Taking a deep breath to calm the resentment and dissatisfaction in her heart, Shinomiya Natsuha nodded and replied, "Yes, I know."
"In fact, I do have a girlfriend, but, well, I actually have three and a half girlfriends and a fiancée..."
What?!
Blinking in disbelief, thinking that she had heard wrongly, the girl slowly shifted her gaze from the distant view to Sasaki's embarrassed face, tilting her head in confusion. "Huh?"
"Yes!" Meeting her blank, almost broken expression, the boy gulped and nodded slightly.
"Huh".
After getting Sasaki's confirmation, Shinomiya Natsuha's heavy breathing accompanied the rise and fall of her impressive chest, her clear inhalation reaching Sasaki's ears.
"Natsuha~" Sasaki called softly, his heart racing at the sound of her breath.
Although he was sure that she could not escape from his palm, but this was the result, not the process.
Sasaki could only guess how she would react and what decision she would make.
After all, people can do anything in a fit of anger, except solve math problems.
So, there was even a small chance she might pull out a knife from somewhere and stab him.
Seeing her close her eyes and her chest heave up and down, ignoring him, Sasaki came face to face with her and held her hands, calling her name again.
"Natsuha~"
She was very angry, extremely angry, almost to the point of explosion.
But after a moment of calm, Shinomiya Natsuha realized that for her, as a 'third party', Sasaki having one or two or even...
'No, I'm still very angry!'
Before he could respond, the girl, who had never seen a man openly admit to having four girlfriends, raised her fist and punched his shoulder in frustration.
Even though Sasaki's number of girlfriends didn't change the fact that she was a 'homewrecker',
Shinomiya Natsuha had always had a strong obsession with 'one true love for a lifetime'.
She could reluctantly accept 'one true love and three people', because she was a 'third party' meddling between a happy couple,
But now,
How did it turn into 'one true love and six people'?
Her beautiful fantasy was completely shattered into pieces by the boy in front of her,
And now, it replaced by an image of her lying on a bed with several other girls, moaning and screaming, which made her blush with shame.
Never having experienced such a ridiculous situation, Shinomiya Natsuha's cheeks turned red as she clenched her fists and said, "Were you a carrot in your past life? Why are you so awful?"
'No, I'm pretty sure I was human in my past life, but you wouldn't believe me if I said so.'
Looking at her angry, glaring expression, Sasaki didn't say anything.
He lowered his head, gently opened her clenched fists, and rubbed her fingers softly.
He knew that it was useless for him to say anything now.
She didn't want to listen to his explanation at all.
Because no matter what he said now, it wouldn't change the facts.
So what he needed to do now, was to let her vent her frustration, vent them completely.
Getting a promise from her while she was out of her mind moaning and gasping in bed wouldn't help
Because whether she could accept it or not would not be determined by what she says, but by what she does.
If she couldn't vent her frustration, she'd get angrier over time.
Thinking he had her promise might make him overlook the issue.
But even an elementary school student knows that if you only write the "result" but not the "process" in answering questions, the "teacher" will not give you any points.
That's why Sasaki didn't leave the explanation for their second session in the bed.
Because, knew it wouldn't help.
Since he had her, he didn't want to leave any grievances and differences between them.
So, Sasaki jusr let her stare at him like the heartless man he was.
Feeling her most intense anger had passed, he then looked up and met her tear-filled, angry eyes.
"Natsuha~"
Seeing him smiling apologetically and calling her name gently, Shinomiya Natsuha wanted to leave without a word and ignore him for a few days to make him reflect on his infidelity.
But she was afraid of what would happen if she did that.
During those days, he'd obviously find out about her past relationship with Yamano Yuuta and what happened today.
After all, in the afternoon, she was still someone else's girlfriend and then confirmed a relationship with Sasaki in the evening, which looked like a joke no matter how one looked at it.
If he truly understood the whole story, he might understand her disappointment with Yamano Yuuta after the betrayal.
But what she feared the most was him having a vague understanding of her situation.
Because if he only knew bits and pieces, he might imagine all sorts of things.
Although not many people at school knew about her relationship with Yamano, there were still some who knew.
If Sasaki really wanted to ask, it wouldn't be difficult to find out.
And the fact that she asked for leave this afternoon...the entire Aikido club knew about it.
If he pieced together the events of today and tonight...
It wouldn't matter whether the outcome would be good or bad, because it would definitely affect their current relationship.
Yes, she disliked Sasaki's philandering because he was her lover, who didn't love her alone.
But she just hated his fickleness and had no dissatisfaction with their current relationship.
So after thinking it over, she could only put the topic aside.
The anger could be regenerated later, but the relationship could not be severed now.
If their relationship broke down, everything would be gone.
Taking a deep breath to dispel her frustration, Shinomiya Natsuha glared and hummed, "What is it?"
Seeing that she didn't ignore him and responded, Sasaki knew that her anger had subsided a lot.
