"Hey, hey, it's you! You're the one! I know you can hear me—why are you deliberately avoiding me like this?! Come on, stop right there! Okay, now turn around. Yeah, just like that."
On Tuesday morning, the sky was overcast with a heavy, oppressive gloom.
The weather forecast warned of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so I grabbed a cheap vinyl umbrella just in case before leaving home.
Yesterday, Kaede caught me in class, but today she snuck up behind me on the way to school, walked beside me, and kept glancing at me with a meaningful smile. I ignored her for a while, which led to this confrontation.
"Ah, Hagino-san, good morning. As usual."
"Cute."
"Yeah."
She beat me to it.
"You should expand your repertoire of compliments for women."
I agree.
But how exactly am I supposed to compliment her?
With Minori-san, during sex, she just keeps spewing insults at me nonstop. She never seems to come up with any sincere compliments for a girl.
"Alright, let's see... let's see!"
The beautiful girl lunges forward, her nose almost touching my neck as she starts sniffing.
"Hmm... hmm... oh, I see! I see!"
Kaede-san nods dramatically several times.
"D-did you figure something out?!"
"Yeah, I can smell a woman's scent..."
"Ah, that's probably from my stepmother's perfume."
"Huh? Are you dating your stepmother?"
"N-no! Why would you think that?!"
"But your mother is so young, Hachiya-kun! And she's beautiful. Why are you so flustered?"
Truth be told, this morning Minori-san launched an especially persistent kissing assault, which was quite overwhelming.
It started with a deep kiss, tongues entwined, then escalated to her licking every inch of my face while she teased my lower body, only to deny me orgasm.
"When you get home, please continue training me again, okay?♡ Until then, just stew in frustration at school♡"
With that dazzling smile, she sent me off, leaving my entire body tingling with unsatisfied arousal.
But man, being suddenly hit with such a critical question still startled me.
Even if it was just a wild guess, it made my heart race with anxiety.
"Hagino-san, you startled me with that weird question."
"Oh? But spending all your time with such a young and beautiful mother... doesn't it make you feel strange? If I were a guy, I'd definitely try to make a move on her."
Yeah, it does make me feel strange. In fact, lately I've gone beyond just trying to "make a move"—I've started keeping her as a masochistic slave...
"Wait, you didn't at least use her as a fantasy, right?"
"Haaah?!"
"Hey, Hachiya-kun, have you ever used your stepmother as porn?" Kaede-san asked with an innocent, childlike smile, asking something completely outrageous.
Wait, was she always like this? I always thought of her as a bright, outgoing person who could get along with anyone, but I'd never seen her so blatantly discuss such lewd topics before.
Porn, huh? If I answered her question honestly... I wouldn't even know how many times I'd used my stepmother as porn. That's how obsessed I was with her. And after we became physically intimate, I became even more obsessed with Minori-san than before.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that my sexuality is almost entirely dominated by her. We're in such a wonderful relationship that when we're together, our genitals hardly have time to dry between all the sex.
"Huh? Hachiya-kun, are you the type who's uncomfortable with women's dirty talk? You know, when girls gang up, our erotic conversations get way more hardcore than anything boys could manage."
"I didn't know that, but your question was way too tactless, Hagino-san..."
"Oops, right! I'm sorry. I've been really interested in you since yesterday, and I just couldn't help but want to pry into your personal life."
The beautiful girl with blue-tinged black hair in a ponytail tapped her hands together in front of her face, closed one eye, and apologized. Her attitude didn't seem particularly sincere, but the overwhelming "positive" aura she radiated somehow made it forgivable.
Well, I wasn't really that angry in the first place.
"You're actually interested in me?"
"Absolutely! I'm just naturally curious. Hachiya-kun, you don't have any club activities, right?"
"Yeah, I'm unaffiliated."
"By the way, I'm the Ace of the Volleyball Club."
"Really?"
"And just so you know, if you don't have any special plans after school today, I'm considering skipping practice to take you to a café."
"Really... wait, what?! Are you serious?!"
"I mean it when I say 'I'm serious,' but would you hate going on a date with a beautiful girl like me?"
"Uh, well..."
"Don't panic. Just think about it casually. It's not like I'm going to devour you right this minute, you know."
So you're planning to devour me eventually?!
With a mysterious smirk, Kaede-san nudged me.
