My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 354

"Currently, none of us have smartphones."

Shuidou spoke out suddenly.

"In other words, no one can use social media or other means to spread information...and they probably didn't take any photos or videos either, so they can't go around gossiping with conclusive evidence."

"So, that means...?"

"It means that if we want to catch the culprit, we have to do it before the school trip ends."

Mizuto pointed to the figure—a tree branch where the suspect had left bloodstains—and said.

"By then, the injury will have healed. What do you think we should do?"

Later, I said goodbye to Shuidou at the elevator and went straight back to my room.

Someone saw me with Mizuto.

Who is it? And why?

Just now, Mizuto asked me what I wanted to do, and I couldn't answer right away. The best way, of course, would be to find the culprit and ask him to keep it a secret, but I don't know if that's even possible... If things really escalate to the point where I have to be prepared to go all out and confess to everyone.

I never expected that on the very first day of the school trip, I would find myself in such a dilemma...

Seeing my anxiety, Shuidou comforted me:

Things can't get any worse. We haven't done anything wrong, have we?

Yes... he's right, we didn't do anything wrong.

But I still couldn't shake off the unease in my heart. Mizuto even put his arm around my shoulder and spent some time comforting me…

I sighed, opened the door, and peeked into the bedroom from the hallway. I found only Asuha-in was inside. She had spread out her reference books on the table and was reviewing her lessons.

"……I'm back."

Hearing me say that, Asuha-in looked up and replied, "You're back."

I felt completely exhausted and collapsed onto my bed.

Although things have been a bit awkward between Asuhain and me lately, I'm still glad there's someone in the room. If I were alone, my anxiety would probably keep growing.

"Have you been studying all this time?"

To forget my unease, I talked to Asuhain.

"yes."

She gave a brief answer.

"Haven't you showered yet? It'll be too late if you don't..."

I glanced at the clock in the room; it was almost 9:30. There was only half an hour left before lights out.

Asahi-no-in looked at the clock and said:

"That's...right. I'll go wash up then."

She snapped the reference book shut.

Hmm... Such a businesslike conversation.

Asahi-no-in put the reference book back into her bag, then took out a change of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom.

In that instant, I had a feeling that I saw an opened box of Band-Aids in Asuha-in's bag.

Asuka Ran◆Wound

I put the spare clothes I brought on the sink and started taking them off.

I unbuttoned my shirt, pulled my arms off the sleeves, loosened my belt so my denim pants fell to my feet, and my reflection in the sink mirror showed me in just my underwear.

Normally, I would look at my large, useless breasts and feel depressed at times like this. But right now, something else is making me even more depressed.

"........."

I didn't say a word, and rubbed the outside of my right thigh with my fingers.

There, there was a band-aid that had just been applied.

(Illustration 007)

Volume 11 Anyway You Won't Understand Chapter 2 The Day After the Chaos and Loss

Irito Yume ◆ Most likely to lose her rationality in the morning

The morning light stung my eyelids, and I vaguely awoke to find myself enveloped by something soft.

There's a lovely fragrance... and I can even hear cute, soft snoring sounds...

I slowly opened my eyelids.

Before my eyes was Dongtou's sleeping face.

"........."

"...Snoring~..."

I think... she hugged me, like I was being used as a pillow.

Of course, I don't remember sleeping in the same bed as my classmate from the east end. I guess she rolled over in her sleep, reached out and touched me, and hugged me. Because the two beds were placed side by side.

"Dongtou classmate, Dongtou classmate..."

"Snoring..."

No, I can't wake him up.

In this case……

I slipped my hand between myself and my classmate from the east end, and grasped the plump fat pressing against me.

"Meow...meow?"

Wow... she's not wearing a bra. Her fingers are practically sinking into it...

"Mmm...mmm, oh...ah♥"

The moment the teasing whisper was uttered, Dongtou's eyes snapped open.

Our eyes met, and we looked directly into each other's eyes.

"Good morning."

"...Huh?"

After blinking several times, Dongtou's face, which had just woken up, gradually turned red.

"No, no, no, it can't be... We... finally...!"

"No, no, it's just that you rolled onto my bed in your sleep. What did you mean 'finally'?"

"Ah... I see, I'm so sorry... But if that's the case, why did you touch my breasts...?"

