13 All right! Fine! I will take you! - Chapter 12

Mangas with a romance subplot quite often have a defining scene: the male lead, forced by some set of circumstances that clearly indicate there's a malevolent intelligence at work guiding his fate (something that maybe the likes of Zaimokuza would term as the dreaded "editors"), ends up attending a ball, reception, masquerade or whatever else Westerners think makes a good excuse for having girls in backless dresses. He's dressed in a tuxedo that will usually have been either stolen or borrowed (or, not unlikely at all, been in the closet of a teenager who clearly hasn't attended a formal occasion in his whole life) yet fits him like a glove, sometimes under the pretense to camouflage himself as part of the staff to enter a high society setting in which he clearly doesn't belong. There, he will see the heroine dressed in a way that showcases her beauty in such a way he won't even recognize her at first, showing once again how utterly uninterested he actually is in her, and, when he finally does put a name to the pair of walking tits in the most sleazy way possible, he will begin to realize his "true" feelings, usually by blushing, having his heart go "doki doki," and any other number of ways authors come up to tell the reader that, yes, that character is having a monstrous erection, but we aren't allowed to show it in Shounen Jump.

They will dance, sometimes wearing masks so that the girl doesn't recognize him (which is, again, not the most ethical way to go about dating) and, through the course of a scene that works by putting them in an unfamiliar setting, wearing exotic clothes designed to make them as attractive as possible, and forcing them to be closer to one another than they have ever been if the manga isn't a battle shounen, they will end up the evening advancing their relationship, usually with a dramatic reveal of some kind (sometimes one-sided, especially if there are masks in play) that is written in such a way as to make the reader think of Cinderella or some other such classic tale.

The scene is usually gorgeous, and a good way for the animation studio to blow their budget as they try to showcase the fairy tale feeling of the whole encounter through wide angles that show the wide palace-like setting filled to the brim with dancing couples wearing enough jewelry to make a supervillain robbery actually profitable.

It is, of course, an awful lie.

Not like that should come as a surprise, at this point.

"So… Maybe I should have thought this through in advance?" I ask, in what I hope isn't an audible cringe.

"Uh? Why?" Shizu asks, slurping up a few noodles in a way that it is a small miracle her gorgeous dress doesn't get stained.

'Because you are dressed in a way that is making the chef drop his ladle every ten seconds, all of the customers are looking at us, and I flinch in horror whenever a drop of broth so much as even comes close to marring your creamy shawl. Not to mention that dress is going to need a lot of airing by the time we leave this place.'

"I… I don't know, I feel like maybe I should have made a reservation. You look far too beautiful." 'For this place,' I don't add, because that chef looks like he knows how to handle his knife. 'And in general,' I also don't add.

Because of nerves, all right? I [still] am technically a virgin on his first date that isn't a 'hilarious' misunderstanding with Iroha that I am suddenly reframing because—[focus].

I am still a teenage virgin boy taking out his first crush on a date. I am allowed to be nervous.

Shut up, deep-voiced bastard. That wasn't an invitation.

"Uh… Thank you…" Shizu fidgets while intently staring at her lap and blushing in a way that shows even through what it's taken me too long to identify as carefully applied makeup.

Iroha, I am, once again, in awe of your skills. Teach me your ways, oh kitsune spirit given human flesh.

Wait, aren't kitsunes shape-shifters? Is Iroha hiding her true nature, a pair of cute, fuzzy ears, and the legendary fluffy tail enshrined in myth and song?

And if not, should I buy her a cosplay—[not the time.]

What it is time for is to feast my eyes not on the dense broth of my second bowl of tonkatsu ramen, but on the bashful, beautiful woman squirming in front of me.

… I may be an S. This may also not be a dramatic revelation.

"Hey, you know I love you as you are, right?" I decide to break the silence with light conversation.

"Uh, I, I don't know why you—how do you say that so easily?"

"Because you need to hear it."

And now she glares. Or tries to, because it comes across more like a pout.

"But really, you don't need to force yourself."

"I [really] don't know what you are talking about, Hi—[Hachi."] Nice save, Shizu.

"Getting a makeover like that and then coming to a place like—" I throw a furtive glance at the burly cook who seems to acknowledge my predicament with a manly nod, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank you Mister Cook, your gruff, bear-fighting exterior belies a teddy bear interior. Hopefully, one that isn't a fan of the Ace Attorney games. "Like this."

"Ah…" And she's fidgeting once again. I should have brought a camera. Or an Iroha.

