Seeing Hayashi Maki heading for her cabinet and reaching to pull the door open, Mafuyu Kirisu panicked.
"Ah—wait, don't open that!"
"Why not? I'm going to prove I didn't hear wrong!"
Hayashi Maki shot back, then yanked the cabinet door open.
Several black, antennaed "little roaches" shot out at once—making even Hayashi Maki jump. He'd been prepared (the bugs were fleeing the pressure from his magic), but he still hated cockroaches.
If he was startled, Mafuyu was worse. She squealed, leapt practically a meter into the air, and clung to him, trembling all over.
"Uu—hurry! Get rid of them! Roaches are terrifying!"
Feeling Mafuyu's soft body, Hayashi Maki's lips quirked. He soothed her, gently stroking her head with one hand, while "disposing of" the roach "allies" with the other.
"Alright, alright, all done. Kirisu-sensei, no need to be that scared, right?"
"You're lying—you didn't even step on them… They must still be in the room!"
"Hey, don't step on them—it's filthy!"
Then she remembered this was her home; stomping would be even messier and grosser.
Hayashi Maki was suddenly glad he'd been "impolite" today—he was still wearing shoes; at least he wasn't squashing roaches in socks.
Holding back a laugh, he huffed, "So you do know it's dirty. Then why are you stuffing so much trash in the cabinet?
"You don't usually see them, but roaches live in nests; they come out at night. You've got so much garbage that they're even coming out to forage in the daytime."
Mafuyu's face flushed to the ears. He'd found her secret. What now? So embarrassing. How was she supposed to put on her teacherly airs and lecture him after this?
"Uu… I can't help it—I'm terrible at sorting trash… and at cooking… Anyway, you have to help me clean it up!"
Resigned to her fate, she clung to his neck like an octopus and "unreasonably" demanded his help.
Hayashi Maki kissed her cheek. "I can help. But how will you thank me, Mafuyu?"
"You still want thanks?"
She glared up at him, annoyed—he'd kissed her again!
"Of course. You want the horse to run but won't feed it—where does that happen?"
He held her gaze, perfectly serious.
She was about to snap back when a few more roaches crawled out. She screamed, buried her face in his chest, and, half breaking down, said, "Anything—whatever you want, just… uu… get rid of them!"
"You said it."
Smirking, he willed it—every roach skittering around the room fell still, then he tossed them into the trash.
Only after that did he stroke the cherry-colored hair of the woman in his arms and say, smiling, "All gone. But the real issue is the source."
Half-skeptical, Mafuyu opened her eyes—then blushed and glared at him. "Y-you… pervert! Put me down!"
She'd felt his "change." She'd never dated, but she knew the basics. And he was being obvious.
Hayashi Maki coughed twice and set her down. "Ahem—natural reaction… You dove into my arms, and I am a normal man…"
"Shut up, pervert!"
Arms crossed, she put distance between them. He just shrugged.
"Want me to take care of the cabinet mess or not?"
"Uu… yes…"
Her bravado collapsed; she lowered her head, too embarrassed to meet his eyes.
Hayashi Maki didn't waste words—he found rubber gloves, hauled several big trash bags outside.
"Hey, you're just throwing them out like that? If you don't sort them, you'll get scolded!"
"Relax. I've got it. You won't get in trouble."
A few minutes later, the cabinet's black bags were gone. He dropped in a couple mothballs and spritzed some air freshener around—cleanup complete. After rinsing the latex gloves and hanging them to dry, he sat back on the sofa.
Mafuyu, cheeks pink, poured him a glass of water. "Um… thank you."
He took a sip, eyes intent on her, and beckoned. "Kirisu-sensei, come here."
She shivered, instinctively crossing her arms. "W-what now?"
"Did you forget? You said if I cleaned up the trash, I could do whatever I wanted. A teacher should keep her word, no?"
Her head snapped down in shame. She wasn't someone who broke promises! But… wasn't he just as bad? He'd said he wouldn't touch her, and then he'd forced a kiss. With fresh indignation, she retorted, "And you? You promised not to touch me. What about that?"
When she wouldn't come, Hayashi Maki simply stood.
"W-what are you doing? You—mmph… don't—ah…"
Pinned to the wall again, her mouth captured again. Flushed and flustered, she balled her fists and thumped his chest—then gradually weakened.
After a while, he lifted her around the waist and carried her toward her room. Breathless and dazed, she only snapped out of it once she was already on the bed. Staring up at the man looming over her, eyes burning, her heart trembled wildly.
"W-what are you going to do? This… this isn't right—we can't—mmph…"
He gave her no chance to refuse—interlaced his fingers with hers so she couldn't push him away, and lowered his head to claim her rosy lips again.
He'd spent the day taking a delivery job, even knocking out the original courier, all for her—for a stolen moment. Now that the chance had come, he had no intention of letting it slip.
~~~
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