“Jeez, this is a classic near-miss scenario, right? With goggles and a mask, you can’t feel the smell or the wind, so you end up dragging others into it…”
“But why would you even do this with someone in the room!?”
“I couldn’t help it. I suddenly wanted to paint Shadow Fox gold.”
“You’ll lose the whole ‘Shadow’ part if it’s gold! You’re just turning it into a regular fox!”
While I gasped in pain from the fumes and aching throat, she chuckled, her shoulders shaking with amusement. I couldn’t see her mouth, but I knew she was smiling.
“Feels like it’s been years since we last did this.”
“Huh?”
“Back in junior high, you didn’t use polite language with me, Tsubasa-kun.”
“…Was that really the case?”
“That’s right. It was a bit shocking at first, but I got used to it.”
“This is just basic respect. No hidden meanings.”
Suddenly, it felt like I was watching the continuation of a dream.
The outside window was already dark. It felt like I had just woken from a long, very long dream.
Part of me wished it had gone on longer, part of me was glad it ended there. They say shallow sleep makes dreams easier to remember, but the true cause might be the person right in front of me.
“Did you… mess with me while I was asleep just now?”
“Hmm? Maybe I pinched your cheek once or twice. You had such a cute sleeping face.”
“That explains it…”
Even now, science has yet to fully explain the mechanics of dreams.
So I always thought the urban legend about succubi making people dream whatever they desire was just a myth. But maybe it’s not so far-fetched after all.
Perhaps out of concern for my health (still scratching the back of my head), Saku senpai put down the airbrush, removed her mask and goggles, and took off her work clothes. Returning to her usual form (or so I guessed), she neatly fixed her disheveled hair and finally smiled properly.
“Hey, should I have offered you a lap pillow to comfort you?”
“Who asked for something like that? I don’t remember being so broken-hearted to need comforting.”
“Really? You looked pretty defeated when that mermaid girl scolded you.”
“That wasn’t scolding—it was my own mistake…wait?”
Only now did I feel a strange sense of dissonance in our conversation.
“How do you even know about that incident?”
She didn’t seem to have heard from someone else. Her tone sounded like she had witnessed the entire thing herself. I wanted to joke about a storyteller’s law, but Saku senpai sighed with obvious exasperation instead.
“You left the clubroom with that desperate look, and Maon-san followed you out shortly after. I felt something interesting was going to happen…well, as the club president, I was worried, so I had to secretly follow you.”
“Following me alone? Like some secret agent?”
“Not alone at all! Takizawa-kun came too!”
I couldn’t imagine that idiot being any good at spying, but I didn’t notice them following me either.
“…If you saw everything, why didn’t you stop me?”
Even though I charged ahead on my own, failed, and ended up spinning my wheels—Saku-senpai didn’t so much as frown at my pitiful attempt to shift blame. Instead, she tilted her chin up as if declared, “I won’t stop you.”
“Tsubasa-kun finally acted on his own will, after all.”
“My will doesn’t even matter—”
“Wrong.” Her voice was firm. “The girl whose life you saved says it does. Absolutely.”
“…………”
The cheap exhaust fan’s noise echoed obnoxiously loud, but it did nothing to fill the hollow silence in my head.
She’d said it so casually, but this might have been the first time—indirectly or not—that Saku-senpai had brought up that incident. I’d been avoiding the topic subconsciously, too.
So why now? In this room still reeking of solvents, with the curtain of night as her backdrop, why did she break the unspoken rule, her black hair swaying as she spoke?
Only one thing was clear:
“Treasure it. Well, at least don’t hurt yourself over it.”
She sounded like a mother scolding a mischievous child. Even though I’m way past that age, it made me feel… saved. Not just today, but my entire self—like all the past I’d rather forget had been acknowledged, wrapped up neatly.
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Good! Then, in accordance with Tsubasa-kun’s will, we shall now execute [Operation: Rehabilitate Maihama Aoi-san The Great Escape of Wrath]!”
“I don’t recall drafting a war-movie-esque plan like that.”
“I came up with it while you were sulking after losing the debate!”
“That stings, but… thanks.”
No logical basis, but for some reason, I always think, “She’ll pull it off.” I can believe in her.
