After transforming back into his adult form, Kars put on the prepared clothes. The next step was to find Yuuka Kazami. Kars sincerely hoped that this time she wouldn't completely exhaust his power as she did the first time.
"Little Auntie Yuuka should agree to this request." With his clothes on, Kars bid farewell to Nitori Kawashiro and flew towards the Field of the Sun. Upon finding Yuuka Kazami, and just as she was about to make a move after seeing his appearance, Kars spoke first.
"Little Auntie Yuuka, wait a moment!" Hearing Kars, Yuuka Kazami paused her starting attack. Kars immediately presented his idea.
"Little Auntie Yuuka, if possible, could you not use up all my power this time, like you did last time? Since it's autumn now, sunbathing opportunities will gradually decrease, and sometimes I won't be able to sunbathe at all, meaning I can't change back to this form. So, I want to preserve some power. This way, my body can stay warmer, and I'll have some energy left if I need to use it unexpectedly."
"Holding back, huh." Yuuka Kazami was slightly dissatisfied. After all, if Kars was too big now, she wouldn't be able to hold him in her arms. However, she quickly decided that if she had to hold back, she would only do so to the extent that allowed her to embrace Kars.
"Alright." After receiving Yuuka Kazami's reply, Kars hadn't even had time to smile before a large Magic Cannon rushed towards him, threatening to engulf him. His smile instantly froze. He questioned whether she had truly held back. An attack like this right at the start didn't seem like it at all.
Kars felt this was even more true afterward. Compared to the last time, the pressure he felt increased significantly this time.
Facing the incoming punch, Kars didn't dodge but countered it head-on. The collision of their fists instantly activated the energy within Kars's body, helping him resist the attack, which was already being restrained. To be honest, Kars quite enjoyed this kind of simple and direct fighting style. The pure competition of strength and instantaneous bursts of power often brought about a thrill that surged from within his body.
This caused Kars to devote 100% of his energy to countering Yuuka Kazami's attacks, slowly learning combat techniques and gaining experience in the process. The result of this was that Kars began to forget his initial plan to conserve the power in his body.
Yuuka Kazami noticed this but said nothing. After all, Kars hadn't reached a level of satisfaction yet, and the power he had consumed wasn't yet what she wanted. At the same time, she began to slightly increase her strength, intensifying the pressure Kars felt. Kars, in turn, ramped up his own power to resist.
As the sound of the fierce collisions gradually subsided, Yuuka Kazami stopped, somewhat satisfied, only after Kars's body had shrunk to the size of a relatively tall teenager.
When Kars came to, he realized he had consumed all but about 20% of his power. His height was only about a head taller than his Little Auntie Remilia's when his power was fully depleted.
"Little Auntie Yuuka, this is still…"
"I held back. You also conserved some power, didn't you?" Yuuka Kazami felt this was exactly what they had agreed upon. Crucially, Kars never specified how much power to conserve. This body size was acceptable for her, too.
Kars couldn't refute this. However, this was much better than his fully depleted size, so Kars chose to accept the situation.
Yuuka Kazami admired Kars's slightly boyish face. Compared to his fully shota form, Kars, having grown a little, now looked quite handsome. Compared to his fully mature adult form, this look—youthful with a hint of maturity—was very pleasing to her. This made her suddenly want to see Kars at different ages.
Kars noticed Yuuka Kazami's strange gaze, which carried a subtle, enigmatic smile. He felt uneasy, as if something peculiar might happen in the future.
After the intense warm-up game, Yuuka Kazami embraced Kars, and they enjoyed the comfortable leisure time. As Kars lay in Yuuka Kazami's arms, the feeling of her chest against his face made him instinctively put his hands on her breasts. After giving them a few habitual squeezes, he suddenly realized he wasn't lying next to Patchouli.
His behavior with Patchouli had instinctively carried over here. Worse, Patchouli had warned him not to do this to anyone else without her permission! Will something bad happen now that I've done this?
Yuuka Kazami also felt the sudden pressure on her chest. Her closed eyes opened. She hadn't expected Kars to do such a thing.
"Why are you suddenly doing this?" He usually just lay there quietly to rest, but this time, he suddenly started squeezing her. It was genuinely surprising. However, this was the first time she had experienced this, and the feeling was somewhat novel—it felt completely different from squeezing herself.
"I… I… this…" Kars desperately wanted to explain, but the more anxious he got, the less he could articulate a coherent sentence. His face turned red from the urgency.
Seeing Kars like this, Yuuka Kazami found it amusing. A playful smile appeared on her lips as she watched Kars stammering in his hurried attempt to explain.
"It's fine if you can't explain it. Just keep lying here and enjoy the sun. After all, opportunities like this will become rarer and rarer." It was still autumn now, but once winter arrived, opportunities like this would be scarce. Besides, Kars had mentioned it would be hard to change back into his adult form then.
Seeing Yuuka Kazami not scold him, Kars was greatly relieved. He had thought he would make her angry, but she hadn't blamed him at all. He felt truly fortunate.
Relaxing completely, Kars lay back in her arms. However, thinking about his actions just now, as he rested his head on Yuuka Kazami's chest, he couldn't help but dwell on the incident, making it difficult for him to rest properly.