the first illustration draft, curious about her ability to do storyboards.
And as he explained things, Akira was once again impressed by Aizono Momo's skill.
This time, it wasn't about her talent—it was her ability to communicate and understand, even connecting the dots on her own.
"Okay, you want to show panties, right? What kind of design? I think, with the little sister's personality, blue and white stripes would be best… Ah, but I'll go with your preference, Akira-kun."
Now that they'd gotten closer, Aizono Momo had upgraded her "Kuroba-san" to "Akira-kun."
"Oh, yeah, I think blue and white stripes are great too…"
"Right? So, how much do you want them revealed? Halfway? All the way? Personally, I'd rather have them off here—ah, I mean, not just flipping up the skirt to show the panties, but pushing the skirt up near the absolute territory, with the blue-and-white striped panties caught at the knees. That way you get both the panties and that thrilling 'vacuum zone' feel… I think that'd be even sexier. What do you think?"
"Uh…"
Akira was struck speechless.
Did she just take the lead!?
Wait—why is she suddenly not shy at all!?
And with this level of detail… isn't she actually super-experienced at this!?
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T/N: heres ur updates :3 meeting the 4 chaps a week quota :3
bonus chaps
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and so on
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