They were in an apartment in the Meguro district.
Startled awake by a sudden sensation against his calf, the
man opened his eyes. Rena was lying with her back to him,
looking at her phone. He wrapped his arm around her
shoulder.
"Morning, Rena," he whispered into her ear, lightly
hugging her from behind. He could feel her supple skin
through the thin fabric of her Gelato Pique loungewear. Her
hair smelled faintly of sweat.
"Hmm?" she said in a cutesy voice, then closed the Twitter
app she'd been looking at. Accepting his embrace, she
turned her head and gave him a vulnerable smile.
"…Morning. Did I wake you up?"
"Yeah. I don't mind."
"You don't?"
She wiggled her hips and flipped over so she was facing
him. Then she reached her arms up and laced her fingers
behind his neck. Squeezed between her arms, her cleavage
deepened and brushed the man's body ever so slightly. She
gazed up at him coyly.
"…I was thinking…"
"What?" he asked, revealing his interest as her sultry eyes
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
focused on him.
"I think you know," she said. She wasn't hiding her
excitement.
"What are you talking about?" he said, feigning ignorance.
She nuzzled closer to him. Their bodies pressed together,
and he could feel her warmth and softness. Her lips brushed
his ear, her breathy voice tickling his eardrums.
"Let's do it again."
Like a spark fanning into a flame, he pulled her to him,
just a little more roughly this time.
* * *
Five or six hours earlier, Rena had been in a free space in
Shibuya. The year was almost over, and Tokyo was still
blanketed in snow. Twelve men and three women were
gathered in the simple, white room furnished only with
tables, chairs, and a cooking area. They were there for a realworld meetup for players of a well-known FPS game.
It was after ten at night. They'd been there for about two
hours, and by this time, everyone was moving around
talking to whoever they wanted. Rena looked around in a
haze, her thinking blurred from drinking.
"You know the video I put up the other day…?"
"I'll follow you on Twitter…"
As the excited voices ricocheted inside her head, she felt
like she was melting airily into the crowd. The shoulders
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
peeking out from the cutouts in her oversized black sweater
were flushed pink. It was obvious that she was drunk, but
she didn't mind.
"You been drinking, Rena-chan?"
A man had sat down next to her, set his chin comfortably
in his hand, and started talking; he went by the name
Rambo. That was his gaming handle; Rena didn't know his
real name. He looked like your typical office worker,
probably in his early thirties. He said he edited online
videos. Behind him, Rena saw he'd brought a younger
coworker named Old Man Hippo. Needless to say, this was
also a gaming handle.
"Yes, I have. Haven't you?" she replied playfully to
Rambo, who was probably a decade older than her. They'd
met for the first time that evening and hadn't talked much
yet, but Rena was already addressing him like a friend.
Old Man Hippo watched them from a few steps back.
"Me? Yeah, I'm drinking," Rambo said, going along with
her friendly tone. He seemed to enjoy it, which was good
because it could have been taken as rude.
Rena was almost elated that it had gone over so well.
"Really?"
"Really."
Yes, she'd won him over. There was a certain type of man
who couldn't resist her catlike friendliness, who instantly
started fawning expectantly over her. She knew that from
experience.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"I see your glass is empty. Shall I get you something?" he
asked in a vaguely theatrical tone.
"Yes, what are you going to have?" Old Man Hippo said,
jumping in as if he'd finally found a role for himself in the
conversation.
Rena smirked a little at his pointless contribution.
"Hmm, let's see…," she said, as if she were carefully
weighing their words.
Rambo was watching her carefully. But when she met his
gaze, he quickly glanced away, as if he couldn't handle it.
From there, his glance flickered to her chest, outlined clearly
by the sweater dress, to her legs below the short hem, before
settling eventually on a wall or his phone. As if she wouldn't
notice.
Old Man Hippo was even worse. He was staring
unswervingly at Rambo, like he was trying to avoid Rena,
and hadn't made eye contact with her once. Then, when he
thought she wasn't looking, his eyes would dart over to her.
Rena sighed softly to herself, holding off on answering their
question.
