A Proper Lesson (1)
The matter had been settled, at least for the moment. It ended with Chise yielding, generous as you please.
Of course, Noah couldn't forget the ice in those eyes.
When club activities wrapped up, Yuria headed off to her part-time job.
"Starting tomorrow, even if you say you don't want me to, I'm solving this case for sure!"
Left alone, Noah and Chise shared a brief silence. Then Chise spoke.
"Shall we go home?"
They returned to the dorm.
"Noah, you're all mottled. Like a peach."
Noah's neck was covered in Chise's kiss marks. She just stared at the floor and thought.
No dishes to wash... cleaning's all finished too... so now I really have to... pay with my body, huh.
That was Noah for you — leaping straight to the most extreme conclusion!
Though it wasn't entirely unreasonable of her. Ever since the period incident, Chise hadn't been blatant about it, but she'd started edging over the line, little by little. The fact that Noah couldn't refuse her even when she wasn't in a "weakened" state still held. She simply... couldn't bring herself to use force against Chise. It wasn't a matter of the body. It was a matter of the heart.
Looking back, she'd never once treated Chise roughly, not from the very first day they met. That, she suspected, was a large part of it. In short, Noah couldn't refuse her.
...And clever Chise knew it, too.
Which was precisely why something like this was possible.
Chise shoved Noah down onto the bed.
"Nnh."
"Noah-chan."
"......"
Chise climbed on top of her and stroked her cheek, gentle as anything. Noah only flinched, her face turned away. Apparently that didn't sit well. Chise turned her head to face forward.
...I'm done for.
One look at Chise's thoroughly indecent expression and she knew. Today, she was going to...
become a woman.
"Noah-chan."
"......"
"Answer me."
Chise set a finger against Noah's lips, looking fully prepared to push it in if the reply came too slow.
"Y-yeah."
Noah barely managed it.
"I was a little angry today. Did you notice?"
"......Yeah."
"Why did I get angry?"
Chise asked it kindly, still stroking Noah's face.
"Why did you do that to Ichinose?"
"D-do what."
"You seduced her."
"...That wasn't what I meant."
"Ahh. Is that so?"
Chise let her hair down. Bracing herself on her knees alone, she looked down from above.
She was terribly cold.
"It doesn't seem like you really think of yourself as my fiancée. That hurts, you know."
"Th-that's—"
...It's just tradition.
She didn't say it out loud. She had at least that much sense.
"That's?"
Chise was relentless. Her eyes said, Go on. Try me.
"...I was wrong."
Chise beamed. She patted Noah's head as if to say, Good girl.
"If you've already got someone, you're supposed to behave yourself. Right? But today, Noah didn't behave."
"...Sorry."
Chise toyed with the red marks stamped along Noah's throat.
"I've even left proof right here that you're mine. Maybe I should've shown Ichinose."
"Don't you dare..."
That, she truly couldn't stand. She didn't want even her underclassman knowing she was Chise's bitch.
This side of me is for Chise alone.
She wanted it kept secret from Yuria. That way, at least, her pride wouldn't shatter.
"Just kidding. I mean, a look like this... I want it all to myself."
Chise saw straight through every last bit of it.
"But there's no guarantee you won't do it again, is there?"
"I-I won't. Next time I won't. I mean it."
"Really?"
Chise tilted her head. Her fingertips drifted slowly downward until they found Noah's waist.
"Hic."
Noah squirmed and clapped a hand over her mouth. Chise grinned, wide and bright.
Then, in an instant, her face went still.
"If you're never going to do it again, you need to be punished."
"...P-punished?"
"Mm. Otherwise you won't even think twice about it, will you? Daring to fawn over some other girl who isn't me."
Noah swallowed hard. Of every version of Chise she'd ever seen, this one was, without a doubt, the angriest.
"The wish ticket."
"...!"
"Where do you think I'm going to spend it?"
Chise smiled like a villain.
"Guess right, and I might even forgive you."
Noah's eyes went wide. She'd been certain today was the day her masculinity received its death sentence. Now it sounded like even a terminal diagnosis might buy her a little more time. And the one holding the decision had said so herself.
Noah spoke in a tiny voice.
"......A kiss?"
"Wrong."
Chise bit down on the nape of her neck.
"Hah—!"
The sound slipped out before she could stop it. Noah slapped a hand over her mouth at once.
"Every time you're wrong, you get punished. Want to try again?"
Chise licked her own lips. Noah trembled.
What do I do?
Honestly, she had a pretty good idea. After a kiss, there was only... one thing left. But saying the word itself was mortifying.
...E-embarrassed? Me?
She startled. That was exactly the kind of feeling a girl would have.
"Choose. Are you going to grant my wish quietly? Or are you going to guess what I'll pick?"
Noah barely got a grip on herself.
"......Sex."
"......?"
She could feel Chise falter.
