Ragged, quickened breaths filled the already cramped space, adding a layer of warmth — of something unmistakably charged — to the air between them.
Several minutes passed before Morishita Ai finally pulled herself away from Shikime Natsu, breathless and flushed.
The moment their lips parted, it felt as though the air itself still trembled with the lingering pulse of something that made hearts race.
Morishita Ai leaned back slightly, and in those amethyst-clear violet eyes of hers — so usually cool and composed — there was not a trace of her ordinary calm or reason. They were clouded over with a misty, unfocused haze, her gaze distant and dazed, as though she hadn't quite returned to earth yet.
That delicate face of hers, already so fair and refined, had gone so deeply, vividly red it looked as though it might bleed — the heat blazed across her cheeks and spread all the way down to the tips of her small ears and the slender column of her neck.
What she had just done had, in a single instant, consumed every last reserve of courage she had accumulated across her entire life.
Because just a few minutes ago, Morishita Ai had absolutely, categorically not intended to do anything of the sort.
As a self-proclaimed "noble observer" — an eccentric, frequency-shifted beauty who prided herself on standing apart from it all — she had always believed she could remain perfectly at ease on the sidelines, watching Shikime Natsu's entanglements with various girls from a position of cool, detached superiority.
But then, just moments ago, she had seen it with her own eyes — the calm, utterly untroubled expression on Shikime Natsu's face, as though he truly was prepared to give up on her, to draw a clean line between them and walk away.
And in that instant, every last shred of the reason she was so proud of had simply shattered.
She had panicked.
That crushing, suffocating terror — the sensation of her heart being seized in a brutal fist, of being on the verge of losing something irreplaceable — had crashed her brain entirely. And so she had done it. She had hurled herself at him like a moth diving headlong into a flame, not thinking, not stopping, just going.
Now, with a little distance between them at last, Morishita Ai's heart was still pounding furiously, showing absolutely no signs of settling.
She drew several slow, deep breaths, working hard to steady herself.
Then she raised one small, still-trembling hand — pale and delicate — and in a motion that was just a little stiff, gently tucked the loose strands of violet hair falling across her cheek back behind her ear.
Morishita Ai lifted her head again, and those misty, dew-glazed eyes fixed themselves directly on Shikime Natsu.
To bury the near-explosive shame roaring inside her, she forced her scarlet face into what she decided was a thoroughly mature expression, clamping down hard on every trembling muscle.
She tilted her chin up slightly and spoke — slowly, in a tone she tried her best to keep steady, though a faint tremor ran through every word.
"Shikime Natsu, you are an absolute and complete idiot."
She paused, as if gathering herself, then pressed on.
"Since you — this hopelessly oblivious suspect — have no intention of making the next move, Officer Morishita has decided to take matters directly into her own hands. An outstanding officer, once she has identified her target, does not let that target slip away so easily."
"And besides — just now, Officer Morishita has unilaterally surrendered her most precious first kiss to Shikime Natsu. Which means that, both physically and spiritually, Shikime Natsu now belongs to me. An indelible mark — the exclusive brand of the noble Morishita Ai — has already been stamped upon you, permanently and without appeal."
The look in Morishita Ai's eyes had gone entirely serious.
Yes. The moment her lips had touched his, she had made up her mind completely and irrevocably.
Even if Shikime Natsu changed his mind right now. Even if he refused. She would stick to him like a plaster that absolutely could not be peeled off — clinging, stubborn, immovable.
Because retreating due to a moment of stubbornness, getting kicked aside, and ending up as the girl crying alone in some corner — a defeated loser licking her wounds — was absolutely not the ending Morishita Ai wanted.
She would never, ever allow the tragic script of a light novel's side-character heroine to play out on her own life.
Listening to that blunt, unapologetically domineering declaration, Shikime Natsu felt the corner of his mouth curl upward without his permission.
