“Listen, Mutsuki.”
“Yes?”
“I am your bodyguard. And an incredibly
skilled one at that.”
“True.”
“So I will protect you while doing my very
best not to violate your freedom. That is my job.”
“That’s right.’
“Hanging out with a FeTUS member and a demon is insane, but I will go with you
because it is my job. Humans are skilled at playing, resting, and other forms
of self-indulgence, so this should help relieve some stress. Your stress.”
“Right.”
“So…”
“Ah ha ha ha♪ C’mon, Mutsuki, hurry up.”
“Yes, yes. The luggage is kind of heavy.”
“God, you’re slow… Ohhhh, wow! This is the
campground!?”
Ange had been excited for the entire time
on the train and then bus, but she sounded most excited now.
After a 30 minute walk up a concrete
mountain road from the bus stop, they arrived at their destination.
Hi-no-Hoka Valley Riverside Park.
A giant rectangular sign was attached to a
large tree trunk.
This was the campground at which they had
reserved a cabin. A tree-lined walking path led to the management lodge and a
clear river flowed behind it. There were seven cabins on the riverside and four
of them appeared to be filled. With Mutsuki’s group, five would be filled. That
was a decent number of guests.
“Wahah! What a pretty river. I never knew
the human world had places like this.”
“Ah ha ha. Wait, Ange-chan. I’m going too~”
Ange and Saya were already running down
toward the river.
Left behind, Mutsuki, Sakae, Lucia, and
Machina shrugged and headed toward the cabin. Sakae got their key from the
management lodge and they searched for their cabin number.
When they arrived, Ange and Saya returned
after enjoying the cool river water.
They unlocked the door and stepped inside.
“Wow~~~~~~~~”
Five voices (everyone but Machina) spoke in
impressed unison.
“It’s so small.”
Machina nodded in agreement with them all.
It was indeed large enough for six, just as
the advertisement had said, and it was clean for a mountain cabin, but it was
still smaller than they had expected.
The bathroom was right inside the front
entrance and a small mirror greeted anyone who entered. There was a room on
either side and each room had a single small table, a bench for three, three
stacked luggage racks, and a triple bunk bed.
Students never had much money and you got
what you paid for.
Hi-no-Hoka City was at the base of the
Nomugi Ridge on the Nagano side of the border between the Nagano and Gifu Prefectures.
The region had long been known for its silk
work, but the lights had long since gone out in the factories. Recently, it was
only a little-known spot for the outdoorsy type.
The weather there was similar to in
Karuizawa, a common summer destination on the east end of Nagano, so it was
nice and cool during the summer.
The city had once tried to model itself after
Karuizawa and remake itself as a spot for bourgeois villas, but they had lost
badly to Karuizawa which had inns along the Nakasendo. However, they had still
earned more tax money thank to some people with strange tastes buying land
there, so they had moved on to building new campgrounds.
All of the campgrounds were very cheap
because the area was only being whispered of between outdoorsy people.
It was the perfect spot for some students
who simply wanted to go camping.
At first, Sakae had invited only Mutsuki
because he had wanted to have some fun over summer break, but Lucia and Saya
had leaped at the chance and then Machina and Ange had been invited too. In the
end, they had a total of six.
That was the perfect number of people. It
made finding a cabin easier and it allowed them to divide up the luggage
better.
It was also a good number for deepening
friendships between people who did not often speak together.
“Wow~♡ It’s cold…the
water’s so cold~♡ C’mon in, Ange-chan.”
“Uuh~… This river isn’t very deep, is it?”
They first needed to get the beds in order
and make sure they had brought everything with them, but children were not
going to act like adults when they went to the mountains alone.
They set their luggage down and were out in
the river almost immediately.
Saya had been unable to resist the flowing
stream and took her shoes off. She tugged Ange over and the naturally terrible
swimmer nervously stepped in.
Ange wore a simple but stylish outfit of a
pink camisole and hot pants. Her arms and legs did not normally stand out much
because of how short she was, but one’s eye was drawn to how slender they were
and how long her legs looked sticking out from the jeans shorts.
