Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, student dormitory.
"Amasawa!!!!! Waaaaah, my life is so miserable!!!!!!!"
Amasawa Reigetsu opened the door, and Kamuro Masumi came hurtling in like a lump.
Amasawa Reigetsu: ? Are you messing with my thunder?
"Sakayanagi—Sakayanagi's gone berserk!!!!!"
Hearing that, Amasawa Reigetsu relaxed. He knew the whole story: Sakayanagi had seen him on a date with Kiyoko that day, kissed him out of the blue, then fled. She'd spent the next two days hiding like an ostrich, and with no one to talk to, she'd taken it out on Kamuro Masumi.
"Guh—!"
"Thud—!"
With a muffled bang, Kamuro Masumi flattened against the hallway wall like a squashed mochi, then slowly slid down.
"Amasawa, are you even human!!!! You can't just leave me to die!!!!! I'll never make fun of you again, waaaah!!!!!"
There was no response from inside.
"Amasawa, I swear to—"
Personal Terminal received 5,000 points
"Daddy!!!!!"
"Th-thank you, boss! You're so generous! May you stay strong and healthy!"
As she shouted, Kamuro Masumi formed an enormous heart with her hands in front of her chest. Her big eyes held not a trace of the misery she'd shown a moment ago.
"Shoo, shoo. Go play somewhere else."
Before Amasawa Reigetsu could shoo her away in disgust, she sprang to her feet like a leaping carp and snapped her right hand to her forehead in an extremely sloppy salute.
"Yes, sir! My adoptive father has spoken. Masumi dares not disobey!"
Before the words had even left her mouth, Kamuro Masumi used up one of her once-a-chapter teleports and vanished before Amasawa Reigetsu's eyes.
It seemed Sakayanagi Arisu really was going to break Kamuro Masumi...
Or had Morishita Ran's condition become contagious?
Had Kamuro Masumi always been like this...?
Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, Class 1-A.
"Amasawa Reigetsu, as the oldest harem king in human history, I have something I must warn you about."
As Amasawa Reigetsu's mind wandered, he heard Morishita Ran's deliberately mysterious yet somewhat cool voice beside him.
He turned his head, puzzled. The moment his gaze landed on his desk mate's delicate face—
"Clap!!!"
A sharp, jarringly loud clap exploded in front of Amasawa Reigetsu without warning.
The sudden noise not only left Amasawa Reigetsu dumbfounded, but also struck Mashima Tomoya, who was explaining an English reading passage at the podium, like a bolt of lightning.
Mashima Tomoya's veins bulged. He seemed to be struggling not to throw Morishita Ran out of the room.
Morishita Ran lowered her hand and stared unblinkingly at Amasawa Reigetsu. Leaning forward slightly, she looked like she was examining a rare specimen under a microscope, her voice brimming with undisguised curiosity and wonder.
"Ah, Amasawa Reigetsu, you're really brave. You didn't even get scared."
"How did you do that?"
Just as Morishita Ran was gazing at Amasawa Reigetsu with her lovely eyes—
"Clap!"
This clap was sharper, louder, and even more inexplicable—
"Holy crap!"
Morishita Ran sprang from her chair like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Clutching her chest, her usually pale cheeks flushed a faint red from fright. Her mysterious eyes were now filled with startled disbelief.
"Grrr..."
Once she'd recovered, Morishita Ran puffed out her cheeks like a pufferfish that had suffered a terrible injustice. She glared at Amasawa Reigetsu, her eyes full of accusation and resentment, as if she hadn't been the one to startle him just moments ago.
"You two... get out and stand in the hall."
At the podium, the vein at Mashima Tomoya's temple finally burst. He snapped the chalk in his hand in two. He drew a deep breath, looked at Amasawa Reigetsu, then swallowed his anger and calmly sent them out to stand in the hall.
This had happened so many times in Class A that Mashima Tomoya was starting to wonder whether he should separate the two oddballs or simply kick them out before class even started.
