Chapter 331: Seen All Over, Seen All Over Again

“L-let’s practice one more time!”

Her heart was racing. Her mind went blank, and these words blurted out from Nanami’s mouth.

She was totally naked, her body separated from Himekoji by just a door.

“Huh? Ah… Okay.”

There was no reason to say no, right? Himekoji naturally agreed.

“Well, I’m starting now.”

Himekoji then began to adjust his state of mind. But just as he was about to voice the lines, the Bathroom door abruptly swung open from the inside.

“Gulp…”

The lines about to leave his lips instantly choked back down his throat.

Emerging from the Bathroom was Mashiro, who was already dressed. But of course, that wasn’t the main point now.

The main point was—

“Mashiro! Why did you suddenly open the door?! I’m not dressed yet!!!”

Nanami was practically about to cry with frustration at being put in such a spot by Mashiro.

This time, Himekoji hadn’t just seen her upper body; he’d seen everything! Completely bare!

She didn’t even know how many times this had happened anymore. Could she genuinely make a clean bride anymore?!

“SLAM!”

The door was shut forcefully; it was the quick-handed Himekoji who closed it.

“Hey! Shiina! Why’d you get me into trouble?!”

That move by Mashiro was quite effective—one maneuver, two victims.

Himekoji couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to earn more of Nanami’s resentment…

Wasn’t this just a completely innocent disaster falling from the sky?

“Akito looked happy.”

“When did I look happy?! I’m not happy! I’m really not happy at all!”

The Bathroom door was already closed; Nanami inside couldn’t see Himekoji’s expression. With Mashiro throwing accusations like this, Himekoji found it difficult to explain.

“Himekoji?!”

However, at his denial, Nanami inside the Bathroom suddenly seemed to get even angrier.

“You didn’t have to say ‘not happy’ so many times over! I’m truly sorry my completely unappealing body dirtied your eyes!!!”

Hearing this, a heavy thud instantly dropped in Himekoji’s chest.

He immediately realized he’d probably said the wrong thing again and wished he could slap himself.

“No! That’s not what I meant! When I said ‘not happy’, I didn’t mean seeing Nanami naked made me unhappy!”

Himekoji anxiously scrambled for a way to fix this, scratching his head frantically.

“Then what else could it mean? Why were you unhappy?”

“Because… because… of course it’s because I didn’t get to see enough! I wanted to see more clearly! I wanted to get closer! I wanted to keep looking!”

Plunging recklessly ahead, Himekoji strained his neck and uttered his perverted declaration.

All to make Nanami happy.

“Mmm…”

The girl in the shower grew silent for a moment; her anger, however, seemed to vanish just as quickly.

Only after a long pause did a low, murmur-like voice finally drift out from the Bathroom again.

“Y-you idiot…”

“Whew—”

Outside the door, Himekoji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought to himself that girls truly were strange creatures.

But maybe that’s exactly what made them especially cute.

“Oof!”

Just as Himekoji was contemplating this, someone suddenly kicked him hard from behind. He cried out in pain.

Turning around, it was, unsurprisingly, Mashiro, who had gotten him into trouble earlier.

Her face, which had seemed unhappy all day, remained unchanged.

“Dry my hair.”

Saying this, Mashiro firmly shoved the hairdryer into Himekoji’s hands.

“…Is that really the proper attitude for asking a favor?”

Though he muttered such a complaint, it felt more like a habitual reflex. Himekoji obediently followed her to the living room afterward to help dry her hair.

“How is it?”

At a certain moment, the girl suddenly asked Himekoji this.

“How is what?”

Himekoji, true to form, didn’t understand at all.

“Me these past few days.”

“You these past few days?”

Himekoji frowned, straining to guess what she meant.

It was times like these that he truly wished Mashiro could explain things properly and clearly.

“How is it?”

Mashiro simply repeated her question.

“How is what? What kind of question is that? How can I possibly understand…”

“Wumu~~”

Mashiro let out this sound. At the same time, she began to wiggle her little head from side to side, making it much harder for Himekoji to blow-dry her hair. It seemed she was expressing her dissatisfaction this way.

“Akito doesn’t even try to understand.”

“What? I clearly tried! It’s just that the way you say things, Shiina, is way too hard to understand!”

Himekoji called out his innocence.

“Put it together.”

“Put it together?”

“How am I, these past few days?”

“Why didn’t you just ask that from the beginning?”

Himekoji was thoroughly exasperated. He rolled his eyes but tried to offer an answer anyway.

“If it’s about these past few days… You seem to have acted a bit more sensible?”

Himekoji spoke while recalling.

At least when Mashiro woke up every morning, she no longer needed Himekoji to choose her underwear for her.

“That’s all?”

Mashiro seemed dissatisfied with Himekoji’s answer.

“What else is there?”

Himekoji turned off the hair dryer as her hair was almost dry. The noise made it hard to hear Mashiro sometimes.

“Didn’t your heart race because of me?”

Mashiro turned to look back at Himekoji, waiting for his reply as if hoping for something.

“Wait, why did the conversation suddenly turn this way?”

“Did it or not?”

Mashiro kept pressing further.

“Why would it?”

“So… no?”

“Of course not!”

Himekoji guiltily looked away.

“Hmm… failed.”

Mashiro lowered her head slightly, a bit disappointed.

“Failed? Hold on, what scheme are you plotting now?”

“Rita said.”

Rita? That name again?

Himekoji felt awkward—

“Every time I hear that name, why do I get a bad feeling?”

Ignoring Himekoji’s comment, Mashiro continued.

“The two of you are stuck in a routine.”

“The two of us—you mean you and me, Shiina?”

“The boring part of dating.”

“Hold up! When were we ever dating? Stop spouting nonsense!”

Luckily, Himekoji had grown somewhat used to Mashiro’s shocking remarks.

“That’s why you’re cold to me.”

“Cold?”

Wait, was she cold? He hadn’t noticed anything!

Wasn’t everything normal?

Except for the underwear thing…

“I pick my own underwear now.”

Oh, so that was what Mashiro meant by “cold”…

“You can’t call that progress!”

“Why not?”

Mashiro sounded defiant. Though her stubbornness made her look rather cute.

“Of course not! At least dry your own hair first!”

“Like this…?”

She tilted her head, pondering for a moment, then held out her small palm to Himekoji.

“What?”

He didn’t understand.

“The hair dryer.”

“But I’ve already dried your hair. Why now?”

“Akito is useless.”

“Why am I the one getting scolded suddenly?”

Unknowingly, their silly daily conversation had begun again.

Himekoji sighed—

“After all that, what exactly are you trying to say?”

“Hmm, well… wait.”

Mashiro seemed to forget her line halfway. She lowered her head and took out her phone, tapping away.

Peeking over her shoulder, Himekoji saw her open a text from Rita that read:

“To him, you being always around feels normal now. To make him turn back to you, first take some distance. Then make him understand: ‘If you think I’ll be there forever, you’re wrong!’ After losing you, he’ll feel an empty hole inside. Next—he’ll come chasing you! Hehehe!”

Himekoji ended up reading it aloud.

After finishing, he instantly felt embarrassed. It sounded like it was copied straight from some dating guide…

Seemed this Rita wasn’t anything special.

“Akito?”

While he was complaining to himself, Mashiro called his name.

“Yeah?”

“Is there a big hole now?”

“Huh?”

“Your turn to chase me.”

“Ha?”

“If you catch me… I’ll let you do stuff.”

“Cough!”

Himekoji nearly choked at her bold words.

“Don’t ‘cough’! Do you even know what ‘do stuff’ means?!”

…