“Um, customer…? No matter how much of a VIP you are, you do realize that if you cause any material damage to our Golden Fleece, you will be fully responsible for compensation, right?”
“Oh, um. Just gather the scale and amount and bring it, and I’ll take care of it. Plus, I’ll add a little extra for your trouble.”
“Understood, dear customer. I wish you a pleasant time for the remaining duration.”
One Bunny Girl Guard nodded and politely bowed her head before leaving. Given how she watched me and Neru out of the corner of her eye while still managing to say what needed to be said, it seemed that our little fight left quite the impression.
Well, if metal gets twisted in a fight between people, even I would back off.
Speaking of fights, Neru was persistent.
Honestly, I could only describe her as unbelievably tenacious.
Seriously, what kind of a cockroach is she?
When I had her pinned to the floor, she just stared dumbly at the ceiling for a moment before getting back up to charge at me again.
While I was gasping for breath, Neru’s guts and tenacity… to be honest, they seemed to reach some kind of transcendent level.
Well, that aside, the fight ended in my victory. There’s no way I’m so clueless as to fall for Neru’s tricks twice.
Getting caught in a joint lock or a choke isn’t exactly pleasant, so I definitely did my best to avoid it after being seriously hurt once.
In a fair fight, it inevitably turned into a contest of who fights better and endures longer… Neither Neru nor I showed any signs of backing down, resulting in an evenly matched battle where either of us winning wouldn’t have been surprising.
Yet, the reason I was able to claim victory was… well, perhaps because I successfully thwarted Neru’s ploys with Nagisa’s pistol.
Our husband, who could be said to be the hidden hero of this showdown.
I can expect something pretty big tonight, right? Yep, I’m essentially a person who likes clear calculations.
“Hey.”
“Um?”
“Have you cooled down a bit?”
“…Not that I was really angry.”
Hearing Neru’s question made me chuckle.
I don’t really know how it ended up like this, but after our rough brawl, Neru and I were lying flat on the deck side by side. Since we had both put everything we had into this battle, it seemed we needed to rest like this for a while.
Suddenly.
“Ah? After thinking it over like that, just look at the way you’re talking?”
After getting up, Neru started making a racket, and with a glance her way, I couldn’t help but laugh again.
“Aren’t you a lovely little sister who thinks of her big sis like this? ☆”
“…Hah. I should just keep my mouth shut.”
Normally, she would have lunged at me right away, but maybe due to the fact we had a major fight, Neru looked utterly exhausted and collapsed back down.
Well, it’s been a while since we’ve fought with all our might against each other.
“Thanks, Neru. Yep. It really helped relieve my stress.”
“Forget it.”
Oh, a tiredly grumbling Neru is pretty cute…
“By the way…”
Turning my head slightly, I swallowed a chuckle. Looking around at the many dents and deformations in the hull left by our fight reminded me just how absurdly strong my body is.
“After we get the bill, our Yuuka will probably faint, right? She must be itching to eat you guys up.”
“Oh? Whatever. I’d rather deal with the nagging from that accounting guy than let it slide. I’ll take care of our fight.”
“…Hmm? That could be a bit troublesome.”
Neru clicked her tongue, looking at me like I was spouting nonsense.
Then she said, since they had also blown up the system room, it’s fine for Akane to take responsibility for that part too.
After all, Akane was the one who blew up the system room herself, so it’s only fair she faces the consequences for her blunder.
It sounds like it should be obvious she would have to take responsibility, but those C&C guys generally bill all expenses incurred during operations to the seminar. So what’s obvious ends up not being so, and the conclusion remains that Akane will be the one bearing the brunt.
“You’re not wrong. Yep. Honestly, I didn’t expect Akane to bear all that responsibility either.”
Plus, let’s not forget that the one who delivers the final verdict on the amount Akane has to pay is our merciless accountant, who has a backlog of issues with us.
So for this part, as long as Akane properly apologized to Nagisa, we’ll just conclude it here. Yep.
As I was thinking this internally, I caught the sound of clack clack footsteps approaching. I wondered if another Bunny Girl Guard had arrived…
But oh dear. It was a Bunny Girl alright, but she wasn’t a guard.
“Yaho! Hello, Mika and Leader! Looks like you two had fun playing together today!”
“…Wow—oh.”
What a breathtaking sight… I sincerely hope Nagisa will generously forgive me for this moment.
This was something impossible for me, a man in good health back in the day, to look away from, a scene filled with such magical aura…
I have no clue what kind of magic was happening, but that tempting figure, almost overflowing yet precariously held back by Bunny Girl suit, was really…
Hmm. I feel like my conscience is being deeply pricked.
