Chapter 299: Out in the Open
Chapter 299: Out in the Open
“Whoosh.”
Finally, the last piece of the clothing explosion jigsaw fell into place.
“Huh?”
“Ahhh—!”
Eriri, who’d been lost in thought moments before, jolted in shock. She screamed, leaped to her feet, and frantically covered herself with both hands while wildly scanning the room for anything to hide her naked body.
The other girls’ clothes had exploded earlier, forcing them to get creative. Glancing around revealed quite a scene: some used couch pillows to cover their private parts, one draped a tablecloth over herself, another hid behind curtains with only her head visible, and someone had even wrapped herself entirely in tissues…
No pillows left. Only one tablecloth—already taken by Akiko. Tissues made her look like a Mummy.
Eriri gritted her teeth and dashed for the curtains. Though her back might be exposed… at least her bottom stayed safe. That was good enough!
Behind the curtains were Yukinoshita and Yuigahama. United by peace and mutual benefit, they kindly made space for Akiko.
Yuigahama lifted the curtain while Yukinoshita scooted aside. For one instant, three stood fully exposed.
Eriri secretly peeked at Yukinoshita’s chest. Uncontrollably, a smug grin spread across her face.
“I… won again!”
Joy, satisfaction, even tearful emotion flooded through her once more.
Seriously, today should be declared “Eriri’s Great Victory Day”!
Her cheeks flushed pink with excitement as triumph after triumph left her dizzy. She clenched her small fists.
“Won? What?”
Confused, Yukinoshita followed Eriri’s gaze downward. After a pause, blush crept onto her cheeks as understanding dawned—a mix of embarrassment and irritation.
“I did not lose!” she shot back defensively.
“Ah… S-Snowy, you don’t need to worry! You’re very pretty anyway, so…”
“So what if they’re small? That’s fine.”
For the first time, victorious Eriri found room to “comfort” others—while twisting the knife deeper after Yuigahama’s words.
“Honestly, I couldn’t care less! Judging someone by looks is ridiculous. Besides… if that’s how we decide winners, size isn’t everything. There’s shape too—”
“Shape?”
Now even Yuigahama stared oddly at Yukinoshita’s chest, alongside Eriri.
Wall-like shape? That’s a thing?
Realizing her slip, Yukinoshita quickly corrected:
“Apart from size, we should consider altitude level! See? I win there.”
Spouting this logic in one breath, she straightened her back proudly as proof.
“Nobody does that… Height is just height. It doesn’t affect chest battles,” Nanami called out tiredly from nearby. Fair judgment from the student council rep.
Seeming to sense her argument’s weakness, Yukinoshita finally surrendered.
“Wh-Whatever! I don’t care about this.”
“Not… not one bit.”
“Unimportant.”
“Completely irrelevant.”
Muttering these reassurances, she kept sneaking glances around the room at the others.
Darn it!
Thought I’d at least tie with Eriri… Why is mine smaller than hers now?
Even that… that Pervert’s almost matches mine!
But he’s a guy!
“Tch.”
Hidden behind the curtain, Yukinoshita let out a tiny sigh.
……
Mission complete.
Despite being lucky this time, trouble still came knocking. Back in clothes, the girls circled Himekoji Tadashi squarely in the middle.
Their outfits lay shredded after the explosion.
Yukinoshita and Eriri managed alright—their figures saved them.
But Kasumigaoka and Yuigahama suffered, forced into Nanami’s shirts.
Buttons strained against their chests, refusing to close. Every inch of exposed collarbone seemed designed to make hearts race and blood boil.
It wasn’t like they wanted ill-fitting clothes—just no better options. Beside Mashiro and Akiko, Nanami’s bust stood out.
Officially, though, the shirts were “Akiko’s”… since four girls living together remained a semi-secret.
……
Himekoji kept his head bowed low throughout, eyes fixed on his own nose.
“What happened? That drink you gave us?”
Yukinoshita took charge of interrogation, voice ice-cold, cheeks frosty—clearly still stewing over losing to Eriri. On a summer day, her glare alone gave him chills.
What happened?
Exactly. No explanation possible!
He stammered uselessly.
“See? He never talks unless beaten!”
Nanami chimed in angrily nearby.
Seizing the moment, Akiko waved Himekoji’s belt—somehow already unbuckled—eagerly volunteering.
“I’ll beat him! Let me!”
Seemed she’d really studied her S&M lately.
