The Secret We Keep (3)
It wasn't quite enough to call it the "best day ever," but it certainly didn't fall short of being a productive one. I had confirmed, once again, the gloomy, underlying intentions of Lee Jiyoon, who had no intention of backing out even after hearing the recording of me kissing her sister. That alone was a decent harvest for a day's investment, but thanks to Lee Hayoon, who had grabbed my hand and led the way to a restaurant she’d been eyeing, I’d discovered a pretty good Western-style bistro.
When I reflexively patted her head after she mentioned she’d been researching the place on her phone all yesterday, the bonus was the shy, flustered look she gave me, telling me not to do that to her. We hadn't made any massive leaps in our "progress," but it was a day with many small, meaningful gains. Before I regressed, I never would have imagined Lee Jiyoon’s conditioning would play out like this, but well... helping someone slowly drag their own dark, murky desires out into the light is a hobby in its own right.
If I had my way, I’d hide Lee Jiyoon behind the curtains in the infirmary when it was quiet and make her listen to the sounds of me having wet, sloppy sex with Lee Hayoon. But I haven't gathered enough data to know exactly when the infirmary is empty, so I’ll just keep that as a thought. Just a thought. In about a month, the flow of things should become clear. So for now, the limit is probably just showing off my intimacy with Lee Hayoon right in front of Lee Jiyoon. To help her be honest with her own dark, filthy heart. Persistently, and incessantly.
...Actually, if I were to calculate the efficiency, nothing would be faster than drinking with both of them like I’d originally planned. But wouldn't that be a bit boring? This, too, is a form of entertainment. To put it in Lee Jiyoon’s terms, it’s no different from a game. It’s a bit of a shame to just see the "Clear!" message and move on without savoring it. Of course, if Lee Hayoon shows absolutely no intention of playing along, I might have to resort to that, but for now, things look smooth enough that I don't need to.
The city, where small puddles had bloomed everywhere thanks to the passing sun-shower, shimmered. I chewed over today’s results and walked along, letting my feet take me wherever they pleased. 3:00 PM. It was still bright and sunny, and it felt a bit too soon to just eat and part ways. I leisurely pondered where it would be fun to take these two for the remaining time. Relaxed.
"Come to think of it, why did you buy that t-shirt earlier? I thought you'd hate it since I have one similar."
"...J-just because."
"Hmm~"
"..."
Under the sound of the two sisters chatting about trivial topics, the oily, rainbow-colored puddle was crushed softly under my loafers.
"Haaaaa......"
Han Su-a returned to her bedroom after picking at her lunch and collapsed onto the bed, letting out a deep sigh toward the ceiling. She had managed to dispose of the towels soaked in vaginal fluid that she’d crumpled up on the floor next to the bed. The soiled underwear and pajamas were all tossed into the washing machine. She had also managed to ventilate the room enough to clear out the faint scent of the early morning. Enough that, unless someone was really trying to sniff it out, it wouldn't be noticeable.
Ugh... when she’d finished her shower and returned, she’d been so embarrassed by the faint, erotic scent lingering in the room... Fortunately, her aunt didn't seem to notice, but for Han Su-a, who had sniffed her own fingers several times out of curiosity after rubbing her clitoris raw yesterday, it was a scent all too familiar. Even if that hadn't been the case, her sense of smell was better than the average person's anyway.
...Anyway. Han Su-a surrendered her body to the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling without even brushing her hair properly. Since she was lying down and it was a hassle to eat, she’d just gathered the ends and tied them up loosely. She pressed her lips together. The thing that came to mind was, inevitably, the great incident of early yesterday morning.
"..."
Masturbation. She had learned how to do it...
"..."
Usually, at this time, she would go back and forth between her desk and bed reading manga. Why didn't she feel like it today? ...To pretend she didn't know why would be a lie; she knew the reason all too well. It was because she had discovered something much more fun than manga.
"I'm truly insane..."
Han Su-a kicked the innocent mattress with her heels, thinking back to yesterday. Of course, she didn't remember everything. She only vividly remembered the beginning; the memories of her licking away at the pleasure afterward were relatively blurry. The way she’d whined while pinching her clitoris with two fingers while fluid dripped down her thighs, the way she’d squeezed her nipples—which had become firm without any stimulation—like she was milking them, and even the way she’d stuck her tongue out to try and lick herself...
...Um. Right. Roughly up to there. That was the limit of what she could drag out of her memory. But it was more than enough to torment the Han Su-a who had been perfectly innocent until yesterday. The blanket covering her fluttered for a long time, puffing out dust. White dust floated in the faint sunlight streaming through the window.
"...This won't do."
She muttered, letting out a flushed breath. It was embarrassing enough to tell others that her hobby was manga, but masturbation? She should find a healthy hobby she could actually tell people about. Like golf, or surfing... No, no. Let's exclude outdoor activities. Then what could she do...?
After a moment of thought, Han Su-a reached out and fumbled for her phone. Finding a healthy hobby that wasn't manga or masturbation was fine, but she realized she didn't actually know what other people did in their daily lives. Asking Yozora wouldn't help since she liked manga too. And asking the infirmary teacher? She was still awkward with the forced informal speech she used with him; there was no way she could hold a smooth conversation. In times like this, it had to be...
"...What. Where's my phone..."
