Feeling her arms wrap around his waist, Sasaki lowered his head and did the same thing he had done when helping her dry her hair at the hotel.
"Ah~!"
A sensation as soft and cool as jelly spread from the skin of her collarbone, sending a shiver through Nanao's entire body.
Unaccustomed to a guy being so affectionate and clingy to her, Nanao wanted to push Sasaki away slightly.
But the moment her palms touched his chest, they went as soft and weak as noodles dropped into boiling water.
In the end, her slight, reluctant movements seemed more like she was playfully resisting... or even coquettishly teasing him.
Continuously being kissed on the neck by Sasaki, feeling his affection for her... Nanao Akane, who was both inexplicably heated and heartbroken over Katase Shouya, gradually slowed her initially coquettish resistance.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Seeing her start to straighten up... Sasaki mischievously lifted his head, meeting her watery, dazed eyes, he tilted his head and smiled.
"I didn't expect Akane to be such a little tease~ Holding onto me like this right at the entrance."
His reminder snapped Nanao back to reality, and she realized they were still at the entrance of the izakaya...
Too embarrassed to look at the direct gazes of the passersby, Nanao buried her face in Sasaki's chest.
Her small hands, red with embarrassment, clutched his shirt as she whispered urgently.
"Let's go, go! We can't stay here."
Deliberately stalling, Sasaki smiled.
"But where should we go?"
"Anywhere, just not here."
"Alright~"
After leaving the izakaya, he held the girl's hand and aimlessly walked along the street.
Arriving at a quiet, deserted park, Sasaki had her sit on a swing and gently pushed her back.
"Feeling a little better now?"
Although he had brought up something unpleasant, the burning heat in her heart, which made her feel dizzy, didn't let her feel sad or upset.
She hadn't drunk any alcohol and had only touched a little of the food and drinks... but the strange reactions her body was giving off made her keenly aware that she might have been drugged.
Her breathing grew hotter, and she became more and more greedy for Sasaki's touch, as if she wanted to become one with him.
The girl didn't have time to think about how she had been drugged.
Using what little clarity she had left, she made him stop pushing the swing and said. "Let's go! Come with me~ We can't stay here."
Since she had been drugged, it meant Tougou wouldn't let her off easily.
He must be following them now... They couldn't run into him in a place like this with no one around.
She had a vague understanding of Sasaki's strength... but there was still a chance he could be overwhelmed.
If he were to underestimate the situation, neither of them would come would be in the good condition.
Standing up from the swing, Nanao reached out and took Sasaki's hand, then walked straight to the side of the road.
Seeing that she had realized she'd been drugged, Sasaki didn't do anything unnecessary.
Letting her pull his hand, he asked.
"Akane~ Where are we going?"
"To the hosp..."
When something's wrong with your body, of course, the first thing you do is go to the hospital... But before she could finish her sentence, Tougou, who had been waiting for the drug to take effect, emerged from the slide nearby.
"Going where? You're not going anywhere!"
Normally, his face resembled a gorilla's, which was somewhat frightening.
Now that he had dropped his hypocritical friendly expression, the way he slowly emerged from the darkness made him look like a man-eating demon crawling out of the unknown.
Although she had guessed that Tougou might be following them, seeing him suddenly appear still startled Nanao.
Taking half a step back, she didn't want to waste any time and immediately pulled Sasaki toward the other side of the park.
But as soon as she moved, several thugs dressed in flashy clothes and with lewd, obscene expressions appeared around them.
Forced to retreat, Nanao and Sasaki stood close together, trying to bolster their courage as the girl asked Tougou, who was slowly approaching.
"Coach Tougou, what's the meaning of this?"
"The meaning of this?"
Glancing at the tall guy standing behind her with no expression, the gorilla stopped and sneered:
"And what's your meaning? You already have Katase, yet you're clinging to another guy. Do you think that's fair to him?"
Putting aside her relationship with Katase, the fact that Tougou had shown up here meant he was up to no good.
Seeing him still putting on an act, Nanao was so angry she wanted to tear off his mask.
But they were outnumbered... Afraid they might swarm them, she could only frown and try to buy time.
"I've already left the baseball club. Who I'm with is my freedom, Coach Tougou.."
However, before she could speak, Sasaki patted the girl's shoulder, and stepped in front of her, meeting her upward gaze, he winked with a smile.
Then, his tall figure blurred, and he suddenly lunged forward like an arrow shot from a bow, closing the distance to Togou in an instant.
Seeing the person who had been four or five meters away suddenly appear in front of him, the gorilla's breath hitched.
His pupils contracted, and he instinctively raised his hand to strike.
But a sudden, overwhelming force pressed down on the back of his head, forcing him to lower it just as Sasaki's knee came rushing up.
Thud!
The sound was like a car tire slamming into the ground.
Blood splattered like dust kicked up into the air.
Tougou, who had been struggling moments ago, went limp like a dead fish after the knee strike.
Dropping the now-unconscious gorilla to the side,
Sasaki walked toward the thugs who hadn't yet processed what had just happened.
What happend next was like bullying toddlers who had just learned to walk—a single push, and they fell.
It took Sasaki less about 10 seconds to deal with them.
After stuffing the piece of paper Fujitsuki had given him into one of the thugs' pockets to mark them as targets and sending their location to the doctor, Sasaki put away his phone and turned back to Nanao.
She stood there in a daze, her peach-colored lips slightly parted, clearly shaken.
Although he knew his actions had been a bit violent, but he did not want to waste any more time with them...after all, there was someone waiting for him.
With that thought, Sasaki walked over to Nanao, pulled her into his arms, and gently nibbled on her cold little ear. "Scared?"
The soft, warm lips enveloping her earlobe snapped the girl out of her daze.
Looking over Sasaki's shoulder, she saw the thugs lying on the ground.
The tension and fear she had felt when they blocked her path earlier now turned into gratitude toward him... A gratitude mixed with a burning heat in her chest and a growing fondness for him as she wrapped her arms around Sasaki's waist again.
But unlike before, when she had just held him quietly... the heat in her heart was becoming unbearable, and Nanao began to claw at Sasaki's back like a kitten sharpening its claws.
Her grip grew stronger, as if she wanted to tear his clothes off...
Knowing the drug was taking effect, Sasaki took the opportunity to voice his concern.
"Akane?"
Her desire for sex had long since overshadowed any thought of going to the hospital.
With her rationality nearly gone, Nanao looked up at Sasaki, her eyes filled with confusion, and began to kiss him eagerly. "I'm so hot~ so stuffy~ kiss me~"
"Akane, did you get drugged? Should we go to the hospital?"
Though she wasn't well-versed in the intricacies of intimacy, Nanao, guided by her desires, continued to tease Sasaki.
"No... no hospital, don't talk, just kiss me~"
"But... Katase..."
"Katase? Don't, don't care about him, please~ kiss me~"
"..."
Well now that things have come to this point, Sasaki knew it was time to take the lead.
But the lead couldn't be taken outside...
Well, it wasn't that he was against the idea of doing it outside... but the first time was special... It was better to do it properly.
Since Sasaki had brought her to the park, and knowing full well that Nanao had been drugged, he had chosen a spot near a hotel.
So, holding the clingy, kiss-hungry Nanao, he walked for two minutes and arrived at the nearest hotel.
Well..after entering the room, Nanao's rationality had already been melted away by the heat spreading through her body.
So, words were unnecessary now...
...