This type again…
"…How about I make you a mixed drink?" Rambo asked,
apparently unable to stand the silence. The flirtatious way he
said it—"How about I make you one?" not "How about we go
get something together?"—brought her out of her drunken
haze. She looked at Rambo with his insincere, uptight
expression and at Old Man Hippo, who was still shooting
furtive glances at her, and pasted a happy smile on her face.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"That's okay; I'll go get something myself. Wait for me,
'kay?"
"Are you sure…?"
"Of course!"
What boring men.
Having written them off, she stood up and walked over to
the counter. Her flushed shoulders were bare, while her
sweater hid little of her long legs, and her nude stockings
made them look bare. She glanced back at the two men.
Both of them were staring after her greedily.
I'm the object of their desire.
The thought excited her, and she felt a warm, satisfied
sensation spreading over her lower abdomen.
They want me. But they can't have me.
As she walked, she tilted her empty glass up to her lips,
drinking down the melted ice. The clear liquid chilled her
mouth, but her chest remained warm. She'd told them to
wait for her—but she had no intention of returning.
* * *
Every time Rena came to a meetup like this, multiple guys
approached her. She had regular features that she
highlighted with makeup and a feminine figure that she
accentuated with suggestive clothes and shoes. All of it was
selected with men's desires in mind. She was slightly
annoyed when the guys who hit on her weren't her type, but
the excitement of being desired far outweighed the irritation.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
Whenever they expressed their interest, she inevitably
remembered a cardinal truth: Women always lie, and men
are always honest.
"We get along so well, Rena. I can really be myself
around you."
"Stay away from me, you traitor."
"I knew it! I knew we'd get along great!"
"Can you believe she told me I shouldn't worry about it?
That's not how real friends act."
"!"
She leaned on the kitchen window and propped her chin
on her palm, scowling. Outside, the snow was beginning to
melt on the streets of Shibuya. Pushed to the edges of the
sidewalk and crushed underfoot into a slushy mess, it
reminded her of a person who had revealed their true self.
She gazed out at it, her mind wandering. The haze of
alcohol had brought forward a memory from three years
earlier that she couldn't care less about.
She had been seventeen then, still in high school.
She'd already nearly perfected her style, and her
classmates—especially the guys—admired her looks. They
didn't want to date her, really—just to mess around with her.
She was casually aware of that fact. Wearing her uniform
skirt short was an intentional choice, but the way her gym
clothes drew attention to her wasn't. She was a typical high
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
school girl in that she found her feminine body annoying at
times, at least back then.
She belonged to the most popular group, probably
because her looks drew people to her. It wasn't that everyone
in the group got along—more like they used one another as
accessories to strengthen their own position in the
hierarchy. They had an interest in one another, you might
say.
"Ooh, did you redo your nails, Rena?"
"You noticed! Sharp eyes, Shoko! I thought I'd try
something a little bolder."
"The black and pink looks so cute together. It really suits
you."
"Really? Thank you!"
Every time she talked with someone else in the popular
group, they evaluated one another's aesthetic, like they were
keeping a watch on each other. She updated her look
competitively. Sometimes, they competed with each other,
and at other times, they formed a faction to gain the upper
hand over another group. In a sense, they were just passing
time together.
"Rena, you don't keep anything secret from me, do you?"
"Why are you asking me that? Of course I never lie."
"I can trust you that way. I feel like we really get along."
"You do?"
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
Setting aside the question of how deep the other girl's
trust really was, Rena would have been lying if she claimed
the approval didn't make her happy.
If anything set her aside from the others, it was her
tendency to really get into her hobbies. Aside from belonging
to the popular group, she also belonged to a group of girls
with various obsessions. One was really into visual kei
bands, another was a fan of certain online gamers who
streamed with face cams, and another followed underground
boy bands. Then there was Rena, who liked online gaming. A
handful of these girls, all of whom were attractive and flashy
but had somehow strayed from the norm, had crossed the
boundaries between class cliques to form their own small
core group.
