"What's so important? Say it quickly and be done with it. I still want to sleep a bit more."
Haizaki yawned. He was curious about Utaha's purpose in coming to him, but after thinking about it, he felt his guess was unlikely. Her performance during the apocalypse was still vivid in his mind. A girl who could face the apocalypse head-on wouldn't be brought down by something as minor as an earthquake.
"If you don't let me sleep, I'll sleep with you."
Haizaki shook his head to clear his mind.
"Sleep with me? I don't know who it was that fled in panic just now. I gave you the chance, and someone ran away…"
Utaha wasn't the type to be easily bullied, even verbally.
"That counts as giving a chance? When people talk about temptation, isn't it usually the girl stripping naked and lying in bed? Not like you, wrapped up so tightly…"
"Heh, you really have a good imagination, Yusuke-san—no, I should call you Yusuke, Master of Delusions."
She hugged the pillow tightly. The warmth where her skin touched the pillow made her feel at ease. Facing Haizaki at such close range, Utaha had no intention of backing down.
"So, the chaste and cautious Kasumigaoka-san, who thinks I'm a pervert—can you leave now? Staying in a single man's room in the middle of the night, what do you think might happen?"
Utaha trembled slightly at his words, but her feet didn't move at all. She clearly still wanted to stay.
Does this woman want to stay here overnight? Testing his patience? Isn't that courting death?
"You want to stay here?"
"Yes," she answered calmly.
"You like this room? No problem. I'll go sleep in your room."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Haizaki turned around. But before he could take even half a step, he felt his underwear being tugged from behind.
A nymphomaniac???
The thought flashed through Haizaki's mind, but after thinking more carefully, he understood that Utaha simply didn't want him to leave. Her purpose in coming here hadn't been achieved yet.
There was no way she had come here just to sleep with him.
Haizaki didn't recall Utaha having a setting where she couldn't sleep without a man.
"If you have something to say, say it. If you don't, I won't know. And you—"
Haizaki pointed at the girl's right hand pulling on his underwear. "Isn't this inappropriate? Doing this makes me think you have improper intentions toward me."
*Snap!*
The girl instantly withdrew her hand.
Only then did she realize what she had just done. Reaching into a man's underwear—even for her—was enough to stir a wave of embarrassment.
Her fair face began to heat up, a blush of shame slowly spreading.
"I actually…"
Utaha still felt unable to say the words, 'I want to sleep here because I'm scared to sleep alone.'
"Actually what? Sleeping with me?"
"..."
She lowered her head.
Something wasn't right. Haizaki frowned. This wasn't the Utaha he knew.
The girl in his memories would never choose to pay with her body. She was the embodiment of unyielding pride. Cold and aloof, she had her own principles and bottom line.
Even if she seemed to make a "compromise" just now, if he really went through with it, she would only endure the pain in her heart, lie low, lower his guard, hide her anger and hatred—and when he relaxed, strike him with a fatal blow.
So Utaha coming here on her own initiative to let him sleep with her? That was an impossible joke.
Initiative and passivity were two completely different things.
"Mm. Just sleeping here."
She really said it.
Haizaki widened his eyes in disbelief.
His gaze traveled up and down her body. The girl hugging the pillow still couldn't hide the springlike allure she radiated. Her full, prominent curves faintly revealed an enticing cleavage, her long, slender legs fair and radiant.
Even from his angle, he could appreciate that beauty, making it hard not to fantasize.
But still…
"Is that okay?"
She asked softly, sounding timid, afraid of being rejected.
"It's fine. I don't have a problem with it."
Utaha immediately relaxed.
She had been worried Haizaki would mock her again.
"Then I'll sleep on this bed, and you sleep on that one…"
"Just that?"
"Yes."
She nodded repeatedly, afraid Haizaki might suggest sharing a bed.
With another man, she might already have been pinned to the floor.
"Alright."
Haizaki agreed.
Girls being afraid of the dark, afraid of being alone—
He understood.
At that moment, Utaha finally let out a breath of relief.
"Post-earthquake acute stress psychological trauma. Fear of being alone in darkness and silence. If you'd said it more clearly, I would have understood."
A flicker of surprise passed through Utaha's eyes. In the end, she lowered her gaze.
…