Chapter 87 – Yukino's Bedsheet (Patreon)

Vermouth could barely remember how she had managed to walk out of Kouma's hospital room.

People often say that joyful time always flies by far too quickly, lasting only the briefest of instants.

On this point, Vermouth wholeheartedly agreed. For certain reasons, Vermouth's true age was far older than her youthful appearance suggested. Across those decades of long life, many things had brought her pleasure—but compared to today, they all fell woefully short.

It was only thanks to her iron will, forged through years of training, and her physical stamina far surpassing that of ordinary women, that she had barely managed to drag herself back to the warehouse.

Vermouth collapsed onto a pile of fresh nurse uniforms and wiped away her disguise, already somewhat soaked through with sweat, revealing that bewitching, breathtakingly beautiful face.

"That woman... Yukiko..."

Vermouth gritted her teeth weakly. She had thought she already understood Yukiko thoroughly enough. Now, she realized she had been far too naive. She had guessed that Yukiko and Kouma's relationship ran deep—but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined it ran this deep.

They absolutely knew each other inside and out! And on top of that, they played such outrageous games! One little game had completely wrecked her! And the worst part was—she'd been forced to keep up the disguise as Yukiko the entire time. By the time she wanted to give up, she no longer had the strength to do so.

In the past, even when missions didn't always succeed, at the very least she could retreat unscathed. This time, it had been total, utter defeat. Forget probing the depths of that little boy—her own depths had been thoroughly sounded out instead.

Ding~

Her phone chimed with an email notification. Vermouth languidly pulled it out and opened the message. Inside was a dense wall of information on the Yukinoshita family.

"Madam Yukinoshita, controller of the Yukinoshita Group..."

Vermouth swiftly skimmed past the surface-level information. Then, at the very end, her eyes landed on the crucial intel!

"The Yukinoshita family has recently been recruiting fighters and building their own private forces."

Vermouth's beautiful eyes immediately lit up. In this day and age, there was virtually no major conglomerate that didn't assemble its own private forces.

These wealthy types were always extremely demanding, but they paid handsomely, and compared to the more complex underworld organizations, the forces these financial groups formed were the easiest to infiltrate! Likewise, making a quick exit was also far simpler.

The moment she saw this information, the next phase of her plan crystallized in Vermouth's mind. She would go undercover and infiltrate the Yukinoshita family from within. There was no faster or more comprehensive way to gather intel than from the inside.

Ring~

Her phone rang. Vermouth answered.

"Boss."

"Vermouth. Any leads on whoever killed Gin and Vodka and made off with the money?"

"Boss, I'm closing in on something."

"Good. Make it clean. Anyone who dares cross me must pay in blood."

"Boss... I'll make sure he experiences a fate worse than death."

Vermouth responded, a slight guilty waver in her voice.

In her mind surfaced the image of being toyed with in the palm of that little boy's hand inside the hospital room. She gritted her teeth.

For her, this was no longer just a mission assigned from above. To have suffered such a humiliating defeat at the hands of a mere little boy—she had to settle this score. No matter the arena, she would get her payback.

Vermouth dragged her exhausted, boneless body out of St. Juliana Hospital. Whatever else, her first priority was returning to the Ichinichi Hotel to get some proper sleep and replenish all that drained energy.

...

Inside Kouma's hospital room.

A long while later, Miyako finally returned with the thermal lunchbox in hand.

"Yukiko left already?"

Not seeing Yukiko in the room, a surge of delight rose in Miyako's heart.

"Mhm. She left a while ago..."

A strange, knowing smile hung at the corner of Kouma's lips as he spoke softly. Recalling how Vermouth had still been able to stand as she left, Kouma felt a genuine sense of admiration.

As expected of the brewery's most mysterious woman—to still force her body to leave under the assault of the upgraded Touch of Ecstasy, her physical constitution was leagues beyond that of ordinary people.

She was probably here investigating Gin, Vodka, and the billion yen...

