The next morning, I took a shower in the room and returned to bed.

"Ugh... what kind of thing did I do on a drunken dare..."

Hitoka Niwaki had pulled the sheet over her head and was squirming restlessly. "Hitoka." "Hyahh...!"

Her body went rigid with a visible twitch. "You're up. Good morning." "G-Good morning..." Hitoka kept her body hidden under the sheets.

But her long hair, usually tied up neatly, was let down, leaving her in her natural state.

"The shower is free. You should go take it." "Y-Yes..."

Hitoka said this with a blush on her face, fidgeting anxiously.

"U-Um... Oka-gi-kun. About that... I'm sorry. Last night, under the influence of alcohol, I..."

Last night, we had been quite drunk.

As a result of us both seeking each other out, we ended up physically joined together.

"It's not you I should apologize to; it's me. For sleeping with you while you were drunk."

"You don't need to worry about it, Oka-gi-kun. Because... I wanted it too..." I sat down next to Hitoka.

It was so fucking good I thought I was gonna die… Ogata-kun, you’re really good at that, aren’t you?” “Isn’t that normal?”

“No! It was amazing. I lost track of everything before and after, feeling this happy, heavenly bliss… wait, what the hell am I saying?!”

Kaika covered her face with her hands and squirmed around in bed.

“Anyw— anyway… I was basically the one who asked you to do that, Ogata-kun, so don’t worry about it.” “I see… sorry for that.”

Kaika looked at me, her face breaking into a bright, cheerful expression. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah, thanks to you. Thank you.”

“No, it’s nothing. I’m heading to the shower now.”

Kaika threw the sheets off herself and… probably feeling embarrassed again, she wrapped them around her body and headed toward the bathroom. “……”

I picked up the empty box of condoms and the used one lying on the bed.

As I gathered up the fallen dress and the dirty sheets, my mind drifted back to last night.

Kaika’s pale skin, her warm body, and that sweet, pained voice.

Ten years ago, when I first met her, I never imagined we’d end up like this.

For a long time, in my eyes, Ichika had been nothing but a friend ever since that incident.

But... her disheveled state last night. The feel of her hand and skin when we touched...

Now that I've experienced those things, I can't view Ichika as just a friend anymore.

I inevitably see her as a woman. "…………"

That night, Ichika told me she liked me.

The fact that she let me touch her body means there was no falsehood in those words. So then... what about me?

How am I supposed to look at the Inugawa girl from now on? Just as I was thinking that, it happened. Ping-pon... ♪ The door chime rang.

Through the peephole, I saw Akari, my twin sister.

Ichika was in the bath, and even if she came out, the person at the door was a female child to boot.

It shouldn't be a problem if Akari saw me like this. I opened the door and looked at her. "Akari, is something wrong?" But... "…………"

Akari stopped dead in her tracks, her face growing tense.

She was staring down the hallway toward the shower room. "What's wrong?"

"……Hey, Okarin. Maybe Ichika's taking a shower?"

As if searching for something, Akari asked. "Yeah."

"...I see. So you weren't putting on airs after all."

Closing her eyes, Akari murmured.

"...I get it now. So [that's what this is about]."

In a voice surprisingly small and quiet, Akari spoke.

"Hey, Okarin. Are you free tonight? I want to talk about something." ★

On the second day, we played with bowling and the dog park inside the shopping mall.

During that time, Akari was laughing just as carefree as usual.

...The quiet atmosphere heard through that door had vanished without a trace. And then, night fell.

I came to Akari's room. "Okarin, I'm here." "Yeah. Where are Nanako and Rushia?"

I couldn't see the JK big sister or the JK author anywhere.

“I’m just stepping out of the seat for a bit.”

Akari was dressed casually in a short camisole and a miniskirt. “What’s up?”

“Since I wanted to give Akarin a present.” “A present?”

Mm-hm, Akari smiled with the cheerful brightness of a child.

“Come sit down, come on. Sit next to me.”

As Akari sat down on the bed, she patted the spot beside her.

That childish gesture was endearing, so I sat down next to her.

“Here it is, my present! Oshii and I picked it out together.”

Akari handed me a package that had been placed by the pillow. “For me? A present?”

“Yeah. Look, Akarin always treats me so well, right? So Oshii and I discussed it and decided on this. It’s a thank-you for everything you’ve done.”

Akari wore a mischievous smile. “…………” “Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, no... It’s just that I haven’t received a present from a girl in ages, so I wasn’t sure what to do with it.”

"Didn't you get anything from that old hag, your ex-wife?"

