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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Nekorune
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*crackle*
The abundant juice unique to a ripe peach spread throughout her mouth, followed by the sweet taste of cream. Finally, the crumble served alongside on the plate added a satisfying crunch… It was truly a gift set! Chinami’s face involuntarily broke into a wide grin.
Chinami busily moved her chubby cheeks, enjoying the dessert with a blissful expression. Renka, finding her adorable, chuckled.
“Is it that good?”
Chinami, after carefully chewing and swallowing the peach, nodded.
“Yes. Why aren’t you eating yours, Renka-chan?”
“I’m drinking coffee.”
“It’s delicious with coffee, too. Here, say ‘ah’.”
Chinami picked up the largest slice of peach with her fork and offered it to Renka.
Renka, smiling, declined the offer.
“It’s okay.”
“Say ‘ah’.”
“I said it’s okay. You can have it.”
At her repeated refusal, Chinami looked disappointed. She was truly grateful that Renka was trying to give her her precious peach.
But honestly… she was sick of it. It was inevitable, since peaches were a constant whenever she met with Chinami.
“Did you get the limited edition Momo-chan goods?”
“No. The Momodom has grown so much lately, it’s like trying to catch a star.”
Momodom was the nickname for Momo-chan’s fandom. Having spent a long time with Chinami, Renka was very familiar with Momo-chan related things.
“Are there still a lot of new Momodom joining?”
“Of course. Momo-chan is cute. Even Matsuda-kouhai has shown interest in the Momodom.”
Renka’s eyebrows twitched. He hadn’t expected Matsuda’s name to come up.
“Even Matsuda…?”
“Yes.”
Did that mean Matsuda, on top of anime figures, was also interested in Momo-chan goods? He could somewhat understand the figures. The one Matsuda had seen recently was an action genre with excellent animation, so even men who weren’t interested in anime watched it, and many became fans because of it.
But in the case of Momo-chan, it was a little… suspicious. Of course, Momo-chan was a cute brand. But it didn’t suit someone like Matsuda… who, to put it nicely, exudes masculinity.
‘Is he just trying to be in Chinami’s good books…?’
She didn’t want to resort to prejudice, but she figured her guess was probably right. Not that there was anything wrong with Matsuda. Sharing interests to win someone over was a good approach.
But she was worried because his target was Chinami. She had decided to observe for now, but…
Buzz-
Lost in thought, Renka looked at her phone on the table as it vibrated.
[Hello, coach. Sorry to bother you out of the blue. I’m training at home, and if it’s not too much trouble, I wanted to ask you about how to take an uchi-waza.]
It was a message from Miura Tetsuya. His passion for Kendo was impressive. His skills, which were initially abysmal, were improving day by day… He was indeed a promising kouhai.
“Who is it?” Chinami asked, having already eaten more than half of her dessert.
Renka, sitting comfortably with one leg crossed over the other, replied.
“It’s Miura.”
“Are you talking about Miura Tetsuya-kouhai?”
“Yeah. He seems unsure about how to take an uchi-waza.”
“He’s a very studious kouhai. I saw his talent when we sparred last time…”
“Right. He’s also shown interest in the tournament, so I’m thinking of training him for the winter competition.”
“Ah! Is that so? I was also planning to have Matsuda-kouhai participate in the winter competition. Should we focus our training on the team competition then? It would be wonderful if our students were on the same team.”
Matsuda participating in the competition? Putting aside his personality, he seemed likely to achieve good results.
Assuming a 5-person team competition, if they were to assign positions conventionally without any tricks, a suitable position for Matsuda would be…
The vanguard, who could decisively seize the initial momentum and boost the team’s morale, or the third position, the chūken, who could turn the tide of the match or solidify their lead.
Both were important positions, but vanguard suited him particularly well.
Miura Tetsuya wasn’t vanguard material. But he had a good eye and a sparring style that dragged the match into a messy fight… He’d be suited for the second position, the jihou, who could maintain the momentum gained by the vanguard through a draw, or even in defeat, give the opponent a sense of being bogged down.
Winning would be even better, of course. In any case, both were undoubtedly talented members. Even Goro, the coach, was likely drooling over them.
Matsuda’s talent was far superior, though.
“Did Matsuda say he wanted to participate in the competition?”
“He was positive when I asked him.”
