Chapter 196

"This is all because Student Viktor is the bad one..."

It sounded like an excuse.

But words like that vanished with a single kiss.

Smooch.

Their lips met.

A soft sensation.

Scorching warmth.

Sweet breath.

Everything slowly mingled at their lips. Javert remained atop the boy for a long while.

"Haah, haah..."

The damp scent of alcohol drifted through the air.

Only after several seconds that felt like an eternity did Javert pull away. In that brief gap, her desperate voice could be heard.

"Viktor, Student Viktor..."

Her voice sounded pleading, yet hungry.

Her reason had long since fled. Her green eyes held only the boy.

Squeeze.

Viktor's body was pinned down.

Javert gripped both his wrists, and her body held him in place from above.

The boy couldn't even squirm.

Whenever he did, she tightened her hands and thighs, making her hold even firmer.

Her desire was rough.

They were close enough for the scent of each other's skin to tickle their noses.

Her firm, well-proportioned body pressed tightly against him.

Before Viktor could even panic, Javert pressed her lips to his again.

Smooch, smooch.

Perhaps saying their lips merely met was too gentle.

It was forceful and desperate. Javert's kiss was clumsy, but that only made her surging emotions clearer.

The boy could feel all of it.

[Student Viktor, Student Viktor, Student Viktor...]

Javert's mind was filled with those words.

A pained longing stabbed at her chest.

[Please, look at me.]

[I can't live without you anymore... but I don't think you feel the same way.]

[I need you. You're all I need. But there are already so many people like that for you...]

Anxiety, impatience, sorrow.

The emotions bursting out of her drunken state crashed into the boy with painful clarity.

[I'm scared you won't accept me.]

[You don't even see me as a woman. It feels like you only think of me as a good teacher...]

[I hate that.]

[Even if it's only for a moment, I want you to look at me.]

[I know it's shameless to want more after I've already received so much from you...]

The truth she had always buried in a corner of her heart.

That festering wound whispered like a plea.

Drip, drip.

Raindrops fell onto the boy's cheeks.

Viktor looked up at the crying eyes.

Tears gathered, then fell in drops.

Whenever those green eyes faced the boy, they became unbearably small.

[...Please, don't push me away.]

A sentence formed unconsciously, beyond thought.

Javert was rough.

Her grip was strong enough to break his wrists, and her thighs continued pressing against his hips.

His body throbbed. It felt as though Javert could break him whenever she wished. Her strength made her seem like a tyrant atop the sofa.

Yet she looked pitiful.

Deep down, she was fragile.

"Mm, haah..."

"Smooch... Investigator..."

A heart full of cracks.

If Viktor said just one word telling her to get off him, if he simply rejected her lips, she looked as though she would shatter to pieces.

It was the weakness Javert had carried for so long.

A wound that had festered in solitude, again and again, without her ever confessing it to anyone.

The strong liquor had stripped away that veil. The tears landing on his cheeks were hot.

[Student Viktor, Student Viktor...]

The kiss looked like violence, but at its core, it was a plea.

That was why Viktor couldn't push her away.

Smooch, smooch.

A few more wet sounds rang out.

Something soft slipped between Viktor's lips.

It was Javert's tongue. Her tongue clumsily wandered around his mouth, stopped by his closed teeth.

The boy slowly opened his mouth. Then he accepted the tongue slipping inside.

"Investigator, slowly... I'm not going to run away."

"Viktor... smooch, Student Viktor..."

Sticky saliva passed between their tongues.

Viktor didn't resist. Even as his wrists were squeezed hard enough to bruise, he only accepted Javert's lips.

'I never knew she was this anxious...'

The boy reflected on his own neglect.

Maybe Javert had lost control like this because of him.

'I wish I could've been someone who made you feel less anxious, someone who could make you happier...'

Ragged breaths passed between their mouths.

Javert pressed closer, as though she wanted to swallow even those without leaving anything behind.

Their kisses grew longer, leaving their breaths inevitably uneven.

His lungs gasped for oxygen. His awareness grew hazy, and his mind turned completely white.

"Smooch, haah..."

The kiss continued for over thirty minutes, the two of them sharing every moment.

The drunken companions around them watched the scene blankly.

"......"

"......"

It was an obscene sight.

Before their eyes, the person they liked was intertwining tongues with someone else they knew.

Every face had turned red.

Perhaps because of the provocative scene, their hearts pounded wildly.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Their heads were hot enough to steam.

