Kiyoharu Was Lured into Ayano's Private Domain

Kiyoharu looked hesitantly at his fingers.

After living together for three years, he had long gained a comprehensive understanding of Chihaya Airi's sweet allure... well, her "sweetness" in every sense of the word.

What truly troubled him was the psychological barrier. Secretly licking the Young Lady's saliva was practically the behavior of a pervert with an unrequited crush on her. It completely went against Kiyoharu's personal aspirations.

He was a pure working man with absolutely no designs on Airi!

The system seemed to sense Kiyoharu's hesitation and hurriedly encouraged him. "Host, this is for Energy Points. You are absolutely not giving in to the Young Lady's temptation!"

"Just... for Energy Points?"

"Seventy Energy Points can let me provide you with plenty of help. It's for survival, after all, right? Nothing shameful about that!"

To be honest, the system's reasoning happened to align with Kiyoharu's own thoughts. He was a simple pragmatist who pursued a relaxed, happy life. In order to deal with the unstable element known as Kitahara Ayano, being a little perverted in private was no big deal!

After thoroughly preparing himself mentally, Kiyoharu raised his trembling hand, shut his eyes, and steeled his resolve.

A strange sweetness mixed with Chihaya Airi's familiar, rich body fragrance rushed straight through Kiyoharu's nerves, making his already restless blood seem ready to surge and boil once more.

At the same time, the system sounded a notification that the mission had been completed.

This mission had originally required Kiyoharu to make improper use of Airi's used tableware—honestly wash her dishes as a househusband, earn her trust over time, then, when she was not paying attention, slurp~

Come to think of it, when they had first started living together, Chihaya Airi truly had not trusted Kiyoharu. Every time he washed the dishes, she watched from the side, terrified that he would do something bad with the chopsticks she had used.

Yet this mission had somehow been completed through Kiyoharu's fingers instead. What a thing to marvel at.

Who would have thought that in only three years, Airi would go from a guarded girl who could not even trust Kiyoharu to wash her chopsticks to someone who actively used his fingers as bait?

Of course, Kiyoharu did not think Airi had developed feelings for him or anything like that. They had merely grown familiar after spending so much time together, and as a result, her demonic methods of torment had become even crueler.

If he had failed to keep himself under control outside just now, he would have earned a week-long ban from touching games.

Luckily, Kiyoharu had run fast.

Knock, knock, knock~

The bathroom door was knocked on, followed by Airi's teasing voice.

"Say, could someone be hiding in the bathroom and doing something disgusting while reminiscing about feeding me fruit?"

"My stomach is just a little upset. Would the Young Lady like me to open the door for an inspection?"

Airi imagined the scene outside the door and immediately took two steps back in disgust. "No need. Hurry up. I have something important to tell you when you come out."

Kiyoharu splashed his face with cold water, tidied himself up, and returned to the living room.

Airi looked him up and down, found nothing unusual, and snorted listlessly before telling him about Kitahara Ayano's invitation to go out.

"Let's tentatively set it for Saturday."

"Morning, afternoon, or the whole day?"

"The whole day."

"Understood."

"Fine, you've had enough fruit. Go play games."

"Understood... huh?" Kiyoharu was rather surprised. "The punishment was supposed to include tonight too, wasn't it?"

"I changed my mind. You've been performing well, so I'm rewarding you by ending it early. Why aren't you thanking me?"

"No need. I'll just follow the usual process. After all, it was part of our agreement."

Kiyoharu smiled indifferently and went to the study to read detective novels.

It was not that he did not want to play games. It was simply that the Young Lady's favors were never easy to accept. Who knew what kind of trap might be waiting later?

"Shopping, huh..."

The Young Lady, Shimaura Hitomi, and Kitahara Ayano—those three going shopping together, with Kiyoharu accompanying them the whole time. Just imagining the scene made him put on a pained expression.

He had to guard against Ayano causing trouble while also preventing Airi and Airi's loyal follower from witnessing any inappropriate scenes.

Fine. This was part of the job too.

For the paycheck, he would endure it.

The next day. Friday.

Kiyoharu entered the office early in the morning and saw Kitahara Ayano and Shimaura Hitomi excitedly discussing something.

He did not even need to listen to know that it was definitely about tomorrow's shopping trip.

