Chapter 559

"Should I stack this here, too?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Sure."

Matsuda had half-forced his help on Wataru, who stubbornly insisted he was fine. After silently finishing his tasks, Matsuda left the Shrine with Miyuki.

Unlike the festivalgoers leaving the Shrine with happy faces, Miyuki's expression remained rigid.

She had spent the entire festival without achieving a single thing.

'Hah...'

Sighing inwardly over and over, she forced a stiff smile when Matsuda looked back at her as they entered a quiet alleyway.

"What?"

"What do you mean, 'what'?"

"Didn't you have something to say?"

"Not really. But what's with that look? Are you sick?"

What was with her look...? Was he seriously asking because he didn't know?

Ah, well. It made sense that he didn't know.

"My neck is a bit stiff. From looking up the whole time..."

Miyuki deliberately drew attention to the neck she had painstakingly made up.

Matsuda nodded, then suddenly reached out and gently gripped the back of her neck.

He began to slowly massage it.

"W-what are you doing?"

Never imagining Matsuda would do something like this, Miyuki had tensed her shoulders in surprise when he reached out, but now she relaxed them.

"Massaging it. Stay still."

He had treated her like a rock just a little while ago, so why was he acting so sweet now?

Was he playing hard to get? Or had he been bottling up his desires until they reached a quiet place, ready to unleash them now that they were alone?

Whatever it was, it made her nervous. In a good way.

"Does it hurt?"

"No..."

"Should I press harder?"

Press harder?

That sounded a bit dirty.

No, her mind was just so full of lewd thoughts that it only felt that way.

"Mm... just like this is fine."

Stopping in her tracks, Miyuki relaxed her entire body into his massage. She let out a long breath as his hand slid down so far it could barely be called her nape anymore.

Was it finally happening?

Just as the thought crossed her mind,

Smack! Matsuda's hand, which had seemed poised to touch her back, lightly struck the back of her neck instead.

"Urgh."

Caught off guard by the slight impact, Miyuki let out a weird yelp and turned her head.

"What was that...?"

"Finishing up."

"Finishing up? That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"My hand hurts."

"So you aren't going to do it anymore?"

"Yeah."

"Why not?"

"What do you mean, 'why not'? I told you my hand hurts."

It felt like he was teasing her on purpose... Was she just imagining it?

Either way, this was a serious problem. And not just as a figure of speech.

Should she just stubbornly force her way into Matsuda's house and demand to stay the night?

Her desires were building up so much she was actually considering such extreme measures.

'No...!'

She needed to rein these thoughts in a little.

Actually, she resolved to control herself every day, but it never worked.

It was all Matsuda's fault.

He kept acting like he was going to do something, only to default to perfectly wholesome behavior. That was why she ended up like this.

So, he had to take responsibility. With heavy interest.

Planting her foot, Miyuki hopped forward, landing right under Matsuda's nose.

Matsuda flinched and asked what she was doing, but Miyuki ignored him, turned her back to him, and bowed her head.

"Do it more."

"Why are you acting so scary all of a sudden?"

"You want me to make tomorrow's study session really difficult?"

"So you're saying if I don't want the studying to be difficult, I should massage you more?"

"Right."

"And you'll still teach me even if I don't?"

"Exactly."

"Is that a negotiation? At least threaten not to teach me at all."

"That wasn't an option I could ever choose, so I couldn't help it."

"What a weird person."

Snorting in disbelief, Matsuda placed his hand back on Miyuki's neck.

As expected, being stubborn was much better for getting what she wanted than playing nice.

This, too, was something she had learned from Matsuda.

"Happy?"

"Yeah."

"I'll give you three more minutes."

"Thirty minutes?"

"Two minutes."

"A-alright...! Just three more minutes... You're being so pushy... That's not a good attitude to have..."

"Did you forget your weird negotiation just now was way pushier?"

"How so? I gave Matsuda-kun a choice."

"It sounded like a threat to me."

"Matsuda-kun's ears must be broken. Ahh...! Don't press so hard...!"

"I'm just making it feel better."

Just talking with him was fun.

Adding light physical contact on top of it made it even more enjoyable.

This was what she wanted. She hoped things would stay like this, and maybe even progress further.

Anyway, seeing how he focused entirely on her neck, he definitely liked her exposed nape.

Putting so much effort into it had been a great idea.

Ding-dong!

The next morning, Miyuki arrived at Matsuda's house, rang the doorbell, and waited.