"No. Come to think of it, I guess I was always the one giving gifts."

"Hmm... I see. She really is a piece of garbage, that idiot wife of yours."

Akari stuck her tongue out at him in a childish manner.

"Thanks for this. Can I see what's inside?" "Go right ahead, go on."

Opening the package, he found a simple, plain pocket handkerchief inside.

"I thought about getting you a tie, but since Okarin doesn't really wear suits much... So we discussed it with your older sister and decided on a handkerchief instead." "I see..." A gift from Akari and the others.

It pleased him more than he expected.

He certainly wasn't looking after them expecting anything in return.

Still... to receive a gift like this, along with their gratitude... was nice. "Thank you. I'll take good care of it."

"Heheh. We're just so happy that you liked it~"

"Ah. But who would've thought? That stubborn brat of yours has actually learned to send people gifts now."

It’s something I never could’ve imagined ten years ago.

“Oh, right! Hey, Okarin.” “Hm? What’s up?”

Akari asked with a bright smile, her voice completely back to normal.

“Actually~ there’s another one! Akarin has a separate present just for you!” “No way.”

“In addition to the gift we picked out together, a little surprise from me!”

Akari hopped off the bed with a playful pyoon.

“Does Nana know about this?”

“Nope and no way. It’s Akarin’s own unique surprise routine, so neither Sis nor Rushian knows anything about it~”

She probably figured it was more fun to keep her mouth shut.

Honestly, some things never change about this kid, no matter how much time passes.

“Alright then, I’m gonna go set up the surprise for a sec. Okarin, please close your eyes for a moment.” “Sure thing.” What on earth did she have in mind?

But yeah, she’s always been the type to shock me and my sister just to see our faces and make us laugh. She was like that ten years ago, too.

"Mm. All set. You can open your eyes now."
"Yes, yes... what are you..."
And then, just as he spoke—
Bam!

I was shoved by someone and fell onto my back on the bed.
Suddenly... what the hell is going on?
A robbery?!
"That's not it."
"W-What!?"

Bathed in the moonlight, I caught a glimpse of the culprit who had shoved me...
It was Akari.
But...

"What the hell, you! What are you wearing!"

She was... wearing nothing at all.

Akari wore neither a camisole nor even a shred of underwear; she was bare as the day she was born.
"W-Wha... ah...?"

Under the moon's gaze, Akari was... simply beyond words in her beauty.

Her snow-white skin, illuminated by the moonlight, took on a bluish hue, truly seeming to radiate with its own light.

Breasts larger than her face, and cherry-pink buds pointing sharply upward.

Her thighs and arms carried just the right amount of flesh...

And her body was free of a single stain, blemish, or even a stray hair... a nude form like a work of art.

So impossibly beautiful that I... stood there dumbstruck for a moment, captivated.
But then, I quickly snapped back to my senses.

"Put your clothes on right now, you idiot... hmp!"

Akari straddled me, her body pressed against mine, and forcefully sealed my lips. "Mmmph... chuu..."

She pushed her body and her mouth against mine, intensifying the contact.

Her tongue entwined with mine passionately, as if trying to imprint the sensation of her tongue and the sweet taste of her saliva into my memory. What the hell is this? Is this really a high schooler's kiss...? "Akari!"

I wrapped my arms around her slender shoulders and pushed her back.

"Was I not romantic enough just now?"

"No! What kind of insane thing are you doing?" My voice had risen without me realizing it. But wouldn't anyone feel that way?

"Aren't you a child for making such filthy acts?"

Akari hit the nail right on my head, her voice quiet enough to make my skin crawl. "Akarin is cute, isn't she?" Akari let out a soft chuckle.

That wasn't... the innocent smile of a child that she usually showed me.

Narrowing her eyes, she ran her tongue across our overlapping lips—pe-ro...

It was... unmistakably the alluring, seductive smile of a woman. "Put your clothes on, now."

I couldn't bear to look at her and turned my back on her.

"Hey, Okarin. How long are you going to keep thinking of me the way I used to be?"

She leaned against me, pressing into my space.

Against my back was the sensation of Akari's large breasts.

And then... the feel of two hard, rigid points and the sweet sound of Akari's breath. "I'm a grown woman now, you know?"

It was a line Akari always said.

That she wasn't a child anymore, that she was an adult—over and over again.

"Okarin, I know you probably think it's just some childish joke or something. But it's not. I... actually became a woman, okay?"

Akari squeezed tightly from behind in a hug. The soft feel of her breasts. She pressed them firmly against me. The sweet scent of her hair.

