The shopping expedition, which had begun as a simple swimsuit procurement, had transformed into a dazzling parade of fabrics and fantasies. Kasumigaoka Utaha and Kani Nayuta had taken full advantage of the boutique's offerings, trying on a breathtaking succession of swimwear styles—from elegant one-pieces with daring cut-outs to sporty two-pieces and even a daring monokini that made Touji's brain momentarily short-circuit.
Each emergence from the fitting room was a new revelation, a fresh visual symphony that left Kasumigaoka Touji feeling as though he'd been granted a VIP pass to a celestial fashion show. His eyes were thoroughly feasted, his aesthetic sensibilities both satisfied and perpetually tantalized.
Finally, after much deliberation, playful modeling, and a few whispered consultations with Touji that involved more blushing and giggling than actual fashion advice, the two girls each settled on two perfect sets. The vibrant shopping bags, now holding their summer battle armor, swung gently from their hands as the trio exited the swimwear store, the cool mall air a slight contrast to the heated atmosphere they left behind.
"Touji-senpai, later… please allow me to pay for your swim trunks."
Kani Nayuta broke the comfortable silence, her voice carrying a note of gentle insistence as she adjusted her grip on her two bags. A faint, charming pink dusted her cheeks. After all, they weren't married yet, and constantly having him pay for everything stirred a subtle, traditional sense of unease within her.
In Japan, the mainstream practice for boyfriends and girlfriends leaned towards going Dutch; it was a norm born of both practicality and a certain cultural politeness she'd been raised with.
"Why so formal with me, Nayuta-chan?" Kasumigaoka Touji smiled warmly at her, his expression softening. He found her sudden formality both endearing and unnecessary.
Kasumigaoka Utaha, walking on his other side, nodded in firm agreement, her ponytail swaying. "There's really no need to be so polite. Onii-chan's wallet is quite resilient, you know? He's not lacking this little bit."
She spoke from the privileged position of a little sister who had spent his money with shameless confidence since childhood. If Kani Nayuta started drawing strict financial lines, it would, in a strange way, make Utaha feel a bit awkward too. Though she considered her own bond with Kasumigaoka Touji to be on an entirely different, unshakable plane compared to Nayuta's—in the end, such boundaries felt unnecessary!
"...Saying it like that makes it sound like I'm being a kept woman," Kani Nayuta stuck out her cute pink tongue playfully, a light laugh escaping her.
Seizing the moment, Kasumigaoka Touji smoothly slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a half-embrace as they walked. He lowered his voice to a teasing, conspiratorial tone. "Then, my dear Nayuta-chan, would you be willing to be kept by me?"
"Hmm…" She pretended to ponder deeply, tilting her head to look up at his handsome profile, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "How about… Touji-senpai lets me keep him for a few days first?"
A brilliant counterattack! She had turned the tables masterfully.
"Are you serious?" Touji's eyebrows shot up, intrigued.
"Deadly serious!" she affirmed, puffing out her cheeks slightly for emphasis.
"Then…" Kasumigaoka Touji adopted a thoughtful pose, pinching his chin with his free hand. "How about I let you keep me for the entire day tomorrow? No other hidden meanings, of course. I just want to experience the novel sensation of being a 'kept man.' Purely for life experience!"
"Eh? Is Touji-senpai serious?!" Kani Nayuta's eyes widened in genuine surprise, her steps faltering for a second.
Touji released her shoulders, casually slipping both hands into his pockets and adopting a cool, nonchalant expression. "I am completely serious. What's wrong with that? Consider it a way to add a little spice and role-play to our daily lives. Young people should be adventurous!"
"The day after tomorrow, then, it's my turn," Kasumigaoka Utaha interjected softly from the side, her voice a calm statement of fact that brooked no argument.
"Okay…" Touji looked at her serene, beautiful face, and felt his heart stir. A daring, ambitious idea flashed in his mind. He held up two fingers, a negotiator laying out his terms. "But, here's my condition. Tonight, I want to keep both of you. Otherwise, the deal's off."
