Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? Volume 13 Chapter 5

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So This is Mixed Bathing, So What?

Early in the morning on the weekend, Keiki and Mizuha left their home after finishing all of their preparations. They only took the utmost necessities with them, each of them carrying a small backpack on their shoulders as they headed towards the train station. Shortly afterwards, they boarded a train driving in the opposite direction they would usually go. After they sat down in a small corner with no other people around, the train started moving.

“I’m looking forward to the hot spring.”

“You love taking baths after all.”

“I need to thank Takasaki-senpai for the tickets.”

“We should probably buy her some souvenirs.”

The hot springs they were heading to were located at the foot of the mountain, a trip which took about two hours by train. Since this was a popular tourist destination, they should be able to easily find some souvenirs to buy.

“By the way, Nii-san. I wore some clothes that allow for easy movement, but… what do you think?”

“Hmmmm…?”

Upon hearing that question, Keiki once again inspected Mizuha’s appearance. Today, she was wearing a white blouse along with a short and stylish skirt, and a knitted cardigan on top to protect her from the cold. Underneath, she was wearing tights. It was the kind of outfit you’d wear to survive the cold up in the mountains.

“Yup, it looks great.”

“Really? I was thinking that maybe I should have worn something more open.”

“It’s still cold, so this is totally fine. Not to mention that you look cute no matter what you wear.”

“R-Really? Ehehe…” Mizuha made a happy smile when she praised him.

Seeing her acting this delighted made Keiki feel all warm inside.

“Ah, I’m also wearing panties today, so there’s no need to worry.”

“For the record, you’d better be wearing them every day, okay?”

After that, the two of them took a picture together. It was a simple selfie with the train seats behind them, and they took several of them despite not even having made it to their destination yet. They put their shoulders together, and while they looked at all the pictures they had taken, Mizuha once again let out a snicker.

“It really feels like we’re a couple, doesn’t it?”

“I mean, we are a couple.”

“This is pretty embarrassing.”

“It’s still early in the train ride, so you can take a nap if you want.”

“I’m not a child.” Mizuha said, yet she still rested her head on Keiki’s shoulder.

“I thought you weren’t a child?”

“I’m not sleepy, but I felt like flirting around for a bit.”

“I guess it can’t be helped then.”

Maybe because hardly anyone else was around, Keiki felt no resistance towards her acting spoiled. On the contrary, he was very welcoming of it.

It seems like she’s in a good mood today.

The trip must have done a great deal for Mizuha’s mood, or maybe she just felt like being spoiled a bit, but Keiki was happy as long as Mizuha was happy. And so, Keiki decided to flirt with her as much as she desired until they made it to their destination.

*

A bit past 9am, the two of them arrived at their destination and the hot springs. What greeted them right upon leaving the train station was the distinct smell of hot springs, as well as a cluster of old-fashioned buildings that seemed right at home among the mountains. There was a slope leading up the hill with several bathhouses and inns lined up along the sides, awakening your desire to adventure, which naturally caused Mizuha’s eyes to light up in joy.

“A lot of people are here, huh?”

“The weather’s superb, after all.”

When Keiki raised his gaze upwards, he was greeted by the blue sky. No clouds were in sight. It was the perfect weather and time of day to make people go outside, so the place would probably be even more crowded once noontime rolled around.

“Should I carry your stuff?”

“It’s fine. We won’t be staying for the night, so I only have some changes of clothes and my underwear with me.”

While walking, Mizuha pointed at the bag hanging down her shoulder. Compared to Keiki’s small backpack, it was quite a lot bigger, but it was only filled with clothes, so it seemed that it wasn’t that heavy.

“Then should we walk around a bit?”

“Yup!”

First, the two of them decided to check out the area. The first thing on their list was a footbath. They took off their shoes and socks beneath a roof and sat down next to each other on a bench. Since Mizuha had been wearing tights, she took them off after Keiki sat down on the bench, but even the faint rustling of clothes along with her occasional breath was more than stimulating.

“Great legs, m’lady.”

“You sound like a cringy discord mod, Nii-san.”

“Oh whoops, my honest feelings leaked out.”

Since Mizuha’s legs were such a beautiful sight to behold, Keiki couldn’t help but compliment them. It made him sound like somewhat of a pervert, but the exhibitionistic Mizuha felt stimulated all the same, and grinned visibly. And once both of their preparations were done, they slowly dipped their feet into the water.

“Ohh, it’s so warm.”

“You’re right. It feels great.”

“This is the first time I’ve used a footbath, and it’s not half bad.”

The temperature of the water was just perfect, making you feel all warm and fuzzy from the feet upwards. Since it was early March, it was starting to slowly warm up, but here at the foot of the mountain, you couldn’t be too careless with the cold. Since the footbath was out in the open, they covered the rest of their bodies by snuggling up close to each other.

“I didn’t think that a footbath would be this great of a place to flirt.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t mind staying here forever.”

