Torture

"Ah!" This time, Kiyona really did let out a soft gasp, but she immediately covered her mouth. The short, muffled sound was like a pebble dropped into stagnant water, sending ripples across the heavy silence of the classroom.

Kanji Ike, seated by the aisle in the front row, had been chewing on his pen as he wrestled with trigonometry. At the sound, he whipped around, confusion filling his tired eyes. The girl beside him, Onodera, also turned instinctively, her gaze sweeping toward the noise. Even the physics teacher, who had been explaining "the special effects of friction on the conservation of energy," paused with his chalk against the board for half a second and peered over his glasses toward the back of the room.

However, when everyone's eyes settled on Hoshino Kanade and Kiyona—

Kiyona's body tensed at her gasp. Her hand pressed hard against her mouth, her knuckles going white. Her cheeks flushed, and her eyes were full of embarrassment and a trace of panic.

But most importantly—she hadn't pulled her right foot back! Hoshino Kanade reacted even faster, and more discreetly. The instant Kiyona gasped, his left hand, which had been gripping her ankle, pressed down hard. At the same time, he casually—but precisely—braced his right elbow against the edge of the desk. Using the angle between his body and the desk, he trapped Kiyona's unwillingly exposed foot beneath the desk, inside the "cage" formed by his legs!

Even more cleverly, he leaned forward slightly. His broad shoulders and bowed head formed a natural screen, completely concealing the space beneath the desk from the teacher and most of the class. His body and the desk's edge created a perfect blind spot.

His upper body remained perfectly still. He even lifted his left hand and lightly scratched behind his ear with the end of his pen, brows faintly furrowed, his gaze fixed on the open workbook before him. He looked as if the quiet sound had come from scratching his head, and as if he were deeply stumped by a difficult problem.

"Oh... It's those two again..." Kanji concluded automatically.

After all, the couple were always "accidentally" knocking things off their desks, whispering to each other—which was really flirting—or occasionally making strange noises. It was nothing new in Class D.

Seeing Hoshino Kanade working so seriously, Kanji pursed his lips and turned back without interest, resuming his struggle with the problem on the board.

Onodera wondered to herself, "Maybe Kiyona got poked in the hand by her pen again? The way she's covering her mouth... Did Hoshino run into a difficult problem?" She, too, turned her gaze back to the board.

The physics teacher adjusted his glasses. Well, that problem Hoshino was working on did look rather difficult. It was only natural for him to scratch his head... The chalk resumed its soft scrape across the blackboard.

Within seconds, every gaze that had briefly turned their way swung back, as though an invisible hand had redirected them.

The classroom's "order" quickly righted itself, and the sluggish river of knowledge flowed on.

Only Kiyona knew that her foot was still trapped in the "clutches" and couldn't move!

At that moment, her imprisoned right foot had become prey with nowhere to escape beneath Hoshino Kanade's fingers.

The delicate, fair skin on the top of her foot was exposed to the cool air. Pale blue veins showed faintly beneath her almost translucent skin, like the fine underglaze on porcelain etched with ice-crack patterns.

Her five rounded toes curled tightly from their sudden exposure and overwhelming embarrassment, their soft pink hue like the inside of a seashell. Her ankle tapered in a smooth, flowing line, like the most exquisite curve drawn by a master.

Her foot was beautiful, like a fragile work of art, yet it trembled in Hoshino Kanade's grasp, its helpless vulnerability plain to see.

And now the danger was upon her.

With her cotton sock—the only barrier—gone, the sensitivity of the sole of her foot was magnified beyond measure.

Hoshino Kanade's mischievous fingertips showed no mercy as they reached straight for the smooth, soft sole of her foot!

"Mmnh—!" A sensation a hundred times more intense shot through her like an electric current! Kiyona's eyes flew wide open, and tears of reflexive pain welled up at once. She bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from screaming.

Her formidable ability to control her expressions was crumbling. Her cheeks were so red they looked ready to burst.

Her body instinctively fought back. Her toes curled desperately, her calf tensed like a bowstring, and her palm pounded Hoshino Kanade's back, the light pats quickly turning into hard blows laced with a sob.

Hoshino Kanade felt that she was nearing her limit, so he eased off, simply holding her ankle and letting her catch her breath.

But as soon as she relaxed a little, his fingertips descended again, scraping precisely at her most ticklish spot and bringing on another unbearable, irresistible wave of sensation.

Kiyona's body swung violently between endurance and surrender. She wanted to kick, but was afraid that a big movement would draw everyone's attention, so all she could do was make muffled, whimpering sounds, like a fish tossed onto shore.

After this "torture" had been repeated several times, the bell finally rang, sweet as a song from heaven.

Hoshino Kanade looked at Kiyona, completely slumped over her desk, her forehead resting on her arms and her shoulders still trembling faintly. Her long lashes drooped like the tattered wings of a butterfly. At the sight of her pitiful, "utterly defeated" state, he finally released her and slipped the precious sock back into her shoe beneath the desk.

The immense wave, compounded of physical stimulation and intense embarrassment, finally began to recede. Kiyona lay facedown on her desk, feeling as if everything that had just happened had been some absurd, mortifying dream.

The intense reaction in her body had yet to fully subside. Even a certain unspeakable part of her had grown a little... damp from the prolonged tension and embarrassment.

Fuming, she swore to herself that she wouldn't speak to Hoshino Kanade for the rest of the day—no, at least not during this break! That nasty pervert! Hmph!

Meanwhile, in the seat diagonally ahead of Hoshino Kanade, Matsushita Chiaki had witnessed the entire "show" from beginning to end. Her feelings could no longer be described as mere "shock."

Matsushita Chiaki was a typical example of someone in Class D who "hid her abilities."

She wasn't incapable, but after realizing how impossible it was for Class D to reach Class A, she had decisively given up, aiming only to "coast" through to graduation.

She usually spent time with Karuizawa Kei's group, quietly observing everything in class.

Of course, certain unusual classmates had caught her interest too: Hoshino Kanade, who always seemed a little mysterious, and Hoshizaki Kiyona, whose behavior seemed somewhat different. They were both high on her "observation list."

She watched them simply out of habit, gathering information to satisfy her curiosity.

But she had never imagined that her routine observations would lead her to witness one unbelievable scene after another!

How could these two young people... get up to something like that during class?!