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For the next little while, Kai lived an incredibly comfortable life.
He had Sakiko Togawa waiting at home, Yui Yuigahama at school, and Hitori Gotoh and Yukino Yukinoshita keeping him company during lunch breaks.
On top of that, he could occasionally enjoy a "friendly sparring session" with Sonoko Machida. Life literally couldn't get any better.
However, after the close call last time, there was absolutely no way Sonoko Machida would dare set foot in his apartment again. She was terrified of getting caught by his live-in girlfriend.
She only dared to meet him at hotels. Since Machida was the one footing the bill for the rooms anyway, Kai obviously didn't mind in the slightest.
————————————————————
That evening.
Inside a local izakaya.
"What is your deal lately??" Shizuka Hiratsuka, having just picked up her sake cup, couldn't help but complain the moment Sonoko Machida walked through the door.
"I've been asking you out for drinks for days, and you always say you're busy. Did you completely forget you actually have friends?"
Shizuka and Machida had graduated from the exact same university. Afterward, one became a high school teacher and the other an editor. Furthermore, they were bound by shared misery: both were pushing thirty and still completely single.
Due to these combined factors, their relationship hadn't drifted apart after graduation—instead, they had become even closer.
Hearing Shizuka's complaints, Machida immediately threw her hands up in surrender.
"My bad. The drinks are on me tonight. How does that sound?"
"Now we're talking." Shizuka gave a satisfied nod. She hadn't actually been genuinely mad anyway—she was just venting.
Once Machida sat down, Shizuka continued her interrogation.
"Didn't you just tell me you discovered some genius rookie author and were practically guaranteed a promotion? Why are you still so insanely busy? Or... wait. Did you actually find a boyfriend?"
Because they were such close friends, Machida rarely kept secrets from Shizuka. They usually told each other everything.
But when she asked that last question, Shizuka suddenly grew incredibly serious.
No joke. They had a silent pact to suffer through singlehood together. If Machida had actually found a boyfriend, Shizuka wouldn't even have the heart to finish her drink.
"Relax, I still don't have a boyfriend."
"Oh, thank god!" Hearing that, Shizuka visibly breathed a massive sigh of relief.
"..." Her unapologetically selfish reaction made Machida roll her eyes.
"Ahem! I was just asking because you've been absolutely glowing lately. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've definitely been thoroughly satisfied by a man!"
It was the honest truth. Even right now, there was a distinctly soft, feminine radiance to Machida's features—a kind of afterglow that she had absolutely never possessed before.
That was exactly why Shizuka had been so suspicious.
"..."
However, hearing that, Machida just silently swirled the sake in her cup and offered no denial.
"???"
'WAIT, WHAT?' Shizuka froze completely.
"Hold on, didn't you literally just say you didn't have a boyfriend??" So she actually HAS been sleeping with someone?
"Who made the rule that you absolutely need a boyfriend to do that?"
With a couple of drinks already in her system, Machida's filter completely vanished.
She figured that since they were best friends, there was no point in keeping it a secret from Shizuka anyway!
"Don't tell me you went to a...?" Male host clubs were notoriously popular in Japan, after all.
"Of course not!" Guessing exactly where Shizuka's mind was going, Machida frantically waved her hands in denial.
"Didn't I just tell you? I recently signed a brand-new rookie author."
"?"
"What does signing an author have to do with what we were just talking about... Wait." Shizuka started to ask absentmindedly.
But as she reached the end of her sentence, the realization hit her like a freight train. Her eyes blew wide open, staring at Machida in absolute horror.
"No way. You're actually sleeping with your clients?? You'd stoop to the casting couch for a manuscript?? Machida, you have completely corrupted yourself! You..."
'Holy crap! I am so freaking jealous!' She was loudly lecturing her friend about being corrupted, but inside, Shizuka was practically exploding with envy.
You can actually just do that? Why hadn't she become an editor instead of suffering through the miserable grind of being a high school teacher?
Even though they were close friends, openly discussing something like this still made Machida blush. After all, she was a full decade older than him—no matter how you sliced it, she was definitely the one who had hit the jackpot.
Not to mention Kai's completely terrifying stamina. Just thinking about it made Machida's legs feel weak.
"It's nothing like that! I was just helping him find some inspiration for his writing, don't overthink it."
"?"
"Here's what happened!" Machida didn't hold back, giving her a brief rundown of the situation in the apartment.
————————————————————
"You... you..." Shizuka pointed a trembling finger at Machida, desperately wanting to say something, but finding herself completely at a loss for words.
Good lord. Authors really are built different. He actually managed to make hooking up sound like some profound, artistic endeavor.
"And you actually believed that garbage line??"
"I'm not an idiot." Machida shot her an exasperated glare.
Did she really look like some naive, innocent girl? Even though Kai had delivered the line with a perfectly straight face, Machida knew exactly what his true goal was.
It's just that sometimes, women aren't oblivious to a man's hints. If they're already interested, they'll simply play dumb and go along with it.
"..."
Shizuka fell completely silent. It took her a long time before she finally asked.
"So... how was it?"
"What?" The sudden pivot caught Machida off guard.
"I said, how did it actually feel?"
She gripped her sake cup tightly. 'Damn it, I'm still so jealous.'
Even if they were both technically single, there was a massive difference between having experienced it and not.
Shizuka was still an absolute virgin.
To say she had zero curiosity about that kind of thing would be a total lie.
She had always managed to suppress it before. But now, learning that her perpetually single best friend had crossed that line, the impulse burning in Shizuka's chest grew infinitely stronger.
"Uh! Why are you asking me that??" Machida's face flushed unnaturally.
"Stop stalling and spill it! We're best friends—you're not going to hold out on me now, are you?"
"Fine, fine!"
There's a saying: when women start talking dirty, guys can't even compete.
Machida actually began to give Shizuka a highly detailed breakdown of the experience.
No one else knew exactly what was said.
All anyone could see were Shizuka's intermittent gasps of sheer shock and the wild, disbelieving look flashing through her eyes.
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