"I don't think it's that unusual—" I stop her lie with a serious look. Which I didn't know I could do, but it's a Hell of a rush to learn I can.

"Shizu…" Right, time to use my logician powers for good. "You know perfectly well what kind of setting your attire implies—it's the kind where people frown at you if you don't tip enough to pay for a menu at a saner place. So, if you did know, because you aren't as bad at this as you are trying to appear, it means this was a deliberate choice. A choice to go to a place that was familiar to you, that you associate with ease, a place we both have already come together to. In other words: you were nervous about our date."

"… You could have just said that without the whole preamble, you know? Nobody likes a show-off."

"I seem to remember a test correction telling me to show my work."

"That meant you had to at least pretend to have done [some] work."

"Ah, I see, so you [were] preparing me for the real world."

And she half chuckles, half sighs, finally taking a long gulp of her beer just to end the dispute between the two reactions.

"I think I ended up doing too good a job of it."

"And by 'good,' you mean 'thorough,'" I say, my foot softly dragging up across the back of her leg as she lets out a sharp breath.

"Hachi… What are we doing?" Her hand clasps the napkin tightly enough it's quite clear she isn't thinking of using it.

So I take mine and use the excuse to lightly dab at her gorgeous lips, coming close enough to her that I can whisper so that nobody hears us.

"Learning. Because nobody said this would be easy, but that's not something neither Iroha nor I care about. You are stuck with us, Shizu. We aren't letting go."

And she looks at me, like a small animal caught in the gaze of something bigger and with far too many teeth. Thankfully, she isn't a blonde magical girl with a penchant for losing her head.

Ouch. That one still hurts.

"I wasn't aware I was signing up for a package deal," she says, trying not to act bashfully and failing dreadfully at it.

She even reaches up to her ear to brush back hair that isn't there due to the ponytail Iroha has forced on her. She ends up hesitating and playing with her dangling, onyx earring, blushing and looking down and to the side while throwing occasional, shy glances in my direction.

I feel like this would be an appropriate time to start screaming 'moe' at the top of my lungs while rolling on the ground, but I would better refresh my studies on etiquette and protocol. Just in case.

Wouldn't want to come across as uncultured.

"Shizu…" I look down at my almost empty second bowl and at her assorted set of salty snacks and almost empty third bowl. "Let's get out of here."

Still playing with her earring, she nods.

And I try not to giggle at her pained grimace when her gesture makes her pull too hard on her earring.

***

After far too much arguing for my tolerance of public scenes, I manage to pay for both our meals (forgive me, Zaimokuza, it looks like I'll be joining you in the simping ranks—do as I say, not as I do). From the ramen place it's a short walk to the park where, if hentai has taught me anything, every tree will be hiding either a loving couple getting far too amorous in public, or a heartbroken man spying on his childhood friend getting stolen away from him. Ganbare, NTR-kun, there are plenty more fish in the sea. Just make sure you actually try to fish next time instead of watching in sorrow as the fishing industry builds a fish farm.

It's not long after we enter the silent place that I grab Shizu's hand and interlock our fingers. I am kinky like that.

Shizu is, once again, blushing up a storm, a look that I enjoy far too much for her health. That is: I won't stop doing my best to see it on her face.

"So. Package deal," she says, once again trying to play at nonchalance. And failing miserably.

"Iroha didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Oh, that was far too sharp a response. And now she's glaring at me.

"Well, I spoke with her this morning…" And I pull on Shizu's hand, almost twirling her as I force her to face me, the slight incline of the path making our eyes level. "We set up some rules."

"Rules?" Her fingers clench mine, a message I don't quite understand, but I hope I will disprove.

"Just one, actually: I am with you."

"That's… not a rule." And gorgeous bashfulness assaults me again, her eyes still locked on mine even as her head tilts down. And the way her irises shine under her long eyelashes is far too unfair.

"It is. Because it means that whatever Iroha ends up being—and that's a discussion we three should have before long—she won't be a [substitute]. She is Iroha. You are Shizu. And, apparently, you are [ours."]

She pauses, looking at me in bewilderment as her fingers slacken.

"You two are impossible."

"I don't think so, I think we are fairly normal," I lie through my teeth.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Apparently, I am not a very convincing liar. That just shows how honest and straightforward my usual self is.

"No, I mean, it's just that you…" I take another step forward, our chests pressed as they were at the start of our date. "Are worth the impossible." I finish with a cocky smirk that would likely have Komachi scream 'gross' at the top of her lungs.

And she kisses me.