Since Vermouth hadn't managed to extract any useful intel from him, she would surely return for another round sooner or later.

As Kouma drank the chicken soup Miyako fed him spoonful by spoonful, he silently pondered to himself: What sort of game should I play with Vermouth next time?

For the rest of the afternoon, Kouma simply lay in bed and let Miyako attend to him, and no, this time, it was the proper kind of attending. Feeding him little snacks, giving him massages, chatting idly away.

During this, Kouma did notice Miyako's hands, which could barely contain themselves, and sure enough, when Miyako's hand made contact with his right hand during the massage... well, but she soon rallied for another attempt!

Defeated time and again, yet time and again she charged back into battle. The textbook definition of an all-brakes-no-gas beauty—terrible at the game, absolutely addicted to playing it!

It wasn't until Yukino and Ai arrived to take him home from the hospital that Miyako finally reined in those restless impulses—hurriedly changing into a fresh set of clothes first.

"Based on today's scans, his body is perfectly healthy. There shouldn't be any hidden internal injuries. He's cleared to be discharged."

The doctor stated with certainty.

"Thank you, doctor!"

Kouma breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he could leave the hospital! Though, it really had been rather absurd. During these two days of hospitalization, not only had his body suffered no issues whatsoever—it had actually grown significantly stronger yet again.

Of course, he had Mai and Yukiko to thank for that. They had successfully transformed his hospital room into a cannon room.

"Miyako-obasan, Sakurajima-obasan, Yoko-nee-san, Ai-nee—goodbye for now! I'm heading home!"

After bidding farewell to the various beauties and young ladies, each with their own distinct charm, the little boy climbed into the car with Yukino, Akemi at the wheel, and they departed.

Watching the car disappear from view, Yoko sighed with feeling. "Kouma-kun really is so adorable." Sakurajima-san nodded in deep agreement.

"Well of course—that's my little brother, after all!" Ai declared proudly, puffing out her chest.

Miyako's beautiful eyes, however, drifted away somewhat guiltily. Even now, her legs still felt weak and trembly...

"Saito-san, I'm also a former idol who transitioned into film and television. If you ever need any help in the future, please feel free to reach out to me any time."

Yoko spoke warmly and openly to Miyako and Ai.

"We'll be in your care then, Yoko-san."

Miyako didn't bother with excessive formalities. In these past two days of brief interaction, she had already grasped Yoko's generous, helpful nature. No wonder she had managed to build such solid connections and resources in the entertainment world.

At that moment, Yoko turned toward Sakurajima-san. After hesitating briefly, she decided to voice what was in her heart.

"Sakurajima-san... regarding Miss Mai—has she really quit the entertainment industry entirely? With her talent, it would be such a terrible waste."

Hearing Yoko's words, Sakurajima-san's beautiful eyes filled with a tangled, complicated emotion, and she fell into silence.

Back then, blinded by the money swirling in this industry and desperate to cash in on Mai's popularity, she had unilaterally signed Mai up for a swimsuit modeling contract. Never had she imagined Mai would flat-out refuse the shoot.

Now, their mother-daughter relationship had plunged to a frozen standstill. No matter how many times she called, Mai wouldn't pick up. At this point, she was filled with nothing but regret.

"Mai won't even answer my calls anymore... There's really nothing I can do..."

Sakurajima-san's beautiful face was etched with worry.

"Sakurajima-san, no matter what, you are still Mai's mother. If you sit down and talk things through properly, I think there's still plenty of hope."

Yoko spoke, then considered for a moment.

"If the chance comes up, I'll see if I can help arrange a meeting with Miss Mai for you, and if all else fails—we could always ask Kouma-kun for help. There's no girl who can resist Kouma-kun's charm."

Yoko added with a light laugh.

Hearing this, Sakurajima-san's mind conjured the image of Kouma's beautiful little face, and the corners of her lips curled upward involuntarily, but still, she knew her own daughter's personality well enough.

