She only said that she was, after all, a new idol and couldn't date or anything like that, hurriedly brushing past the topic.
Then after the two chatted a few more lines, Asaba Ibuki glanced at her phone, and her expression changed, "Oh no, time's almost up! I have to hurry back to the agency for training, and there's an event to attend tonight."
"I need to head back right away, sorry Nanao-chan, let's talk next time!"
After a hurried goodbye, Asaba Ibuki swiftly changed out of her swimsuit, grabbed her bag and quickly walked out of the swimming hall, her figure soon disappearing at the end of the corridor.
Watching her departing back, Nanao Akane turned her head, and looked at Hikari with a smile, "Hikari-kun, what do you think of my idol bestie who's really popular?"
"Feels like her personality is pretty good, and she's serious about things," Hikari evaluated objectively.
"I mean her looks and figure!", Nanao Akane lightly swayed her shoulders, and the peaks at her chest rose and fell with the motion.
Her tone carried a cunning note, as she smiled meaningfully, "Isn't Ibuki-chan beautiful? And her boobs are super plump too~"
"What scheme are you cooking up now, you're not thinking of dragging your friend into the water again, are you?", Hikari asked with a raised eyebrow.
"How could I!", Nanao Akane immediately retorted, then put on a pitiful look, "What kind of person does Hikari-kun take me for? Am I the kind of bad woman who spends all day thinking about pimping out her besties to her boyfriend?"
'You are.'
Hikari silently complained in his heart, but out loud he gave her some leeway, "You called me to the swimming hall today, it shouldn't just be to have me be a referee and meet your bestie, right? What exactly are you trying to do?"
Nanao Akane instantly dropped the pitiful expression, and said with a smile, "Haha, of course there's a real reason!"
"First, I wanted to show off our love in front of Ibuki-chan. Having such an outstanding boyfriend, not showing him off would be such a waste~"
"Second, I really am a bit worried about Ibuki-chan."
Her tone became a bit more serious, "Hikari-kun also knows, the entertainment industry is really messy, right? Ibuki-chan just debuted, she's beautiful and has a good figure, and she doesn't have any backing, so it's easy for bad people to target her."
"Isn't Hikari-kun specifically dealing with those bastards who persecute girls? Someone like Ibuki-chan should fit your 'targets' pretty well, right?"
Not expecting Nanao Akane to actually be able to give a set of well-reasoned arguments, Hikari glanced at her in surprise.
But then he still reached out and gave Nanao Akane's perky buttocks a neither-too-light-nor-too-heavy slap, "What you said does make sense, but this definitely isn't your whole thought. Otherwise you wouldn't have found an excuse to slip away right as we were about to enter the swimming hall, making me almost get misunderstood by her."
Pausing, he added, "But you're right, this idol bestie of yours really might be targeted by bad people."
Actually, from the very first glance at Asaba Ibuki, when he caught sight of that excessively beautiful face and that unscientific figure that could be called "the standard-issue heroine of the underworld," Hikari had quietly activated his Pure Love Aura-Watching Technique to scan her.
The result was just as Nanao Akane expected, above Asaba Ibuki's head hovered a faint red-black glow, clearly a constitution easily targeted by NTR, and in all likelihood a potential victim heroine of the underworld.
So before Asaba Ibuki left, he had already quietly bound a Pure Love Warning Paper Crane to her.
Once an NTR incident occurred, he would be able to rush over to hunt the bull at the first moment.
Come to think of it, although Nanao Akane had mostly introduced him and Asaba Ibuki to each other out of her own fetish this time, it still counted as a lustful heart doing a good deed.
And having gotten Hikari's affirmation, Nanao Akane immediately proudly raised her chin, "Hehe, Nanao-chan has done a great service~"
"Hikari-kun, I did so well this time, isn't there a reward?", Nanao Akane hugged Hikari's arm and shook it, acting cute while claiming credit.
"There is, I'll give it to you right now," As the words fell, Hikari directly scooped up Nanao Akane, who was wearing a tight swimsuit, by the waist and jumped into the pool.
Before Nanao Akane could react, he suddenly let go of his hands.
"Whoa! Hikari-kun… why didn't you hold me up, I'm going to fall into the water!"
Seeing Hikari lift her into midair, then release both hands, the teetering Nanao Akane was somewhat terrified, tightly clutching that lifesaving straw.
"Don't worry, you won't fall."
Hikari chuckled, drew out the Holy Sword of Physics, and steadily propped up Nanao Akane's body.
Like an anchor mooring a boat to the harbor, the water gently rippled.
Feeling the firm, stable support beneath her, the still-suspended Nanao Akane finally relaxed, and peacefully waited for the reward Hikari would give.
———
More than half an hour later.
Hikari helped Nanao Akane onto the shore, changed her out of her soaked swimsuit for her limp limbs, and helped her back into her neat school uniform.
Then they left the swimming hall side by side, and slowly returned to the classroom.
High School's coursework wasn't considered heavy. The students who really wanted to push themselves and grind mostly went to off-campus cram schools for extra lessons.
This afternoon there was only one class scheduled. The clouds outside the window drifted slowly, and in a blink, the dismissal bell rang.
After school, Hikari waited at the stairway corner for Kaede and Suzu.
The two had just transferred over, and standing in the noisy crowd they still seemed unfamiliar.
Hikari quickly walked up and accompanied them home together.
After all, they had just transferred schools, weren't familiar with the place, so it was better to guide them around more.
Returning to the Tsubakihara house, Miss Mira was humming a song in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Hikari went in and greeted her, but in the end, under Miss Mira's reproachful gaze, he left the Tsubakihara house.
He was going back to the Asou apartment today.
Because according to the information provided by yesterday's Pure Love Future Diary.
Today a certain succubus was about to descend upon the human world and run amok.
To stop this, Hikari planned to try summoning the succubus tonight using the incantation recorded in the Pure Love Future Diary.
When a succubus of unknown origin was summoned, who knew what might happen.
Maybe both sides would coexist peacefully, but it was also possible that a fierce battle would break out because of it.
In any case, to avoid Miss Mira and the others, who were like family, being caught up in the danger, Hikari still decided to leave the Tsubakihara house tonight and go back alone to summon the succubus.
————
Several tens of minutes later, the familiar Asou apartment appeared before his eyes.
Hikari climbed the stairs, and after reaching the third floor he didn't immediately take out his key to open the door. Instead he glanced back down the stairwell, then his figure quietly pressed close to the wall at the corner, holding his breath.
Ever since leaving school after class, Hikari had actually felt someone following behind him.
But earlier he had still been with Kaede and Suzu, and the follower didn't seem to have any hostility, so Hikari hadn't alerted them.
But he hadn't expected this person following him to actually follow him the whole way, almost all the way to his doorstep.
This of course couldn't be tolerated.