Chapter 440: Okay
She knew that she should simply leave the matter alone.
She knew that she had already seen enough.
She also knew that continuing to look was probably a terrible idea.
Unfortunately, Yuka had asked her to observe Kouhei, and Asami’s loyalty was strong enough that even an unreasonable request from Yuka was still an order she felt compelled to follow.
After taking a moment to calm herself down, Asami activated her clairvoyance again.
Her face immediately became red for a second time.
Still, she forced herself to continue watching.
What she saw was Kouhei and Hina together, caught up in an intimate moment that made it painfully obvious that they were having sex. Asami had expected to discover something about Kouhei’s personality, his thoughts, or perhaps the conversations he was having with the other members of his faction. Instead, she had accidentally stumbled into something considerably more personal than anything she had expected.
She stared for a moment, completely frozen.
Her expression was somewhere between shock, embarrassment, and the desperate realization that she probably should have looked away several seconds ago.
Yet she continued observing.
Part of it was because Yuka had specifically instructed her to investigate Kouhei, and another part was because Asami’s curiosity was beginning to battle against her embarrassment. She wanted to understand what exactly Kouhei was doing when he was away from everyone else, and unfortunately, she had received an answer that was far more direct than she could have possibly anticipated.
"This is..." Asami thought, her face burning as she tried to process the situation.
She quickly reminded herself that she was supposed to be gathering useful information, not standing there mentally screaming at what she was seeing.
Still, the situation was difficult to ignore.
Kouhei, the same person Asami had just been complaining about for being disrespectful toward Yuka, was apparently spending his private time with Hina in a completely different way than she had expected. Whatever else could be said about him, Asami was beginning to understand that his personal life was considerably more complicated than she had initially assumed.
She remained silent for several moments while continuing to observe through her clairvoyance, although she could barely maintain her composure anymore.
Yuka, meanwhile, calmly continued drinking her tea.
She glanced toward Asami from time to time, clearly noticing how unusually red her face had become, but she did not immediately comment on it.
Asami continued watching Kouhei and Hina, her expression becoming increasingly flustered as she tried to focus on the purpose of the investigation instead of the embarrassing circumstances surrounding it.
At this point, she was beginning to wonder whether learning what Kouhei did when he was relaxed had actually been worth it.
Then again, she had promised Yuka that she would investigate him.
Unfortunately for Asami, she had apparently discovered far more than either of them had originally bargained for.
***
Kouhei slowly woke up the following morning, and the first thing he noticed after opening his eyes was that Hina was still sleeping peacefully beside him. The events from the previous night gradually returned to his mind as he became more awake, reminding him that the two of them had ended up having sex before eventually falling asleep together. Hina had her head resting comfortably against his arm, apparently finding it perfectly suitable as a pillow despite the fact that most people would probably have started complaining about numbness long before morning arrived.
Under normal circumstances, having someone’s head resting on the same arm for that long would have caused it to fall asleep and become numb because of the constant pressure. Kouhei, however, was perfectly fine, and he could still move his arm without feeling the usual pins and needles that came from sleeping in an awkward position. Considering how much his body had changed over time and how much stronger he had become compared with his former self, he figured that his strengthened physique was probably responsible for it. Apparently, becoming ridiculously strong had some surprisingly practical benefits, and being able to function normally after having someone use his arm as a pillow was certainly one of them.
Kouhei lowered his gaze and looked at Hina for a while, quietly observing her sleeping figure. She was completely naked beneath the sheets, with her breasts pressed against his body as she continued sleeping without showing the slightest sign that she was aware of him watching her. Her expression was incredibly peaceful, and the sight was almost strange when compared with how energetic she had been only a few hours earlier.
She looked far too peaceful compared with the version of Hina he had seen while they were having sex.
During the night, she had acted almost like a wild beast, with an intensity that had made it difficult to believe she was the same woman who was now sleeping so calmly beside him. Kouhei could still remember how different her expression had been and how much more energetic she had become whenever things between them became heated. Looking at her now, it almost seemed as though all of that energy had simply disappeared while she slept.
Considering that Hina was a succubus, though, Kouhei supposed that it was probably only natural.
Her nature undoubtedly played a role in how she behaved, especially when her instincts became stronger, and being a primordial succubus certainly was not going to make her any less enthusiastic about sex. Kouhei had already learned that lesson firsthand, and judging by what had happened the previous night, he probably was not going to forget it anytime soon.
For a little while, Kouhei simply admired her naked body while enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the morning. There was something strangely relaxing about seeing Hina like this, especially because she looked so different from the energetic woman who had been with him only hours before. He almost wanted to laugh at the contrast because the difference was honestly ridiculous.
Then, while he was still looking at her, Kouhei noticed something else.
Someone was standing beside the bed.
Kouhei slowly shifted his gaze toward the person standing there, and the moment he saw her expression, he immediately felt a faint sense of danger. Nagisa was standing beside the bed with both hands resting firmly on either side of her hips, her cheeks puffed out so dramatically that she genuinely looked like someone had inflated them with an air pump.
"Kou-kun..." Nagisa called out quietly.
