08 - Idol Hero
Pretending not to hear U Haru's shallow, wanton moans, I stepped outside — and there by the automatic door stood my sister, waiting for me in the same demure posture she always kept.
I'd thought it even back in the day: she was the very picture of the flawless, impeccable poise a servant ought to possess. Up close, her formality could come across as a bit stiff, but to the me of right now, that was exactly what made her feel like a real older sister.
"...Have you been waiting this whole time?"
"Yes."
"You could have just gone and rested."
"There was something important I needed to confirm."
"Important— huh?!"
She suddenly took a brisk step forward and thrust her face right up close to mine. Then, for reasons I couldn't possibly guess, she began sniffing at me — a soft sniff sniff.
Her sweet scent washed over me in a rush, and my heart skipped a little.
"Phew…."
"...Why do you sound relieved?"
"...That your young master's virginity made it out alive?"
"Haah…."
I sighed and pushed her away. Somehow I felt like I'd come out the loser, my heart stirred up for nothing.
"It hasn't gone that far yet, you know."
"But you had her completely undressed. You looked at that and still held back?"
"What am I, some bitch in heat?!"
Everything in life has a proper order, and it's precisely by honoring that order and enduring to the very end that one harvests the sweetest fruit.
"And if you were that worried, why did you strip her in the first place?"
If she hadn't wanted me to graduate from virginity, couldn't she have just left things alone? When I shot her a look full of that unspoken question, she — unlike her usual self — let her gaze slip away from mine, sulking…
"...I thought you might enjoy it, young master."
She said that.
"……."
…That's cheating.
If a woman makes that face and says something that makes a man's heart flutter, what man alive could refuse her? I had to endure. Come on, hold it together, you idiot…! I'd already brought home a jaw-dropping female like U Haru — was I seriously about to put my hands on my sister too…?
…
…
'Honestly? I wouldn't mind.'
Wait. What. You little—
No, come on, even that's a bit much…
Morning wood incoming—!
"Ugh…!"
I desperately crushed the impure stirring below as it threatened to rise to full, imposing height. While my face muscles contorted into something grotesque in real time as I fought to steady my wavering heart—
"Sneak peek."
"…!"
She made the words cutely with her mouth alone while darting a glance down at me, and I thought, ah, I got played again. Of course I did. There was no way my sister would genuinely sulk over something this flimsy.
Good grief…
"...You enjoy teasing me, don't you?"
"Is that even a question?"
"What did you just say?!"
"Please, do try to understand my feelings on this matter."
"…?"
My sister, utterly composed, went on.
"If you had just now gone and offered up your precious virginity to some—"
"Sister, 'some cheap bargain-bin hooker' is a bit—"
"—some gutter-street courtesan of a female, then I would have been unable to contain my indignation, and I would have had no choice but to declare a Maximum Sulk."
"Gahk—!"
The secretary's Maximum Sulk…!
For someone like me, who had only ever experienced a Mid-Level Sulk, it took genuine power to make me tremble at the mere thought of what her Maximum Sulk might entail.
There was exactly one time, long ago, when I overexerted myself against her advice and collapsed. The sheer force of the Mid-Level Sulk she unleashed then was enough to chill my blood even now at the memory.
A full month. One entire month during which she cared for me meticulously, assisted me flawlessly — and followed at my heels without uttering a single word.
No matter how I apologized and begged forgiveness, the only response I got was the absolute pinnacle of a blank expression, as if to ask, Have you finished saying your piece? The moment that month ended she returned to normal, and I exhaled a deep sigh of relief, resolved to reflect on my past behavior and never repeat it.
Because once my sister sulks, she goes so silent that nothing gets through to her. And she does it with flawless thoroughness, completing every single one of her duties without missing a beat…!
That fear — you don't understand it unless you've lived through it. Truly.
…Hold on.
Then doesn't that mean that even if I have everything prepped and ready to savor U Haru properly, I'll have to face my sister's Maximum Sulk the moment I actually eat?
Guh…!
"…Sister."
"Yes."
"Is it truly only by doing that… that you'd feel at peace?"
In answer, my sister cast aside even her trademark expressionless mask — the one she wore like armor — and smiled, bright and easy.
"Of course. I have no hobby of watching a fruit I've tended with such care for decades, ripened to just the right moment on the verge of blossoming, get plucked right out from under my nose."
"Oh my… you're not even trying to hide it anymore, are you?"