Instead of asking if she was still mad, he held her hand and pointed towards a convenience store:
"Are you hungry? Do you want to buy something to eat?"
"No, I'm not hungry. My mom left me some food, so let's skip buying anything."
"Then at least get a hot drink. You must be thirsty."
Thinking he noticed her lips being dry, Shinomiya Natsuha instinctively licked them but didn't feel any chapping.
Seeing her confusion, Sasaki pulled her towards the vending machine and winked at her with a smile.
Natsuha wasn't dumb;
How could she not understand what he meant by his suggestive and teasing wink?.
She reached out to hit him in shame and anger, straightening her still slightly weak legs and softly scolded:
"You... you really are terrible!"
"What did I do?"
"You winked!"
"Am I not allowed to wink?"
"Who winks while smiling like that!"
"Huh? Did I?"
"Did you...? You've been smiling the whole time, you never stopped!"
"I was just thinking of something happy."
"And what happy thing is that?"
Looking at the girl, who was questioning herself stubbornly.
Sasaki handed her a hot drink from the vending machine while shaking a can of cola in his own hand.
After shaking it vigorously, he gently opened the tab.
Fssshhh!
Foam mixed with cola sprayed out of the narrow can opening, drenching his hand.
Demonstrating to the now dumbfounded Natsuha, Sasaki tilted his head back and finished the remaining cola, smiling as he remarked:
"Well, I'm happy because I drank cola. It's sweet and tastes good~"
!?
Compared to middle school, Shinomiya Natsuha's resistance to such jokes had significantly increased.
However, having such private matters vividly demonstrated by Sasaki would make any girl blush.
While she was passionate in bed, she hadn't yet reached the point where she could accept such teasing without changing her expression.
Her already flushed face turned beet red as she held the hot drink, continuously hitting and scolding him:
"Terrible, terrible, terrible! You're such a nasty guy! How can anyone joke with a girl like that? You're the worst!"
Taking advantage of her hitting, Sasaki slowly moved closer, held her soft and fragrant body in his arms, and coaxed her softly.
"How am I nasty? You can't say that~."
"What is our relationship now?"
"Just normal clas—"
"Hmm?!"
Seeing his annoying face, Natsuha was about to say 'just normal classmates' to annoy him, but his gentle touch on her skirt made her swallow the last word.
"Normal couple, I mean normal couple."
It was already past nine at night, and there were still people out walking their dogs, jogging, or just taking a stroll after dinner.
While no one paid attention to this young couple, Sasaki wasn't a pervert and would never embarrass her in public.
So he just scared her a bit before withdrawing his hand.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and continued walking towards her home at a steady pace, speaking "Since we are lovers, jokes like that aren't really bad. I didn't say anything directly."
"And besides... the one who did that is you, Natsuha. I got quite wet."
"This..."
Before the girl could shyly argue back, Sasaki gently pinched the soft flesh at her waist and leaned in to nibble on her warm, tender ear, murmuring:
"But I really like the shy expressions you make, Natsuha. It's completely different from your usual self~"
Caught off guard by the nibble on her ear, the girl shivered as if electrified and then, as if her bones had been pulled out, she fell limp in Sasaki's arms:
"You..."
Her voice was soft and sweet, almost like a gentle whisper, but with a hint of restraint.
And she also knew that her words were strange, so she said one word and then shut up.
Releasing her ear, Sasaki looked down at her.
Seeing her tightly pressed lips, flushed cheeks, her head titled, resting softly on his chest, the boy suddenly realized:
"I was wondering, why didn't you let me kiss your neck before? It turns out you were afraid that I would touch your ears~."
Sasaki's act of pretending not to know was completely unconvincing, given his deliberate actions.
Pressing her slender, fair legs together, Natsuha gritted her teeth, "You already figured it out, didn't you? Why didn't I see before that you're such a bad person?"
Not responding to the 'bad' label attached to him,
Glancing at her slightly awkward walking posture, Sasaki felt a mix of amusement and helplessness at her dual nature, in and out of bed..
Obviously she was quite bold and responsive in bed.
But now, too shy and quick to scold him for jokes once dressed.
Well...it seemed like she... still needed some training!
Thinking this, Sasaki held her close and gently kissed her forehead, "It's because I love you, Natsuha~"
"Hah, love split five ways~"
Unable to resist a sarcastic comment, Natsuha decided not to dwell on it too much.
She could be angry later; there would be plenty of time for that!
Right now, she needed to tell him about her situation.
Nestling into his arms, she tugged lightly on his shirt and continued, "Will you love me forever?"
"Yes, you'll be mine for the rest of our lives!"
Unlike boys, girls love hearing promises from their partners.
Even if the promise seems insincere, they love hearing it.
So when he responded, Natsuha asked, "If... I'm just saying if, before you..."
Knowing what she was about to say, Sasaki took over and said:
"You want to say you had a boyfriend before, right?"
"Uh..."