Rena didn't feel that she was more her real self in one
group versus the other. If she had to put it into words, she
might have said that she needed both groups in order to fit
both sides of herself—the side that was pretty and the side
that easily became obsessed with hobbies—into the school
community. However, her unique position ended up getting
her into some minor trouble.
One day, Rena was walking home after school with her
classmate Karen, a member of the core group. She often
watched videos on the streaming site TwitCasting and was a
fan of several streamers.
"So does that day work for you?" Karen asked her. "I was
thinking we could do it at my house."
"Yeah, that's good for me," Rena answered.
They were talking about a video game that several
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
members of their group liked. It was an FPS game you could
play on a phone either online or locally, and they were
planning a get-together to play.
"Awesome. So it'll be you, me, Kaoru, Chiri, and…"
"Wait, you invited other people?"
Karen had already named the four core members of their
group, and Rena had assumed that would be it.
"Yeah…Keisuke-kun, Makoto-kun, Yosuke-kun, and
'Yamaken'-san from the grade ahead of us."
"Wow, nice! How'd you get them to say yes?"
"Apparently, they're really into this game."
"Cool."
All four boys had gone to the same school as Rena and
Karen but now were in university or working. They'd all
been very popular, and lots of the younger kids had envied
them. Rena hadn't been especially close with any of them,
but their names alone were enough to make her excited.
A private party with the four of them. And on top of that,
they'd be playing the game Rena loved. She was at a stage in
life where that idea was enough to unleash happy butterflies
in her chest.
"Okay, so I'll leave that day open," she said in a laid-back
tone. She was looking forward to it.
On the day of the party, she went to Karen's house. But
the scene that unfolded in Karen's room wasn't quite what
she had imagined.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
A mixed group of eight was in the small room. They'd
played a few games at the beginning, but after that, it had
devolved into a kind of singles party. Some of the girls and
guys had their arms around each other's waists or shoulders.
You'd never have guessed they were meeting for the first
time that day.
"Come over here, Rena-chan."
"What do you want, Yosuke-kun? Oh well, I guess it's
fine."
The situation had gone a bit beyond what she expected,
but for some reason, she felt comfortable there. Of course,
common sense told her this wasn't pure, innocent fun, and
she knew the boys didn't really respect her. But she felt like
she'd been let in early to the adult world. That feeling of
superiority made her let her guard down.
But a few days later, a problem came up.
"Hey, Rena, I heard you went to Karen's party."
"What, you mean with Keisuke and those guys?"
"Yeah."
She was in the classroom after school when Shoko, a
member of the popular group, approached her sullenly.
"Yosuke-kun was there, too, right?"
"Yeah."
Shoko frowned. "You knew I was dating him, didn't you?"
"Yes, but…I thought you broke up."
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
She still didn't understand what Shoko was after.
"That's not the issue."
"…What's the issue?" Rena asked.
Shoko looked obviously angry now. "It hasn't even been
two weeks since we split up. Don't you think it's a little
insensitive to go after someone's ex that fast?"
"…Is it?" she asked. She didn't see the problem.
Yosuke was Shoko's ex, and he had put his arm around
Rena's shoulder and gotten kind of friendly with her. But
what was wrong with that? She genuinely thought it was
fine, but maybe she'd been feeling even more casual about it
because she'd been part of such a grown-up party. If
anything, it was immature of Shoko to get hung up about
something so minor.
"If you're not together anymore, I don't think it matters
how long it's been."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Fine. I don't know what else to say," Shoko said, then
spun on her heels and walked off.
"Such a baby," Rena said, loud enough for Shoko to hear,
and Shoko shot her a nasty look.
Starting the next day, Shoko and her friends acted
differently toward Rena.
"Morning."
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"Umm…"
In the morning, when Rena tried to say hello to another
member of the popular group, the other girl acted
uncomfortable, like she didn't know what to say. Rena didn't
know exactly what was going on, but she was a free spirit.
Figuring the girl must be sleepy or something, she turned to
another girl without making a big deal of it. The problem
was, everyone acted the same way. Whoever she tried to talk
to in the popular group, they looked awkwardly away from
her. By the time Shoko and every other member had reacted
the same way, Rena understood fully.