Because it’s Saku-senpai, I—
“…Getting my cheek pinched wouldn’t normally make me feel like this.”
“Hm? Say something?”
“Just that I hate this side of you, Saku-senpai.”
And this feeling—I swore never to let anyone deny it.
I’m not indecisive, but my shallow self always regrets my choices after making them.
This time was no exception. “I shouldn’t have trusted her,” I mentally flunked my past self almost immediately.
“…Hot.”
The stifling heat made me groan. A snow spirit would’ve evaporated on the spot.
Outside, it was still spring—but here, it was eternally set to 28°C summer. No, it wasn’t some post-apocalyptic axis shift.
“Woo-hoo! The beach! We’re at the beach!”
As if it were a rule to scream that, my companion (a high school junior, aka a succubus) was acting like a kid, disregarding all dignity and age.
“It’s not the beach. There’s a big pool, but—”
I, the saint, couldn’t help but correct her. That blue? Just chlorinated water. No tropical island—just a domed indoor facility, though spacious enough to make you forget.
The contrast was jarring in every sense.
Two days after the café showdown with my classmate, Saku-senpai and I had taken a 30-minute train ride to this large leisure resort attached to a Tokyo hotel. Dubbed “Waikiki” or “Honolulu,” it was essentially a spa resort.
A towering waterslide loomed in the distance, kids splashed in the wave pool, bikini-clad women lounged on beach chairs—everywhere screamed escapism. Slightly off-season, but still decently crowded for a Sunday. The density of people was just enough to make a suburbanite like me twitch.
Then again, everyone was too busy enjoying themselves to notice the girl (high school senior, part-time succubus) shrieking like a kid. Only I shot her a “seriously?” glance. A couple walked past, arms tangled, too absorbed in each other to care. To outsiders, we probably looked like giddy idiots too—but fun wasn’t our goal.
“So this is Maihama’s workplace?”
“Per my investigation~” Saku-senpai smirked.
Our target: the mermaid maiden.
This was not stalking. This was [Operation: Rehabilitate Maihama Aoi-san] in action.
A quick preface: Maihama wasn’t the type to flaunt her private life. She’d only told people her part-time job was “customer service”—but.
“Ah, look! Isn’t that her? Near the shop, with the headset—”
“…Whoa. She’s actually here.”
We spotted our target embarrassingly fast. In a staff polo, chinos, and a visor, Maihama’s hair was styled in the same mature outward flip as at the station.
Saku-senpai’s intel network was terrifying. I shuddered privately.
“Uh-oh, she’s coming this way. Hide, Tsubasa-kun!”
I ducked behind a mascot cutout panel (without sticking my face in it) as Maihama passed, oblivious.
“Phew—close call. Let’s tail her from a safe distance.”
“…Roger.”
My conscience nagged, but we’d already paid the steep entry fee—no backing out now so I follow Maimaihama following saku-senpai lead
Again: not stalking.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT gadgetizedpanda.net
Flashback to yesterday (Saturday) afternoon:
“——In short, persuasion through words is meaningless. Humans are foolish creatures who don’t learn unless they experience pain. So…… shall we carve into Maihama-san’s very core just how terrifying a thing SNS is?”
Called to the club room under the pretext of a meeting, I felt dizzy looking at Saku-senpai who wore an evil smile. Looks-wise, she definitely suits that type (like a villainess), and it wasn’t incomprehensible that Takizawa, who had been called as a collaborator, was rejoicing with “This is amazing, senpai!” It’s gross though.
“I’m not really feeling up for this…… specifically, what kind of operation is it?”
“I identified her part-time job location based on SNS information, so let’s make a real appearance there tomorrow.”
“Eh…… excuse me, you’re saying that casually. It’s only been since yesterday. How did you identify Maihama’s part-time job location?”
“Well, it’s not actually just through SNS routes. She has a fairly wide social circle. When I got a general idea through inquiries in real life too, I searched online for part-time job listings that accept high schoolers. I narrowed it down further by location and conditions, and finally I pretended to be ■■■ and directly ■■■■ to ■■——”
“Hey.”
“You really know how to use your cunning~”
While Takizawa was impressed, I was put off.
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