Sasaki Fuyumi paused to consider the two routes before him, then without hesitation selected option one. As the system had said—if someone dared to target him, retaliation was the only answer.
Decision made, he didn't waste another second. He knocked urgently on the bathroom door, pitching his voice to sound genuinely panicked. "Yuki-nee, please come out quickly! My classmates just showed up to hang out, and they're already at the front door."
Inside the bathroom, Yuki Rei was still fuming over Tanaka Yu's latest transgression. At Sasaki Fuyumi's frantic knocking, she let out a bitter laugh. "Fuyumi-kun, it's not that I don't want to, but I don't have anything to wear right now. Could you find me some clothes?"
Sasaki Fuyumi's voice dripped with helplessness. "But I don't have any women's clothes here, and my classmates are literally at the door. I can't exactly run to your apartment to grab something."
"Fuyumi-kun, why are you so worried about your classmates?" Yuki Rei asked, genuinely confused. "Is there something wrong with me hiding in the bathroom?"
She had no clothes, true, but she wasn't about to streak through his apartment naked. Even if his friends came inside, she'd just wait them out. At worst, it might be slightly inconvenient if someone needed to use the toilet.
Sasaki Fuyumi's voice dropped, embarrassed. "It's because... one of the classmates who came is a girl I like. I don't want her to know you're here."
Yuki Rei blinked, then burst into laughter she couldn't contain. "Fuyumi-kun, you're so cute! Worrying about something like this? I'm already an adult woman—nobody in their right mind would think anything's going on between us."
But even as she laughed, something bittersweet tugged at her chest. That girl Sasaki Fuyumi liked... how lucky she was. Yuki Rei herself had been thrust into marriage right after graduation, shackled to a pervert like Tanaka Yu without ever tasting what real romance felt like.
Just then, Sasaki Fuyumi mumbled, "That's not true at all. Yuki-nee, you're so beautiful. If my crush saw you, she'd probably see you as competition."
Yuki Rei's heart gave a strange little flutter. "Oh please," she said, a touch coquettishly, "as if a teenage girl would ever see me as competition. I'm practically an old married woman."
Her voice drifted off, growing melancholic. She thought of her best years spent alone, of marriage as a cage that had trapped her completely.
Sasaki Fuyumi picked up on the shift in her tone. Was she actually lamenting her lost youth?
"But Yuki-nee, you're still so young," he said earnestly. "I mean, my crush is still a kid, really. But you're an adult, and you're beautiful and you have an amazing figure. I bet you're way more popular than you think."
Yuki Rei's cheeks warmed. "Fuyumi-kun, what are you saying?"
Something about a student complimenting her figure made her feel strangely shy.
Sasaki Fuyumi quickly backtracked. "Sorry, Yuki-nee, that came out wrong. But please, can you come out? My classmates are texting me asking where I am. I told them I was in the bathroom, but if I take much longer, I'm worried the girl I like will get annoyed."
Yuki Rei bit her lip. "But I really don't have anything to wear. The clothes I took off before my shower are soaked through. I'd catch cold if I put them on now."
She'd accidentally dropped them in the water while bathing.
Sasaki Fuyumi offered helpfully, "There are bath towels in there, Yuki-nee. If you don't mind using one, you could wrap up and hide in my room until everyone leaves."
Yuki Rei hesitated, then nodded to herself. "I suppose that'll have to work. Give me a moment, Fuyumi-kun."
She reached for the single bath towel hanging in the bathroom, face burning as she unwrapped it and wrapped it around herself instead. It's fine, she told herself firmly. Fuyumi-kun always washes his towels after using them. It's clean.
Meanwhile, just outside the door, Sasaki Fuyumi was quietly emptying a bottle of water onto the floor—specifically, along the only path Yuki Rei would need to take to reach his room. Wet floor. Slippery. Easy accident.
He stashed the empty bottle just as Yuki Rei's shy voice filtered through the door. "Fuyumi-kun, I'm coming out now."
The bathroom door opened, and Sasaki Fuyumi turned to look.
Yuki Rei stepped out wrapped in nothing but that white bath towel. Her long black hair hung damp over her shoulders, framing a face flushed with embarrassment. The towel clung to every curve, accentuating a figure that belonged in magazines—long straight legs, skin so pale it seemed to glow, and just enough blush from her recent bath to make her look like something out of a dream.
Sasaki Fuyumi's throat went dry.
Noticing his intense stare, Yuki Rei's flush deepened. She muttered something hurried about going to his room and started to rush past him.
"Fuyumi-kun, I'll just—"
She didn't notice the wet floor.
Her foot came down on the slick tile, slid out from under her, and she cried out as she tumbled backward. The bath towel came undone, and suddenly she was sprawled on the ground, completely exposed.
Sasaki Fuyumi swallowed hard, eyes widening. Then, with perfect timing, he rushed forward with a worried expression. "Yuki-nee, are you okay—ah!"
His foot hit the same wet patch. He stumbled, fell forward, and landed directly on top of her—face-first into her voluptuous body, his hands landing squarely between her full breasts.
So soft.
He couldn't help but squeeze.
"Fuyumi-kun, no—ahhn!"
Yuki Rei had not expected this. Now pinned beneath him, his masculine presence overwhelming her senses, she felt her face ignite. And when his large hands gripped her sensitive breasts, she shuddered uncontrollably, a breathy moan escaping before she could stop it. Her breathing turned ragged.
Sasaki Fuyumi shook his head as if dazed from the fall, pushing himself up—but his hands stayed planted on her chest, squeezing unconsciously as he braced against her. He looked down, saw where his hands were, and went completely still.
Yuki Rei, mortified by her own moan, saw him staring blankly at her breasts and wanted to die of shame. "Fuyumi-kun! Get up!"
"I'm sorry, Yuki-nee! I didn't mean to—I'll get up right away!"
He scrambled to rise, face bright red with embarrassment. But in his panicked flailing, his hands pressed everywhere on her body for leverage—and the floor was still treacherously slick. Every time he managed to lift himself an inch, he'd slip and crash back down against her, leaving Yuki Rei gasping, her legs instinctively pressing together.
Each time he fell, his hands grabbed and kneaded her chest anew, squeezing hard enough to make her see stars.
Yuki Rei's delicate body trembled helplessly. Having her most sensitive spots kneaded so forcefully should have been unbearable—and yet, buried beneath the humiliation, a strange warmth pooled in her stomach. It felt... not entirely unpleasant.
Her pretty face flushed scarlet. Her breathing came in short, desperate gasps. And then, suddenly, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight against her.
"Fuyumi-kun," she whispered, voice trembling, "don't move."
Sasaki Fuyumi went rigid in her arms. He lay motionless against her voluptuous body, listening to her rapid heartbeat, feeling her breath hot against his neck, experiencing the incredible softness of a woman's form pressed against him.
His body responded naturally—impossible not to, in this situation—pressing insistently against the beautiful young wife's thigh.