Chapter 19: Marisa: It Itches, I Can't Sleep.
....
"Mikado-sensei, does this count as student harassment?" Kihara stared deadpan at the mature, voluptuous woman currently winking at him.
"I am merely showing concern for my student's psychological well-being~" She blinked playfully, before adding to the utter disappointment in Anna Yanami's eyes, "Just kidding. If you want to break the transparency, running around the school track is your best bet."
"Kihara... I really don't think I can do it. Am I going to be stuck like this for the rest of my life?"
"Uh..." Kihara scratched his head, caught in a bind. "How about... you just try running a few laps first and see how it goes?"
"No way, I'll literally die of exhaustion!!"
The moment the words left her mouth, a frantic patter of footsteps echoed from the hallway. Bam! The infirmary door was thrown wide open, and Lala rushed inside, her face a mask of sheer panic.
"Anna, are you okay?!"
"Lala?! How did you get here?"
Anna followed the sound of the voice, only to see Lala march straight past her and approach a floating school uniform adorned with four small ribbons. Lala gripped the empty sleeves, asking with deep concern, "Do you feel sick anywhere? Why didn't you tell me if there was a side effect?"
Kihara stood up, gently taking hold of Lala's flustered little hands to soothe her. "Lala, don't worry. Anna just needs to get some exercise. Twenty laps around the track and she'll be right back to normal."
"Thank goodness..." Hearing this, Lala finally let out a sigh of relief. Then, she pouted, her lips flattening in reproach. "Kihara, why did you keep this a secret from me?"
"It wasn't him, Lala! Actually, I was the one who begged him not to tell you..."
Now that the cat was out of the bag, Anna poured her heart out, explaining her worries and intentions to Lala. The confession touched Lala so deeply that tiny, glistening tears began to well up in her eyes.
Realizing the nature of the treatment and the hurdle Anna faced, Lala immediately retrieved a uniquely shaped bottle from her Teleportation Phone. "Don't worry, Anna! I have a specialized stamina-replenishing energy drink right here. If you drink this, you can easily breeze through twenty laps!"
"But if it's easy, she won't sweat, which means it won't trigger the cure, right?" Kihara countered.
Ryouko Mikado gave a soft hum of agreement. "Exactly."
"Oh... I see. I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help." The tail behind Lala drooped dejectedly.
"Don't worry about it, the thought is what counts." Anna felt a wave of warmth wash over her. She couldn't help but think that Lala was an absolute angel—it would be even better if she wasn't competing with her for Kihara.
In the end, it was Ryouko Mikado who provided the solution. She brought out a specialized lotion that could temporarily suppress the sensation of fatigue while still allowing the body to sweat normally.
With that sorted, Kihara led Anna to the track, and a still-worried Lala tagged along.
As they watched Anna panting and wheezing through her laps, Lala lowered her gaze, her voice soft as she asked Kihara, "Even though Anna told me not to dwell on it... do you think it would be better if I stopped inventing things so carelessly? That way, both she and everyone else would be much safer."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Eh?"
Kihara flicked his finger, lightly tapping her pristine forehead. "From now on, just test your gadgets beforehand to figure out the side effects. Besides, I absolutely love the smile on your face whenever you show off a new invention."
Thump!
The heart inside Lala's chest gave an unprecedented, violent leap. Clutching her forehead, she stared blankly at Kihara, a vivid blush spreading across her innocent face like the colors of a evening sunset.
She couldn't find the words to describe what she was feeling, because this was an emotion she had never experienced before. It felt as though a warm current had surged from Kihara's tender gaze straight into her body, making every single one of her cells dance with joy.
Lala took his warm hand and pressed it against her cheek, nuzzling into his palm as if trying to transmit her frantic heartbeat directly to him.
"Kihara..." Her soft, kitten-like call made Kihara's heart skip a beat. He came dangerously close to losing his composure and leaning down to kiss those delicate, ruby lips.
He had always believed that Lala possessed a dual nature—part angel, part little devil—but her pure, innocent personality usually kept the mischievous devil side completely suppressed. Her behavior just now was living proof of his theory.
"W-What do you think you two are doing?!"
Having finally finished her twenty laps, a fully restored Anna hadn't even had the chance to celebrate before she turned around and saw the two of them staring passionately into each other's eyes, their faces drawing closer by the second.
In a fit of sheer desperation, she erupted into a burst of speed that would have left Usain Bolt in the dust. Pushing her way right between them, she forced them apart. But before she could voice her outrage, the fatigue-blocking effect of the lotion expired. The accumulated exhaustion hit her all at once, and she went completely rigid, fainting on the spot.
In her final microsecond of consciousness, to prevent them from staging a romantic drama by her bedside while she was out, Anna locked both hands onto Kihara's waistband. This was her final, desperate line of defense to safeguard her childhood friend's virtue.
When the two carried her back to the infirmary, Ryouko Mikado took one look at the scene and burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, her voluptuous chest heaving violently. It took her a good while to catch her breath.
"My, my. Who knew Yanami-san was so fiercely protective of her food? Don't tell me Princess Lala hasn't even..."
"Ahem! Mikado-sensei, if you attempt to corrupt my pure fiancé, I might have to ask the Chairman to help you seek employment elsewhere."
"Alright, alright. I know you boys prefer to do the corrupting of that purity yourselves. Carry Yanami-san over to that cot. And no doing anything strange to her while I'm out, okay?"
Kihara rolled his eyes entirely in exasperation. "Do I look like that kind of person?"
"Fufu~ One can never be too sure."
...
Meanwhile, in Eientei, Flandre Scarlet threw down her mind-numbingly boring textbook in a fit of rage, her shrill voice echoing through the halls. "You despicable shut-in! You just don't want me to see big brother, do you?! That's why you're forcing us to memorize this tedious garbage!"
Kaguya spared her a lazy glance, responding with an utter lack of enthusiasm, "This is the forty-seventh time I've answered you. If you want to travel to that world, you have to memorize these rules by heart. You wouldn't want to get permanently banned the moment you step foot over there, just like Yakumo Yukari, would you?"
"I can't remember any of it!" Flandre wailed.
"Then don't go. Marisa and Suika are making way more progress than you. At this rate, they'll pass the assessment in half a day."
"Curse you... If that's how it's going to be... Taboo: Four of a Kind!!"
Splitting into four identical copies of herself, the Flandres each grabbed a copy of the Isesakai Transit Manual, their faces twisted in agony as they resumed their brutal cramming session.
Seemingly inspired by this trick, Marisa pulled out a mortar and pestle, tinkered around with some mushrooms for a bit, and brewed a purple potion. Down her throat it went, and her heavy, groggy brain instantly cleared up.
"Perfect! Time to push through this exam in one go, and then head off to play with Kihara!"
She hadn't been able to drink Kihara's special milk lately, and whenever she tried to sleep at night, a nagging itch kept her tossing and turning, unable to catch a single wink.
To ensure quality sleep so she could focus entirely on her magical research, Marisa had ultimately resolved to journey to the otherworldly realm to find him. As for whether she simply missed the feeling of being held in his arms... well, that was something she would absolutely never admit.
...
Thank you for reading.