An-rin’s protest died mid-sentence when I lunged to snatch a pillow behind her. Perhaps thinking I was about to push her down, the girl’s eyes widened before her expression turned dumbfounded when I plopped back onto my side of the couch.

"Yeah. I’m always a shameless tease. You can ask Chii about that." I teased, spinning the pillow on my fingertip.

"Ugh! Just... just forget it!" She kicked at my shin halfheartedly, the heel of her shoes connecting with a dull thump.

As she shifted on her seat, the movement made her skirt drag up higher, revealing more skin above her knees before she yanked the fabric back down with unnecessary force.

She then sent me a warning glare as though saying, I shouldn’t think of anything else. In response, I raised my hands in surrender.

Only by doing that did the girl relax slightly. From here, a few moments of silence passed between us.

An-rin picked at a loose thread on the couch, her usual razor-sharp comebacks replaced by uncharacteristic hesitation.

I let the quiet linger, counting the seconds until she cracked.

Three, two, one.

Right on cue, An-rin exhaled sharply through her nose and turned her head back while shifting closer. "Okay, perv lord. I have a question."

I also shifted in response, but not in a way of closing in our distance, just facing her fully, "Sure, let me hear it."

Like this, I observed her reactions. She clearly had a lot of things on her mind, and most likely, it all concerned me or us. That’s why... part of the reason she agreed to my invitation was to finally clear things up with me.

An-rin hesitated. She bit her lip, opened and closed her mouth but in the end, her voice wouldn’t come out.

Then, as if getting burned by our eye contact, she eventually averted her gaze to the side before mumbling softly, "O-onoda-han. Don’t laugh, ‘kay?”

“I won’t. I promise.” I answered with a gentle tone, assuring her.

“G-good! I just want to know, like, seriously... I’m boutta go crazy... A-about us... What am I to you now?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Although it sounded like venting at first, it’s not hard to pick up how troubled she was. And as I expected, she’s not the type who would just forget something like that. Even if she’s the one who proposed that it was only a one-time thing, the thought or memories of that day still eat at her.

After all, that kind of agreement would only work if we weren’t going to meet each other for a long time. Unfortunately, we were attending the same school and in the same class. On top of that, her friends were also closely related to me. She couldn’t escape the fate of interacting with me.

Now, I don’t know if her reason for separating from them today was truly about her hair extensions but running into her became the golden opportunity for both of us to talk about this.

I let the silence stretch just long enough to watch her gradually become restless as she twisted the hem of her skirt.

Then I grinned, reaching out to flick her forehead lightly. Before she could complain, I opened my mouth.

"Seriously? That’s your question? After all the times you’ve called me ’perv lord’ and threatened to turn my hair pink?"

"Idiot! That’s not..." Her voice cracked as she swatted my hand away, and her cheeks became flushed. "Just answer properly!"

Inwardly, the desire to tease her rose but upon thinking about it, I decided to answer her honestly.

And by doing so, I moved closer to her, enough that our knees touched. The girl flinched slightly yet she stubbornly raised her head, meeting my eyes again as she waited for my answer.

"Let’s see. I want to say you’re my girl now. But that’s not going to fly, right? After all... everything happened because you got tempted by what you’ve seen from us.”

I paused for a moment to check on her reaction. A hint of embarrassment, guilt, and slight disappointment flashed on her face. But eventually, it returned to normal.

She couldn’t deny it, after all. That night, there was the choice of walking away from us when she noticed what was happening. But that’s not what she picked. She got tempted enough to crawl to my side and even offered her body to me. She even came without me touching her down there. The pleasure from just stimulating her sensitive cherries was enough to send her over the edge.

Then, the morning after, she’s the one who offered to help me out using her mouth.

I have no idea if she ever had any relationship before, but considering how she’s the type to be openly outgoing but not overtly chaotic, that she even mingled with delinquents like Fukuda, she probably didn’t have one yet.

