“Mm? Akane, what did you just… eat? It feels like… there’s a bit of a fishy taste in your mouth…”
Aina Saiten tilted her head slightly, unconsciously pursing her lips as she savored the lingering trace of that recent kiss, that faint and somewhat strange flavor.
The taste was light, almost elusive, yet undeniably there, carrying a subtle tang she could not quite describe.
There was confusion in her eyes, but only confusion. She did not think any deeper about it.
Kaoru Hoshitani’s heart nearly stopped in that instant.
It felt as though all the blood in his body rushed to his head. A roaring filled his ears, and only one voice screamed wildly in his mind: Found out, found out, found out—
But at the critical moment, his survival instinct took over his body faster than fear.
“I just… just ate some…”
He lowered his eyes, not daring to meet his girlfriend’s gaze. His voice carried a perfectly measured nasal tone, as if irritated by spiciness.
“Some really spicy dried anchovies… so my mouth feels kind of hot. Maybe that’s why there’s still a bit of a fishy taste…”
He raised his hand and pointed somewhat flusteredly toward the kitchen, as if there truly were remains of “very spicy dried anchovies” there.
Aina Saiten glanced in the direction he pointed and then smiled in relief.
She did not doubt him. She even found her fleeting suspicion a little amusing.
“No wonder.”
She reached out and gently touched her boyfriend’s lips with her fingertips. They were indeed slightly red and faintly swollen.
The soft, warm touch, along with the sensitivity from the swelling, made Kaoru Hoshitani’s body tremble almost imperceptibly.
Aina Saiten simply thought he was ticklish and continued with a smile.
“Come to think of it, your lips really do look swollen from the spice. You should eat less spicy food. It’s not good for your stomach either.”
Her gaze moved from his lips to his face, then paused slightly.
The face she saw first thing every morning, the one so familiar it felt etched into her bones, seemed to be missing something.
“Hmm?” Aina Saiten leaned closer, studying him carefully. “Akane, what about the… that mature makeup you did this morning? Did you take it off?”
There was a trace of clear regret in her voice.
That morning, when he first put on that slightly more mature makeup look, she had been startled at first, but even more so amazed, feeling an indescribable sense of freshness.
It was different from his usual pure style. That lazy, alluring charm lingered in her mind all day.
She had even thought that when they came home in the evening, she might get to experience that different side of him again.
Kaoru Hoshitani paused slightly, then lowered his lashes to hide the complicated emotion flashing through his eyes.
Having known his girlfriend for more than ten years, he could easily guess what she was thinking.
Out of the growing guilt he felt for betraying Aina behind her back, he wanted to make it up to her.
Even if it was just a little. Even if it was only to make her happy for a moment.
After dinner, he cleaned up the dishes as usual and took a shower as usual.
The warm water flowed over his body, over skin marked with hidden traces, and every inch seemed to silently accuse him of betrayal.
He closed his eyes and let the water strike his face, as though it could wash something away.
When Aina Saiten walked into the bathroom humming, beginning her usual fifteen-minute hot bath, Kaoru Hoshitani stepped out.
Instead of lying down on the bed to wait for her as usual, he sat at the vanity.
He had already applied it once that morning, so his movements were quicker now.
Foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, lip gloss—each step carried almost mechanical proficiency, yet also an indescribable heaviness.
He looked at the face in the mirror gradually covered by makeup, that increasingly “mature,” increasingly “alluring” face, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Fifteen minutes. Just right.
When the sound of water stopped, and Aina Saiten walked out wearing a loose bathrobe, drying her damp hair with a towel—
She froze in place.
Only the bedside lamp was on in the bedroom, casting a soft, dim, warm yellow light over the room like a thin veil of ambiguity.
Within that hazy glow, her boyfriend lay on the bed, propped on one hand, looking at her.
His eyes, lined with eyeliner, appeared especially deep and captivating in the dim light.
The corners lifted slightly, carrying a lazy charm she had never seen in him before.
The blush tinted his cheeks with a faint flush, like a delicate bloom after waking.
A thin layer of glossy lip gloss shimmered under the warm light, his lips slightly parted as if in silent invitation.
He wore dark silk pajamas, the soft fabric clinging to his body’s curves. The collar lay slightly open, revealing a section of pale, delicate clavicle.