Just when I was wondering if she’d move aside, Asuna squatted down between Neru and me in a bouncy rabbit pose. Then, she offered me a drink from a tray she held with one hand.
“Here, let’s have a toast for the winner!”
“…Heueng. How did you know I won?”
“Um… let’s say, intuition?”
Asuna said with a tilt of her head and a smirk as she raised the glass to my cheek.
“Ugh, it’s cold…”
Startled by the sudden chill radiating from my cheek, I cautiously took the glass. Of course, it was not alcohol; a quick glance revealed it to be some kind of aid.
“Now for our Leader, who did their best but unfortunately lost, a drink!”
“…Ugh.”
With a scowl, Neru stood and snatched the glass from Asuna. Then she slammed it back with one shot.
Gulp gulp, in the blink of an eye, Neru emptied the drink and then casually dropped the empty glass next to her. I worried it might break, but fortunately, it remained intact and rolled away.
“So, where have you been until now?”
“Uh? Just playing with the gacha machines?”
“Yeah, I saw that. But you only got to A or something like that.”
“Ah~! I also grabbed an S-rank afterward! When I asked if that was good, the people here started handing me all sorts of stuff!”
Seeing Asuna grin innocently while she said that made me feel, for some reason, a bit weird—maybe it reminded me of teasing Koyuki.
I imagined myself saying something like, ‘Sorry, but I got mine on my second try☆.’
And for some reason, picturing that made me feel rather annoyed.
…Anyway.
“Now it falls upon you guys and the Teacher to decide where to stay tonight. With the two rooms, the one Koyuki used and the one assigned to Asuna. Yep, as long as you split them properly.”
Though I said “split,” it’s clear that the teacher and the C&C group will have to be separate. We can’t stay together, obviously.
Koyuki? She can just sleep on the floor. I feel not one shred of guilt about that.
“By the way, Leader, this means that the strongest in close combat is now…”
Asuna began, smiling, and I could see Neru’s expression start to sour.
Come to think of it, Neru can no longer claim to be the strongest in close combat. She couldn’t even contest her previous defeat.
Well, I don’t particularly care about that title, but…
“Hahaha!”
“…Is this a joke?! Hey, let’s go again! This time I’ll definitely smash you—”
For some reason, I was feeling quite good.
If you asked me if it felt ugly to be happy for winning against a high school girl, I’d answer no, not at all. Where would the fun be if she were an ordinary high school girl?
If I were to arm-wrestle a fit adult male like our Teacher, I could easily shred his arm in an instant. Doesn’t that count as a definition of a high school girl?
Yep, that certainly means she’s still a high school girl. I absolutely don’t feel any need to emphasize that I’m a high school girl while saying this, but that’s how it is.
Sipping the mango aid Asuna handed me, I gazed dumbly at the starry sky, having finally found my peace this time.
I’d better go down in a bit.
*
“I tell you so!”
“Ugh.”
“I emphasized not to get hurt!”
“Wait a sec…”
“Did I say it or not?!”
“Nagisa-chan, I’ve explained everything—”
“Clattering, are you trying to argue again? Go ahead, I’m curious about what amazing excuse you’ll come up with this time.”
After getting smacked repeatedly by Nagisa, I tried to insist that I won, but ended up getting double the hits. Hmph.
The Teacher, who looked at me sympathetically, rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. Watching the kids chattering around the Teacher made me feel a tinge of jealousy, but I’m definitely not going to say that.
Yep. I’m just happy to have our Nagisa-chan worrying about me. So could you please go easy on the hits a little, Nagisa-chan…
After a while of indulging in Nagisa’s scolding, I quietly slipped the pistol into her holster.
Honestly, I considered shutting her up in a lover’s way again this time, but… I didn’t want to deal with the repercussions, so it was a struggle to just let it slide.
At some point, it seemed Nagisa’s anger had eased or she finished saying what she wanted to. She softly kissed my forehead.
Then, to catch the attention of everyone gathered in our room, she clapped loudly.
“Hey, everyone?”
“Ah, Nagisa—”
The Teacher blinked in surprise, about to say something to Nagisa, whose fingers were pointing toward the room door.
“I would appreciate it if everyone could step out… and please, do not touch the card key this time.”
With a hint of danger in Nagisa’s words, Akane flinched. I heard she accepted the apology, but still poking at that part was so like Nagisa.
It wasn’t said with aggression; rather, it was characteristic of her… ahem.
It didn’t take long for the room to clear out. The moment the door closed, Nagisa gently wrapped her arms around my back.
The smoldering flame of desire that had been postponed for at least a few hours reignited.
