“I’m absolutely not leaving! This is my room now!”
“This is clearly my room.”
“Starting today, it’s my territory!” said Akane.
“Territory…?” Saito was stunned.
Akane didn’t budge an inch. Holding her textbook like a shield and gripping her pen like a sword, she looked like a knight ready for battle. If he tried to forcibly remove her, he’d likely be branded a pervert and be defeated before the battle began.
Saito gave up and returned to his book. Of course, with Akane in the room, it was hard to keep reading the steamy scene, so he skipped ahead, planning to go back to that scene later.
I can’t focus…
This was not the shared space of the living room. This was Saito’s private space. It felt strange, like having a female classmate over as a guest. The study room space was tighter than the living room, which made Akane feel unavoidably close.
Akane sat sideways, right on the floor, glaring down at her textbook. The hem of her skirt had ridden up slightly, revealing the blinding expanse of her thighs. She must have been sitting awkwardly too, because she brushed her hair out of her face with an annoyed gesture that carried with it a faint, unintentional allure.
“…Wanna use my desk?” Saito offered.
Akane clutched her textbook to her chest like a shield, eyeing him suspiciously. “Wh-why are you being so nice all of a sudden? You’re planning to lure me into your room and attack me, aren’t you?!”
“Wait, you’re the one who barged into my room in the first place!”
“You’re the one who insisted I stay with you!” Akane’s memory was anything but a bear trap.
“I’m just saying, it must be hard to study on the floor, so let’s trade. I can read my book down there.”
“You’re just saying that so you can peek under my skirt from below!” Akane responded, hastily tugging down the hem of her skirt to cover her thighs.
“Hell no, I won’t peek! I value my life, after all!”
“Th-then…” With clear hesitation, Akane slowly stood up and sat down in Saito’s chair. She carefully arranged her textbook and notebook on the desk, then placed her pen precisely parallel beside them. Every single motion was awkward and stiff.
“…Are you nervous or something?” asked Saito.
“Of course I am, okay?! I-it’s my first time being in a b-boy’s room!” exclaimed Akane.
“I-I see…”
“Do…do you mind…?” Akane clenched her skirt tightly in her lap and fidgeted, rubbing her crossed legs together shyly.
That bashful reaction made Saito feel just as flustered. Saito quietly set his book down and left the room. Akane hurried after him.
“Where are you going? Taking a trip abroad?!”
“The bathroom! Stay there!” yelled Saito.
“If I do, I’ll die! The ghost always targets people who are alone!”
“It won’t! You can survive five minutes, okay?!”
Saito dashed down the stairs, managing to escape from Akane, and locked himself in the bathroom.
Soon after, Akane started pounding desperately on the bathroom door. “Open up! Just tonight, leave it open!”
“No way!”
“Even dogs go to the bathroom in front of people!” yelled Akane.
“I’m not a dog!” Saito yelled back.
Akane was undeniably cute when scared out of her wits, but there were limits to everything. Now, in a different way from before, there was no longer a place of peace for Saito in his own home. When Saito stepped out of the bathroom, Akane was standing in front of the door, cheeks puffed out and teary-eyed, waiting for him. Even when he washed his hands or climbed the stairs back to his room, she followed him like a baby duckling trailing her mother.
What am I supposed to do about this…? thought Saito. He sighed as he read his book.
Akane kept glancing at him every few moments, seemingly worried that he might suddenly disappear, so it was hard for her to concentrate on her studies.
As this dynamic continued through the evening, night fell, and soon it was time to get ready for bed.
“…I’m going to take a bath,” said Akane.
“Okay.”
Akane gathered her textbooks and notebooks and left Saito’s study.
Relieved that he could finally relax, Saito let out a deep sigh. He wanted to properly read the steamy scene he had skipped over earlier, so he began flipping back through the pages.
“Um…”
“What is it?!”
Akane had suddenly reappeared, and Saito hastily slammed the book shut. She stood peeking through the doorway, pajamas in her arms, her face beet red with embarrassment.
“I-it’s dangerous to take a bath on my own, so…would you…come with me?”
“Huh?!” It was hard to believe those words had come from the same girl who would try to break his fingers if their hands so much as brushed by accident.
“Come with you…as in, to the bathroom?” asked Saito.
“Y-yeah… Like, when I’m washing my hair and I close my eyes, something might attack me…”
“Nothing’s going to attack you…” At least, it had never happened to Saito before.
“Do…do you not want to…?” Akane looked up at him pleadingly with upturned eyes. With that face, rivaling the beauty of a fashion model, her expression carried devastating power.
“…Fine. But just for tonight.”
Five minutes later, Saito was sitting cross-legged on the changing room floor, standing guard. The door between him and Akane, who was in the bath, was firmly closed.
Well, yeah. Of course it turned out like this. Obviously.
Nodding to himself, Saito couldn’t deny feeling at least a little disappointed. Even if she was his nemesis, was there a boy alive who wouldn’t feel his heart flutter, even slightly, at the idea of bathing with a beautiful girl?
From beyond the door, Saito could hear the sounds of Akane washing her hair and bathing. Even through the frosted glass, her nude silhouette was faintly visible. And since he’d actually seen her naked once before, a flashback replayed all too vividly in his mind.
Akane called out from the bathroom in a small and uncertain voice. “Hey, you’re still there, right? You’re there, aren’t you? Everything’s okay, right?”
That, in and of itself, was a dangerous level of stimulus for a healthy, adolescent boy.
I will not get aroused by my mortal enemy.