Chapter 189: Can the Airport Still Be Saved? (Patreon)

Hayasaka Ai woke up feeling like her whole body had been taken apart and put back together wrong. She couldn't summon an ounce of strength, but it didn't hurt as much as she'd expected. Mostly it was a tingly, melting numbness, and she only felt real pain when a movement tugged at the sore spots.

Ai wasn't afraid of pain. This much wouldn't even get in the way of her daily life. It was the tingling all over her body that she found hard to cope with.

In other words, it was a little… addictive.

The blonde maid, who had gone from girl to woman overnight, sat up in bed. The dark gray quilt slid off her, and the view was nothing short of spring itself.

After all, when Isac had carried her up last night, she hadn't been wearing that nightgown. Well, to be more precise, the nightgown hadn't lasted until Ai fell asleep.

By now it was probably living its best life in the trash can.

A disposable nightgown, so to speak.

Ai could clearly guess the fate of the nightgown. She felt a little wistful about it, but that was all. There were plenty of similar outfits in the house.

Still, she'd have to tell Isac later to be more careful next time. There were lots of clothes, sure, but every style was different, and once one was discontinued, it was gone for good.

If she wanted to see those again, she'd probably have to wait until they got their boat ticket and returned to the real world…

Ai yawned and glanced down at her body. It was covered in marks, no two ways about it. She couldn't see the battlefield around her neck from this angle, but she figured it was no better.

She'd have to pick out a turtleneck sweater later, so she wouldn't set off Kaguya and the others.

That was what Ai was thinking.

Then she leaned halfway out of bed, grabbed a robe from the chair beside it, and draped it over herself. She cinched the sash tight, climbed out of bed barefoot without caring how cold the floor was, and went over to the vanity mirror to look herself over. She tugged the collar of the robe higher, but sadly it still couldn't cover everything.

It couldn't be helped. At the end of the day, it was just a robe.

Hmm. It looked like when she went to the master bedroom's dressing room later, she'd have to move fast.

As long as she ran quickly enough, Kaguya and Yukino wouldn't notice… right?

Or she could have the mastermind behind all these marks bring her clothes over.

Speak of the devil.

Just as Ai was wondering whether to ask Isac to fetch her clothes from next door, Isac pushed open the door and walked in.

He'd just finished settling the two black-haired girls and had come back to see if Ai was awake. What he found was her sitting in front of the vanity mirror in nothing but a navy blue robe, his marks still lingering on her long, pale neck.

The hem of the robe wasn't long, and since Ai was sitting, there was no way it could cover her smooth, firm thighs. Bright light from the window spilled across them, and the sight was almost dazzling.

Not to mention that Isac had personally experienced them last night.

Legs to die for.

No wonder his gaze was caught the moment he came in. Perfectly human.

Ai felt his eyes on her and made no move to cover up. A girl primps for the one she wants to impress, and besides, Isac was hardly a stranger. He'd already had his hands on her, so why be shy about a look?

"You're up?" Isac sounded a bit embarrassed. He'd gotten carried away last night, hitting her with that much intensity on her very first time.

It was only thanks to Ai's physique that she'd held up. If it had been Yukinoshita Yukino or Kaguya, they probably wouldn't have been able to leave the bed for an entire day.

Of course, that was before the physique enhancement finished. Once it did, the two black-haired girls would probably end up about the same as Ai.

"Good morning~" Ai replied, her voice lazy, the end of the word curling upward with a charm she couldn't quite put into words.

"How's your body? Does it still hurt?" Isac asked with concern.

Ai gave a soft laugh. She was thoroughly enjoying his concern. "Not really. Just sore. I'll probably need a day or two to recover."

Translation: no more doing whatever he wanted with her for a while. She needed a rest.

Having just had her first taste, she'd be lying if she said she didn't want more. But Ai knew her own body best. It was made of flesh, not iron, and after such intense exercise it needed proper rest. If something really went wrong, she'd be the one to suffer for it.

Two days of back-to-back battle meant even Isac needed time to recover, so he certainly wasn't going to object to her ceasefire request.

Besides, even if his ammo was fully stocked, he couldn't force her if she wasn't willing, could he?

"Good, then rest up… Do you want a bath today?" Isac nodded, told her to take care of herself, and then asked about bathing.

The two of them had sweated quite a bit last night, after all.

"A bath is too much trouble. Just bring a basin of water and I'll wipe down." Ai shook her head. She wasn't that delicate.

She'd bathed just yesterday, and a little sweat and a little… moisture were nothing a quick wipe-down couldn't handle. No need for a full bath.

Besides, the weather outside was getting colder by the day. The bathwater cooled faster than before, and the experience wasn't as nice as it used to be.

So, never mind.

"Then I'll go downstairs and bring up a basin of water in a bit." Isac didn't push it.

"Before that, could you go next door to the dressing room and grab me a few clothes?" Ai said, reaching up to tighten the collar of her robe, trying to squeeze out some cleavage. Sadly, she'd overestimated her own strength and failed.

"No problem." Isac made an OK sign. He didn't even realize Ai had just been turning on the charm. He assumed she was cold from wearing only a robe.

"If you're cold, you can get back under the covers first. I'll bring the clothes over in a minute."

Ai: …

Ha ha. She'd thought she was packing serious firepower, but the shot hadn't landed. A total dud.

That's fine. She still had time. A girl's secondary sexual characteristics keep developing until around twenty. She still had time, still had time…

But it was still infuriating! (^^)=3

While Isac turned to fetch her clothes, Ai flopped face-first onto the bed and buried her face in the soft pillow. After rolling around a couple of times, some strange impulse made her think about stuffing it down her collar.

Wait. What was she even doing?

Never mind that padding with a pillow was full of holes. Even if she did it, it'd all come out in the end. She and Isac knew each other inside and out now. Who was she fooling?