Positive? He hadn’t seemed that enthusiastic… It was doubtful.
“Come to think of it, the training camp isn’t far off. It’s about time we start preparing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. We should prepare before it gets colder.”
“Where’s the location?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“I hope it’s somewhere with a stream this time. I want to soak my feet and look at the stars at night after training.”
Renka, with a slight smile at Chinami’s specific plan, sent a reply to Miura and nodded.
“I’ll look for a good place with the coach.”
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“Kouhai.”
Thursday, the day before Friday.
I was practicing behind the club room, wearing my newly purchased bogu except for the men, when Chinami’s serious call made me retrieve my shinai.
“Is my posture wrong?”
“No. Your posture was good.”
“Then?”
“You mustn’t hurt me.”
What was she talking about all of a sudden? Approaching Chinami, who was making a strange remark, I asked,
“What do you mean by that?”
“I saw it.”
“You saw… what?”
“A massage video. There was a very pretty model screaming from the touch of a vicious massage therapist. Cracking sounds came from all over the model’s body. Not only that, but when he massaged her head, he made a fist and scraped the area behind her ear with his knuckles.”
So she’d previewed the massage she was going to receive tomorrow. If there were cracking sounds, it was probably a massage with strong pressure, like chiropractic. Of all things to watch, she watched that…
No, think of it as fortunate. If she had watched a video of something like aroma or Swedish massage, where the client is shirtless, Chinami, fearing exposure, would have been reluctant to receive the massage.
“I’m not planning to do it that intensely.”
“Saying ‘that intensely’ means… it could hurt…?”
“No, I misspoke. I’ll only do a gentle massage. Didn’t I tell you? You’ll feel drowsy after the massage?”
“Yes.”
“There won’t be any pain, so don’t worry.”
Chinami’s expression relaxed, relieved. But she still seemed tense. She was always sensitive to my touch, so she seemed genuinely worried about what would happen.
Sitting next to Chinami, I gave her a gentle smile to reassure her.
“Like I said before, if the massage isn’t to your liking, tell me to stop. Then I’ll stop.”
“…Is that true?”
“Of course.”
“But what about the disappointment you’ll feel if I stop? You’re giving me a massage for my sake. But if I ask you to stop…”
She didn’t need to worry about that. Because she wouldn’t be able to utter the words “stop.” Rather, she’d probably ask for more, overwhelmed by the thrilling sensation she’d never felt before.
“Are you already worried about stopping?”
“Ah…! That’s not it, but… that’s what I mean… Now, shall we practice again? I’m going to teach you a new technique.”
“A new technique?”
“Yes. Jōdan mainly focuses on attacking the head. The chūdan opponent also knows this very well, so they focus their defense on the head. You’re going to use that psychology against them, pretending to strike at the head and then attacking the kote.”
“How do I do that?”
“I’ll show you a demonstration, so keep your eyes peeled.”
Chinami stood up with her shinai and looked for a flat spot on the floor. The way she hopped around, avoiding protruding pebbles, was very cute.
No, everything about Chinami was cute, and he wanted to make her soft and pliable as soon as possible.
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“Go ahead.”
“Yeah, thanks. Miyuki, be careful going home too.”
Tetsuya said goodbye with his usual innocent face.
Miyuki smiled brightly and waved at him as he got out of the car.
“Good work today. See you later, Tetsuya-kun.”
“Yeah. Oh, right… Do you want to have dinner with our families tomorrow evening?”
“Dinner?”
“It’s been a while since your parents and my parents have met. I thought it would be nice to have a get-together and a meal. I mentioned it before, don’t you remember?”
“Did I…? Sorry. I’ve been a bit out of it lately… I’ll ask them today.”
“Okay. Let me know.”
“Okay.”
Tetsuya, with a satisfied expression, closed the backseat door and headed towards his house.
As I started the car, watching his stupid retreating figure, Miyuki turned to me.
“If my mom says yes… Can I come late tomorrow? It’s true that we haven’t seen each other much lately, and my mom mentioned wanting to have dinner with Tetsuya-kun’s family.”
“Sure, it’s fine.”
It was fine to readily agree to this much. If Miyuki hadn’t fallen for me, I would have stopped it by any means, but now, there wasn’t any particular problem.
Tetsuya was already second fiddle to her. No matter how much he tried to appeal to his masculinity, it wouldn’t work on Miyuki now.