Oi, Shizu, the script said I should be the one taking your breath away after a line like that. I feel thoroughly befuddled at this role reversal, and I will have to speak with my agent.

Her hands tangle through my hair as mine grasp her waist, our bodies almost melding as our lips open and our tongues entangle. I taste the hint of cherry from her lip gloss, the salty broth of ramen, the bitter taste of beer. All those things careful, attentive lovers are supposed to wash away before trying to kiss someone.

I don't care. They are Shizu. And I devour them.

Without breaking our kiss, we end up drifting off the path and into the thick woods where the light of the streetlamps doesn't reach fully. Her heels sink into the soft grass, and I hold her steady through our trek. It's still easier than rushing up a flight of stairs, so I guess my practice is paying off.

Finally, our wandering comes to an end as Shizu almost slams me against the trunk of a thick tree that should keep us hidden from anyone but the most devoted of heartbroken childhood friends.

And if Shizu has one of those, he deserves everything that's going to happen.

NTR is a shit fetish, but some people just [ask] for it.

"I love you," I say once again.

"If you are just saying that to get into my panties… Hell, it's already worked."

I look at her, hurt in spite of myself, because I recognize where this is coming from, because I [know], and know how hurt she's already been. So, it's not only my own reaction at her joking accusation, but…

She hugs me. Tightly, her body trembling.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry. Please don't hate me."

So I swallow my bile, and hug her back, just as tightly, trying to calm her down.

"I just said pretty much the opposite, haven't I ? Just how fickle do you think I am, woman?"

"Not at all," she says, kissing up my neck and my jaw in a way that's far too desperate to be arousing. "You aren't. You are loyal, devoted, decisive. You are…"

And Shizu's hands grab my cheeks, forcing me to look straight into tearful eyes.

"You are…"

She stops, visibly swallowing, as I hate myself just a bit for thinking how beautiful she looks with her glittering, unshed tears.

"I... I love you. Hachi."

And she leans forward, soft lips once again capturing my own, once again of her own initiative rather than following my lead.

And her words sink in.

It's… the first time.

And words are worthless, inadequate, never approaching what a genuine connection should be, what unreserved sharing of each other should always be in a world where masks and deceit are unnecessary, but…

It's the first time. The first time she has told me.

I could cry.

And, as thin wetness flows between our faces, as the sharp intrusion of salt colors our kiss, I realize I am. We are.

And the world fades away.

There is only the soft body of the woman wrapped in my arms, the smooth texture of her dress, the ghostly feeling of her shawl swaying in the breeze, the taste of tears and ramen and beer, tobacco surprisingly absent.

Legs entangled with mine, their bare skin gliding against my pants. Almost smooth bark pressing on my back, the scent of dark soil only enhancing jasmine with a hint of citrus.

And lips so soft that, no matter how hard we press against one another, still slide effortlessly, always seeking more and more contact before our tongues come into play, coaxing one another, going from her mouth to mine in a dance I can't even begin to comprehend even as I follow it flawlessly.

And, finally, after a lifetime full of Shizu, the very small corner of the world she occupies, and nothing else, we break apart.

"I… That's the first time," is the only thing I can say, as my lungs burn and I desperately fill them with air that, sadly, only slightly smells of her.

Her hands rest at the sides of my head, reminding me of that fateful try at a kabedon what seems like ages ago.

"I know. I tried so hard not to tell you." She looks at me, regretful, both for having waited so long and for not having managed to keep holding back. I reach up to her cheek, my thumb tracing a perfectly highlighted cheekbone that shows Iroha's skills as much as the beauty of its owner.

"I know." And I lean forward and kiss her again. Shorter, barely a brush.

Still wonderful.

Her forehead comes forward to rest against mine, her eyes never leaving my own. Not now. Not after that.

"I want to be your first."

I choke on my tongue.

['Now?!'] I will my eyes to ask as I try to avoid a 'do not go into the light' scene.

She chuckles, her fingers tangling through my hair in what I am beginning to understand is one of her favorite ways to show intimacy.

Still not helping me with my survival, but nice to know, nonetheless.

"Well… it's a bit ridiculous that you are still a virgin after having a threesome, isn't it?" Finally! Someone gets it!

And Shizu pushes away from me as I more or less go back to being at least as functional as Tobe. That is, just good enough to survive, as long as no complex mental tasks challenge my regained ability to breathe like something that crawled out of the sea a bare minimum of two generations ago.

