"Huh?!"
Before she could process his words, Rei Ao pulled her into his arms.
Their sudden closeness made her heart pound like a drum. And as he leaned in, his intentions were unmistakable.
Shizuka knew what was coming. She should stop him. She should push him away.
But for some reason, her body refused to move.
The next thing she felt was the warmth of his lips against hers.
He kissed her.
She didn't fight back.
And when he deepened the kiss, exploring more boldly, her resistance completely melted away.
Shizuka found herself lost in the momenta sensation she had never experienced before.
When the kiss finally broke, Rei Ao cradled her trembling figure, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.
"You didn't resist, Shizuka. Does that mean?"
"It was an accident!" she blurted out, her face burning. "You caught me off guardI didn't have time to react!"
Rei Ao chuckled and tightened his hold on her waist. "If that's the case, let's try again, shall we?"
"Wait, wha"
He kissed her again, briefly this time, leaving her flustered.
"???"
Shizuka had braced herself for another long kiss, but when she opened her eyes, she found him gazing at her with a playful smirk, their faces mere inches apart.
Following her instincts, she leaned forward and kissed him herself.
Minutes later, they broke apart.
Shizuka slumped against him, her strength completely drained. Her entire body felt alive, her senses buzzing in a way she couldn't describe.
He had completely disarmed her, leaving her feeling utterly powerless.
"Shizuka, can I get your answer now?"
She shot him a flustered glare, her voice tinged with frustration. "You've already cornered me like this. What else am I supposed to say?"
Rei Ao smiled, rubbing his nose against hers. "I'd still like to hear you say it directly."
Shizuka's expression softened, but a shadow of doubt crossed her face. "I'm older than you, by a lot. I drink, I smoke And who knows? I might hit menopause soon. I'm not worth it."
Rei Ao gently cupped her face, his voice warm and steady. "None of that matters to me. I've already told youI want you, Shizuka."
He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
Before she could respond, Shizuka felt a strange heat rising from her body. Flames erupted around her.
"I'm on fire! Rei Ao, get away!"
She panicked, trying to push him away, but he held her close, calming her.
"Don't worry. These flames are under your control. Just think about extinguishing them."
Tentatively, she did as he said, and the flames disappeared.
"What just happened?"
Rei Ao smiled. "It's a gifta blessing. My power is now yours."
Shizuka stared at him, her emotions swirling. "You gave me your power? What's the price for this?"
"There's no price. It's nothing for me," he reassured her, then leaned in closer. "And I should tell you a little secret."
"What secret?"
"Mature women like you are exactly my type."
"You pervert!" she shouted, her face burning brighter than the flames had. "You're just shameless!"
She tried to cover her embarrassment, but he simply laughed.
"Even if you don't mind my flaws," she muttered, "what about your other girlfriends? Surely they'll care."
"Oh, that reminds me," Rei Ao said casually. "I should start calling you 'Shizuka-chan' like Yukino-san sister does."
"Why?"
Without warning, Rei Ao scooped her into a bridal carry.
"Because one of my other girlfriends is also named Shizuka. I don't want to mix things up."
"Huh?!"
The absurdity of his reasoning left her speechless.
Looking up at his confident expression, Shizuka sighed inwardly. She realized there was no escaping him.
"Why are you carrying me again?" she asked, glancing nervously around. Thankfully, the area was deserted.
Rei Ao smiled down at her. "Where do you live? Anyone at home?"
"Uh I live at , and no, I live alone. Why do you ask?"
"Why? Isn't it obvious? We're going to do what couples do."
With a snap of his fingers, they disappeared from the beach, leaving behind only a trail of footprints.
~~~
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Chapter 172: Taking Shizuka Down...
"Oh, I wonder how they're doing."
In her bedroom, Haruno idly picked up her phone.
As for Rei Ao and Shizuka's date, Haruno didn't have high expectations for Rei Ao.
Even though Shizuka didn't have much experience in matters of the heart, Haruno believed she had a strong sense of professionalism. As a teacher, there's no way she'd do something inappropriate.
The most likely outcome would be that Shizuka rejected him.
Still, Haruno picked up her phone and called Shizuka.
The phone rang for quite a while before it was finally answered.
Haruno immediately teased, "Shizuka, how was your date today?"
"Uh it was not bad."
"Hm?"
This response caught Haruno by surprise.
She thought Shizuka would say something like, "It was exhausting."
