Using the key card to open the door, Kotomi Izumi inserted it into the slot, and the lights of the entire large-bed room instantly lit up.
Pushing her suitcase inside, Kotomi didn't forget to look around at the room's environment. The room gave off a warm and comfortable feeling. The bed in the large-bed room was indeed huge. It felt like even five girls lying down together wouldn't be a problem.
When I buy a house in the future, I'll customize a bed dozens of times bigger than this one... Kotomi thought silently to herself. At the same time, it strengthened her determination to buy a large flat apartment rather than a villa someday. After all, the bedroom would need to be extremely spacious. If she lived in a villa, it would be hard to guarantee dedicating such a large area purely to the bedroom.
There was another reason Kotomi preferred large flats: no stairs.
Back in her second life, when she had been Ailun and was kept by Xu Shaoxin, she had basically lived at her house every day—a Western-style villa.
Every time after that, if Ailun wanted to go to the kitchen for a drink of water, he had to support his waist with one hand and hold the stair railing with the other, slowly moving from the third-floor bedroom down to the first-floor kitchen step by step.
After all, each session started at several hours, and on weekends, if they were in good condition, it would last at least another hour. No matter how young Ailun had been back then, he still felt exhausted. Especially after finishing or during breaks, walking down the stairs felt like stepping on cotton with every step.
After that, Xu Shaoxin simply began preparing a box of mineral water, drinks, and snacks in advance every time, placing it in the bedroom. That way, Ailun didn't need to go downstairs anymore.
After reaffirming in her heart that she would buy a large flat rather than a villa in the future, Kotomi looked at the bed again and reached out to touch it.
The entire bed was soft. Even without lying on it yet, she could already tell it would be extremely comfortable.
The only thing Kotomi felt like complaining about was that several red rose petals had been scattered across the white bedsheets of the large-bed room.
Seeing the rose petals, Kotomi instinctively glanced at Yui Yuigahama. Feeling Kotomi's gaze, even someone as slow to react as Yui immediately understood the implication after making eye contact and then looking at the rose petals on the bed.
A charming blush gradually appeared on Yui Yuigahama's pretty face, and she lowered her head shyly...
Yukino Yukinoshita looked at Kotomi, then at Yui, unsure what silent exchange the two of them were having. Soon after, she gave a bitter smile in her heart.
No matter how much Kotomi and Yui flirt with each other, I don't have the right to feel confused or dissatisfied... They're a mutually loving couple. To Kotomi, I'm probably only an ordinary friend.
Thinking this, Yukino felt even more bitter, as though she had accidentally eaten a piece of extremely bitter chocolate.
Choosing not to disturb them, Yukino Yukinoshita set down her suitcase and said coldly, "If neither of you plans to use the bathroom first, then I'll take a shower."
"Oh, okay," Kotomi replied, nodding. But inside, she felt slightly puzzled. Although Yukino usually speaks coldly, why does her tone feel several times colder than usual? She looks a bit unhappy.
Could it be that she's still angry because I joked about kissing her earlier?
No way... I didn't even actually kiss her. Is she really still upset? Hmph! Yukino, just wait. Once you become my girlfriend, I'll hold you and kiss you every day!
Thinking this, a mischievous smile curled at the corner of Kotomi's lips. A few seconds after Yukino entered the bathroom, she followed behind and suddenly opened the bathroom door and walked in.
"K-Kotomi?! Why did you suddenly come in?" Yukino Yukinoshita, who was just about to change clothes, said in a flustered voice upon seeing Kotomi enter. Inside, she felt both startled and secretly pleased.
Ah, I miscalculated the timing. I came in too early... didn't get to see the beautiful scene I wanted, Kotomi thought with slight disappointment. At the same time, without blushing or losing composure, she replied smoothly:
"Of course I came to wash my hands."
"Knock before coming in! I was about to change!" Yukino said, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"What are you afraid of? We're both girls. Even if you changed clothes right in front of me, would I really have any thoughts about you?"