“I feel like our legs would end up getting wrinkly if we did that.”

After their footbath, they went to check out the hot springs nearby. The first one they entered was an old bath house that clearly had a lot of history, big enough to house at least 100 people. Unlike the footbath, this time men and women were separated. Even so, knowing that your lover was waiting after the bath was one of the best feelings of the day so far.

“What a great bath that was~”

“Oh my, Mizuha-san seems to be in a wonderful mood.”

“It was the best. I want to have one at home.”

“I’d love to grant that wish, but I really doubt we can buy an entire hot spring.”

“Fufu. Being able to experience it every once in a while is what makes it so great.”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right…”

Mizuha’s smile was so adorable that it made Keiki’s heart skip a beat. He tried to remain calm about it, but it was impossible to hide after all.

“Nii-san, what’s wrong? Your face is a bit red… Were you in there too long?” Mizuha looked at Keiki with a somewhat worried gaze.

Since it wasn’t anything worth hiding, Keiki decided to just be honest.

“How do I say this…?”

“Yeah?”

“When you came out of the bath, you were just so beautiful that I was completely entranced.”

“Eh!?”

It was a sudden surprise attack. Because Keiki suddenly spoke rare words of affection, Mizuha’s cheeks turned even redder than they had been before.

“Even though you can see me like this every day…”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

Even so, the reason she looked more adorable than before was surely the effect of the hot spring.

“You can always join me when I’m taking a bath at home, Nii-san.”

“Where did that come from?”

“I just felt like saying it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Also, that’s definitely too embarrassing.”

“I’m totally fine, though.”

“Well I wouldn’t be.”

Keiki’s rational thinking and reason might break right then and there. Setting aside the time when Keiki wasn’t conscious of Mizuha yet, now that the two had become lovers, if she were to stand in front of Keiki right now, utterly naked, he didn’t have the confidence that he could hold back.

“Ah, Nii-san! There’s another footbath over there!”

“Let’s check it out then.”

Mizuha pointed in a direction and started walking that way.

It seems like she’s enjoying herself. Alright, I’d better keep this momentum going.

Today’s goal was to ensure some proper refreshing relaxation for Mizuha. Keiki nodded to himself, feeling that he was making great progress towards that goal. He walked after Mizuha.

After that, the two of them thoroughly enjoyed their trip. They checked out the hot springs, took pictures in the labyrinth-like slope path, ate some dango at a store on the way, and so on. Just walking around the place was so much fun. Around noon, the two of them were walking alongside a river.

“…Huh?”

“Mizuha?”

Mizuha suddenly stopped walking and looked towards the river.

“There’s a girl…”

“A girl?”

Keiki followed Mizuha’s gaze and spotted a young girl standing on the small asphalt path next to the river. However, something seemed off. She was covering her face with both her hands and seemed to be crying.

“Maybe she’s lost?”

“Nii-san…”

“Yeah, let’s call out to her.”

No one else was around her after all, and leaving a lost child alone would be too cruel. They didn’t know the circumstances, but acting like they didn’t see anything was not an option for either Keiki or Mizuha. They used the concrete stairs to walk down next to the river and called out to the crying girl.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Eh?” The girl raised her head in shock.

She seemed to be in the early years of grade school. She had a pouch around her shoulder and was wearing a long, warm one-piece. She had about the same hair length as Mizuha, and even a hairpin in the shape of a feather in her hair. Her face was somewhat cute, but it was drenched in tears right now.

“…Who are you two?”

“We’re not anybody suspicious.”

“We’re just tourists who happened to be walking by.”

“Really…” The girl closely inspected the two.

She apparently wasn’t fully convinced yet. After a short silence, the girl spoke up again.

“Am I going to get kidnapped?”

“No no no, we won’t take you away or anything.”

“We just saw you crying here, so we were wondering if something had happened.”

“Is that so…? I’m sorry that I troubled you like that.”

“Ohh… She sure is polite.”

The girl rubbed her eyes as she apologized. Since she had stopped crying, Keiki and Mizuha decided to hear her out.

“Can I ask for your name?”

“…It’s Miu.”

“Miu-chan, I see. Why were you crying just now?”

“That’s…” For a moment, the girl grew silent.

However, she shortly after opened her mouth again, like she made up her mind.

“Say, are you two newlyweds?”

““Eh?””

Met with this unexpected question, Keiki and Mizuha looked at each other in confusion. The intent behind her question was questionable, but in order to keep the conversation going, Keiki took it upon himself to answer.

“Right now we aren’t, but we do plan on getting married in the future.”

“…If you are, then you don’t understand how I feel.”

“Huh!?”

Keiki thought he’d given a proper answer, but the girl just made a blank expression, leaving him clueless as to what was going on. Upon seeing this, Mizuha took over.

“Miu-chan, why do we not understand?”