Unexpectedly, Shizuka said, "not bad"?
Haruno's interest was piqued.
"Seems like you're quite satisfied with Rei Ao, huh?"
"Uh maybe."
"Hey, no, I said it wrong! I mean satisfied! Very satisfied! Extremely satisfied!"
"???"
The hesitations and sudden shift in tone made Haruno sense something unusual.
Frowning slightly, she asked, "Where are you right now?"
" At home, why?"
"Oh? I feel like drinking with you and hearing all about your date. I'll come over now."
"Ah? No, no, I'm too tired. I'm already getting ready for bed!"
"Ugh, fine! Next time then!"
"Mm"
The call ended with a series of busy tones.
""
Haruno stared at her phone, feeling that something was off.
But after thinking for a while, she couldn't figure it out.
"Maybe Shizuka really is just tired."
She sighed and then dialed another number.
It was Rei Ao's.
The call was quickly answered.
"What do you want?"
"First, congrats! Shizuka said she was satisfied with the date. If you keep working hard, you might have a chance!"
"Oh."
Rei Ao replied flatly.
"Huh? You don't sound very excited."
Haruno was puzzled.
"Excited? I'm quite excited right now."
"Hey, I really can't tell, you know."
Not wanting to continue with the small talk, Haruno got to the point.
"Now, can you tell me who the guy that went to Yukino's house was? Since you know him, he must be from your school, right?"
This was the real issue that Haruno had been concerned about all along.
She even threw Shizuka under the bus to figure this out.
However, Rei Ao didn't reply immediately.
As Haruno waited in silence, she heard some noise in the background.
"What's all that noise on your end?"
"Oh, nothing, maybe someone's renovating next door."
Under the shy and flustered gaze of Shizuka, Rei Ao lied.
Then he added, "As for the person you want to know about it's me."
""
The other end of the call went completely silent.
"Excuse me???"
After a while, Haruno's incredulous voice came through.
"You're telling me the person at Yukino's house was you?!"
"Yeah, we're neighbors after all. We're bound to run into each other, aren't we?"
Hearing this, Haruno was about to say something when she heard more annoying creaking and clattering sounds on Rei Ao's end.
Before she could respond, Rei Ao said, "If you have more questions, let's talk next time. I'm busy."
And with that, the call was abruptly ended.
"..."
Haruno gripped her phone, her face dark with irritation.
She finally understood.
She had been played!
"To think I'd get fooled by a little brat."
Haruno rubbed her temples.
Thinking back, it was entirely her own fault for being overly concerned about Yukino, letting her emotions cloud her judgment, and falling into Rei Ao's trap.
This incident served as a reminder: she couldn't afford to lose her composure when it came to Yukino.
"Honestly..."
She let out a bitter laugh.
At least there didn't seem to be any real issues on Yukino's end.
It was like a weight that had been pressing on her chest all day had finally been lifted.
She decided to take a nice, long bath to relax.
As for Rei Ao...
"Tch, I'll have to teach that brat a lesson next time."
She stepped into the bathroom, undressing and turning on the shower.
Warm water cascaded over her smooth, delicate skin.
Haruno felt the tension leaving her body.
It was only during moments like these that she could truly unwind.
"Slap, slap."
She patted her stomach lightly with her palm.
"Hm?"
She paused suddenly, looking at her hand, then patted her stomach again.
Slap, slap, slap, slap.
The sound of her skin against the water was unmistakable.
It was familiarnot the kind of sound she noticed every time she showered, but a sound she had just heard recently.
"Where did I hear this?"
She frowned, trying to recall. Skin contact sounds... water sounds...
"Wait!"
Haruno's eyes widened.
It was during her phone callswith both Shizuka and Rei Ao!
It wasn't just similarit was exactly the same!
At this realization, Haruno recalled the oddities during both calls.
Shizuka's hesitations and abrupt tone shifts.
Rei Ao claiming there was renovation noise next door.
When she put the "slapping" sounds together...
"Could it be... those two?!"
A bold and absurd possibility crossed Haruno's mind.
If they were doing something, all the strange details suddenly made perfect sense.
What truly shocked Haruno was
"Shizuka got taken down that quickly?!"
Was that even possible?
...
It was very possible.
"Shizuka, was it really necessary to react that strongly just because Haruno called?" Rei Ao smirked.
Shizuka glared at him, clearly flustered.
