"...If you dare peek, you're finished."
Seika gave a fierce warning, walked over, picked up the wedding dress, and prepared to go change.
"Does Seika-nee want some ice cream?"
Kitahara spoke up to invite her.
"I won't eat it." Seika's eyes faked disdain, "You're actually offering me something you've already half-eaten?"
Hey, hey, that's about enough—you've tasted my saliva so many times, yet I've never seen you act disgusted!
"A super-tsundere truly isn't cute at all."
Kitahara sighed helplessly.
"Huh?"
Seika's willow-leaf brows raised, and her pretty face instantly stiffened, visibly unhappy:
"I'm truly sorry for being so un-cute."
Saying so, she gritted her teeth, turned around, and walked away:
"Anyway, since I'm so disagreeable, don't even think about kissing me ever again!"
Kitahara was rendered speechless: "Is Seika-nee a three-year-old child?"
Seika immediately glared over with a murderous aura:
"Are you also disliking me for being old?"
Good grief, is that top-tier mishearing or what?
I didn't even mention that you're thirty years old—how on earth did you hear 'old' out of that!
"Tch~"
Kitahara clicked his tongue softly, narrowing his eyes:
"Since language can't communicate it, I can only use my body to explain."
As soon as his voice fell, Kitahara stepped forward decisively, extending his right arm to quickly wrap around Seika's soft and slender waist.
"W-What are you doing?"
Seika's pretty face blushed, nervously tilting her face up.
"Doing what?"
Kitahara raised the ice cream in his left hand and smiled as he looked over:
"Seika-nee wouldn't want the wedding dress to get dirty, right?"
"Huh?" Seika's eyes widened in bewilderment, clearly not understanding, "What are you suddenly talking about?"
Kitahara unhurriedly turned the ice cream upside down, then said:
"Next, I'll feed Seika-nee ice cream bite by bite. If we don't finish eating the ice cream before it melts, then Seika-nee can only watch helplessly as the wedding dress gets stained by the cream."
"Damn it...!"
After understanding Kitahara's sinister intentions, Seika immediately gritted her teeth.
"Brat, don't you push your luck too far!"
"..."
Kitahara said nothing, directly taking a bite of the ice cream, then lowering his head to lean toward Seika.
"I won't eat it!"
Seika turned her head away to dodge.
Kitahara wasn't in a hurry either, holding the ice cream like that and taking his sweet time. In any case, inside the Onsen Dimension, the thing he least needed to worry about was time.
Time slipped away second by second.
Seeing the ice cream start to quietly melt and droplets of cream slowly threatening to fall, Seika finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"How dare you threaten me... just you wait!"
Glaring at Kitahara in embarrassment and anger, Seika took a deep breath, stood on her tiptoes, and bit toward the ice cream.
(This is the first wedding dress of my life—no matter what, it must never be dirtied by cream, aahhh!)
Kitahara lifted his left hand slightly, raising the ice cream higher, then slightly tilted his chin up, gesturing with his eyes:
"Seika-nee can't mess up the order."
"...Damn it!!!"
Seeing the ice cream on the verge of melting, Seika could only stand on her tiptoes in shy indignation and leaned in to kiss Kitahara.
Lips met.
Seika glared with murderous eyes, then forcefully pushed in, sweeping away the ice cream in one go, and didn't forget to take a bite out of Kitahara at the very end.
"It seems the manager doesn't disdain me that much..."
Kitahara smiled and looked over, taking another bite of the ice cream.
"...Just you wait!"
Seika quickly stood on tiptoes and leaned in to bite again.
Everything has a first and second time; once begun, things naturally flowed smoothly afterward.
Before long, the half-eaten ice cream was completely finished between Kitahara and Seika.
Seeing that the cream corruption crisis was fully resolved, Seika finally breathed a sigh of relief and glared over in flustered indignation:
"Brat, hurry up and let me go!"
Kitahara put on an innocent expression and gently reminded her:
"Look up, Seika-nee."
"Huh?"
Kitahara shook his right arm: "I let go of my hand long ago."
"..."
Seika's sense of shame exploded in an instant. Only then did she realize that she had actually been lost in the moment and hadn't noticed at all that she could have escaped long ago.
Thump!
Turning her embarrassment into rage, Seika kicked over:
"Lewd brat, you really want to die, don't you!"
"..."
After venting her anger by beating Kitahara up, Seika finally held the wedding dress, turned around, and walked into the changing room.
A long time passed.
The changing room door was finally pushed open quietly. Her pretty face flushed crimson, Seika held her chest with her right hand and stepped out:
"These clothes are super hard to put on..."
