Extra Chapter: A Special Night

For me, it still feels like an unbelievable miracle.

It had been a month since I started dating Rio, the teacher I’d secretly admired since autumn of my second year of high school.

I kept worrying, “Maybe it was all just a dream,” sending messages repeatedly, phoning her for no reason, seizing every moment alone to touch her… I realised for the first time that while it’s blissful to be one with someone you truly love, there’s also this fear of what if I lose her.

　　　　　　　　　　☆

With my teaching practice finally over and the hectic days settling down, I’m staying at Rio’s place tonight.

　To put it bluntly, I’ve been holding back for ages now.

So, I hope Rio feels the same way… but I don’t want to force her. Hoping she might want me too, we ate dinner together and night fell.

“Shall we turn in soon?”

Rio, who’d only recently stopped using formal speech, sat on the bed with a perfectly calm expression.

　…And here I am, my heart pounding like this. I feel a little resentful that my expectations and nerves don’t seem to match up with Rio’s.

“Listen, Rio.”

“What?”

Rio looks at me, sitting beside her, with eyes so clear they might make one feel guilty.

“I’m not good at beating around the bush, and frankly, I don’t think I can hold back, so I’ll just say it directly… Today, I want to touch you in places I’ve never touched before. …Is that alright?”

What did Rio think of me, throwing out such a blunt desire, utterly devoid of any literary expression? Did I put her off? …Or rather, if she said no, I’d probably cry, honestly.

“…Meisa.”

Defying my negative expectations, Rio’s hand touched my hair. Touched my cheek. Met my gaze.

That alone made my knees feel like they might buckle.

“I… I’m going to kiss you.”

After that dutiful declaration, Rio’s lips gently touched mine.

A gentle, soft, blissful kiss. It was a wonderful kiss, like something out of a fairy tale, warming both the spot where we touched and my heart.

And yet, I couldn’t be satisfied with it staying so pure. Perhaps because I was feeling Rio in such a sensitive place, I grew more and more aroused.

　Our lips parted. Rio’s pale cheeks were tinged with a faint pink. Having only ever seen her serious ‘teacher’ face since high school, that alone was enough to fill me.

The superiority of knowing I was the only one in the world who could see Rio like this.

“…Meisa.”

Something inside me crumbled at the sweet sound of her calling my name, at the moist eyes fixed on me.

　After all, I am greedy. Wanting to feel Rio even more, I cupped her cheeks with both hands.

“Rio, open your mouth.”

Even if she lacks experience, surely Rio understands what I want to do.

I lightly touched her hesitantly parted lips, then pushed my tongue inside.

　I could feel her body tense even more, but I wanted her to feel good. I wanted her to feel so good she’d lose all strength, unable to sit upright, and surrender her body to me.

—That’s why.

Inside Rio’s mouth was hot and sweet. My tongue explored her depths, untouched by anyone else, as if consuming them. Gently, then with love.

　As if responding to my deliberate variations in pace, Rio’s body would occasionally jerk, and sweet sighs would escape her.

Her utterly adorable reactions filled me with joy and tenderness, my heart swelling.

When I slowly pulled away, Rio wore an expression I’d never seen before, and I felt the restraints loosening, the key turning.

“…I’m sorry”

Suddenly apologised to by Rio, the blood drained from my face.

“Eh? …D-did you dislike it? S-sorry! I just… rushed into it…”

I’d been so absorbed, so overwhelmed by pleasure, that I might have left Rio’s feelings behind. …Thinking that made me want to die.

“N-no… um, well… I-I think, normally, as the older one, I should be leading here, but… I’ve just been letting Meisa take the lead… I-I feel like I’m the only one enjoying it, and it makes me feel terribly guilty…”

Watching Rio apologise like that, her eyes glistening, a feeling welled up deep within my chest, stirring me.

—She always does this. She always manages to unsettle my heart so easily.

“…It’s your fault, Rio.”

“Eh?”

I pushed Rio down onto the bed.