She wondered whether the physique enhancement would boost cup size too. Her physique was already good enough, but a little improvement to the figure wouldn't be bad, right?

And she'd heard that regular massage supposedly helped with growth too…

As the thoughts churned, the door to the second bedroom was pushed open again.

Isac walked in with an armful of clothes. Since they lived under the same roof, he knew which ones were Ai's and hadn't grabbed the wrong ones.

Ai took the clothes from his hands and wriggled into the blankets. After a rustling flurry of movement, she had changed into clean, proper clothes.

When she climbed out of bed again, she was bundled up tight. Only her hands and face were showing, so there was no need to worry about Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya seeing the kiss marks on her body.

After changing, Ai asked about the other two teammates.

"How are Kaguya and Yukino doing? Can they get out of bed yet?"

"After they finished their porridge, they could get up, but they still need someone beside them for support. It'll be two more days before they can get up and walk around on their own," Isac answered honestly.

Ai thought for a moment and asked, "Did they ask about me? I slept in so late this morning. It's almost noon."

"No."

"I see…"

Ai understood. Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya must already know what state she was in. That made sense. She hadn't gone out of her way to hide her plan, and with how sharp those two were, they could easily have guessed it.

They'd had the chance to stop her back then and hadn't. In effect, they had tacitly let her go ahead.

"I'll go see them." Ai wasn't going to rub it in. She'd come to join this family, not to break it apart.

The only reason she'd come out on top was that the timing and circumstances had happened to favor her.

Right. She was just testing the waters ahead of Kaguya and Yukinoshita.

…

Because Ai wasn't feeling well, Isac handled most of the work that day.

That included, but wasn't limited to, preparing three meals, washing the sheets, washing the underwear, and disposing of the used anti-baby devices. In a word, cleaning up the mess left behind last night.

Fortunately, compared to surviving in the wild, these were small things.

With Isac's physique now, doing them was practically a vacation.

After all, even washing sheets and clothes was done in warm water, which was far better than life in the forest cabin.

It took about a morning for Isac to get everything cleaned up. Lunch was the classic tomato dough-drop soup, but this time with shredded venison in it, and it tasted much better than before.

Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino no longer needed Isac and Ai to feed them, though it still hurt a little when they held the spoons.

"Today should be the second-to-last day of Aurora Week, right?" Kaguya took a sip of the hot tomato soup and turned her gaze to the window.

Through the glass, they could see that the snow outside had stopped. There was barely any wind either, unlike before, when you could hear it howling even indoors.

If this kept up, tonight would probably be a clear night too.

And an aurora night usually only appeared on clear nights, which meant the week's third aurora would very likely arrive tonight.

"Mm, the snow's stopped, so it's very likely," Yukinoshita Yukino agreed offhandedly. "That way, Hayasaka can do her physique enhancement too."

Yukinoshita Yukino looked at Ai, who sat in the chair beside them. She could clearly tell that today's Ai was more mature than before, and more… alluring. If the Ai of before had been a bud ready to bloom, then the Ai now was a golden peony in full flower, beautiful and enchanting.

Yukinoshita Yukino knew perfectly well why the change had happened.

It was the transformation from girl to woman. A softer grace had settled into the curve of her brows and eyes, and combined with her delicate features, it was enough to draw anyone in. Never mind Isac, even Yukinoshita Yukino, a girl herself, couldn't help being captivated.

Of course, that didn't mean Yukinoshita Yukino had a crush on her female coworker.

The attraction was just plain appreciation for something beautiful. Yukinoshita Yukino's orientation was perfectly healthy, and it had always been Isac.

Kaguya, who spent more time with Ai, couldn't possibly have missed such a glaring change either.

So that sort of thing really did affect a woman that much.

Before seeing Ai as a living example, Kaguya had always assumed those descriptions in books were exaggerations. How could a person's whole aura change so drastically overnight?

But after one look at Ai this morning, Kaguya felt the books had actually been holding back.

And more than the changes in Ai, Kaguya was curious about how it really felt. Was the first time really that painful? Did it feel good afterward?

But with Isac and Yukinoshita Yukino right there, Kaguya hadn't found the right moment to ask Ai for pointers.

"Speaking of enhancement, how do you two feel now?" Ai's obsession with enhancement wasn't that deep. More than the gains in strength and reflexes, she cared about how it would change her body.

The girl who'd just had her first experience looked at the chests of the two girls who hadn't. There was still not a hint of a curve, and her disappointment was written all over her face.

Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino: ?

Sis, that look of yours is a bit rude.

"It's only the second day. What else is there to feel besides the pain?"

As someone who'd been through it, Isac knew the whole enhancement process well. The physical changes wouldn't show for at least five or six days, and until then it was nothing but pain and more pain.

The experience was terrible.

"She doesn't necessarily mean sensations. I think Hayasaka means more of the physical changes," Kaguya said. As Ai's best friend, she naturally knew what Ai was thinking.

She was even using padding. She obviously cared a great deal about her figure.

Ai didn't flinch. So what if she padded? Even without padding, she was the strongest of the bunch.

"Physical changes…" Isac thought it over carefully, then shook his head. "I don't think there's been any change."

Ai held up a finger and poked Isac's stomach. "Who says? I remember your abs were nowhere near this defined back when we started."

"That's because I kept training afterward," Isac answered.

"Then what about your wang—mmph." Before Ai could get the forbidden word out, Isac clapped a hand over her mouth, quick as a flash.

Was that something you could just say out loud?

Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino fell into thought. They hadn't paid much attention before, but now that they looked back, there really did seem to have been some changes.

At that thought, the two runway-flat girls felt their hearts start to race.

Could it be… the airfield was about to be demolished and redeveloped into a scenic mountain resort?