Chapter 23: Photographs

TL: Akabane

***

“Ahhhh, that feels so good.”

I was currently soaking in the bathtub.

The warm water is soothing to my soul.

I’m so happy~

After a while, I left the bathhouse and returned to my room.

I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

“Today was awesome. ……”

Today, Akari helped me with the thing.

She served me several times in the quiet gym warehouse.

Remembering that dreamy time, a part of my body feels hot.

Oh no, I’m starting to feel weird again. ……

Unable to stand it any longer, I take off my pants and underwear and start doing that thing.

Suddenly, the room is filled with pulls and calls.

Then, Akari calling me.

I stop doing it and pick up the phone.

“Hello, is this Akari?”

||  “Yeah, yeah …….”

I heard Akari’s voice coming from the speaker of my phone.

Her voice was a little dark.

||  “Hey Yuji-kun.”

“Hmm?　What’s up?”

||  “…… You and Yui aren’t dating, right?”

In response to Akari’s question, I let out a slurred voice, “Ha……?”

What is this question ……?

I’m not sure, but I responded to Akari’s words.

“Me and Yui aren’t dating. You’re the only girlfriend I have.”

||  “…… I see.”

In response to my reply, Akari let out a sigh of relief, “haa…….”

She seemed relieved.

“Why did you think me and Yui were dating?”

||  “…… Masato told me, “Yuji is having an affair with Yui.””

I cock my head slightly at Akari’s words.

Cheating?

Oh come on, what are you talking about? I’m not cheating on you, you know?

I’ve never wanted to date any girl other than Akari.

Why did Hashima lie to Akari like that?

||  “You really didn’t cheat on me, right ……?”

“Yeah, I’m not. The only person I love is you.”

||  “Ah……”

Akari raises an inarticulate voice at my words.

||  “……I loves you too, Yuji-kun! I love you!”

“Oh, oh …….”

Akari’s sweet lines make my face so hot that it boils.

Really, Akari is so honest and cute. ……

I want to brag to someone, “Isn’t my girlfriend cute?”

If I brag about it, the guys in the “Akari Fan Club” will try to kill me.

If they find out about it, they might kill me.

“Oh, that’s right. Thanks for today, Akari.”

||  “Hm?　What do you mean?

“You know, you helped me with that thing today, right?　Thank you so much.”

||  “Eh?　Oh, yeah ….. you’re welcome.”

“……”

“……”

Both of us fall silent, and the room is filled with silence.

I feel awkward. I wish I hadn’t said anything weird. ……

||  “Yuji-kun.”

“Hm?”

“…… Tell me if you feel weird, okay?　I’ll help you with that thing again.”

||  “Then …… tomorrow too, please.”

When I said that, Akari laughed and said, “Pukuku.”

||  “Yuji-kun, you’re really dirty.”

“There isn’t a man who isn’t dirty, you know?”

||  “Haha …… surely that’s true. Oh, that’s right, I’ll send you this.”

Suddenly, Akari sent me a picture.

When I saw the picture, I shouted in surprise, “What the—?!”

What, what is this…….?

The photo showed Akari in her underwear.

Her ample breasts wrapped in a black lace bra.

Her tight stomach.

Her alluring thighs stretching out from her black panties.

Seeing Akari in her underwear in the photo, I gulped.

What is this girl really doing?

I open my mouth in a panic.

“Hey, you, what are you doing, aren’t you embarrassed ……?”

||  “Of course I’m embarrassed…….”

Then, don’t send it to me …….

“Why did you send me this picture?”

||  “I thought it would make you happy …… Yuji-kun. Weren’t you happy……?”

“Of course I’m happy…….”

||  “I see. ……”

“Yes.”

“……”

“……”

||  “…… Oh, don’t show that picture to anyone else, okay?”

“Yeah, I know.”

I tap the screen of my phone and save the photo Akari just sent me.

I’ll take good care of this one.

Back to the point, why did Hashima lie to Akari?　

What is he up to?

“Hey, Akari.”

||  “Hm?　What’s wrong?”

“Why did Hashima lie to you?”

||  “Sorry, but I don’t know either. ……”

Akari doesn’t know?

||  “Masato’s been awfully weird lately. …… I wonder what he’s thinking?”

“I see……”