She had been ostracized.
They had never been super close friends anyway. In this
group, whose members used one another like accessories,
even the faintest crack could easily break the cohesion. Still,
Rena remembered what Shoko had once said to her. "We get
along so well. I can really be myself around you." Those
words had made Rena happy, and in a way, she'd felt she'd
found her place.
"Ugh."
For a little while at least, she would be isolated in her
class. She laughed at the ridiculousness of it.
"…It really is childish," she snapped, but no one was
listening.
After that, Rena was constantly alone at school. She'd
always been strong-willed and upfront about her likes and
dislikes, so being rejected by Shoko and her group was
enough to make her lose her place in the school overall.
What she hadn't expected was that the members of her core
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
group would gradually begin to avoid her as well. But their
interests had never been entirely aligned anyway. Visual kei
bands, underground rock, streamers, online gaming—they'd
come together to ease their isolation, because no one else
accepted their obsessions. They attracted attention, but they
didn't have a strong position. They didn't have the leeway to
retain a member who had been rejected by the popular
group. Meaning that single incident caused Rena to lose
both groups she'd felt at home in.
Of course, Shoko probably hadn't intended to keep
shunning Rena until they graduated. She'd only meant to
make an example of her because Rena had hit her where she
was weakest. They should have found a chance to make up
after a few weeks.
But a few days after Rena became an outcast, she began to
skip class and soon stopped attending class altogether. The
isolation itself hadn't gotten to her exactly, but being
alienated at school was much more unpleasant than she'd
expected. When she was in the popular group, classmates
had moved aside obsequiously when she passed. Now those
girls who Rena saw as plain and unattractive frowned and
avoided her if she came near. They talked about her loud
enough for her to overhear.
"Ugh, she's coming over here."
"I sure am," she would say back, refusing to give in to
them. But at school, unless you had multiple people on your
side, turning the tide wasn't possible.
"It's her fault for coming."
"I wish she wouldn't."
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"Same here."
"…"
She could defend herself all she wanted, but she may as
well have said nothing. And she was cuter than them, and
her figure was better! She was far ahead of them.
She frowned and pouted, but no one came to her side.
Now that she didn't belong to any group, she was suddenly
dropped to the rock bottom of the hierarchy. Anybody
watching would have felt sorry for her. She decided she'd be
better off disappearing altogether before she started feeling
it, too.
Once she wasn't at school, the hierarchy was gone. She
had no reason to meet with her classmates or group
members, so they could no longer force their lies on her with
the violence of numbers. Instead, she began to meet
regularly with the guys who had been at Karen's party.
"Sorry I'm late, Rena-chan."
"Should we go?"
Keisuke, Makoto, Yosuke, and Yamaken. Before long, she
was close with several of them, including Shoko's ex, Yosuke.
Eventually, she started dating Keisuke, their leader.
"Rena, I heard you quit school."
"Yeah, I did."
"Huh… Well, you'll figure something out. You're hot."
"Ah-ha-ha," she laughed, slipping her arm through
Keisuke's. "…Yes, I think I will."
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
She didn't feel guilty at that moment, much less pitiful.
No—she felt superior. She'd lost her place at school, but she
was second to no one. All these cool university guys wanted
her. She had multiple strongholds. These guys had been
popular since high school, idols of the younger students.
They were far more valuable to her than some random rules
that changed with the whims of the majority, far more
valuable than friendships that only went skin deep.
At school, her place among the girls had been stolen from
her. Mood and words were everything in that realm, and
she'd been dragged through the dirt. But instincts didn't lie.
Guys were forced to show their true colors when she
confronted them with her womanliness. That's why she
didn't believe in words—she believed in feelings. Not logic,
only instinct.
Chin in hand, Rena gazed at the dirty snow outside the
window. It was gray and slushy with footprints, but if you
cut away the top layer, fresh white snow appeared again.
Liars were the same way—the first time they met a guy, they
showed that innocent, unspoiled side. Rena stood in front of
the kitchen counter, looking around the meetup. How many
of these people were really innocent? As for herself, she at
least wanted to be like honest, dirty snow from the start.
