"Why do you keep staring at my butt? What do you want to do?"
After dinner, the two were walking down the street on their way back when Yukinoshita noticed Hikigaya's lingering gaze. She turned to him with a half-smile and asked.
"No way."
Hikigaya quickly averted his eyes.
"No way? Heh, after dinner, your eyes were glued to my behind. Don't think I didn't notice~."
Yukinoshita smiled teasingly.
"Tch, who'd be interested in your stinky butt?"
Hikigaya scoffed.
"Heh, stinky?" Yukinoshita wasn't angry. Instead, she teased him further:
"Who was it earlier this afternoon, huh? Who kept saying how much he liked my stinky... hehe, constantly repeating 'like, like, like'...?"
"!?"
Hikigaya's face turned slightly red as he tried to hide his embarrassment.
"Hehe, Hikigaya-kun, you seem really energetic after dinner, huh?" Yukinoshita smiled slyly, "Since that's the case, why don't we…?"
"I only glanced! I didn't have any other thoughts! Don't get carried away!"
Hikigaya's hair spiked up in alarm as he quickly warned her.
"Alright, alright. I thought you wanted to stay out all night with me," Yukinoshita teased him, enjoying his flustered state.
"Stay out all night?" Hikigaya's mouth twitched. "If that happens, you probably won't even be able to get out of bed tomorrow."
"Is it me who won't be able to get out of bed? Or is it you, Hikigaya-kun?" Yukinoshita replied confidently with a grin.
"..."
Hikigaya stopped himself from speaking. He couldn't help but recall the painful lesson from earlier. He still remembered it clearly.
When a woman gets scary, there are no limits!
Seeing her boyfriend nearly trembling with fear, Yukinoshita understood that now was the time to comfort him. She spoke softly, "Don't worry, I'm still your master, after all. I'll take good care of you."
"Mas... Master?" Hikigaya's eyelids twitched.
"Hehe~" Yukinoshita smiled warmly.
"???" Hikigaya was speechless. "I wasn't calling you that, so don't answer randomly."
"Hehe, what's wrong with me being your master, huh? Fishy-kun~?" Yukinoshita chuckled, "Come on, call me master~."
"Who'd want to be your slave!" Hikigaya protested.
"But..." Yukinoshita grinned proudly, "This afternoon, your reactions really did seem like you were a slave~."
She smiled triumphantly, "Being my slave would be an honor, you know. In the future, I'll treat you really well and make sure you're well-fed."
"Well-fed, and then harvested, right? You really know how to plan, Yukinoshita."
Hikigaya shuddered.
"As expected of the clever Hikigaya-kun~," Yukinoshita replied with a knowing smile.
"You—" Hikigaya was at a loss for words. In this moment, he was too weak to resist his powerful girlfriend.
"Hehe, relax, what's wrong with living off me? I won't treat you badly. I'll make sure you're the happiest man in the world~"
The more Hikigaya's expression darkened, the more Yukinoshita's heart filled with joy.
"The happiest man? It's amazing you can say that… With you as a monster of a girlfriend, I'm probably the most miserable guy in the world," Hikigaya sighed.
"How dishonest. This afternoon, you said you were happy and liked it. Now you're contradicting yourself?" Yukinoshita teased.
"I... I didn't—"
"Hehe~"
The two continued their playful bickering.
After a few minutes of walking side by side, Hikigaya saw Yukinoshita off at the station.
"Be careful on your way back."
Hikigaya reminded her.
"Got it."
Yukinoshita smiled and reminded him in return, "But you should be more careful on your way back too, you know."
After all, after taking the energy-boosting potion, Hikigaya was looking quite fit.
As they passed by, some of the girls, especially older ones or married women, couldn't help but stare at him, as though preparing to snatch him up right there.
"You're worried about me now?" Hikigaya replied, speechless. "I'm a guy, and you're a girl. You should watch out for yourself."
Yukinoshita just smiled silently.
The two parted ways.
After seeing his girlfriend off, Hikigaya sighed and turned to head home.
"Today was so difficult..."
How could Yukinoshita be so twisted? Like a monster, leaving him almost defenseless.
"Well, it's not like I was completely suppressed. There should still be a chance. I just need to train harder, yeah… definitely need to train harder..."
He clenched his fists and muttered to himself, the image of a beautiful, married Sayuri flashing through his mind.
"Huh?!"
Hikigaya slapped his face.
"What am I doing? Why am I thinking about Auntie Sawamura? Even though her training method worked for her, I can't believe I… sigh."
This was betraying his girlfriend!
No, no.
Hikigaya was a pure love warrior! A pure love warrior!
Better stick with Miura's training method.
"Yeah! Or maybe I'll start training right now."
Hikigaya immediately started running, focusing on building his endurance and leg strength.
Well, the training was one thing, but another reason was that Hikigaya kept feeling like a lot of women around him were staring at him, giving him an uncomfortable feeling. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
Still, training felt so refreshing!
Running was really relieving!
Hikigaya wanted to defeat the invincible Yukinoshita, but he didn't want to be her slave. He wanted Yukinoshita to be the one... cough cough.
Just as Hikigaya was lost in his thoughts, a voice brought him back to reality.
"Huh? Is that Hikigaya-kun?"
"Huh?!"
Hikigaya stopped and turned to look, only to see two beautiful women in kimonos, each holding several shopping bags, standing right next to him. They looked at him with surprise.
"Auntie Yui, and... Auntie Sawamura?"
Hikigaya exclaimed in surprise.
From the shopping bags in their hands, it was clear that the two women had been out shopping for the weekend.
"Wow, it really is Hikigaya-kun! I didn't even notice~"
With a cheerful smile, Sayuri quickly stuffed her shopping bags into Yui's arms, and walked up to Hikigaya, unconsciously wrapping her arms around his body.
"Look at you running, such a hardworking kid. Let Auntie give you a hug."
"Huh?"
"Mmm~ So sweet~ Let Auntie kiss you too~"
"Ah?!"
Yui stood there, dumbfounded.
Sayuri, you crazy woman! What are you doing, hugging Hikigaya-kun in public? There are people everywhere! This is embarrassing!
Huh, Hikigaya-kun looks so handsome today~ I want to hug him too...