Back at home, Mai didn't say much, her silence reflecting a growing, resigned acceptance of Haruto's utterly unpredictable and chaotic lifestyle.
Haruto offered a lazy grin, leaning back against the sofa.
"You know, I really should've brought you along with me earlier. Think of all the easy experience points and leveling up you missed out on."
That earned him a sharp, highly skeptical glare from Mai.
She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes.
"Please. You're not actually talking about leveling, are you? Knowing you, your mind is probably deep down in the gutter, thinking about something entirely different."
Haruto blinked, feigning absolute, innocent shock.
"Oh? Me? How could you accuse me of such a thing?"
"Ah-ha! I knew it! You admit it!" Mai pouted fiercely, her cheeks flushing.
"You total pervert!"
Haruto's amused, teasing expression suddenly shifted into something much more calm, replaced by a subtle, mysterious smile.
"Actually... you're still wrong."
"What?"
Mai paused, giving him a deeply suspicious look.
"What do you mean I'm wrong?"
"You forgot about Saeko."
A beat of absolute silence passed as the implication hit her.
"You absolute jerk!"
She shrieked, her face turning bright red as she snatched a heavy couch cushion and hurled it straight at his head with lethal velocity, sending it flying through the air in a perfect, furious arc.
While Haruto was busy teasing Mai back home, Shizuka Hiratsuka was drowning in a heavy wave of regret, guilt, and lingering physiological arousal in her own apartment.
"What on earth have I done?" she muttered aloud.
With the very hand she had used just moments ago to ruthlessly stimulate herself to an explosive orgasm while fantasizing about Haruto's touch.
She aggressively scrubbed her soiled lace undergarments in the basin, a profound sense of self-reproach burning in her chest.
"Ugh, I'm an absolute disgrace of an adult!"
Just as she wrung out the fabric, her phone chimed sharply with an incoming message notification.
Hastily wiping her wet hands on a towel, she picked it up to find a text from Haruno.
Haruno: "Shizuka~ How did your date go today? Did you manage to reel in that young lamb? (laugh)"
Shizuka stared at the screen, her left eyelid twitching violently.
A lamb?
That boy was no innocent lamb—he was a predatory wolf wrapped in sheep's clothing.
And not just any wolf, but a monstrously powerful one with supernatural abilities and insatiable, wild ambitions.
A total, unapologetic womanizer.
At this point, it wasn't even a matter of an older female teacher dating a younger male student.
It felt entirely like the "tender, fresh grass" had actively set out to consume and ravage the "old cow!"
Sigh...
With a heavy, exhausted heart, Shizuka tapped out a reply.
Shizuka: "Haruno, do you have any advice on how I can properly turn him down?"
Haruno: "Turn him down? Why? (Curious)"
Haruno: "From the impression I got, that young guy seemed genuinely captivated by you. Why not seriously consider it? Besides, he'll graduate soon enough~"
Haruno genuinely believed Shizuka should give the romance a fair shot.
Having spent her life navigating the cutthroat corporate and social circles of the elite, she trusted her intuition when it came to reading people.
Haruno: "Honestly, from what I can tell, Haruto looked completely sincere."
Shizuka couldn't help but let out a bitter, defensive scoff.
How could he not look sincere when he's literally staring at my body like a hungry beast eyeing its prey?
She muttered the thought to herself, her face flushing hot.
Of course, she couldn't actually tell Haruno the truth.
She couldn't admit that her student possessed supernatural powers, could manipulate ice and time, and had practically reduced her to a shivering, whimpering mess of unbridled sexual lust.
Yet, the bizarre, terrifying reality of what she had witnessed lingered in her mind, breeding deep anxiety.
Shizuka: "Haruno, do you actually think there are gods, angels, or demons operating in this world?"
Haruno was completely taken aback by the sudden, bizarre pivot in the conversation.
Haruno: "Haha, we were just talking about your love life, Shizuka! Don't go spouting fantasy nonsense all of a sudden~"
Shizuka sighed heavily: "Never mind. Just forget I asked."
Haruno: "Seriously though, if you want to reject him, just put your foot down and do it cleanly. Stop dragging things out. But make sure you don't regret it, because a man like that won't wait around forever."
Shizuka: "You seem to have an awful lot of faith in him after only meeting him once."
Haruno: "Well... when you've had to deal with as many fake, backstabbing faces in high society as I have, you learn to spot someone who actually possesses real power and presence."
Shizuka knew all too well the crushing weight of family expectations and responsibilities Haruno carried, and she understood why her friend had built such impenetrable walls around her emotions.
Shizuka: "Haruno... honestly, do you think a man with supernatural powers could realistically manage to take multiple wives?"
Haruno: "??? Shizuka, what on earth has gotten into you today? Are you drunk? You're really messing with me. Watch out next time we meet, I'm going to tease you mercilessly~"
True to form, Haruno completely brushed it off as a joke, and Shizuka realized she was never going to get any real, meaningful answers from her.
She lowered her phone and slowly glanced down at her right hand—the one still tingling with phantom heat.
Staring at her reflection in the dark window, she acutely felt the reality of her age, plunging headfirst into the notorious, hyper-sexualized anxieties of womanhood, utterly corrupted and conquered by a teenage boy.
On the other side of the city, Haruno tossed her phone onto the plush sofa with a soft huff of annoyance.
"Shizuka, seriously... I'm trying to give her solid advice, and she just plays coy games with me," she muttered to herself, crossing her legs.
Moments later, she reached down and picked her phone back up, pulling up a newly saved address.
As she read the location details, her expression melted into a sharp, mischievous smirk.
"Well, look at that. So Yukino has finally gone ahead and moved into her new place. I really ought to go pay her a visit soon and inspect the nest."
Despite her playfully teasing exterior, Haruno harbored a deep, protective concern for her younger sister.
She understood Yukino's fiercely independent yet socially rigid personality better than anyone else.
If left entirely to her own devices in a new living situation, Haruno worried that her sister might get manipulated, make a disastrous misstep, or find herself tangled in a deeply problematic relationship.
A violent shiver racked her entire body, sending literal chills down her spine.
At the horrifying mental projection of her pristine younger sister walking back through the family estate doors one day, clutching her swollen belly, and tearfully confessing.
"Sister... I let him fill me up, and now I'm pregnant with his baby..."
As the self-proclaimed ultimate sisterly protector, Haruno immediately resolved to take matters into her own hands.
"Maybe I should install a hidden surveillance camera just to keep an eye on things."
True to her nature as a woman of swift, decisive action, Haruno unlocked her screen and immediately began browsing through online shopping apps.
A standard high-definition security camera was out of the question—the risk of a security breach or a hacker leaking Yukino's most private moments to the public was far too high.
Her eyes suddenly lit up with a triumphant sparkle as she stumbled upon a specialized, low-resolution thermal imaging camera designed to track only basic body heat signatures and rough human shapes.
"Oh, this is absolute perfection! It keeps her privacy completely intact while letting me monitor if anyone else is sharing her apartment."
Haruno grinned deviously. "Now... how on earth do I sneak this into Yukino's place without her noticing?"
Deep in concentration, her fingers tapped rapidly against her screen as she scoured the digital marketplace.
Within minutes, a wicked, brilliant solution caught her eye while scrolling through the catalog.
"Yes... this will work like an absolute charm!"
******
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