Chapter 292: Nanami, I really underestimated you!

“I’m so sorry! Let me let you touch me back!”

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

There was no answer.

It was a creepy silence, so quiet that it made one’s scalp crawl.

“Gulp!”

Himekoji swallowed saliva in discomfort; the swallowing sound stood out crystal clear in the dead silence around them.

Sweat beads started oozing uncontrollably from his forehead.

What’s going on?

If you’re going to kill or torture me, at least say something!

Putting up with stuff wasn’t Nanami’s style.

Could it be…

That this was hinting at something?

Silent permission?!

It had to be!

At that thought, Himekoji—honored by readers as the “Friend of Women” and best at helping female students with troubles—suddenly got a bold idea.

And he didn’t waste time putting that bold idea into action.

Anyway, one touch was touching, two touches were touching too, so—

Touch one last time before running!

He wiped his other hand—a Sexual Harassment Hand still damp with saliva—firmly over Nanami’s chest, then Himekoji whirled around and bolted off!

His lower legs powered up, his soles slick as if greased; his escape was swift and smooth, all happening in one go.

Master-level running skills!

He was truly the man who stayed alive and well after over a year as a Pervert!

“PONG!”

But, one might say it had a tiny flaw.

At the exact right moment, Himekoji sadly picked the wrong way to escape and slammed head-first into the fridge nearby.

“Ow—ouch ouch ouch ouch!”

Himekoji sucked in a sharp breath, clutching his head and crouching on the floor with a painful grimace.

…

“It really is…”

Can’t see at all now.

Even though the living room was pitch dark with no lights on, the moonlight outside should’ve made things super easy to see!

Left was the fridge, right was the way.

And she wasn’t a wall.

On the bus back, those things the classmates chatted about turned out to be totally true.

“Sigh.”

A sigh echoed from far to near in the darkness; when Himekoji snapped out of it, he realized Nanami was stroking his head lightly and gently.

“Does it hurt?”

Does it hurt?

Huh? What the heck? Did I mix up the script?

He messed with Nanami’s tongue and touched Nanami’s breasts, but she wasn’t furious?!

Not being mad was one thing, but now she was acting weirdly nice, squatting with him and fussing over him?

Weird! Way too weird!

Maybe she wasn’t the real Nanami.

“N-no, it doesn’t hurt.”

A bunch of wild thoughts flashed through his mind, but he still blurted that out without thinking.

“Wasn’t asking you, I was asking the fridge.”

Okay, this Nanami was real.

“What I said ‘doesn’t hurt’ was me speaking for the fridge! I’m hurting like crazy!”

“Always trouble.”

Nanami grumbled as she stood up; with the fridge right there, she grabbed something handy and put a cold compress on Himekoji.

“Hiss—ow…”

“Shush, everyone’s sleeping.”

“Isn’t Aoyama sleeping?”

“About to go to sleep.”

“Then before you sleep, could you give me a small favor?”

Hearing Nanami say everyone was asleep, an idea burst into Himekoji’s mind—

He had a carefully planned move that needed Nanami’s help bad, and now seemed the perfect time.

“Small favor?”

Nanami’s gaze scanned over him from the dark.

“Yeah, small favor!”

The voice sounded hopeful, so Himekoji spoke fast to reassure her.

“Tell me now.”

She agreed!

Himekoji let out a sigh of relief.

He hadn’t thought Nanami would be this nice, not even holding a grudge after he’d just touched her breast.

Could this mean the cold war was ending?

Anyway, the task looked like it was happening now!

Whether it was Kuchikamizake or Underwear, he saw a shot at finishing them.

For the first one, when Nanami opened the fridge to get ice for the compress, the System had already checked it— “Kuchikamizake” was still chilling fine inside, nothing gone wrong.

And the second one was just that “small favor” Himekoji was asking Nanami for now.

…

Himekoji’s room.

A study changed into a bedroom.

The light flipped on; Nanami looked all around cautiously, seeming a little uncomfortable.

It was the middle of the night, a boy and a girl alone together in one room. In some sense, this was her very first time experiencing something like that since she was little.

And to make matters worse, the other party was a famous pervert, so she had to stay on her guard.

“What did you need my help for? Just so you know, H-stuff is off the table!”

“I wasn’t going to ask for that kind of thing!”

Honestly, what kind of person did she think he was? Stuff like H was easy-peasy—he wouldn’t need to ask for help!

“So what is it then?”

