[Warning 15+]
Part Four
"―From Now On, You Better Treat Me with That Same Energy, Too!"
Chapter 158
…Pretty D*mn Stupid, Aren't You?
"―From Now On, You Better Treat Me with That Same Energy, Too!"
Chapter 158
…Pretty D*mn Stupid, Aren't You?
"Feels like it's been a hot minute since we last ran into each other at Kazukichi's place."
"Yeah, well, club activities and stuff kept me busy. Plus, my high school is crazy-*ss far away."
"Man, you straight-up should've just gone to a local high school like me."
"…Did you make plans with Big Sis? Just so y'know, she's currently rockin' a look that's totally-*ss unfit for public eyes."
"Kyaha! That's straight-up her usual look anyway. Don't even sweat it~"
Airi let out a bright-*ss laugh and, lookin' totally-ass at home, slipped right into the Kaidō Residence ahead of Kazuki.
Kazuki stared at Airi's back, his brows furrowing just a tiny-*ss bit.
And just as Airi kicked off her mule sandals, she spun around on her heel as if she'd suddenly-*ss remembered something. Her hair, tied up neatly-*ss to the side, swayed with the movement.
"How's this look? I picked it out with Momocchi-senpai the other day."
Airi was rockin' a loud-patterned cut-and-sew top that showed a lot of skin, perfect-*ss for summer, paired with some low-key shorts.
Having that slightly-*ss subdued color mixed into the flashy outfit gave Airi a low-key mature-*ss vibe.
"Yeah, it straight-up looks great on you."
"Awesome, glad to hear it."
As Kazuki gave his praise, Airi flashed a wide-*ss grin and headed straight-up for the livin' room.
But the second Airi spotted Momoka meltin' like a puddle on the couch, Airi slammed her hand against Momoka's forehead as if she was tryin' to hold back a massive, sudden-*ss headache.
"Momocchi-senpa―Whoa…"
"Oh, hey, Airin. Droppin' a 'Whoa' the split-second you see me is a little-*ss harsh, don't you think?"
"No, no, no, no way in heck is that hair acceptable, you're straight-up bare-faced without makeup, and wait, aren't we supposed to have a whole-*ss business meetin' today!? Is the timin' even gonna be fine? Like, have you even picked out your clothes yet!?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't just give me a 'Hmm'! Your hair iron is up in your room, right!? I'm straight-up goin' to grab it for you!"
"Man, Airin, you're way-*ss too serious."
"Geesh, Big Sis!"
With that, Airi went stompin' and rushin' up the stairs to Momoka's room on the second floor. Meanwhile, Momoka just stayed totally-*ss slumped down, lazily-*ss wavin' her hand around.
To anyone else lookin' in, it was the textbook-*ss picture of a kouhai pullin' her hair out over a high-maintenance senpai.
But at the same time, it was a playful banter that straight-up showed just how tight they actually-*ss were.
Kazuki let out a dry-*ss chuckle at the exchange, which he hadn't seen in a hot minute, and fired up the espresso machine.
Right around the time Momoka casually-*ss downed the last of her café latte, Airi came rushing back downstairs clutchin' the hair iron and a change of clothes.
"Alright, put these on right now!"
"Oh, cool."
"Wait, don't you dare start strippin' right here when Kazukichi is literally-*ss in the room!?"
"Man, Airin, you're way-*ss too uptight."
"Momocchi-senpai, you're the one who's way-*ss too loose!!"
"I don't think I'm that loose, though. It's not like I've ever even had a boyfriend before."
"That is straight-up not the kind of loose I'm talkin' about! Wait, holy cr*p, your undies! It's completely-*ss on display! Kazukichi―close your eyes!"
Tradin' banter like some wild-*ss comedy duo, Momoka couldn't care less about her little bro's presence and just started changing her clothes right then and there.
A totally-*ss panicked Airi quickly-*ss slid her body right between the two of them, doin' everythin' she could to block Momoka from entering Kazuki's line of sight.
Letting out a dry-*ss chuckle at the wild-*ss back-and-forth between his big sis and his ex-girlfriend, Kazuki waited for Momoka to finish changin' before casually-*ss slidin' over the two freshly-*ss brewed café lattes he'd just timed perfectly for them.
"That's my little bro for you. I was straight-up low-key wantin' a refill, though."
"Airi, you wanted yours with just a little-*ss bit of sugar, right?"
"Oh, yeah… …you straight-up remembered. Thanks. …Man, you seriously-*ss never change when it comes to stuff like that, Kazukichi."
Airi brought the cup to her lips, her cheeks softening just a tiny-*ss bit at the taste that was exactly-*ss the same as before.
Watching Airi act like that with a straight-up deadpan look, Momoka puffed out her chest with a crazy-*ss smug attitude and bragged.
"It's straight-up the result of my fine-*ss upbringin'."
"…Yeah, but because of that fine-*ss upbringin' of yours, Kazukichi's out here leadin' girls on again, and it sounds like a whole-*ss mess went down. Hayatocchi straight-up called him out on it~"
"By the way, I'm low-key dying to know about the girl who dumped Kazuki. What's she even like?"
"Oh, I'm straight-up super into findin' out about that too!"
"U-Uh, well…"
Gettin' cornered and pressed hard by both Momoka and Airi, Kazuki straight-up flinched back in panic.
This wasn't exactly-*ss the kind of stuff Kazuki wanted to go around blabbin' about.