That wasn't it?
Noah went scarlet from her face all the way down her throat. Chise stroked her hair.
"What a clever little imagination you've got. Not bad, Noah."
"......"
"Even so, I wouldn't use a wish ticket for something like that. So — wrong again."
Noah squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head to the right. Go ahead. Chise huffed a quiet laugh, then slid her hand to Noah's waistband. Watching her shudder at every touch was entertaining.
But that wasn't the point. Chise took hold of the clothes from the waist and pulled them up.
"Arms up."
Noah lifted her hands toward the ceiling before she knew what she was doing. The white T-shirt came off.
And that wasn't all. Chise started undressing as well.
"!"
Only then did it hit her. Noah threw her arms across her body.
"Y-you liar."
"Hm?"
"Y-you said you weren't. You said you weren't."
"Heeh. I wonder what Noah thinks I'm doing."
Chise stripped off the gym pants too. In no time Noah was down to her underwear — and so was Chise.
"This is just the penalty for that last question."
Saying so, Chise pressed down firmly on Noah's lower belly.
"Hhyaah!"
"?"
She'd never gotten a reaction that sensitive. Noah's whole body had just shuddered.
"Heh."
Chise's pupils went hazy. Noah shook her head, but Chise was already half gone, and she showed no mercy. She pressed her fist into Noah's lower belly again, slow and deep.
"Hah... mmph—"
Noah clamped both hands over her mouth. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
No... I-I'm going strange.
She was feeling something she had never felt once in her entire life. That uncanny sense of no longer being herself was dangerously close to pleasure. If this kept up, her mind was going to come apart.
......So this is Noah's sweet spot. It wasn't her waist after all.
Chise understood it at once, and she couldn't hold herself back.
"Ch-Chise."
Noah spoke like her life depended on it, catching the arm that was about to press down again.
"I was wrong. I'll do anything else, a-anything, just don't do that. Don't press down on my stomach......"
It was halfway to begging. Chise's dark eyes filled themselves with Noah. One more step and she could take her completely.
But.
......What I want is Noah intact. If I keep going like this, I'll break her.
Chise chose mercy.
"All right."
"Hah... hah..."
The tension went out of Noah in a rush of ragged breath. Chise climbed down from on top of her. Noah drew her knees together and crouched, dragging the blanket over herself.
......Is it over?
She hoped so. She was exhausted.
But this was Chise. She was never going to let it end there.
"You never did guess the wish, did you?"
"Y-yeah."
"Can I tell you?"
"...Yeah."
What is she going to do now...
Her face was burning. Her whole body was burning. She'd never been this flushed in her life. The unfamiliar sensation made her want to cry, and only the last thin thread of reason was holding that back.
At this rate...
"Come here."
Chise was in nothing but her underwear as well, her figure laid bare. She was slender all over — nothing like Noah's compact, solid build. But that black hair falling to her shoulders, those black eyes, and that faintly intoxicated air made it feel as if she might devour you whole.
Body and heart both. She's going to take me.
Chise patted her own thigh. Noah sat down across it, and Chise wrapped her from behind. Skin against skin, warm. Those slender hands started at Noah's throat and drifted slowly downward — over her chest, her underarms, her waist, and at last between her legs. Noah's breathing grew rougher and rougher. She caught the hand that was about to cross the line, but there wasn't much fight in it.
Chise whispered against her ear.
"My wish is this. From now on, you answer everything I say honestly."
She nipped Noah's earlobe.
"Hahk."
Noah covered her mouth again. Chise began to lick her ear. Noah jerked as if she'd been shocked. A dull, flooding sensation rolled through her, and somewhere she thought she heard styrofoam tearing.
Chise... she wants me to beg for it myself.
There was an obvious reason she'd spent the wish ticket this way. She wanted Noah, with her own mouth, to ask for it — or to lose her reason and throw herself at her.
"First question. Noah, does it feel good?"
"......"
"Hey. Lying is against the rules, you know that. I can tell when you lie in a second. Don't even think about it."
Cursing a body that trembled even when Chise wasn't doing a thing, Noah answered in a small voice.
"......It feels good."
"Hm? I can't hear you."
"I-it feels good."
Chise smiled, bright and pleased.
"Noah's a pervert, isn't she? Getting off on her childhood friend licking her ear."
"......"
Watching even Noah's earlobes turn red, Chise swallowed. Noah's skin was so pale that the color rose instantly, everywhere. She wanted to pin her down that second.
"Turn your head this way."
"......The wish was to answer honestly. I don't have to take orders."
"Minamoto Noah."
"......"
"Am I getting angry? Don't forget. This is punishment. Punishment for daring to fawn over another girl. If you hadn't provoked me first, I wouldn't have gone this far today. So this is your fault."
Chise's pupils had gone hazy. Noah slowly closed her eyes.
That night stretched on especially long.