The girl had been fiercely independent and strong-willed since she was small. Rational and mature. There was no way she'd be swayed by a little boy's good looks. That plan wasn't particularly reliable.

"In a couple of days... I'll just go by her apartment and see her myself."

Sakurajima-san took a deep breath and resolved silently.

...

The next morning.

Kouma awoke in Yukino's room. The faint, delicate fragrance of a young girl's boudoir was infinitely more pleasant than the antiseptic smell that had constantly lingered in his nose back in the hospital room.

The only downside was that a certain young lady had secretly changed the bedsheets in the middle of the night. Even though she'd been as quiet as possible, it had still woken Kouma up.

"Kouma-kun, you're awake..."

Yukino, already changed into her school uniform, emerged from the bathroom. A faint rosy hue colored her usually cool, aloof face. The moment she saw Kouma glance down at the bedsheets, her heart began pounding furiously. Even her fair earlobes flushed slightly pink.

Please don't notice... please don't notice...

Yukino bit down on her cherry-pink lower lip, her expression taut with nerves. If the little boy asked, she would have absolutely no idea how to explain why she'd changed the bedsheets in the dead of night.

"Yukino-nee, I'll go wash up."

Watching the little boy step out of the room, Yukino finally let out a breath as if a crushing weight had been lifted from her.

After a quick breakfast, she and Kouma rode together in Akemi's car to school.

...

The Yukinoshita residence.

Mihoko finished cleaning up the dishes and walked into the laundry room, deciding to throw in a load of clothes while she was at it.

"Oh? This is... Miss Yukino's bedsheet."

Mihoko recognized the sheet stuffed into the washing machine at a single glance.

"This kind of sheet shouldn't really be washed in this machine..."

Mihoko mused to herself and pulled the sheet out. On the fabric, besides the natural scent of a young girl, Mihoko detected another, distinctly familiar scent. Having often helped Madam Yukinoshita clean her room, she identified its source in an instant. Mihoko's expression immediately grew subtly odd.

"Miss Yukino... has grown up too."

She let out a soft sigh of reflection. She had practically watched Yukino grow up with her own eyes. A young girl reaching the age of springtime awakening—it was perfectly normal to be curious and try certain things. Mihoko thought to herself.

But then, suddenly, something occurred to her, and her expression froze.

"Wait... last night, Young Master Kouma came home and slept in Miss Yukino's room, didn't he..."

The realization crashed down on Mihoko. Her entire face went rigid. Never in her life would she have imagined that Yukino would also, toward Kouma...

"Madam... probably doesn't know about this..."

Mihoko's heart was instantly tangled in a knot of bizarre, conflicted emotions. Those two, mother and daughter, were already at odds to begin with.

Lately they'd been in an outright cold war, and now, they were both fixated on the same little boy. The images of Madam Yukinoshita, Yukino, and the little boy spun endlessly through Mihoko's mind. For a time, she had no idea what to do.

"Should I tell Madam...? And besides, I still don't even know how deep Miss Yukino's feelings for Young Master Kouma really go..."

...

Afternoon.

Shuchiin Academy Middle School Division.

The Kendo Club. Shinobu was currently having a minor existential crisis while sparring with Asuna Yuuki.

"How did you do it?! How did you get this much stronger in just a day or two?!"

First her sister, and now Asuna—how was it that every single one of them was skyrocketing in strength in the span of mere days?! Shinobu stared at the chestnut-haired girl before her, her beautiful eyes brimming with utter disbelief.

"Perhaps... I had a sudden moment of enlightenment..."

Asuna's lovely face flushed faintly, her beautiful eyes drifting off evasively.

"Even enlightenment isn't this ridiculous! Your rate of progress could literally be called a thousand miles in a single day!"

Hearing Shinobu's words, Asuna's face flushed even deeper. In a certain sense... it really was a thousand miles in a single day.

Prev    Chapters   Next