Still, not one of them could look away.

'I should st-stop them...'

A meaningless murmur.

Their completely drunken minds refused to think.

The kissing scene on the sofa continued until Javert fell asleep.

* * *

An hour later.

The living room was a cluttered mess.

Empty glasses covered the table, while several emptied liquor bottles lay scattered around.

"Mmph!"

The drunken commotion had finally ended.

It was already dawn.

Only the blonde girl moved through the quiet living room.

"Everyone is sleeping soundly."

Ranne handled the cleanup alone.

She was the only one among them still awake and in her right mind.

Javert, who had been at the center of the commotion, had finally collapsed under the effects of the alcohol. The others had fallen asleep one by one as well.

Ranne carried the people sprawled across the sofa into the bedrooms, one at a time.

She had drunk the most alongside Viktor, but her Starlight immediately broke down even alcohol this strong.

"I didn't realize the liquor would be this potent. As if the others weren't enough, even Professor Javert ended up like that..."

It was a pointless murmur.

Then the scene from the living room half an hour ago came to mind.

That blatant scene.

Heat rushed to Ranne's face, but she quickly shook her head and forced the stray thoughts away.

It was a memory far too stimulating for the cheerful girl. Ranne tried hard to forget it.

"Ahem."

After fighting with herself and moving everyone into the bedrooms, only Viktor remained in the living room.

"Sir Viktor."

The boy was unconscious too.

Maybe the alcohol had caught up with him late. He lay sprawled across the sofa.

His appearance was a complete mess.

Was it because of Javert's rough hands?

Marks remained on his wrists, and several buttons had been torn off his shirt.

"Uh... ugh..."

Had he sensed Ranne nearby?

Though barely conscious, the boy looked up at the figure near him.

"Teacher..."

He mumbled as if talking in his sleep.

He seemed drunk on a dream.

Without even opening his eyes properly, the boy searched for someone.

"Teacher... I wanna see Teacher..."

"Sir Viktor?"

"Teacher, why aren't you here... why did you go..."

"......"

Ranne stopped herself from waking Viktor because of the person he was looking for.

Teacher.

Someone the boy had never once told her about.

Ranne quietly sat down and held Viktor's hand as he tossed and turned.

"My throat hurts... Why does my throat hurt so much..."

"Sir Viktor."

His mushy voice sounded strangely lonely.

Then his barely opened eyes looked at Ranne.

The boy looked up at her and broke into a bright smile.

"Wow... it's Ranne, Ranne..."

Poke, poke.

His finger poked Ranne's cheek.

"You're awake. I'll carry you to the bedroo..."

"You're doing well."

"......"

"You're doing well, our Ranne... You're admirable. You're doing great. I'm proud of you."

Stroke, stroke.

Before she knew it, Viktor was stroking her blonde hair.

Like he was praising a child, his touch was gentle and warm.

"Don't be anxious... You're doing well, so don't push yourself too hard..."

The boy's sincerity.

Ranne couldn't help holding her breath. Warm breath whispered against her ear.

"Even if something goes wrong, I'll take care of everything..."

Ah.

If only she could get drunk too.

"Sir Muro."

A fresh blush bloomed across the girl's cheeks.

It was a night when she wanted to use drunkenness as an excuse despite not being drunk at all.

Ranne lowered her head slightly.

"I'm holding myself back too, you know."

"Hehe... Ranne, you're admirable..."

"And yet you only keep shaking me up, Sir Muro."

"Hm? Me...?"

"I told you, didn't I? That if things became difficult, I wanted you to lean on me..."

"That's right... Ranne is reliable... reassuring..."

"My light will always exist for Sir Muro."

His lips smelled of alcohol.

For a moment, Ranne looked down at Viktor.

"...I think I understand a little now what Investigator Javert meant when she said Sir Muro was the bad one."

"Huh... I'm bad?"

"Yes, a little. I think you're a little bad."

"That won't do... Teacher told me to become a good person..."

"It's all right. If you allow me just one thing, I'll take back what I said about you being bad."

"Really? What is it...?"

"Just stay like this for a moment."

"Okay..."

"Excuse me."

Smooch.

Ranne kissed the boy sprawled on the sofa.

Then she didn't pull away for a long while.

Their saliva mingled.

* * *

And the next day.

What announced the morning was the sound of everyone kicking the hell out of their blankets.

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