Chapter 66 – Using Feet? It's Not Like I Like It or Anything (Patreon)

Kouma woke up feeling refreshed and energized. In that half-awake, half-asleep state in the early morning, he'd vaguely sensed a warmth enveloping him—quite the traceless spring dream experience.

Miyako had already gotten up, but the air still held the faint, unique fragrance of a mature woman.

Kouma eyed the slightly rumpled sheets beside him with a thoughtful look.

In the kitchen, Miyako was preparing breakfast for Ai and Kouma. Ai, freshly washed up, looked at Miyako's rosy complexion and radiant glow. "Miyako-nee, you slept really well last night—you look even prettier today!"

Miyako's movements faltered slightly. "Maybe I was just really tired yesterday..."

She didn't dare say that she hadn't slept a wink all night. Reason and restraint had been locked in a constant battle with emotion and yearning inside her heart and body. Then morning came, and she witnessed the sun climbing high. Realizing time was running out, emotion overpowered reason. Miyako made a bold attempt. For some reason, after consuming that substance, the fatigue that had built up over several days simply vanished. Not only was she not suffering from a sleepless night—she felt even more energized than if she'd slept a full day.

"Breakfast is ready. Eat up and head to school," Miyako said.

When Kouma came out of the bedroom, Miyako's gaze briefly lingered on him, and a faint blush crossed her delicate face. "I'm heading to the office first. I'll pick you up this afternoon," she told Ai.

"Miyako-nee, thanks for all your hard work!"

"Miyako-san, thank you. Goodbye, Miyako-san!"

Ai's and Kouma's voices reached her ears one after the other.

Miyako's eyes trembled slightly. She gave a small nod with her refined chin, then pointedly avoided Kouma's gaze.

She thought she'd been discreet enough—Kouma definitely hadn't been awake at the time. But whenever the little boy's eyes turned her way, Miyako always felt a twinge of guilt.

She couldn't shake the feeling that his gaze seemed to know something. It made her too nervous to meet his eyes directly.

He was Ai's most precious little brother, and she was the woman about to become Ai's legal guardian—yet here she was, with Ai's little brother...

She turned, bent at the waist, and slipped her feet—sheathed in sheer, skin-revealing black stockings—into a pair of red-soled high heels.

She clicked her heels twice, the soft flesh of her calves beneath the black stockings quivering slightly. To her surprise, Miyako realized it wasn't just her mental state that had recovered—even the lingering leg injuries from her dance training days seemed to have healed.

"That stuff... has effects like this?"

Miyako's gaze rippled. She waved to Ai and Kouma, then left the apartment with light, easy steps.

Kouma and Ai ate their breakfast at a leisurely pace, then headed off to school. Before leaving, Kouma took the chance to do a check-in.

"System, check-in."

"Congratulations, Host, for unlocking a new location!"

"Ding! Check-in at Tomegane Apartments successful. Acquired Ability: [Lv.1 Thought Modification], Item: [Irresistible Silicone Figurine]."

"Tomegane Apartments..." Kouma finally noticed the apartment building's name. Though, given the current situation, keeping that "tome" (money) was probably going to be pretty difficult.

"It's been a while since I unlocked a new location..."

Irresistible Silicone Figurine: The host may form a contract with a living being. Once the contract is established, the silicone figurine connects to the living being's five senses and soul, becoming an existence even more fundamental than their original body!

Reading the item description, Kouma paused. He had to read it carefully a second time before he fully understood its purpose. "Becoming an existence more fundamental than the original body... meaning that whoever controls this silicone figurine literally holds that person in the palm of their hand, in the truest sense, and as long as the figurine's bound to them, as long as the figurine remains intact, even if their original body commits suicide or gets killed, they can be resurrected..."

"Now that's an interesting little item."

If he weren't walking down the street with Ai right now, Kouma would definitely have pulled it out for a thorough examination—see just how lifelike this silicone figurine really was.

As for the other ability, Thought Modification, there wasn't much that needed to be said. It was a bug-level power.

"Upgrading Thought Modification to Lv.2!"

Lv.2 Thought Modification: After three seconds of eye contact, can implant or modify the target's common sense and thoughts. Maintains for ten seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Kouma casually glanced over his current ability levels. The highest-level one was, without a doubt, Invisibility. Whenever he dual-cultivated with the girls, that was always his first choice. It had already become his first Lv.4 ability.

He'd considered using dual cultivation to boost super-powerful abilities like Time Stop or Thought Modification. But since the upgrades went both ways, anyone who dual-cultivated with him would also gain access to such bug-level abilities.