"Oh? Is that so? But... if I remember correctly, just a few minutes ago, Officer Morishita was swearing up and down that she would never, under any circumstances, become one of my so-called ridiculous harem. And yet now, not only is she taking the initiative — she just went ahead and kissed me herself. How does that work, exactly?"
Even caught red-handed, even with her earlier stubbornness exposed in broad daylight, Morishita Ai clenched her lower lip between her teeth and held Shikime Natsu's gaze with unwavering defiance.
She called upon every ounce of her gift for arguing her way out of anything, and fired back.
"Th-That — that's entirely your fault for being such a quitter! You're pathetically weak — it's honestly disappointing!"
She glared at him, cheeks puffed, indignation laced through with something that sounded suspiciously like hurt.
"What I said earlier was nothing less than Officer Morishita's ultimate test of the suspect! And what happened? You couldn't even pass something that simple — one little rejection and you immediately threw up your hands and gave up! You have absolutely no capacity to comprehend the deep and complex inner workings of Morishita Ai's mind! You are, without question, a completely romantically oblivious idiot!"
Listening to that gloriously tsundere speech, Shikime Natsu couldn't hold it in — a low, quiet laugh escaped him again.
He tilted his body toward her slightly, closing the distance.
"So then..."
He let the words trail out deliberately, those golden eyes locking onto hers — wide, flustered, and frantically trying not to show it.
"If I'm reading this correctly — Morishita-san's actions just now mean that she's had a change of heart and is now willingly joining my harem?"
Those words — blunt as a hammer through a paper wall — sent a wave of flustered outrage crashing through Morishita Ai.
She glared at him, somewhere between furious and mortified.
This insufferable, infuriating — !!
Hadn't she made herself obvious enough just now?! She had already handed over her first kiss — her first kiss — and even made that humiliating declaration of ownership, and he still had the nerve to throw it back at her in plain language like this?!
This guy was clearly just trying to watch her squirm and embarrass herself further!
Truly, an absolutely terrible, utterly unforgivable personality.
Still — even as she cursed him ten thousand times over in her head — Morishita Ai understood the fundamental truth perfectly: hesitate, and you lose.
Morishita Ai drew herself up, squaring her still-developing chest, and arranged her features into an expression of lofty, magnanimous, utterly gracious condescension — as though bestowing an enormous favour on someone who didn't remotely deserve it.
"Hmph. Since you've asked so sincerely, I shall generously enlighten you. Having the noble Morishita Ai join Shikime Natsu's harem is an honour that you must have accumulated across multiple lifetimes just to be worthy of. You should be grateful. Deeply, profoundly, on-your-knees grateful."
Hearing that — watching the girl who was clearly nervous to her very core somehow still manage to pile on this level of theatrical self-importance — the amusement in Shikime Natsu's eyes deepened further.
Since Morishita Ai had already been this honest, this brave, and taken this enormous step of her own accord, Shikime Natsu naturally had no intention of continuing to tease her with words.
He closed the distance again — and the moment he did, Morishita Ai felt every muscle in her body go taut all at once.
Her heart launched back into that familiar, frantic rhythm. Thump. Thump. Thump.
But this time, she didn't close her eyes and look away like before.
She clenched her jaw. She held onto the very last thread of her dignity with both hands. And she kept her violet eyes wide open, staring straight at Shikime Natsu — who was now barely a breath away.
Shikime Natsu simply looked at her — that expression of someone bracing against an incoming catastrophe — and lowered his head slightly.
The next second.
His warm lips pressed once again against Morishita Ai's soft ones.
"Mm—!"
A tiny, barely audible whimper rose from her throat. Once.
The moment his lips lifted — before she could draw even a single breath of fresh air — he leaned down and kissed her again.
Twice. Three times.
Ten times in a row.
Each kiss pressed down like a brand, searing itself into the soft surface of her lips.
At first, Morishita Ai tried to hold her eyes open — tried to observe, to take stock of what was happening to her.
But under Shikime Natsu's relentless, storm-like assault, her mind quickly dissolved into mush.
