Chapter 197: Hayasaka Ai Makes Isac Very Comfortable (Patreon)

Isac had lost, and lost thoroughly, but he didn't feel much frustration. His mood was perfectly calm: not a ripple on the surface, still as water, free of every desire, enlightened to the core…

The only real nuisance was having to go change his underwear. Hayasaka Ai was just too overpowered.

She'd already had solid leg work to begin with, and since the enhancement her control over her body had jumped up another tier. Those small feet of hers were as nimble as hands.

Anyway, Isac had been served in full.

With Hayasaka Ai on support duty, he never had to worry about being left unsatisfied.

Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya looked a little off, too. At first they hadn't noticed anything, but as time dragged on, between Isac's reactions and the faint rustling under the table, how could they not guess what Hayasaka Ai was up to?

Even though they'd figured it out, neither of them could just say so. Embarrassment was one reason. The other was the fear that once Ai was exposed, she'd drag them into it with her.

Given Hayasaka Ai's impish streak, she would very likely… no, she would absolutely pull something like that. They had precedent!

And if Ai opened that door, would Isac jump right in after her?

Neither Yukinoshita Yukino nor Kaguya needed to think about it. That guy was practically begging for it.

Kaguya especially. Nobody knew better than she did how good Isac was at going with the flow. Give him an inch and he'd climb right up the pole and plug the gap himself.

That was exactly why, while Ai was at work, Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino only dared to keep their heads buried in their books, not moving a muscle. Later, when Isac caught on and plucked up the nerve to rest his hands on their legs, they pretended nothing was happening.

They were terrified of fanning the flames and getting ravished on the spot.

Still, afraid was one thing. Deep down, both of them were itching too. Some things are fine until you've experienced them, but once you have, once you've tasted the sweetness, you can't help thinking about it.

Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino weren't as enthusiastic about that sort of thing as Hayasaka Ai, but they were well within the normal range. And with all the venison they'd been eating as a tonic, their appetites weren't small, in a way.

It was just that, with the weather turning cold, everyone was basically crammed under one roof. It wasn't like the earlier days, when a single fireplace could warm the whole house and opportunities were easy to find.

Add it up, and they hadn't had any meat in almost a week.

Not thinking about it was fine, but once they did… the faces of the two black-haired beauties began to burn, and their bodies went soft and tingly.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Isac said evenly to the three girls once he'd recovered. Then he slowly crawled out from under the kotatsu.

He didn't head straight for the bathroom. He took a detour to the dressing room first, and only then went in.

Soon the sound of running water came through. It didn't sound like someone using the toilet. It sounded more like someone washing something.

As for what he was washing, everyone knew perfectly well.

So even after Isac disappeared into the bathroom, nobody in the bedroom spoke first.

Hayasaka Ai was in no hurry. Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya simply didn't know how to bring it up.

Confront Hayasaka Ai? About what? How could she have the nerve to pull stunts like that under the table?

Considering that while Ai was pulling those stunts, the two of them still had their legs propped across Isac's lap!

If you wanted to get technical, they were accomplices at the very least.

They had no standing and no grounds to call her out.

But saying nothing at all felt wrong, too, and left the room's atmosphere awkward.

Luckily, Hayasaka Ai was considerate. Or maybe it was because she was different from the other two now. She wasn't a little girl anymore, and she was much more open about these matters than before.

So she cleared her throat and said, with a double meaning, "Kaguya, Yukino, would you two like some too…"

"N-no, that's fine."

"Next time, next time…"

Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino refused one after the other, heads dipping even lower, their earlobes red to the point of purple. The deerskin blanket held heat far too well, they decided. It was making them unbearably hot.

But Hayasaka Ai just tilted her head, a trace of laughter in her voice. "But your cups are almost empty."

Kaguya & Yukinoshita Yukino: …So she only wanted to refill their water?

"Oh, a refill," Kaguya said, as if breathing a sigh of relief.

The smile on Ai's face deepened. "Yes. What did you think, Kaguya?"

