"Keep your voice down!" The ghost girl snarled as she stumbled slowly toward him. Scared for his life, Shouichi was huddling in the corner of his bed, covering his face with a blanket.
"Ayane?!" A sudden realisation came, he recognised the girl from her unique vanilla scent. The eerie girl stopped the pretence, fixing her jet-black hair to reveal her face properly, and grinned in mischief.
"Hehehe. Serve you right! Moron!" Ayane sneered, her tone furious. Shouichi took a few seconds to eventually shake off his fright.
"Wait? How did you get in my room?" Shouichi blurted out in puzzlement, raising his eyebrows.
"Your mom let me in. Dummy!" Ayane causally sat on his bed, just an arm's length away, "Damn it, Ayane! I almost scared to death." He hissed under his throat, and his elevated heartbeat lingered. Then the girl proceeded to recall her story...
***
"Ayane-chan, I'm finishing up the shop early, would you like to have dinner with us?" Yamamoto Yoko invited her after the last customers exited her store and she flipped the door's sign to 'Closed'.
"You are too kind, Yoko-san. I don't want to intrude." Ayane replied with humility, but in truth, she would love to join.
Knowing the girl's personality like the back of her hands, Yoko grinned, "My dear, you are my de facto daughter. Don't need to be too considerate with me," She pressed and let out a girly giggle.
"Well, if you insist, Yoko-san..." Ayane accepted the invitation, her eyes nervously darting around. But once Yoko stepped closer to clasp her hand, Ayane found herself smiling and her heart blossomed in contentment, knowing that they were family.
***
"Jeez, Yoko-san. You should at least let me know." Shouichi murmured to himself, scratching the back of his head.
Then something shifted within the girl, something furious, "You, Shouichi!" Ayane suddenly lunged at him and her fingers gripping by his collar, bearing her teeth.
"Wha~?! Ayane?!" Shouichi was beyond dumbfounded and was terrified to move.
The girl pushed him down on his bed while still holding on to his collar tight. Her face was in the deepest shape of red, her body trembling, and then tears were collecting beneath her violet-purple eyes. He studied her quietly, not knowing what to do or say.
Shouichi couldn't comprehend the situation, but he felt like he needed to apologise. "Ayane. I'm sorry..."
"You dumb! Dummy!" Ayane cried, burying her face in his chest, but he didn't know what she sought; was it comfort? or forgiveness? Empathy? But he felt the wetness from her warm tears dripping down his shirt.
As her weeping grew louder now, Shouichi's mind raced for words, he wanted to comfort her at least.
"Umm... Is it about your ranking?" The boy asked softly. Seeing her sorrow, he wanted to pat her head, to comfort her but decided against it.
Shouichi had never seen Ayane like this before, it terrified him to the core. She never showed any sign of weakness up until now.
"No. Because you didn't talk to me at all… You've been avoiding me today." Ayane sobbed quietly, she didn't dare to face him, "Do you hate me now?"
Eventually, Shouichi was enlightened. "Ohhh!" He gasped.
The whole time Shouichi had been fighting for his life, carrying his lifeless body throughout the day. He completely forgot that there was his friend who had been trying to talk to him. But he was too braindead to discern it. In a weird sense, he unintentionally ignored Ayane or that must have been how it looked like to her.
"So that's what it is?!" Ayane exclaimed loudly after hearing his part of the story. "You made the girl cry! You heartless prick!"
Her fists were lightly pounding on his chest. "Ouch! Ouch! Sorry!" Shouichi pleaded, raising his hands to guard. "This is hardly my fault. You misunderstood everything!" He bantered aloud.
"And you... you thought I was mad about the ranking?" Ayane grumbled, her brows knitted, and her cheeks puffed into a pout. "You must have thought too poorly of me, Shouichi-kun." She added condescendingly, her words softening as the girl seemed to relax a little bit.
"I'd have you know that you only beat me at English!" Ayane rationalised defiantly as she pulled out her phone to tap on the picture of the scoreboard.
"Is there a breakdown of scores too? I haven't seen it before." Shouichi commented while peaking on her screen. Unintentionally, he leaned in a bit closer than he should, to the point that he could smell a sweet vanilla perfume engulfing her.
"See!" Ayane said, showing him a picture of the tabulated breakdown score.
Destiling(Seito) Shouichi
TOTAL 99%
MATH 100%
SOCIAL100%
SCIENCE100%
JAPANESE 95%
ENGLISH 100%
------------
Morimura Ayane
TOTAL 98%
MATH 100%
SOCIAL100%
SCIENCE100%
JAPANESE 100%
ENGLISH 85%
"Woahh... I did mess up in Japanese." Shouichi mumbled, rubbing his graphite black hair and wearing a modest smile.
"Still I'm super jelly!" Erratically, Ayane's arms wrapped around his head and made a mess of his hair. Not realising that Shouichi's face was buried deep into her soft cushioning.
"Ay! Don't stop it~! I mean, stop it!" His words faltered as she kept choking him with her boobs. It appeared his brain hadn't been completely rejuvenated yet. But he couldn't deny that they were kinda soft.