The implication hung in the air, clear and charged.
Almost instantly, the brilliant minds of Kasumigaoka Utaha and Kani Nayuta decrypted his not-so-subtle scheme. Their reactions were swift and synchronized in spirit, if not in style.
"Tsk—!" Kasumigaoka Utaha let out a soft, dismissive click of her tongue, her face morphing into an expression of supreme disdain. "Onii-chan, you wish! Keeping both of us… Has one become insufficient for your appetites?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, a flicker of realization crossed her own face. Wait, that didn't sound right… Uh, it seems that way sometimes… She pursed her lips and fell silent, leaving the loaded statement hanging.
"Dame! Dame! Dame desu—!" Kani Nayuta, meanwhile, crossed her arms in front of her chest into a firm 'X', shaking her head with such vigor her hair swished from side to side. Was he planning to initiate a two-person scenario again?! This was absolutely not acceptable! At the very least, she needed more time to acclimate to the very idea, right? One step at a time!
"Only you are allowed to keep me, but I'm not allowed to keep you? Isn't that a bit too overbearing and one-sided?" Kasumigaoka Touji spread his hands, feigning profound dissatisfaction upon hearing their swift refusals.
Kasumigaoka Utaha narrowed her beautiful eyes at him, then let out a small sigh, as if making a grand concession. "…Fine. I can… permit Onii-chan to come to my room after Kazuko-chan has fallen asleep."
She then turned her gaze, which had shifted to a more innocent curiosity, toward Kani Nayuta on Touji's other side. She clasped her hands behind her back, bending forward slightly. "Is that arrangement acceptable, Kazuko-chan?"
This version was manageable. It preserved individual territories. Kani Nayuta could accept this compromise.
"No problem!" she agreed with a nod.
Kasumigaoka Touji could also accept it. Frankly, he hadn't truly expected his ambitious proposal to succeed; he had just been testing the waters. To secure a private audience with Utaha later was already a significant victory! He felt like he'd come out ahead!
Thus, a harmonious, win-win situation was forged—!
"..."Their conversation paused as the trio arrived at the entrance of a different kind of store. The signage was elegant, the displays within more delicate and private. This was a high-end lingerie boutique.
Their next mission: purchasing pantyhose.
Kasumigaoka Touji hesitated at the threshold. This felt distinctly different from the swimwear store. While both dealt in intimate apparel, swimwear was fundamentally public—worn for the sun, the sea, and yes, for admiration.
Lingerie, especially items like pantyhose and the other delicate things on display, belonged to a more private realm. What if someone was trying on a camisole or adjusting a strap in front of a mirror? It seemed… somewhat inappropriate for a grown man to just wander in, wouldn't it?
Kasumigaoka Utaha only realized her brother wasn't following when she was already several steps inside, surrounded by racks of lace and silk. She turned and saw him rooted at the entrance, a comically conflicted expression on his face. She couldn't help but find it amusing. Raising a hand, she beckoned him with a graceful wave.
"Onii-chan, come in! Didn't you grandly declare you were going to buy me a hundred pairs of pantyhose? How are you going to complete this magnanimous transaction from out there?"
Her voice, clear and carrying, caused several other shoppers and the keen-eared sales staff to glance toward the entrance.
A nearby sales assistant, upon hearing the magic words "a hundred pairs," immediately assumed a big spender had arrived. Her professional smile switched to maximum wattage as she glided toward the doorway. "Irasshaimase! Welcome, sir!"
Under the combined force of Utaha's challenge and the assistant's expectant gaze, Kasumigaoka Touji's hesitation evaporated. He squared his shoulders and walked into the store with an air of purposeful nonchalance, as if he browsed such establishments daily.
The world inside was a mesmerizing taxonomy of legwear. He followed the girls to the dedicated hosiery section, and his eyes were momentarily overwhelmed.