“That’s…”

Mizuha crouched down in order to meet the girl’s gaze and spoke with a gentle voice, and the girl started tearing up again.

“I was… rejected by the boy I like just now…”

“Eh?”

“When I told Ma-kun to marry me… he said no… So there’s no way you newlyweds would understand… what I feel…!”

“Ahhh…” Mizuha made a complicated expression.

Keiki joined in with an equally surprised reaction.

“So that’s why you were crying…?”

That was indeed a complicated problem. Even so, Mizuha tried to continue with an energetic voice.

“But won’t your family be worried if you don’t get back soon?”

“…I don’t want to go home.”

“Why not?”

“Ma-kun lives next to me, so if I go home, he’ll see that I cried, and it’ll be awkward…”

“I see…”

It appears that Ma-kun was Miu’s childhood friend. Not to mention that they live right next to each other. Mizuha took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away Miu’s tears.

“I’m pretty sure that Ma-kun likes you, Miu-chan.”

“Eh? Why do you think that?”

“There are times when people happen to say the opposite of what you really feel.”

“Really?”

“Yup. Especially boys your age. They have a hard time being honest at times.”

“You’re right… Ma-kun can be a bit like that at times…”

“He might have been surprised because you suddenly asked him to marry you. First, you should tell him how you feel.”

“But…” Miu-chan started fidgeting. “Will Ma-kun even listen to me…?”

“It’ll be fine. You’re really cute after all, Miu-chan.”

“Onee-san…” Miu-chan gazed at Mizuha in admiration.

After that, she suddenly clung to her.

“M-Miu-chan…?” Mizuha was bewildered from this sudden hug.

Miu-chan, for her part, seemed equally shocked.

“Onee-san, you have bigger breasts than Mama…”

“Eh…?”

“Pfffft!?”

Keiki could hardly be blamed for where his gaze went immediately following that statement.

“Onee-san, I’ll try my best!”

“Yup. I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

“Ehehe~!” Miu-chan showed a warm smile as Mizuha rubbed her on the head.

She’s finally calmed down, huh?

Now that they understood the reason why she was crying, Mizuha managed to free the girl from her worries. Keiki sighed in relief as he saw this heartwarming scene, and then he heard a loud voice coming their way.

“Heeeey! Miuuuuu!”

“Eh!? Ma-kun!?”

Miu-chan moved away from Mizuha and turned towards the voice. From that direction a boy came running who seemed to be the same age as Miu-chan.

“So that’s Ma-kun, huh?”

“Seems like it.”

Keiki and Mizuha watched over the scene. Ma-kun had short hair and was wearing loose pants with a hoodie above that. He seemed like the kind of boy who’d be really into soccer.

“Ma-kun, why are you…?”

“I was searching for you, Miu. You weren’t at home, so I thought you must be off crying somewhere.”

“Ma-kun…”

When Miu-chan realized that he had been searching for her, she looked close to breaking out in tears again. A mix of happiness and guilt filled her expression, and Ma-kun awkwardly scratched his cheek in response.

“About what I said just earlier… I take it back.”

“Eh…?”

“I’m saying that I’ll marry you, Miu.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah…Though only after we’ve become adults. I said something I didn’t mean out of embarrassment because there were other people nearby.”

“Then… do you like me, Ma-kun?”

“I wouldn’t come all the way out here if I didn’t like you, okay?” Ma-kun said, somewhat awkwardly.

Upon hearing that, Miu-chan broke out in a blooming smile.

“That… got resolved fairly quickly, I guess.”

“I couldn’t even get any popcorn…”

The two high school students looked at each other with somewhat bewildered expressions. Just as Mizuha had guessed, the two of them shared mutual feelings after all.

“Good for you, Miu-chan.”

“Yes! It’s just like you said, Onee-san!” Miu-chan shook Mizuha’s hand in gratitude.

Ma-kun spoke up again.

“Let’s go home, Miu!”

“Ah, wait a second, Ma-kun!” Miu-chan stopped her childhood friend and turned towards Mizuha again.

She took out something from her pouch and gave it to Mizuha.

“You can have this, Onee-san!”

“This is…”

It was a beautiful bookmark made out of purple Japanese paper. It even had a high-quality string attached to it. It was quite a stylish design.

“There’s a hot spring that my aunt manages, so I recommend you go there and check it out.”

“I see.”

“She told me to give this to any newlyweds I saw in town!”

“R-Really…?”

“That aunt sure knows how to do business…”

She’s even using an innocent child to advertise her establishment. Maybe having your establishment grow around here is difficult.

“Thank you very much for today!” Miu-chan politely bowed to the two and made her way towards Ma-kun.

After waving her hand at them one last time, she walked away while holding hands with Ma-kun.

“—By the way, who are those people?”

“—Newlyweds who came from very far away.”

“—Hmmm.”

Keiki watched the two of them walk off into the distance and spoke up to Mizuha.

