After seeing the dazzling, dreamlike fireworks show that evening, Aina Saiten didn’t take the long train home with Kaoru Hoshitani as she usually did.
She smiled mysteriously and led him toward the famous theme hotel inside the park.
It was actually a little surprise she had prepared in secret; she hadn’t consulted Kaoru Hoshitani at all when booking the room.
“Aina, staying in a place like this… it’s just too expensive, isn’t it? We should just go home.”
As Aina Saiten handled the check-in at the front desk and received the room card, Kaoru Hoshitani, who was standing beside her, gently tugged on her sleeve and whispered in her ear.
His brows were slightly furrowed, clearly worried about the expense.
Aina Saiten took the exquisitely crafted room card and turned around. She took her boyfriend’s somewhat cold hands in hers and comforted him patiently.
“Kaoru, there’s really no need to worry about money. My salary at my new job is more than three times what I used to make.”
She shook their joined hands, her eyes sparkling with hope for the future and the joy of sharing.
“Besides, I work hard to earn money because my biggest wish is for you to live a better, happier life. I don’t feel the slightest bit of regret spending it on you.”
Hearing his girlfriend say this and feeling the determination and indulgence in her voice, Kaoru Hoshitani’s nose felt a little sting. He could no longer say anything against it.
He simply lowered his eyes and gave a soft “Mhm.” He gripped her hand back, holding it even tighter.
At that moment, there were many other couples in the magnificent hotel lobby preparing to check in. The air was thick with the romantic atmosphere of a vacation.
However, from the moment Kaoru Hoshitani walked in, the women who had been snuggling close to their partners and chatting in low voices couldn’t help but steal glances in his direction.
Even though he wore a white mask that only revealed a small portion of his face and his overly beautiful eyes, his stunning beauty and clean aura still drew people’s attention like a magnet.
Since Aina Saiten was holding Kaoru Hoshitani’s hand tightly, she naturally felt the complex gazes from all directions—curiosity, amazement, envy, and even a hint of undetectable jealousy.
The corners of her mouth rose involuntarily, and a mixture of pride, satisfaction, and a secret sense of territorial pleasure welled up in her heart.
Every woman present knew exactly what kind of luck and enviable possibilities it meant to be able to lead such a beauty to a place like this.
Kaoru Hoshitani seemed to notice those gazes as well.
The tips of his ears turned slightly red, and he leaned toward Aina Saiten uncomfortably.
It had indeed been a long time since they had stayed at a hotel together.
This feeling of being publicly noticed made him both shy and a bit nervous.
They waited for the elevator, entered the car, and found their floor and room.
Aina Saiten swiped the door open with the room card. After a soft beep, she pushed the door open and turned on the lights.
What greeted them was a decor that perfectly replicated a Prince’s Room from a fairy tale.
There were magnificent canopies, carved furniture, soft carpets, and walls decorated with vintage shields and swords.
Even the light fixtures were made to look antique.
Everything was filled with a dreamlike, immersive feeling.
Like two children on an adventure, they explored the room curiously.
When Aina Saiten saw the spacious, white luxury massage bathtub in the bathroom—large enough for two people—her eyes instantly lit up with excitement and anticipation.
The cramped bathroom at home had always been a small regret in her heart.
Many of the CG scenes she had secretly imagined for Kaoru couldn’t be realized because of the limited space.
Tonight, the conditions were finally right.
In contrast, while Kaoru Hoshitani was also happy about this special room and had a novel smile on his face, a more luxurious scene from that villa yesterday inexplicably surfaced in the back of his mind.
The unintentional comparison made the carefully crafted fairy-tale atmosphere before him seem to fade a bit, losing its strong impact.
This thought gave him a slight sense of guilt. He quickly shook his head, trying to dispel the associations he shouldn’t be having.
Perhaps it was because of the change in environment, the influence of the theme park’s atmosphere, or perhaps to make up for the inexplicable unease in her heart lately, but Aina Saiten’s spirits were exceptionally high tonight.
She kissed him and hugged him on the large, soft bed, her movements more passionate and proactive than usual.
However, no matter how Kaoru Hoshitani made his requests—obscurely, with shame and experimentation, such as whispering vaguely in her ear or guiding her with subtle movements…
Aina Saiten was unwilling to show even a trace of “roughness” or “force” toward him, like she had in their bathroom the night before last.
Her touch was always gentle, piteous, and full of love, as if she were handling a piece of precious, fragile porcelain.
This made Kaoru Hoshitani feel as though something was missing from the depths of his heart, beyond the physical pleasure.
That intense feeling of being suppressed by absolute power and being demanded of irresistibly—even with a bit of pain—had once filled him with fear and shame, yet it had also become like a secret brand etched into his body’s memory.
At this moment, returning to the familiar, tender mode of interaction with Aina actually gave him a subtle… sense of disappointment and lack of fulfillment.
This realization made him even more flustered and filled with self-loathing.
He could only bury his face deeper into the pillow, trying his best to match his girlfriend’s gentleness and use physical exhaustion to cover the sudden void in his heart that he couldn’t even understand.
However, the threshold of his body seemed to have been raised. The stimulation from his senses was actually much weaker than before.
By the time Aina Saiten truly ran out of strength 1 hour later, she had achieved her worst record ever—0:5.
Sliding off Kaoru Hoshitani’s body, Aina Saiten lay flat on the bed, her face filled with frustration.
Naturally, she only thought she was regressing, but the main reason was that Kaoru Hoshitani’s threshold had been forcibly raised by other women.
“How about… you go on top, Kaoru?”
Aina Saiten knew that Kaoru hadn’t finished yet, so she suggested it.
“Mhm…”
Before, Kaoru Hoshitani would likely have told his girlfriend, “Never mind.”
But after the painful lesson of losing to his desires yesterday, he began to realize that it was better to let it out than to block it.
He could no longer force himself to endure it as he had before.
“Ugh… Wait… Slower, Kaoru…”
Aina Saiten didn’t expect Kaoru’s offense to be so fierce.
As a defeated soldier, her morale had already been low, and now she was instantly routed.
More importantly, after being pinned down by Kaoru, she—as a woman—inexplicably felt it was even more exciting.
‘Maybe… I should let Kaoru be on top more often in the future…?’
Aina Saiten had discovered a certain XP, but what she didn’t know was that her boyfriend didn’t actually like this mode.
In the depths of Kaoru Hoshitani’s heart, he still longed for Aina to be like she was at the beginning, making him cry and beg for mercy…