Eriri blinked. “Why’re you so good at undoing your brother’s belt?!”
Too many voices talked over each other, making Himekoji’s head spin.
“Why did our clothes explode?”
“There was something wrong with that drink.”
“Exactly!”
“Onii-chan, I, I can start punching now? Guhihi…”
…
That afternoon, Himekoji insisted he knew nothing, forcefully brushing off the questions.
But obviously, no one believed him. Every single person looked at him with suspicious eyes.
Weird incidents involving this Pervert weren’t rare, so everyone remained thoughtful and pondering right until they were about to leave.
Himekoji stood at the Genkan seeing everyone off. Eriri dawdled, lagging behind.
Even when everyone else had stepped outside, she lingered indoors.
The bleeding on her tongue had long since stopped. The girl lightly bit her lower lip, looking at Himekoji as if wanting to say something. However, with Akiko, Nanami, and Mashiro standing firmly beside him, no words came out.
“Akiko might stay, but Nanami and Mashiro aren’t leaving either?”
Muttering this, Eriri suddenly remembered something.
The borrowed clothes earlier came in several different sizes. An uncontrollable answer instantly popped into her mind.
Could it be…
Thinking too much about it made it scary!
“Um… that rumor about you all living together… it isn’t true, is it?”
In an instant, a vivid four-panel comic strip depicting a licentious, wildly inappropriate daily life materialized before her eyes.
Truly befitting the doujin H artist, Eriri.
“That’s way too much!”
Eriri’s eyes widened as she yelled out.
Just then, Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, and Kasumigaoka, who had already left the house, hadn’t gone far.
‘This is bad,’ Himekoji inwardly cursed, quickly moving to cover Eriri’s mouth.
If her shout drew the others back, it would mean big trouble!
However, to Himekoji’s surprise, his lightning-fast speed was beaten by Aoyama Nanami.
“It’s not what you think!”
Nanami, covering Eriri’s mouth, hastily explained.
“They’re only staying temporarily! They’ll move out soon!”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Himekoji and Eriri spoke in unison.
But the feelings behind their identical exclamations were completely different.
Eriri’s “Huh” was filled with anger, thinking ‘Just as I suspected!’
Himekoji’s “Huh” was pure shock: ‘You just confessed all that so easily?!’
Terrible teammate! Such a terrible teammate!
Couldn’t she have just made up an excuse?
Like saying she stayed behind to practice lines with Akiko for her Seiyuu exam preparation, or something like that.
Excuses like that were easy to come up with!
Himekoji slapped his thigh in frustration. Several good excuses on the tip of his tongue could only be swallowed back down, filled with regret.
…
Nanami started explaining everything to Eriri – from being kicked out for not paying rent. She laid it all out.
Seeing the situation was beyond saving, Himekoji had no choice but to add why Mashiro was staying.
Her family were hands-off, irresponsible; Mashiro couldn’t live properly in a normal dormitory, and so on.
Even though they added various extra details, Himekoji still felt completely unconfident.
Bracing himself for Eriri to make a huge, unreasonable scene, things took an unexpected turn once more.
Eriri stamped her foot angrily, doing so for almost a full minute. Then, abruptly, she seemed to rein it in. Her eyes darted, looking at Himekoji – her little brain clearly working on something.
“Well then… I guess I’ll keep this secret for you all for now.”
“Huh?”
This made Himekoji gasp in surprise once again.
Just like that? It was settled? Her change was so fast!
It was like changing faces.
“See you at school the day after tomorrow.”
Eriri bent down to put on her shoes and left Himekoji’s house.
“Whew— that was a close call.”
Beside him, Nanami patted her chest, let out a long sigh of relief, and relaxed.
Himekoji, however, didn’t feel the slightest bit of relief.
Why did he feel like Eriri now had leverage over him?!
That couldn’t be possible, right? It must be his imagination!
Since when did someone as shallow as Eriri become capable of ‘blackmail’?
Thinking it over, Himekoji decided he was probably just overthinking things.
…
…
After the break, returning to school meant final exams.
Hiratsuka Shizuka, considering Himekoji’s vision was supposedly impaired, had awarded him a “No-Exam Pass.” He didn’t have to take them.
But Himekoji knew his own situation. With his vision now clear, he obviously had no reason to skip.
Not only did he show up on time for every exam, he also mercilessly scored perfect marks across the board.
When the results came out, his name was firmly planted at the very top, crushing top students like Yukinoshita, Akiko, Hayama, Nanami, and many others beneath him.
