“Where am I?”
When I opened my eyes, I was under a blanket in a Japanese-style room. I couldn’t remember what happened. I didn’t know why I was there.
“......!” As I tried to get up, my body ached. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was wrapped in bandages. “Oww... What’s going on?”
“You’re finally awake.”
“Huh?”
Allie was sitting on a sofa nearby.
“Um...”
“I guess this is goodbye.”
“Huh?”
She set down her cat Shiny and stood up, then began speaking, “I, Alicia Giosestaf, resign my Italian commission to join Phantom Task.”
It was so shocking a statement that I didn’t understand what was going on. As I was about to ask why, Shiny walked up to me and licked my face.
“Owww, that hurts! I’m cut there! C’mon, stop— Owwwww!”
“Take good care of Shiny, Ichika.”
“Wait, but why?!”
‘Why?’ That was all I could wonder. I didn’t understand what was happening or why it was happening. All I could do was accept it.
“The reason’s simple. I want my match with Orimura Chifuyu. And if joining Phantom Task is what it takes... So be it.” Having said her piece, Allie leapt from the window. “I hope you get stronger before we meet again!”
She’d entered my life like a storm, and left it like one too. All I could do was stroke Shiny and wonder.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m really sorry!”
Ichika was bowing on the floor of a meeting room at the ryokan, begging for forgiveness. Before him, the girls stood, their arms crossed.
“Even back to normal, you don’t remember?”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“All that, and you don’t remember anything?”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“Ichika, are you an idiot?!”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“Do you really think this is something you can just paper over with an apology?”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“Are you even listening to us?!”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“Ichika, are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, ma’am...”
“Ichika, can you say anything other than ‘yes, ma’am’?”
“Yes, ma’am...”
Angry glares all around.
“Calm down, everyone. It’s over and Ichika’s okay, so we should be smiling, right?”
“You’re too easy on him, Ms. Yamada!”
“Indeed!”
“He needs to be punished!”
“Agreed! He needs to learn his lesson!”
“That was no way for my bride to behave.”
“Maybe he can make it up with a massage.”
“That’ll work. He can be massaging until he can’t even turn a doorknob.” Tatenashi grinned, and snapped open a fan reading ‘service.’
“Ahaha...” He could imagine his fingers snapping off from the sheer strain. But he had no choice in the matter.
“Yes, ma’am...” he nodded dejectedly.
✦ ✦ ✦
“All right, let’s get started!”
Ichika crossed his arms. Before him, Houki, Cecilia, Ling, Charlotte, Laura, Kanzashi, and Tatenashi laid on a blanket. Each was wearing a yukata—it was the very picture of a scene most guys would love to dive right into.
“Let me guess. You’ve all got your date panties on.”
Gulp. Chifuyu had hit home for at least one of them.
“Go change into your swimsuits, you idiots!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“I’m surprised you all brought swimsuits this late in the year.”
Ms. Yamada whispered in an obviously grateful Ichika’s ear, “This ryokan has an outdoor hot spring you’re supposed to wear swimsuits in. Everyone was looking forward to—”
“Ahem! Ms. Yamada, let’s go get a drink. The students can handle this themselves.”
Ichika looked at her, confusedly, as she announced her departure.
“Uhh, Chifuyu?”
“Get to work, Ichika. You’d better do a good job, too.”
The girls were overwhelmed with gratitude toward Ms. Orimura. Like an angel had come down from heaven to bless them.
“Ahh, umm. You know. We’re probably never getting another chance like this, so why don’t you give us an oil massage over our swimsuits?”
A round of assenting thumbs up for Houki.
“An oil massage, huh? I mean, I can do it, but won’t that ruin the blanket?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll pay for a replacement out of student council funds.”
Executive privilege, indeed.
“Ahh, Tatenashi! You’re so generous!”
“Ohohohoho! Anyway, it’s decided! Get going, Ichika!”
“Don’t touch me anywhere funny, though!”
“I haven’t had a massage from Ichika in forever.”
“Ichika, you’re welcome to touch me somewhere funny.”
“Uhh, Laura, that’s kinda...”
At least the others could agree with him on that much.
“You’re not too hurt to do this, right, Ichika?”
“Eh, I think I’ll make it through.” Ichika couldn’t shake the feeling that if she were really concerned, she’d let him rest.
“Very well, then, hold nothing back!”
“Can’t I just a litt—”
“Did you say something, Ichika?”
“No! Jeez.”
“Very well then. Do your best, Mr. Masseur!”
“Yes, I’m so exhausted my body feels like mud.”
“Laura, that’s not how that—”
“Let’s just all enjoy this!”
Everyone nodded at Tatenashi’s suggestion.
