Chapter 188: I Won’t Let You Sleep Tonight
Chapter 188: I Won’t Let You Sleep Tonight
“What a lame ‘buff’!”
Himekoji would rely on his willpower to fight the System!
This wasn’t the first or second time. He absolutely wouldn’t let such a filthy, low-level desire control him!
…Well, he probably wouldn’t.
“Akito’s body is hard.”
Well, something else was even harder!
Mashiro, who said that though, was soft.
Sitting on top of Himekoji, her thin pajamas let him feel her bottom’s touch against him, real and clear.
Where they touched, heat slowly spread.
Sweating from the warmth, his heartbeat quickened, his breathing became shallow… Yet, it felt good.
He wanted more contact. He wanted to touch more.
Evil desire slowly rose inside Himekoji, but meeting Mashiro’s clear eyes made it quickly fade.
Seeing her serious, focused expression, Himekoji swallowed the words he’d planned to say.
…
Mashiro’s fingers slid across his neck, moving up along his jaw to his cheek.
Himekoji let her.
He stayed still, just staring wide-eyed at Mashiro sitting on him, swallowing nervously.
Willpower battled against desire, clash after clash.
Himekoji struggled terribly.
Precisely then, Mashiro acted even more boldly. She suddenly threw her whole body forward!
Her sweet scent filled the air.
Mashiro rested her chin lightly on Himekoji’s chest. She lifted her head and looked up at him.
“Your heart is beating,” Mashiro whispered, her face so close.
“Obviously, because I’m alive!”
“And it seems faster.”
“Who do you think made it like this?!”
“Hold me.”
“Don’t say things you know I can’t do!”
“How useless.”
Hey! Don’t say it in such a disgusted tone!
【Hold her!】
Right then, the System also piped in.
“Argh, seriously! Fine, fine! I got it!”
Himekoji gave in.
Reluctantly and carefully, he stretched out his arms to encircle Mashiro. He kept his strength firmly controlled—Himekoji’s embrace was light as a butterfly’s touch.
As if the girl in his arms was a delicate piece of art that might break.
“Tighter,” Mashiro requested on her own.
【Tighter!】
The System simply copied her.
So, you stupid System, are you nothing but a broken tape recorder?!
Someone please pull out ‘The System’s User Manual’ and study it properly!
【Tighter!】
You didn’t need to repeat that!
…
He couldn’t refuse.
Himekoji’s arms tightened a little. He trembled, tense and afraid.
His arms felt Mashiro’s slim waist.
He worried—if he held her any tighter, would that slenderness just… snap?
“Okay,” Mashiro finally said. Before anything broke, Himekoji quickly pulled his hands back.
Mashiro sat up straight, staring directly into Himekoji’s face.
“Excited now?”
“I am SO not excited!”
Damn it, she’s even learned to tease?
This girl is amazing now! Progressing lightning-fast!
Himekoji quickly looked away from Mashiro’s cute, proper face.
But not looking at her face meant he saw something even worse!
Her open collar let him catch a glimpse of her breasts.
Flustered again, Himekoji averted his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Mashiro blinked, tilting her head.
“You’re asking me? You should at least be aware! Your defense was way too weak!”
Hearing this, Mashiro looked down at her own chest.
“You like them?” Mashiro asked curiously.
“Excited?”
“I don’t like them! I am NOT excited! If I got excited over your breasts, I might as well cuddle a washboard tonight!”
Mashiro didn’t understand him and remained blank.
After a two-second pause, she moved onto the next topic entirely—
“Akito, have you ever had sex?”
“Glurk!”
Himekoji almost choked on nothing, wishing he could spit enough to knock Mashiro out cold.
Have you ever had sex?
What kind of questions were those?
Too erotic!
“Akito?”
Seeing that the other party had not answered for a long time, Mashiro had to ask again.
“Have you ever had sex?”
“No! No! No! Why are you asking that? Do you want to do it with me?”
Himekoji was about to go crazy.
“Should we do it?”
As she spoke, Mashiro blinked, tilted her head, and thought seriously.
“If it’s needed for manga research…”
Oh crap, did Mashiro really take that seriously?
So, she shouldn’t have taken it seriously!
“No need! It won’t be needed!”
“Ayano said it might be needed.”
“…”
Himekoji felt completely exasperated.
“Well.”
He couldn’t help but sigh.
“Forget it, that strange thing I just said.”
“Really?”
After replying briefly, Mashiro seemed to lose interest in the topic.
The girl picked up a prepared sketchbook from beside her and opened it.
She appeared to have learned enough about the male body, so she sat down on Himekoji without any shyness, as if the pose was fine.
She flipped to a blank page and started drawing quickly.
In no time, the girl focused on drawing without distraction.
“…Shiina?”
Himekoji felt awkward and covered his bare chest slightly with both hands.
“Shiina? Are you done? Do I have to stay like this?”