She was only interested in functionality,
so it was unusual seeing her choosing anything besides her shirt and spats.
The stylishness was a sign of how much she
had been looking forward to this camping trip, so Mutsuki smiled as he watched
her enter the river.
“The air here is so nice. It’s been so long
since I’ve breathed air this wonderful.”
Lucia seemed to be enjoying himself even if
he was calmer than those two girls. He climbed up onto a truck-sized rock (the
biggest in the river) and took deep breaths.
The behavior was not that odd for the
otherworldly boy, but it was true the mountain air was nice and fresh.
“Now, then! It looks like you all want to
goof off, but as the man of
responsibility, I’ll catch enough food for all of us.”
Sakae walked upstream with some fishing
equipment.
When they had been trying to decide between
a mountain camping trip or a beach trip, that angler had chosen the mountains
because it was easier to catch fish in a river.
The others smiled bitterly and Mutsuki
walked over to Machina who was kneeling on the riverside.
He only ever saw her in her uniform, but
she too was wearing a stylish outfit. It was primarily a sleeveless blouse and
a skirt, but knee socks hid her legs and she had a tie around her neck.
Had she also chosen a special outfit
because she had been looking forward to the trip?
“I’m glad you could come too, Ibekusa-san.
…Is the water too cold?”
“No.”
Machina was playing with the water.
The water drops on her fingertips spread
across her entire palm and the chill of the water was dulled by her body heat.
She was acting like a baby feeling the
waves when first seeing the ocean.
“It’s a lot of fun.”
“I see.”
Had she never seen a stream before? Mutsuki
tilted his head, but he distinctly remembered seeing a beautiful rose garden in
FeTUS headquarters.
And as he thought…
“Mutsuki-kun, catch me~~~ Boom!”
“Eh? Wah, wah!”
Lucia took a running start and jumped from
the large stone.
He nearly tackled Mutsuki who panicked but
found the boy was as light as a feather. Catching him proved easy.
After he was lowered to the ground, Lucia
laughed in delight.
“This place is great~ Anywhere is fine when
I’m with you, Mutsuki-kun, but this place is the best.”
“It is?”
He was apparently in a good mood.
His cute face looked especially young
today.
Mutsuki – as well as any guy or girl –
found his smile attractive.
“Ohhhhh! We take our eyes off you for two
seconds and you start flirting!”
He had apparently attracted the attention
of Saya who was looking at them and blushing.
Unsure what she meant by “flirting”,
Mutsuki tilted his head. After a moment more of giving them a sticky look, the
girl regained her bright expression.
“Well, whatever. C’mon in, you two. The
cool water feels great. You too Ma~chi-nya~n.”
She waved over.
Lucia obediently splashed on in. Mutsuki
and Machina both nodded, Mutsuki rolled up his long pants, and Machina removed
her knee socks.
And…
“Oh, this is just in the way. Strip!”
“Wahhhh! O-oh.”
Saya shouted an overly-literal sound effect
and removed her skirt.
Mutsuki had been crouched down, so her
deliciously plump thighs had appeared right at eye level. He panicked, but then
he realized this was not a problem.
She had been wearing a sporty two-piece
swimsuit below her clothes.
Didn’t
this happen once before? he thought with a sigh.
“C’mon, c’mon. Let’s all get in. C’mon, Machi-nyan,
Satowa-kun, and Fujita-kun.”
“S-sure.”
Since she was ready, she pulled the other
three into the river with her.
Mutsuki blushed a little when she grabbed
his hand.
She did not seem completely out of his
league like Ange or Machina and she lacked Lucia’s devilish charm, but Saya was
still one of the top ten most attractive girls in their year. Of course his
heart was going to be pounding when she suddenly showed him her thighs and
grabbed his hand.
But unlike shy Mutsuki, she could get along
with anyone.
“Deryah!”
“Hwahp!”
Saya kicked water right into his face.
She cackled and the boy felt some of the
shyness and tension leave him.
