Chapter 44: Swap

Description

Sakura-colored eyes slowly opened.

They looked like flower petals soaked in water.

A layer of wet mist covered them.

Yukina was awake.

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

She sniffled.

It took a good while before her vision slowly focused out of the blur.

It landed on Mashiro’s face, which was right in front of her.

“…Nn?”

The little pink-white head had not fully rebooted yet.

After about five seconds, a stuck gear clicked back into place.

“Eh? Eh! …Ma-Mashiro? W-wait, when did you wake up?!”

She instantly panicked.

Her body shrank backward.

The tips of her ears turned red at once.

But in the next second, as if she had remembered something, the hand that had been about to pull away hurriedly reached over again.

It clutched Mashiro’s palm.

“R-right! How is your body? Does anywhere feel uncomfortable? Does your head hurt? Is there still anywhere that feels bad…”

Her questions came one after another.

The more she spoke, the faster she got.

Her tongue was almost tying itself in knots.

The small hand holding Mashiro’s kept trembling slightly.

It never let go.

“…”

Mashiro was at a loss for words for a moment.

She looked at Yukina.

She felt as if something had pierced through her chest.

It was an arrow named “guilt.”

Yukina’s first reaction upon waking was to worry about her.

And the first thing she herself had done upon waking was to question Yukina’s identity.

She had wondered whether Yukina had ulterior motives.

She had even, in her mind, directed improper thoughts at that quiet sleeping face.

I really am… too awful.

Mashiro lowered her eyes.

She felt a kind of disgust toward herself.

“Mashiro, you really do feel uncomfortable somewhere, don’t you?”

Yukina seemed to read something from her expression.

Her little face drew a little closer.

Her fingers wrapped around Mashiro’s hand more firmly.

“You don’t have to worry. Anything is fine. Just say the thoughts you’ve been holding down in your heart. It’s okay. Even if I might not… be able to help much, but, but as long as it’s something I can do, I will definitely do it!”

“…Anything is fine.”

Mashiro’s heart clenched hard.

The guilt that had been spreading through her body a moment ago seemed to receive some kind of special pardon.

It was no longer sludge blocking her chest.

It turned into a kind of impulse that wanted to be released outward.

“Mm-hm. Anything is fine.”

Yukina nodded.

She propped herself up a little and leaned toward Mashiro.

The collar of her school uniform opened slightly with the movement.

It revealed half of a slender white collarbone.

And a pale pink underwear strap slanted across her shoulder.

It looked as if it might slip down at any moment.

Mashiro’s gaze was caught by that thin strap.

Her chest felt as if a kitten were lightly scratching it.

It itched.

Yukina had not fully sat steady yet.

Her skirt hem pressed against the cushion.

Between her white pantyhose and the skirt edge, a little of her pink-tinged knee showed.

Her calves were very thin.

Her toes were still curled slightly from the tension just now.

The outline of her rounded nails could vaguely be seen.

The collar sagged with gravity.

A small contour that had not fully developed yet could vaguely be seen, soft as first snow.

It rose and fell lightly with her breathing.

Her lips were slightly parted.

They were pink.

They looked like cherry blossoms after rain.

A tiny tip of her tongue could vaguely be seen.

Is she… seducing me again?

Mashiro suddenly felt that her throat was very dry.

She looked at Yukina’s slightly moist lips.

And at that faint pink between the seam of her lips.

She suddenly remembered that dream.

She remembered the Yukina in the dream kneeling on all fours like a puppy.

She remembered those wet eyes looking up from below.

She remembered her sticking out her tongue as if to curry favor.

Can you… become my pet?

For a split second, Mashiro almost said that sentence out loud.

But she did not.

In the instant it was about to leave her mouth, she noticed some details.

Yukina seemed… already exhausted.

Her whole body was limp.

Her body rose and fell with shallow breaths.

She could no longer even straighten her waist and back.

Yet she was still forcing herself to stay up.

Pink-white strands of hair slid down with her shoulders.

She did not even have the strength to straighten the crooked eye patch.

Her whole person looked like a doll that might collapse at any moment.

In that sakura-colored eye, there was not the slightest seduction.

There was only worry that was almost overflowing.

If I keep taking from her without end like this, her body… will break.

Mashiro pressed her lips together.

It was as if she were stuffing something scalding back into an icy lake.

She pressed those desires back down again.

She knew she could not do this.

She could not treat Yukina’s gentleness as an excuse to indulge herself anymore.

“I…”

She spoke.

Her voice was a little dry.

Her gaze moved away from Yukina’s lips.

It fell on her own ice-cold fingertips.

“I want… to do something for you.”

“Eh?”

Yukina blanked for a moment.

It was as if she had not understood.

“Do something… for me?”

“Mm.”

Mashiro nodded.

“You have done so much for me. I think I should also do something for you. That would only be reasonable.”

She spoke word by word.

Her tone was very serious.

It was so serious it was a little clumsy.

It was as if she were speaking some oath that had to be completed.

Yukina’s face turned red at once.

Puff-puff smoke rose from the top of her pink-white head.

She lowered her head.

She also became unable to look at Mashiro.

She could only stare at her own knees.

And at the skirt hem on them that had long since become a complete mess.

“That’s too sudden… I-I can’t think of what to say all at once.”

Her toes curled lightly on the cushion.

Her tail swept once behind her.

It stirred up a few small tufts of white cotton.

Mashiro did not give her a chance to escape.

She turned her hand over and slowly wrapped that soft little hand into her palm.

Her thumb pressed lightly on the back of Yukina’s hand.

“Anything is fine. Things you want, or things that worry you. Just say them. That is enough.”

Attack and defense had swapped.

Yukina was clearly a little flustered.

Just a moment ago she had been the one asking Mashiro.

Now it had suddenly become Mashiro asking her.

What do I do.

She really wanted to say “nothing.”

But if she refused, this goodwill of Mashiro’s that had nowhere to go would very likely be pressed back into the depths of her heart.

It would become “Repression Value” that could not be released.

It would become fuel for the next outbreak of Blood Moon Disease.

But right now, she did not know what to say for the moment.

What worries could she even have?

Being able to live in good health was already the best thing for her.

Yukina lowered her head.

She thought seriously.

No matter how she thought about it, her mind was basically full of things like What am I eating tonight, right, what am I eating, What about homework, and I really want a bath.

Did the matter of Boss Yumiko count?

That was indeed pretty worrying.

Especially just now, after that business that had happened in the bathroom.

She did not know how she was supposed to face them from now on.

But she absolutely could not bring that up to Mashiro.

What if Mashiro listened, nodded, and the next day went after Boss Yumiko with a knife and solved the problem physically?

That would be the end.

What about worries over her figure and height?

Mashiro could not solve those either, right?

It was not as if she could have Mashiro stretch her a few centimeters like a piece of mochi.

Just thinking about it made her feel like she was about to split.

Nn…

The more Yukina thought, the more she drifted off topic.

Suddenly, she seemed to think of something.

Her expression darkened.

“What’s wrong?” Mashiro asked.

“It’s… not a big deal.” Yukina hemmed and hawed.

Her gaze dodged away.

“Tell me.”

Mashiro gave her no room to dodge.

Her fingers closed little by little.

She held Yukina’s hand more firmly.

Yukina hesitated for several seconds.

In the end, she still lost to that persistence.

She lowered her head.

Her voice was very small.

It was as if she were afraid of being overheard:

“My sister…”