“Hey, Shiina? Shiina? Shiina Mashiro!”
“This is the worst ignoring ever! Hey!”
“…”
Still, the girl did not respond.
She didn’t seem to hear Himekoji at all.
With a focused look, she was totally absorbed in her drawing world.
Himekoji felt terribly frustrated.
Unable to move under the girl, he even feared that moving might break her concentration.
“Terrible, just terrible! So, so pathetic! My life, is this some kind of punishment game?”
He couldn’t help complaining aloud.
After a while, Mashiro moved at last.
The girl stood up, got off the bed, walked to the desk, opened her computer, and sat down.
Without a word, she started drawing on the screen with a drawing tablet.
During that time, Himekoji was ignored as usual.
“This must be what it feels like to get violated…”
Himekoji sighed with resignation, sat up, and began putting on clothes.
At the same time, he looked up at the screen where Mashiro was drawing.
The art was still beautiful and amazing.
The content might be different from before, but the atmosphere felt similar.
A too ordinary high school girl loves a too ordinary classmate boy.
They have an ordinary conversation, then start dating.
“This…”
To Himekoji, even after talking to her editor, Mashiro seemed the same as ever.
There was no improvement…
Mashiro’s own personality was probably the disaster.
Her character description was too plain, which is deadly for manga.
Descriptions like expressions should be more exaggerated and bolder.
The overall atmosphere was too low, making the manga boring.
The plot had no ups, downs, or tension, so people wouldn’t feel anything.
That wouldn’t be a manga, just pictures.
People don’t read manga just to see pretty pictures.
At least, that’s how Himekoji saw it.
If the content was boring, no one would want to keep reading.
Wouldn’t it be hard to win a prize or debut then?
Thinking this, Himekoji looked up and saw Mashiro staring at him.
“Is it boring?”
“Honestly… yes.”
Though he hesitated to brush it off, he answered directly.
He had been honest before, so lying politely now made no sense.
“Ayano said the same.”
Himekoji suddenly felt he shouldn’t have spoken.
Instinctively wanting to change the subject, he said—
“Hey, why do you draw manga?”
“…”
Silently, Mashiro didn’t respond.
After a short break earlier, she threw herself back into drawing.
Quiet took over.
Only the sound of the moving pen repeated in his ears, breaking Himekoji’s thoughts.
Himekoji stared blankly at Mashiro’s back.
After some time.
“Because it’s fun.”
Mashiro suddenly spoke.
Hearing the late reply, Himekoji made a small, surprised sound.
“Huh?”
Mashiro turned her head.
“Because it’s fun.”
“Is drawing not fun?”
“Drawing isn’t fun.”
“What counts as fun?”
“Akito.”
“Huh?”
“Akito counts as fun.”
“…”
Now I was even more confused about what Mashiro meant by fun!
“Akito.”
“What?”
“You can’t wear clothes.”
“Huh?”
“And we have to keep going.”
“Wait a second, what else do you want me to do?!”
Himekoji suddenly felt panicked.
“Very…”
“Very?”
“…not decent.”
“Then stop telling me to do things like that!”
“I won’t let you sleep tonight.”
“Please say that line more sexily!”
“I won’t let you sleep tonight.”
“That’s the same thing!”
…
Just as Mashiro had said, she didn’t let Himekoji sleep. The whole night.
Right until five in the morning, when Mashiro finally fell asleep, Himekoji was ordered around on the bed, doing this and that…
Sometimes, she even pestered him to experiment with different poses for her drawings.
Thanks to this, Himekoji managed to witness the exact moment the creature named Shiina Mashiro fell asleep.
He’d always found it strange, even unbelievable, how she ended up sleeping under her desk. Now he finally got to see the entire process unfold—
Until the very last second before falling asleep, Mashiro was drawing manga at her desk. Then she must have gotten drowsy, slowly nodding off, until at the breaking point, she instinctually rolled smoothly off her chair. Probably trying to avoid the light, she crawled with her last bit of strength across the floor, tangling herself in clothes and underthings, before finally burrowing under the desk.
It wasn’t sleep done willingly. More like an animal’s habit.
Probably, she did this every day?
She poured all her energy into her manga until her HP ran out, without even the strength left to walk to her bed.
So, even her way of sleeping was reckless.
Himekoji sighed, looking down at Mashiro curled up asleep. His shoulders slumped helplessly.
“Don’t sleep so defenselessly in front of a man.”
Her face, completely at peace in sleep, was hidden, but her bottom and little feet weren’t.
When Himekoji kindly covered her with a blanket, she squirmed unhappily, as it tickled.
He wanted to complain, but talking to himself seemed too pathetic. So Himekoji swallowed his words, dragged his heavy body out of the room, and quietly closed the door.
…
“Himekoji!”
But Himekoji never dreamed someone else would see him leaving Mashiro’s room at this hour.
Caught off guard by Nanami glaring at him, he froze on the spot.
…
…