Chapter 54 : Well, what could possibly happen?

Can a person wander around the house naked without a care?
Even when someone is watching?
Even if that person is a lover, at the very least, I couldn’t do it.
Honestly, isn’t it natural to feel embarrassed about this kind of thing…?
The tug-of-war I was having with Yena right now was along the same lines.

“I’m starting to get cold… Hurry up.”
“Ugh, you can’t be cold. Come out and get dressed already.”

Truthfully, the clothes had been laid out by the door for a while now.
The problem was that she was standing right in front of them.
Let’s say I walked out to get dressed—
Of course, I’d have to face Yena.

‘Let go…!’
‘Who said to come out naked? Ugh, ugh!’

Before I could even grab my clothes, I’d be caught in her grasp.
And once caught, she’d do all sorts of things to me…

Ahem.

I needed a decisive measure.
Not that I could make any grand threats, though.

“…If you keep this up, I won’t come out at all.”
“Tch, stop worrying and come out. I won’t do anything.”

Knock knock.

She said it in a teasing tone, then rapped on the door again.
Hugging my shoulders with my arms, I sank into thought.

“Sigh… As if I can believe that…”

It was a muttered complaint, but Yena immediately responded as if she’d heard it.
“I’m serious.”
“…”

I could almost see her expression through the door.
By now, she was probably grinning ear to ear.

‘Just go for it…’

What am I even doing?
Just strip and— strip and—

Just as I grabbed the doorknob in my confused state—

“Fine, I promise too. No touching, just looking.”

Click.

The moment I heard that, I opened the door.
Yena’s flustered face was right in front of me.

“Oh.”

Of course, the surprise on her face quickly turned to excitement.
Just in case, I reminded her.

“…You said no touching. Clearly.”
“Of course. Haa… So pretty.”

I covered myself with my hands.
If someone asked whether I couldn’t even show that much to my lover…

‘…’

Even after thinking about it, nothing came to mind.
I guess lovers can see each other naked sometimes.
But right now, we had to get to the academy, and also—morning sex was a bit much.

“S-Stay still…”
“Mm.”

Yena crouched down, hugging her knees.
Was that her way of making a “safe” gesture?
I half-ran to where my clothes were scattered.

‘First, panties… then…’

For some reason, my back felt hot.
Probably because she was admiring my rear view.
At this point, I fell into another dilemma.

If I bent forward, my lower half would be fully exposed.
But if I bent toward her, my cleavage would be on full display.

“Ugh…”

A dangerous sound came from behind me, so I quickly turned around.
Right, showing the front was a million times better.
I bent down and grabbed my underwear.

The familiar soft fabric slid on easily.
I draped the bra loosely around my neck and put on the panties first.
Yena stared intently, not even blinking.

The way she looked up when I lifted my leg was just…

“Pervert.”
“Yep, I’m a pervert.”
“…”

At this point, wasn’t it better to just finish dressing quickly?
I deftly put on the bra, covering my chest.
Then, to deny her any opening, I hurriedly pulled on the rest.

Luckily, Yena just watched quietly.

“Phew… Done. Let’s go?”
“Hmm, I’ve always wondered—why don’t you wear stockings?”
“Huh? Uh… well.”

Most students at the academy wore stockings.
Sure, some came bare-legged, but even they wore stockings occasionally.
So from day one until now, I was the only one who never wore them.

‘Obviously… because they feel too girly.’

I wore a bra because my chest was too big to ignore.
I kept the panties because there was no reason to change them.
But stockings? I couldn’t bring myself to wear them.

The moment I put them on, it’d feel like screaming “I’m totally a girl!”
Even if no one cared, it was a personal hang-up.

While I hesitated over whether to explain—

“Wait, is it because of money?”

Yena’s thoughts veered off in a weird direction.

“That’s… not it. There’s just a reason.”
“Really? Hmm… Today—”

My current situation:
Money wasn’t overflowing, but I wasn’t so poor I couldn’t afford stockings.
The inheritance left by this body’s parents was enough to comfortably cover four years at the academy.

“Hmph, they’re warm and nice.”

Yena swung her legs side to side, showing off her stockings.
I stared blatantly without refusing.

‘Lewd…’

Her signature snow-white thighs.
The black stockings wrapped around them, pressing into her skin.
The plump flesh spilling slightly over the top stirred something deep inside me.

