Yukinoshita Shizuku watched the utterly gleeful expression on Tsushima Kagami's face and couldn't help poking him in the cheek with her finger.
"Honestly — why are you so obsessed with NTR? You draw it constantly, but everything you put out still leans toward pure romance anyway."
"Why can't you just do something normal and wholesome, like that Inorganic Girl of yours?"
"Ahh, you just don't get it."
Tsushima Kagami, still inking his lines, reached up and gently pulled Shizuku's finger away from where she'd been tickling his cheek.
"Fine, I don't get it."
"Drink your hot cocoa before it goes cold."
Only then did Tsushima Kagami set down his dip pen and pick up the mug beside him, which was still steaming gently. He took a small sip.
Then he turned to look at Yukinoshita Shizuku.
"Since when did you buy cocoa powder?"
"Kinue-nee-san brought it when I got home this afternoon."
"Oh-ho — so she got you calling her 'nee-san' too?"
Hearing Shizuku refer to Hayase Kinue as Kinue-nee-san, Tsushima Kagami asked with amused interest.
"Yep. Kinue-nee-san said you're the one who loves calling her that most, so she wanted me to do it too."
"Oh, and apparently you've been calling Moe-sensei and Yan-sensei 'nee-san' as well."
"So does that mean when we're not at school, I have to call them 'nee-san' too?"
The moment those words left her mouth, Tsushima Kagami — mid-sip — spat out a spray of hot cocoa.
"Cough, cough."
Shizuku shot him a sideways glance, then quickly grabbed the nearby tissues and started wiping him off with a deliberately careless air.
"Honestly. If it's too hot, drink slowly."
"It's not too hot — I just didn't expect it to taste that good. I drank too fast and choked."
Tsushima Kagami took the tissues from her and wiped himself up.
"Besides, last time was different — Moe-sensei and Yan-sensei were being silly and wouldn't let it go, and they'd already played host to me. So I figured it was easier to just let them have it."
"Gotta show proper respect to one's teachers, after all."
He finished speaking and looked over at Yukinoshita Shizuku, who was staring at him.
"What? Why do you keep staring at me like that?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku suddenly broke into a smile.
"I just asked offhand. Why are you explaining yourself so much?"
Tsushima Kagami felt his stomach drop.
Right. A man should never fall into the trap of self-justification.
And why am I even explaining myself?
"Ah — that's not an explanation."
"I'm just giving you a normal answer to your question."
"It is not what you're calling an explanation!"
"Honestly — the way you're talking, it's like I did something I'm guilty about!"
With that, Tsushima Kagami sat back down, crumpled up the draft that had gotten cocoa splattered on it and tossed it into the wastebasket, then pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and started drawing again.
Watching him put on his best serious, focused face — the I-have-work-to-do-and-no-time-for-you expression — Yukinoshita Shizuku pressed her lips together in a small smile. Then she stretched out her leg and brushed the top of her foot lightly against his.
"What? I'm working!"
Tsushima Kagami frowned slightly but didn't budge.
"You have so much hair on your legs."
Shizuku said with a grin.
"Everyone has leg hair!"
Tsushima Kagami shot back.
"Really?"
"I don't — look!"
With that, Shizuku lifted both her long legs and draped them across Tsushima Kagami's lap.
Tsushima Kagami finally put down his pen and glanced down.
"You definitely shaved."
He said with a dismissive smirk, and was just about to go back to drawing when Shizuku laughed and said:
"I did not. When have you ever seen me buy hair removal cream or a waxing kit?"
"Then you've definitely got peach fuzz — just too fine to see."
"Then feel for yourself — go on, check."
Yukinoshita Shizuku tilted her head and looked at him, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.
Tsushima Kagami, resuming his inking, scoffed.
"I'm not touching them."
"Why not?"
"Because your feet smell."
"They do not!"
At those words, Yukinoshita Shizuku's eyes went wide. She stared at him with an expression caught somewhere between wounded and indignant.
"I literally just took a bath and washed my feet properly."
"They absolutely do not smell!"
"Fine, then smell them yourself!"
Shizuku scooted her chair right up beside him and thrust one bare foot toward his face.
It was only then that Tsushima Kagami noticed: Shizuku was wearing nothing but a loose, slightly oversized tank top — with nothing on her bottom half at all.
Now she was lifting her leg this high — and her underwear was completely, unambiguously on display.
So today it's bright yellow, huh.
Tsushima Kagami immediately looked away, dodging the foot being thrust toward him.
"Your underwear is showing."
"So what, you've already washed it how many times."
"Just smell it!"
Smelling feet is worse than catching a glimpse of her underwear?