But considerin' what went down in the past, it wasn't like these two were total-*ss outsiders to Kazuki's business either.
Frowning a bit, Kazuki carefully-*ss picked his words.
"Going purely-*ss by looks, the girl's got long black hair. She's more on the gorgeous-*ss side than cute—gives off a total Yamato Nadeshiko vibe, at least on the outside."
"…At least on the outside?"
"Yeah. Even though the girl wears this mask like she's some high-class, proper-*ss young lady, on the inside she's a total tomboy—or straight-up a brat, honestly. She does stupid-*ss things on the sly so people don't catch her, she's a blast to tease, and yeah, she's just a straight-up fun girl."
And as Kazuki thought back to all the times they'd hung out and played around up until now, a soft-*ss, muffled chuckle slipped from the back of his throat.
Airi leaned right in, starin' daggers at Kazuki's face as if she was tryin' to double-check somethin' deep-*ss down.
"Heh, so you two are straight-up tight?"
"I guess it's not too bad? Though Airi might low-key find me a bit of a nuisance."
"Huh? What the heck is that supposed to mean? I don't get you at all. …So, why the heck did you go and confess to the girl then?"
"Why? Because the girl already-*ss had someone she was so crazy-*ss head over heels for that a boy like me didn't stand a d*mn chance. There wasn't a single-*ss inch of room for me to slide in. Thanks to that, I straight-up walked away with a pretty-*ss solid slap to the face."
As Kazuki let out a soft-*ss grin while saying that, Airi's expression instantly-*ss twisted into one of pure-*ss suspicion.
"Hmm, and did that stunt of yours actually-*ss do any good?"
"…About as much as last time."
"Gotcha."
For a split second, the image of Takakura-senpai—who'd been aggressively-*ss making moves on Kazuki lately—flashed through his mind, causin' his reply to lag a bit.
Airi narrowed her eyes to a fine-*ss slit and whipped her face away, making it clear-*ss day that the convo was straight-up over.
Clutchin' the hair iron in her hand, Airi marched right back over to where Momoka was chilled out.
A slightly-*ss awkward-*ss silence hung heavy in the air.
Feeling low-key suffocated by the tension, Kazuki chugged down the café au lait he'd brewed for himself and stood right up.
But then, Airi tossed out a suggestion over her shoulder, actin' like it was straight-up no big deal at all.
"If there's some annoyin'-*ss chick out there who keeps riding your back, you want me to do that whole fake-*ss contract relationship thin' with you again?"
Kazuki's entire-*ss body gave a sharp, violent twitch and froze dead in its tracks.
Flashing straight-up inside Kazuki's mind was Himeko's face, lookin' like she was desperately-*ss tryin' to fight through a whole lot of pain.
Along with those exact-*ss words: 'I used to have someone I really-*ss loved.'
Without even realizin' what Kazuki was doin', he clutched his chest tight with his hand.
"We straight-up can't do that anymore."
Kazuki shot Airi down in a bitter-*ss tone, but his voice was clear-*ss day and sharp as heck.
This time around, it was Airi's shoulders that gave a sudden-*ss, violent twitch.
Kazuki's eyes went wide as saucers. He was fully-ass aware that his tone of voice had just come off a little-*ss too harsh.
"No, I mean, playing the boyfriend part for Satō Airi, the hot-shot popular-*ss model everyone's crazy about right now, is straight-up way-*ss too heavy of a ghost for me to carry."
"…I don't think it's that big of a deal since you're the little bro of the charismatic-*ss model MOMO. Even Sakurajima-san straight-up said there'd be zero-*ss issues if it's Kazukichi."
"You're straight-up overestimatin' me. U-Uh, well, the truth is I actually-*ss have part-time work after this today. Sorry, but I gotta bounce."
"…Oh."
With that, Kazuki straight-up bolted out of the house as if he was runnin' for his d*mn life.
On his way to the station, Kazuki started tappin' out a text message into the group chat directed at Iori.
'If you guys are shorthanded at the part-time job today, you want me to slide in and help out?'
◇◇◇
In the Kaidōs' livin' room that Kazuki had just ghosted, Momoka let out a massive, straight-up exaggerated-*ss sigh that echoed through the space.
Furrowin' her brows in a low-key troubled-*ss look, Momoka quietly-*ss let the words slip out.
"Man, Airin… …you're pretty-*ss d*mn stupid, aren't you?"
"…"
"You're totally-*ss unhonest with yourself, and you're clumsy as heck."
"…"
Airi just stood there frozen dead in her tracks, her hands still-*ss tangled in Momoka's hair.
Airi's face was cast downward, her shoulders giving off a tiny-*ss, quiet-*ss tremble.
Momoka gently-*ss pried Airi's hands away, slowly-*ss spun around, and pulled Airi straight-up into a tight-*ss, protective embrace against her own chest.
"But hey, you're high-maintenance in the best way, a straight-up hard worker, and so d*mn earnest… …That's exactly-*ss why I absolutely-*ss love you for being that kind of girl, Airin."
"…Yeah."
And then, Airi wrapped her arms around Momoka's back, clingin' onto Momoka tight-*ss as if she was straight-up seekin' shelter and spoilin' herself in Momoka's comfort.
Author's Notes:
With this, Part 4 Sub-Part 3 is straight-up wrapped up.
Startin' next time, we're divin' into Part 4 Sub-Part 4, the final sub-part of Part 4.
TL: Reeze27
ED: Reeze27
PR: Reeze27
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