I carried Hina into the hallway, her head against my shoulder.
"No," she said when I turned to her room. "To Aya's room."
Her voice quiet but sharp.
Determined.
I didn't ask why. After what we had just done, I didn't feel like it. I just took her to Aya's bedroom and set her on the bed I'd been sleeping in since all this started.
The bed where I'd had so much sex with Aya.
The sheets still smelled of her perfume…
I pulled the heavy comforter over Hina, but she wouldn't let go of me.
"Don't leave," she whispered.
She looked at me like one of those anime cats—eyes too big for her face.
The kind of eyes that stare right into your soul.
The kind of eyes you can't say no to.
I looked at the door, then back at Hina.
Fine. Just for a couple of minutes.
"Could you hug me?" she uttered. "I'm freezing."
I lifted the comforter and lay next to her, wrapping her in my arms. She exhaled deeply. Appeased. Content.
We lay there, naked and spent under the blanket. I was thinking that Sunday was fast approaching. About whether we'd actually move to Tokyo, instead of me going back to the shithole room I'd been renting.
After all, it was our money—meaning mine too…
Hina's body was warming. It felt nice to have it next to mine.
"I can still feel your seed coming out," she muttered after a while.
"Cum," I corrected dryly. "It's called cum."
"Yes," she whispered. "Cum. Your cum."
Yeah. My cum—the one and only kind you've known.
Her breath was steady now. And the apartment was all quiet—except for the muffled sound of Aya's voice in the other room. The blinding white room.
Probably keeping the money flowing…
Hina stirred.
"Kaito?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you still like me?"
Didn't I tell you that already?
But she smelled of exhaustion and my cum. So I replied simply, "Of course, Hina."
"I mean..." She turned to face me, still in my arms. "Do you like me as a woman? Did you enjoy… it… with me?"
I looked at her. I knew I'd taken her virginity, but she looked as innocent as before. Maybe even more innocent. Fragile.
I put my hand on the back of her head and moved her closer.
"Yes, I liked having sex with you," I said. "A lot."
Her lips trembled. Trying not to smile. "Honestly?"
"Honestly."
She couldn't hold it. A small, genuine smile. "I liked it, too," she said.
She quickly hid her face against my neck. Her breath tickled my skin slightly.
"So… thanks…" she whispered.
She stayed like that for a long time. Just breathing. Peacefully.
Too long?
"Let me go check on Aya," I said. I didn't want to be found like this.
Unnecessary complications.
"She's fine," Hina said, her voice muffled against my skin. She didn't move.
"Still. I should check."
Hina stayed silent. Pouting slightly.
I pulled on my shorts and a t-shirt.
The shorts were wrinkled. And I was tired. Only now I realized that.
I didn't feel it before, but after lying with Hina my legs suddenly felt like led.
Oh, well.
Aya was still at her laptop, staring at the screen. She was still in her lace underwear, a headset over her messy hair.
"We're rich, babe," she said without looking up. She finished typing something and leaned back. She finally turned to me with a hysterical laugh. "We're fucking rich! I never thought we'd have this kind of money! Look at the balance. And they are still paying for the 'High-Speed Replay' of the insertion."
I saw the numbers. Exactly as she'd expected.
Fucking rich…
I leaned against the doorframe. None of it felt real. It felt like a movie.
"Fuck…" I said.
"I know," Aya giggled again. She got up and came over. She squeezed my cheeks. "Enough money to do whatever the fuck we want. Isn't it awesome?"
"Yeah."
"Freedom! Fucking freedom!" She stuck her tongue into my mouth, all wound up. Horny. "I promised, right?" she growled. "I'm going to fuck your brains out."
I felt less tired.
Squeezing Aya's butt was refreshing.
"By the way, Hina's in your bed," I said.
"Why?"
"She didn't want to go to hers."
Aya waved an arm dismissively. "Whatever. Doesn't matter. Let her sleep wherever she wants. She earned it. Viewer retention was ninety-five percent after the creampie shot."
She grabbed a heavy ceramic bottle. "I knew I didn't get this for nothing. Top-grade sake. Not the convenience store trash." It was already open. She took another generous sip. "Today we have more than one reason to be happy."
What is she talking about? What other reasons?
"More than one?"
"Yeah… I think I have a solution to the Mom problem," she said. She drank more. "Oh, never mind." She patted my chest. "You smell like sex. Expensive sex. Good job, Kaito. Let's go fuck."
She dragged me back to the bedroom.
Hina was sitting up on the bed, the blanket pulled to her chin. She looked at me, then at the bottle in Aya's hand.
"My star!" Aya cheered, already tipsy. "Come here, I'll hug you."
She plopped next to Hina on the bed and pulled her into a one-armed squeeze. She held the bottle to Hina's lips with the other. "Sake? Premium. To the millionaires!" she screamed.
Hina chuckled, but didn't drink. Only wetted her lips.
Aya passed the bottle to me. I took a small sip and gave it back to her.
I looked at the bed. Aya and Hina were in the middle.
I'm not going to climb over them.
So I waited.
Aya kept talking—about apartments in Tokyo, about buying a car, about never worrying about money.
"Fuck," she said finally, her head swaying. She turned around, found me, and grabbed my hand. "Come here, Kaito. Fuck me!"
She crawled toward the pillows. She tugged my hand again, pulling me down right on top of her.
"Oh, this is good," Aya exclaimed, grabbing my shorts.
I felt Hina pull the blanket to herself. She was watching us—Aya's hands on my shorts.
"I'm sleeping here," Hina said. Voice flat. Stubborn.
Aya stopped, blinking at her sister. "What?"
"I'm sleeping here," Hina repeated. She gazed at us. A challenge. "In this bed."
Aya looked at her, then back at the sake bottle.