Chapter: 46. The Struggle to Survive
The next morning.
Mana, dressed in a neat school uniform, stood in front of Nagino’s room.
“Nagino-chan, are you awake?”
This was her third time knocking on Nagino’s door, starting with a gentle tap and now escalating to urgent knocks.
From just now, Mana, with her extraordinary senses, detected the absence of any response coming from the room.
“Could it be…”
Given that there had been an incident involving an attack on a student the day before, especially since Nagino was one of the involved parties, various factors caused Mana to lose her usual composure. Worried about Nagino, she made the decision to force her way into the room.
As magic flowed through Mana’s body, her eyes, as dazzling and beautiful as rubies, flashed with a red light.
In the next moment.
The door of Nagino’s room was deformed by a gust of wind pressure, with a crisp “crack,” turning the wooden door into an arch and twisting the lock.
Upon entering Nagino’s room, Mana found it clean and tidy, but completely empty. The bedding was neatly arranged, indicating that it did not seem like anyone had slept there the night before.
Not seeing the scene she feared, Mana let out a slight sigh of relief.
But soon, new questions surfaced in her mind.
If Nagino wasn’t in her room last night, where could she have gone?
Mana immediately thought of the only possible answer.
—————–
The noise from upstairs woke Kanade from his sleep.
As his consciousness returned from the dream world.
Before his still-groggy mind fully recuperated, it first received information about being pressed against an incredibly soft and warm object, along with the silky, delicate texture of exposed skin.
Feeling so comfortable that his spine trembled, Kanade couldn’t help but stretch and yawn.
With this reaction, a gentle and sighing voice suddenly reached his ears.
This made Kanade’s eyes go wide, shaking off all traces of sleepiness.
His head turned like a rusty mechanical toy, and what came into view was a sleeping black-haired angel.
Her peaceful, adorable sleeping face was bathed in the soft light from outside the window, evoking a sense of tenderness.
At that moment, Kanade remembered what had happened the previous night.
In order to calm Nagino’s emotions, he had to indulge her whim and sleep on the same bed.
But Kanade clearly remembered that he was facing away from Nagino at the time, carefully positioning his body to avoid any contact with her skin, maintaining a very uncomfortable and painful side-sleeping position.
Yet now he was being held like a pillow by Nagino.
For some unknown reason, her slender, fair arms were wrapped around his neck, and almost half of her body was pressed against him, her soft peaks compressing his arm and leading it deep into that alluring valley.
Kanade finally understood the true nature of what he had felt upon waking up.
—So Nagino’s sleeping posture is that bad?
While Kanade silently complained in his mind, his gaze inadvertently fell upon the alluring white valley so close at hand.
Faced with this enticing sight, he couldn’t help but swallow hard, recalling the top-notch sensations he had experienced the previous morning, and a wicked thought quietly crept into his mind.
—If it’s now, accidentally touching is… pretty normal, right?
Longing to experience the sensation from yesterday, Kanade’s instincts took over his mind at that moment, and he slowly reached with the hand that was still free toward Nagino’s chest—
—I’m, I just want to free my other arm…
—It’s not like I have any bad intentions toward Nagino, hmm, so it’s completely fine…
Just when Kanade’s hand was one centimeter away from those soft, white peaks that resembled two pieces of snow-white rice cake, an urgent knocking suddenly rang out.
“Tsukimi-kun, are you awake?”
Mana’s voice came right after the knocking, startling Kanade’s hand so much that it jerked back like it had received an electric shock.
Due to the coincidence of the timing, Kanade felt an overwhelming sense of shame at being caught in the act.
As his mind raced, contemplating how to handle Mana at that moment.
Unexpectedly, Mana showed no intention of waiting for his response, as if her inquiry was merely out of basic politeness.
“Tsukimi-kun, I’m coming in.”
“Ah?! W-wait—!” Kanade was momentarily stunned, then shouted in panic.
Unfortunately, Mana was already ahead of him and pushed the door open.
—Oh no!? If Mana sees this scene!
In his frantic state, Kanade attempted to struggle and get up.
At the very least, he needed to escape Nagino’s embrace—
At that very moment, the still-sleeping Nagino coincidentally stretched out her leg, placing it on Kanade’s lower body.
This meant that Kanade’s plan to break free was immediately thwarted.
—!!? Nagino-san!!??
The worst part was that Kanade’s physiological reaction, common among boys in the morning, was in full effect, while the sleeping Nagino’s actions perfectly trapped that part of him between her slender little leg and her soft, plump thigh — snugly wedged against the inside of her knee—
!!!??
Kanade’s eyes widened in horror at the sight.
Then, in the next second.
Standing at the door, Mana fixed her gaze upon Kanade with an expression as cold as absolute zero.
“T-that, um, Mana-chan, let me explain, it’s not what you think…” Kanade broke out into a cold sweat under her stare.
“Alright.”
“Eh?” To Kanade’s surprise, Mana’s response was completely unexpected.
—Mana has suddenly become so understanding?!
—Could it be that she understands my predicament, and this unexpected accident could lead to a perfect resolution with an acquittal…
“Before Tsukimi-kun and that pillar of yours sink into the sea, I’ll give you some time to leave your last words.”
—As expected, it’s the death penalty.
But he couldn’t blame her.
Sharing a bed with his childhood friend, who is of the opposite sex but not in a romantic relationship, already cast suspicion on him. Coupled with his current mortifying posture, even though this is a natural reaction for boys in the morning, it puts him in an extremely awkward position…
He wouldn’t even be surprised if the death penalty was carried out immediately.
—No, rather, this feels really comfortable.
—Is every part of Nagino’s body like this…? No, no, what am I thinking?!
Knowing that he was definitely headed for doom, Kanade decided to make a desperate last stand.
“Mana, listen to me, this is all just because Nagino was scared after what happened yesterday, and she wanted to sleep with me like before! I absolutely did not do anything to Nagino… I swear!” While saying this, Kanade suddenly recalled what had happened in the bathroom and stumbled slightly.
But in the next second, driven by his instinct for survival, he pushed aside those details and continued.
Surprisingly, Mana really showed a hint of a helpless expression and sighed.
Her icy gaze softened a bit.
It seemed that Nagino’s experience yesterday had granted Kanade the right to live in Mana’s mind.
—So good, so good…
Just as Kanade thought he had escaped disaster—
“…Mmm~ Kanade-kun… Daddy~”
…..
Both Kanade and Mana froze.
“…Daddy?” Mana’s gaze turned even colder than before, a hundred times worse than before.
“No, it’s really a huge misunderstanding—!”
