Longer chapters are almost here!!
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After school ended that afternoon.
Kai didn't head straight back to his apartment. Instead, he made his way to Marin Kitagawa's house.
Even though both of Marin's parents were highly paid corporate professionals, their jobs constantly required them to travel out of town for business trips. As a result, Marin was left home alone most of the time—and today was no exception.
The second he walked through the door...
Marin excitedly told Kai to wait in the living room for a minute, claiming she needed to run to her bedroom and change into something more comfortable.
"Even though I didn't actually sew this one myself, it's still one of my favorite cosplay outfits! What do you think??"
As she spoke.
She deliberately did a slow twirl right in front of Kai, her eyes sparkling with intense, eager anticipation as she waited for his reaction.
"It's gorgeous."
Even though Kai had no idea which specific anime character she was cosplaying, just looking at the distinct design choices made it blindingly obvious it was another heroine from some obscure eroge. In certain critical areas, the fabric was practically non-existent.
"So... should we start now?"
Tilting her head, she looked at him with a bright, undeniably eager smile.
"S-Sure!"
Even though her theoretical knowledge of the subject matter was off the charts, this was still her very first time putting it into actual practice. Marin desperately tried to suppress her wildly accelerating heartbeat as she slowly closed her eyes.
She had assumed he would dive right in.
But a moment later, feeling something strange, Marin opened her eyes in genuine surprise.
"What's this?"
"I just happened to spot it lying around. Don't you think it fits perfectly?"
[Put a collar on Marin Kitagawa]
[Quest Completed]
He had to admit, Marin Kitagawa certainly kept a surprisingly extensive collection of "toys" and accessories stashed around her house.
As he spoke.
Kai suddenly gave the attached leash a firm tug, pulling Marin directly toward him.
"Do you not like it?"
"I... I love it!"
Even though the sensation was entirely unfamiliar and slightly uncomfortable, a bizarre, indescribable thrill simultaneously blossomed deep within Marin's chest.
This felt fundamentally different from when she played those games by herself.
For a brief moment, tears of excitement began to well up in Marin's eyes.
"Goshujin-sama."
"Phew."
That breathy whisper almost made Kai lose his composure right then and there.
"On your knees!"
He delivered the command with cold authority, and Marin obediently complied without a single second of hesitation.
————————————————————
[Quest Completed]
[Quest Completed]
[Quest Completed]
[...]
That night, the system notification chimed so many times that even Kai completely lost track of exactly how many quests he had actually managed to clear.
Even though she was inexperienced, Marin Kitagawa was so unbelievably cooperative and eager to please that by the time Kai finally snapped back to reality, he realized he had almost broken her.
The next day.
Entirely unsurprisingly, Marin Kitagawa called in sick and didn't show up to class.
"Kai-kun, why does it feel like you're incredibly happy today?"
In the classroom, Yui Yuigahama looked at Kai with intense curiosity. Ever since he had walked through the door that morning, the highly satisfied smirk playing at the corners of his lips simply hadn't faded.
"Am I?"
Even Kai himself hadn't realized how obvious his good mood was.
Recovering his composure, he flashed a warm smile at Yui.
"What's so strange about that? Seeing you always puts me in an amazing mood, Yui."
"Oh, stop it~"
Even though she knew perfectly well he was just sweet-talking her, Yui couldn't stop the bright, joyful smile from spreading across her face.
"Enjoy it while it lasts. Once the exam results drop and you're officially demoted to carrying bags for me and Yui, I highly doubt you'll still be smiling."
Seemingly appearing out of thin air, Yumiko Miura marched over and aggressively challenged Kai.
"Still as fiercely confident as ever, I see, Yumiko."
Kai's smile vanished, replaced by a sharp, highly calculated gaze directed right at Yumiko.
"I just wonder if the great 'Fire Queen' will still be able to force a smile when she's officially demoted to being the third wheel on my date with Yui."
"Tch! Who do you think you're scaring? We'll see who's laughing when you fail to take first place in the class."
Yumiko refused to believe that Kai could actually pull off a miracle and take the top spot.
Furthermore, even if he had secretly been attending grueling cram schools all break, they were already way too deep into this. Given Yumiko's fiercely stubborn personality, she would rather die than back down from a challenge now.
"Yumiko..."
Yui was genuinely starting to panic. She was terrified that Yumiko was actually going to get into a serious fight with her boyfriend.
"Don't even try to talk me out of this, Yui!" Before Yui could even attempt to mediate, Yumiko cut her off. "Since when have you ever seen me back down from anything?"
"..."
That's true... Yui honestly couldn't argue with that. Setting everything else aside, when it came to overwhelming force of personality, Yumiko Miura had never feared anyone.
"Relax, we're just making a friendly bet. We aren't actually going to get into a real fight over it!"
Knowing exactly what was causing Yui's panic, Yumiko begrudgingly offered a brief explanation to soothe her best friend's nerves.
And it was the honest truth. Deep down, Yumiko genuinely harbored no actual malice toward Kai. She simply felt an intense urge to prove herself and crush his arrogance. She refused to admit defeat to him.
This bizarre, highly specific fixation made even Yumiko herself feel conflicted and confused.
"Well... alright then!"
Since it had already come to this, Yui knew there was absolutely nothing she could say to stop them. She could only sigh and nod helplessly.
Standing nearby, Hayato Hayama looked at Kai, then looked at Yumiko, unable to hold back his own interjection.
"Yumiko, we still have a few days left before the exams actually start. How about I help you review and tutor you first?"
Seeing Kai acting so absurdly confident, Hayato genuinely suspected he might have been secretly attending high-level cram schools over the holidays. While Japan outwardly heavily promoted a "stress-free education" policy, the reality of the situation was vastly different.
The quality of outside cram schools varied wildly.
"Stress-free education" was a luxury exclusively reserved for those without money or future prospects.
If a student actually wanted to change their destiny by studying hard and getting accepted into a top-tier university, their only viable option was to pay exorbitant fees for elite cram schools—fees that ordinary, working-class families simply couldn't afford.
This brutal reality led to a highly predictable outcome: the wealthier a student's family was, the better their academic performance.
The so-called "stress-free education" was ultimately just a convenient anesthetic used to pacify the masses. The severe, seemingly unbreakable class stratification in Japan was likely heavily driven by this exact phenomenon.
"Huh?"
If it had just been a casual offer to study together, Yumiko wouldn't have thought much of it. After all, her own wealthy family had already hired private tutors for her.
But hearing Hayato Hayama state it so bluntly and publicly in front of Kai made Yumiko feel incredibly irritated and deeply insulted.
"What exactly do you mean by that, Hayato? Are you assuming I'm going to lose?"
What kind of nonsense is this? Conceding defeat before the battle has even begun? Even though she knew Hayato probably didn't mean it maliciously, Yumiko still felt a massive surge of pure annoyance. 'Why have I never realized before just how dense and utterly tactless Hayato Hayama actually is?'
"No, no, not at all! That's not what I meant!"
Not expecting Yumiko to misinterpret his intentions so severely, Hayato frantically waved his hands in a panicked attempt to explain himself.
"Come on, Miura, Hayama is personally offering to tutor you!"
Tobe and the other guys in their clique couldn't help but chime in. They all knew perfectly well that Yumiko had always harbored a massive crush on Hayato, even if Hayato had never explicitly clarified his own feelings.
They all genuinely supported the two of them getting together.
"..."
To be honest, at this exact moment, Yumiko felt zero happiness regarding the offer. Instead, an inexplicable, profound wave of irritation washed over her.
More than anything else, Yumiko desperately wanted to see exactly how Kai would react to hearing Hayato's offer.
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