“Tei!”
“Oops! Heh heh! You can’t hit me~♪”
He splashed back even though she was a
girl, but she dodged it.
And when it flew past her…
“Uuh… It’s only up to my legs, but I still
can’t relax in the water… Kyahn!”
It hit Ange right in the face.
The terrible simmer had been nervous enough
already, so the water to the face only increased the fear. She uttered a cute
scream.
And after a pause…
“Mutsukiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
“Wah, wah, wah. I-I’m sorry!”
He felt she should not get so mad when they
were only playing around, but the look on her face forced him to flee. She
apparently could not forgive herself for screaming so cutely. She blushed and
charged at him to punch him.
“You stupid Mutsu-…ahyan!”
But another splash caught her in the face.
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! ‘Ahyan’! Did you
hear that, Mutsuki-kun!? ‘Ahyan’~♪”
Lucia doubled over in laughter.
“Get your ass over here,
Satowaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
Ange was so angry that Mutsuki feared she
would use her angelic power, but she only scooped up some water.
And the boy gave a coldly confident smile
as the water flew his way.
“Like that’ll hit me, stupid. Water is my
field of-…wahp.”
He easily dodged it…but Saya’s splash from
the side scored a direct hit.
“Ah ha ha ha♪ You’re a little overconfident, Satowa-kun~”
“Now you’ve done it~!”
Lucia struck back. Saya was unable to
dodge, but she laughed happily as the water dripped from her clothes.
The three of them started a three-way
splashing war.
“Phew, at least I’m safe.”
Mutsuki watched them from a short distance
away.
Lucia was having fun in the water and the
anger in Ange’s face was clearly softening.
It was a strange sight.
Not only were angels and demons fated
enemies, but Ange had a short temper and Lucia loved to provoke her. They could
not have been more incompatible and they always got into a fight when they met.
And yet…
“…Here.”
“Oh, thanks, Ibekusa-san.”
Machina held out a handkerchief as she too
quietly watched. The splash from Saya had stained his clothes, so she was
lending it to him.
“————”
But then Machina silently stepped back.
“Don’t think you’re safe, you two.”
A surprise attack from Saya flew their way.
Machina had avoided it, but Mutsuki and the
borrowed handkerchief were soaked.
The girl laughed as she embraced Machina
from behind after the girl’s excellent dodge of the surprise attack.
“Join us, Machi-nyan. We’re out camping, so
you need to release the youth inside you.”
“Ah.”
She pushed on Machina’s back and carried
her to Ange and Lucia’s battlefield.
Even if Machina was not into it, the angel
and demon were too fired up to care. They splashed water on her and Saya who
was still embracing her.
“…”
Machina was hit right in the face while
restrained.
She did not react much, but…
“Understood.”
“Fweh?”
“I should follow your suggestion to take
part in this camping trip.”
“Bhyan!”
An amazingly large splash struck Saya in
the face and she fell onto her butt. She was wearing a swimsuit, but her shirt
was soaked too.
“Now you’ve done it~”
Completely fired up, she ignored the rules
of the splash battle and tackled Machina while soaking wet. The human water
bomb left Machina soaked too.
That girl who barely interacted with anyone
had been sent to other side in no time.
Mutsuki’s eyes widened, but their local
agent of chaos would not give him any further peace.
“C’mon, c’mon. Don’t let your guard down, Mutsuki-kun~”
“Wait, Kurikara-sa-…”
Now that she was soaking wet, she had
changed her mode of attack. She embraced him.
The boy panicked more due to her body
pressing against him than due to the water.
Just as her plump appearance suggested, her
body was soft and weighty. She was very different from slim Ange and the
others. The weight of a teenage girl set his heart racing.
Saya laughed like it did not bother her.
“…Ha ha.”
Her laughter was contagious and he was
unsure what to do about his heated cheeks.
“C’mon, let’s go, Mutsuki-kun.”
“Sure.”
As he joined the fun, he did not even
notice that she had started calling him “Mutsuki-kun” instead of “Fujita-kun”.
