Back home, Rin Ito leaned back on the sofa, staring up at the familiar ceiling.
His mind was a mess. It flashed with the image of Kaede seen through the closet door crack, the lingering scent and body heat of Suzu, and the soiled black pantyhose mixed with both their essences.
How was he going to face Suzu tomorrow?
Rin was troubled by this question. Having grown up with Suzu, he naturally understood her feelings.
Suzu's personality was usually reserved, and she hadn't expressed too much, so Rin had always pretended not to notice... Since he chose his older sister Kaede, he had to be faithful.
But now... although he hadn't fully 'consumed' Suzu, in terms of actual physical intimacy, Suzu had already surpassed Kaede's progress.
Kaede had only reached a KISS, but just moments ago in the closet, Suzu had overtaken Kaede using her hands and legs.
Kaede was his girlfriend, yet he had done something with her sister, Suzu, that went beyond what he had done with Kaede.
Rin had no idea how to face Kaede or Suzu tomorrow.
And not just tomorrow, but every day after... If a confession failed, they could stop being friends and never see each other again.
But Kaede and Suzu had to see each other every day.
Rin closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the trouble, but the moment he closed his eyes, Suzu's image floated into his thoughts.
The soft pads of her fingers, wiping the mess from the soiled black pantyhose, brought them close to her eyes for a few seconds before her tongue slid across her lips and she sucked them into her mouth. That cool yet seductive expression and those wet eyes made Rin's heart pound.
Added to that was the forbidden thrill stemming from the fact that she was his girlfriend's sister...
It was a little embarrassing to admit, but Rin was starting to get aroused.
Rin sprang up from the sofa and ran back to his room. He powered up his dormant computer, grabbed his stylus, and, using his drawing tablet, began to reproduce Suzu's eyes—those mesmerizing, dewy eyes, mixed with a hint of seductive blankness that seemed to pull at him.
Yes! Exactly! Just like that!
This is amazing.
Suzu's gaze... it was truly captivating.
Even though it was only a pair of eyes, nothing more, just looking at them was enough to make him excited.
Rin took out his phone and found Oriye Tsukimoto's name in his contacts.
She was a new editor at Crab Publishing, where Rin submitted his work. She reportedly joined the company after graduating from university out of an interest in underground (adult) manga.
Unlike other editors who seemed like devils when chasing deadlines, Oriye had a soft, marshmallow-like personality and spoke in a gentle, hushed tone.
She had black, shoulder-length hair and always wore glasses. Even though she always wore a long-sleeved jacket, Rin could imagine the surprising softness hidden within the generously stretched fabric.
Affection felt, but stopped short of intimacy.
Rin only viewed Oriye with an appreciative eye and had no untoward thoughts.
He dialed the number, and Oriye's soft voice soon came through the phone.
"Ito-sensei? Has the new work been completed?"
"No, no, no. I've thought of a new concept!" Rin paused to organize his thoughts. "Miss Tsukimoto, you mentioned before that NTR manga sells very well, right? I've come up with an idea."
"Ito-sensei is going to start drawing NTR manga!?" Oriye's excited voice burst from the phone.
As Rin's editor, she naturally wanted Rin to draw more commercially valuable manga, such as the highly popular NTR genre.
However, Rin had only ever drawn wholesome romance manga... though his sales were acceptable, they still couldn't compare to the other artists at the agency who drew NTR.
His previous work was decent, but lately, Rin had hit a bottleneck, and his manga sales were slowly declining.
Rin had initially ventured into the underground industry for money, so switching from pure love to NTR held no psychological pressure for him; it was just that... Rin truly didn't know how; he had no idea what to draw.
In his previous life, Rin was a mainstream romance cartoonist. Even after entering the underground world, he had only added explicit scenes to his pure love stories.
While he had a fixed fanbase and stable, if not massive, sales...
But now... Kaede's fetish had given Rin an inspiration.
He could put off dealing with how to meet Suzu tomorrow; right now, making money was the most important thing.
Underground manga, while having a lower ceiling than mainstream comics, generally came in the form of fast, short stories, allowing for quick income.
What Rin needed most right now was money. The medical expenses for both sets of parents had emptied their family funds and left them deeply in debt. To pay off the loans as soon as possible, Rin was willing to try any style of manga as long as it made money.
"I haven't started yet, but I have an idea. Most NTR manga on the market today depict the heroine's corruption with a male protagonist as the cuckold. I'd like to try the opposite approach—a reversal of gender roles, or 'Reverse-NTR.' I wonder if there's any market for that."
"I... I'm not sure," Oriye hesitated.
Most NTR manga on the market feature a male cuckold. Switching genders was definitely a novel idea, but as a new editor, Oriye was unable to judge Rin's bold concept.
"How about I consult with the other editors and give you a response tomorrow, Ito-sensei?"
"No problem, I'll use the time to continue brainstorming," Rin replied.
Rin put down his phone and looked at Suzu's eyes on the screen, his expression complex.
Kaede had an interest in being cuckolded (the gender-reversed version), and all three of them already had a good relationship. If he directly told Kaede about the situation, they might achieve a 'sisterly double-harvest' (having both sisters) outcome.
After all, Rin was a man. Who wouldn't want to be liked by two beautiful and perfectly shaped sisters who were also willing to live together as a three-person unit?
But Rin still had reservations.
Getting off to Reverse-NTR manga ≠ wanting to be cuckolded.
If Kaede immediately shot him down with the 'manga is not reality' argument, he would be in trouble.
Although Rin didn't know much about the underground world, he understood the principle of separating fiction from reality.
Many people read NTR manga just for the thrill; it doesn't mean they'd actually enjoy being cuckolded in the real world.
Furthermore, there are three levels to reading NTR manga:
The lowest level is role-playing as the Yellow Hair (the cheater), fantasizing about cuckolding someone else's wife or girlfriend.
The middle level is role-playing as the cuckold (the victim), enjoying the bitter pang of watching the girl he loves in someone else's arms.
The highest level... the highest level is role-playing as the heroine (the one being corrupted/seduced).
Rin didn't know who Kaede was role-playing as... If she wasn't role-playing as the victim, but was enjoying the feeling of stealing her sister's crush, he'd be in serious trouble.