Not long after, the Main Gate opened. Matsuda walked out, staring intently at his Cell Phone, holding it sideways.

He casually gestured with his chin for her to come in and stepped up onto the engawa first.

Pouting at his lack of attention, Miyuki followed him inside.

"What are you watching?"

"Anime."

"Anime...?"

"A magical girl one."

"You like that kind of stuff?"

"No. I was watching a stream and it popped up in the recommendations, so I checked it out."

"Isn't that the classic excuse people use when they want to hide their tastes?"

"It's the truth, so what do you want me to say? You should watch it, too. It's surprisingly good."

Matsuda shoved his Cell Phone toward Miyuki.

Thinking she had made an excellent choice by wearing a subtle fruity perfume today, Miyuki smoothly leaned her upper body toward him.

Pressing closer to him than strictly necessary, to the point where their shoulders touched, was an added bonus.

[Shine-ppi!]

Smack! Slap!

On Matsuda's Cell Phone, a chick-like spirit was aggressively slapping a monster's cheeks while protecting the magical girl who seemed to be its master.

With its tiny wings, no less.

Miyuki parted her lips slightly, unable to believe such words and actions were coming from such a cute character.

"What is this thing?"

"Apparently, it's the magical girl mascot."

"What kind of mascot has such a foul mouth?"

"Isn't it surprisingly refreshing?"

[Kyahaha! Justice always wins-ppi!]

Now it was even letting out an evil cackle.

That verbal tic at the end of its sentences was weird, too... Just what target audience was this anime made for?

"W-well... I'm not really sure about that..."

"Yeah? You smell nice, by the way."

Matsuda said this as he pressed the home button and closed the video.

Flinching at the comment, Miyuki looked at him.

"Huh...?"

"I said you smell nice."

"Ah... sorry."

She had done it on purpose, but it was still embarrassing.

It felt unfamiliar, like she had suddenly turned into a sly fox.

Was it like wearing clothes that didn't quite fit?

Trying to act out of character made everything feel awkward.

"What's there to be sorry about?"

Matsuda chuckled, stood up, and took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Want a drink?"

"Mm... no. Give me some cola. Zero cola."

"Huh...?"

"I said give me zero cola."

Matsuda started looking around.

His gaze was mostly focused on the ceiling. Puzzled by his sudden strange behavior, Miyuki tilted her head.

"What are you doing?"

"How did you know?"

"Huh?"

"How did you know I had zero cola in the house?"

"You actually have it...?"

"I bought some yesterday."

To think such a coincidence could happen...

She had just been acting a bit stubborn like yesterday, but it turned out Matsuda had bought some zero cola on his way home.

Was this destiny, too? It really went to show that she and Matsuda had an unbreakable bond.

"Wait, were you looking around because you thought I installed a hidden camera?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think I'd do something illegal like that?"

"Course not. I was just surprised, so I messed with you a bit."

A surveillance camera, though... that honestly didn't sound too bad.

'A-am I crazy...?'

She really must be missing Matsuda's embrace lately.

To effortlessly have such unwholesome thoughts.

"Here."

Lost in her erotic delusions, Miyuki violently shook her head to snap out of it when Matsuda held out the cola.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh...? What do you mean?"

"Why are you shaking your head like crazy? You'll get dandruff everywhere."

"..."

Matsuda had a habit of completely shattering the mood with weird comments like that.

To be fair, there hadn't really been much of a mood to begin with, but it was the principle of the thing.

"I'm joking, so don't glare at me like that. You look like you're staring at someone pathetic."

Matsuda scratched the back of his head, seemingly embarrassed by his own words.

Seeing that expression, Miyuki decided that he would probably fix his way of speaking soon enough.

"That's exactly how I'm looking at you. Hurry up and sit down. Let's study."

"Alright. What are we doing today?"

"Today? Nothing much."

"No, I mean what subject are we studying."

"Ah... English."

Looking embarrassed, Miyuki tapped the table.

She had jumped to conclusions, acting like she was expecting a date. How pathetic.

"So you don't have anything to do after this?"

Matsuda asked this as he sat down in the seat next to her.

Still feeling embarrassed, Miyuki nodded before she even realized it.

"Yeah."

"Wanna go see a movie then?"

She hadn't jumped to conclusions after all; he had just been building up to asking her out on a date.

Seeing him deliberately choose the seat right next to hers when there were plenty of other places to sit made her twice as happy.

Would he like it if she traced words on his hand in the movie theater like she did before?

Her heart was already fluttering. They should keep today's study session short.

"Okay."