"It's a wedding dress." Kitahara spoke up to correct her, his gaze falling upon Seika, not holding back his words of praise in the slightest, "Wearing a wedding dress, Seika-nee is the world's number-one cutie."
Seika gave a light huff: "Someone just said earlier that I wasn't cute at all."
Hey, hey, that's already in the past, no need to hold a grudge like that!
"Just now was just now, now is now." Kitahara countered directly, "Does Seika-nee think she isn't cute right now?"
Seika: "..."
Herself not cute?
That was impossible, of course!
Putting on a pure white wedding dress for the first time in her life—if anyone dared say it didn't look good, she'd twist their head clean off!
The Pure White Bride held special significance; wearing it greatly enhanced one's charm. Combined with the fact that Seika herself was already very good-looking, the two together produced a result where one plus one was greater than two—it truly made it impossible to look away.
If there was anything regrettable to speak of... it was indeed the flat chest.
Nijika could still experience a second growth spurt, but the twenty-nine-year-old Manager Seika clearly had no way to develop any further.
Sensing Kitahara's implicit gaze, Seika swiftly covered her chest and glared over in shy annoyance:
"What are you looking at?!"
"Looking to see whether Seika-nee is wearing underwear." Kitahara naturally wouldn't tell the truth, or else he'd definitely get beaten up. "Supposedly, to look good in a wedding dress, women generally don't wear underwear. I'm very curious..."
"Get lost!" Seika waved her hand to chase him away, "Stay far away, don't look all over the place!"
"Seika-nee is so pretty, why can't I look?"
"Nagging!"
"I like Seika-nee."
"...Give me a break and know when to stop!"
Although Seika was older, her skin was far too thin; in just a few words, she suffered defeat from embarrassment, covering her chest to change the subject:
"Didn't you say you wanted to take photos? Hurry up and take them; once done, I'm heading back."
"Hold on." Kitahara opened the wardrobe and took out a suit from inside, "I'll go change into formal attire."
When he asked the liaison lady to deliver the wedding dress this morning, Kitahara conveniently requested a formal suit as well, specifically to use right now.
Seika looked over curiously. After seeing clearly the design of the suit in Kitahara's hand, her pretty face quickly heated up.
(Damn it!)
(This brat is taking things too far!)
(Isn't that clearly the suit from that day's daydream theater?!)
"I'm the one taking the photos, why are you changing clothes?"
Seika asked in flustered embarrassment.
"This is the first time Seika-nee and I are taking wedding photos, so naturally we must treat it seriously." Kitahara said with righteous confidence, "If I were only wearing ordinary school uniform, wouldn't Seika-nee feel regretful?"
"..."
Seika fell silent.
Words like 'not feeling regretful at all'... she wouldn't even believe them herself, right?
Experiencing a wedding dress for the first time, one would naturally want everything to be perfect.
"Does Seika-nee want me to change into formal attire?" Kitahara smiled and looked over, "If Seika-nee dislikes it, then I won't wear it?"
Seika: "..."
On purpose, right?
This lewd brat is clearly doing this on purpose!
"Cut the crap, hurry up and go change!"
"Yes, yes."
"..."
Kitahara took the formal suit and entered the changing room.
In just a few short minutes, Seika heard the sound of the door opening. Turning her head toward the changing room, her eyes involuntarily brightened.
Dressed in a well-fitted black formal suit, Kitahara stepped out of the changing room, still holding a bouquet of fresh flowers in his hand. As he walked over step by step, his figure soon overlapped quietly with the wedding in her dreams... Seika felt the entire world go quiet, with only the sound of her own heartbeat being exceptionally clear.
Thump, thump.
Seika covered her chest, listening to her rapid heartbeat, finally unable to deceive herself any longer.
Even though there was an age gap of over ten years...
Even though Kitahara was just a high school student...
Even though he was her younger sister's dating partner...
Even though he was a hateful brat who wanted to build a harem...
She truly liked him super much after all.
If an option for a life partner appeared before her eyes, aside from Kitahara, no other person's name would ever appear again.
"Seika-nee, wake up, your drool is about to drip out."
Kitahara's voice quietly rang out.
Seika snapped awake abruptly, hastily raising her hand to wipe the corner of her lips. Upon finding that the corner of her mouth was completely clean without any drool whatsoever, she immediately turned her embarrassment into rage, clenching her fist to beat him up.
"Brat, you really want to get beaten up, don't you!"
Only in the next second, Kitahara took the initiative, directly reaching out to wrap his arm around Seika's slender waist, looking down with an ardent gaze:
"Calling me a brat outside—I won't nitpick with you, but right now we're at a wedding. What should Seika-nee call me?"