‘Damn it. What am I doing?’

I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking off the weird feeling.

Ahem! “Dunno, not wearing them. L-Let’s just go.”
“Pfft, who’s the perv—”

I cut off Yena’s nonsense, grabbing her hand tightly.
Shoving my feet into my shoes, I rushed us out the door.

The time when students drowsily trudge to school.

“Haa…”

I was imprisoned in the restroom in front of the classroom.
More precisely, in a toilet stall.
The perpetrator of this confinement was my lovely girlfriend.

‘Why does it always end up like this…?’

The only saving grace was that my hands were free.
Yena stood blocking the door, silently watching me.

“You said we’d do it at school, right?”
“…No, haha. About that—”
“Gasp. Don’t tell me… that was a lie to brush me off?!”

Yena’s mouth fell open as if struck by a shocking revelation.
Sadly, I wasn’t naive enough to fall for such a cheap act.

“Sniff… If you lied… I’d be really sad.”

Her fingers, tucked in her pocket since earlier, wriggled slightly.

Of course, what I had in my hand was my phone.
That thing she used so often, I even memorized the app’s location.

“I might do something weird because I’m so sad.”
“Sigh… I didn’t want to use this.”

I brushed off Yena’s words, pulled the phone from my pocket, and tapped the screen.
After bringing up the familiar pink interface, I immediately turned the phone away.

“Haa… Hold back…”

Yena, seeing the screen, let out a small sigh and closed her eyes.
She pressed her fingers to her forehead like she was dizzy and shook her head slightly.

‘What?’

It looked like she mouthed something, but it was too quiet to hear.
Just as I was about to ask—

“Give me your orders, Master…”

In the end, I successfully hypnotized her like usual.
Though there was something a little off this time.

“Hmm… Was it like this last time too…?”

Does hypnosis have an expiration date?
It felt like her attitude was getting worse over time.
If I tested a few things now, I could probably figure out why.

‘First, punishment for daring to raise your voice at Master.’

I didn’t like the defiant look in her eyes.
(Not that she wasn’t still pretty like this.)

“Close your eyes. Now.”
“Yes.”
“Huh? Open them again.”
“Yes.”
“…Never mind, close them again.”

Despite her bored expression, she followed every order perfectly.

“Master, I love you. Begin.”
“Master, I love you…”
“…Ngh.”

Yena responded crisply.
Since she was obeying so well, I had no choice but to drop my suspicions.
I didn’t bother hiding the smirk creeping onto my lips.
She couldn’t see it anyway.

Now, time for the main hypnosis.

“Listen carefully. I’m changing the hypnosis this time.”
“…Yes.”
“When the hypnosis ends and you open your eyes, all those… urges to pounce on me will disappear.”
“…”
Ahem. “Instead, they’ll turn into pure feelings of love. Understood?”
“…Yes.”

Once, I’d asked something similar.
Back then, she’d ignored me entirely.
But this time felt different—she answered.
Which meant… she had some feelings for me!

I cheered internally and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Ngh—”
“Stay still. Hehe. We’ll leave soon.”

I stopped her from squirming in my sudden embrace.

Yena. From now on, I’ll teach you what “love” is.
Using just a tiny bit of hypnosis. The bare minimum.

‘Well, first, since midterms are coming up… Maybe I’ll hypnotize her into studying with me?’

I was starting to figure out how to use hypnosis properly.
In manga, dramas, novels—all the stuff I read online—heroines often fell in love during small, mundane moments like this.

“Phew… Done. You can open your eyes now.”

I showed her the hypnosis-release screen right in front of her face.
She blinked a few times, then looked utterly confused.

“Huh… What were we doing?”
“Hehehe…”

Seeing her like that extinguished the last embers of doubt in my heart.
The Yena I knew was terrible at acting.

“Doing what? You said you wanted to study together earlier.”
“…Did I? Maybe I did.”
“Let’s go. Before the others get here.”
“Oh, okay.”

I dragged her out of the restroom by the arm.
Playing along, she let herself be pulled toward the classroom.

Suddenly, I felt her gaze and glanced back—
Yena was smiling, satisfied.

‘…Well, it’s fine, right?’
Good vibes only.
It just meant she liked me that much.

With that thought, I interlaced our fingers.
Just a few days ago, even holding hands would’ve embarrassed me.
It really hit me—we’re together now.