She is blushing once again, her eyeliner just slightly smudged by our crying session (seriously, I will need to have Iroha give makeup lessons to Komachi—on second thought, no, the pests would only get even more persistent), and…

Oh.

She… she just hitched the sides of her skirt, and it looks like…

Yes, she's shimmying down. And stepping out of her panties. And dangling them from her finger as she offers them to me.

Deep-voiced bastard? Any suggestions?

…

Oi, don't desert me in my hour of need, you damn bastard—oh, right. It was in the name.

Mouth suddenly dry after having coughed up too much saliva, I take the offered garment with nerveless fingers. Shizu is smiling at me, flushed and fidgeting in expectation and—

Oh.

Very deliberately, looking for any signs I am misreading her hint, I bring the black piece of silk to my nose and take what I intend to be a slight whiff, but ends up taking far longer as Shizu's eyes eagerly watch my reaction.

It… It is a scent I have already learned after I so memorably and thoroughly got acquainted with it on Shizu's couch and under Haruno's watchful gaze.

Which should scare me far more than it does. I guess it's true that sexual arousal increases risk-taking behavior.

"Well?" she asks, a hint of impishness at seeing how utterly at her mercy I currently am.

"Well?" I ask, voice hoarse, pants agonizingly tight.

"Your first time, Hachi. Will you give it to me?" She doesn't approach, content to keep her distance while I so desperately crave to feel her skin once again.

"Of course I will," and she lights up. "But not today." And she frowns.

"I… I don't care about rose petals or soft music. It will be special just because it's you," She twists her body, once again fidgeting with an earring whose glitter is far too reminiscent of her unshed tears just minutes ago. Iroha, you have incredible taste. I mean, you are with Shizu, so that's a given.

Wait, you are also with me.

…

Let's just say the jury is still out on that one.

Hopefully, not an Ace Attorney jury.

"Good to know," I finally say. "But… it's not about that."

"What is it then?"

"I don't… All right, this is stupid, and you are likely to get it wrong, so promise me you won't punch me till I finish explaining," I half-joke, trying not to make this appear more serious than it is.

"I promise not to punch you unless you piss me off," she jokes back. I hope.

"I…" Come on, you already have your Christmas Cake's panties in your literal grasp, the hard part [should] already be over. "I don't want to lose my virginity until I deal with Yui and Yukino."

I look away, like a coward, but I have already said it.

"Explain." Her voice is carefully neutral, and I don't know what her expression is like.

"I… Made a promise. To Komachi, to Haruno, to myself. I promised I would take care of them. And I… until I fulfill that promise, I don't want to.. cross that line. It would feel too much like a betrayal, and I don't want the first time I am with you to be stained by that. I want you and only you to be on my mind, I want it to be a time where I can say that Shizuka Hiratsuka is the only woman who—"

And soft lips cut off my increasingly rambling tirade, for which I am grateful.

Mostly because it's not a literal gut punch.

"And… where would that leave Iroha?"

"Knowing her? Filming the whole thing." And she chuckles. Which is weird, because I wasn't joking.

Ah, well, I will take the win.

"You are stupidly noble, you know?" Her arms surround my neck, her hands clasped behind my nape as she smiles at me

"I had a great role model." And I kiss her. Because I feel like I haven't been taking the initiative as much as I should.

She blushes once again, as weak to compliments as ever. Something Iroha and I will have to take merciless advantage of, because I can't stand somebody else doing it, and we need her to develop some kind of resistance as soon as possible.

Also, because I can't stand how cute she looks when she's caught off guard by a line like this. Moe, indeed.

Finally, a hand on my chest lightly pushes me away while a slender arm wraps around my waist.

"I think such strength of character deserves… a reward," she says. And then she spins me around.

I am facing the tree I had been leaning against, and Shizu is…

One hand is resting against the bark of the… eucalyptus. How out of it have I been that I didn't notice this was a eucalyptus until now?

Never mind, completely unimportant. What actually matters is…

Wow.

Shizu is bent over, her gorgeous rear-end pushing against her skirt and lightly swaying side to side as her weight rests against the tree trunk and her heels make it look like she is on her tiptoes. When she is sure that my eyes are locked on what is physiologically impossible for them to not be locked on, the playful hand that has been swishing her hemline… pulls up.

And now I am staring at Shizu's uncovered bottom, her lips glistening in the low light that still reaches us, her skirt flipped and bunched around her slim waist.

"I just… I just told you… You are making it [very] hard for me to stick to my decisions, woman."

"Diagram number three, remember?"