Her senses were stripped away entirely. The whole world shrank down to nothing but the burning heat against her lips, and the faint, clean scent of his breath — so close it was almost suffocating.
Her eyelashes trembled violently, and then, helpless, powerless, they fluttered shut — soft and boneless — and she could only follow instinct, passive and overwhelmed, enduring those ten breathless kisses one by one.
Finally, they broke apart again.
Morishita Ai was gasping, her chest heaving dramatically up and down.
She could feel her legs going weak beneath her. If her back hadn't been pressed against the wooden wall this whole time, she was fairly sure she would have already slid all the way down to the floor.
After a moment to collect herself, and to paper over how utterly undignified she had just looked, Morishita Ai immediately snapped her expression back into a full, indignant pout and voiced her extremely strong displeasure at Shikime Natsu.
"You — Shikime Natsu! You are a completely unrestrained kissing menace!"
She jabbed a finger at him, her voice carrying an unmistakably petulant edge.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?! The noble Morishita Ai's mouth is practically swollen from you! Major point deduction! This constitutes serious physical misconduct!"
But if one looked closely, they would notice — despite the endless stream of complaints pouring from her mouth — that flushed, rose-swept little face of hers held very little actual anger.
Quite the opposite.
Deep within those rippling violet eyes, barely concealed, was something that looked unmistakably, hopelessly like sweetness.
Seeing that textbook "mouth says no, heart says yes" reaction, a sly glint passed through Shikime Natsu's pale golden eyes.
He raised his thumb and casually wiped the corner of his mouth, then looked at her and smiled.
"My, how terrible of me. But — if Officer Morishita is this unhappy about it and feels she got the short end of the deal, then in the spirit of fairness, Officer Morishita is absolutely welcome to kiss me back right now. I promise I won't resist at all."
And he very cooperatively opened his arms slightly wide as he said it.
Looking at this shameless, smug, thoroughly-got-away-with-it creature standing in front of her, Morishita Ai felt her teeth itch with barely-contained fury.
She puffed her cheeks out, bristling like an outraged little hamster, then with aggressive, determined strides, marched straight up to him and planted herself in front of Shikime Natsu.
Watching her approach with that murderous energy, Shikime Natsu had assumed Morishita Ai was truly about to retaliate — that she'd lunge at him and kiss him back, giving as good as she got.
So he very naturally bent his tall frame down a little, closed his eyes, and prepared to receive the girl's wild, artless, utterly adorable counterattack.
But as it turned out.
The soft pressure he was anticipating never came.
Morishita Ai had not chosen to kiss him.
Instead — she suddenly thrust both her slender arms out, and with as much force as she could muster, wrapped them firmly around Shikime Natsu's waist.
And then she buried her face — her burning, scalding face — deep into the broad, warm expanse of his chest. Completely. Without reservation.
Thump... thump... thump...
Her cheek pressed flush against his chest, Morishita Ai could hear it with perfect, undeniable clarity — the strong, steady heartbeat resonating from within that solid frame.
Its rhythm seemed to be gradually syncing with her own frantic, thundering pulse.
In this moment, in this tiny, shadowed space, Morishita Ai felt a sense of peace she had never known before.
His arms — his embrace — were so warm. So wide. So terribly, dangerously easy to want more of.
In this moment, a memory surfaced in Morishita Ai's mind with sudden, incongruous clarity — something she had once said to Kamuro Masumi, face to face.
Hesitate, and you lose.
Thank goodness. At the most critical crossroads, she had not hesitated.
If she had retreated just now. If she had truly let him turn and walk away — then right now, she would already be a defeated loser.
The thought made the arms wrapped around Shikime Natsu's waist tighten instinctively, as if afraid he might vanish at any moment.
On the other side of that embrace.
Feeling the soft, slight warmth that had suddenly nestled itself against him — feeling the strength of Morishita Ai's arms around him, a grip that trembled just slightly — Shikime Natsu's eyes softened instantly.
Faced with the girl's wholehearted, unguarded surrender into his arms, Shikime Natsu didn't hesitate for even a moment.