“Well… this is kinda hard to say…”

It really was hard to say!

In the end, Himekoji actually didn’t know the best way to begin. He hemmed and hawed for a while.

“No! I knew it, this really is about H-stuff, isn’t it?”

Seeing this, Nanami immediately stood up to leave.

“No! Listen to me, it really isn’t that this time!”

Himekoji absolutely couldn’t let Nanami leave like this.

“So there was a last time? And who was that with?”

Nanami’s face instantly went pale as she demanded coldly.

“Aoyama, where did that even come from?”

“Late at night, a bedroom, a boy and a girl alone together… if you’re not doing H-stuff, are you doing life counseling?”

Nanami absolutely refused to believe Himekoji’s nonsense.

“We’re not alone! Hikari is here too! Right, Hikari has something to say!”

Himekoji hurriedly kicked hard at the floor.

“Hikari, get out here and speak up, will you?”

“Meow…”

A weak cat’s meow came from under the bed.

Then, a round ball rolled out from beneath the bed, leaving a big, wet puddle along the way.

Hikari?

“Hikari, what happened to you?!”

Nanami was completely shocked. She knelt down hastily, her face full of concern as she scooped Hikari into her arms.

Some worthless jerk had done this—Hikari was covered all over in colorful, wet patches that looked like soggy rags, turning her into practically a cat-beggar.

Wait, no—those weren’t rags!

Looking more closely, Nanami realized… the wet, dripping things all over Hikari were…

Underwear!

Okay, now she knew who did it! The underwear was the undeniable evidence!

Of everyone Nanami knew, only one person was this mad! There couldn’t possibly be a second!

Nanami glared at Himekoji with eyes that seemed ready to spit fire.

“You pervert! You didn’t even leave a cat alone!”

“No, no, that’s not it…”

Himekoji waved his hands in a hurry to deny it.

“You might not believe me, but Hikari did all this herself!”

Actually, Himekoji didn’t believe it either.

But sorry, little Hikari! You’ll just have to take one for the team!

After all the trouble he’d gone through raising her… wasn’t it time for her to repay the favor?!

“Huh? Are you honestly telling me that Hikari put all this wet underwear on herself?”

Then Hikari might as well be a full-blown yokai!

Nanami felt like Himekoji was insulting her intelligence.

“You can ask her! Hikari, tell Aoyama the truth—isn’t it just like I said?”

Even though he was blind and couldn’t see, Himekoji roughly turned in Hikari’s direction and put on a smile that was three parts coaxing and seven parts threatening.

“Meow…”

“See? Hikari said yes!”

Himekoji immediately translated the cat’s speech.

Nanami’s face turned stony. “Hikari is shaking her head!”

Dammit! That useless cat was refusing the easy way for the hard one!

Looks like only force would do!

Himekoji reached out to press down on Hikari’s head and force a nod.

But the sneaky little cat was pressing herself in Nanami’s arms, so blind Himekoji accidentally put his hand in the wrong place.

Let’s see… was this the third time he’d touched it today?

Soft… round… bouncy like jelly.

Truly a comfy feel that wouldn’t get old no matter how many times he touched it!

“You!”

But in the next moment, Nanami ground out a bone-chilling voice through her teeth:

“Don’t you know the rule about only letting things happen three times?”

It was over! Nanami seemed genuinely furious this time!

Breaking into a cold sweat instantly, Himekoji began apologizing at once:

“My bad, my bad! I put my hand in the wrong place!”

“I was trying to touch Hikari’s head…”

He let out a flustered laugh and yanked his sin-laden right hand back abruptly to correct the error.

“This time I got it right, I got it right! See? Hikari’s nodding her head—she admits she put the underwear on herself! It has nothing to do with m—”

Himekoji’s words choked off mid-sentence as he realized something. His eyes flew open wide, his face turning deathly pale.

Hikari, covered all over in underwear and ducking her head just in time to narrowly avoid Himekoji’s Sexual Harassment Hand once more.

And Aoyama Nanami, grinding her teeth, cheeks flushed scarlet as if they could drip blood.

Nanami’s other breast, pressed down by Himekoji, swung gently up and down… as if nodding her head like a chick pecking rice.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment, then stretch out endlessly.

…

Ah—!!

Snapping back to himself, Himekoji’s entire heart screamed in panic!

“This has to be the stupid Universal Buoy Principle at work again, doesn’t it?!”

“Miltown, you bastard—I really underestimated you!”