Beaming—
Her smiling face was so lovely that I stared at it, dazed for a moment, before replaying her words in my head.
…A fruit she's spent decades lovingly cultivating, hm.
…
…
…
As we made our way to my bedroom together, I seized the moment to ask a few things.
"I'm the one who asked for it, but… are you really okay with this?"
"If you mean the matter of U Haru — yes. It's quite all right. I've already taken every necessary measure, so you can set your mind at ease."
I was tempted to ask what exactly those "measures" entailed, but I bit my tongue, worried it would sound like I didn't trust her. Well, my sister's work is reliably thorough. I could afford to simply trust her and let it go.
Good. Then…
"Sister."
"Yes."
"Aren't you curious?"
"About what?"
"About the things… I asked you to look into."
The Association, the investigator, Lovebell — the woman called U Haru's circumstances and background, all the way down to the finest recorded details. Not once in all the time I'd asked her to look into it had she raised a single question. She never asked how I knew what I knew, or why I wanted it researched — things she could easily have asked at least once.
She stopped mid-step and turned her gaze on me, and I stopped too, meeting her eyes. She studied me for a long, quiet moment.
"I am not curious."
"…Why not?"
"Because that is my duty."
"…My, duty."
"Yes."
As if that answered everything — as if it were the most natural thing in the world — she simply resumed walking.
…
…
…
Since she seemed at least a little curious about how I'd conditioned U Haru, I gave her a light account of what had happened in the Conditioning Chamber. She listened with total focus the entire time, letting out small, quiet sounds of admiration.
"You are… a far more frightening person than I realized, young master."
"Huh? Me?"
"And you don't seem to have any awareness of it…."
"…??"
I thought I'd done things pretty ordinarily…? When I shot her a baffled look, she only shook her head. By the time we reached my room, the story had just about run its course — somewhere in the middle I'd gotten carried away and chattered on about all sorts of things.
"Oh my… so, at the end, you left with the restraint table's Orgasm Denial Function still switched on…?"
"Yep. Figured she'd be a lot more docile when I came back tomorrow."
"…Young master."
"Yes?"
"…Mm, no, it's nothing. She is a hero, not an ordinary civilian, so…"
"…?"
She didn't leave the room until she had confirmed that the young master she loved beyond all measure had closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Only then did she slip out, exhaling a small sigh.
'…He left the Orgasm Denial Function switched on.'
Looked at from the outside, the mere act of denying an orgasm seemed like nothing much at all.
But this was — for the one experiencing it — an agony worse than torture.
To be forced to the very brink of climax, only to be slammed to a screeching halt like a foot stamped on the brakes, over and over, dozens of times past counting — that was enough to drive most women mad.
Unrelieved need bred a feverish urgency; she would writhe and twist, desperate to cross the finish line by any means… only to crash against the reality that she could not, and fall into frustration, then despair. As time passed, the clitoris, kept in constant contact with the rotor, would only grow more sensitive, until the faintest stray breeze sparked stimulation sharp enough to make her jolt.
If that state persisted, there would come a point where her senses tipped away from pleasure and toward pain — but, tragically for her, the restraint table came equipped with a recovery function as well. The instant she began to register pleasure as agony, the recovery function would engage, restoring the pleasure anew.
A prison of orgasm denial from which there was no escape.
Left in that condition, fully abandoned until tomorrow, U Haru would most likely…
"…It should be fine."
All of this was, at its root, a problem born of one man's ignorance. He had never actually experienced a woman's body firsthand — he'd only learned from books and data — and this was the side effect of that.
Handle a hamster to your heart's content, without the proper environment and gentle taming first, and it would die of stress in no time. Likewise, a woman played with as freely as an onahole, before sufficient training and development had run their course, was almost certain to break easily.
And yet… she had no intention of stopping him.
Why?
'It has been far too long since I've seen the young master so bright with excitement… hehe.'
He had been remarkably precocious, so grown-up even as a crawling little infant. He never cried. He never fussed. He never made demands of anyone, just stayed quietly where he was — so undemanding that, despite everything she'd heard about raising children, she'd tilted her head in bafflement dozens of times over how little care he required.
And that young master — eyes sparkling, barely able to contain his joy — had proudly laid out, item by item, everything he'd done while conditioning that female.
How could anyone…
'He's just too precious…♥'
—How could anyone not adore him?
Besides… U Haru was no ordinary civilian. She was a former hero. Surely that meant she could endure that much more.
With that consoling thought, she quietly slipped away from his door.