It was a spectrum of shades and fantasies: classic black stockings, pure white stockings, subtle nude stockings, sophisticated grey stockings…
And the styles! Sheer pantyhose, seductive garter stockings, daring body stockings, edgy fishnet stockings, and even patterned fishnet stockings that looked like works of art…The variety was enough to make one's head spin!
Kasumigaoka Touji's gaze swept over the displays, his creative—and slightly devious—mind whirring into action. He turned to Kasumigaoka Utaha, his expression one of earnest encouragement.
"Utaha, we are all young people. And young people should be brave, and should dare to try new things! Why always stick to the classics? How about we… experiment with something a little different this time?" His gesture encompassed the more adventurous styles on the rack.
Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately shot him a look that could freeze magma. Without dignifying his suggestion with a verbal response, she turned to the waiting sales assistant and pointed with the authority of a seasoned connoisseur.
"Please give me twenty pairs of the 'Frifla' pantyhose. Black. 10 denier."
A hundred pairs was indeed a ridiculous exaggeration, but twenty pairs was still a substantial, almost extravagant purchase. Even Utaha had never bought in such bulk before.
The sales assistant's eyes flickered with a hint of disappointment (the commission on twenty pairs, while good, wasn't the windfall a hundred would have been), but she instinctively looked to Kasumigaoka Touji for confirmation—the perceived payer.
Touji, accepting his role, simply shrugged with a smile. "As the lady wishes."
"Hai! Thank you very much! Please wait just a moment!" The assistant bowed deeply, her professional smile back in place, though a tinge of what-could-have-been regret lingered as she hurried toward the stockroom.
Kasumigaoka Touji then shifted his attention to Kani Nayuta, who was quietly perusing a display of white and pastel hosiery, her expression one of curious contemplation. He moved closer, his voice dropping to a coaxing, hopeful whisper.
"Nayuta-sensei, how about you? Would you like to pick some out too? Speaking of which, I don't believe I've ever seen you wear stockings before. I must admit… I'm very, very curious to see."
A gentle, knowing flush crept up Kani Nayuta's neck. She bit her lower lip softly, then met his gaze. "Hmm… In that case… how about a few pairs of white pantyhose? Would that be… acceptable?"
Bullseye!
Her suggestion struck directly at Touji's heart. A brilliant smile spread across his face, and he immediately looped his arm back around her shoulders, pulling her close in his excitement. "White! A perfect choice! Then it's settled, I'll get you twenty pairs as well!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha watched this exchange from the corner of her eye, a faint, unreadable smile on her lips. She thought the other girl was truly learning how to aim directly for her brother's preferences. However, white... She appraised Kani Nayuta's legs—slender, straight, and undoubtedly attractive. Well, they could be called long legs, though her own were a bit longer, naturally… (A fact she noted with quiet, sisterly competitiveness).
Overall, she had no objections. Even if they were both buying hosiery, white was a different domain altogether. The territory of black pantyhose remained her exclusive signature…
"No, no, that's far too many! Two or three pairs will be more than enough," Kani Nayuta protested, waving her hands frantically at the idea of twenty. She didn't wear them regularly; this was merely a tentative foray into new aesthetics, or perhaps to have a prop on hand for… certain private moments. Twenty pairs was a lifetime supply!
Seeing her genuine refusal, and considering her usual style, Touji revised his offer. "Then how about ten pairs? A nice, round number."
"…Hmm. Alright." Ten still felt like a lot, but it was far more manageable than twenty, which evoked an image of a drawer eternally overflowing with unworn stockings. Kani Nayuta finally nodded in agreement.
With the hosiery mission accomplished, the group, their shopping bags now multiplied, made their way to the fourth floor of the mall. Their final objective: Kasumigaoka Touji's beach shorts. The summer preparations were steadily falling into place, each purchase layering anticipation for the adventures to come under the sun.