He lay there quietly, one hand supporting his head, the other resting casually at his side, his posture languid and enticing, like a carefully painted portrait of a beauty waiting to be admired.
There was no other reason.
Kaoru Hoshitani was simply too beautiful at that moment.
It was not that he was not beautiful ordinarily.
On the contrary, he had always possessed a face refined enough to attract attention wherever he went.
But that kind of beauty was subtly and fundamentally different from this one.
If it had to be explained, his usual beauty was pure, natural, untouched.
Like a clear mountain spring or morning dew in the forest, a natural beauty that drew both men and women alike.
Now, with that refined makeup layered over him, his beauty had transformed completely into something else—
A mature beauty with a fatal allure that no woman could resist.
And perhaps it was not an illusion.
Aina Saiten truly felt that recently, the pure temperament that once belonged solely to him was gradually fading, replaced by a growing sense of mature charm she could not quite describe.
Especially in certain subtle expressions, certain unconscious movements, there was a kind of unfamiliar sensuality she had never taught him.
“Why are you just standing there…”
The person on the bed tilted his head slightly. Those captivating eyes looked over with a hint of coquettish expectation, his voice softer than usual.
“Aren’t you coming over…?”
That soft murmur brushed across her heart like a feather.
Aina Saiten felt half her body go weak.
She practically scrambled onto the bed, as though pouncing, wanting nothing more than to kiss him fiercely and hold him tight.
However, before her lips could reach him, a slender finger gently pressed against them.
Kaoru Hoshitani placed a finger against her lips and shook his head slightly. A glimmer she could not understand flashed in his eyes.
“Tonight… let me take the initiative.”
That sentence struck her like an electric current, instantly shattering all her rationality.
Her body seemed to melt completely, leaving her no choice but to let him gently, yet firmly, push her down onto the soft bed.
The warm yellow light cast two overlapping, tender silhouettes on the wall.
Outside, the night was deep. Occasionally, the distant sound of a car passed by, making the small bedroom feel even more quiet and intimate.
One hour later.
Completely exhausted, Aina Saiten lay limply on the bed, her breathing still uneven.
She reached out and pulled her boyfriend, who was also breathing softly with a faint flush on his cheeks, into her arms, letting him rest against her shoulder.
Her chin rested on his soft hair, her face overflowing with happiness.
“Akane…”
Her voice was hoarse and satisfied, carrying the laziness and gentleness that came afterward.
“Thank you… tonight really felt wonderful…”
She paused, tightening her arms around him, her tone tinged with tenderness and emotion.
“And you’re such a clean person, yet you still took the initiative to try those things… that must have been hard for you.”
She was referring to the more intimate approaches he had suggested tonight, ones he had rarely initiated before because he found them unclean.
Kaoru Hoshitani did not reply.
He simply buried his face deep in his girlfriend’s warm embrace, hiding his expression.
Only his faintly trembling lashes and the nearly inaudible, shallow breaths muffled against softness proved he was still awake.
In truth, Aina Saiten still held one question in her heart, one she had not voiced.
That was—
For some reason, she felt that in certain techniques, he seemed… a little too skilled.
She had barely taught him those things before. In the past, he had always been somewhat inexperienced and awkward in that regard.
‘Did Akane secretly watch videos to learn?’
She thought this to herself, deciding that explanation made the most sense.
After all, he loved her so much. Wanting to give her a better experience and secretly learning was not impossible.
She knew he was thin-skinned and did not dare ask directly, afraid of embarrassing him.
As for the other possibility—
That frightening thought flashed through her mind like lightning. The image was too blinding, the possibility too terrifying.
She did not dare dwell on it, not even letting it fully form.
The next second, she forcefully cast it out of her mind, as if driving away something filthy.
The bedroom soon grew quiet, leaving only the steady, intertwined breathing of the two as they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
A satisfied smile still lingered on Aina Saiten’s face as she drifted into deep sleep.
Kaoru Hoshitani’s face remained buried in her embrace, never lifting.
Outside the window, the night was as dark as ink, the city lights gradually extinguishing.
And the old mobile phone forgotten in the corner of the wardrobe, long unused, had its screen light up once again at exactly midnight—without any warning.
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