As I headed to the room, Nagisa’s expression was as dull as ever. No matter how luxurious the cruise ship was, it seemed hard to draw a great reaction from her.
Well, her usual environment was the academia of Trinity, which had a heavy religious tone, and she belonged to T-party, after all.
To put it bluntly, wouldn’t that make her part of the upper crust known as nobility? And T-party was right at the top of that hierarchy, so it made sense. Yup.
“It’s ordinary.”
“Haha, indeed.”
The room provided by the Golden Fleece was unremarkable. It had no jagged corners but also didn’t have any standout features.
The decor was neat enough to give it a moderately luxurious feel, making me think that it wouldn’t be bad to just use this as it is.
By the way, if this is considered B-class, I wonder what the lower-class rooms are like? Who would want to stay in a subpar room after coming on a cruise? Thinking about it, perhaps the selection was somewhat reasonable…?
You know, it’s simply a concept of buying service. Everyone wants to have visible services like rooms or meals.
“Mika, justifying gambling like that is problematic.”
“…Honestly, I don’t think lotteries are gambling.”
“What did you just say? I’d appreciate it if you could repeat that once more.”
Though Nagisa was saying it with a smile, there was an edge to her tone that didn’t share in the laughter. Naturally, I scratched my cheek awkwardly.
“Hey Nagisa, do you know you look super pretty today?”
“Where’s that coming from? Ah… wait! Let me look around the ship first…!”
When my hand touched her lower back, she waved it off in a fluster, but I didn’t back down. After bombarding her with kisses to cloud her mind, I pulled a shopping bag out from the space between our bags.
“Nagisa, wait a second!”
For this trip, and to show my appreciation for our Nagisa, I had something special prepared inside.
Ignoring Nagisa’s dubious gaze, I slipped into the bathroom of the room. Then slowly, I began to take off my school uniform piece by piece.
After throwing off my cape and dress, I looked at myself in the mirror. A beautiful girl, as if sculpted by a goddess of beauty, stared back at me from the glass.
No surprises happened. My world remained quiet.
The real Mika, cloaked in mystery, certainly existed somewhere within me; nonetheless, no unusual movements occurred beyond the mirror. If I felt like I was looking at a fool in my own reflection, that was probably just my imagination.
I opened the shopping bag and pulled out my custom-made outfit.
A white leotard and cuffs, a collar. On top of that, a headband with white bunny ears, plus high heels.
It was undoubtedly a classic bunny girl outfit.
Glancing down to check my body, I idly touched the stockings. Instead of standard pantyhose, I was wearing the combination of a garter belt and white stockings, but they would suit me just fine.
As long as the base supported it, white could never fail.
Lifting the nipple patches, Hina popped into my mind, making me chuckle.
The back structure of the leotard was somewhat unique. They had made a circular opening at the lower back to accommodate the wings. However, the upper part could be zipped up, allowing me to awkwardly manage to put it on by myself.
… I did practice beforehand, but if I couldn’t wear it, that would be a problem too.
Anyway. One by one, I wore the cuffs and collar, and I checked my reflection in the mirror. Clad entirely in white from head to toe, I was literally the perfect white rabbit.
Thinking about showing this to others made my stomach churn a bit, but recalling it was for Nagisa helped me calm down quickly.
The reason I went through the trouble of dressing up as a bunny girl was wholly to perfectly satisfy the innate desire to show off.
Everyone has the urge to flaunt their partner or something equivalent to them by their side. Whether it’s a guy or a girl, it doesn’t matter much.
When I think about the most dazzling woman at a party resting a hand on my arm, surrounded by envious, jealous, amazed gazes, it’s easy to understand.
For the sake of that psychological satisfaction, I braved the embarrassment to prepare this event somewhere not just for the two of us. Even so, because it was embarrassing, the Golden Fleece ship, where Bunny Girl Guards were waiting all around, was the perfect backdrop to hide my feelings.
As I turned slightly and peeked my rear into the mirror, my cute bunny tail wiggled. The wings fluttered naturally, mirroring my emotions.
Yup, perfect.
With this, Nagisa would surely like it.
… Oh, right.
I forgot to attach a ribbon to the collar. The moment I tied on the usual ribbon I wore with my cape, my outfit became perfect at last.
Now it was time to enjoy the reaction.
Click.