"Ahem. I thought it was a refill, too." Kaguya looked away guiltily, unable to meet Ai's eyes.

Hayasaka Ai had really come a long way. And Kaguya had really changed, too. In the old days, Ai wouldn't have dared tease Kaguya like this even with a few extra helpings of courage.

The words would barely be out of her mouth before she'd be stripped of her friend status and fired on the spot.

The relationship was just different now. Best friends and sister-wives were two different things, after all.

Yukinoshita Yukino kept her head down, saying nothing and asking nothing. She only quietly pushed her cup forward, and once Ai had filled it with hot water, she murmured a thank-you.

Ai was the one who'd done something naughty, yet it was Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino who couldn't lift their heads. It was rather amazing.

After Ai's little prank, the awkward mood in the room had eased remarkably, and Yukinoshita Yukino and Kaguya went back to moving normally.

Of course, everyone present tacitly agreed not to mention what had just happened.

Before long, Isac came out of the bathroom. The underwear he'd changed out of was hanging up to dry, though at the current temperature it would take a good while.

Not a problem. If there was one thing the house had plenty of, it was underwear. If worse came to worst, he could set them by the fireplace, and they'd probably be dry by the end of the night.

Isac had just returned to the kotatsu and was about to sit when Yukinoshita Yukino stood up. "It's about time. I'll go get lunch ready."

Seeing Yukino about to slip away, Kaguya promptly stood too, pulling on her outer pants as she said, "I-I'll go with you."

Hayasaka Ai blinked, and her thoughts began to race. If those two went downstairs to cook, maybe she could…

She hadn't even gotten to daydream before Kaguya called out to her.

"Hayasaka, you come too."

Well, so much for getting any meat.

Ai felt a little disappointed, but she didn't dwell on it. If a chance wouldn't come on its own, she could always make one.

The current setting wasn't convenient? Then she'd just create a convenient one.

Where there's a will, there's a way. And for Hayasaka Ai, this was hardly even a difficulty.

She had a plan before she'd finished standing up.

"What do you want for lunch?"

Before heading downstairs, Yukinoshita Yukino asked Isac the way she always did.

"Anything's fine. Don't make too much, though. I didn't move much this morning."

Right, you didn't move much. Hayasaka Ai did all the moving. All that protein he'd spilled, and he didn't think he needed to replenish any of it?

Yukinoshita Yukino grumbled to herself. She wasn't the naive green girl she'd been a few months ago who knew nothing. She didn't say it out loud, but she knew about as much as there was to know.

Of course, grumbling was as far as it went. She couldn't actually say any of that.

If she did, Yukinoshita Yukino was sure that tonight he'd make her leak a little something too, and she'd need a fresh pair of pants afterward.

"Then let's do a tomato and meat soup, with some noodles in it."

"Sounds good. Sounds good."

In weather this cold, under these conditions, being able to eat a steaming bowl of noodles left nothing to complain about.

With the menu settled, the three girls went downstairs and left Isac curled up alone under the kotatsu in the master bedroom.

Isac knew they were hiding from him, so he very considerately didn't follow them down to join the fun.

He was also still in his post-climax sage state, so being alone didn't bother him.

He poured himself a cup of hot water to rehydrate, flopped backward onto the carpet, and pulled the kotatsu blanket over himself. Honestly, it was pretty cozy.

The kotatsu really was a great invention.

…

Downstairs, Yukinoshita Yukino walked into the kitchen and took the remaining half of the venison tenderloin from the fridge.

Ever since they'd learned what the venison could do, they'd added a little to their meals nearly every day, though never too much. Too much invited trouble.

That was also why, after all this time, they still hadn't finished the tenderloin, the smallest and finest of the four big cuts they'd gotten at the start.

At this rate, they could eat it until next spring and still have venison left. They might even have some left over when they returned to their original world.

She wondered if they could pack it up and take it back. Side effects aside, the taste alone was enough to haunt them, never mind that it could repair latent injuries and tune up the body.