And besides — washing her underwear and seeing her actually wearing it in a flash is not the same thing at all.
Looking at Shizuku, who was getting so worked up she was practically on the verge of tears, Tsushima Kagami relented and turned back.
"Fine, fine — I'll smell them."
"No holding your breath!"
"Not holding it — happy now?"
Tsushima Kagami cupped Shizuku's bare foot in both hands and slowly brought it toward him.
Up close, her foot was smooth and flawless — and to his surprise, she'd painted her toenails. Just a nude shade, but under the lamplight it looked rich and lustrous, her toes as delicate as petals carved from white porcelain.
As Shizuku watched him actually bringing his face toward her sole, a faint blush crept across her cheeks. Without thinking, her toes curled slightly inward.
She watched him lean in with theatrical seriousness and sniff the top of her foot.
Now she was starting to panic — what if it actually smelled a little?
That thought made her try to pull her foot back.
This time, Tsushima Kagami held on tighter.
"Hold still."
"It... it doesn't smell, does it?"
Shizuku could already feel the warm puff of his breath against her skin.
For reasons she couldn't explain, a shiver ran through her, and her whole body went soft.
Only then did it really hit her — just how embarrassing this whole situation was.
What was I thinking, getting carried away like that…
Hmph, it's all Kagami's fault.
He could've just touched them — but no, he had to say my feet smelled!
Die of foot odor, die of foot odor!
Yukinoshita Shizuku bit her lip, cheeks flushed crimson, and sat in silence — watching Tsushima Kagami tilt her foot this way and that while he examined it, sniffing again thoughtfully.
"Had enough yet?"
"Just a little longer."
"How much longer?"
"Weren't you the one who told me to smell?"
"I didn't say smell them for this long."
"Sorry — it's rare to get a close-up look at a girl's bare feet."
"I need to gather some reference material."
At that, Yukinoshita Shizuku yanked her foot free from his hands in one sharp pull.
Tsushima Kagami looked genuinely disappointed.
"That's enough!"
Yukinoshita Shizuku stood up and crossed her arms.
"Do they smell or not?!"
"Ah — smells like body wash."
Tsushima Kagami answered honestly.
"Hmph."
Yukinoshita Shizuku turned her head away.
Watching her little display, Tsushima Kagami allowed himself a small smile, then picked up the dip pen again and prepared to get back to work.
But his mind was far from settled.
Great. Years of joking about foot fetishes online.
And now I've actually become one.
When Tsushima Kagami came back to his senses, he looked down at the draft in front of him — which should have been an inked panel but had somehow become a detailed sketch of a bare foot — and sighed helplessly.
He crumpled it up and was about to toss it in the wastebasket to start over.
Shizuku stopped him.
"What's wrong?"
Tsushima Kagami looked up at her — she seemed to have gotten over her sulk.
"If you don't want it, give it to me."
"Sure, take it."
Watching Yukinoshita Shizuku take the sketch and run back to her room, Tsushima Kagami picked up his pen again and prepared to get back to work.
But when Shizuku came back out of her room, she looked over at him — dip pen dipped in ink, ready to resume inking — and picked up the hair dryer that had been left on the sofa. She plugged it into the socket near the dining table and sat down beside him, blowing her hair.
Tsushima Kagami turned to look at her.
"Something wrong?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku looked back at him with the most innocent expression she could manage.
Tsushima Kagami's brow furrowed.
"Woman, you're disturbing my work!"
"What's the big deal."
"Then just blow it for me."
"It'll be faster that way."
And with that, Yukinoshita Shizuku held the still-humming hair dryer out toward Tsushima Kagami.
Which promptly sent every single sheet of paper on the table flying.
The room was suddenly raining draft pages.
Shizuku immediately switched the power off.
Then she sank back in her chair, hunched her shoulders, and said in a small voice:
"I… I didn't do it on purpose."
She quickly set down the dryer, stood up, and started picking up the scattered pages one by one.
Tsushima Kagami helplessly gathered the ones on his side too.
Tonight's workload is several times heavier than usual — so why is the output still exactly zero?
Once the two of them had collected all the pages and stacked them back on the table, Yukinoshita Shizuku pointed toward her room.
"Okay — I'll just go back to my room and dry it there."
She picked up the hair dryer and was just turning to head back, when Tsushima Kagami caught her by the arm.
She turned to look at him.
"What?"
Without a word, Tsushima Kagami quietly moved a chair to face the full-length mirror nearby, then gestured with a sweep of his hand.
"Come on. I'll blow it for you."
"Th — this was your idea, okay?"
"If you don't want me to, I'll just get back to drawing."
"Blow it blow it blow it!"
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: All My Employees Are Naughty Girls
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