“That ended unexpectedly smoothly, didn’t it?”

“…Yeah.”

“…Mizuha?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Mizuha shook her head and smiled. “I’m glad they felt the same way towards each other.”

“Y-Yeah…”

It felt like Mizuha was trying to hide something, but without knowing what it was, Keiki couldn’t dig any deeper.

Just now it looked like she was worried about something again…

Mizuha in that moment made a face that resembled one Keiki had seen her making a lot recently, like she was lacking her usual energy.

Something must be eating at her.

It was almost like back when that rumor was going around. Keiki didn’t want her to be as sad as she was back then. However, without any knowledge of her older brother’s worries, Mizuha looked down at the bookmark.

“By the way, I wonder where that hot spring is that Miu-chan mentioned? It’s not written on the bookmark, at least…”

“You’re right. I feel like that was a pretty impressive advertisement, but there’s no meaning to it if they don’t even tell you where it is.”

No trace of any hint of an address could be seen on the bookmark.

“It’s a mystery why they’d recommend this to newlyweds.”

“Maybe it’s some kind of family bath?”

Either way, with no way to actually go to that location, they couldn’t confirm anything. Regret over not having asked for details filled them, but Miu-chan and Ma-kun were already nowhere in sight.

*

In the evening, Keiki and Mizuha were eating okonomiyaki near the train station. They randomly found it during their stroll, so they took a step there to satisfy their hunger. Keiki ordered pork and eggs, whereas Mizuha chose the seafood mix. They shared each other’s food while talking about this and that.

“I didn’t think we’d be eating okonomiyaki here, to be honest. It’s not like this is some kind of local speciality or anything.”

“But with how nice it smells, there’s no way I could miss out on it.”

“Yeah, that scent really awakened my hunger, no joke.”

Thanks to that, the two of them had decided to make a stop there. Then again, the taste was befitting of the alluring smell, so all was right in the end. Mizuha seemed satisfied as well, and her cute smile slowly returned to her face.

I wonder why she looked so dejected back then.

After they split up from Miu-chan and Ma-kun, Mizuha made a lonely expression that wouldn’t leave Keiki’s mind.

She seems to be wearing her panties today, so I don’t think she’s angry with me…

If that was the case, then this should have ended up being another no-panties day.

Maybe I should ask her now…?

Since Keiki had no idea, his best bet would be to ask directly. He made up his mind and spoke up to Mizuha.

“…Listen, Mizuha.”

“Yeah?”

“Ah… well…”

When met with Mizuha’s dubious gaze, Keiki couldn’t muster up any courage. Thinking about it, Mizuha had tried to hide it already around noon that day, so even if he asked her now, she would probably either have a similar reaction or hide it entirely.

“…That seafood yakisoba looks delicious. I was thinking of ordering that myself.”

“Huh? You’re still hungry?”

In the end, Keiki decided to make another order instead of asking the girl.

“But it’s almost time to take our train home…” Mizuha said as she looked at the clock in the restaurant. “You might barely be able to make it in time… Do you want to order nonetheless?”

“…No. It’s a bit regrettable, but I don’t want to miss the train.”

Their plans were to depart at 6pm, so they had barely one hour left. If they missed it now, they’d have to wait until late at night to catch the next one. They had plenty of fun already, so this was their time to leave. They paid for their food and left the restaurant.

“Huh? It sure has gotten dark quick…”

Even though it was barely past 5pm, it felt like the middle of the night.

“Not to mention that it’s really cold…”

“Yeah…”

Feeling the chilly air, Mizuha hugged herself. It was cold enough that you could see your own breath.

“Ah…”

Mizuha was the first to realize it as she looked up at the sky. Keiki followed suit, and nodded.

“…Snow.”

From the pitch black sky came small flakes of white snow, slowly but steadily covering the world.

In the midst of this strong snowstorm, Keiki and Mizuha hurried to the train station. Keiki went to confirm the situation at the reception, and Mizuha called out to him.

“What did they say?”

“The trains are stopped. There’s no change of plans for that, either.”

“No way…”

“Buses and taxis aren’t available, either. What a blunder…”

According to the person at the reception desk, it rarely snows around here this time of year. Since the taxis weren’t equipped with winter tires, they couldn’t risk taking customers, either.

“Basically… we can’t get home?”

“That’s what it looks like, yeah…”

Because of this unexpected snow storm, all of the public transportation had come to a screeching halt. Until this heavy snow stopped, there was no chance that Keiki and Mizuha would be able to make their way back. Luckily, they didn’t have to worry about missing school tomorrow, but…

“For now, we need to find a place to stay.”

The biggest problem that needed resolving was to find lodging. The train station would close eventually, so staying outside in this heavy snow would just make them freeze to death. With these thoughts in mind, they immediately tried to find any kind of place to stay, but…

‘—I’m terribly sorry, but because of the sudden snowfall, we had to give all our empty rooms to sudden customers, so we have no more rooms to offer.’