Besides, even not counting Chii, Kushii, as her best friend, told me enough that they’re young women who just became fascinated with adopting the gyaru persona in middle school, but they’re not really bad girls or the obnoxious kind.

“Also, you told me it was a one-time thing. I should respect that." I thoughtfully tapped my chin while watching An-rin’s face flicker between relief and something more complicated, like she’d swallowed sour candy but refused to admit it hurt.

She recovered fast, scoffing and rolling her eyes with exaggerated gyaru flair. "Duh! Obviously! I’m not... I didn’t... Ugh!"

Her hands flailed before settling on her hips. "I was just curious! And... I was trying to be a good host!"

"You’re still on that, huh? Well, I’ll take it. You are indeed a great host. I look forward to next time." This time, I teasingly nudged her shoulder, watching as she stiffened.

An-rin bit her lip, glancing sideways at me before muttering, "Next time...? You wish."

I chuckled without saying anything more. At this point, I thought about retreating, but somehow, my body had another idea.

Slowly, my arm stretched around her shoulders, pulling her closer. It’s not a forceful one. I wanted to see if she would resist it.

And surprisingly, she didn’t.

An-rin stiffened for a second before exhaling sharply through her nose and allowing herself to be pulled closer. The moment the distance between us closed, she whispered with her breath brushing on the side of my neck, "Don’t get any ideas, perv lord."

"What kind of ideas? Didn’t I say I respect your wish?" I lied smoothly as I watched her unconsciously lean even closer so that I could feel the warmth of her body. A little more and she’d be pressed flushed against me. "Unless you’re the one getting ideas."

"Tch. As if." She rolled her eyes but didn’t move away.

Instead, An-rin’s arm draped over my front before eventually settling against my chest. The way she clasped her hand showed her restraint from totally getting swept away by this situation.

"So..." She dragged the word out, her knee bouncing against mine. "You say you respect me but you... do this. Like, you’re being handsy again.

I couldn’t help but chuckle, "Is this being handsy? Well, I guess it is. But you didn’t hate this, right? Back then, you even let me hug you while we prepared breakfast together. Now I guess I’m still showing restraint right now."

An-rin snorted but her face couldn’t get any redder now, "Seriously? Like, if this is you exerting restraint, I’d hate to see what happens when you stop."

I grinned, shifting slightly so our hips pressed together. "You already saw it. Twice."

"Guh! Perv lord!" She made a strangled noise before punching my shoulder weakly. "Shut up! That... that was different!"

"Is it really that different? Well, if you say so." I shrugged.

"... Haa, how can I face Chizuru and Kushii if they learned I followed you here. Won’t they think I took the opportunity to jump at you?"

"Indeed. But there’s nothing wrong with it. You can just be honest with them. That it was me who invited you and nothing happened between us. We just sat here together. As for our conversation, don’t worry, my lips are sealed. Or maybe you can seal it yourself."

"Y-you! Are you seriously still teasing me? Besides... seal your lips..."

The girl became a little fidgety. Part of her probably wanted to break away but another part liked our current closeness. She’s so conflicted that she only resorted to not looking at my eyes directly to evade the situation.

"It’s a suggestion. It’s fine if you don’t take it." I said as I slowly slid my hand down her shoulder to rest on her waist. The fabric of her uniform wrinkled beneath my fingers as An-rin sucked in a sharp breath, her thigh pressing harder against mine.

"You’re--" She swallowed thickly, her eyelashes fluttering when my thumb traced the dip of her hipbone through her skirt. "You’re literally doing the opposite of what you just said."

I hummed, enjoying how her voice trembled. "I said I respected your wish for it to be a one-time thing. I didn’t say I’d stop teasing you. Besides, you’re the ones who delivered yourself to me. The perv lord."

With that, the girl snapped. Her clasped hand opened and gripped my uniform. Then, she looked up at me with her slanted eyebrows clashing together in indignation, "Shut it! I was just... curious! That’s all! Like, don’t flatter yourself, perv lord!"