Rather, it would only highlight his dorkiness and bore her.
Or not? Since they’d gotten along well so far, she might just accept it without thinking much of it.
Come to think of it, I needed to finish painting Miyuki’s room with my colors… I should stop by again sometime.
“Thanks for understanding. If I can slip away in the middle, I’ll come and make you some delicious food.”
“Okay. The necklace I gave you is still hanging in your room, right?”
“Yeah. Of course it is. I look at it every day and get my energy from it.”
Would Tetsuya see that necklace that day? Miyuki would be eager to come to my place, so she probably wouldn’t invite him to her room.
I wanted to intrude on that dinner. I wanted to touch Miyuki under the table and see her flustered expression as she tried to manage her composure.
If I didn’t have a date with Chinami, I would have rushed over right away… There would be another chance later, right?
By the way, it was quite a coincidence. How did Tetsuya bring up that topic at this time?
This was exactly the kind of NTR story where the dense protagonist helps the golden-haired protagonist’s harem. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t live up to Tetsuya’s expectations, would it?
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After spending a seemingly ordinary but not-so-ordinary Friday, I dropped off Tetsuya and Miyuki and went to meet Chinami.
Outside, it was raining, as befitting the autumn rainy season. It was the perfect gloomy and cold weather to enjoy what was about to happen.
The place Chinami called me to wasn’t her apartment, but a store in the busy downtown area. It was a place that regularly sold several types of Momo-chan goods.
After parking and walking inside, I chuckled as Chinami, who was near the entrance, came towards me with quick steps.
“You seem excited.”
“Looking at Momo-chan goods is always exciting. By the way, I already have all of the goods shown here at my house, except for one.”
The small shop seemed to have most things, but she bought all of them except for one…? Chinami’s love for Momo-cham was always surprising.
“You could have come with me to look around. Why did you come here first?”
“Ah, there was a reason for that.”
Chinami opened the bag she was holding. Inside was a sticker set with tiny faces of Momo-chan, each making various expressions.
“These are the newly released Momonicon stickers. I came here early to buy them in case they sold out. Fortunately, when I finished paying, there were exactly two sets left.”
“But I only see one? Was it limited to one per person?”
“No. Two per person, but… I left one for the next person.”
If it were me, I would have bought both to see the distorted expression of the person behind me.
“I see. As expected, you’re kind, Master.”
When I complimented her with a bright smile, Chinami beamed and said,
“We have to help each other as fellow Momodom. Now, shall we go get that thump-thump massage?”
Thump-thump massage, huh? Naming things like that was so like Chinami.
I had to make her heart actually thump.
“Were there no second-hand sales?”
“No. Nothing came up. It would have been nice if I could have set up a trade, considering I have my reliable kouhai here with me…”
“That’s too bad.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t think I’d be able to get it in a short period of time.”
“If you do find one… be sure to contact me or Inoo-senpai and go together with us. Okay?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Chinami was in high spirits. Did the sight of the Momo-chan goods lined up everywhere give her stability and energy?
It seemed so.
We got in the car, chatting in a cheerful atmosphere, and headed to the love hotel I had booked in advance.
“By the way, kouhai, are you a massage shop employee? Or do you have experience in that area…?”
Chinami’s question, her previous high spirits vanished. Her slightly lowered voice, laced with nervousness, was amusing.
Still looking straight ahead, I answered briefly.
“No.”
“Then how did you find a massage place? You didn’t rent out a massage shop, did you?”
“It’s not that grand. But it’s a good idea. I’ll seriously consider it next time.”
At the words “next time,” Chinami’s body twitched slightly.
Did she really think it would end with just this one time?
That was a bit disappointing.
“I, is that so…? Then where are we going today…?”
“We’ve arrived. It’s there.”
My finger pointed diagonally across the windshield where the wipers were moving. Chinami’s eyes followed it and stopped at the sign of a certain building.
“Hotel… Raphia…? Is this the right place?”
“Yes. This is it.”
“This is a hotel…? Are we going to a massage parlor inside? Is it available for private use?”
It wasn’t a regular hotel, but a love hotel. A newly built love hotel equipped with various concept rooms.
I grinned at Chinami, who was tilting her head as if she couldn’t understand, and turned the steering wheel, entering the hotel parking lot.
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thank you nekorune!!!
😀