Monday morning was utterly depressing.
The weather was sunny, and the spring breeze felt pleasant against my skin, but my steps toward school felt agonizingly heavy.
This was partly because I was sad to leave my stepmother after spending two whole days deepening our relationship, and partly because every muscle in my body ached terribly.
"Cr-creaking... This is bad."
I moved with the stiff, jerky motions of a robot.
My lower body was in particularly bad shape. The sudden, intense strain on muscles I rarely used had inflicted serious damage on my less-than-robust physique. My hip joints, inner thighs, and calves were screaming in unison—parts of my body that weren't normally subjected to such intense activity.
I'd been completely absorbed in the moment while it was happening, but now that I was back in reality, the full consequences of my recklessness were crashing down on me.
Today, more than ever, I knew I had to conserve my energy.
Just as I was thinking that,
"Yo, Hachiya-kun!"
The moment I stepped into the classroom, her voice flew toward me.
It wasn't particularly loud, yet its clear, bell-like timbre cut through the noisy classroom chatter, ringing distinctly in my ears.
Smiling with dazzling white teeth, her long, mysterious black hair shimmering with hints of blue in the morning sunlight, was Hagino Kaede—the beautiful girl in my class.
"Ah, Hagino-san... Good morning. You look lovely as always."
Kaede-san was like a goddess, greeting everyone with the same radiant smile. Her gentle and considerate nature made her immensely popular with both boys and girls. And even though she was still in high school, her bust was as impressively developed as an adult woman's...
Huh?
Wait a minute...
Wait, what did I just say?
I think I blurted out something unnecessary the moment we met.
"Huh...?"
The goddess stood frozen, her lips slightly parted, a bewildered expression on her face.
Oh?
Could I have possibly said something wrong?
"H-Hachiya-kun! What's wrong?! Why are you suddenly acting so flirtatious?! Are you okay? Do you have a fever or something?"
Kaede-san, looking genuinely concerned, deliberately placed her hand on my forehead to check my temperature.
"No, I don't have a fever. You're overreacting."
Despite being touched by a girl—a scenario that would make any introverted guy's head explode—my heart didn't even flutter. I remained remarkably calm as I spoke, communicating with her as an equal. When did this happen?! I'm terrified by how quickly I'm growing!
"No way! You really don't have a fever?! You usually mumble your replies so quietly, but today you're so cheerful! What's gotten into you?! How dare you be so bold with a beautiful girl like me... Could it be... you've got a girlfriend?! Who is she?! You little...!"
Kaede-san was already at full throttle that morning, repeatedly jabbing her elbow into my chest with a sly grin.
Yes, this girl had quite the inflated ego. She unabashedly called herself a "beautiful girl," and since it was undeniably true, no one resented her for it. Instead, her straightforward, unpretentious personality earned her genuine adoration.
Thanks to her fearless and confident demeanor, I'd heard she actually received more confessions from girls than from boys.
Anyway, that's beside the point.
"Ouch! Hold on a second! You're hitting me in a surprisingly good spot!"
I literally seized the beautiful girl's elbow, which had struck not only my chest but also my solar plexus.
"You're energetic early in the morning, Hagino-san."
"And you seem a little tired, Hachiya-kun. Physically exhausted, but brimming with willpower... hmm, hmm."
Hagino-san pinched her chin like a detective, nodding to herself with unwarranted satisfaction.
Not bad deduction... or am I just radiating a "I've lost my virginity" aura?
"Intriguing. Subject designated for continued observation."
"Hey, stop observing me!"
"I've always thought you had potential, Hachiya-kun, but you've truly blossomed recently!"
"B-blossomed?!"
Is she talking about me?
Well, to be fair, the fact that I could even hold a face-to-face conversation with someone as beautiful as Hagino Kaede probably meant I'd grown a little. Though the stares from everyone around us were piercingly painful.
Kaede-san, looking skeptical but clearly eager to continue her barrage of questions, was thankfully interrupted by the timely ringing of the school bell, saving me from further interrogation.
Students who had been chatting gradually began settling into their seats, one by one.
Kaede-san sat diagonally in front of me. With graceful movements, she settled into her chair, turned her head to scan the room, and smirked. "Intriguing," she murmured.
Having little experience with girls showing such intense interest in me, I could only respond with an awkward smile and hope to brush it off. To make matters worse, Hagino-san was even sharing this mysterious "Hachiya is fascinating" tidbit with the girl next to her.
Thus, my Monday morning mood shifted from gloomy to bewildered.
But it wasn't all negative. What I was feeling now must be a kind of positive bewilderment.
Having experienced passionate love with Minori-san and completely fulfilled each other's desires, my heart had grown. Perhaps I had finally become an adult.
That's a good thing.
I needed to tell Minori-san about this as soon as I got home. She would surely be thrilled for me.
*****
That's what I thought, anyway...
"How could you...? With me as your wife! Ugh, cheating on me like that... Ugh..."
The moment I told my stepmother about this morning's events, she inexplicably collapsed into tears, pressing her fingers against her eyes.
...Wait, no tears were falling. Was she faking it?
"Huh? Is this considered cheating?!"
"You were chatting so intimately with another woman and even touched her... Of course it's cheating! I never thought you were this kind of person, Yosuke-san... I'm so disappointed... By the way, did you exchange LINE IDs with her?"
"Uh, ah... well, yes."
"You did? Why?"
My stepmother stopped pretending to cry, her hands falling away to reveal an indescribably wicked expression.
"Well... during lunch break, she kind of forced the issue. Like, 'Hey, we're all going to karaoke soon, wanna join?'"
"All of you? Karaoke?"
"U-um... about four people."
"About four?"
My stepmother crawled slowly across the floor on all fours, eventually latching onto my lower body and gazing up at me.
"I see."
Minori-san's fingertips slowly traced a path up my body, finally stopping at the peak of my erection.
"Hehe, just as I thought. Exactly as expected."
"Huh?"
"Yosuke-san doesn't seem to realize it himself, but..."
Slipp♡ slipp♡ Her smooth fingertips traced the hardened tip of my erection, circling it softly.
"Once a man experiences sex with a woman, he levels up in ways he never could have imagined."
"R-really?"
"How many times did we do it over those two nights? I lost count."
"Me too..."
In the end, Sunday was also mostly spent having sex with my stepmother. I stopped counting the number of times I came midway through.
"Every time you had sex with me, Yosuke-san, you leveled up as a man. Women are creatures driven by instinct, you know. We're incredibly sensitive to a man's status, his experience, that aura of a strong male. We can sense it. We know, not with our minds, but with our souls, whether a man can truly satisfy us."
"Souls?"
"Or, to put it more bluntly... with our uteruses ♡"
Her lips pressed against me through my pants.
"Mmph!"
To think a man's true level could be sensed by a woman's uterus...
It was hard to believe, but maybe that's why the girls in my class had been acting so strangely all day, constantly talking about me. Even though we were just high school students, our bodies were already fully grown. Could they have instinctively sensed my "leveling up"? Hmm... then again, it could just be Hagino Kaede spreading rumors about me.
"Ahaha♡ How nasty♡ Yosuke-san's... delicious 'microphone'♡♡"
"Um, Minori-san?"
"Hmm?"
"I've never actually been to karaoke before."
"Really?!"
"I don't have many friends..."
Not many? Since starting high school, I haven't made a single close friend.
"Why don't you come with me sometime?"
"Yes. Please let me practice."
"Before our karaoke date?"
"It's not a date."
"So you're going to swing this 'microphone' around with another girl? Not me..."
"Maybe that's how things will play out..."
"An affair... a little one is okay. Like, just a few times having sex."
Wait, really?!