Amasawa Reigetsu sighed helplessly. Under Morishita Ran's murderous glare, he slowly rose and casually picked her up by the nape.
Morishita Ran glared at him furiously as she flailed her arms and legs, dangling like a little chick. As they passed Teacher Mashima, she muttered under her breath, quietly enough for only the two of them to hear:
"...You're such a cheat. Who even ambushes someone like that?"
"You seem like the type to blame your mouse when you miss a shot. You seem like the type to say one big storm ruined your college dreams. You seem like the type to snack all day, eat whale and fried elephant at night, then claim you gain weight just by drinking water."
Sister Ran is awesome!!
Class 1-A, hallway.
Morishita Ran somehow got her hands on two buckets, filled them with water, and insisted on standing in the hallway with one balanced on each of their heads.
Amasawa Reigetsu: What is the meaning of this?
Morishita Ran: I saw it in a manga. Aren't you curious what it feels like?
And so, after that, there were always two people standing in the Class A hallway with buckets on their heads during English class.
"By the way, Amasawa Reigetsu, why hasn't Sakayanagi Arisu come to see you lately? My grandfather was once a great detective. He taught me the secret to investigating infidelity."
"Because we did that sort of thing."
With a bucket balanced on his head, Amasawa Reigetsu stared blankly ahead, like someone who'd lost everything and turned himself in to the Abstinence Society.
"I don't get it. So what exactly did you do? Did you do that sort of thing to Sakayanagi Arisu's shoes?"
In Morishita Ran's eyes, Amasawa Reigetsu was staring ahead in a state of utter serenity. It was a reasonable guess.
Morishita Ran was sure of it.
"Thud—"
Amasawa Reigetsu set his bucket on the ground. A little water spilled out, and then the distance between their faces closed in an instant—
It was a kabedon. Was she being kabedon'd!? Was Amasawa Reigetsu about to—
Morishita Ran felt her heart suddenly beat faster. Unlike any of the times before, a real, delicate blush colored her pale face.
She tipped her head up slightly, her long eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings. Her hands fidgeted with the hem of her soaked clothes, and she stood stiffly against the cold wall, looking utterly helpless and submissive, as if she were ready to be swept off her feet.
The extreme contrast made her seem both fragile and irresistible.
"That's right. We did that sort of thing."
Could Morishita Ran really be this beautiful!? Bro, you're kind of hot...
Amasawa Reigetsu looked at her as though he were seeing his childhood friend again after a long time, only to find that she'd grown her hair out—
"Mwah~"
Amasawa Reigetsu gently pecked Morishita Ran on the forehead. Her face turned completely red. She felt the blood rush to that cool spot on her forehead, as if yearning for more—
"Y-y-you!!! You lecher! You actually kissed me!!!"
"Splash—"
The bucket overhead lost its balance. With a loud crash, it slammed onto the hard concrete floor. Cold water poured down like a waterfall, drenching Morishita Ran from head to toe.
Her loose white school shirt was soaked in an instant, clinging to her shapely figure and turning nearly transparent. Her graceful curves showed through without reserve, and the color of her underwear was even faintly visible.
Mm, white. Sister Ran was surprisingly modest!
A few soaked strands of hair clung messily to her flushed cheeks and slender neck. Glittering droplets slid along her delicate jawline, down her chest, and onto the hem of her skirt, gathering into a puddle at her feet.
Morishita Ran instinctively hugged herself, trying to cover her exposed skin, but that only made the scene even harder to look away from.
Sister Ran thought she was going to die of embarrassment. After drifting through life, was this really how it would end? Her cheeks felt unbearably hot, and her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Yet she was also overwhelmed with unease. The force of her emotions left her mind blank, and tears began to fall like broken strings of pearls.
In an instant, an invisible, gentle mental force rippled outward like water, silently washing over the entire school building.
"Mass Induction" activated.
Morishita Ran seemed to sense something and slowly raised her head.