“Is that so…”

So said one employee at the inn they contacted.

“Any luck, Mizuha?”

“Nope, all full.”

“Dang it…”

A lot of visitors were locked down in this small area like Keiki and Mizuha, so all nearby inns were at max capacity. They had taken enough money with them to let them stay somewhere if an emergency came up, but that wouldn’t help them if they couldn’t even find a place to stay.

“This is bad.”

“What should we do?”

“For now, we should see if we can find another—Achoo!” Keiki let out a loud sneeze from the cold.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I might need a tissue though…”

“Here, you can have one of mine.” Mizuha opened her bag and took out the pocket tissues.

“…Hm? You dropped something there.” Keiki crouched down to pick up this object, only to realize that it was the bookmark that the girl had given Mizuha earlier that day.

He was about to give it back to Mizuha when he realized that the corner was slightly peeled off.

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“This bookmark has two layers… It was just folded together.”

Makes sense why nothing was written on it. It was supposed to be an advertisement that you could open and look at, but someone had folded the paper. When he read what was written on it, it said ‘The Hot Spring Inn Kashi-sou’, along with an address and phone number below.

“So the place Miu-chan was talking about was actually an inn.”

After checking the address with his phone, Keiki saw that it wasn’t too far from their current location, and luckily they hadn’t called there yet.

“Nii-san…”

“Yeah…” Keiki took the bet and punched in the phone number. “Ah, hello? I’m sorry, do you still have rooms open? …Yes… Yes that’s correct. Ah, we’re two people… Yes…”

After exchanging a few words with the other person, the call ended.

“…Phew.”

“And?”

“They still have some space.”

“Really? Thank goodness…” Mizuha sighed in relief and smiled.

“It’s also pretty cheap, and they offer breakfast along with your stay.”

“That’s quite the luxury, then.”

“Yeah, but there’s one problem.”

“What’s wrong?”

“They only have one open room.”

“Eh?”

“They only have one open room…”

“No I heard you, I was just shocked.” Mizuha explained, and confirmed one more time. “So basically…?”

“Yeah, pretty much…”

They’d have to stay in the same room tonight.

“……”

“……”

This unexpected development caused them to silently exchange glances. Although both of them had their own fair share of things to say, since the trains weren’t running and the train station was going to close soon…

“We should probably head there, right?”

“Yeah…”

The two of them left the train station, unable to look at each other.

After about twenty minutes of walking, they reached the location. Normally, they probably would have been faster, but the heavy snowfall slowed them down quite a bit. They walked through the Japanese-themed entrance, and headed to the reception desk to check-in. The person welcoming them was a woman of an unknown age, and she immediately prepared some towels when she saw Keiki and Mizuha appear, drenched from the snow. Keiki told the woman that he was the one who had called just now and put his name into the register.

“You are quite young, I must say. Are you two lovers, perhaps?”

“Yes, although we just started dating.”

When Keiki confirmed it, Mizuha seemed happy as she grinned to herself.

“We originally had plans to leave today, but the trains all stopped.”

“That sounds quite troublesome indeed. I would assume that the trains will be working tomorrow again, so just relax here for tonight.”

She offered to dry their shoes, which also ended up being dripping wet, so Keiki and Mizuha changed into slippers and were guided to their room.

“Then please get some good rest.” The woman said, and left the room.

Keiki and Mizuha put down their belongings and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad we found an inn in the end.”

“You can say that again.”

Warm air was blowing down from the air conditioning unit, creating a comfortable atmosphere inside the room. Comparing it to the snowstorm outside was like comparing heaven and hell.

“Still, it’s crazy that we weren’t able to make it home today.”

“Sorry. I should have checked the weather forecast better…”

“It’s the mountains, so it can’t be helped. Not to mention that the locals were just as surprised.”

“Mizuha…” Keiki’s chest grew warmer because of his girlfriend’s kindness. “Oh no, I really want to hug you right now.”

“How about we take a bath first? We might catch a cold at this rate.”

“Oh, right.”

This wasn’t the time to be flirting around. Both of them were still wet from the snow.

“Ah, look at that, Nii-san! This room has an open-air bath!”

“You’re right. This really is luxurious despite the low cost.”

It was hidden by a set of curtains, so they hadn’t seen it before, but there was a large bath right outside their window. It was a cypress bath, as although it was fairly small, it created a comfortable atmosphere to relax. Since it was covered by a roof, they didn’t have to worry about the snow.

“Since our bodies are cold, we should head in there together, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, you’re right~”

…Hm?

“No, hold on. None of that. We’re not taking a bath together.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Keiki couldn’t let this odd situation lead him along. Even if they were officially dating now, the other person was still an unmarried girl.

“But you’ve seen me naked countless times so far, right?”

“That is true.”

Maybe Keiki was just causing unneeded confusion.

