The Suzuran family.
"Akimoto-kun, my father's clothes are by the door. Don't worry about it—just wear whatever you like."
Through the glass bathroom door, Akimoto Yoichi heard Ayano's voice outside.
He could just make out Ayano's figure and movements through the glass. She was tiptoeing around with her back to him. Usually, only love hotels installed doors like this.
Should he say the Suzuran family's parents were pretty open-minded, or that they didn't get many guests? Either way, this was someone else's home, so Akimoto Yoichi didn't feel right passing judgment.
"Okay, got it. Thanks."
"No, no. Natsuki-chan was the one who got your clothes dirty, so this is the least I can do."
"I hope your father won't mind me wearing his clothes."
"My father isn't home anyway. He works overseas with Natsuki's and Fukayama Midori's parents, and he only comes back once or twice a year. It's fine to borrow his clothes."
"I see. Still, thanks. Otherwise, I'd have had to go home in dirty clothes."
"Then Maya and I would be the ones in trouble. We were planning to learn how to cook with you."
"That was our promise. I'll teach you how to cook no matter what."
"Mm! Then carry on washing up, Akimoto-kun."
As the door outside closed, Akimoto Yoichi turned off the shower overhead and climbed into the bathtub, where a hot-spring bath pack had been added.
Being enveloped in warmth from head to toe really was relaxing. The Suzuran family's bathtub was clearly big enough for two.
Even someone as big as Akimoto Yoichi could stretch out comfortably.
This was the first time he could remember visiting someone else's home as a guest. Showing up at someone's door to block their way didn't count. It was also his first time relaxing in someone else's bathtub.
Judging by the Suzuran family's decor, it was easy to tell they weren't short on money.
The old man had sent Akimoto Yoichi to the rather expensive Izuki Academy with the idea that he could rob the rich to help the poor.
Still, it wasn't a bad decision. Izuki Academy's tuition alone screened out ordinary families, and most of the students who could attend the private school were well-off.
With such a good environment, it was only natural that Akimoto Yoichi's classmates weren't people he'd have had many chances to meet out in the world.
Suzuran Ayano was a perfect example. She lived in a wealthy neighborhood, and it had taken Akimoto Yoichi ages to find her house.
Fukayama Midori's home was right next door to Suzuran Ayano's. The Suzuran and Fukayama parents were coworkers and even lived together.
No wonder Ayano and Fukayama Midori had grown up together. Their parents were clearly close friends.
As for their parents working overseas, that was a setting tailor-made to bring the two closer.
On the way to the bathroom, Akimoto Yoichi had seen plenty of photos of the two families together, along with pictures of Ayano as a child.
Of course, Fukayama Midori and Fukayama Natsuki had always been by Ayano's side in those childhood photos.
For an ordinary person, it would be hard to shake a childhood romance with someone whose presence had been woven into their life from the very beginning. But Fukayama Midori, the male lead, had the same wishy-washy, cowardly personality as the famously indecisive anime protagonists everyone knew.
That was why Blondie had gotten his chance to break down the back gate with a simple, brutal barrage of pounding.
Speaking of Fukayama Natsuki, Akimoto Yoichi wasn't sure what state she was in right now.
According to the setting, Fukayama Natsuki had originally been the heroine in the premium version. Now that the two worlds had merged, what was her relationship with Fukayama Midori like? Or, to put it another way, how badly did she have brother complex?
Had she gone completely over the edge, or was she still rational, just beginning to awaken to those feelings?
In the premium version, she would definitely be very forward, but this wasn't the premium version.
Fukayama Natsuki's character panel clearly said "Likes her older brother," but her walking posture and kiss count were both at zero.
So she was probably a heroine with a lower priority, whose route wouldn't unlock until the very end?
Akimoto Yoichi wasn't thinking about this because he liked small, cute creatures.
Maya was a perfect little twin-tailed loli, and she had a gluttonous side too. No, the real reason was that Fukayama Natsuki's Heroine Entry buff was just too useful.
It was probably thanks to his sister Fukayama Natsuki that Fukayama Midori had managed to get into Izuki Academy despite being a slacker shut-in. The Learning Ability buff she gave him was that powerful.
Since she was Fukayama Midori's younger sister, Akimoto Yoichi wanted to borrow her help too.
Akimoto Yoichi still maintained the appearance of being friends with Fukayama Midori because the heroines could easily be found around him, and the heroines he stole all came with useful buffs.
So far, aside from some of his humanities grades skyrocketing thanks to Suzuran Ayano's Memory buff, his science courses were still stuck at first-year middle school level.
With Fukayama Natsuki's help, it might take him only a year to catch up on all the middle school science courses.
He'd have to find a way to spend more time with Fukayama Natsuki.
This was his chance. He should deepen his connection with Fukayama Natsuki.
With that thought, Akimoto Yoichi stood up from the bathtub and grabbed the towel Ayano had prepared, wiping himself down a few times.
As a man, he wasn't in the habit of taking long showers, especially in someone else's home.
He slid open the thin bathroom door and saw the clothes Ayano had prepared.
He held them up to himself. The size seemed about right.
It seemed Ayano had inherited some of her father's height. Her father was around 185 centimeters tall, just like Akimoto Yoichi, though Akimoto Yoichi was still growing and hadn't reached his limit yet.
If he kept growing over the next few years, he'd be able to hang everyone up like sloths.
Just as Akimoto Yoichi had put on the pants and draped the shirt over his shoulders, about to button it up, the door suddenly opened.
He wasn't exactly startled, but Akimoto Yoichi turned around in surprise.
Had Ayano forgotten something?
But it wasn't Ayano. A figure in a thin, sheer slip slowly walked in.
Her long, tousled hair hung loosely on either side of her face. Against her features, which were beautiful enough to rival anyone's even without makeup, the disarray didn't make her look sloppy. Instead, it lent her a somewhat fragile, mature allure.
She gave off the sweet scent of a ripe apple, irresistible to a little caterpillar that hadn't yet transformed.
She had clearly noticed Akimoto Yoichi, but hadn't quite gotten a good look at him.
"Darling, when did you get back? You jerk, this time we're definitely getting divorced."
She pressed herself against Akimoto Yoichi and gave his shoulder a little bite, like a cat.
Akimoto Yoichi was completely dumbfounded the whole time. Before he could even explain, the beautiful, mature-looking woman seemed to have "recognized" him.
Then he watched her turn around and lift the toilet lid beside her. The rustle of clothes rubbing together followed.
"..." This was probably Suzuran Ayano's mother, right?
She looked like she'd just woken up, still half-asleep. And he was wearing Ayano's father's clothes.
She only came up to around his chest, so unless she looked up, she couldn't see Akimoto Yoichi's signature blond hair.
So Ayano's mother had mistaken him for her husband?
Come to think of it, Ayano had only said that her father and Fukayama Midori's parents were overseas. She'd said her father, not both her parents. So Suzuran Ayano's mother was home?!
Akimoto Yoichi had just pieced it together when he heard the faucet turn on behind him.
He was screwed.
From that moment on, the situation had changed.
If Ayano's mother had only hugged him, acted coy, and bitten him, it would have been awkward, but he could still explain it away.
But in this situation, it wasn't just a matter of awkwardness anymore.
He'd always thought only protagonists got into situations like this. Now it seemed Blondie had his own share of cuckold luck. It wasn't as if a woman having a boyfriend or husband stopped these events from happening.
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