They had barbecue for dinner.
There was a grill outside the cabin and the
campground sold charcoal and firewood.
Sakae had been in charge of supplying food.
On the way there he had said, “We can have fish and meat for dinner. The meat is
cheap, but let’s cook up some freshly caught fish and eat it~ It’ll be great~”,
but he had caught absolutely nothing.
“Okay! As the barbecue master, I’ll cook it all up, so you eat it all up.
Cooking meat is a job for a man’s man!”
Even so, the barbecue was fun.
Sakae stuck blocks of meat on skewers and
lined them up on the grill. All he did was cook it, so flavoring and dividing
up the meat fell to Mutsuki, the future kitchen worker.
“Hot, hot.”
“Are oo ohay, Anhe-han? You should blow on
it first.”
“Mm~❤ It’s been so long
since I had meat to eat~❤”
The others were in charge of eating. They
must have been hungry after playing in the river because the meat vanished into
their mouths as soon as it was cooked.
“Mutsuki. This is too hot. Fix it.”
“Yes, yes. The ones over here will be
cooler.”
Ange had apparently taken one from the
center of the grill. She tearfully held back a barely-eaten skewer, so Mutsuki
smiled bitterly and handed her one from the edge of the grill.
“Hm…munch, munch.”
“Well?”
“Yeah, I can eat this one…hot.”
“Heh heh. Don’t let your guard down…chomp.”
“! Wait! You’re eating that?”
“Why not? There are plenty of new ones, so
eat those.”
“Well…you can if you want…”
He ate the one she had returned for being
too hot. The girl watched him with a complicated look on her face, but she
looked away with a slight blush when he finally finished.
Mutsuki was not particularly bothered and
he moved back to Sakae to add new meat to the skewer.
He peeked inside the bag containing all the
food for their camping trip.
“Um…wow. There’s nothing but cup noodles
and meat in here. Sakae, didn’t you buy any vegetables?”
“Who needs veggies! We are the growing teenagers, so we only need
meat! Eating veggies at a barbecue is just plain wrong!”
“That’s not a balanced diet.”
Mutsuki regretted not checking the food
before leaving.
“Don’t be like that, BFF. There’s nothing
wrong with doing this every once in a while.”
“Well, as long as it’s only every once in a
while. By the way, what’s for breakfast and lunch tomorrow?”
“You saw all those cup noodles, right?”
“I thought as much… Oh, I know. Maybe we
can find some edible plants growing around here. We could cook them up to make
the ramen nice and nutriti-…”
“Stop, stop!”
“Stop, stop!”
As soon as he started saying “nutritious”,
Sakae and Ange were quick to nix the idea.
The two of them were very threatening, so
they convinced him to not worry about their diet during the camping trip. They
forced him to nod in agreement.
He sulked a little and looked around for a
drink since his mouth was feeling pretty oily.
“Here.”
“Thanks, Ibekusa-san.”
“Heeeere!”
“Ah ha ha. Thanks, Lucia-kun.”
Tea and soda were passed to him from either
side.
He took both, refreshed his mouth with the
tea, and took a breather with the soda.
“Are you two having fun?”
He had been a little worried ever since
they had decided to do barbecue. He especially thought Machina would be
hesitant about all the meat when she normally only ate apples.
“Of course❤ It’s always fun with you around, Mutsuki-kun.”
He had been worried for nothing. Lucia had
been chowing down from the beginning.
“I have never eaten like this before.”
Machina was more reserved, but she was
eating the meat little by little.
She always munched on an apple during lunch
and this seemed to be her first time eating a wild meal from skewers. The way
she started eating from the bottom of the skewer was awkward and cute.
Mutsuki was glad that everyone was enjoying
themselves. As he ate his own portion, he wrapped some apples in aluminum foil
and placed them on the grill. They were having roast apples for dessert.
Then Saya spoke up while wiping off her
mouth which had grown black from eating the burnt parts.