“We’d better hurry, you know? You were sneezing back at the train station, right?”

“Urk…”

They were both still drenched from the snow. Even if the air conditioning unit was keeping the room warm, if they spent more time like this, it was only a matter of time until they caught a cold.

“Come on, let’s go in together.”

“But… a bath is pretty bad, don’t you think?”

“It’s fine, we’re a couple after all.” Mizuha immediately broke through her older brother’s resistance with a smile. “Since we’re a couple, we can take a bath together, right?”

“…Seriously?”

A few minutes after that, the two were sitting in the bath. Because it was fairly small, the two were sitting a little ways away from each other, watching the snow fall. Mizuha let out a comfortable sigh.

“It sure is warm, right?”

“That it is indeed, yes…”

“Why are you sounding all polite now?”

“No reason…”

“Nii-san, are you nervous?”

“I mean, yeah…”

It’d be weird if Keiki wasn’t conscious of Mizuha. The bath itself wasn’t that big at all, and because of some argument about it being bad manners or whatever, the girl didn’t even have a towel around her body.

“We’re dating, so you can just look as much as you want.”

“Even if you say that…” Keiki carefully directed his gaze towards Mizuha.

Her slender shoulders, her cleavage, everything about her was alluring enough to completely obliterate any kind of restraint and reason Keiki desperately held onto.

I can’t. This is too stimulating for me right now…

If anything, how could she stay so calm about this? Keiki’s heart was racing, and yet his little sister acted like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Oh, yeah. Do you think the person at the reception was Miu-chan’s auntie?” Mizuha spoke up.

“Maybe?”

“I guess they recommend this place to newlyweds because of this open-air bath.”

“Yeah, this is perfect for newlyweds.”

Such a room and bath would definitely make any new couple happy. Thanks to that, Mizuha seemed to have cheered up a bit.

“Thanks to Miu-chan, we managed to stay over at such a great inn.”

“Yeah, she really saved us.”

If they hadn’t met that girl, they would probably still be walking around outside, searching for a place to stay. Sometimes, random encounters are the most life-changing encounters of all.

“Though it sucks that we couldn’t go home.”

“Right~? The weather up in the mountains sure changes abruptly.”

“I just hope we can make it back tomorrow.”

“Should we make a bouzu¹ then?”

“Does that work for snow, too?”

It was probably out of its range of expertise.

“If the snow doesn’t stop, we’ll probably be stranded here for a while.”

“That would be quite troublesome.”

“…I’m more than happy that I get to sleep here together with Nii-san.”

“Eh?” Keiki subconsciously looked to his side.

There, he met eyes with a blushing Mizuha.

“Are you… nervous too?”

“…Of course. Tonight I’ll be sleeping in the same room with Nii-san—the boy I like—so of course I’m conscious of you… and I’m expecting something as well…”

“E-Expecting… what exactly…?”

“Would you like to… find out?” Mizuha whispered and brought her body closer towards Keiki.

In the already narrow bath, that pretty much resulted in their bodies being pressed against the other. At the same time, Mizuha clung to her older brother’s arm like she always did at home. However, since they were both naked, it was far more stimulating than ever before. In addition, her breasts were as large as ever… With this sensation of raw breasts on his skin, Keiki’s reason was flaking apart very quickly.

“M-Mizuha…?”

“……”

Without answering Keiki’s question, Mizuha simply looked up at him. Her flushed cheeks, her eyes burning with passion, her lips waiting to be kissed, every part of that made Keiki’s head spin.

Dear lord, I’ll pass out for good…!

Even Keiki, who wanted to remain a dense main protagonist, realized just what the girl was expecting. Just as he did, Mizuha put more strength in her arm as she clung to Keiki. That only increased the pressure of her breasts—

I can’t anymore…!

Keiki reached his limit.

“I’ll be getting out first!”

“Ah, Nii-san!?”

Keiki jumped out of the bath while hiding his nether regions and rushed back into the room. Behind his back, he heard Mizuha’s disappointed ‘Nii-san, you wuss’, but he knew that she was right, so he could only apologize mentally. Putting his back to the door that leads out to the bath, Keiki let out a sigh.

“It’s not like I don’t have any expectations, but…”

Despite him wanting to wait for all the preparations, and wanting to treasure her, this situation was getting dangerous. He could not have expected such a turn of events.

*

“What… is this?”

After their bath, they changed into the supplied yukata with a brown robe on top, and went out to buy some milk only to find a surreal situation in front of them.

“They clearly put both our futons together, huh…?”

“Why did they…?”

In the center of the room, someone who worked in the inn had prepared two futons, put together as tightly as possible. She came by earlier and said she would make everything ready for the two of them, but it went far beyond what they expected.

Well, we did say we were a couple at the reception…

It would make sense for the inn side to prepare everything for a young couple.

“Since they already prepared it for us, it would feel rude to pull them apart.”