The great master of the gossip world had arrived early today as well. Seeing this, Haneda Miho teased, "Why not just move into this office, Teacher Kitahara? Then you wouldn't have to keep going up and down the stairs."

"I wouldn't mind... but this office does not seem to have any extra space. What a pity."

"That's fine. You can switch with me. I wouldn't mind trying Teacher Kitahara's private office." Haneda Miho joked.

Kiyoharu imagined Kitahara Ayano joining their office and could not help shaking his head slightly.

Kitahara Ayano caught that tiny expression, and her eyes narrowed.

Some instinct told Kitahara Ayano that Kiyoharu felt wary of her, perhaps even disliked her. Logically speaking, someone like her, who appeared harmless to everyone, should not have been disliked by Kiyoharu. Then was it possible that Kiyoharu had been conscious during stopped time and witnessed what she did, which was why he kept his distance from her?

It might also have been because of what she had said in the gallery.

Kitahara Ayano was not entirely sure.

Ah, whatever. Whether Kiyoharu remained conscious during stopped time or not, Kitahara Ayano would inevitably lure him into her trap and guide him step by step toward the abyss of depravity.

Shimaura Hitomi knew nothing of the thoughts between the two of them and continued discussing Saturday's plans.

She actually quite liked shopping under these circumstances. It meant she could see Kiyoharu even on her day off. After all, it was impossible for her to go shopping alone with Kiyoharu. Being able to have Kiyoharu there as Airi's fiancé was already a wonderful benefit.

When Airi was not paying attention, she could secretly touch Kiyoharu's hand or arm. Even taking a step back, merely looking at Kiyoharu was enough to make Shimaura Hitomi happy.

There were also some more despicable little games. For example, she could pretend to throw away a tissue Kiyoharu had used, when in truth she slipped it into her pocket... Stealing a bite right in front of the Young Lady gave Shimaura Hitomi an inexplicable sense of joy. They were all borderline actions that did not force Kiyoharu to cheat, so Shimaura Hitomi's conscience could accept them.

Class was nearly about to begin, and Kitahara Ayano prepared to return to her private office upstairs. Before leaving, however, she said with a troubled look, "My computer seems to have a minor problem. Could I trouble Chihaya-sensei to take a look?"

The two male teachers who had just been about to volunteer to fix the computer immediately withdrew their eager expressions upon hearing Kitahara Ayano specifically name Kiyoharu.

"No problem."

Kiyoharu followed Kitahara Ayano upstairs and entered her room.

This room had once been vacant, and it had not been used as her office for long, yet its small decorations had already taken on Kitahara Ayano's personal style.

It was enough to show that Ayano truly was a woman with artistic taste. No wonder she had set her sights on her best friend's husband for the sake of inspiration.

"Do you like these?" Kitahara Ayano took down the string of origami hanging from the clothes rack that Kiyoharu had been admiring and handed it to him.

"I can't say what's so remarkable about it, but it does look quite nice."

"In Tokyo's so-called upper-class circles, I may be the only one who likes such 'boring' handicrafts, hehe... Airi has absolutely no interest in them, anyway. The decorations in her home follow only two rules: expensive and limited edition."

"As expected of the Young Lady's best friend."

"Of course. I know exactly how boring a woman she is, so I also know how agonizing it must be for Kiyoharu-kun to pretend to be a loving couple with such a boring woman..."

Kitahara Ayano removed an origami figure of some unknown bird from the string and pinned it to Kiyoharu's shirt pocket.

Her fingers then slid naturally to Kiyoharu's chest, tracing slow, light circles.

Kiyoharu took a step back to avoid her and said seriously, "Miss Kitahara, isn't it inappropriate to talk about the Young Lady behind her back?"

"Oh? Do you consider that a betrayal?" Kitahara Ayano moved closer and stared into Kiyoharu's eyes. "Then, as the Young Lady's fiancé, does becoming excited by another woman count as betrayal, Mr. Chihaya?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

A fleeting flash of panic passed through Kiyoharu's eyes, and Kitahara Ayano caught it.

She was ninety percent certain of her guess now.

"Let's look at the computer first." Kiyoharu turned toward the monitor on the desk.

But Kitahara Ayano hugged him from behind.