What a stupid memory. The alcohol had brought back
Shoko's spiteful face, but Rena chased it from her mind,
laughing it off. She didn't know what had become of Shoko
since then, but such a boring, stupid person had to be having
a boring, stupid twentieth year. Rena set her glass down on
the counter and opened the built-in fridge. She poured some
Campari and grapefruit juice over the ice in her glass,
stirring the cubes with her glittering nails, which faded from
black to purple. She watched happily as the pretty red and
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
yellow liquids blended together among the clinking ice.
It was an unusual color. She could see logic melting slowly
into instinct. She took a sip and, satisfied with the flavor,
lightly licked the traces of alcohol off her nails.
"I'm having another, too."
Rena slowly turned toward the male voice on her right,
arranging her face into a smile. It was Jimmy, another of the
participants. In his late twenties, he wore his dyed-brown
hair in a soft, contemporary style. Each time he moved, a
faint scent of vanilla wafted toward her.
"Oh, Jimmy-san," she said sweetly, scooting over to make
room for him at the counter. The gesture was partly habit,
partly a sign of her acceptance of his overture. At any rate,
Jimmy was a popular YouTube commentator. He was
probably the most famous person at the meetup. She gloated
silently over the fact that he'd approached her, not the other
way around.
"What're you drinking? Looks girly," he said smoothly in
that same voice Rena knew from his videos. She threw him a
vulnerable look.
"This? Campari and grapefruit."
"I see."
"Want a sip?" she asked casually, as if they were old
friends. She held out the glass she'd already taken a few sips
from. He reached for it, smiling at her willingness.
"Sure, why not?"
"Here you go."
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
He took the glass from her with an equally familiar
gesture and gulped down a mouthful. Rena gazed at him
with satisfaction.
"Like it?" she asked flirtatiously. She detected a glint of
curiosity in Jimmy's eyes. She had a physical sense for what
she needed to do in order to pique men's interest.
He held the glass up, clinking the ice cubes, and smoothly
replied, "Not very strong."
"Wow, heavy drinker?" she said, taking a step into his
personal life while at the same time brushing his back with
her hand, as if to whisper to an even more personal side of
him. He smiled casually, then took a few more sips of her
drink, like it was his own. The glass was already half empty.
"This is good. Tastes like juice."
"That's my drink, you know."
"Oh right, I forgot."
He's acting friendly because he thinks my face is pretty,
and he wants to touch my body, and I smell good, and he
thinks he can pull this off. He knew nothing about who she
was as a person, but she much preferred his attitude to false
compliments. He followed his instincts straight toward her
body. Plus, he was the most famous person in the room. She
looked at his profile, a teasing smile on his lips, and thought,
I'd like to make him mine tonight.
"Hey!" she said, caressing his shoulder lightly. He
flinched, a jolt of electricity running through him at the
ticklish sensation. The sight of it turned her on.
"Now, now," he said soothingly, setting his hand on her
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
bare shoulder. Skin met skin, and warmth passed between
them.
"You're burning up!"
"I am? It's because I'm drunk," she said, giggling teasingly
and letting out a sexy sigh. She directed a melting gaze
straight at him.
"Jimmy-san?"
Suddenly, another woman appeared next to him. It was
Vanilla, another female participant, with an empty glass in
her hand. Rena and Jimmy removed their hands from each
other and looked at her.
Her hair was cut in a heavy bob, and she was wearing
fluffy, girly clothes. Rena knew she was participating in the
meetup as a musician who performed in videos. A few
minutes earlier, while Rena and Jimmy were talking, she'd
been watching them from a far table with distaste. Inumaru,
the other female participant, was standing next to Vanilla,
also giving Jimmy unhappy looks. Inumaru had dyed-blond
hair and was dressed in a somewhat gaudy ensemble of
primary colors.
"What's with you two?" Jimmy asked a bit grumpily.
"Jimmy-san, should you really be doing that? Your
girlfriend will be mad," Inumaru whispered at him.
Jimmy frowned and glanced at Rena. Rena had heard
what Inumaru said and was staring at her, expression
unchanged.