“You’re not wrong.”

It’s not like they were sleeping in the same one. They were just going to sleep next to each other in separate ones. Keiki calmed himself down with these thoughts, when Mizuha pulled on his sleeve.

“…Nii-san?”

“Hm?”

“You know, there’s one thing I want to do with you before going to bed…”

“Eh?! S-Something you want to do…?”

“Yeah… I was thinking of doing it on my own after you went to sleep, but…”

“On your own!?”

“I’d feel lonely like that, even though you’re right next to me…”

“Mizuha…”

“So it’s fine, right? We’re going out, so I don’t have to hold back any more, yeah?”

“……”

There was only one possible conclusion to this. Basically, Keiki was being invited to experience his first time with his cute girlfriend. As proof, Mizuha had opened up the chest area of her yukata, flashing her cleavage. If that wasn’t enough already, Mizuha’s dampened eyes were raising Keiki’s heartbeat even further.

“Please, Nii-san…” With the face of an angel, with the alluring charm of an adult, the girl voiced her request. “Take lots of embarrassing pictures of me!”

“…Wat?”

“I want you to take nudes of me, Nii-san!”

“Okay, I heard you. I was just so shocked I didn’t know what to say.”

It was a miscalculation to say that their relationship had progressed. In the end, Mizuha was still the same old exhibitonist as ever. Only a helpless pervert would want her boyfriend to take nude pictures during their first night together.

“I mean, we’re staying over at an inn, you know? We’re wearing yukata, too. I need to take pictures of this.”

“So why are normal pictures not good enough?”

“That’s just personal preference. I want you to take pictures while I try out all sorts of things… is that okay?”

“…Jeez, I get it…”

“Fufu. I love it when you spoil me, Nii-san.”

“Taking pictures is fine, but don’t throw off your yukata, okay?”

Taking fully nude pictures of Mizuha would break Keiki for good.

“So, I can flash my cleavage or my thighs, right?”

“Just do whatever you want…”

Keiki was doing this for his adorable girlfriend. He’ll make it through whatever perverted request she may have. With this determination in mind, he grasped the smartphone tightly with his hand.

After that, they took lots and lots of pictures.

The photoshoot had ended, and the two of them were sitting surrounding a low table, drinking some warm tea.

“Phew, it’s been a while since I went all out like that.”

“It was pretty hardcore.”

“We did it for an entire hour, after all.”

Keiki had been close to breaking down several times. The girl’s cleavage, her alluring thighs… he was forced to take pictures of all sorts of erotic parts of his beloved girlfriend, so he really wanted to hear some applause for not giving in midway. Just Mizuha in an average yukata was plenty dangerous enough. Completely disregarding her older brother’s exhaustion, however, Mizuha seemed refreshed.

“I’m just glad you were having fun.”

“Eh?”

“You looked a bit down recently, so I was worried.”

“So… Did you plan this entire trip today for my sake?”

“Well, I procured the tickets by complete chance, but I was planning on inviting you somewhere. As a change of pace, you know.”

“I see…”

“If you were worried about something, could you tell me?”

“…Yeah.” Mizuha put her cup down on the table, and started explaining. “I wasn’t exactly worried about anything. There’s just one more thing I needed to apologize about, besides not being able to keep our promise of going on a date.”

“Which is?”

“I rejected your first confession.”

“Eh? But, that…”

She had simply rejected his confession because of the bad rumor going around. However, this rejection wasn’t related to her true feelings.

“This happened a while ago, but there was a girl crying in my classroom… She confessed to the boy she likes, but was rejected…”

“I see…”

“She’s always cheerful, and the mood maker of the class, so seeing her cry was a shock for me, and I realized just how much she liked that person…”

Keiki could see that. Although he wasn’t there to witness it himself, the thought of a cheerful girl sobbing alone in the classroom was painful nonetheless.

“I feel like I saw Nii-san when I was looking at that girl. I wondered if I made you feel that way as well because I rejected you.”

“………”

The reason Keiki didn’t respond at all was simply because that was exactly the case. When Keiki was first rejected by Mizuha, it felt like the world was going to end. He couldn’t motivate himself to do anything, and he spent sleepless nights in grief.

“Even if we aren’t related by blood, we’re still siblings, so knowing Nii-san, you probably gave it a lot of thought before you confessed, right?”

Although they were step-siblings, the world knew them as brother and sister. In order to convey his feelings that could destroy that relationship, Keiki needed a lot of determination.

“Even so, I was worried about the rumor, and hurt you…”

“That’s what you were bothered about this entire time?”

“…Yeah.” Mizuha lowered her gaze and nodded.

That’s also why she looked so sad after we split up with Miu-chan…

Because the girl was crying after being rejected by the boy she liked. Seeing her like that, Mizuha was reminded of the fact that she did something similar to her older brother.