"You only won because you have lived in Australia before. That's so unfair!" She continued to fist his head with her knuckles while pinning him tight. The boy squirmed in response but he couldn't break free of her wrestling, either that or he didn't want to.
"~I'm… out… of breath!" Shouichi complained, panting, before Ayane let him go. "Are you crazy, trying to suffocate me with your boobs?" He accused sheepishly, pointing at her chest.
"Eh!? You lewd prick!" Ayane retorted, hands covering her chest with embarrassment. But her shame only lasted 3 seconds at most, "Well... wanna see them naked?" She suggested that of a sudden, she was indeed the number one pervert and she couldn't afford to lose this ranking too.
"Hell nah! You indecent woman with small boobs!" Shouichi called her out. His words made her flustered to a great extent.
"Wha~Who are you referring to?! They are not small!" She fumbled her words before defending them. Then the girl locked eyes with him, all in seriousness. "Statistically, I'm above average." She lifted her index finger nerdily.
"Hahahaha. If you have to defend with statistics and data, then it's probably not big enough." Shouichi argued.
"Don't! Don't you dare disrespect them!"
"Oh! Someone's pride is hurt!"
Without a single thought, the girl nimbly jumped atop, saddling him and lightly ramming her small fists at the boy.
"Ouch! Sorry! Ouch!" Shouichi quickly lifted his hands to guard his face and laughed uncontrollably.
"You… have done it now, Shouichi-kun...!" She muttered between each breath as she kept pounding.
Before Shouichi realised, this had turned into a wild scene as the foxy girl was saddling on top of his lower stomach. She grabbed both of his wrists and pinned them over his head, securing them in place. He could feel every part of her body completely pressed against him, leaving no gap in between. She was so light and soft, he gauged in his mind.
"How the flip did I get here?" Shouichi wondered. As she essentially hummed him as her crotch ground on his lower stomach, his groin naturally became bulging from arousal.
Ayane smiled at him knowingly. Then she bent down, bringing her lips to his ears, "Ho, ho! Something's stiffy down there. Do you like it, Mr. Pervert?" She whispered, dragging her words erotically.
Her beautiful jet-black hair cascaded on his face and he could smell the fresh, lush aroma. It smelled divine like heaven.
"Hello darkness, my old friend..." Shouichi almost lost it to her seduction but he knew better. A thought crossed his mind, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"
Mustering all of his strength, "Stop teasing me!" Shouichi screamed, wiggling his hands with full force. When he managed to free his hands, they accidentally went to grab her sides. "Aaah!!!" Ayane let out a moan, and her body immediately jolted straight, startled by his touch like burning iron.
Apparently, Shouichi had found her weak spots, he assured her he wouldn't miss this opportunity, "Hehehe, my turn!" He hissed and shifted his weight, throwing her light body onto the bed. She fell and bounced up and down.
Now it was his turn to be on top, attacking on her sides.
"Hahahahahhahaha! Stop it! I yield! Hahaha." Shouichi softly ran his fingers to tickle, causing the girl to swirl and laugh frantically.
"Hehehe, I can stop, if you promise that you will behave from now on..." He offered, melody in his words, toying with her even more.
"Hahaha! Deal! Deal!" Ayane shouted, raising her white flag. Only then he would stop the tickling operation, leaving her a room to catch some breather.
Shouichi stood proudly as he managed to claim victory against Ayane, especially in bed. As for his victim, she was still lying on her back, hyperventilating and powerless. Her straight silky hair was a bit of a mess, and her shirt slipped up slightly exposing her fairly immaculate abdomen and belly button. It was such an erotic sight to behold but he quickly hid his gaze, restraining himself.
"Could you please stop being so lewd? For one minute!" Shouichi couldn't help but plead. Because he knew in his heart that one of these days, he might have lost it for real, like last time at the lover's pond.
"Fufufu, never!" Ayane shamelessly giggled.
Shouichi shook his head, a mix of puzzlement and astonishment washing over him. How was it that he always seemed to find himself entangled in these unintentionally provocative situations with Ayane, his alluring and enigmatic friend?
***
Later on that day, Yoko surprised them by buying a large sushi tray for dinner. As she claimed she would like to celebrate the mid-term result for both of her beloved children.
"Thanks for the meal, we are digging in!" The three spoke in unison before they started chowing.
"My, my! Kids these days 'do' it really loud, eh?" Yoko spoke out of a sudden and without context, as she winked at them playfully.
"Do what?" Shouichi responded, puzzled.
"Yoko-san! It~It's not what you think it is!" Ayane interjected, her cheeks blushed deep red.
Shouichi caught on a few seconds later, "Mom! It's nothing like that, we haven't done it!" He blurted shamefully, feeling hot in his ears.
"My dear, please make sure both of you use protections, okay?" Yoko swam on as though she didn't hear a single word from them.
The dining experience initially carried a hint of awkwardness, but it quickly melted away, replaced by a warm and blissful atmosphere as the conversation flowed naturally. For once, his family felt whole, the three of them laughing and chatting while savouring the delicious sushi platter together, their joy filling the room like a soothing melody.