The path to Aizome's house was traversed in a dense, almost funeral silence. Hiroki remained immersed in his internal dilemmas, pondering whether he should confess to his taller companion everything that was going on in his life. For the girl with black hair, however, the quiet atmosphere was not a burden: each of her senses awakened in a devastating ecstasy, as if a bubbling of seismic proportions reverberated in the pit of her stomach.
"I can't believe I'm walking arm in arm with Hiroki-kun! Kyaaaah!" the teen girl squealed to her insides, the footsteps of the two echoing on the wet sidewalk. After comforting the blonde boy a few minutes earlier, she had casually entwined her arms with his. Hiroki, although bashful, allowed the gesture, interpreting it as a as a friendly demonstration of her affection, a not entirely mistaken assumption, but not wholly true either.
"Forgive me for taking advantage of your naivety, Hiroki-kun... But how can I resist? This compulsion that overwhelms me, demanding that I feel your body, your warmth, your scent, your essence... This selfishness of mine overshadows any virtue I may have, kicking my moral sense out of the planet and straight into the moon."
If the young man had not been so absorbed in his own thoughts, he would have noticed the thin trail of saliva at the corner of her lips, or the lost look in her eyes that would certainly arouse suspicion. But oblivious to this, he continued forward alongside the older girl.
Upon reaching the end of a poorly lit street, Aizome suddenly turned left, nearly knocking Hiroki over due to the abrupt movement. The shock brought him back to reality, and his blue eyes were met with a modest but well-maintained apartment building. She guided him up a metal staircase to the second floor, stopping in front of a faded brown door on the far left of the stair.
"Here we are, Mori-kun." she announced, letting go of him to search for the key in the pocket of the worn black sweatshirt she had chosen to wear that day. "Please don't mind the mess. I've been a bit short on time to tidy up the house."
"N-not at all! You don't have to worry! A little disarray is nothing to stress yourself over." he replied, receiving a giggle from the older girl.
Unlocking the door, Aizome stepped into the shadowy apartment, followed by Hiroki, who carefully closed the door, aware of the late hour, it was nearly 11 PM. The boy wanted to avoid unnecessary noise so as not to disturb his hostess's neighbors, who must have their own commitments to attend to early in the morning.
They walked down a narrow corridor until they reached what appeared to be the living room, which lit up with whitish light upon Aizome's touch on the switch.
The interior of the apartment was painted in a nearly greenish blue. An exotic yet beautiful choice, to say the least.
Positioning herself in the center of the room, the girl with long black hair turned to him with a twirl, her glasses reflecting the artificial glow of the lamp.
"Well, Hiroki-kun, I promised you a hot drink earlier and I'll stay true to that, but first, we both need to take a good shower." Aizome declared, raising her index finger in an authoritative gesture as she saw him hesitate. "This is not a request, Hiroki-kun, it's an order. I don't want you to get sick due to being out in the rain for hours."
Hiroki swallowed hard, his eyes wide as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
"W-what?! B-but, Aizome-senpai, that's—"
"But nothing, no arguments." she interrupted, smiling with a sweetness that contrasted with her authoritative tone. "There are some old clothes of my father's in the closet, I'll get them for you to wear. The bathroom is at the end of the hallway. Leave your clothes in the sink, and I'll put them to dry as soon as you're done. It's the second door on the right. Go on."
Her sing-song yet unyielding voice made it clear that opposing her was futile.
With Aizome's words still ringing in his ears, Hiroki watched the brunette turn her back to him and disappear into another room. The boy remained still for a moment, torn between obedience and denial. He was feeling conflicted, should he keep his ground or yield? The low temperature coursing through his body and the tiny shivers betrayed him, revealing what his body truly needed.
"They say the host's orders are sacred... Challenging the one who is accomodating me would serve only to paint me as an ungrateful person! Therefore, I must abide what I've been asked!" Hiroki used this more than lame excuse to convince himself as a tactic to defeat his stubbornness and ease his conscience. He then walked to the bathroom, crossing the threshold and closing the door with an inaudible click. As he stripped off his soaked shirt and pants, one detail about the sink made his face burn as if it were a building on fire. A black panty, which appeared to be part of a daring lingerie set, was left there, almost daring him to pick it up, like a trap set for animals.
Dazed, his eyes were fixated on the fabric, his brain projecting anything other than innocent images of Aizome wearing that spicy piece.
"No, Hiroki, don't look! Don't have indecent fantasies about your benefactor!" The blonde reprimanded himself while shaking his head vigorously, as if the sudden movements could expel the improper fantasies that insisted on sprouting.
Stepping into the transparent shower box, Hiroki turned on the faucet and positioned himself underneath it. Under the torrent of hot water, he let out a long, pleasurable sigh. The heat dissolved the muscle tension and enveloped his skin in a therapeutic mist. The boy surrendered to that almost divine sensation, and as exaggerated as that comparison might sound, it was the purest truth. Except for the hug he received from Aizome in the middle of the street, the hot water hitting him was the most relaxing thing he had felt all day. And so, Hiroki stood there for ten interminable minutes, his hands resting on the wall in front of him the whole time, until the contact of his now wrinkled fingers with one another brought him back to reality.
Turning off the shower, he dried his body with a soft towel that was hanging next to the foggy mirror, wrapping it around his waist before getting out and stepping back into the living room, where he found Aizome leaning against the wall, her dark orbs staring at the floor.
Upon noticing the presence of the younger boy, she lifted her head, her eyelids slightly constricting at the sight that, in the opinion of the bespectacled young woman, was a privilege to behold.
"Hm... he's only 13 years old, and yet he has such a toned body. Not to mention his height, he surpasses many high school students in that regard... Just imagine how attractive Hiroki-kun will become in 3 or 4 years... an example of what the perfect man should be... Aaaaaaah~ I think I'm getting wet down there~️" Aizome's dark eyes sparkled with impure desires, but her impassive expression concealed what was going on in her mind.
Clearing her throat to compose herself, Aizome approached Hiroki, extending the object she was holding in her hands.
"Here, these are the clothes you will wear for the next few hours. You don't need to go to any room to change. Since I'm going to hop on the shower too, you can do it right here."
"A-ah, okay." He grabbed the clothes being offered, noticing that it was a pair of gray pajamas, proportionate to his body size.
"Heh, what an ironic coincidence, it seems Aizome-senpai's father has a very similar physique to mine." Hiroki thought, with a hint of amusement.
"As soon as I come back, we can get a good rest and talk properly." Aizome said, offering a lovely smile as she walked toward the bathroom, leaving Hiroki alone in the living room. Putting on the borrowed pajamas, Hiroki sat on the three-seater sofa positioned against the adjacent wall, contemplating the best way to lay bare the recent problems that haunted him.
xxxxx
Author's Note: Next chapter may come out in this weekend or
in the beginning of the next week, I'm already writing it.