I look at Shizu's ass swaying from side to side in front of me, her hips drawing an elongated, and very appropriate, infinity sign with their motion.

"No," I reply with utmost sincerity. And she chuckles.

"I don't know whether to be frustrated or flattered. It was the one that said that penetration is not necessary for… you know." And she bashfully looks down. While baring her naked lower half in the middle of a public park and reminding me about the thorough sex-ed lesson that ended in an impromptu yet somehow chaste threesome.

Great. Now I am even more turned on. Why do I do this to myself?

Shizu sways her hips once again. Ah. Right.

That's why.

Almost hesitating, I pocket the panties that I had somehow managed to forget about and…

Well, I guess I…

Damn it, why is this [more] embarrassing without another girl watching me?!

"Don't just unzip. It will hurt if you leave them on. And I am…" She looks at the trunk with suspicious intent before she mutters the rest of the line. "Likely to, uh, stain them."

That does it.

I undo my belt, zipper, and button in less time than it takes for me to name them and drop my pants and underwear to my ankles, only briefly stopping to maneuver my far too hard member through the treasonous clothing.

And then I am standing behind Shizu, one hand clenching one of the incredibly tempting globes of elastic flesh she has been recklessly tempting me with, their firm softness captivating as my fingers sink on pale, smooth skin, and my other hand takes my member and points it at—

Uh, I mean, [below]. Below her glistening, only partially open, incredibly tempting lips. I get closer, so close I can feel heat emanating in waves from her as my tip rests for a fraction of a second over them.

And Shizu grabs me.

"It would be so easy to pull you forward… To make you [take me], once and for all." She says with a voice that has a hint of fever in its flowing cadence.

"It would be…" I can't help but confirm, both hands sinking into deliriously welcoming flesh, and Shizu moans.

"You are making this so hard..."

"Not half as hard as you are making me…"

And she grunts at that, her hand rubbing the head of my cock up and down her lips, gathering her moisture on me with each bolt of sensation that rushes up my spine.

Finally, her hand stops.

"Do you trust me, Hachi?"

"Always," I reply, eyes clenched close with as much strength as my hands grasp a piece of blasphemous Heaven.

"Then push forward."

And I do.

Her wetness helps me glide almost effortlessly before soft muscle tightens around me and stops me, surrounded by warmth and smooth skin.

I open my eyes, and I admire the sight of my member buried in Shizu's thigh gap, the lips of her vagina spread open on top of my member as she shudders.

"I want you so much…" She murmurs, looking at me over her shoulder, her ponytail already messy, draped over her other shoulder and almost reaching the ground.

I switch my grasp, take her hips, and pull her against me with all the strength my incomplete training arc affords me. Her ass claps against my pelvis, waves of impact delightfully traveling up from where our bodies meet, and she throws her head back as she bites her lip.

"I—Hachi, I—"

I move back, making sure to drag the top of my member against where her clitoris is, stealing her words away as she gives me a heated look that, just by itself, would make all of this worth it.

The pleasure of her warmth, her skin, her scent, her touch… They just make the experience go from something I desperately want to something I [need].

I start moving back and forth, allowing Shizu to lead me, to guide me with her hand if our unsteady situation requires it, and she plays with me, the tips of her fingers flirting with my glans every time I emerge from the gap below the place I so desperately want to bury myself in.

All the while, my hands are busy exploring the incredibly attractive woman who just offered her everything to me. I am not disappointed.

I thought I already knew Shizu's body. After all, this will be our fourth sexual encounter, but every time, each and every time, I find another detail to get captivated by: a line of freckles that seem to point at the dimple over her left cheek, a twitch of her right thigh when my fingers trail the line where leg meets hip, the swaying of her spine when my pelvis grinds against hers…

I could spend a lifetime studying her, and it wouldn't be enough.

"Stop… staring…" she pants out, forcing herself to stop biting her already puffy lips.

"Never," and her thighs clench tightly around me when she hears my low growl, almost stopping my thrust but turning it into an intense experience that makes the both of us gasp.

"You… I am not…"

"You told Iroha… About feeling attractive. Do you Shizu? Do you feel attractive when I devour you with my eyes as I rub my cock against you, barely holding myself back from thrusting inside you until your eyes roll back? Until I force you to scream my name?" Oi, deep-voiced bastard. Nice to see you back, we missed you while you were gone.

And Shizu [whines].

