Old Faces, New Lives

The scorching sun and the shimmering air of summer afternoon are spelling death to all creatures yet to find themselves shelters, at least that's how Yuuki Ashikaga feels, and such sentiment drives him into the convenient store attached to a gas station. This store is indeed convenient, for not only selling cold beverages, also for it providing tables and chairs for beverage-consumption — what Yuuki is doing now.

"Why leaving the air-condition-protected dormitory of my university for a stroll? Computer is working properly and connection to internet is good, game servers are also up and hot, so what was I thinking?!" Cooling himself down internally by the beverage just purchased and externally by the blowing cold wind from the air-condition vents, the boy regrets his actions, almost smashes his head against the floor-to-ceiling windows in front of him — if it's not painful. That's right, Yuuki Ashikaga had graduated from Sakakino Gakuen and enrolled in a university located in another city. Since the campus is far, far away from home, naturally he chose to sleep in the dormitory, saving the trouble of traveling for dozens of miles…as well as the suffering of submitting to his "abusive" elder sister Chie Ashikaga. Actually Yuuki decides to stay in his dorm room for the entire summer vacation coming in just a few days, and he's confident this is not the worst idea he ever had.

Video games around-the-clock or sister issues, obvious choice, don't you agree?

Outside the thick glass sheets is the array of refueling machines. Cars come and go, drivers hop out to refill gasoline then hop in to drive away, some also visit the convenient store to refill themselves before leaving. Yuuki has no interests to those passing-by people, just staring idly, since from the looks of it, there's nothing he can do except waiting until evening for the out-door temperature to drop below safety level. Then a certain automobile pulls in and stops right next to the refueling machine closest to Yuuki's window, only a few meters by straight-line distance. The car itself is nothing special, some generic model you can see in a large quantity every single day, but when the driver gets off to operate the machine, Yuuki's eyes immediately widen and almost throws himself out of seat.

Kotonoha Katsura, one of Yuuki Ashikaga's…well, not his classmate, but they do know each other as schoolmates, also a person he never expects to meet again. Back to the days in Sakakino Gakuen, Yuuki used to be the assistant manager of the school's library, with Kotonoha being a frequent visitor of that place, therefore he was allowed many chances to admire the exceptional beauty and the extreme voluptuousness of hers, plus numerous occasions to have conversations with her, subsequently a crush on her was developed. But the boy was never brave enough to confess, meanwhile Kotonoha also never viewed him more than an acquaintance. Later, after acknowledging she and Makoto Itou were dating, Yuuki gave up his feelings and instead solely concentrated on academics. Then suddenly there was a news that Kotonoha and Makoto both submitted requests of a one-year suspension of schooling and were never heard from again, some rumors said they went to study abroad, even said he married her and moved to a foreign country with her entire family. None of those rumors concerned the boy since he had already chosen to focus on studying, which may have factored into why things hadn't worked out with Roka Kitsuregawa, much to the matchmaker — Chie's displeasure.

But now, right here, she is in his sight again, is this an arrangement of some overwatching deities?

It seems Kotonoha doesn't discover Yuuki and keeps refueling her vehicle, maybe her mind is too devoted to resume her journey, or maybe the windows are not that transparent from the exterior, either of the two possibilities grants him the opportunity to take a hard look on this goddess. Obviously she still retains all the properties constituting her magnificence: Flawless skin, dark-purple irises, knee-length silky and straight hair of blackish violet, slender waist, flat belly, round and firm hips, long and curvaceous legs…then, of course, all of them are merely for underlining the breasts of every male's fantasy. Yuuki had heard too many boys in Sakakino Gakuen discussing those heavenly entities and expressing their dirty thoughts, a horse-faced pervert called Taisuke Sawanaga even said he wanted to grope and suckle them so badly therefore he might resort in raping. As for Yuuki himself, despite unable to deny being among that bunch of "too many", inclined to less violent, more legal approaches, guess that's why after hearing Taisuke's pipe dream, he responded with a merciless kick right in that wretched-looking scoundrel's crotch, effectively shutting the door for him to father little Sawanagas, also capsizing the canoe of their friendship since junior high-school.

Now it's clear these most important "assets" of Kotonoha's had become even more prominent, grown from watermelon-sized to large…super-large-watermelon-sized and are straining the outfit to limit, as if going to break free to breastfeed everyone at any second; even her nipples are contributing to such visual effect, in the form of a conspicuous cone-shaped "tent" atop each "mountain", and correspondingly, a tent instantly erects inside Yuuki's trousers, between legs, alongside burning sensation on his cheeks. Concerning the outfit, the goddess really knows her stuff: Sumptuous ankle-length bodycon-dress of crimson silk and with thigh-slits, a heavily modified highneck-halter-backless design — sectors beyond the silk, like her back, arms, shoulders and flanks, are covered by tiny, hollowed-out black square-grids, overlapped with various flowers of same color, and some of these tattoo-resembling motifs also expand to the places covered by silk; not to mention the pantyhose of translucent white and the salsa-heels of black don't make Yuuki tearing his gaze away any easier. He's not the only one, for a passing by biker actually rides off the road and knocks himself over for staring at this mind-boggling stunner too long…

Having finished refueling, Kotonoha makes for the driver's seat, snapping Yuuki out of his reminiscence. Springing from chair, he has all manner of questions racing through his head, thirsty for answers:

Is she enrolled in university? Working? If the former, is it the same as his? Did she marry with Makoto Itou? And had children? Is she still with that Itou guy?

…and if not, is she open to another relationship?

Unfortunately, by the time of getting out from the door, the car had already driven away, leaving the boy lamenting his hesitation and bad luck. Defeated, Yuuki can only return to his seat, groaning, inwardly cursing his slow-reacting and indecision, barely resisting the urge to slam his head into the table.

Ouch, guess he has to spend the nighttime alone…again. This really sucks.