Her voice sounded wounded, and the expression on her face made her look like someone who had just discovered that the man she loved had betrayed her for another woman. Taken completely out of context, the scene looked absolutely terrible for Kouhei. A naked woman was sleeping beside him, another woman was standing at the bedside looking betrayed, and Kouhei himself was still lying there as though he had just been caught red-handed.
If someone had walked into the room without knowing the circumstances, they probably would have assumed Kouhei was the biggest bastard alive.
The reality, however, was somewhat more complicated because Nagisa was already one of Kouhei’s girlfriends and a member of his harem, meaning Hina was not some random woman who had suddenly appeared in his bed. Still, Kouhei had a feeling that explaining the technicalities of his relationship was not going to make Nagisa any less annoyed.
"I am here too, you know?" another voice said from the other side of the bed.
Kouhei’s expression immediately stiffened.
Misuzu was standing on the opposite side, and just like Nagisa, she was obviously angry. The biggest difference between them was how they chose to show that anger. Nagisa was making her feelings incredibly obvious through her expression, while Misuzu remained almost completely expressionless.
She was smiling.
Unfortunately, that smile was far more frightening than Nagisa’s pout.
Misuzu’s smile looked perfectly pleasant on the surface, but it did not reach her eyes in the slightest. There was no genuine happiness behind it, and Kouhei could immediately tell that she was not actually amused by what she was seeing. Her expression was almost too calm, which somehow made the situation feel much more dangerous.
Kouhei had learned that there were times when someone shouting at him was preferable to someone smiling at him like that.
"Uh... this is..." Kouhei started, trying desperately to think of a reasonable explanation.
Unfortunately, his mind was completely blank.
He had faced monsters, dangerous enemies, and situations where his life had been on the line, yet somehow explaining himself to two angry girlfriends while lying beside a naked Hina felt like one of the more difficult challenges he had encountered recently. At least monsters generally did not ask him to explain himself.
Before Kouhei could come up with anything useful to say, Hina finally began waking up.
"Oh? You two, huh...?" Hina murmured while rubbing her eyes sleepily before looking toward Nagisa and Misuzu.
She seemed genuinely confused for a moment, although Kouhei suspected that confusion was not going to last very long once she realized exactly why they were staring at her.
Nagisa immediately looked toward Hina with a deeply unimpressed expression.
"You are acting so surprised, even though you planned this from the very beginning," Nagisa said, clearly having no intention of letting Hina escape responsibility by pretending she had forgotten everything.
Hina blinked at her innocently.
"I thought that we agreed we should not bother Kouhei-kun while we were staying here, yet you took the opportunity when we were not looking and had sex with him yourself," Misuzu added calmly.
Her voice remained polite enough, but Kouhei could hear the irritation underneath every word.
"Did I really say that?" Hina asked, immediately choosing the strategy of pretending that she had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.
"I honestly do not remember saying anything like that," she added, maintaining her innocent expression with an almost impressive level of confidence.
Kouhei stared at her for a moment.
She was obviously lying.
Even worse, she was lying so casually that she almost seemed proud of herself.
Nagisa’s cheeks puffed out again as she folded her arms across her chest.
"If you had simply told us that you were planning to jump at him during the night and have sex with him, I would have joined you," Nagisa said, sounding genuinely frustrated. "You did not want to tell us, though, so you kept the whole thing to yourself and ended up having him all by yourself."
Hina’s expression remained suspiciously innocent as Nagisa continued explaining exactly why she was annoyed.
"You even said that this might be embarrassing for Kouhei because we were staying somewhere else, so we thought that was fair enough," Nagisa continued. "We were trying to be considerate because this was not our usual place, and we figured that giving him some privacy was probably the right thing to do."
Her expression became increasingly irritated as she remembered what had happened.
"Then you went ahead and did exactly what you were supposedly trying to avoid, and you did it while we were not looking," Nagisa continued, clearly becoming more pissed with every sentence. "You could have just told us what you wanted to do, and I would have been perfectly willing to join you, but instead you decided to keep it secret and have all the fun yourself."
Hina tilted her head slightly, apparently trying to look as innocent as possible.
Kouhei, meanwhile, was beginning to understand that this conversation was not going to end quickly.
He wanted to defend himself somehow, but he also knew that getting involved too much might make things worse. There were situations where silence was the best possible strategy, and this was beginning to feel like one of those situations. Unfortunately, remaining silent also made him feel as though he was admitting guilt, which left him trapped between two equally terrible options.
Then Nagisa turned her attention toward him.
"Kouhei-kun."
The moment Kouhei heard her voice, his entire body instinctively trembled.
Something about the way she said his name made his survival instincts immediately activate. It was not loud, and it was not particularly threatening on the surface, but Kouhei had known Nagisa long enough to understand that the calm voice was probably worse than being openly yelled at.
He carefully looked toward her.
Nagisa was smiling.
That smile was still terrifying.
"Next time you want to pleasure yourself here in this place, we are also available, okay?" she said, keeping the same sweet smile on her face.
Her words sounded almost friendly, but the expression in her eyes told Kouhei that this was absolutely not a casual suggestion.
Kouhei swallowed nervously.
"O-Okay..." he answered, nodding carefully.
