Chapter 179: Put Some Underwear On First, Then We’ll Talk!

“It’s really not like that! Shiina just threw them around after taking them off!”

“Oh~~ So now you blame Mashiro for you enjoying girls’ underwear too?”

Nanami crossed her arms and gave a cold laugh.

Himekoji felt overwhelmed. This felt like jumping into the Yellow River and never washing clean. He sighed weakly, picked up all of Mashiro’s underwear scattered on the floor, and threw them into the washing machine.

“Speaking of, where is Mashiro?”

Nanami fixed Himekoji with a suspicious stare, her eyes sharp.

As if responding to the girl’s question, the bathroom door creaked open.

“Did you call me?”

A wave of hot, steamy air rushed out from the bathroom into the hallway, fogging up the mirror.

Akito instinctively looked towards the source of the voice.

Standing there in the swirling steam was Mashiro, completely naked.

Her slender, toned figure, her fragrant, pinkish skin glistening with moisture, instantly lit up Akito’s field of vision.

Mashiro looked at Akito. Akito looked at Mashiro. They both blinked twice.

Then—

Akito didn’t scream or panic. Instead, without a single word, he calmly reached out and slammed the bathroom door shut from the outside.

“Alright! That’s good!”

Akito let out a relieved sigh.

“Good?! What part of that was ‘good’?!”

Nanami, hands planted firmly on her hips, stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. She glared intensely.

“Of course it’s good! If you think I panic every time I have a shocking accident like this, you’d be dead wrong!”

“That shouldn’t be your line while you’re having a nosebleed!”

“Huh? No way…?”

A nosebleed?

Impossible!

He’d seen Mashiro naked so many times already! As an experienced pervert, he wouldn’t be so uncool! Would he?

Still… his nose did feel a bit strange, kinda warm and wet.

To check, Akito wiped the fog off the mirror and looked at his reflection.

“Huh??? Oh!”

He actually was having a nosebleed!

He frantically scrambled for tissues to stuff up his nostril.

[System Alert: Nosebleed Condition Triggered!]

Hey, aren’t you the ‘instant notification sound’? How come you’re so delayed?! Telling me after I gush blood is useless!

Though even if it warned me earlier, it’d still be pointless…

Just as Akito thought this, the bathroom door behind him nudged open a crack.

He saw it in the mirror’s reflection behind him–

Mashiro’s face appeared through the gap, peering out like a little animal cautiously checking outside its den.

“Akito is an underwear thief?”

“No!”

“Peeping?”

“That was just an accident!”

“Do you want to see? My naked?”

“If you’re offering!”

Akito gave up entirely and just said how he truly felt.

“Don’t just blurt out confessions because you’ve given up! Cut it out!”

As expected, Nanami yelled at him.

Meanwhile, Mashiro just looked thoughtful.

“And Mashiro, stop thinking it over!”

“If Akito really, really wants to see…”

“Okay then! Yes, I really, REALLY want to see!”

“Oh, just stop! Mashiro, go get dressed right now!” Nanami grabbed Akito’s arm and dragged him out of the bathroom area.

“Shiina, be careful!”

Dinnertime was almost here. Akito was genuinely worried Mashiro might mess up the bathroom again.

After giving this instruction and taking a deep breath, Akito steeled himself for Nanami’s lecture.

But unexpectedly, all Nanami did was sigh softly.

“Hmm… Looks like she’s tired of me. She’s probably given up… decided I’m a hopeless pervert after all.

But honestly? He’d rather get yelled at than this silent defeat.

“Please… can you at least get angry with me…”

Akito’s shoulders slumped. His voice was listless, the words barely escaping his lips.

“Himekoji, seriously! Rethink what you’re saying right now! Someone who says that isn’t just a pervert anymore? Are you some kind of… Masochist?”

Nanami honestly looked like she’d reached her limit.

“No! I mean… I want you not to give up on me! Didn’t you say you thought of us as friends before? So… maybe I can still be saved… maybe?”

Well… maybe… if the System ever disappeared.

“Friends? Me? I-I never said that! Who’d want to be friends with a pervert?! No way!”

The girl’s cheeks turned bright red. She turned her head away quickly.

“Oh! The food in the kitchen is going to burn! I need to check on it!”

With that, she immediately dashed away, her ponytail bouncing.

“Oh! Tell Mashiro to hurry up!”

A few steps away, Nanami remembered to call back over her shoulder without turning around.

So, following orders, Akito walked back to the bathroom door.

“Shiina? You dressed yet?”

Putting clothes on shouldn’t take that long. He called out.

“Akito.”

“If not, speed it up. Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Bring the clothes I need to change into.”

“The clothes you need to change into? You didn’t get them ready beforehand?! What have you been doing all this time?!”

Akito felt a headache pulse. This was pure Shiina Mashiro.

“Just standing around. Naked.”

As Akito was about to head towards the girl’s room to grab her clothes, those words from behind him almost made him trip.

Standing around… naked?!

No way! Seriously?!

……

He picked up a shirt, a belt, a skirt, socks, and pink underwear from Mashiro’s room floor. For good measure, he grabbed a towel too and returned to the bathroom.

He handed them through the door crack to Mashiro.

Akito waited… and waited… Finally, Mashiro emerged from the bathroom wearing… something.

But her hair was still dripping wet. Only one sock was on. Half her shirt tail was sticking out messily.

“Ahhh, come on! How many times do I have to say this? Dress properly!”

“Akito said be fast.”

“Be completely ready when you come out!”

Akito took the towel and roughly dried Mashiro’s hair. Then, grabbing the remaining sock from the basket, he crouched down in front of her to put it on her foot. She had to leave soon.

It was Friday. After dinner, Mashiro had to go to the Fujisawa Manga Division to discuss her manga with her editor, Iida Ayano. Akito remembered her mentioning it earlier.

“Okay, lift your foot.”

Mashiro obediently lifted her right foot… which already had a sock on.

“Stop messing with me! Are you messing with me?!?”

“No.”

“Then explain what you’re doing!”

“Don’t know.”

Mashiro blinked, looking innocent and completely baffled.

“Ah!! Seriously! Someone just give me a headache pill! Please!”

At this rate, Akito felt sure he was going to die young.

“Lift the other foot! The one WITHOUT a sock!”

This time, Mashiro seemed to understand human speech. She quietly lifted her left foot.

Akito slipped the sock onto her pale, slender, smooth, and shiny little foot. He told her to fix her own shirt.

Two minutes later… Finally done…

Or so he thought. He glanced into the sock basket and spotted one forgotten item.

Pink underwear.

“Hey…”

Mashiro was about to leave the bathroom.

“Akito, I’m going out first.”

“Before that! Put on your underwear!”

…