Quietly opening the bathroom door, I saw Nagisa sitting on the bed, facing away from me. As I approached slowly, I noticed she was tapping away at her phone screen.
Should I surprise her or not? I pondered for a moment and concluded that my outfit alone was sufficient; there was no need for anything extra.
Slide, I sat next to her, naturally catching a glimpse of what was displayed on her screen.
Momotalk. Since there were multiple recipients, it seemed to be a group chat, and among the profiles, I recognized… Hina and Hanako?
“M-Mika?!”
“Yup?”
It wasn’t polite to look overtly at the contents, so I refrained, but Nagisa abruptly closed her phone, preventing me from seeing.
What a bummer. That looked like the group chat of the infamous husbands, and now I was curious about what discussions went on in there.
“Could you at least acknowledge that you’ve arrived? Uh, wait a moment. Mika, your outfit…”
“Yeah, what do you think? Do you like it?”
“…”
Nagisa’s gaze swept quickly over my entire body. From the bunny headband down to the heels.
Then again, she checked me more slowly, starting from the bottom, taking in the stockings and garter belt. As she narrowed her brow at my bosom, which seemed larger than what was covered, I couldn’t help but look away.
… Even so, it was a bit embarrassing. It felt like I was being teased.
Finally, her chestnut eyes met mine directly. As her gaze drew a sharp line, I flinched despite having done nothing wrong.
“I think… an explanation is in order.”
“Oh? That needed an explanation? Hmm? You usually don’t seem to mind me dressing up in various outfits…”
“Well, of course… Haa. Mika, do you think it’s the same to do that in private versus in front of everyone?”
“Haha, of course that’s not the case.”
That, indeed, couldn’t possibly be the same. The former was honestly so comfortable that it hardly invoked any sense of shame.
Of course, it hadn’t always been that way.
Once we reached a point where we’d seen everything about each other, I set aside my shame.
But exposing myself to the eyes of others still felt embarrassing.
Even if in my not-so-humble opinion, this body wouldn’t lose out to anyone in Kivotos…
Showing that off to others was a different matter. If I hadn’t become less resistant through idol activities, I probably wouldn’t have dressed up as a bunny girl outside the bedroom.
“But it’s fine. The guards are all dressed as bunny girls here, right?”
“That’s basically the vibe of this ship. A cruise of unwholesome pleasure…!”
“Hm. That much seems plausible, but… Anyway, I meant that my outfit wouldn’t stand out.”
“… Mika, have you considered that your very presence stands out here?”
Nagisa was funny. Saying that while sneakily glancing down.
Eh, no need to explain further.
“A picture is worth a thousand words! I’m sure Nagisa will understand why I wore this when we step outside.”
“Wait, wait a moment. Mika, how about we think rationally here? If we go out like this, there might be articles written about how we’re tarnishing T-party’s reputation. That’s not suitable for someone representing T-party… Kyaa?!”
“Haha! Nagisa, aren’t you being a tad too wordy?! This is a vacation, Nagisa. Yup. Here, let’s just enjoy ourselves and leave behind all those complicated thoughts☆.”
Of course, I knew it was hard for someone in our position to genuinely take a vacation. I was aware that an incident would likely happen on this ship soon enough.
But what does that have to do with us? I came here to faithfully live in the moment and create precious memories with Nagisa.
An article? Let it come! I’d be curious about what kind of articles would appear while dangling on Nagisa’s arm in this outfit.
The scandalous relationship of the T-party host: The reality of a power-maintaining bedding service?!
If that article came out, I’d be willing to read it and laugh heartily.
“Mika…!”
Naturally, I linked arms with Nagisa as we stepped outside the room.
What was it again? When was it? I once preached to the Arius Squad kids about the true essence of Vanitas vanitatum.
If everything is vanity, then we should cherish the moments we have now. We must live in accordance with that.
Memento mori.
We will die someday. Because life is finite, we can accept the emptiness and dedicate ourselves to the present.
Carpe diem.
Therefore, I would put all my effort into fully enjoying this moment, and I hoped Nagisa would too.
Fulfilling every moment with the one I cherish, and if I could enjoy the circumstances I was given forever, then what greater happiness could there be?
I wanted to become someone who lived today to prepare for the future rather than someone preparing for the future to live today.
By the way, it was a little disappointing that she didn’t say a single word about how pretty I looked.
But it didn’t matter much since I already knew.