Back in their old world, someone would buy it at any price.

But none of them lacked money, so if they could really bring it back, they probably wouldn't sell it. At most, they'd let family have a taste.

Well, not the Shinomiya family. Kaguya knew her own household best. If her older brothers found out she had something this good, they'd give her no peace for a long time.

They might not actually do anything to her, but why borrow trouble? Better to avoid it.

It wouldn't be too late to bring it out once she had the strength to protect herself.

"Grab the cans on top of the cabinet, please. You don't need to hand them to me, just take them over to the fireplace and heat them up. The can opener's in the first drawer under the sink," Yukinoshita Yukino said.

After living together this long, Yukinoshita Yukino no longer felt awkward about ordering Hayasaka Ai and Kaguya around the way she had at first. If you're idle, you might as well work.

And the two of them didn't mind being ordered around either. They'd come down to help, and it would be unseemly to stand around while Yukino did everything by herself.

"Do you need me to help cut the meat?" Kaguya had just carried the opened can of tomato soup out to the fireplace. Hayasaka Ai had nothing to do for the moment, so she volunteered.

"No need for the meat. You can take the bowls out of the cabinet and wipe them down." Yukinoshita Yukino was strong now, and cutting a piece of meat took no effort at all.

Water, on the other hand, was in short supply. With a blizzard raging outside, it was hard to restock, and opening a window or a door carried a real risk, so they had to use it sparingly.

That meant no washing the bowls for now. Wiping them with clean paper or cloth would do.

Mostly because at these temperatures, bacteria had a hard time multiplying anyway.

"Got it." Ai nodded. Watching Yukinoshita Yukino hold the knife over the venison tenderloin as if deciding where to cut, she offered a reminder. "You can cut more. It's so cold now, a bit more venison will get the blood pumping and help keep the chill off."

And not a word about the side effects.

Still, it wasn't a bad idea. If they really couldn't hold back later, they could always blame the venison's side effects.

Everyone knew what was really going on, but at least they'd have a fig leaf, right?

Thinking it over, Yukinoshita Yukino cut a good deal wider a slice than before, though she still didn't dare cut too much. She was afraid the side effects would be too strong to work off by ordinary means.

Slow and steady.

Seeing that Yukinoshita Yukino had listened, a sly glint crossed Hayasaka Ai's eyes. A little extra today, a little extra tomorrow, and with her fanning the flames on the side, she didn't believe Yukino and Kaguya could hold out.

When the time came, they'd sip the soup, and she'd eat the meat.

Of course, if Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino wanted the meat, she could give way. Worst case, she'd wait downstairs for a while and come back up when they were done.

But only for a while. At this temperature, spending the night in the downstairs guest room or the secondary bedroom next door wasn't realistic.

Outside the fireplace's direct heating range, the rooms dropped to more than twenty degrees below zero at night. Forget the comforters. Even the sleeping bags in the house couldn't stand up to that kind of cold.

In truth, Hayasaka Ai rather hoped Yukino and Kaguya would take that step soon. The reason was simple: handling him alone was honestly too much for her.

That kind of thing does depend a lot on physical fitness, but not only that. Sensitivity and tolerance matter too.

Ai had undergone physical enhancement, true, but her specialization was the five senses, and touch was one of them. Her sensitivity had risen right along with it. With one thing added and another taken away, it was hard to say whether her combat power had gone up or down.

Isac's, at any rate, had definitely gone up. With Ai's current strength, she had no way of satisfying him fully. It would be best to have more people share the firepower. Passing out all the time was no way to live.

Kaguya and Yukinoshita Yukino had no idea about Ai's little scheme. If they had known… then again, even if they had, there was probably nothing they could do to her.

In any case, as of now neither Yukinoshita Yukino nor Kaguya showed signs of going further. Things were still stuck at the rubbing-up-against-each-other stage, with no deeper progress.

But with Hayasaka Ai as a wild card, that day surely wouldn't be far off.