"I wanted to say that this would wake you up."

"Ah—I see..."

Actually, it was because it looked so big and soft that I couldn't help but want to touch it. Luckily, she had just woken up, so I managed to fool her.

"No, I'm sorry, I'll leave right away..."

"It's okay, I'm not angry. Besides, Dongtou's body is so warm and soft, it makes you want to hug him in the morning..."

Perhaps I was still a little sleepy, because I gave in to my desires and hugged Dongtou tightly. Dongtou blushed even more, and was so startled that he almost rolled his eyes back.

"Yui-Yui, please don't do this...!"

"I'm sorry, you don't like me doing this?"

"It's not that I don't like it... but doing this so early in the morning is a bit too much of a shock...!"

"Hehe, so flustered...so cute♥"

I said this to Dongtou, forehead to forehead, and her face finally turned as red as a cooked octopus, and she became limp and exhausted.

"If it's Yui-chan... I'm willing... please be gentle with me..."

"Really? Then I won't be polite—"

"No! You can't touch me there all of a sudden..."

"What are you all doing so early in the morning?!"

The blankets that were wrapped around us were ripped off.

Xiaoyue gripped the bedsheet tightly, glaring angrily down at me and Dongtou, who were entangled on the bed.

I tried to make excuses.

"We were just joking around..."

"Let me join too—!"

Xiaoyue, with her petite frame, pounced on the bed, trying to squeeze between us.

Seeing us calling out to them so early in the morning, Mingri Yeyuan looked completely dumbfounded.

Irito Mizuto ◆ A Meaningless Event

"How could it be that you were almost kidnapped by her?"

As I was grabbing food from the breakfast buffet area, I said this to the girl next to me.

Jie put the spaghetti onto her plate and awkwardly looked away.

"No...who told Dongtou to react so cutely, I just..."

"This doesn't seem like the behavior of someone who's always worried I'll steal food."

"But...but that was just physical contact between girls! It was just them joking around!"

The woman quickly denied it, revealing that she had changed her outfit to trousers, wearing a shirt with a tank top over it and skinny jeans. She probably chose comfortable clothing because she planned to walk a lot that day.

As I sighed in disbelief, I said:

"If she's serious, no matter how much you insist it's just a joke, it won't change anything."

"what?"

"I think Isana is the type who's attractive to both men and women."

"Is...is that so!"

"You know how interested she is in women's bodies. Whether she consumes them as content or actually feels sexual desire for them, only she knows—or maybe even she doesn't know herself."

After all, she had never even had a first love before confessing her feelings to me. Now I'm not sure if she's still interested in real-life relationships; I just feel like her sex drive seems stronger than most people's.

The girl's face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head, muttering to herself:

"Oh, I see... I'll have to be careful then..."

"...And what about you? Do you...?"

"No, no, no, I can't!"

The woman waved her hands frantically in denial. "I don't care, but depending on the situation, we might need to expand the perimeter."

Then she tilted her head and murmured in surprise:

"On another note, why did she suddenly act like that today...? She was perfectly normal until yesterday..."

...Could it be that that guy couldn't hold it in any longer and wanted to vent?

Living an ascetic life that left her no time to paint may have accumulated some stress for her.

Regardless, the little misunderstanding with Isana seems to have helped her forget about last night. It was expected she would become even more worried and frightened, but it could be said that she benefited from the misfortune.

Talking for too long in private would arouse suspicion from others. Our plates were full of food, so we returned to our reserved seats.

Our group of six was already seated. Everyone was dressed in a way that matched the Okinawan style. Kawanami was wearing a neat and tidy T-shirt and shorts, Minami was wearing a loose T-shirt with mysterious English words on it, Asuhain had tucked a light and thin shirt into her skirt and pants, and Isana was dressed in the kind of long dress that a young lady from a summer resort would wear.

It seems that the clothes Izana wore during the school trip were picked out by Yui and the others. Even though she started drawing illustrations of various outfits, she was still just as careless about her own clothes (or rather, she wanted to draw uniforms whenever she had the chance to do illustrations).

We had planned to discuss today's itinerary while having breakfast—but things changed.

For some reason, Kawanami and Minami both had sour faces and tilted their heads.

"What's wrong, Xiaoyue? Why are you frowning so much?"