"Haruno she's my friend and my student! I told you, this is unacceptable."
"And why, of all times, did you have to speed up when she called? You nearly made me lose face!" Shizuka complained.
She never expected Rei Ao to be such a speed demon.
What frustrated her even more was that he seemed utterly indifferent as his metaphorical engine roared down the freshly paved road at full throttle.
Suddenly, he hit the brakes.
Shizuka, still on her knees, looked up at him in confusion. "W-What's wrong?"
He smirked mischievously. "Didn't you say no speeding? I'm listening to you."
"Huh?"
Shizuka froze.
At this point, he had already revved the engine, so why stop now?
The wind had stilled.
The car, too, had stopped.
For no reason at all.
To her dismay, she noticed the car was veering off the main road.
Furious, Shizuka grabbed his arm and yelled, "Why are you stopping? Step on it, you idiot!!!"
"Tsk, tsk. Since you're so insistent, Shizuka, I'll slam the gas for you."
In an instant, the gas pedal was floored.
"Vroom, vroom, vroom!!!"
The engine roared furiously!
The car shot forward like a streak of lightning.
This was itthis was the feeling!
Shizuka might have been falling in love with the thrill of speeding.
~~~
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Chapter 173: Fast Development (Bonus Chapter)
Morning.
Sakurajima Mai: "@Rei Ao, where are you?"
Rei Ao: "I'm at Shizu's house."
Frieren: "You went to Shizuka's place? But I didn't see any system notifications about you traveling to another world. When did you cross over?"
Kato Megumi: "I didn't see anything either."
Shizue Izawa: "Huh? Rei Ao-kun isn't at my place though."
Rei Ao: "I meant Shizuka, not ShizuMs. Shizuka Hiratsuka, my teacher."
Sakurajima Mai: "???"
Sakurajima Mai: "Are you saying you've been at your teacher's house all day and night without returning home?"
Rei Ao: "Yes."
Frieren: "Ah, I see now."
Stella: "Did no one notice? Isn't the way he addresses his teacher a little too familiar?"
Stella's sharp intuition told her there was more to this situation than met the eye.
Busujima Saeko: "Indeed, he seems to have gone out of his way to differentiate between Shizuka and Shizue."
Kato Megumi: "Could it be Rei Ao-kun, you and Ms. Shizuka..."
Rei Ao: "Exactly what you're thinking."
Kato Megumi: "..."
Kato Megumi was stunned.
She never would've imagined such a thing.
She had thought her own sister was already bold, but she didn't expect Ms. Shizuka to be the same.
"Hey, are you sure it's okay to say something like that?"
Shizuka, who had been added to the private chat group by Rei Ao, was utterly mortified. After all, Kato Megumi was one of her students.
"What's the problem?"
Rei Ao chuckled.
"Why don't you look at yourself? Early in the morning, you wanted to speed things up, and I had to accommodate you."
He still wasn't fully awake, yet Shizuka, who had woken up first, was already eager to get things moving.
So much so that he had to reluctantly get up early and press the metaphorical gas pedal.
While doing so, he still found the time to chat in the group.
Rei Ao: "Anyway, Mai, was there something you needed from me?"
Sakurajima Mai: "Yes, my mom is coming over this afternoon to drop off some of my old belongings."
Rei Ao: "Oh, Mother-in-law is coming over? I'll head back around noon after I finish up here."
Sakurajima Mai: "Finish up what?"
Rei Ao: "Speeding upwith the Shizuka brand."
Sakurajima Mai: "???"
Kato Megumi: "This..."
Busujima Saeko: "So this is what you call speeding up? Well, Yuriko-san told me... actually, never mind. She told me not to say anything."
Frieren: "The terminology in your world is so strange."
Hijiri Kasuga: "Wait, Mother-in-law? Are you saying you've already met the parents and are preparing for marriage?"
Sakurajima Mai: "No, not marriage. My mom and I had some conflicts in the past, and Rei Ao-kun helped me resolve them."
Though the way he resolved it was by thoroughly embarrassing her in front of her mothera bizarre and absurd method.
"To think it's come this far already..."
Yuigahama Yui, who had been hesitating to ask Rei Ao out, read the messages and felt a deep sense of disappointment as she gripped her phone tightly.
It was a feeling of helplessness, as if there was nothing she could do.
"If only I could be more straightforward like my mom..."