“Every time you treat me kindly, I’m filled with happiness, and also guilt. It makes me realize that I ended up hurting someone as kind as you…”

“Mizuha…”

“That’s why I wanted to at least make you happy, which is why I tried out all sorts of stuff…”

“That’s where that weird S&M roleplay from yesterday comes in, huh?”

Keiki thought it was some weird attempt at setting the mood, but it was simply Mizuha’s attempt to apologize.

“Honestly, I already forgot about all of that.”

“Even if you don’t mind, it still bothers me.”

“I figured.”

“Even with the rumor, you did all of that, and yet I’m always on the receiving end…”

“Mizuha…”

It was easy to tell Mizuha that she was wrong and to try to cheer her up. However, that would most likely not be enough to make her feel totally better. After thinking about how he could make the girl in front of him smile again, Keiki came up with one idea.

“Then, will you do something for me?” Keiki spoke up.

“You have a request?”

“If you do it, I’ll forgive you for hurting me.”

“What should I do?”

“For now, just close your eyes.”

“Eh? Is this… some kind of blindfold roleplay?”

“No.” Keiki had no interest in such a thing.

“So it’s not…”

“Why do you sound disappointed?” He really wished she wouldn’t make such a dejected expression. “Anyway, don’t open them until I say so.”

“Sure…” Mizuha seemed dubious, but closed her eyes just as she was told.

After confirming this, Keiki started preparing. He opened up his backpack, took out the item he prepared, and kneeled down in front of the girl.

“…Nii-san?” The girl must have felt his presence closing in.

“Not yet.”

“…Okay.” Keiki’s adorable girlfriend nodded again.

The girl waited in anxiety. Keiki gently took her hand and executed the last part of today’s plan.

“—Eh?”

At that moment, Mizuha’s eyes shot open. She raised her hand and looked at it. On her ring finger shone a beautiful ring with a leaf motif.

“Happy birthday.” Keiki finally said the words he had held back all day.

The 3rd of March, today, was Mizuha’s 17th birthday.

“I sadly couldn’t prepare cake because of this situation.”

“That’s fine, but…”

Mizuha still seemed a bit bewildered, and she muttered to herself in a daze.

“I didn’t expect this. I thought you totally forgot since you didn’t say anything all day.”

“I had planned a surprise party after getting home, you see.”

He had bought a cake at the cake store near the train station, and planned to give her the ring at home. But because of the snowfall, that plan ended in failure, but…

“This ring is so cute.”

“I chose it because I thought it would look good on you.”

Keiki was glad that he at least got to give her the present. He snuck it with him just to make sure, and now he felt like patting himself on the back for the foresight.

“But a ring for a birthday present…?”

“Mm… Well, yeah…”

“Is this… an engagement ring?”

“…Yes, I bought it with that intention in mind.”

Trying to hide it now would just waste their time.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Buying it from my allowance would just be lame, so I asked Koharu-senpai if she had some kind of part-time job I could do for a day.”

“So you were working part-time then…”

Using his connection to Koharu and her family’s business, Keiki managed to get a part-time job fairly smoothly. It was just physical labor like carrying cardboard boxes, but it paid fairly well despite that.

“When did you figure out my finger size?”

“When you sneak into my bed day after day. I have basically countless opportunities.”

“I never realized…”

Measuring the finger of a sleeping princess was a fairly simple feat.

“About just now. Just as you said, being rejected by you was a big shock, and I was depressed enough that I couldn’t sleep at night.”

“…I see.”

“But even more than that, right this very moment, you give back all this happiness I always wanted in my life.”

“Eh?”

“I’m happy that we sit closer together than before we started dating, and seeing Mizuha be jealous towards the other girls made me feel wanted as well.”

“………”

“Even today, I was so happy that we got to go on this trip. Walking around the town, talking a lot—It was a blast because you were with me, Mizuha.”

“Nii-san…”

“You said that you weren’t giving me anything in return, but that’s not true. Because I love you, I’m just happy to have you by my side.”

Watching movies together, holding hands, kissing, even these minor things were full of bliss for Keiki. It reached the point where the initial shock of being rejected didn’t matter to him at all anymore. In fact, if this happiness came about because of a few sleepless nights, then Keiki would be willing to pay that price again and again.

“Well, if you still feel like you need to make up for rejecting me, then I’ll just have you stay with me forever from here on out.” Keiki said, and took Mizuha’s hand that was wearing the ring.

She responded by returning the grasp.

“I definitely won’t let go, so you’d better be prepared, okay?”

“Right back at you. I’m not letting you go ever again.”

The two declared their intentions at each other, and smiled.

“…Nii-san?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks for the present.”

“You’re welcome.”

Almost like all the anxiety stored up inside of her had vanished, she smiled. Now things should be fine, Keiki thought. As they held hands, the girl brought her body closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder like a cat at peace.

---

1 Short for Teru teru bouzu, a paper doll that children use to pray for no rain.