Seika's blonde hair quivered slightly, quickly understanding Kitahara's sinister intentions.
Wanting me to call you husband?
A mere perverted brat—don't even dream about it!
"Is the manager really unwilling to say it?"
Kitahara raised an eyebrow slightly, lifting his phone with his other hand, and snapped a photo with a click.
"Very good, nice angle."
Kitahara looked at the photo on his phone and nodded in satisfaction, then held the phone up in front of Seika, smiling as he looked over:
"Seika-nee wouldn't want me to send the photo to Nijika, would you?"
Seika: "..."
Although she had already laid her cards on the table with Nijika and had even let Kitahara enjoy a two-in-one special, something as embarrassing as a wedding photo was truly something she didn't want Nijika to see at all.
"Y-You, don't push your luck too far!"
Seika was fierce of voice but faint of heart, wanting to use her glare to make Kitahara plead guilty and submit to the law, but it was completely useless.
Click, click.
The sound of photos being taken rang out once more.
Kitahara took several more pictures, his expression completely calm:
"Since Seika-nee refuses to call me husband, then when we leave the Onsen Dimension later, I'll send the photos to Nijika-senpai."
"You..."
"It's not like I care about saving face."
"..."
As a 'face-saving alien' who would rather die than lose face, Seika ultimately chose to submit. Her pretty face was scalding hot, and biting her lower lip, her voice sounded shy and hesitant:
"H-Husband..."
Such an embarrassing photo could never, under any circumstances, be seen by Nijika!
Kitahara continued to take advantage of her:
"The voice was too quiet, couldn't hear clearly. Say it again."
Seika's pretty face was almost dripping blood, so embarrassed that her entire body went weak. Clearly on the verge of turning thirty, yet calling a high schooler husband—alongside the shame, there was also a forbidden thrill:
"Husband..."
"Still couldn't hear clearly, say it again."
Bonk!
Seika headbutted right over, gritting her teeth:
"Give me a break and know when to stop!"
"..."
After finishing teasing the manager, Kitahara opened the quest panel and took a look, finding that the photography quest was already completed.
However, Kitahara had no intention of stopping; instead, he continued taking photos. Besides selfies with his phone, he also called Hana over to take photos with a camera.
The opportunity was rare. Who knew how long it would be until they actually got married; naturally, he wanted to take a few more photos as keepsakes.
"Seika-nee, let's change poses."
"Huh?"
"When taking wedding photos, be a bit happier, don't keep a straight face."
"Nagging!"
"..."
After taking dozens or even a hundred photos in one breath, Kitahara finally stopped, satisfied.
"The photos are all very good-looking." Kitahara checked them over and nodded in satisfaction, "That's all for today."
Seika crossed her arms over her chest, looking up with doubt in her eyes:
"Didn't you say this wedding dress was a mystical item? Why don't I feel anything at all?"
"The miraculous part is hard to explain." Kitahara looked over with a burning gaze, "Seika-nee will know if you give me a kiss."
"Trying to trick me again?" Seika's eyes showed disdain, "When eating ice cream earlier, we already kissed plenty of times, right?"
"Back then, the manager hadn't put on the wedding dress yet. Only kissing after wearing the wedding dress can trigger the special effect."
Kitahara explained softly.
"Feels like you're lying... mmh!"
Before Seika could finish speaking, her lips were blocked.
[Affix: Kiss of Covenant] has been triggered.
As their lips touched, Seika soon discovered an extra, indescribable sensation between herself and Kitahara—as if it were a bond acting upon the soul. No matter how far across mountains and seas, the distance between their hearts could still snuggle closely together, and it could also guide the direction toward one another.
"So, what is the use of this [Kiss of Covenant] affix?"
Kitahara similarly experienced that mysterious bond, but aside from the bond, there seemed to be no other effect.
In contrast, Kitahara had already figured out the usage of the affix [Flawless] and was just waiting for free time to verify it.
However, Kitahara soon had no time to ponder. Perhaps because the feeling of their hearts snuggling together was so blissful, Seika had already taken the initiative to raise both arms, wrapping them around Kitahara's neck and launching into counterattack mode.
Mwah~
Nobody knew how long had passed before the two finally parted with a soft sound.
"Haaah... haaah..."
Seika breathed rapidly, her lips slightly parted. The silver thread of saliva at the corner of her lips gently stretched and snapped, her eyes misty and hazy as she looked over.
Their eyes met.
Without needing any words, Kitahara could clearly read the bashful longing in Manager Seika's eyes:
"Want... more..."
Facing Seika who had finally opened her heart and was no longer being a tsundere, Kitahara naturally would not let the opportunity slip away.
"Seika-nee, please entrust the rest of your life to me."