He let his outstretched arms close naturally, wrapping both of them — steady and sure — around Morishita Ai's slender back, holding her against him firmly, completely.
He could feel it clearly: the delicate frame of her, the soft curves of her body, and the gentle warmth she pressed into his chest.
At the same time, a faint, lovely scent — clean and distinctly, entirely her — drifted up with the embrace and into his lungs.
And so the two of them stood there, in the quiet dark of that small space, simply holding each other.
Savouring this hard-won moment — a warmth that had finally, at last, confirmed what was in each other's hearts.
But then.
Shikime Natsu suddenly became aware of a restless, fidgeting shift from the girl in his arms.
He felt it — the small hands that had been wrapped so tightly around his waist suddenly changing their aim.
Morishita Ai's palms pressed flat against his abdomen, and then, accompanied by a small surge of forward force from that petite body — a pushing pressure transmitted straight from her hands.
The intention couldn't have been more obvious — she was trying to push him over onto the floor.
The thing was.
Shikime Natsu's physical conditioning was on an entirely different level.
His legs were rooted to the floorboards of the cabin like the base of an immovable mountain.
Even as Morishita Ai clenched her jaw, chanted silent battle cries in her head, and threw every ounce of her strength into pushing — Shikime Natsu didn't budge. Not an inch. Not even a sway.
Looking down at the girl in his arms — face going crimson from the sheer effort of a push that wasn't moving him one bit — Shikime Natsu found himself fighting back a grin.
He tilted his head down, looking at the small head pressed against his chest, and asked with a mixture of amusement and genuine curiosity.
"And what exactly are you trying to do?"
Realising that no amount of effort was going to shift this man — who was apparently made of solid rock — Morishita Ai's grand scheme ground to a halt.
She deflated slightly and stopped.
Then she raised her head, and that lovely little face was written all over with very pronounced dissatisfaction.
She puffed up her slightly baby-round cheeks, glowering at Shikime Natsu like a small animal about to bite someone.
"Shikime Natsu! You're too heavy! Officer Morishita is issuing a direct command — lie down. Right now. Immediately. Flat on your back over there!"
As she said it, she pointed behind him at the wooden floor.
Well — if she wanted to play, he was perfectly happy to play along.
And so, Shikime Natsu cooperated without complaint — stepped back half a pace, and in full compliance with Morishita Ai's rather unreasonable demand, lay down on the cabin floor.
He folded his hands behind his head, and in the darkness, those golden eyes looked up at the girl above him with unhurried, entertained interest.
Seeing Shikime Natsu lie back so obediently, a flicker of satisfaction crossed Morishita Ai's eyes.
And then.
She did not spare a single glance for the young man lying on the floor. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked with purpose to the tightly shut door of the cabin.
Morishita Ai stood before the door, bent down slightly, and in the dimness, those violet eyes worked hard to examine it closely.
She extended her small, pale hand, running her fingers all along the wooden door, brow furrowing slightly — the very picture of someone conducting a deeply serious architectural investigation.
Listening to the rustling, scraping sounds coming from the direction of the door.
The Shikime Natsu lying on the floor propped himself up on one arm with some curiosity and half-sat up.
He watched the small, busy silhouette over by the entrance, and called out.
"What are you studying over there?"
Sharply aware of the sounds behind her signalling that he'd moved, Morishita Ai whipped around immediately.
She looked exactly like a covert operative whose secret mission had been blown — and immediately thrust her hand out toward Shikime Natsu in a sharp, authoritative "stop" gesture.
"Stand down! Lie back down!"
Morishita Ai's voice was fully serious as she ordered Shikime Natsu to continue lying exactly where he was.
"Please do not interrupt my train of thought at random. Officer Morishita is currently in the middle of handling an extremely important matter!"
Her air of absolute gravity suggested she was in the process of defusing a bomb capable of destroying civilisation.
That — now that — thoroughly hooked Shikime Natsu's interest.