The stronger the ability, the greater the chance of being targeted. That was dangerous—not just for him, but for his women, too. On this point, Kouma was still very cautious.

Shuchi'in Academy. Middle School Division. Class 3-B.

"Hi, everyone! I'm Ai, a transfer student. I hope we can all become friends!"

Dressed in her Shuchi'in school uniform, Ai stood at the podium, her starry eyes sparkling with confidence and anticipation. Down below, the students' gazes lingered on Ai's breathtakingly beautiful face, hushed exclamations rippling through the room.

"It's Ai—I can't believe she transferred into our class..."

"Who?"

"You don't know Ai? She's the absolute center of that super-popular underground idol group right now! She even performed at the high school division's school festival yesterday!"

Although Ai had performed at the high school division's festival, Shuchi'in was only so big—word spread fast, and the middle school division students had quickly learned about the amazing young idol transferring into their school.

"Alright, settle down!" The homeroom teacher rapped on the desk, quieting the commotion. "Hoshino-san, just find yourself an empty seat. Now, let's take attendance! Moeha Fujiwara!"

"Here!"

"Kei Shirogane!"

"Here!"

"Suguha Kirigaya!"

"Here!"

"Kagome Higurashi!"

"Here!"

"Shinobu Kochou!"

"Here!"

After class, Kei Shirogane sat down beside Moeha Fujiwara. She noticed that Moeha's gaze kept drifting, seemingly fixed on Ai. Curious, she spoke up. "Moeha, are you really that interested in Hoshino-san?"

Moeha retracted her gaze at the question and revealed a subtle, mischievous smile. "I just think she's so cute. I wonder... if someone made her cry, would she look even cuter...?"

Hearing such a dangerous statement from Moeha, a few dark lines practically materialized in Kei's blue-violet eyes. She'd lost count of how many times she'd seen Moeha say yandere-style, borderline sadistic things with that adorable smile plastered on her face.

If she weren't Moeha's close friend and familiar with her personality, she'd probably have kept her distance long ago.

"Oh, right—what was that thing Chika-nee gave you this morning?" Kei asked curiously.

Moeha froze for a split second, then answered with feigned nonchalance. "Oh, nothing. Just some photos we took a few days ago."

"Wait, you and Chika-nee went and took photos together? Let me see!"

"They... they haven't been developed yet. I'll show you next time!" Moeha deflected.

Photos had indeed been taken. It was just that the subject was a little boy! And they'd been taken in secret! What's more, she'd been the one to suggest it in the first place... Capture Kouma's likeness, keep the photo in her bag, on her person, even tucked against her chest... that way, she could be with him all the time...

"Ah, no—if I keep thinking like this, my thoughts are going to go sprinting straight down the yandere path again..." Moeha shook her short twin-tails, trying to toss the increasingly dangerous thoughts out of her mind. But then she recalled how casual Chika had seemed that morning—had she already grown desensitized to the photos of Kouma? After all the effort they'd gone through to get them...

"Or does that mean... Chika-nee's made some new progress with Kouma?" Moeha's beautiful eyes narrowed. If that were the case, then Chika-nee was unforgivable!

As for why she'd been paying such close attention to Ai—that morning, Chika had also specifically told her that Ai was Kouma's big sister. The implication was clear: keep an extra eye on Ai. Her relationship with Kouma seemed far from ordinary. "Hmph, at most she's just a 'big sister'..."

Noon. Shuchi'in Academy, High School Division.

A well-endowed girl with long, straight black hair and shapely, full legs encased in black stockings was hugging a small stack of rejected manuscript pages, pacing irritably down the hallway.

"Kasumigaoka-sensei, the sales figures for the first volume of 'Love Metronome' are very poor! If the next volume doesn't show improvement, cancellation after three volumes is practically guaranteed!" Her editor's words were still vivid in her mind, and the more Utaha Kasumigaoka thought about it, the more agitated she became.

Her black-stocking-clad legs, in their round-toed patent leather shoes, carried her back and forth at a high frequency. She was frustrated and lost. Drawn by her curiosity about literature and the desire for a challenge, she'd chosen to write a romance light novel—despite having absolutely zero romantic experience herself.

The first volume had already drained every last drop of her imagination regarding love. After publication, the response had been thoroughly mediocre. It had instantly crushed the confidence of this girl praised as a literary prodigy.

No experience in love, no secret crush, not even the emotional state of being in love. After getting that three-volumes-then-axe judgment from her editor, Utaha couldn't even bring herself to write the second volume.