“Heh heh heh heh. I think it’s time for my
secret weapon~”
She smiled boldly and reached into a bag
she had brought.
Everyone else exchanged a glance as she
showed off what she pulled out.
“Look! It’s the ultimate camp condiment
that can make any food taste good! I call it…”
“It’s mayonnaise, right?”
“Tah dah! Mayonnaise!! …Wait, how did you
know!?”
Sakae and the other four had expected this.
“Of course we knew, Saya. Your lunches at
school are always slathered in mayo.”
Ange shrugged because she saw it every day
when eating lunch with the girl.
“Uuh… But I like it.”
“That’s why you’re so fa-…ohhh, that was a
close one! Don’t throw skewers! You’ll skewer someone! Like me!”
“Hmph.”
The girl violently answered Sakae’s comment
and turned around to sulk. She also grabbed some more meat and added
mayonnaise.
She frowned, so Mutsuki approached with a bitter
smile.
“But I understand. Mayonnaise is delicious.
And it’s nutritious.”
“You understand!? I know, right!?
Mayonnaise goes great with everything!”
She cheerfully held out the bottle, so
Mutsuki accepted his initiation into the mayo-lovers club. She slathered a
light yellow cream across the full length of his skewer.
He took a bite and the bit that got on his
lips brought an unexpected aroma to his nose.
“Huh? Does this have mustard in it?”
“Yeah, it’s mustard mayo. I’ve been hooked
on the stuff lately.”
It had such a powerful flavor that he could
no longer taste the meat.
He avoided complaining to be nice, but he
could not enjoy this clump of mayonnaise when they were cooking out like this.
“Sakae, we had some white rice, didn’t we?”
He decided to dilute the flavor.
Sakae rummaged through the bag of cup
noodles and handed over a pack of instant rice. If hot water was added, the
rice would be ready in three minutes.
Which meant…
The management lodge was surprisingly far
from the cabin.
Mutsuki walked down the dark path with
Saya.
They had the fire and kettle needed to boil
water, but they lacked the crucial drinking water. They were on their way to
buy some at the lodge.
“Munch, munch… Hm~, maybe normal mayo is
better for barbecue.”
“The mustard kind is pretty strong.”
Saya walked alongside him with a skewer in
each hand. He had said she did not need to come with him, but she seemed to
feel responsible as the one to flavor the skewer.
The evening wind felt nice on his heated
skin after the fatty meal.
“Oh, there’s some smoke over there. Maybe
that’s the hot spring.”
“Probably.”
Saya pointed down at a facility near the
lodge that was surrounded with trees and had steam rather than smoke rising
from it.
“Heh heh heh~ I’ve really been looking
forward to that. I love big baths~”
This was another thing Hi-no-Hoka City was
known for: volcanic hot springs connected to hot spring inns in the opposite direction
from Karuizawa.
“No peeping~, Mutsuki-kun.”
“I won’t.”
“You say that, but don’t you want to see
Machi-nyan’s boobs? I can only describe them as ‘boing boing’~”
“O-oh? Really? I wouldn’t know anything
about Ibekusa-san’s chest.”
“Heh heh heh.”
Saya lightly slashed at some nearby grass
with her empty skewers.
The twilight mountain path felt like a
dimly-lit dream that made him forget he was even awake. His exhaustion from the
day came rushing in.
“Oh, mock strawberries.”
Mutsuki spotted something growing near a
stream.
Mock strawberries were plants that grew in
places like this and were known for their jagged leaves.
“Maybe we should pick some. Sakae didn’t
bring any vegetables.”
“Hm? You can eat those?”
“Yeah. They’re fairly nutritious too. I
hear they help with digestion.”
They were small, but he picked two or three
of the red fruits.
“Strawberries, huh?”
Saya took one. They sounded good to her, so
she picked a few like the boy had.
They rinsed them off in the stream and ate
them together.
“…”
“…~~ Yeah, they’re just ripe enough.”
“~~~~~~~”
Mutsuki was fine, but Saya was suffering.