Kotomi spoke with complete confidence, not forgetting to glance at Yukino's figure before adding meaningfully:
"As expected of the young lady of the Yukinoshita family. At such a young age, you already have your own airport."
At first, Yukino Yukinoshita felt confused, unsure what Kotomi meant by that statement.
Yukino's personality meant that once she didn't understand something, she had to find out. So she picked up her phone nearby, opened a browser, and began searching.
When she entered the latter half of Kotomi's sentence—"having your own airport at such a young age"—and saw the search results, Yukino widened her eyes as she read every word carefully. Then she lowered her gaze and looked at herself...
What followed was a long silence.
So long that Kotomi began wondering if she should quietly slip out first.
"Ko—to—mi—I—zu—mi!!!"
Yukino Yukinoshita exploded in anger like a little tigress. Her fierce gaze looked as though it could devour Kotomi alive.
Clearly, after learning what "airport" meant, Yukino's anger level instantly maxed out!
Seeing this, Kotomi quickly sidestepped and escaped out of the bathroom. She was afraid that if she stayed one second longer, Yukino would pin her to the ground and beat her up.
Wait... pinned to the ground by Yukino? Wouldn't that actually be nice?!
If she hadn't already fled back to Yui Yuigahama's side, Kotomi might have turned back, closed the bathroom door, and willingly let Yukino pin her down.
"Kotomi, what were you doing in the bathroom just now?" Yui Yuigahama asked curiously as she sat on the bed taking off her socks, seeing Kotomi run out only seconds after entering.
"I made an aloof iceberg little tigress angry..." Kotomi said with an awkward smile.
"Huh?"
Yui couldn't immediately understand what she meant.
An aloof iceberg little tigress?
Was she talking about Yukino?
Kotomi didn't explain further. Instead, she pulled Yui Yuigahama into her arms. Even if she didn't say it outright, it was obvious from her actions that whenever Kotomi had free time, she especially liked holding Yui close.
To Kotomi, hugging Yui while having nothing to do felt like holding an especially comfortable body pillow. It felt wonderful.
Whenever Kotomi wanted to hug her, Yui Yuigahama would obediently stay in her arms. She also loved the feeling of being held by Kotomi.
Yui loved both hugging Kotomi and being hugged by Kotomi.
Holding Yui in her arms but not knowing what to talk about, Kotomi simply wrapped one arm around her and used her other hand to scroll through her phone, checking how many new followers her Twitter account had gained.
Even though Kotomi had never deliberately managed her Twitter account, as the popularity of her works gradually increased, her account gained followers almost every day.
Haruno Yukinoshita often told her that managing her social media accounts more actively would only bring benefits, not harm, especially for commercial creative work.
Kotomi understood the reasoning. These days, even the finest wine feared being hidden in a deep alley.
So whenever she felt like posting something, she would upload it to Twitter. For example, occasionally taking a photo of her desk to show she was working hard on writing a novel or drawing a manga—when in reality she was about to play games or had just finished playing.
Of course, the main content of Kotomi Izumi's Twitter was still retweeting all kinds of lewd illustrations.
Since readers had already discovered that she frequently retweeted such images, Kotomi decided to go all in and continue doing so.
By accident, this even boosted many new artists who had just started uploading their own high-quality but low-popularity illustrations.
To be precise, the light novel author and manga artist Izumi Ki had already become something of an angel in the hearts of many rookie illustrators.
She briefly checked how many followers she had gained today, then looked at her previous tweets to see how many new likes and comments they had received...
There were many likes, and plenty of comments as well. Most of them were urging her to update—either straightforwardly or in creative ways. In short, everything eventually circled back to asking for updates.
Kotomi actually enjoyed reading those urging comments. They represented readers being so eager for the next part of the story that they couldn't wait.