“Guess I’ll get started, then...” Ichika reluctantly began to oil his hands, and one of the girls gulped in nervous anticipation at the sound. “All right, Houki first.”
“Okay!”
An oil-covered hand stroked over Houki’s thighs. Squish.
“Eeek! Ichika, warn me before you do that!”
“Warn you? But I said I was starting with you?”
“I know, I just meant... Ahh!”
Ichika’s fingertips relaxed her knotted muscles as his hands glided over her thighs. Houki was so entranced by the sensation that she let out a throaty sigh.
“Ichika! Haven’t you already spent enough time on Houki?”
“I guess so. I’ll start on Cecilia, then.”
“Eh? Wait, wait. I’m not rea— Mmm!” Cecilia moaned in pleasure as she felt the oil spread over her back. Ichika could feel her heart pound through his fingertips.
“Now that I think of it, massaging you like this reminds me of this summer.”
“Mmm! Haa... I suppose...”
Ichika worked his way down her spine little by little, his fingers releasing her tension. She felt as if her body and heart were melting all at once.
“Are you okay?”
“Haa... Haa... Mmmm. Yes...”
As Cecilia’s voice trailed off in pleasure, Ling’s cheeks burned bright red. I’m next... I’m next... She couldn’t stop her pulse from racing.
“All right, next!”
Here he comes!
“Tatenashi.”
“Ichikaaaa! I’m gonna kill you!”
“I was just kidding, jeez.” Ichika tickled Ling’s belly to calm her.
“Eek! Ahahahaha! Ichika, sto— stop it, hahahaha!”
“You know, I used to give you massages all the time in middle school.”
As his fingers worked up and down her sides, Ling laughed and laughed, “Stop it, hahaha! Ichika, I’m gonna... I’m gonna kill— Hahahahaha!”
“Hahaha, you’re still so ticklish.”
They were so natural, so open with each other that they looked like the perfect couple. On the other hand, no one else in the room was really enjoying this.
“Ichika, hahaha, let me—hahahaha—let me go!”
“You’re so sensitive, Ling. Anyway, time for the mass—”
“Ichika, that’s enough for Ling!” A thrown pillow caught him in the face. Charlotte was being insistent, for once. “C’mon, Ichika! Hurry it up! It’s my turn now, right?”
“Oh, sure. You don’t have to be mad about it.”
“I am not mad!” Charlotte pouted at Ichika. When she pouted like that, she looked more like a little girl than normal, dependable Charl. Perhaps that’s why Ichika gave her an honest-to-goodness massage.
“Charl, your shoulders are so tense. Are you tired?”
“Mmm... I’m fine... Yawn...”
Her worries melting away under his masterful fingertips, Charl soon drifted off to sleep.
“Zzzzzz...”
“Charl? Did you fall asleep?” Carefully moving so as not to wake her up, Ichika placed a hand on Laura’s hip.
“Wait, Ichika! I’m sensitive the— Mmph!”
Ichika’s fingers kneaded at Laura’s hips. She tried to choke back her gasps, so as not to be heard by Charlotte, but soon she needed to clamp both hands over her mouth.
“Mm! Mmm!”
“Are you okay, Laura? Sure you’re not still hurt from the battle?”
“I... I’m not. Mmm!” It took all her strength not to moan in pleasure. Her blush had extended up to her ears.
“Next, Kanzashi. Have you ever had a massage before?”
“No, but everyone else looked like they enjoyed theirs.”
She couldn’t control her heart—neither its pounding nor the fantasies of what it would feel like. Just as her thoughts reached a fever pitch, Tatenashi murmured to Ichika, “Be careful, there’s some oil there on the floor.”
Sliiiip.
“Whoa!”
It was too late, Ichika had already planted his foot directly in the puddle. Smoosh.
“I-Ichika... You’re so daring...”
As he tumbled to the floor, his hand slid down the back of Kanzashi’s swimsuit, and he could feel his palm wrap around one of her buttcheeks.
“Wait, no, I just slipped and—”
“I-chi-ka~ Whatever are you doing to my little sister, hmm?” Tatenashi grinned a Cheshire cat grin.
This must have been a trap she’d laid, he realized too late.
“Ichika! Don’t move!”
“Ichika! I’m jealous— Uh, I mean, that’s so crude!”
“What are you doing, you creep!”
In a second, he was surrounded. Ichika sighed, knowing he had only one option.
“Run away!” He took off like a startled hare.
“Hold it right there!”
“Ichika, you’re skipping me!”
Ichika pretended he couldn’t hear the complaints. Anyway, I need to get this oil off of me. I should take a bath.
Hoping they wouldn’t chase him all the way into the men’s bath, he ducked under a curtain reading ‘M’ and ran inside.
Not noticing that the following letters were ‘ixed.’