Chapter 99: Chinami Caught in a Net #2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 99: Chinami Caught in a Net #2
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Crunch.
The burst of juice, unique to soft peaches, filled my mouth, followed by the sweetness of the cream.
Finally, the crumble served on the side added a crispy texture...
It was a complete gift set of flavors! A goofy smile spread across her face all on its own.
Chinami ate her dessert with a blissful expression, her plump cheeks working diligently.
Finding her so cute, Renka couldn't help but chuckle.
"Is it that good?"
In response, Chinami, who had been meticulously chewing and swallowing the peach, nodded her head.
"Yes. Friend, why aren't you having any?"
"I'm drinking coffee."
"But it's delicious with coffee, too. Here, say 'ah'."
Chinami picked up the largest slice of peach with her fork and held it out to Renka.
Renka, however, declined the offer with a smile.
"I'm okay."
"Come on, say 'ah'."
"I said I'm fine. You have it."
When she refused again, Chinami looked disappointed.
It was truly sweet of her to offer Renka the peaches she adored so much.
But honestly... Renka was sick of them.
It was the inevitable result of never having a meeting with Chinami that didn't involve peaches.
"Did you manage to get the limited edition Momo-nim merch?"
"No. The Momo-dan has grown so much lately, getting anything is like plucking stars from the sky."
Momo-dan was the affectionate nickname for Momo-nim's fandom.
Having spent a long time with Chinami, Renka, who knew all about Momo-nim, spoke.
"Are there still a lot of new people joining the Momo-dan?"
"Of course. Because Momo-nim is cute. Junior Matsuda, is also showing interest in the Momo-dan."
Renka's eyebrow twitched.
She hadn't expected Matsuda's name to pop up.
"Matsuda too...?"
"Yes."
Was Matsuda showing interest in Momo-nim merch on top of anime figures?
She could somehow understand the figures.
The anime he'd watched was an action genre with outstanding animation, so a lot of men who weren't previously interested in anime had seen it, and many had become fans that way.
But the Momo-nim case was a bit... suspicious.
Of course, Momo-nim was a cute brand.
But it didn't suit someone like Matsuda... someone who, to put it nicely, exuded masculinity.
'Is it to win Chinami's favor...?'
She didn't want to be prejudiced, but her guess was probably right.
It wasn't that Matsuda was a bad person.
She saw sharing interests to win someone over as a good approach.
But she was worried because the target was Chinami.
She had decided to just watch for now, but...
Bzzzz-!
Lost in thought, Renka glanced at her phone as it vibrated on the table.
[Hello, Captain. Sorry to message you out of the blue. I was training at home, and I was hoping to ask about the bada-heori counter-attack, if it's not too much trouble.]
It was a text from Miura Tetsuya.
His passion for kendo is incredible.
His skills, which had been utterly hopeless at first, were visibly improving day by day... He was a junior with a lot of potential.
"Who is it?" Chinami asked, having already eaten more than half of her dessert.
Renka, sitting comfortably with one leg crossed, replied.
"It's Miura."
"Are you talking about our junior, Miura Tetsuya?"
"Yeah. It seems he's not sure how to do the bada-heori."
"He's a very studious junior. When I saw him spar the other day, he seemed to have a knack for it..."
"He does. He's also shown interest in competitions, so I'm thinking of training him for the Winter Competition."
"Oh! Is that so? I was planning to have Junior Matsuda compete in the Winter Competition, too. In that case, should we aim for the team competition and focus our training? I think it would look great if our disciples were on the same team."
Matsuda is competing?
Putting aside his character, he would probably get pretty good results.
Assuming a five-person team competition, if they set the positions by the book without any tricks, the right spot for Matsuda would be...
Either the Vanguard, who can secure the early momentum and boost the team's morale,
or the Center, the third position, who can turn the tide of the match or solidify a lead.
Both are important positions, but Vanguard suits him particularly well.
Miura Tetsuya, on the other hand, wasn't Vanguard material.
But he had a good eye and a sparring style that dragged opponents into a messy fight...
The Second-in-line position seemed to suit him, where he could maintain the momentum gained by the Vanguard with a draw, or at least wear down the opponent even in defeat.
A win would be even better, of course.
In any case, both were undoubtedly talented members.
Even Goro, the coach, was practically drooling over them, so that said it all.
Though Matsuda's talent was far superior.