After scrolling for a while, her phone battery warning popped up. Kotomi put the phone down, planning to charge it later. The charging cable and adapter were still in her handbag, which sat on the round table not far away. Although it was close to the bed, Kotomi didn't want to get up right now. She just wanted to sit lazily on the large bed, holding Yui Yuigahama.
"Yui, how are you so cute and so likable? I just want to keep hugging you like this forever and ever..."
Kotomi said contentedly, tightening her arms around Yui.
To Yui Yuigahama, Kotomi's words sounded like sincere sweet talk. Her cheeks flushed as she said shyly yet happily,
"I also want to be held by you like this forever... Kotomi, I want to monopolize your arms. I don't want to share them with anyone else..."
Feeling Yui's little possessiveness, Kotomi couldn't help but laugh softly. She rubbed her cheek against Yui's adorable face and said gently,
"Silly. Of course you can monopolize my arms forever. I rarely hug other people. Enjoy it. You're the first one I've held like this."
"Really?"
Yui's beautiful eyes seemed to light up.
"Of course. I told you, I rarely hug others."
"Hehehe, being the first person you hug like this makes me so happy," Yui said sweetly.
Just as she was about to cling to Kotomi even more, the bathroom door opened. Yukino Yukinoshita had finished her shower.
Enhanced by the Queen of All Females physique, Kotomi reacted instantly and pulled away from Yui at lightning speed. Before Yukino could see them clearly, Kotomi had already smoothly completed the motion of separating from Yui, lying back on the bed, and pretending to play with her phone.
Yui, who had been enjoying Kotomi's warm embrace, suddenly found herself released and sat there blankly for a moment. Why had Kotomi stopped hugging her?
A moment later, when she saw Yukino approaching after her shower, Yui more or less understood why Kotomi had suddenly let go.
Although she understood, Yui, who hadn't yet had her fill of Kotomi's embrace, felt a little aggrieved. If only there were two rooms. Then Yukino could stay alone, and I could stay with Kotomi...
But then again, even if Kotomi hugged her all night, Yui would never have enough. If possible, she wished she could stay in Kotomi's arms for a lifetime.
Yukino Yukinoshita looked at Yui, who was sitting at the edge of the bed as if lost in thought, then at Kotomi, who was lying on the bed pretending to play with her phone. She couldn't help but say,
"I'm done showering. Which of you is going next? It's a bit late, but taking a hot shower before bed will make you more comfortable. Also, Yui, why have you only taken off one sock? The other one is still on. If you're going to zone out, at least do it after you've showered and are lying in bed."
"Hehehe, I like zoning out while sitting," Yui said awkwardly with a smile.
There was no way she could tell Yukino that she hadn't been zoning out at all but had been enjoying Kotomi's embrace.
If she could, Yui would have long since told Yukino that she and Kotomi were dating. But Kotomi had always told her not to say anything, so Yui had no choice but to temporarily give up on that idea.
"Then I'll shower first. My phone's almost out of battery anyway," Kotomi said.
She got off the bed, took the charging cable and adapter from her handbag, plugged in her phone, and only then, rubbing her sleepy eyes, walked toward the bathroom.
Still brewing resentment in her heart over being called an airport, Yukino Yukinoshita waited until Kotomi was about to pass by her. She lifted her small foot and kicked lightly at Kotomi's calf.
Although the movement was quick, she didn't use any strength. She only wanted to scare Kotomi.
In Yukino's eyes, Kotomi's drowsy appearance made it the perfect opportunity to tease her a little.
But unexpectedly, just as her foot was about to reach Kotomi, Kotomi seemed to have eyes on the back of her head. With a slight shift of her body, she once again easily dodged Yukino's "attack."
And Kotomi acted as though she hadn't even noticed the attempt. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she turned to Yui Yuigahama, who was sitting on the bed, and said,
"Yui, how about you shower with me?"
The moment those words were spoken—
Yui Yuigahama: "Yay!"
Yukino Yukinoshita: "Huh?"
In the large-bed room that contained only the three of them, the atmosphere instantly became subtle and ambiguous.
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