"Well, I heard someone who was too horny that she masturbated to a video of herself being fucked," he scratched Ayane's neck.
The room went so quiet he could hear a pin drop. Ayane, pinned beneath him, didn't move a muscle. She didn't even seem to be breathing. The playful, shamelessly horny persona had vanished, replaced by a tense, calculating stillness.
"And someone who was so selfish that she wanted to eliminate her competition." He caressed Mika's cheek with his other hand.
Mika's face, which he was now caressing, was an unreadable mask of calm. But her eyes were a swirling vortex of emotions: shock, fear, a flicker of guilt.
She didn't deny it or try to lie as her mind started racing. "That would be pointless. He had heard everything. He knew it." Instead, she leaned into his touch and pressed a soft kiss into the palm of his hand. Her eyes, blazing with a new and terrifyingly powerful emotion, locked onto his.
"And what are you going to do about it, darling?" Mika whispered, her voice completely unapologetic. The question hung like a final challenge. It wasn't just her question; it was Ayane's, too.
"What you said... Mika, about removing others, I don't want to see that happen, of course," he said firmly while looking into Mika's eyes. "How about... you two make up? And you don't make threats like that anymore? I would be sad if anything bad happened to any of us."
Mika's reaction was instantaneous, but not what Makoto had expected. There was no anger or defiance. Instead, a blissful smile spread across her face, a small he can't read.
"Okay, darling, if you said so," she said softly, keeping eye contact with him. "If you don't want me to, then I will never threaten her again. I would never want to make you sad."
The sincerity in her voice was absolute. And that was what made it so chilling. She wasn't lying; she would obey.
Mika turned her gaze to Ayane, who was still lying motionless on the couch. Her smile didn't change, still serene and angelic. "I'm sorry, Ayane-chan," Mika said, her voice dripping with sweet remorse. "I was just being silly. I would never actually do anything to hurt you. Can you forgive me, please?"
A low, rumbling sound from the couch broke the silence. Ayane was still topless, her hair a mess, and her back was probably red from Makoto's massage. She looked like a chaotic but unimpressed Valkyrie.
She turned to Mika's outstretched hand, at her perfect smile, and laughed. "Make up?" she repeated, her voice a low, husky purr muffled by the couch cushions. "You mean, like... hug it out, Makoto?"
Ayane slowly pushed herself up, turning to face Mika. "You're a crazy bitch, you know that? I will only tolerate you because my Makoto said so." She said slowly with a grunt. "Don't you think you have to pay for making that threat?"
"I know, please punish me for my wrongdoing as you see fit," Mika replied in a whisper.
And then, in a move that was so sudden and unexpected but utterly Ayane, Ayane leaned in and planted a sloppy, unapologetic kiss right on Mika's cheek. Ayane bit it hard, keeping her teeth there for a while before leaving her mark.
"I guess that should be it," Ayane said with a grin spreading across her face, "I'm not really... innocent anyway, for provoking you. And... the video you made of us was good fap material, so... you're forgiven now!"
Makoto shrugged, his brain still trying to process what just happened. "Geez, what kind of nonsense make up is that?"
He shook his head as he looked at them. "Is there anyone normal in this house?! At least Mafuyu-nee should be... normal, right?" he murmured.
The two girls turned to look at him at the same time. And then, they both burst out laughing in perfect synchronization. It was a full-on, wheezing, tears-streaming-down-their-faces laugh.
"Mafuyu-san?" Mika choked out, her voice full of amusement. "You think she's normal?!"
"Oh, you sweetie," Ayane said, wiping a tear from her eye. "You really are clueless, aren't you?"
"She's the most broken of all of us," Mika said, her voice calm and chilling. She had finally managed to get her laughter under control, but her eyes were still sparkling with a wicked light. "We're just... loud about it," she explained. "She's quiet. And the quiet ones..." She let the sentence hang in the air like a devastating promise.
Then the door to the spare room creaked open. It was Mafuyu-nee holding a neatly folded pile of laundry. She looked up with a shy smile on her face. "Did I just hear my name?" she asked softly.
"Nothing, Mafuyu-nee. They were talking badly about you behind your back," he said, shaking his head and looking at Mafuyu. What Tatsuya had said about her being a 'black widow' came to mind. "Nah, it couldn't be," he murmured to himself, looking at Mafuyu's gentle face.
Mafuyu glided into the room and laced the pile of folded laundry on the end of the futon. They were Makoto's clothes, neatly washed and folded.
"They're talking bad about me?" she repeated in a soft whisper. She gave a small sigh, a gesture of practiced, long-suffering sadness. "Oh dear. I hope I haven't done anything to upset them."
She looked at the scene before her: Ayane, still topless and sprawled on the couch. Mika, kneeling on the floor. And Makoto, sitting in the middle of it all, with a look of dawning suspicion on his face.
"Are they still... weary of me? Are they still... not accepting me, even after all I did? What if they know what kind of woman I am? Did they know about the call?" Mafuyu thought. Her tears almost dropped from a corner of her eyes as she tried to hold them back.
Then she turned to Ayane. "You all look so tired," she said, her voice soothing and almost motherly. She picked up the discarded blanket from the floor and gently draped it over Ayane's shoulders. Then she took a cushion and placed it behind Mika's back.
She finally turned to Makoto. Her hand came up, her cool, gentle fingers brushing a stray strand of hair from his forehead. Her touch was feather-light, almost ethereal. "Don't worry about me, honey. I'm just happy to be here and be useful." She leaned in, her breath warm and smelling of green tea.
"Makoto was kind enough to give me a spare room. I should be more useful to him. I shouldn't expect more!" Mafuyu's sad smile didn't falter, but a flicker of something like a shadow passed through her eyes. It was so quick that Makoto wasn't even sure he had seen it.
Her teary eyes, when they met his, were honest and completely devoid of any malice.
And that was what made it so terrifying. Because he just saw it now. The thing he had missed before, what Tatsuya was trying to tell him. "It was a void, an emptiness, a perfect, hollow space that was waiting to be filled."
"Geez..." he sighed and turned to Mika and Ayane. "You both must be tired after the whole cosplay-making marathon, huh? How about taking some rest?"
Ayane let out a theatrical yawn, stretching her arms above her head. "Rest? I haven't got any decent sleep for three fucking days." She flopped back onto the couch, pulling the blanket Mafuyu had given her up to her chin. "Don't mind me. I'll just... guard this living room."
Mika, however, just offered a serene smile. She gave Makoto a small nod, a gesture of quiet understanding. "Of course, you two should... catch up." She stood and walked towards Yuna's room. "I'll go check on Yuna-chan. I'm sure she's having nightmares about your fat, perverted pig face."
The two of them, in a perfect, unspoken agreement, had just decided to leave him alone with Mafuyu.
Makoto turned to Mafuyu. "Can I sleep with you tonight, Mafuyu-nee?"
She just stood there, dumbfounded. "What do you mean by... sleep with me?" she whispered, her voice small and trembling.