"Was that you? I think... I can feel something."
Morishita Ran couldn't stop sobbing, but as she looked into Amasawa Reigetsu's steady, shining eyes, she had to admit that she felt safer than she ever had before.
"Don't be afraid... No one can notice us."
Amasawa Reigetsu deliberately lowered his voice. His deep, reassuring tone sounded softly in Morishita Ran's ear. Then he draped his school uniform jacket around her. The scent of pine mingled with his warm, masculine scent, gently enveloping Morishita Ran as she shivered from being soaked through.
"That's so unfair...//"
Morishita Ran felt an urge to bury herself in the warm chest of the person crouched in front of her, checking on her. But she was afraid their relationship hadn't reached that point yet...
Amasawa Reigetsu would hate it if I'm soaking wet.
I don't want to experience losing someone again... So I don't dare take the chance. I don't dare get any closer to him—
Once the label of "odd one" was stripped away, a bucket of water laid bare Morishita Ran's unusual, vulnerable, and anxious inner self.
Ever since I was born, a flock of uncontrollable butterflies had lived inside my head, always ready to take flight in whichever direction freedom called.
Morishita Ran does whatever she wants. It's a principle I've always been proud of.
On the first day of junior high, Mom told me that if I could get settled in here and study hard, I'd be sure to get into a good high school, then a good university, and finally marry into a wealthy family.
Would it really turn out that way? The only thing I could be sure of was that my path wouldn't lead there—
As expected, Mom scolded me. She was always like that, talking about advancement and deviation scores while swatting those butterflies away.
But I wasn't afraid. Lady Morishita Ran had done just fine in elementary school. Even if the butterflies got scattered, they'd fly back!
But then—
"Morishita, could you please be quiet and stop disrupting our studies?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but it rang out sharply in the silent classroom.
She frowned, her eyes filled with something like instinctive disgust—
As if I were a fly that had wandered into a fancy restaurant, ruining the order she'd worked so hard to maintain.
From that day on, everything changed.
It was as if no one noticed I existed anymore, no matter how exaggerated my gestures were or how loudly I spoke—
No one yelled at me, and no one laid a hand on me. They simply used an unspoken understanding to cut me off from every normal social circle.
The butterflies died one by one...
No, maybe they thought my body was too boring... They could never fly again.
Why won't anyone talk to me anymore?
Are my stories about my Blue Stream Style martial arts, my Great Detective Grandfather, and being a Listener of Nature still not interesting enough? Then I'll work harder and come up with even more fascinating settings—
No, I already knew.
I'm a weirdo.
So...
Amasawa Reigetsu, please hold my hand and don't let go, okay?
If I couldn't act the way I used to, could I still be called Morishita Ran? But if I thought Amasawa Reigetsu would ignore me like the others—
It felt as if a piece of my heart had been ripped out.
This was the first time Amasawa Reigetsu had seen such a complicated, hesitant expression on Morishita Ran's face.
Morishita Ran seemed to make up her mind. She lifted her head and bravely met Amasawa Reigetsu's eyes.
"I—Waaah!!! What are you doing?!"
Her body suddenly lost its balance. Her view spun ninety degrees and she found herself facing the ceiling, with Amasawa Reigetsu's face less than ten centimeters away...
All the courage she'd worked so hard to gather was swept away by the princess carry. She turned her head aside, afraid to look into Amasawa Reigetsu's eyes.
"Morishita Ran!"
"O, my fellow wielder of empathy! Lift your proud head! I ask you: are you willing to follow me forever, to the ends of the world?"
Morishita Ran didn't answer. She lowered her tense arms, wrapped them around Amasawa Reigetsu's waist, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips against his.
Kamuro Masumi: This isn't right, is it? Why did Morishita score this chapter while I got hit with a Leo Kick? Are you messing with my thunder?
Sakayanagi Arisu: Don't you dare steal my husband! o(╥﹏╥)o