“Himekoji-kun is really amazing!”
“He really is!”
“Not only brave and loyal, but his grades are this good too!”
“We never even see him study much. Himekoji-kun must be super smart!”
Looking at the name at the top of the Honor Roll, a crowd buzzed with shocked praise.
Although Himekoji had also ranked first before, back then most people thought it was just luck or cheating.
But this time was different. After the incident in Kyoto coming back to school Himekoji’s heroic actions had spread across the whole campus. Once they took off their tinted glasses, his unseen merits seemed to spring up everywhere like new bamboo shoots after rain.
“Damn quack!”
From one corner of the crowd praising Himekoji, Yukinoshita, uncharacteristically, gritted her teeth indignantly and spat out the words.
The thought of how worried and guilty she felt for that pervert filled her again. Yet he ended up perfectly fine, and worse, had used his ‘blindness’ as an excuse to act outrageously and take liberties with her. At that moment, she felt like she could swallow Himekoji whole.
Yukinoshita was now one hundred percent certain—
That day when they all had that Clothing Explosion, Himekoji’s eyes had definitely recovered!
“Yukino-chan, your first place was taken away again, eh? But you don’t care about that kind of hollow fame anyway, right? Anyway, it’s really great that Akito’s eyes are fine!”
Yuigahama actually added more trouble while Yukinoshita was the angriest.
“I will take it back.”
“Take back what? Hey, wait, Yukino-chan, what are you doing?”
“Studying.”
After saying that, Yukinoshita turned and walked away coolly.
…
“Today’s lesson will mainly cover the wrong answers from this exam. Um, well… Himekoji, come up.”
Hiratsuka-sensei patted the podium and made room.
After failing her arranged date yesterday, she got upset and drank all night. Now her head pounded, and she felt lazy, so she suddenly thought of this plan.
Himekoji hadn’t made any mistakes on the test, right?
It would be good to hear how he solved the questions; the exam was hard, and earlier, the Female Teacher had tried to get a perfect score for fun but got stuck on the last problem.
“Huh? Me?”
When Hiratsuka-sensei called him, Himekoji froze in shock.
For him to explain? Was this a joke…
As the female teacher spoke, the class roared with cheers and loud claps, seeming excited by this new way of learning.
Not long after the School Trip ended, Himekoji was at his most popular in the class.
The big difference between being a Pervert and a Hero made Himekoji feel dizzy for a bit.
Shaking his head to clear it, Himekoji didn’t say no; he picked up the exam and walked fast toward the podium.
But just as Himekoji lifted his foot to step on it, the Classroom door was suddenly pushed open from outside.
With a thud.
The clapping, shouting, and noise stopped right away; everyone stared toward the door.
“Shiina?!”
What was she here for?
Although Himekoji was surprised, the Female Teacher next to him stayed calm. “Shiina-san, do you have business?”
“I forgot something.”
Mashiro had no idea she was disturbing the class. Standing open at the Classroom door, she said this plainly.
“Eh? Forgot something? What did you forget?”
Mashiro wasn’t even from this class, so the Female Teacher was a little confused.
“Akito.”
“Eh? Me?”
As he spoke, Himekoji pointed at himself without thinking, like he couldn’t believe it.
What? Am I a thing?
Thinking that inside, he forgot to move for a moment.
So, with everyone looking at him with curious, gossipy eyes, Himekoji stood there stunned.
“What’s happening?”
“The lost thing is Himekoji-kun?”
“Does that mean Himekoji-kun is Shiina-san’s own stuff?”
“Love? So brave!”
“Not love either! It’s class time now!”
“So weird…”
Whispers spread through the Classroom.
People just had to wonder what the teacher would do here.
…
“Oh, then take it.”
Hiratsuka-sensei waved big and gave Himekoji to Mashiro.
“Huh?!”
The sudden, wild turn was way beyond what Himekoji expected; though Mashiro was always confusing, still—
“Sensei, why are you joking with her? Don’t I still have to explain the questions?”
He had already pulled out his “Super Scholar” skill and was ready to start showing off!
“Don’t need you now.”
The Female Teacher changed her face very fast; her hangover pains seemed to vanish then.
“Shiina, what’s this about? Can’t we talk after class?”
Himekoji didn’t want to miss class after finally being a good student for once.
But—
“Just come.”
Suddenly stepping up, Mashiro grabbed Himekoji’s hand.
In front of everyone.
…