The internet. For Han Su-a, who had seen a sharp increase in her internet usage since she started living alone, there was a blind faith in the internet. A faith akin to a primitive human discovering fire. If she searched with keywords like "hobby recommendations," all sorts of things would pop up. She just needed to pick a decent one and replace masturbation with it. It was a pretty plausible plan for something so hastily put together.
After searching in all the wrong places for a while because her phone wasn't where she usually left it, she remembered late that she’d fallen asleep after only doing the bare minimum of cleaning up yesterday. She sat up and checked under her pillow. ...Sure enough. It was hiding there. Perhaps because it had been stuck under the pillow for so long, it felt like a hot roasted sweet potato. At least the battery was still alive.
Han Su-a lay back down and turned on the warm phone.
"..."
The climax of the lewd manga she’d been watching yesterday was clearly etched into Han Su-a’s amber-colored eyes.
"Ah, seriously...!"
She couldn't exactly throw it just because she was angry... She hadn't meant to look at that; she’d really just meant to search for something. Han Su-a frantically tapped the 'X' on the screen, glancing at the female body covered in semen and the massive, fluid-drenched cock. Oh, right. She’d fallen asleep exhausted while masturbating to that scene. Seeing it made her remember. Ugh...
Anyway, it was useless information now. She was supposed to find a much healthier hobby than such vulgar, embarrassing things...
"..."
...Before she found one. Just one. She would search for just one thing she was curious about. Yes.
"..."
Han Su-a kept her mouth shut, pulled the blanket up to her face for no reason, and tapped the screen from underneath it.
Mutant-type Transcendental... ...erogenous zones
"..."
Really, really, really. She swore to the heavens—no, if there was a god, she swore to god—she was just curious. She didn't have any other intentions. To use a slightly difficult phrase, it was a kind of intellectual curiosity. It didn't make sense by common sense that pulling on a tail and biting it would feel good. If that were the case, would a lion just lose its strength and collapse if you pulled its tail hard when you encountered one in Africa? Are you crazy?
Therefore, this search was absolutely not done because she had other intentions. It was just to check if she was the weird one, or if everyone else was like that too. ...Having finished her rationalization to a degree of satisfaction, Han Su-a opened her tightly closed eyes and looked at the search results.
Hmm. What did "clinging" mean? Anyway. This was serious. The first title could be interpreted in many ways, but weren't the second and third titles too explicit? They even attached the word "Mutant-type girlfriend" before "cosplay." It clearly seemed to be that kind of thing, so she just ignored it.
"...F-first of all..."
Number 2 was out. Number 3 was on hold. Han Su-a tentatively touched the first post, the one looking for Mutant-type women. Just in case, she peeked out from under the blanket at the bedroom door, then covered herself again and started reading the post with a pounding heart. To summarize, it was roughly this: The author was a cat-based Mutant-type transcendental. However, she was just an office worker living a normal life because she wasn't particularly strong and hated getting hurt. But recently, she felt that stimulating her ears and tail felt just as good as touching her genitals... But she was too embarrassed to tell her boyfriend of several years. So, when she had sex with him, she never brought out her ears or tail, enjoyed it in a vanilla way, and then satisfied her sexual desires by masturbating alone at home. Roughly that kind of post.
It ended with a question asking if anyone had ever told their boyfriend about this, and how men felt about such things. The date written was a year ago. She didn't know if it was a lot, but the post had over 200,000 views and was approaching 300,000.
"..."
Well... wouldn't there be a lot of men who naturally disliked it? ...Or not? Seeing as things like cat-ears still appeared in manga years after transcendents had appeared, maybe there was a demand for it... Anyway, the woman who wrote the post was suffering from the same dilemma as Han Su-a. The only difference was that she was debating whether or not to confess her desires to her boyfriend. Under the blanket, Han Su-a let out a sigh of relief. She’d thought it was ridiculous to feel pleasure through a tail, but it seemed it wasn't such a unique preference after all. Being a pervert was unavoidable, though. She felt somewhat comforted. Han Su-a, stroking her chest, soon looked for the comments on the post. Maybe women with similar tastes had left comments?
"...Eck..."
However. The comment "So hot" was the first one she saw, followed by "Even so, the fur is a bit much." There was also a comment saying it wasn't any worse than SM, and that it didn't really matter. All three had many thumbs-up icons? The "fur is a bit much" comment was slightly ahead of the other two, but the ratio was almost identical.
...The title was clearly "Any girls here who are Mutant-types?", but the comments all seemed to be from men. She didn't really see any comments from women... Right, well. It was a shame there were no opinions from other women, but she would find them if she kept searching. There were men who liked it, and men who disliked it. That was enough.
"Then next is Mutant-type heat cycles....... ...Eh? A sister and a younger brother...? ...Huck..."
Thus began Han Su-a’s four-hour internet journey. Finding a new hobby had already been completely erased from her mind.
*****
"A room cafe?"
"Yes. They have board games, game consoles, and a karaoke machine that you like, Noona."
"...Hmm... I've never been there before."
"It's my first time too. Why would a guy go there alone?"
"I suppose..."
"Anyway, do you want to go? The time is a bit awkward to part ways now."
"Sure. Then, well... Ah, Jiyoon-ah. Do you want to go?"
"...If you want."