Episode Ninety-Two
The sightseeing was enjoyable. Truly.
After disembarking the Shinkansen, we transferred to a local line and then a bus for several tens of minutes.
In the shopping street scented with the sea, we savoured a seafood bowl laden with plump, fresh fish, enjoyed fried fish cakes, and relished cold, freshly squeezed juice at an open-air café, though it did feel like we were eating constantly.
Then, after three o’clock, we moved to the inn.
How did I appear to the woman at the front desk as I checked in? More precisely, how did the pair of us, me and Ibara, appear?
Not sisters, yet too far apart in age to insist we were friends.
Of course, she didn’t actually ask us anything.
The room was a Japanese-Western style, with tatami mats but also a bed.
There were two baths: an indoor one and an open-air bath, the latter attached to the balcony.
This openness made me worry, ‘Can’t people see in from outside?’ But the opposite side faced the mountains. It was properly designed so you couldn’t peek in. Of course.
Even so.
We’d finally arrived.
At the inn. Just the two of us.
And what’s more, it was Ibara’s eighteenth birthday.
Pretending to be calm, my heart’s been pounding loudly ever since we got off the lift.
What should I do?
What if, come nightfall, she forces herself on me—
She’s decided not to do that sort of thing, though.
Would I be able to refuse her properly?
“Ibara, about later—”
“Yeah. I’ll just get my clothes off first, then.”
“Eh⁉︎”
Pop, pop. Ibara unbuttoned her dress.
Hang on, hang on, hang on.
I’m not mentally prepared. Not at all.
“Come on, Shigure-san, hurry up.”
It’s actually way too soon.
“But it’s still daytime…?”
“Does time matter?”
“Well, maybe… but no, I don’t think so…”
Isn’t this a bit too sudden, no matter what?
And isn’t Ibara being far too nonchalant about it?
Could she be… experienced? But she said kissing me was her first time.
“Um, wait a moment…”
“Would you prefer to keep your clothes on, Shigure-san?”
What on earth are you asking? I don’t know.
“I wouldn’t mind either way.”
“…Well, that…”
“Which one?”
Ibara, asking the question, already had all the buttons on her dress undone, revealing the valley between her ample curves and her embroidered bra.
“………Then, I’ll keep it on……… No, I’ll take it off after all…”
“Right. Here you go then.”
Saying that, Ibara handed me a yukata.
“What’s this?”
“A yukata.”
“Ah, yes.”
I took the light blue yukata, turned away, and hurriedly changed.
………….
I… I want to die.
After making a ridiculous misunderstanding all by myself, I ended up staring straight at Ibara’s chest.
This is the worst.
“Hey, Shigure-san.”
“Wh-what?”
“You were thinking something naughty just now, weren’t you?”
She said it with a smug grin, as if she’d seen right through me.
“…I wasn’t.”
“Your face was bright red.”
“It wasn’t.”
“You’re quite the prude, aren’t you, Shigure-san?”
“That’s not—”
“Even just now, you were looking at my chest, weren’t you?”
“…That’s… because…”
I was looking.
“It’s fine. You can touch me.”
“Eh? I’ll pass.”
“Why?”
She closed the distance between us and pressed the question.
My heartbeat quickened, though for a different reason than before.
“You really aren’t interested? Don’t you want to touch me?”
I couldn’t bring myself to ask why she was saying this.
The depths of Ibaras’ eyes flickered.
“I want to touch you.”
“Ibara…”
“Your hair, your cheeks, your upper arms, your collarbone, between your fingers, the inside of your elbows, the top of your calves, and your lips… I want to touch all of that. Because it’s yours.”
She said it as if clinging to me.
“Isn’t that how you feel, Shigure?”
“Something weird just slipped in there.”
“Don’t make light of it.”
“Sorry.”
No good. I couldn’t gloss over it anymore.
It wasn’t that.
I realised I didn’t want to gloss over it.
I couldn’t stay by her side pretending those feelings weren’t there when they were.
Even with someone of the same sex. Or perhaps precisely because of that, it felt dishonest.
So.
“I feel the same way.”
“Yeah.”
I swallowed hard and said it.
“…I want to touch you. I want to touch you more, Ibara.”
“Really?”
Ibara’s face lit up instantly.
I wish she wouldn’t look so happy.
“Then where? Where do you want to touch me?”
“Where… you hair, maybe?”
“Alright.”
Ibara grabbed my hand and placed it on her head.
Ruffling it, my fingers felt the hair tickle between my fingers.
“Anywhere else?”
“…Your face, perhaps?”
My hand was guided smoothly to her cheek.
Ibara’s cheek was soft like freshly pounded mochi, smooth, and faintly warm.
I could touch it forever.
“Mmm…”
She rubbed her cheek against mine with a dazed expression, making my heart skip a beat.
What is this creature? She’s so adorable it makes my head spin.
Ibara shifted her face and pressed her lips to my palm.
A wet, smacking sound echoed.
“Mmm…”
She sucked right in the middle of my lifeline, sending shivers down my spine.
Her lukewarm tongue flickered, licking the thin skin.
Occasionally, her hard front teeth grazed me, tickling and frustratingly teasing.
But I didn’t dislike it, so I couldn’t refuse.
Finally, with a wet sound, her lips pulled away.
“I’ll ask again. Do you want to touch me here?”
Ibara’s left hand stroked the front of her own yukata.
The swell was obvious even through the fabric.
A place distinctly different from hair or cheek, an irreversible place.
Somehow, my throat had gone bone dry.
If it came down to whether I wanted to touch it or not…
“I might want to.”
“You want to.”
She flashed a knowing smile.
So please, don’t look so pleased.
“So, Shigure-san, you want to touch my breasts, huh?”
“…Well, that’s because it’s Ibara…”
“Yeah. I know.”
Nodding, Ibara said.
“Shigure-san, you’re cute.”
“What do you mean, cute?”
“It means I like you.”
Ibara closed her eyes and swiftly touched my lips.
It was about eighty percent surprise, but since there was twenty percent room to refuse, accepting it was my choice.
Pulling away from the brief touch of lips, Ibara said.
“Let’s take a bath. I want to bathe with Shigure-san.”