However, she was a girl. She could not spit
something out in front of a boy from her class.
“W-water. I’ll go buy some. Wait here.”
She tearfully ran toward the lodge.
''What was that about?'' wondered Mutsuki.
But she had told him to wait, so he decided
to gather some more wild plants from the area. He started to stick the rest of
the red fruits in his pocket, and…
“Tee hee.”
A girl stood where there had been nothing
but darkness a moment before.
The sudden quiet laughter surprised Mutsuki
so much he dropped the fruits.
It felt like darkness had enveloped the world.
This girl’s very existence was inexplicable and she looked at him from the roadside.
She was a small girl with light purple hair
long enough to hide her butt. Ange was only 140cm, but this girl looked even
smaller. She looked close to the age of Mutsuki’s little sister Chiaki. She may
have been white because her skin was a similar milk white to Schwarze’s and her
facial features were deeply cut.
That milk white skin seemed to shine and it
accentuated the color of her black dress.
He could not tell where the dress ended and
the darkness began.
“Good day…or good evening? Which is it?”
She had a young, somewhat nasal voice and
she spoke in fluent Japanese.
“…Good evening.”
Mutsuki responded and gulped without
realizing it.
His entire body tensed when he sensed the aura
coming from her.
This was not a child’s presence. Her marine
blue eyes gave off no light and were dyed with deep sorrow and lust. They were
wet with intense pleasure as if she were drowning in ecstasy.
That sexuality was like a fruit so ripe it
oozed juices and she gave off the bewitching aura of a lily flower. She looked
like a young child, but she produced an aroma that would fill any man with
lust.
She was a lot like Lucia in that way. She
had a charm that stimulated a human’s primal desires. When she simply looked
him in the eye, he felt like she was caressing his dick.
“Who are you…?”
He asked because his instincts told him she
was not a camping guest.
She felt out of place in this shabby
camping ground. In fact, she felt out of place anywhere in this world. He was
confident she was a different sort of being, like an angel or a demon.
The girl narrowed her eyes and did not
answer the question.
“Such a lovely eye. Although it is no match
for my master.”
“—————”
She knew about the Serpent’s Eye.
But the thinly smiling girl did not say any
more about that.
“I just wanted to get a look at you”
She turned her back in the darkness.
“Bye, bye. Until we meet again.”
She gave him a coquettish smile that would
turn any man into a pedophile and then she left.
Mutsuki shuddered and felt like an icicle
had stabbed him through the heart, so he did not pursue her.
That icy blade had likely come from his own
rationality. If he had pursued and caught up to her, he might have succumbed to
her allure and made her his on the spot.
Just like when she appeared, the girl dissolved
into the darkness. Once he could no longer see her, the boy took a deep breath.
His shoulders were shaking more from arousal than exhaustion.
“Mutsuki-kun? What is it?”
“Oh…Kurikara-san. It’s nothing.”
Saya held a bottle of mineral water and a
half-empty bottle of soda.
The two of them followed the path back to
the others.
She did not seem to have noticed, so Mutsuki
said nothing about the mysterious girl.
Thanks for the new chapter. Next chapter Saya will finally be able to have some fun with Ange. She's probably been waiting for that
ReplyDeleteThanx so much
ReplyDeleteam wondering if Saya will fall too . . . but if that happened, Mitsuki will lose out on his normal life cuz that would leave only Sakae as the one odd out
ReplyDeleteSaya isn't into him like that. From the past chapters she's in its clear she likes Ange. She's the typical outside girl most harem series have. She hasn't shown any interest in him at all get and probably won't either, especially if what everyone says about the next chapter is right
DeleteSaya isn't into him like that. From the past chapters she's in its clear she likes Ange. She's the typical outside girl most harem series have. She hasn't shown any interest in him at all get and probably won't either, especially if what everyone says about the next chapter is right
DeleteI don't think even Mutsuki is that alpha to turn lesbian girls straight.
DeleteNice little cliffhanger at the end. I wonder who the new girl is. The girls chapter seems to be next
ReplyDelete