Chapter 24: A-Gen

Chapter 24: A-Gen

Acting spoiled was a word both familiar and unfamiliar to Kiyono Mitsuki.

It was familiar because every girl seemed naturally capable of acting spoiled, and unfamiliar because she had never thought of deliberately acting spoiled with anyone.

It seemed like the last method available when there was no other way, or perhaps a kind of instinct.

Moreover, this situation happened only with a certain boy named Yatsuno Gen.

How should she put it?

It was probably a kind of dependence too.

But now things were different. The topic of acting spoiled had already passed, like a supermarket discount event. Once missed, it seemed all she could do was quietly wait for the next time.

“Can you feel anything?”

On the sofa.

Kiyono Mitsuki very much wanted to control the redness and heat rising in her face.

But she could not do it at all, because her legs were now resting straight across his thighs.

Although she felt very little, almost unable to feel the existence of his legs, the visual impact would not deceive anyone.

It was like an exhibit placed before him, and those long, fair hands of his were gently kneading the flesh of her legs.

It started from her feet.

It was clearly still daytime.

The morning sunlight still shone through the window and fell on the sofa, making Kiyono Mitsuki’s milk-white legs shine brilliantly.

It also fell on Yatsuno Gen’s jet-black hair, making it look as smooth as silk.

It was faint warmth, even a comfort she did not want to admit.

She also did not seem to know how to describe it. It was like a miracle.

Because her legs should not have any sensation or response at all, and yet, the moment his hands covered them,

She could gradually feel a warm current passing through her legs, as though they were the traces left by the pressure of his hands.

“...A little.”

It seemed like she should be excited because of that, but in truth, what she felt more was an inexplicable shyness.

The girl’s cheeks were red, and she did not dare look directly at him.

Yatsuno Gen nodded.

“Feeling something is always good. Maybe if I keep massaging them, one day your legs really will be able to move. A miracle will happen.”

Of course, the boy was laying the groundwork in advance.

After all, sometimes creating a miracle was very simple, but explaining where the miracle came from was troublesome.

However, the girl half-lying against the armrest of the sofa, cheeks flushed and looking timid, had clearly misunderstood.

Her evasive eyes grew misty as she boldly looked at Yatsuno Gen.

“What miracle... Aren’t you massaging them because you want to touch them?”

Yatsuno Gen:???

“What kind of person do you take me for!”

As he said that, his palm was already kneading her small, actually soft and fleshy foot with some force.

Each toe had a crystalline sheen, without the slightest bit of dead skin. It seemed that although she did not usually use them, she had not forgotten to wash them.

Kiyono Mitsuki felt it even more clearly. She was a little ticklish.

She wanted to pull her foot back, but she could not use any strength at all, and Yatsuno Gen was gripping it tightly.

It almost made her whole body go weak.

How could she have sensation because of this? Even when the doctor tapped with that little hammer, there had been no use at all... But the moment he pinched and held her... Could it be that she was naturally some kind of strange person?

Lewd.

Perverted.

Even full of desire.

“Then let go...”

“I’m massaging you. Can you remember some of my good points instead of thinking about these weird things?”

Yatsuno Gen looked at her with a perfectly serious expression.

As if he were a proper teacher skilled at encouraging study.

“But...”

Kiyono Mitsuki very much wanted to say something excessive.

She felt she was now fully equipped with courage.

Especially when she saw that Yatsuno Gen’s hand was still climbing upward, not letting go of her ankle, the flesh of her calf already held in his palm.

“No buts. Treat me as a doctor. Hide nothing from your doctor, understand? My mindset is very pure, so you shouldn’t have strange thoughts either. In my hands, you’re no different from pork.”

“You’re the pig! Stop touching me. I won’t let you touch me anymore!”

The girl struggled. Her legs naturally still could not move, so she could only push him randomly with both hands.

Until Yatsuno Gen finally seemed to grow impatient and accurately caught her flailing hands.

As if a switch had been pressed, Kiyono Mitsuki was instantly captured, his hands like a monster-catching ball.

She stared motionlessly at Yatsuno Gen.

Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes held a yearning even she herself did not understand.

Yatsuno Gen did not smile. His lips pressed together, then opened.

“Stop messing around.”

“...Mm.”

That deep voice, almost like an order, inexplicably made Kiyono Mitsuki unable to summon any will to resist.

She was like a little cat that looked wild, only to suddenly be caught by the scruff of the neck.

Then Yatsuno Gen released her hands, and the whole room quieted down because of it. All that remained were the tiny sounds left by the boy gently kneading the girl’s fair, delicate legs as they rubbed against the sofa.

The sunlight was also fragmented, scattered everywhere across the room.

With flushed cheeks, Kiyono Mitsuki tried her best to endure every possible sensation, such as that warm current spreading from her legs to her entire body, even into some unknown secret corner.

For some reason,

Kiyono Mitsuki looked at Yatsuno Gen, who had his head lowered and was massaging seriously, without the slightest ambiguous intent mixed in since a moment ago.

She remembered certain things from long ago.

When she said she had a headache, her mother would always place her head on her lap and gently massage her temples. Back then, perhaps there had not been such lingering sunlight as there was now.

