Who gave him the right to talk to me like that?

I am above every Chūnin in the clan.

I am a special elite Shinobi!

Does he even have the authority to separate me and Nagisa from each other…?

…But still, I couldn’t ignore that there seemed to be some truth in his words, and that just made me even angrier.

Angry at him, angry at Nagisa… and angry at myself.

“Jah… What more do you want me to do?” I pressed my palms against my face. “I’ve done everything I can, ever since we were little, and even now… Why doesn’t she... see me?”

“Maybe you’re just too forceful?” Kiyoshi said, lounging on the chair in the most improper way. “The approach you take when trying to assert yourself is too blunt. That would definitely scare off pure minds like Nagisa’s.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You pervert… You were watching us after all.”

“Ah, n-no, I just couldn’t help it, so I put my ears on the door.” His cool guy act immediately cracked apart. "And I can't have you, of all people, call me a pervert!"

Wait. 

He was right behind the door? I didn’t sense him at all.

And now that I thought about it, his spiritual energy was surprisingly large for a regular person too.

Actually, it’s not strange that he might have trained quite hard to join Demon Fox…

His absence of arousal at my naked body is a bit unnerving, though.

“But… I don’t know how to be anything but forceful…” I stood up, walked toward the bed, and flopped face-first onto it.

“Do you love Nagisa, or do you just love sex?” he asked.

My voice was muffled in the sheets. “I love both…”

“That is not a great answer… but I think you’re wrong.”

“What do you even know about me, you virgin!”

“I know that you actually love her, and that alone makes me want to sell you to death merchants.”

Kowai!

“You… you just act like a lonely failure, but are you actually some terrifying loser who indulges in human trafficking, right?!”

“’Shizuka trafficking’ is fair game, it shouldn’t be considered human trafficking. Apologize to humanity.”

Jeez, this guy is seriously annoying!

He’s normally more reserved whenever Nagisa-chan is around.

He even rudely chased us out of the lab earlier this morning.

*

Earlier this morning

“Okay, that’s enough watching, people. You can wait for her to wake up in my room.”

“Ehhh? Don’t be such a killjoy! Let me squeeze those boobs first!”

“Keep your lecherous hands off her!”

*

“But you must be happy, huh?” I asked him as I rolled over onto my back.

“Happy about what?”

“About Nagisa-chan, I mean.”

“Heh.” He scoffed. “There’s no way we would work. Nagisa sees me way too much as a chew toy to ever see me as a romantic interest.”

Dense fool alert!

“Are you sure about that?” I asked, smirking. “Didn’t you hear what she said about you while you were eavesdropping like the creep you are?”

“Hm? I usually fled whenever the female scientists were passing the hallway.” He looked at me with sudden eagerness. “Why? Did she say something good about me?”

…Should I use this chance to crush whatever hope he has?

If Kiyoshi believes Nagisa will never be his, maybe his behavior will give away his true intent, and that would push Nagisa-chan to move on… or something of the like.

“Hey, Ki-chan…” I said, locking eyes with him.

“What?”

“Climb onto the bed... let’s have sex.”

“Not even if you promised me a free trip to paradise to see heavenly sacred tech. And wait—do you seriously think about sex all the time?”

“I could help you with Nagisa-chan if you do.”

“Like hell. You haven’t even helped yourself yet. Just give up…”

“Why?” I turned my head away, pretending to sound pitiful. “Do you not like my body? Am I not pretty enough for you?”

“No, you’re fire hot,” he said so casually it annoyed me. “Honestly, I kind of wonder how we even manage to talk to each other like this… but…”

“But…?” I pressed, lifting my head.

He pushed up his glasses. “I love Nagisa too. And I’m not about to sleep with her friend… Plus, I can tell this is just one of your little schemes to push me farther away from her.”

I was caught?!

“You… You really are a creep, you know that?” I crawled over to him and messed up his hair as he groaned.

“So…” I stood up, stretching a little. “I’m going to see Nagisa-chan now.”

Then I dragged off his lab coat from him, and wrapped my naked body.

“Please do. She’s still trying to process the whole deflowering thing.”

“Wait, how much did you actually hear, you gross pig?” I raised a brow at him. “Maybe I’ll just go tell Nagisa-chan everything. That you eavesdropped.”

“Shizuka-sama!” He jumped to his feet in a panic. “I’ll do anything, anything except sex, just please forget about that!”

Now that I realized I had some power over him, I didn’t even bother to answer.

Instead, I skipped away with a smug grin.

Maybe I should make him dress up like an idol and dance in front of Nagisa-chan as my apology.

***

I went up the elevator and out of the building.

There was a tree right near the low Lab roof which was slanted, sitting on the edge of the high hillside.

The Lab only perked off the ground a little, the rest of it was buried.

But there she was, Nagisa-chan perched on one of the branches that stuck out, wrapped up in Kiyoshi’s white sheets.

As I made my way closer to the tree—

“Stay away! You virgin breaker!”

Ehhh?

Was that seriously going to be my new title now? I really hope Rei wouldn’t hear about this.

I ignored her warning and walked right up to the base of the tree.

Pressing my head against the trunk, it clung naturally, and I climbed upward as easily as crawling on flat ground.

A strange substance, like some slime, normally came off my skin. And I can manipulate this slime, hardening it into web-like material.

But I can also manipulate the stickiness of the slime without turning it into web—this made me able to climb flat surfaces without any Ninja techniques… just like a spider.

Of course there's the complicated and complex type, where I make web lines from thin air. It sucks spiritual energy like it's trying to kill me, though.

Nagisa-chan’s eyes were still teary, her cheeks puffed as she pouted. She had no idea just how adorable she looked right now.

I glanced at her golden eyes, her soft smooth skin, and I swear I fell in love with her all over again.

I settled myself beside her on the branch, which was thankfully thick enough to hold the both of us.

“…I... went too far,” I admitted, keeping my voice low. “Smack me if you want, but please don’t ignore me.”

“…I told you to slow down,” Nagisa-chan murmured, looking away. “But you never listen. You just had so much fun playing with my body like I was some kind of doll—”

She kept ranting and scolding me for several minutes, and all I could do was slip in a weak “sorry” here and there.

But she wasn’t wrong.

I finally saw my flaw. I knew nothing about the matters of the heart. I was still learning what it really meant to feel.

I stopped her by reaching out, cupping her face gently, and pressing my lips to hers.

She instantly looked away, blushing furiously. “J-Jeez, there you go again…”

I got serious then, my hand still resting against her cheek as I spoke.

“I know I don’t have any right to your body, and I shouldn’t have taken your virginity like that. My sexual impulses aside, Nagisa-chan, what I really want is to be your partner. Maybe not a perfect love partner, but someone who’s always by your side, no matter what. That incident that happened five years ago… I swear to you, it won’t repeat itself. I’ll protect you—all of you guys—this time around.”

Her eyes went wide, and then she looked away again.

A few moments later, she let her head drop against my chest.

“When…” her voice was muffled against me, “...when you’re not being a total pervert, you’re still my Student Council President, Shizuka… When you’re not being perverted, that is.”

She had to say it twice!

I ran my hand through her hair softly as we sat there, just enjoying the cool night breeze together.

“…So… are you asking Kiyoshi-chan out, or is he asking you out?”

“Wha—! F-Forget about that! I was just kind of confus—”