Then, in the blink of an eye, she left me bewildered and alone, sprinting toward the group of girls walking ahead.
A date...?
What on earth is she thinking?
There must be tons of cooler guys out there than some dork like me.
But my chest is throbbing. Could this be... love?
Kaede is undeniably stunning, with an exceptional figure to match. She's a popular girl with outstanding athletic ability and academic grades. If I could actually date her, I'd bask in the envious and jealous gazes of all the guys around me. That sounds pretty awesome.
But... I'm scared.
And I can't help feeling guilty.
How can I justify becoming close to another girl while I'm already involved with Minori-san? Isn't that cheating?
Come to think of it, my relationship with Minori-san was cheating from the start.
I basically stole my dad's potential wife.
Ugh, what should I do?
Minori-san did say that a little cheating is okay, but I can't tell if she meant it.
I love Minori-san dearly, but turning down an invitation from a beauty like Kaede Hagino also feels wrong.
Okay, I'll go with the flow here. In other words, I'll accept Kaede-san's offer.
But there's a small problem.
Walking home together and going out as a pair would be too conspicuous, and I want to avoid unnecessary rumors.
It would be best to secretly communicate through LINNE, act separately, and meet at a designated location.
To do that, I need to go home and grab my smartphone from my room.
But there's another problem here.
Needless to say, it's my stepmother's existence.
*****
"Unbelievable... How could you... When I exist... You'd go on a date with another woman?!"
After rushing home after school, I told my stepmother about what happened today and asked if I could go to a café with Kaede-san.
Even I thought I was being overly honest, but I figured that if I made up some weird lie and got caught, things would get even more complicated. Besides, I'm not good at lying. I'd definitely give it away. So it seemed better to just lay everything out in the open from the start.
After hearing my explanation, my stepmother pressed a hand to her forehead as if she were dizzy, staggered backward, and collapsed weakly into the hallway.
"I'm sorry, Minori-san! That was really dishonest of me! I guess I should just cancel the date after all."
"No, it's okay. It just means other women finally understand Yosuke-san's masculine charm, too. I should be happy about that. It's much healthier to have a normal relationship with a girl your own age than to keep up this improper connection with your stepmother. So..."
She bit her lip, still wearing a bitter expression, and stared at me (or glared?). "Go and enjoy yourself. Just... forget about me for now."
"But, I... If it makes Minori-san sad, I shouldn't go on the date."
"I'm fine, really. But... there's just one condition."
"A condition?"
"Ugh... Ugh... Heh... Heh-heh..."
My stepmother's pained groan gradually shifted into stifled laughter.
Her figure, trailing her long black hair as she slithered down the hallway, was... well, downright creepy.
When she reached me, she clung to my leg, gazing up at me with a sycophantic expression.
"Promise me one thing: you absolutely must not keep anything from me. Later, I'll be asking Yosuke-san in detail what you two got up to, so you'd better tell me everything."
"W-what exactly do you mean...?"
"Even if you end up having some... naughty fun with that girl, you must report it to me without shame, okay? ♡"
Her tone was strangely certain as she spoke these words to me.
No way. We're just going for tea together. There's no way our relationship will turn sleazy. Besides, this is the first time I'm hanging out with Kaede-san. She's overthinking this.
"Right, got it. But I'm pretty sure we'll just chat casually and head back."
"Huh? Yosuke-san?"
"Hmm?"
"You, Yosuke-san, with this wild, unruly cock?"
Minori-san's smooth hand glided over my already rock-hard groin.
To be fair, I was fully recovered and fully charged, but there was no way I'd be swinging this beast around in front of Kaede-san. Hagino Kaede was, by all accounts, a prim and proper beauty with impeccable composure.
"Nah, don't worry. You can safely wait for my boring travel stories."
"Hmm?" My stepmother's expression remained suspicious, even at this late hour.
Worse yet, she was wearing a strangely smug grin, as if secretly hoping for some mishap to befall me.
"Alright, I'll stay home and behave. But..."
Minori-san rubbed my pants with both hands, her large eyes fixed intently on me.
"When you get back, please lavish me with affection, Master♡" she purred sweetly.
Of course, I fully intended to passionately entwine with Minori-san again tonight.
This prelude... well, it felt a bit weak for a proper skirmish, but with Minori-san's explicit permission now granted, I figured I might as well enjoy a light date with Hagino Kaede.