He did not lie back down. Instead, he stayed half-propped up, that signature crooked smile playing on his lips, and asked with growing amusement.
"Oh? An important matter? Something that significant — I wonder if I might have the honour of being involved?"
"After all... whatever my girlfriend is doing, I as her boyfriend am naturally very happy to help."
"G — girlfriend?!"
The moment that word — girlfriend — passed through Shikime Natsu's lips.
Morishita Ai felt something impossibly soft slam directly into her heart.
That already-warm little face of hers — still carrying the afterglow of those kisses — immediately flooded with a fresh wave of vivid, captivating crimson.
That word... it was a remarkably strange, remarkably unfamiliar experience.
But...
She rolled it quietly around in her heart for a moment.
She had to admit — being called "girlfriend"... actually, she rather liked it.
More than rather. She liked it enormously.
Not that she was going to let any of that show on the surface, naturally.
Morishita Ai drew a measured breath and forcibly suppressed the corners of her mouth, which were threatening to pull upward entirely against her will.
She turned back to face him, those violet eyes fixing on Shikime Natsu with complete seriousness.
"Shikime Natsu, I require greater precision in your word choice. 'Girlfriend' alone is insufficient."
She extended one pale finger and tapped the air emphatically.
"From this moment forward, you are required to refer to Morishita Ai as your cute girlfriend. All five words — not one may be omitted. In particular, the word 'cute' at the beginning must be stressed with full emphasis each and every time."
Listening to that thoroughly earnest, non-negotiable demand — watching her pull off an expression of peak tsundere imperialism — Shikime Natsu couldn't help but laugh, and naturally agreed without a moment's hesitation.
Shikime Natsu lay back on the floor, hands folded behind his head, eyes drifting up to the girl standing over by the door, and obligingly said just what she asked.
"Understood. So then — my incredibly cute girlfriend — what exactly is this terribly important matter you're dealing with right now?"
The moment those words reached her ears — Shikime Natsu saying them so readily, in that warm, indulgent tone — Morishita Ai felt as though gravity had simply stopped working on her. She went light, floaty, untethered.
That tingling rush — starting from the soles of her feet and sweeping all the way to the top of her head — brought with it a satisfaction so enormous it felt almost unbearable.
Riding that wave of satisfaction, she finally returned her attention to the door in front of her.
She turned her head and looked at the door — shut, but clearly not exactly fortress-grade — and laid out her grand plan.
"I had a look just now," she said.
She pointed at the gap along the door frame, voice fully grave.
"My current objective is to, by physical means, seal this door completely and absolutely shut. There must be zero possibility of it being opened from outside under any circumstances."
Lock the door?
The cabin that Shikime Natsu had built didn't have anything in the way of a lock — after all, it was just a structure made of timber. Completely sealing it without additional tools wasn't straightforward. But... a simple bar latch could be done.
"Alright. If my cute girlfriend says so, then leave this one to me."
With that, Shikime Natsu got to his feet.
He retrieved from the corner of the cabin some of the simple tools and offcut timber left from the original construction.
For a Shikime Natsu boosted by his system skills, a woodworking job this basic was child's play.
He measured the door frame quickly and precisely on both sides, and then — accompanied by a few sharp, clean knocks — in under two minutes flat, had neatly and efficiently fitted a sturdy wooden bar bracket to the back of the door and threaded a solid wooden crossbar through it.
Click.
The door was sealed shut.
With this solidly built bar in place, anyone outside without the tools to break the door down would find it very difficult to force their way in. The only way to open it would be for someone inside to lift the crossbar themselves.
Standing to one side, Morishita Ai's violet eyes glittered with excitement.
She looked at that firm, sturdy latch and gave a deeply satisfied nod, voice swelling with pride.
"Well done. Exactly what I'd expect from the boyfriend personally selected by Morishita Ai — your practical skills are clearly on a level well beyond ordinary people."
Hearing that unrestrained praise.
Shikime Natsu turned, walked over to her.