"Did you come over here just to say that?"
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"Well, she's my friend, too…"
Jimmy and Inumaru started arguing in hushed voices.
"I haven't even done anything yet!"
"Yet! See, I knew it!"
Rena sighed at the cold water being thrown on her
evening, picked up her glass from the counter, and walked
toward the middle of the room. She wasn't interested in
getting pulled into whatever mess was brewing.
"Excuse me, Rena-san?" Vanilla said in an obviously
hostile tone.
"Hmm? …What is it?" Rena answered, not hiding her
irritation. Vanilla walked over to her.
"Are you after Jimmy-san?" she asked quietly so Jimmy
and Inumaru couldn't hear.
"…What?"
"It's disgusting the way you're trying to seduce him when
there are so many fans who'd like to spend time with him."
Rena frowned in exasperation. The criticism was so
childish, it reminded her of the spat with Shoko. Jealous
women were all the same.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you one of his fans?"
"No…"
"This is a meetup for gamers. I didn't think fans were
allowed."
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
People like Vanilla always blamed someone else when
they thought the thing they wanted was going to be stolen.
They took no responsibility whatsoever for their own lack of
desirability. Rena thought people like that, especially
women, were pitiful.
"…Ugh," she sighed.
"What's with your attitude? How old are you anyway?"
"I'm twenty."
"I'm twenty-five. Don't you find it strange that you're
ignoring a warning from an older woman? No one wants to
see this."
Rena was thoroughly bored by Vanilla's increasingly
heated words.
"So are you a fan or what? It's fine—you don't have to hide
it. There are lots of people like you out there."
"…I am not…"
Rena figured she'd probably been nursing a wound ever
since Jimmy approached Rena. She detested jealous liars
like her.
"If you want him, all you have to do is the same thing I'm
doing," she said venomously.
"You're disgusting…and anyway, he has a girlfriend."
Rena snickered, hoping her disdain would carve Vanilla's
heart right out of her chest.
"You can't do it, can you?" Rena said, taking a step toward
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
her and reaching out to pinch her stomach through her airy
dress.
"What are you…?"
"You let yourself go and try to cover it up with fluffy
clothes. Of course you can't!"
"…You bitch!"
Rena ignored her furious response, but the other
participants seemed to have finally noticed the storm clouds
developing in the corner.
"What's wrong, you two?" one of them said, stepping in to
mediate.
"Come on, let's have a drink and make up," another said.
The men were gathering around them in a panic.
"Whatever," Rena said flatly and walked off.
* * *
Fifteen minutes or so later, Jimmy was sitting at a table
with another participant, apparently having finished his
argument with Inumaru. Rena noticed him, but she didn't
approach him, partly because her little fight with Vanilla had
been so annoying. More than that, though, she knew he'd
come back eventually.
"Rena-san, mind if I sit here?"
"Go right ahead."
So she killed time aimlessly talking to the insignificant
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
men, who approached her completely unprovoked, and filled
herself with alcohol. Really, she wasn't so much killing time
as putting on a performance.
If you don't take me, someone else will.
While you're looking away, I might vanish.
Another fifteen minutes or so passed. Whether from
irritation or impatience she didn't know, but Jimmy finally
walked over to her with a glass in his hand.
"Sorry about earlier."
"Oh, that? It's fine."
He sat down next to her and tapped his glass lightly
against hers. They shared the quiet clink.
"I didn't mean for you to have to listen to that."
"I know." Rena brought her face close to his. "So you have
a girlfriend?"
Her voice was colder than it had been before.
"Oh…well, we're not public about it."
"Hmm."
She placed her hand softly over his where it rested on the
chair. Little by little, their warmth began to spread into each
other again.
"…"
She smiled seductively and whispered breathily into his
ear.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"But you came over to me again?"
She wrapped her fingers around his like tentacles, her
gesture as suggestive as her words. Her caress lit a match to
his instincts. Their entwined fingers were more honest than
anything else, and both were equally hot.
