Hugging her knees in the bathtub, Ryo let a jumble of thoughts flash through her mind one by one.
She stayed there until the bathwater started noticeably cooling, and only then did she finally drag her blood-starved body, stiff from staying still so long, to get up shakily.
After drying herself off and changing into pajamas, she returned to the room to find that Nijika was already asleep.
The blanket was tightly wrapped around her neck, with only her cute little head sticking out.
Ryo smiled at the sight, plugged her phone in to charge, and then turned off all the other lights in the room, leaving only the dim lamp on the nightstand.
Then she leaned against the headboard, scrolling through various short videos while waiting in silence, her thoughts still a chaotic mess.
After about forty minutes, the door opened.
Nijika was a light sleeper. Hearing the noise, she stirred groggily awake, rubbed her eyes, and asked as she saw Ryo walking toward the door:
"Who is it?"
"Not sure. I'll go check. You keep sleeping."
"Make sure who it is before opening the door. Just in case it's someone bad."
"Got it."
Nijika propped herself up, yawned, and picked up her phone to check the time.
It was nearly 1 a.m.
Moments later, Ryo walked in with Chisato.
"Eh, Chisato-kun?"
Seeing him, a surprised Nijika blinked. Chisato raised the notebook in his hand toward her and explained:
"Sorry to bother you both so late, but I suddenly got inspired and wrote a really great song.
It's just that there are a few lyrics I'm not fully satisfied with, so I wanted to discuss them with Ryo."
It was a natural excuse, since among all the band members, Ryo was the one who most frequently discussed lyrics and composition with Chisato.
"I see."
"Yeah, you go back to sleep. The president and I will talk on the balcony."
Ryo walked over and gently pushed Nijika back onto the bed, tucking her in again.
"But the balcony is cold. Just talk here, I won't be in the way."
"The cold's perfect—low temperatures help the brain cool down and think better."
"A person's head isn't a computer, you know... what kind of logic is that..."
Realizing she wouldn't be much help anyway, Nijika gave up and let them be.
"Alright, she's asleep. As long as we keep our voices down, she won't hear anything."
Once they reached the balcony, Ryo looked through the glass to confirm Nijika had closed her eyes again, then turned and stood beside Chisato, gazing into the darkness of the night.
"Mhm."
Chisato nodded without turning to look at her.
To be honest, they were in an extremely awkward phase in their relationship right now—neither of them could look the other in the eye.
But some things just had to be said.
After a brief silence, it was the thicker-skinned Chisato who finally took the lead and brought up the topic.
"Ahem... tonight... was kind of unexpected."
"Mhm..."
"First, I need to formally apologize. Under the kotatsu, I... did that to your foot... even took your socks off..."
"I'm not bothered by that anymore. No need to apologize again."
"Ah... okay, then there's the other thing... You were in the closet... um, the closet's pretty solid, so the soundproofing should've been decent, right?"
Chisato was desperately trying to patch things up, hoping to smooth everything over and create a situation where neither of them would feel too embarrassed.
Normally, anyone in this situation would just go along with that, say a few understanding things, laugh awkwardly together, and pretend it was water under the bridge.
Ryo could understand what he was trying to do, but for some reason, she didn't want to play along.
"The soundproofing was awful. And with how noisy you guys were, it was like I was squatting right by the bed—I heard everything crystal clear."
"..."
Chisato didn't know how to respond to that.
"And when I heard Eriri and Utaha screaming midway through... I peeked through the crack a few times and saw you biting—"
"Stop!"
Chisato quickly covered Ryo's mouth.
"You don't have to be that descriptive! And I wasn't biting them—I didn't hurt them!
That wasn't them screaming in pain... wait, no, that's not what I came here to talk about…
Ugh, whatever, I'll just get to the point. What happened tonight—I think it's best if no one besides the two of us ever finds out about it. Don't you agree?"
"..."
Ryo nodded while her mouth was still covered.
With the most important point agreed on, Chisato sighed in relief and slowly let go of her.
"Honestly, none of this would've happened if you had just acted normally and not hidden in the closet."
"At the time, I subconsciously still thought the president was toying with my foot because he was interested in me, so I instinctively reacted like that."
"I told you—I thought you were Utaha."
"But there are times when people say one thing and mean another, right?"
"Phew—"
Chisato let out a helpless sigh and stopped arguing. At this point, thinking about what had already happened was pointless.
What mattered was what came next.
"Remember—absolutely, absolutely don't tell anyone."
If Utaha or Eriri were to find out that someone had watched their R-rated intimate moment from start to finish...
Chisato was certain their reaction would be... significant.
Some trouble, if it can be avoided, is best avoided.
"I understand."
Ryo rubbed her hands together. Standing outside for so long had made her cold.
"But including what happened tonight and the incident at dinner earlier, that's two times now I've been the victim."
"That incident tonight was you crawling into the wardrobe on your own..."
Chisato was just about to defend himself when he noticed Ryo looking at him silently. He immediately changed his approach.
"...Fine. It's all my fault. I'll make it up to you—within my ability, of course."
Ryo nodded. With that, the matter was more or less settled.
"I remember we still have an outdoor camping activity scheduled for this trip. Which day is it?"
"The day before we leave."
"Oh."
"All right then, let's go back. Get some sleep and forget everything that happened tonight."
"..."
That... it left too deep an impression. It's probably impossible to forget even in a lifetime.
Ryo followed behind Chisato, her gaze occasionally drifting toward his lower body.
There were still many details she hadn't said aloud.
For example, she had seen it—how both Eriri and Utaha had taken turns… to… to…
Taste it.
Unimaginable.
Could it really taste that good?
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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