But those had been among the moments when she could feel warmth and care.

Just like now.

Perhaps in the past, she would not have believed that someone would take care of an unrelated person for no reason, sincerely investing their concern and sympathy. Yes, even if it was only sympathy.

But now, she wanted to reach out, touch his face, hold his head, and look seriously into his eyes as she asked him why he was so good to her. What right did she have to deserve all this?

Her life should have been a smear of rotten mud shattered against the wall, yet it seemed he had pieced her back together bit by bit, turning her into a complete self again.

How hateful.

Getting used to warmth like this was dangerous, because if one day he disappeared, she truly would not know what to do.

“Yatsuno... Gen.”

“Hm?”

She called his name.

The boy looked at her.

“If... I mean if.”

She was cautious.

“Mm. Go on.”

“One day... if you find a girlfriend you like, and she likes you too. And I’m still like this, with no improvement. If she doesn’t want you to have too much contact with me... then just live properly with her. I’ll be fine.”

Because she felt she did not deserve happiness, even her assumptions were this cruel, unwilling to imagine any beautiful ending.

Yatsuno Gen smiled and set down her legs.

“Is it because you have too much free time, so you like imagining the heart-wrenching plots from novels and torturing yourself with them because it feels better?”

“...I’m not imagining things. It’s not like no one could possibly like you, and it’s not like you could never have someone you like, right? Something like this will happen sooner or later.”

She frowned in dissatisfaction, seemingly annoyed that this boy always interrupted the emotions she had built up at the wrong time.

Yatsuno Gen answered calmly,

“Nothing is guaranteed to happen. For example, if your legs were fine and your life hadn’t encountered this accident, you might never have felt so anxious about gaining and losing me. You also wouldn’t have imagined that, because of someone’s departure, I would vanish from your world. Even if I did vanish from your world, you might not care at all.”

Kiyono Mitsuki’s eyelashes trembled lightly.

She opened her mouth, yet seemed unable to refute him.

Yatsuno Gen lazily stood up and stretched comfortably.

“All right. If you have the free time for this, go do something you want to do. I still have things to take care of, so I’m leaving first.”

The girl did not ask him to stay. She merely watched quietly as he left through the door.

After he left, even the sunlight in the room seemed to dim somewhat.

Kiyono Mitsuki understood very clearly what Yatsuno Gen meant.

What he meant was nothing more than this: because she had suffered such an accident, everyone saw her as trouble and avoided her. Only he patiently took care of her, never asking for anything in return.

That was why she felt moved like this, why she feared his departure, why she longed to repay him, and why she became so anxious over gaining and losing.

But...

She bit her teeth and opened the laptop whose internet fee Yatsuno Gen had renewed for her.

Actually, she had not been idle recently. She had something she wanted to do. As for why the document she opened did not contain a single word, it was because she had not thought of how that story should begin.

Now, she seemed to have a clue.

She gently typed that line:

[How could he not know that a boy like him was someone you would fall for at first sight?]

“Hello.”

“Yatsuno-kun, have you left yet? Why didn’t you answer the phone just now?”

“There’s no need to address me so politely over the phone, Kazama-san. Something came up just now. I’ve already left and I’m on the way.”

On the afternoon bus, there were not many people, and the sunlight shone brightly everywhere.

Actually, Yatsuno Gen quite liked riding buses. It was not that buses in Neon were anything different. He simply liked listening to the clatter clatter of the carriage as it jolted along the road.

It made a person easily sink into a drowsy tenderness, like an infant’s cradle.

The girl’s voice on the phone was also mixed with some noisy background sounds. There seemed to be singing and accompaniment too.

“All right~ By the way, you shouldn’t be busy today, right? Am I disturbing you?”

Yatsuno Gen smiled.

“Isn’t it a little lacking in sincerity to ask that now? Or if I really did have something to do, could I go back now to take care of it?”

“Pfft, I was just saying it casually. Why are you so serious?”

“Of course I have to take your words seriously.”

“...You’re talking nonsense again, Yatsuno-kun.”

“I still prefer the way you call me Yatsuno-kun.”

“Hmph, I won’t. I’ve decided something.”

“What?”

The sunlight was a little glaring, and Yatsuno Gen turned his head slightly.

Outside, lush green trees lined both sides of the road, while all kinds of passersby hurried past.

Summer was truly nice.

Everything seemed so passionate and alive.

And the girl’s voice over the phone lowered. The surrounding noise also became blurred and inaudible.

She had probably covered the phone and pressed it close to her cheek.

Sneaky.

“From now on, when we’re not at school, or when it’s only the two of us... I’ll call you A-Gen.”

“Hm? When it’s only the two of us? What kind of inappropriate things are you thinking about?”

“Is that the important part!”

“Hahahaha.”

Yatsuno Gen smiled and heard the girl’s complaint from the other side.

The bus arrived at the stop and halted.

He got up, holding his phone.

The other side did not speak, but she did not hang up either. He seemed to hear faint, nervous breathing.

He got off the bus and walked into the brilliant, grand summer light.

“Okay. Call me whatever you want, Sakura.”