He looked at the girl — preening with exactly the self-satisfied energy of a little peacock who had made a very fine choice — and couldn't quite stop himself. He raised that large hand of his and set it naturally, gently, on top of Morishita Ai's fluffy violet head, and gave it a soft ruffle. Then he looked at her and smiled.
Being suddenly patted on the head like a well-behaved pet caught Morishita Ai off guard.
Her body stiffened slightly, a flush of shy warmth rising inside her.
But...
She could feel the remarkable warmth radiating from that large hand, and the steadying, reassuring weight of it.
She didn't pull away.
In fact, those violet eyes of hers narrowed into a soft, contented squint — like a cat having its fur stroked exactly the right way — not resisting in the slightest, and if anything, rather enjoying it.
But the gentle moment didn't last very long.
"Alright, that's done. So then — my boyfriend — you can go ahead and lie back down now."
Morishita Ai murmured those words with her face still red, and hearing them, Shikime Natsu chose to cooperate — genuinely curious now as to what this beautiful eccentric had in mind.
The moment Shikime Natsu had barely finished lying back on the floor — before he could even open his mouth to ask what came next — Morishita Ai, who had been standing to the side, let something flash through those violet eyes of hers.
And then she took one enormous stride forward.
Under Shikime Natsu's slightly startled gaze, that small, soft, delicate body stepped clean over his legs.
And then — without the slightest hesitation — she straddled herself directly across his abdomen and sat down.
Shikime Natsu could feel it vividly: the warm inner curve of the girl's thighs pressed flush against his sides, that startling warmth transmitting through the thin fabric of their clothes in a steady, unbroken current.
Settled atop him, Morishita Ai did not stop moving.
Those two pale little hands — trembling ever so slightly — reached toward the hem of Shikime Natsu's shirt at his stomach.
The sound of fabric rustling felt extraordinarily loud in the silence of the cabin.
Morishita Ai's exquisite face had gone a deep, burning rose — the colour spreading all the way to the roots of her hair.
She looked down at Shikime Natsu from above, her chest rising and falling sharply, and then — in a voice that trembled with the sheer effort of maintaining any dignity at all, and with a tone that was very much a case of the pot calling the kettle black — she spoke.
"This is absolutely disgraceful! In broad daylight — Shikime Natsu, have you finally revealed your true nature as a beast?!"
Hearing that bold, blatant reversal of blame.
Lying on the floor — feeling those cool, delicate hands against his stomach — looking up at this girl who was red-faced and clearly the instigator, yet still managing to play the aggrieved party — Shikime Natsu genuinely could not say which one of them was supposed to be the beast in this locked cabin right now.
Surprised as he was, though.
He hadn't expected Morishita Ai to move quite this boldly.
Faced with this particular "ambush," Shikime Natsu didn't resist. Instead he let himself relax completely.
"My cute girlfriend really is remarkably bold. If we keep going from here, something rather terrifying might happen, you know~ Are you ready for that?"
In the face of that provoking question.
Morishita Ai — perched atop him — seemed to have stopped hearing Shikime Natsu's words entirely.
Those eyes, usually so clear, had gone completely unfocused — twin spirals of mental overload. The CPU of her brain was operating under severe, critical strain.
She squeezed her eyes shut, chanting under her breath like an incantation, over and over in a barely audible murmur.
"Hesitate and you lose... hesitate... and you lose..."
That already-flushed face had gone so red by now it looked as though it might truly start to bleed.
The reason Morishita Ai had worked herself up to do any of this was entirely because of the late-night manga she'd consumed over the years — all manner of stories, of varying degrees of appropriateness. In every one of them, when a boy and girl were shut in a confined space together and had confirmed their feelings for each other, the plot invariably developed in a certain unmistakable direction.
Morishita Ai was simply following the script — taking the storyboard panels she had studied so carefully and putting them into practice in real life.
Morishita Ai's gaze landed on Shikime Natsu. Trembling. And then her hands moved to her own track jacket...
The rest of that day passed without further words needing to be said.
____
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