"Does Matsuda want to compete?"
"He was positive about it when I asked."
Positive?
He didn't seem that passionate... It was suspicious.
"Come to think of it, the training camp isn't far off. Is it time to start preparing?"
"Yeah. We should get ready before it gets colder."
"Where will it be?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"I hope it's a place with a stream this time. I want to dip my feet in the water while watching the stars at night after training."
Smiling at Chinami's specific plan, Renka sent a reply to Miura and nodded.
"I'll look for a good place with the coach."
* * *
"Junior."
On Thursday, the day before Friday.
I was practicing strikes behind the club room, wearing my new armor except for the head guard, when I withdrew my shinai at Chinami's serious call.
"Was my posture wrong?"
"No. Your posture was good."
"Then?"
"You mustn't hurt me."
What was this all of a sudden?
I approached Chinami, who was saying something out of the blue, and asked.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I saw it."
"Saw what?"
"A massage video. In it, a very pretty model was screaming under the hands of a vicious masseuse. Cracking sounds were coming from all over the model's body. And that's not all. When he was massaging her head, he made a fist and scraped the area behind her ear with his knuckles."
So that's what this was about. It seemed she'd done some prep work for the massage tomorrow.
If there were cracking sounds, it was probably a massage that used strong acupressure, like manual therapy. Of all the things to watch, she had to see that.
No, I should consider it a relief.
If she had seen a video of an Aroma or Swedish massage where the top is removed, Chinami would have gotten scared beforehand and felt awkward about receiving it.
"I don't plan on being that rough."
"By 'that rough,' you mean... it will hurt a little...?"
"No, I misspoke. I'll only be doing a gentle massage. Didn't I tell you? That you'd feel languid after the massage?"
"Yes."
"Nothing will hurt, so don't worry."
Chinami's expression relaxed in relief.
But there was still a hint of tension.
Since she always reacted sensitively to my touch, she seemed genuinely worried about what would happen on the day.
Sitting down next to Chinami, I gave her a gentle smile to reassure her.
"As I said before, if you don't like the massage, just tell me to stop. I'll stop then."
"...Is that really true?"
"Of course."
"But if I stop, what about your disappointment? You're doing this for me, after all. If I ask you to stop..."
You don't have to worry about that.
Because the word "stop" will never leave your lips.
In fact, you'll probably beg me to continue, feeling a thrilling sensation you've never felt before, right?
"Are you already worried about stopping?"
"Ah...! That's not it... I'm just saying... Well, shall we practice again? I'm going to teach you a new technique this time."
"A new technique?"
"Yes. The High Stance basically focuses on attacking the head. An opponent in the Middle Stance knows this very well, so they focus their defense on the head. We're going to use that psychology against them by feinting a head strike and attacking the torso."
"How do I do that?"
"I'll demonstrate, so watch closely with your eyes wide open."
Chinami picked up her shinai and stood up, looking for a flat piece of ground.
The way she hopped to avoid a protruding stone was incredibly cute.
No, everything about Chinami was just so cute that I couldn't wait to make her all soft and pliant.
* * *
"Go on."
"Yeah, thanks. You get home safe too, Miyuki."
Tetsuya said his goodbyes with his usual innocent face.
Miyuki smiled brightly and waved at him as he got out of the car.
"Good work today. Bye, Tetsuya-kun."
"Yeah. Oh, right... want to have dinner with our families tomorrow evening?"
"Dinner?"
"It's been a while since our parents met, right? I thought we could have a meal to catch up. I mentioned it before, don't you remember?"
"Did you...? Sorry. I've been a bit out of it lately... I'll ask them tonight."
"Okay. Let me know."
"Okay."
With a satisfied expression, Tetsuya closed the back door and headed toward his house.
As I started the car, watching his stupid back, Miyuki turned to me.
"If my mom says yes... is it okay if I'm late tomorrow? It's true we haven't seen them much lately, and my mom also mentioned wanting to have a meal with Tetsuya-kun's family."
"I don't mind."
I could readily agree to something like this.
If Miyuki hadn't already fallen for me, I would have stopped it by any means necessary, but now, it wasn't a problem.
To her, Tetsuya was already an afterthought.
No matter how much he tried to act manly, it wouldn't have any effect on Miyuki now.
If anything, it would just highlight his loser-like qualities and bore her.
