Chapter 93

This time from Arisa's perspective

"Ahh..."

Arisa let out a voice unbecoming of a girl as she immersed herself in the bathtub, stretching her limbs.

Whether it was due to the effects of the bath salts that were supposed to help with fatigue recovery or not, she felt a sense of pleasure as if the tiredness was being washed away from her body.

She gazed blankly at the bathroom wall and muttered,

"Yugen, you're not peeking, right?"

Inside Arisa's bag,

there were towels and changes of clothes, but there were also other items.

"Bringing a swimsuit is kind of weird, isn't it..."

Arisa had brought a school swimsuit.

It was just a whim.

She had thought, just a little, just a tiny bit, about wearing the swimsuit and taking a bath together.

"I'm glad I didn't go through with it..."

Arisa sighed in relief.

While it might be fine for lovers, Arisa and Yugen were not officially a couple yet.

They were undoubtedly in love with each other, but since they hadn't confirmed their relationship as lovers, it would be too much to take a bath together.

(I wish he would confess soon.)

Arisa muttered to herself.

To be honest, Arisa was a bit anxious that Yugen wasn't expressing his feelings soon enough.

Of course, Arisa didn't think Yugen was the type to hesitate about confessing...

And Ayaka, Yugen's childhood friend, had told Arisa that Yugen was the type to prepare thoroughly.

It was a bit frustrating, but Ayaka had known Yugen longer than Arisa.

Since Ayaka had given her the assurance that Yugen would confess, it was probably true.

But it still left her feeling uneasy.

That's why Arisa had come up with the "massage plan" to hurry Yugen along.

Arisa was aware that her body was attractive to men.

She also knew that Yugen found her attractive.

So if they massaged each other and their bodies touched... surely Yugen would strongly desire her.

...Of course, she wasn't hoping for a "mistake."

Rather, she thought Yugen probably wouldn't do anything to assault her.

Looking back, there had been many times when she was vulnerable, but Yugen had never tried to assault her.

So he probably wouldn't this time either.

His rationality was very strong.

"Well... it's not like I would mind if he did..."

Saying that she was trying to hurry Yugen along to confess sounded good, but in the end, what she was doing was the same as seduction.

If she did something like that, it would be understandable if he did something in return.

Of course, she didn't want him to, and she certainly wasn't hoping for it.

She had no perverted desires that would make her hope for him to force himself on her.

She just thought that if he, as her lover, were to make a move, it would be understandable.

"I just want him to express his feelings soon and solidify our current ambiguous relationship. It's not like I'm hoping for Yugen to turn into a wolf or anything, or that I'm inviting him to. I just... if it happens, I'll be lenient and forgive him. So..."

She had brought condoms just in case.

It wasn't that she was expecting anything.

"Besides, we haven't even kissed yet..."

Arisa's face turned bright red, and she sank into the bathtub.

Just thinking about it made her body heat up, and she felt incredibly embarrassed.

Her chest ached, her back tingled, and her lower abdomen tightened.

"No, it's impossible... I'm so embarrassed..."

Even though no one was listening, Arisa muttered to herself and stood up.

"...I'll get out now."

Arisa, who had become quite overheated, decided to leave the bathroom.

"...I'm done with the bath, Yugen."

After changing, Arisa called out to Yugen, who was fiddling with his phone on the sofa.

Yugen's body suddenly trembled.

"Ah, okay... I understand."

For some reason, Yugen seemed restless.

He then tilted his head.

"You look quite cool... If we're going to massage each other, this might be more convenient. ...I brought a winter uniform as well."

Arisa said this, touching her chest.

She was wearing a thin short-sleeved shirt and short pants that she had brought to change into.

For a massage, it would be better to wear thin, wrinkle-resistant clothing.

"...I see."

Arisa felt Yugen's gaze on her chest.

Not just her chest, but also her legs, which were visible due to the short length of her shorts.

...It wasn't intentional.

She didn't remember that during the sports festival, Yugen had occasionally given her heated looks at certain parts of her body.

She hadn't deliberately chosen a shirt that emphasized her figure or shorts that showed as much of her legs as possible.

She was aware that her chest was very attractive to men and that her legs could be classified as "beautiful legs," but she hadn't chosen clothing to emphasize these features.

It was just a coincidence.

Even if Yugen gave her such looks, she only felt embarrassed, not happy or anything like that.

"...Then, I'll change into a thin shirt too."

Yugen muttered this.

Indeed, as Yugen had acknowledged, wearing thin clothing for a massage was a very reasonable choice.

So the fact that Yugen was aroused by Arisa's appearance was because Yugen was a troubled person, a pervert...

It wasn't Arisa's fault.

Arisa was completely normal and not at all strange, and there was no fact that she and Yugen were similar perverts.

"Then, I'll come in."

"Okay, go ahead."

Yugen disappeared into the changing room.

Arisa sat down on the sofa where Yugen had been sitting, her heart racing.

"...I made a bit of a mistake."

Arisa remembered how she had scattered her clothes in the changing room and blushed slightly.

At the time, she had been flustered and in a hurry, so she hadn't had the mental capacity to tidy up.

She had also assumed that Yugen wouldn't enter the changing room and wouldn't see her clothes.

But because of her fluster, she had forgotten some of her clothes and towels, and due to her carelessness, her dirty clothes and... undergarments had been seen.

It was very embarrassing.

"No, I guess... he saw them, didn't he..."

Maybe Yugen was restless because he had seen her dirty clothes.

No, that must be it.

Thinking about it...

"Could it be... that Yugen... did something... perverted to my clothes?"

Now that she thought about it, they seemed to be in slightly different positions...

She didn't think it was anything serious, but it wasn't impossible.

"...It's not fair that only I get seen, is it?"

She said this to herself, as if trying to convince herself, and stood up.

She then headed to the changing room and gently opened the door.

Yugen seemed to be showering in the bathroom.

At least, he didn't seem to notice her.

"..."

In the changing room, Yugen's gym uniform was scattered around, including his underwear.

"...I'm not the one at fault. It's Yugen's fault for leaving his clothes here like this."

After all, Yugen had seen her scattered gym uniform first.

...It was Arisa's fault for scattering her clothes, but in her mind, Yugen was the absolute villain.

So, since Yugen had done something wrong first, Arisa had the right to get back at him.

"Yugen... is probably a smell fetishist. He sometimes tries to smell me. He's really... a pervert. It's impossible for someone like that to be my fiancé. I really... don't understand what he likes. ...But even if he's a pervert, he's still my fiancé."

She had to understand him.

Yes, this was an action to understand Yugen by doing the same thing he did.

...It wasn't a fact (to Arisa) that Yugen had smelled her gym uniform, but such details didn't matter.

What mattered was that Arisa had a justifiable reason to do this.

Arisa picked up Yugen's gym uniform with her fingertips, as if handling something dirty—indeed, to Arisa, this was something dirty, and she wasn't doing it because she liked it. She was doing it out of necessity, out of necessity.

It was damp and sticky with sweat.

"..."

Arisa held her breath.

Was she doing something terrible right now?

Was she crossing a line that she shouldn't as a person, as a girl?

Such concerns crossed her mind, but...

She ignored all of them and brought Yugen's gym uniform to her nose.

Then she took a deep breath.

"Ah... What am I doing..."

After that,

Arisa sat slumped on the sofa, feeling self-loathing.

If the first volume sells well, I'd like to write a special bonus, like a mixed-bathing alternate scenario, for the third chapter.

If you find Arisa, who is cute and smart, likable, I would be grateful if you could bookmark and rate (the stars below the table of contents) this story.