"I do... Gods, I do… Hachi, you make me feel…"

"Like a beautiful woman. Like an attractive woman. Like someone who is desired, craved after." And I lean forward, my body lying on her own, my hand finally traveling up to squeeze those marvelous breasts of hers whose cleavage I have tried not to stare at through our whole dinner. And then, my voice almost a growl, I whisper into her ear. "Like a loved woman. Because that's the woman you are, Shizu." I bite her neck, barely keeping myself from marking her. "My woman. The woman I love."

And I push forward, grinding my pubic bone into her sex, the root of my cock against her clitoris.

And Shizu almost yelps as she spasmodically clenches around me, as she drenches me with her honey, as I watch how gorgeous she looks when I make her come.

And I can't hold it anymore.

I take half a step back, my hand flying to my exposed member almost too slow, and I point it at the far too enticing derriere that shows red marks where I have grasped it too tightly.

And I erupt over it.

This time, as jet after jet of rushing pleasure shoots out of me and paints Shizu's skin, my thoughts completely blank out.

But, when I regain my sense, when I watch a panting, reddened Shizu hang her head down while she supports herself against the eucalyptus with both arms, her torso appealingly straight and tense, as I watch my seed drip down her cheeks, reaching her thighs and thankfully avoiding her center, I somehow regain enough mental power to think one last thing.

Thank heavens Iroha's lewd commentary wasn't here to make this even more intense.

…

Maybe next time we'll call her.

***

Wiping my seed off Shizu's jiggling derriere with my tissues feels almost sacrilegious, as if I am destroying a work of art.

That may be a bit overly dramatic. After all, I can always do it again.

…

On second thought, wiping her is a marvelous thing and should be done quickly and expediently.

"How long do you plan to take? I don't feel dirty at all."

"I am going to guess you didn't [purposefully] set up such a wonderful line."

"… You are terrible."

"You sure? Well, I guess I will need to start practicing, though you seemed to enjoy it."

"Wha—I didn't—" And she looks at me with a grumpy face, finally deciding that yes, her derriere is as pristine as it is going to get without a shower, and she straightens up, letting her skirt fall down, covering her thighs and everything else that brings joy and light to a world where Konosuba still hasn't announced its next season's release date.

"Stop pouting."

"Right, sorry, it's just…" I lift my eyes only to find that hint of impishness on her smile. Great. It is confirmed.

Iroha is contagious.

"Well, I guess I should—" I start taking her panties out of my pocket when a slender, far too graceful hand that just recently was sticky with my precum locks around my wrist.

"Keep them," she says, her smile more nervous than playful.

"Uh?" I coherently express my slight uncertainty at this unforeseen development.

"Keep them, I… I never thought I… I think it will be… fun? A keepsake? But only for a while."

"A while?" I ask, far more gracefully and coherently than she is coming across. Really, for an experienced teacher, she sometimes sucks at explaining things.

Or sucks when she explains things.

Or explains to Iroha how to suck things.

Or…

For fuck's sake! I just had intercrural sex; I don't need this hormone soup!

"A while." Her eyes show some kind of determination. "Until you solve things with Yukino and Yui."

What—

Oh.

[Oh.]

"It won't be long. I promise." And I take her hand as I pocket the, quite likely, most wholesomely offered pair of panties in recorded history.

And her fingers interlock with mine, likely squeezing as she pulls me toward the light of the path we fled from mere minutes ago.

"I don't care, Hachi," she says, her smile radiant, beautiful, freer than I have seen in months. "I will wait."

==================

This work is a repost of my second oldest fic on QQ (https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/all-right-fine-ill-take-you-oregairu.15676/), where it can be found up to date except for the latest two chapters that are currently only available on on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Agrippa?fan_landing=true)—as an added perk, both those sites have italicized and bolded text. I'll be posting the chapters here twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday, until we're caught up. Unless something drastic happens, it will be updated at a daily rate until it catches up to the currently written 83 chapters (or my brain is consumed by the overwhelming amounts of snark, whichever happens first).

Speaking of Italics, this story's original format relied on conveying Brain-chan's intrusions into Hachiman's inner monologue through the use of italics. I'm using square brackets ([]) to portray that same effect, but the work is more than 300k words at the moment, so I have to resort to the use of macros to make that light edit and the process may not be perfect. My apologies in advance

Also, I'd like to thank my credited supporters on Patreon: aj0413, Niklarus, Tinkerware, Varosch, and Xalgeon. If you feel like maybe giving me a hand and help me keep writing snarky, maladjusted teenagers and their cake buffets, consider joining them or buying one of my books on https://www.amazon.com/stores/Terry-Lavere/author/B0BL7LSX2S. Thank you for reading!