76. Unchanging, Even as Second Years (2)

A weekend afternoon in April, not long after becoming second years.

Aki and I, trapped indoors by the China-sourced yellow dust that blanketed the country, were leisurely enjoying a home date at my place.

Well, “date” might be an exaggeration. We were just watching a movie, shoulders touching on the living room sofa, holding hands, playfully nudging each other, and occasionally stealing k*sses. Simple things, really.

But doing those simple things as lovers, not just childhood friends, strangely filled my chest with emotion and brought a smile to my face. I felt incredibly happy.

How should I put it? Every moment spent with Aki gave me the feeling of, ‘Ah, I’m alive…!’

This being my first relationship, I wasn’t sure if I was even qualified to say such things. But I guess this is why so many people crave romance, romance.

Having a girlfriend meant I was happy just being next to her.

No joke, really.

“……Haah.”

Aki yawned daintily, her lips parting slightly.

I, pressed close to her side, chuckled softly and gently took her hand.

“Tired?”

“Mmh, not really… Haah… Ah.”

Aki quickly covered her mouth.

She’d said she wasn’t, but she was clearly embarrassed by the immediate yawn, her fair cheeks flushing a rosy hue visible between her fingers.

‘Ah, she’s so cute…’

The way she lied was so obvious, practically shouting, ‘I’m lying~’.

She really shouldn’t try to act later in life. It would be obvious right away.

Finding Aki’s clumsy acting cute, I lowered the television volume. And, in the sense of be welcome to lean, put an arm on the back of the sofa and made a space so that she would lean on me.

“If you’re tired, lean on me a little.”

“I-I’m alright…?”

A little fidgeting.

Though she says she’s alright, it seems she wants to lean on me, her gaze flickering between my arm and my torso.

This coy act is cute and all, but wanting a more honest reaction, I placed a hand on her waist and gently drew her closer.

“Come here, Aki.”

“Ah….”

As if reluctantly, Aki yielded, letting her body be drawn in.

I pulled Aki to my side, placing my other hand on the opposite side of her waist, drawing her closer for a side hug.

Inevitably, our bodies pressed together.

“How’s that, comfortable?”

Whispering those words as we were, I could see the tips of Aki’s ears turning a delicate shade of pink.

“U-huh…”

“You can lean on me anytime. Aki’s my girlfriend, after all…”

“……Heuh.”

*Thump.*

Aki’s hand rose and landed on my abdomen.

It didn’t seem like she intentionally reached out to touch me, more like she was stifling a laugh and inadvertently brushed against me.

So, with my other hand, I gently smoothed Aki’s disheveled hair.

Like a cat enjoying a midday nap, Aki quietly closed her eyes and accepted my touch.

“You must take care of your hair every day, right?”

“Uhm, every day?”

“Ah, I thought so…”

There’s no way her hair would have this much sheen if she didn’t take care of it every day.

No exaggeration, Aki’s hair looks smooth at a glance and when you actually touch it, it feels like fine silk. Am I even worthy to touch it…? That thought momentarily crossed my mind.

I’d like to touch it more if I could. But I heard somewhere that touching it too much is bad for the texture of your hair, so I can’t.

I took my hand away from Aki’s hair. And instead, gently tickled the underside of her chin.

“Heuh, what are you doing…?”

If I said ‘taming a cat,’ she’d probably get mad.

Hiding my true thoughts, I refocused on tickling her.

Then, as if not wanting to lose, Aki began to wriggle her hand that was resting on my stomach.

“Tense your abs. Woo-joo~chan.”

“…Like this?”

“Yeah, stay still like that…?”

*Rustle.*

Aki gently slipped her hand under my t-shirt.

And, as if sweeping dust accumulated on a desk’s edge, she casually grazed across my abs.

“Heok, the feel is amazing…!”

Apparently liking the sensation, she made noises like, “Wow, wow…” while even blushing slightly, immersing herself in rubbing my abs back and forth.

Once or twice would be fine, but as she kept at it, I, tickled, deflated like a balloon.

“Pfft… Ah, wait a second. Aren’t you touching them too much?”

“Heehee, the texture is just so nice…”

“It’s okay to touch them, but touch them moderately, I’m getting ticklish, too…”

“Sorry, but in exchange, can Woo-joo~chan touch me…?”

Aki wiggled, pressing her body against mine with her chest.

“……”

I don’t know where exactly she wants me to touch.

No, actually, I do know.

But I shouldn’t touch *there* just yet, so I touched her slender waist above her plump buttocks, covered by dolphin shorts.

Because the only place on Aki that I can touch now is her waist.

“Now that we’re dating, you can touch me anywhere.”

“If I actually touched you *anywhere*, you’d get angry, wouldn’t you?”

“Whatever, like you even have the courage to touch me more than this…”

“……”

“……Heeh, just kidding.”

It doesn’t sound like a complete joke.

Well, anyway…

If we talk about this topic any more, I’ll be at a disadvantage. I patted Aki’s waist like handling a cat, changing the subject.

“We have midterms in just three weeks. How is it, do you think your grades will go up?”

“I don’t know. I feel like they might go up since I studied hard…”

“You’re not confident?”

“Eh, isn’t that the way it is? It’s not like *I’m* the only one studying, everyone is, you know?”

