Panties... Please...
"Hah!"
The instant I opened my eyes, I bolted upright. A familiar ceiling. A familiar scent. This was my room.
My mind spun in a dizzy rush. Inside the dungeon... I had taken off my panties, and Kyle had put his hands on my nipples... And that sensation. Pleasure so intense I still could not believe it. At the end of it, I had passed out.
"Nngh..."
The moment the memory reached that point, a groan slipped out of me on its own. It was so embarrassing I could barely stand it.
What on earth had Kyle thought of me? How had I looked to him?
I carefully felt over my body. I was still in my dungeon gear, and draped over me was the coat I usually wore. He must have covered me with it.
"Still... thank goodness."
He had not just left me there after I collapsed. He had brought me back properly. He always acted like nothing ever fazed him, but he had these unexpectedly thoughtful sides.
I was thinking that as I started to get up — and then something felt wrong. Down below. A strange, empty sensation.
"Huh?"
I reached down without thinking. There was nothing there. No panties.
"Ah... right. I took them off back then..."
Then Kyle had carried me out like that. Then I had gone outside like that...?
"Kyle!!!!"
The door burst open the instant I shouted, and Kyle strode in.
"What's going on........?"
His face was perfectly calm. I stared at him, panting.
"Um... how did you bring me back?"
"Same as last time. Covered you with the coat and carried you."
"Without panties...?"
He shrugged.
"Should I have put them back on you?"
"..."
That would have been even worse. If he had dressed me himself, I really would have died of shame. Not that this was okay either.
"Sorry. But I covered you well, and no reporters or anyone else saw a thing, so relax."
"That's not the point!"
I burst out, my voice cracking. I had walked out of the dungeon with no panties on? The place had been swarming with reporters! And he was telling me to relax?
"Uwaaah..."
I clutched my head, on the verge of passing out all over again, and sank to the floor.
"Go wash up first. Cool your head a little."
With that, he left the room. How exactly was I supposed to cool my head? Wailing internally, I headed for the bathroom.
After I finished showering, I made sure to put on proper underwear this time — last time's incident still fresh in my mind — and stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying my hair.
Kyle was sitting on the bed. The sight of him brought back something I had forgotten. The time I had handed him the panties I had been wearing. I hesitated for a moment, then opened my mouth.
"Um... Kyle. Please give me my panties."
The words were barely out before my face burned. I never thought I would be asking someone else for my own underwear. It felt like I had become a baby he was raising.
"What panties?"
He asked it so casually. A transparent little game. I knew. He was pretending not to know on purpose.
"You know exactly which ones... I'm not in the mood for games. Just give them back."
Even I was startled by how firm I sounded. I really had gotten closer to Kyle, hadn't I. I never would have been able to say something like that before.
"Sera. Act cute for me. Then I'll give them to you."
"...What?"
For a moment, my brain stopped working. Did he just... say what I think he said?
"What are you even talking about all of a sudden! Just give them to me."
"Just once, okay? I think you'd look really cute."
How could he say something like that so naturally. The way he smiled, so full of anticipation, was truly infuriating.
"No. I'm just asking for my own things back. Why do I have to act cute for that?"
"Because Sera is a cute girl."
My heart gave a heavy, wet thud at those words.
"W-what... a cute girl? Don't say things like that."
"You're not a girl?"
"..."
I could not answer. I had bared my own lower belly, begged him to pinch my nipples, and gushed slick while telling him how good it felt. I had already shown him everything. What could I possibly say?
"I am a girl... but what's that got to do with being cute."
I let the words trail off and turned my head. If I met his eyes, I knew I would get pulled in again. Shame climbed all the way up the back of my neck.
I could not tell if he meant it or if he was teasing, and that made it even worse. And yet... it did not feel bad. Aaaagh!! Why was I like this.
"Just give them back. That's enough."
I said it again, still refusing to look at him. But his answer did not change.
"Show me one cute little act and I'll really give them back. Promise."
My fists clenched on their own.
"Why do you keep making me do things like that..."
"Because I want to see it. Just say one thing to me. 'Oppa~ give me my panties.'"
"Uuuugh... why would you even want to hear something like thaaat..."
I clutched my head and ducked it down. How was I supposed to say that with a straight face? Oppa... Sure, he was older than me, but I did not even want that word in my mouth.
But I needed those panties back. I did not want them in Kyle's hands any longer. And more than anything, the fact that I was still leaving my underwear in his care felt somehow even more humiliating.
"Hah, seriously..."
I bit down hard on my lip and slowly turned to face him. Kyle sat on the bed with his arms crossed, looking at me with an infuriatingly casual expression.
"...I'll do it. Just once."
"Hm?"