Looking down at her from above, Rio was beautiful from every angle. I traced my lips along her slender neck. Listening to her voice up close, I licked, sucked… slowly undressing her.

“…Mei-sa,” she murmured my name, and only then did I pause.

I removed Rio’s glasses and placed them on the bedside table.

I needed to confirm one last thing.

“…Is it alright?”

Rio gently embraced me as I asked.

It was the first time since getting into bed that Rio, about to be held by me, showed any sign of being the older one.

“…Do as you wish…”

Though her tense tone betrayed her completely, when she whispered those gentle words of acceptance into my ear, my reason simply evaporated.

Was that deliberate? Had she been deliberately trying to shatter my resolve since earlier?

I couldn’t stop now. I didn’t have to stop, because Rio had told me so.

　The two soft swellings shifting shape beneath my hands, and the different firmness at their tips, each time I touched them, Rio let out a small, distinct sound I’d never heard before.

“…Cute.”

“…Not cute.”

Even without composure, Rio’s stubbornness in arguing back was unbearably endearing. My fingers and tongue moved eagerly, determined to make her feel it.

　Every time I moved, Rio responded so honestly that every cell in my body stirred.

And then, for some reason… I felt tears welling up.

“…Meisa?”

Rio spoke to me as I paused my hands.

That worried tone of voice instantly pulled me back to those days when I was a high school student.

　After-school classrooms where I kept confessing my love.

The choice to go to university that she gave me.

Teaching me the fascination of Japanese literature.

Giving me the strength to break free from Mum’s shackles.

Teaching me what it meant to love someone, and the pain of heartbreak.

“—I’ve liked you for so long, so long, so long… The thought of someone like that feeling pleasure from my hands… I can’t… it’s impossible.”

　Unable to comprehend my words, Rio tilted her head slightly.

“Im… impossible? What do you mean?”

“…It means I’m too happy to bear it.”

It felt like I was using up a lifetime’s worth of happiness right here, right now.

Even if I knew I’d be miserable tomorrow morning, I’d still choose to spend tonight with Rio. That’s how utterly, overwhelmingly, ecstatic I felt.

“Um… I probably, definitely, might not have understood what you said correctly, Meisa.”

Rio drew me close and kissed me gently, as if affirming my very existence.

“…I’ll make you happy from now on, Meisa. So don’t reach your limit just yet. I think it’s better to leave some space for the future, so there’s something to look forward to.”

That remark was so quintessentially Rio that I… couldn’t help but smile, pulling my precious lover close with all my strength.

This was surrender, wasn’t it? I reaffirmed that I loved Kakei Rio herself – her very existence, her thoughts, her philosophy, everything about her.

“…I love you, Rio.”

All my overflowing feelings, my selfishness, my desires – they all distilled into that one phrase.

“…I love you too.”

Rio’s eyes, now free of her glasses, met mine directly, absorbing both my gaze and my words.

So, to convey even more of that “I love you”.

The act that resumed with a kiss was the hottest, sweetest time of my life.

Only, lost in the moment… I let that word slip once.

“Sensei… I like you.”

I only realised it when Rio’s body suddenly tensed, clamping down on me.

“…Mmm…!”

Then the tension left Rio… and our special night came to an end.

　　　　　　　　　　☆

As I tried to fall asleep clinging to Rio,

“…Meisa. Next time, I’ll be the one to… do it.”

The same Rio who’d been so adorable moments ago was suddenly determined to show her more mature side.

“Alright. I’ll be waiting anytime, Sensei ♡”

“…No calling me Sensei.”

“But you’re using polite speech again yourself, Rio.”

This time spent laughing together in bed renewed my sense of happiness.

　If we could stay together forever, I suppose we’d be happy forever.

It’s thanks to Rio that I can believe that.

Feeling the warmth of my beloved, I close my eyes. I hope I have sweet dreams.

By the way. The expression on Rio’s face, the sound of her voice, the words she gave me.

I’ll never forget them, and I won’t tell anyone. They’re my secret alone.