The drafts she'd written over the past couple of days looked worse and worse the more she read them. Needless to say, if writing like that became the second volume, it would bomb even harder.

Most people might have dropped it themselves without even waiting for the editorial department to swing the axe. Utaha looked quiet and bookish, but she had an incredibly stubborn streak. Once she set her mind on something, she'd give it absolutely everything she had.

"But what does being in love actually feel like...?" Utaha bit her cherry-hued lip in frustration, her head lowered as she paced back and forth in the corridor.

At the corner, a small figure came walking out. Utaha, somewhat absent-minded, did notice the little boy. She'd just come to a stop when a head with blonde twin-tails popped out.

Thunk!

The two heads collided directly. Utaha instinctively grabbed the little boy in front of her, but ended up toppling to the floor along with him. Manuscripts and art drafts scattered everywhere.

"Ugh, that hurts!" The other girl clutched her blonde head and yelped in pain.

Just as Utaha was about to cry out in pain too, an indescribable surge of pleasure suddenly welled up from deep within her body and mind. Her cherry lips parted slightly, but the pained cry came out as a soft moan instead.

"Miss, are you okay?"

An innocent, youthful voice reached her ears. Utaha opened her beautiful eyes, and an exquisitely handsome, utterly flawless face filled her vision. Those clear, bright eyes were looking at her with a hint of concern.

Thump-thump!

The instant her gaze met the little boy's, Utaha felt a sensation like an electric current pulse through her very being. Her heartbeat noticeably quickened. Her body gradually grew weak and soft.

She might not have any experience in love, but for the sake of writing "Love Metronome," she'd pored over no small number of 18+ books. She was no innocent, naive little girl. The fact that a little boy could stir such a reaction in her body and heart made her face instantly flush bright red.

"I..."

Her cherry lips had just barely parted, but the moment she sensed the slight quiver in her voice, she immediately shut them again. She felt like her voice would come out strange right now. With limbs somewhat weak, yet surprisingly calm and clear-headed, Utaha pulled the little boy up.

"I'm fine..." Her trembling voice emerged.

It was only then that she noticed—the blonde twin-tailed girl she'd collided with was frantically gathering the art drafts from the floor at lightning speed. She moved so fast that Utaha could only vaguely make out what seemed to be two figures—one large, one small—on the pages.

In that moment, Eriri was employing the fastest hand-speed of her entire life, scooping up the doujin drafts she'd drawn the previous night. She also gathered the manuscripts she'd knocked out of the girl's hands.

"Sorry about that—I picked up your papers, too!" Eriri shoved the manuscripts into Utaha's hands.

The two girls' eyes met, and a flicker of recognition passed through both of their beautiful eyes. They knew each other. The literary and arts club circles at Shuchi'in weren't that large.

One was the literary prodigy who often wrote scripts for the drama club; the other was the ace of the Art Club. And, most crucially, both were super-high-school-level beauties.

They'd just never spoken one-on-one before. Both had instinctively assumed the other was exactly the type of person they'd dislike.

"Goodbye, Kasumigaoka-senpai!"

Eriri decisively grabbed Kouma's hand and pulled him away, heading straight for the Art Club.

Utaha watched their departing backs, her beautiful eyes fixing on that small figure whose hand Eriri was holding. "That little boy... is he Eriri's little brother?"

Her slender, delicate hand rested over her chest, where she could still faintly feel her accelerated heartbeat. That little boy had given her an incredibly special feeling. It was the first time in her life she'd ever felt anything like it. Though the contact had been brief, it had sparked some inspiration within her.

"Shame... he's still just a little kid," Utaha thought with some regret. She glanced down at the rejected pages in her hands and suddenly noticed an art draft mixed in among them.

"Did Eriri mix these up...?" Utaha pulled out the draft and looked at it. Her beautiful eyes instantly contracted, and her cherry lips parted slightly.

It was only a single image, but the content was extraordinarily explicit. And what was most critical—she recognized the models for the girl and the little boy in the drawing at a single glance.

"That Eriri...!" Utaha fell into disarray. For some reason, Kouma's face surfaced in her mind, and as she looked at the draft in her hand, she suddenly felt a little jealous.

"And they're using feet, too..." She glanced down at her own feet, wrapped in black stockings, and her beautiful eyes flickered.

At the Art Club, inside Eriri's private little room, Eriri's pale, delicate face was crimson.

She'd turned her head away, her beautiful eyes darting everywhere, her stubborn cherry lips mumbling and fumbling for words. "Hmph, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just short on inspiration—I only called you here today for practice! That's right—just practice. Using feet or whatever... it's not like I like it or anything!"

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