"I said I'm doing it now! Don't you dare laugh."
I drew a deep breath. My face was so hot I thought I might lose my mind, but if I could just endure this humiliation, I would get my panties back. That's right. This was a battle of pride.
"..."
It was quiet. I could not lift my head. Only after saying it did the full weight of how humiliating it was hit me all over again.
But at the sound of his breath breaking the silence, my head snapped back up.
"Hah... Sera, you really..."
Kyle covered his eyes with one hand, then held out a small bag he had set beside him. Inside were definitely my panties — the ones that had been soaked. They had been washed clean and were completely dry.
I carefully took the bag and opened it. Inside were the panties I had handed him, no question. As if the fact that they had been soaked was a lie, they had been washed spotless and were bone-dry.
"Uh... wait. This... you didn't..."
I stared at him in disbelief.
"...Who... washed these?"
"I did."
"......You... what?"
"Your panties. I hand-washed them, real careful, with the good detergent."
"........."
My mind went blank. The faintly gleaming panties in front of me suddenly looked like an entirely different object. This man had held these in his own hands...? And rubbed them...?
"K-Kyle!!!!!!"
I clapped both hands over my face and screamed.
"D-don't wash things like that! Why, why would you do that yourself! Oh my god...!!"
"You should be thanking me, Sera."
"Th-thank you?! Some other person... a man, no less, taking a girl's panties... with his hands, putting in detergent... scrubbing them... uuuuuuuuuugh..."
The problem was my own imagination. I staggered backward and sat down hard without meaning to. He was still smiling, shameless as ever.
"A girl's panties?"
Ah. I had said it without thinking.
"That's not the point!!"
I shouted, feeling needlessly guilty. Fortunately, Kyle did not press any further — he just shrugged.
"You were passed out. If I left them wet too long they'd get ruined. I had good intentions."
"I never asked for that... Don't go putting 'good intentions' on my panties..."
I clutched the bag of panties to my chest and backed away. It was not that they were dirty or anything... but the more I thought about it, the weirder I felt. The fact that I was going to have to wear these again was agony.
And still, Kyle tossed out one last remark as if it were nothing.
"Sera. Leave them with me next time too. I'll take good care of them."
"Shut up!! You pervert..."
I fled the room as if escaping him.
The small room I had stayed in before we started living together — still not fully packed up. The moment I stepped into that familiar, worn-out space, I shut the door, leaned my back against it, and sank to the floor. In my hand was the plastic bag with the panties.
More than the relief of getting them back, one sentence refused to leave my head, tormenting me.
Kyle oppa... panties... pleeease...
"Uuuugh..."
I covered my face with my hands. Losing my composure in front of Kyle was not anything new... but this time was really bad. And I had even called him oppa.
Oppa??
That light, almost irritatingly feminine form of address that only a girl would use. I had acted just like the "cute girl" he had called me.
I pulled out the panties I had received in exchange. They were neatly folded and thoroughly dry. Even just holding them lightly between my fingertips, I could not stop thinking about it.
Can I even wear these...
Wearing them would mean enduring the image of Kyle picking out detergent, adjusting the water temperature, kneading them with his hands... rinsing them, then hanging them up to dry. I should have just thrown them away. Why...
Ah.
He had done it to make me act cute. That much was obvious. That satisfied smile. Those infuriating eyes. He really was the worst.
I'm sleeping here tonight.
There was a contract that said I had to sleep in his room, but right now I did not want to see Kyle's face.
Hmph.
I was not going to be the only one who suffered. I was going to do whatever I wanted, get on his nerves, and drive him crazy.
I threw myself onto the still-unpacked bed in this room and turned on my phone. Out of habit, I tapped the news tab.
I hurled my phone away. It hit the floor with a thud.
I had passed out and completely forgotten. That today's events would end up in the news. Why did they always give articles such old-fashioned titles. And how excitedly must people have piled on the comments after seeing that. I did not have the courage to look at the article.
"Don't think about it... don't think about it..."
Like I had told myself last time — people just needed something to amuse themselves with. There was no point dwelling on it. I repeated that to myself and closed my eyes, trying to sleep.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to erase the thoughts. It had been a long day. Eating breakfast with Kyle, going into the dungeon together, licking his hand... my nipples...
"Uwaaaaagh!!"
Why!! Why could I not shake Kyle out of my head.
My attempt at sleep collapsed, and I lay still, staring at the ceiling.
"..."
My head was full of Kyle, and he was not beside me. The moment I realized that, a hollow emptiness washed over me.
"Hah, seriously."
I got up from the bed, left the room again, crossed the living room, and stopped in front of Kyle's door.
"Kyle... are you asleep?"