"Didn't you want me to come over?" Jimmy asked,
holding back his excitement even as his fingers continued to
move against hers, devouring the sensation. She knew his
mind must be full of what came next. So was hers.
"Maybe I did."
"I thought so."
Jimmy let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around
her waist. She could feel his muscular, masculine build
through her sweater. It was an indescribably pleasant
sensation, knowing she'd made a place for herself in this
valuable realm that the liars with their lily-white masks
would never reach. She was enjoying her flirtation with
Jimmy to the full.
"Yes, this is what I wanted to do," she said, touching his
leg underneath the table, as close to the hip as she could get
away with. His expression didn't change, but she sensed his
body tense.
"Hmm? What's the matter?" she asked.
"…Nothing."
He was still pretending to be unmoved, but his excitement
was obvious to Rena. His grip on her waist grew tighter, and
both of them had broken out in a light sweat.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"Really? I thought I felt you twitch," she said, sliding her
hand inward. His grip grew even tighter as he pulled her
close.
"Mmm…," she said, much more coquettishly than before,
leaning her upper body against him slightly. "Jimmy-san,
you feel hot."
Instead of answering, he slid his hand up to her side,
pressing in slightly for a better sense of the softness and
curve of her waist.
"So do you."
"But in my case, it's because I'm drunk."
"Well, so am I."
Simply by moving in a tiny bit closer, she was able to
break down the pretense of having everything under control
and brush up against his more primal instincts. Using her
femininity as a weapon, she grabbed hold of the part of him
that could not resist and held his interest.
And he was the most famous person in the room.
He was a powerful branch to land on.
"…Are you now?"
She gazed at him with her sultry eyes; it felt like they were
melting into a single unit.
"So then…we're both drunk?" she said, pouring the rest of
her cocktail down her throat. A pleasant warmth spread
through her brain, the alcohol washing away her logical self.
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
"That we are."
She could hear loud, happy voices in the background. She
gave herself over to the tingly feeling in her hips, and the
intoxication in her head, and the quiet, calm voice in her ear.
She could feel her instincts slipping beyond her control.
Finally, with a sense that they were both falling, she said it.
"Let's go to your place."
* * *
"See you later," Rena said, drying off her hair and leaving
his house. The sun was already rising, and the thought of
getting caught in the morning rush depressed her slightly.
Some of the muddy snow was still lingering along the side of
the road leading to the station. Rena glanced at it, tried
stomping on it once, and was immediately bored.
When she got to the station, she sat down and checked
her Twitter account. Opening up the message folder in her
private account for mutuals, she found ten or eleven follow
requests from guys she'd met at the meetup the previous
night.
"Ah-ha-ha. That's a lot!" she said happily to herself as she
accepted them one after another. Honestly, she didn't know
who was who. But the fact that so many guys were interested
enough in her to go to the trouble of sending a request
pleased her.
But even better than that…
She looked at Jimmy's name in her list of followers. He
only followed two hundred or so accounts, even though
『fb.com/JNovelCodex』
thirty or forty thousand people followed him. When she
thought about the fact that she was among the less than 1
percent who got to be mutuals, she began to shake with
excitement. She wondered how many of those two hundred
were women he'd had a relationship with. She felt as if her
identity as a woman had been affirmed by the numbers.
Rena slowly recrossed her legs below her sweater dress.
That alone was enough to make men aware of her. Just then,
her phone buzzed with a Twitter message notification.
"Huh?"
She was surprised to see it was a follow request—from the
very same Vanilla she'd bickered with the night before. She
thought about it for a moment, then figured it out.
"…She couldn't let it go."
She must have been unable to ignore the fact that Rena
and Jimmy had left together. After all, she'd been quite stuck
on him. Rena scrolled through Vanilla's account and found a
bunch of tweets praising Jimmy's work as a commentator.
"Aha…I knew she was a fan. Liar."
She giggled. If another girl lied, all she had to do in return
was tell the truth. So at eight o'clock that morning, half
playfully and half provocatively, she sent the following
tweet:
Heading home now.
Ten minutes or so later, Jimmy liked the tweet. Only then
did Rena accept Vanilla's follow request.