Breathing heavily through her nose, puff-puff, like an aroused female cat... I didn't know this side of Akari.

"Oh, but please don't misunderstand. I've never dated a guy, so I'm still a virgin, obviously. I've kept my body pure for you... because I wanted you to be the one to take me."

"Hey... cut it out. Stop teasing an adult."

"I'm serious. Akarin... you don't... you don't understand anything at all."

Akari's hand slid beneath my clothes.

Her hand was cold. I could tell she was nervous.

But smoothly... her hand reached up to my chest and then... to my lower abdomen.

Without thinking, purely on reflex, I shoved her away with my arm. I put some distance between us and looked at her.

Naked Akari let out a soft laugh.

"Good thing you reacted. If you hadn't twitched even once, I would have panicked."

I grabbed the sheets and pressed them toward her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Sure enough, my voice had gotten loud and ragged.

Suddenly, one unexpected situation after another was happening in rapid succession, and I couldn't keep up with them.

I just couldn't look her in the body the way I used to. This isn't working. What am I thinking?

That girl is my student. And now... she's a ward of the state?

"What I want hasn't changed, not in the past and not now. It's becoming Akari's woman. The one I love deeply."

Akari turned her back to me and spread out the sheet. Her skin should have been hidden, but...

In the moonlight, the sheer fabric revealed the silhouette of her naked body.

The curve of her narrow waist, the line between her thighs.

Even though her ass and breasts weren't explicitly visible, I couldn't take my eyes off her form...

"In Akari's heart, time is stopped, you know. She thinks that both me and Onii-chan are still the same as we were ten years ago, back when we were elementary school kids."

"You're right. Whether now or in the past, we're children. Nothing has changed."

"Yes. Adults might not change at all in ten years. But... children become adults after ten years."

Akari wrapped the sheet around her naked body and, like a wild animal, got on all fours, forcing my face closer to hers.

What stood there was a naked [woman].

Combined with the memory of last night when I had sex with Ichika, I... inevitably felt a sexual arousal.

"……Hey, Okarin? Wanna get it on?"

She whispered in my ear.

She licked the bottom of my earlobe, and a jolt of pleasure ran through my body.

I was so bewildered that my head couldn't keep up with what was happening.

But… my body reacted helplessly to the terrifyingly beautiful woman right in front of me.

"I want to have your baby. My heart and my body belong entirely to you, you know?" I took a step back.

I simply couldn't believe that the person standing before me was the Aka-chan I knew.

She shifted, becoming something else entirely—some exotic, bewitching creature.

Aka-chan threw herself on top of me, about to press her lips against mine. "…………" But she stopped herself. And then…

"Hehe… did you get your hopes up?"

Aka-chan sat up and gave a soft laugh. "Too bad, no candy for you ♡" Aka-chan pulled away from me.

"Don't look so disappointed… I'll take good care of you." "No… I'm…"

Akari stretched, arching her back with a fluid motion.

"Okarin. Do you understand now?"

Those blue eyes flickered toward me, and she smiled softly.

It should have been the same smile from just minutes ago, yet it looked entirely different.

"Una Akari is no longer a child. What a pity for you, Okarin. You can't... see me as a kid anymore."

Akari cradled her body in her arms, the corners of her mouth twisting upward as she laughed with a luscious, seductive air.

"Every time I look at you, my mind goes back to what happened today. Eventually, it becomes unbearable... and then, like a starving beast, I'll knock you down."

Akari spoke these words, which sounded like a prophecy.

It was an act that could easily be considered rape.

And yet... Akari described it with genuine delight. "Something like..."

"Can you really say 'no'?"

Akari raised a finger to her lips and laughed, a low, tickling giggle.

The Akari inside me…… that little bitch from ten years ago, she’s fading away.

"Hmm. We managed to pull off the ambush. I got outmaneuvered by Ichika and panicked. Sorry about that."

Caught between awkwardness and shame, I couldn't bring myself to look Akari in the eye.

How am I supposed to face this girl from now on?

In the past, I could have told her off for something so stupid.

Akari chuckled and apologized, while I let out a weary sigh.

But…… that dynamic only held up because I was the teacher and she was the student.

……That relationship was thoroughly destroyed today.

After being united with Ichika and having myself pinned down by Akari…… "…………"

I realized I was standing outside the hotel.

Apparently, I had left Akari's room behind.

The sky above displayed a magnificent full moon.

What came to mind were Ika and Akari. And Nanki, and Rushia. The girls around me……

"So from now on, how am I supposed to act around them?"

Alone, that was all I could do but mutter it under my breath.