Or maybe not? They've gotten along well until now, so she might just play along without thinking much of it.
Come to think of it, I still need to finish dyeing Miyuki's room in my colors...
I'll have to drop by again sometime.
"Thanks for understanding. If I can slip out early, I'll come over and make you something delicious."
"Do that. The necklace I gave you is still hanging in your room, right?"
"Yeah. Of course it is. I look at it every day for motivation."
Will Tetsuya see that necklace that day?
Probably not. Miyuki's desire to come to my place quickly is probably so strong that she won't invite Tetsuya into her room to hang out.
I do want to crash that dinner, though.
I want to touch Miyuki under the table and watch her struggle to keep a straight face, flustered.
If I didn't have plans with Chinami, I would have jumped at the chance... There'll be other opportunities, right?
Still, what a coincidence.
How did Tetsuya bring that up at this exact moment?
This is a classic NTR story where the dense protagonist helps the blond-tanned delinquent build his harem.
It wouldn't be right not to live up to Tetsuya's expectations, would it?
* * *
After a Friday that seemed ordinary but wasn't, I dropped off Tetsuya and Miyuki and went to meet Chinami.
Outside, it was raining, as expected of the autumn rainy season.
It was a dim and chilly weather, perfect for enjoying what was to come.
The place Chinami had called me to wasn't her apartment building, but a shop in a bustling area.
A place that always sold a few types of Momo-nim merch.
After parking, I walked inside, and a smile crept onto my face as Chinami, who was near the entrance, approached with quick, short steps.
"You look excited."
"Looking at Momo-nim merch is always exciting. By the way, I have all the merch here at home, except for one item."
It was a small shop, but it seemed to have most of the essentials. She bought all of that except for one...?
Chinami's love for Momo-nim never ceased to amaze me.
"You could have waited for me to look around together. Why did you come here first?"
"Ah, there was a reason for that."
Chinami opened the bag she was holding.
Inside was a sticker set, densely packed with the little faces... no, the countenances of Momo-nim making various expressions.
"These are the newly released Momo-nim emoticon stickers. I came early to buy them in case they sold out. Luckily, when I finished paying, there were exactly two sets left."
"But I only see one. Was there a one-per-person limit?"
"No, it was two sets per person... but I left one for the person behind me."
If it were me, I would've bought both just to see the distorted expression on the person behind me.
"I see. You're as kind as ever, Master."
When I praised her with a bright face, Chinami giggled and said.
"We members of the Momo-dan have to help each other out. Now, shall we go get that heart-pounding massage?"
A heart-pounding massage.
Such a Chinami-like naming sense.
I'll have to make her heart pound for real.
"Were there any used listings?"
"No. Nothing came up. It would have been nice to go make a deal with my dependable junior..."
"That's a shame."
"It's okay. I didn't expect to find one so soon anyway."
"If you do find one... you have to contact me or Inoo-senpai and go with one of us. Got it?"
"I'll keep that in mind."
Chinami's spirits were quite high.
Did seeing all the Momo-nim merch lined up everywhere give her a sense of peace and energy?
It seemed so.
Chatting in a friendly atmosphere, we got in the car and headed for the love hotel I had booked in advance.
"By the way, Junior, are you an employee at a massage shop? Or do you have experience with that sort of thing..."
Chinami's question came as her previous high energy vanished without a trace.
Her slightly tense, lowered voice was amusing.
My eyes still fixed on the road ahead, I answered concisely.
"No."
"Then how did you find a place for the massage? You didn't rent out an entire massage shop, did you?"
"It's not on that grand a scale. But that's a good idea. I'll have to seriously consider it for next time."
At the words 'next time,' Chinami's body flinched slightly.
Did you really think this was going to be a one-time thing?
That's a bit disappointing.
"I-Is that so...? Then where are we going today...?"
"We've just arrived. It's over there."
My finger pointed diagonally across the windshield, where the wipers were moving.
Chinami's eyes followed it and stopped on the sign of a certain building.
"Hotel... Rafia...? Is this the right place?"
"Yes. That's it."
"But this is a hotel...? Are we doing it at a massage parlor inside? Is it available for personal use?"
It's not a regular hotel, my dear. It's a love hotel.
A newly built love hotel, fully equipped with various concept rooms.
I gave a wide grin to Chinami, who was tilting her head in utter confusion, and turned the steering wheel, entering the hotel's parking lot.