“She also told me that I had to forgive my boyfriend, no matter what he did to me.”
“Tell me more,” I said, sitting up without realizing it. The moment I did, Haruka stared at me, so I quickly lay back down again.
“Anyway,” she continued, “I want to regularly show everyone that you’re mine.”
“I understand how you feel, but doing something like that might cause friction, which is what worries me…”
“You never say no to a girl approaching you because you don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers, like the time you got in that drum bath with Hoshimiya,” Haruka said with a hint of anger in her voice.
I had to be careful how I responded, or I’d be in trouble.
“…Well, yeah, but that’s in the past. I have you, so next time I’ll say no since I don’t want you to be unhappy.”
I meant that. Even if the male-to-female ratio wasn’t balanced, I still thought that people should be monogamous.
I thought I’d die from the stress if this did end up as a polygamous relationship. My stomach hurt just thinking about mediating between Haruka and Tsukishiro and placating them every time they clashed.
“…All right, I’ll believe you’re not lying to me.” Haruka smiled faintly, then added in a murmur, “…But I understand how a guy might get captivated by a pretty girl like Tsukishiro if he had to kiss her several times a day.”
“You do…?”
“And I think you’ll start wanting to go further than that. You have to get rid of your frustrations, or you’ll explode someday, right…? So…”
Haruka moved closer and whispered in my ear.
“…Y-you can…touch my…breasts.”
“…?! S-seriously…?!”
“Well…I am your girlfriend… So if you asked nicely…I’d probably let you.”
“For real…?”
I couldn’t help but turn my gaze to her voluptuous breasts. I’d be willing to do anything, even get down on my knees and beg, if she let me touch them.
“…Yuuma. You’re drooling uncontrollably,” she said, and I immediately looked away from her chest. “You’re trying to hide it, but you haven’t stopped grinning like a fool.”
“…I don’t think I can stop for a while.”
“Honestly, Yuuma… You have such a dirty mind…” Haruka heaved a sigh, but then a proud smile spread across her face. “Not that it bothers me. ♪”
“…So tell me, how exactly do you want me to ask?” I said, my heart thumping in my chest.
“Huh…?!”
Haruka was speechless when she saw me get all excited.
The next thing I knew, her expression became troubled.
“Oh, uh… I’m sorry, I was kidding when I said you could touch my breasts…”
“—What?!”
“I assumed you’d play it cool and turn me down…”
“……”
“But it looks like I gave you some weird expectations. I’m really sorry…”
“N-no…I’m the one who’s sorry… We’re dating, so I thought it would be okay to have more physical contact besides kissing…”
“I—I see…”
“But don’t worry. I won’t ever do anything you don’t want me to do,” I promised, and Haruka looked away shyly.
“…I know you really care about me,” Haruka said. “…Okay, then. Seeing as you’re willing to go so far as to promise that, I don’t mind letting you touch my boobs… But I’m not wearing a bra right now…”
“—?!”
“…So I don’t know about touching them directly…but oh well… I guess it can’t be helped…”
“You’re gonna let me…?!”
“…G-go ahead…,” Haruka stammered.
Her face bright red, she lay back, and I pulled myself up to kneel formally on the bed. A man had to have the right attitude to take on the sacred act of squeezing boobs, after all.
But as soon as I sat up straight, a shiver ran down my spine. It felt as if someone was staring at me with malicious intent. It was concerning that someone like me, who had no martial arts expertise, could sense danger like that…
Trembling with fear, I slowly shifted my gaze—and met the eyes of Tsukishiro, who was laying in the bed next to mine.
She was staring at me, her cold gaze at absolute zero.
I felt my heart freeze, and the goofy grin on my face evaporated. She’d likely heard Haruka and me talking. Otherwise, she wouldn’t look so scary.
I decided to lie down next to Haruka and warm my frozen heart and body.
“…Yuuma…?” Haruka said, sounding perplexed.
“…Haruka,” I replied quietly. “Let’s not do things like that when other people are around.”
