The two of them moved about the kitchen, busy with their work, chatting as they cooked.From time to time, Hayashi brushed against Selene, just as casually as she would touch him in return.Neither backed down, and the atmosphere between them felt light, relaxed, and cheerful.
By the time all six dishes were ready, the room seemed even more alive with their banter.Once Hayashi had finished boasting about bits of random knowledge from his "previous life," Selene began sharing amusing stories from her time on missions.Hayashi listened with interest, nodding along, tossing in questions every few sentences to learn details that had never made it into the original chronicles.
The meal stretched on for over two hours.After a few drinks, Selene's body felt uncomfortably warm, so she shrugged off her coat, leaving only her underwear.That gave Hayashi plenty of opportunities to feast his eyes—not that the mood between them took on any hint of seduction.
Another half hour slipped by.Flushed from the alcohol, Selene pouted at him with a look of mild reproach."It's not like I don't have spare rooms here. Plenty of space for you to stay the night. Why rush off?"
"I can't sleep well in someone else's house," Hayashi said, waving a hand dismissively, his blush already fading. "Unless you manage to get me even drunker."
In truth, he had never once been completely drunk in his past life, and the mild liquor in this shinobi world wasn't enough to overwhelm him now.
Selene responded by giving him several playful punches.The force of it, combined with the fact that she was dressed only in her undergarments, made her full breasts bounce with each movement.Hayashi's eyes lingered for a moment on the deep valley of her cleavage, though his expression stayed neutral.
Since he'd already decided to think of Selene as a "brother," it seemed only natural to take advantage of the view those "brothers" offered.
He waved his hand again."No need to see me out. You're dressed like that—if you walk me to the door, you'll risk showing off more than you mean to."
Selene's pale arms sliced through the air in a dismissive gesture."If anyone dares look, I'll blow their eyes out!" she snapped, though there was no real anger behind it.
Then she paused, as if suddenly remembering something, and tapped her own forehead lightly.In her tipsy state, the small motion was laced with a beauty that was hard to ignore.
She dug a ring of keys from her pocket and handed them over."Here—these open my front door and the stairwell to the second floor."
Hayashi thought for a moment, then nodded and slipped them into his pocket.
Selene's red cheeks lit up even more with surprise and delight. She threw her arms around him."That's great! I thought you'd refuse."
Hayashi hugged her back without hesitation.With most female friends, he might have kept a polite distance—but why bother with such restraint around a "good brother"?
His hands rested against the smooth, bare skin of her back, and he couldn't help but notice the soft, springy weight of her breasts pressed against his chest.They were so full that he couldn't feel her heartbeat—but his own was speeding up, and his body was responding on instinct.
Even if he considered her a brother at heart, there was no denying Selene was a breathtaking beauty in every respect.That reaction was only natural.But he also knew that if he let things go too far, he might lose control—and that could shatter what they had.
The thought of her lashing out in defense, of their easy friendship vanishing, made something twist uncomfortably inside him.So he pushed her gently away without meeting her eyes and headed straight for the door."Alright, I'm heading out. See you tomorrow."
Selene stood there with flushed cheeks, feeling her own heart racing."Strange," she murmured. "Why do I feel so… empty now? What was I expecting? We were so happy just a moment ago."
As she spoke, her hand drifted down to the soft curve of her lower abdomen, where she'd felt a hard object pressing into her moments earlier.Her brows drew together. When they'd first hugged, Hayashi clearly hadn't been carrying anything in his pants—so where had that stick-shaped "hidden weapon" come from?
The Sand Village's ninja academy focused almost entirely on combat training.Reading and writing were taught just enough for basic literacy.
As for sex education?That topic never came up.The village's culture mirrored that of Hayashi's old world—adults avoided such discussions with children, believing they'd simply figure it out as they matured.And indeed, most did—by talking among themselves once they reached a certain age.
Selene was the exception.She'd had few male friends growing up, and only a handful of close female companions.She knew the basic differences between men and women, and how to defend herself, but if a man stared at her too long or made an inappropriate remark, she'd warn him—or hit him—without hesitation.Beyond that, she was as uninformed about the details as a sheltered twelve-year-old girl.
It was this inexperience that left her mistaking the stirrings of love in her heart for nothing more than the warmth of friendship.
Meanwhile, Hayashi strolled through the streets, returning nods from villagers who greeted him.The crowd was beginning to thin.
Most civilians here lived in a constant rush, working their entire lives for the slim hope that one of their descendants might become a genin.In the Sand Village, a ninja's status was far higher than in the Leaf.Where Konoha's villagers lived comfortably above the poverty line, the people here struggled—ninety percent barely scraped by.
Even a common, expendable genin was a source of pride.A chunin? That was real prestige, a leap in class, and often meant a family would never know hunger again.
But the village could not afford to support too many shinobi, so its selection standards were brutally strict—far more so than Konoha's.For every three academy students, only one became a reserve genin, and half of those failed to make the rank officially.
In Konoha, a student who simply stayed out of trouble and kept up with their lessons could almost guarantee graduation and steady work.
These thoughts still turning over in his mind, Hayashi reached his home and headed straight for the bathroom.
As he shrugged off his coat, his hand brushed his pocket—and he froze.Inside were three keys, each marked with the numbers 1, 2, and 3 in neat script, each a different color.
"Guess Selene gave me the wrong set," he muttered. "Why would she hand me the bedroom key too?"
He stripped down completely, glanced at the nineteen-centimeter "little brother" standing proudly, and murmured in amusement,"Don't worry. If the chance comes, I'll take it."
After a shower, still a bit tipsy, he forgot all about checking his mental list of people with low favorability toward him.Instead, he crawled into bed and drifted off almost immediately.
His head felt hazy, and when he opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar room.Before he could react, an angry, all-too-familiar female voice snapped,"What did I do to deserve dreaming about you, you perverted bastard?"
"Damn it! You actually did something so outrageous to me in my dream last night—I'm going to beat you to death!"