“Hmm, then. How about we make a bet, so we can study even harder for the time we have left?”

“A bet? What kind of bet?”

“Let’s bet on our midterm scores. Whoever scores higher, gets one wish. A wish ticket, you could say.”

“Hmph, no way. If we bet on scores, Uju-chan will definitely win.”

“Not on all the subjects, just one. The one Aki’s most confident in, how’s that?”

“Still no.”

“…Ah, no good, huh.”

I thought she’d agree if I suggested betting on the subject Aki’s most confident in. I didn’t expect her to reject it so flatly.

“Then how about this? We won’t compare each other’s scores, but just compare Aki’s score to herself. Whether it goes up or down compared to the last test.”

“Hmm, that…that sounds alright, maybe….”

Aki poked my stomach with her finger.

“If my score goes down and I lose the bet too, I’ll feel even worse, so let’s both bet ‘up’. If it goes up, we each grant the other a wish.”

“Hmm….”

The moment we both bet ‘up’, it’s already something other than a bet, but. Well, if that’s better for Aki’s mental state, then so be it. Either way, the main goal of this bet is to motivate Aki to study.

I nodded to show that I agreed.

“Okay, let’s do that. If Aki’s score goes up, we each grant each other a wish.”

“Ah, really? Really, you promise…?”

“Uh-huh, yeah. I promise.”

We didn’t just say it, but we hooked our pinkies together and stamped our thumbs as well.

It’s the kind of promise we used to make when we were kids, but it seems to have quite a big meaning for Aki, as she’s smiling broadly.

“Heheh…”

“……”

But why is she looking at my waist while smiling?

I don’t really know the reason, but feeling a little creeped out, I belatedly added.

“Just in case, I’m saying this now, weird things are off limits, okay?”

“…What’s the standard for ‘weird’?”

Aki suddenly became serious.

“What else could it be, the kind you’re thinking of.”

“So, what exactly is this… ‘stuff’ Uju-chan is talking about? This one here doesn’t quite grasp it, you see?”

“Um, things we shouldn’t be doing at our age…?”

“……Tch.”

“…….”

Did she just… click her tongue?!

“So, anything just short of *that* is okay, then?”

“Yeah, that’s fine, I guess.”

As long as I keep an eye on her and stop her if it seems too weird, it should be alright.

‘…Wait a second, though.’

Isn’t this usually supposed to be the other way around?

Normally, shouldn’t *I*, the boyfriend, be begging her to let me do something scandalous just once, and Aki, the girlfriend, should be blushing and demurely saying, ‘N-not until after the wedding…!’?

But why are we the opposite?

Why is Aki trying to find any excuse to seduce me, and why am I, on the other hand, enduring Aki’s temptations and suffering all alone…?

“Got it. Then… I’ll have to prepare something *really* s*xy.”

“What are you planning to prepare *now*…?”

“Remember that one I bought a while back, the one that ripped at the armpit zipper and was a failure? I looked it up, and there’s an even more suggestive version of it now. Hehe….”

“…….”

A cosplay even s*xier than a bunny girl.

A bunny girl outfit is lewd enough as it is, but something even more than that… wouldn’t that practically be stripping naked? Like those outfits I saw back in freshman year. Lingerie-esque things.

“Ah, but it’s a shame. The pretty ones they sell in Korea are much prettier….”

“Why? Can’t you buy from Korean sites?”

“Nope, they all require adult verification. Japanese and American sites don’t have those. …Well, even if I could buy them, I probably wouldn’t because of the sizing.”

“I see….”

Come to think of it, Aki does have a body that’s unusual for a Korean.

‘…Ah, no, wait.’

She isn’t even Korean to begin with.

Because Aki has lived in Korea longer than she’s lived in Japan or France, and her Korean is so fluent, I sometimes get confused, but she’s a thoroughbred foreigner born to a Japanese father and a French mother.

She’s just a foreigner who’s good at Korean, that’s all, not Korean at all.

Having newly recalled this fact that I knew but had forgotten, I scanned Aki from head to toe.

Blue eyes, pink hair. An overwhelmingly gorgeous body that’s impossible to ignore.

No matter where or how I looked, there wasn’t a trace of Koreanness about Aki. So why did I keep thinking of her as Korean?

Was it because she’d been stuck with me, a Korean, for so long that I felt that way…?

“Why?”

“Just, curious…?”

You’re not Korean, but why do you feel Korean? That’s what I was thinking as I stared so intently.

But.

Aki, who had no way of knowing my inner thoughts.

“…It’s a bunny girl suit, with the b*tt and waist all cut out.”

She spoiled for me things I most wanted to know.

Ah, no.

Things I wasn’t particularly curious about…

“If *I* wore it, it’d look, like, super s*xy, right…?”

Filling me with anticipation.

“Woo-joo~chan, you might, like, wanna pounce on me…”

“……”

“So, later, if you get a wish ticket, you *have* to ask me to show you. …Okay?”

She whispered in a subdued voice.

And so, I.

“…If I ask you to show me, you’ll show me?”

“Yeah, I’ll show you. Because it’s a wish…”

I cursed myself for being able to use a wish ticket for something as simple as ‘show me’.

Ah, seriously.

Isn’t there a way to become an adult faster…?

I spent a whole weekend seriously pondering that.