It was a close call. I’d been so overcome with my desire to touch her boobs that I’d almost forgotten the bare minimum of manners you’d expect of a human being.
It would’ve slipped my mind completely if I hadn’t met Tsukishiro’s eyes.
Still, it definitely would’ve been weird for us to suddenly step out of the room so I could squeeze Haruka’s breasts in the hallway.
And thus, my chance to touch her breasts was put on hold.
After that, Haruka returned to her own bed and seemed to fall back asleep.
As for me, I was fully awake and not the least bit tired. I lay in bed frustrated for a while, then gave up on sleep and decided to get up. It was half past four. Lisa would be watching the gate around now.
I went to the front door and saw her wearing a hakama and practicing with a bow. Illuminated by the battery-powered lights, Lisa drew the weapon with beautiful form and unleashed arrows at a board propped up against the iron fence. It was about thirty meters to the target, and half the arrows missed it and fell to the gravel below with a rasping sound.
Once she appeared to have finished shooting all her arrows, I opened the door and stepped outside.
“Oh, Yuuma! Morning.”
“Good morning. Did you borrow that bow from Tsukishiro?”
“Yep. She taught me how to use it. I can’t hit anything with it yet, but I can shoot a bit farther than before.”
“Do you practice every day?”
“Yeah, though it’s only been three days. I started practicing the day I avoided turning into a zombie. I don’t care how…but I want to be able to help the others in some way.”
“That’s very noble of you.”
“But don’t you think it would be impossible to fight zombies with a bow and arrow? It’s not like we can blow their heads off with a single blow like we can with a gun.”
“That’s true, but I think a bow also has its uses. For example, we can tie a letter to the tip of an arrow and communicate with someone far away. Seeing as our phones aren’t working, it might be useful when zombies surround us and we have to keep quiet.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
“Maybe we could hide explosives around the dorm, then set them off by shooting them with arrows if zombies come to attack us.”
“Whoa! That’d be awesome! Do you think I should practice shooting arrows with pieces of paper attached to the tips, then?”
“Yeah, that might be a good idea. Shooting arrows without notes could be completely different, so could you talk to Tsukishiro about it? Thanks, that’d be a big help.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you, Yuuma. We would have just lived without hope until we ran out of food if you hadn’t come along,” Lisa said with a dazzling smile.
She set her bow against the wall.
“I’ll take a little break now. By the way, what are you doing up so early?”
“I couldn’t sleep…”
“Ah… You mean you couldn’t sleep after kissing Tsukishiro?” she asked, looking searchingly into my eyes.
I didn’t know how to respond to that, and Lisa laughed at me.
“Hee-hee! You’re so cute.”
“I can’t help it. I know it’s like a type of medical treatment, but it’s still a kiss…”
“That’s the normal way of looking at it. Tsukishiro seems like she might not be getting enough sleep, either.”
“If only there was another way to stop her from turning into a zombie… I think she’d get the same effects by drinking my blood. Maybe I could have her bite me on the arm.”
“Isn’t kissing better? Biting someone’s arm and drinking their blood is something a monster would do.”
“True…”
“You just have to get used to it… Though I can’t say I like the idea of you getting too used to kissing.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, I might get bitten by a zombie and have to be saved by you kissing me, too. If that happens, I don’t want to imagine you kissing me mechanically like it’s a routine chore.”
“You say that, but…”
“Tell me, Yuuma. Are you going to try kissing whenever someone gets bitten by a zombie?”
“I guess. I don’t know if I’ll be able to prevent them from turning into a zombie, but I’ll have to try it.”
“It would be tough for you if you had to kiss all of us every six hours.”
“……”
I reflexively recalled the cold looks on Haruka and Tsukishiro’s faces. If they looked at me like that every time I kissed someone…
“Please, Lisa, don’t ever get bitten by a zombie.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t want to kiss me?”
“…Huh?!”
“—Oh, um, never mind! Forget what I just said.”