Haruka and Tsuyuri walked side by side, crossed a corridor, climbed some stairs, until they reached the twelfth floor of the school club building.

“Where are we going?”

“Club room.”

Everytime Haruka asked, Tsuyuri only answered in a few words.

Tsuyuri led the way without saying a word, walking a little faster than usual.

On the twelfth floor of the club building, Haruka and Tsuyuri entered the soundproofed music room.

A few wooden desks and chairs were set up against the wall, the center of the room was spacious.

Several basses and guitars were placed haphazardly on the floor. Drums and keyboards were placed in what seemed to be their fixed positions.

Haruka rarely came to the club building except when he skipped classes.

Forgetting the purpose of his visit here, Haruka gazed at the cityscape from the twelfth floor.

As usual, the cityscape has a lot of skyscrapers of different heights.

It was a distorted but beautiful city, the result of piling up buildings, roads, and temporary grounds.

More than a hundred elevators were visible to the naked eye, and piles of stairs covering the buildings. The roads were complex.

The sky seemed narrower due to the countless drones flying around for various purposes.

The Royal Capital, which was even higher than the tallest skyscraper, and was roughly located in the stratosphere. The capital blocked the sun and casted a large shadow over a part of the city.

All of the sun’s rays shone upon the upper layer where Haruka and the others live. In the middle layer, which was also called the [Countryside], can receive only about 70% of the sun’s rays even when amplified by a solar mirror. Lastly the lower layer can only receive about 40-50% of the sun’s rays.

As Haruka gazed at the scenery, Tsuyuri hugged him from behind.

Tsuyuri wrapped her hands around Haruka and clung to him.

“…. Do you remember me, Haruka?”

“Yes, I remember.”

This was the first time Haruka and Tsuyuri talked in real life. The topic was of course, none other than the incident that happened to them during summer vacation.

Feeling Haruka’s slender but muscular body, Tsuyuri’s felt like she’s about to cry.

She hugged Haruka for a while. Then, wanting to see Haruka’s face, she released him from her embrace.

Haruka turned around and made eye contact with Tsuyuri, who was a head shorter than him.

“You made it back alive, didn’t you?”

“Yes…”

Haruka made it back alive, but he couldn’t say that he was thrilled on how he did it.

Haruka had committed a lot of atrocities while inside the death game.

[Red Rom] was such an organization.

Many innocent people had their futures unreasonably reaped from them.

During the summer vacation, Haruka tried to forget about what had happened to him, but talking to Tsuyuri reminded him of the incidents that had happened.

“Are you okay, Haruka…?”

Haruka was not sure what Tsuyuri meant by “okay”, but he told him what he thought.

“I’m fine… It’s just that I feel sad whenever I remember what happened.”

“Hm…”

Haruka leaned his weight against the wall near the edge of the window and sat down on the floor.

Without saying anything, Tsuyuri followed him and sat between Haruka’s legs.

Thinking that there was no need to be concerned about it now, Haruka stroked Tsuyuri’s fluffy silver hair.

“I don’t feel guilty. I don’t want to think about the game or the people I killed.

I’m happy to be back with my loving family.

But still, I’m sad.

That’s what I feel.”

While Haruka was saying such things with a sad expression on his face, Tsuyuri was thinking about something else.

As Haruka stroked her head, Tsuyuri can feel that her face was getting hotter, as well as her heart beating fast and loudly.

“Hey, Haruka…”

“What is it?”

“I want to be your lover.

We’ve suffered together… Licked each other’s wounds and lived together.”

“…… That’s…”

It was Tsuyuri’s first confession.

In contrast, Haruka’s reaction wasn’t good.

She lifted up her chin, looked up and stared at Haruka’s face.

Haruka’s expression was a little awkward. Tsuyuri’s face went pale.

“…. No?”

Tsuyuri was confident in her face, as well as her body. She was a little stunted, but only a little below average.

She doesn’t have any special brilliant achievements like Miyako, Shinku, or Shun. But Tsuyuri had an excellent evaluation in music.

Tsuyuri was aware that she had good prospects for the future, so it wasn’t surprising that she was baffled at Haruka’s reaction.

“It’s just..” (Haruka)

“What is it?”

Haruka showed an indecisve attitude, which was pretty unusual for Tsuyuri.

Haruka’s eyes were swimming and his speech stuttered.

“Am I not good enough?”

Tsuyuri felt as if her heart was about to be crushed by anxiety. Sweat formed on her temple.

“You know… Tsuyuri.”

“Yes…”

Haruka finally made eye contact with her.

His eyebrows were lowered and he looked apologetic.

Tsuyuri was getting anxious and nervous about what Haruka was about to say.

“…. Lover. There is.”

“…… is?”

Tsuyuri didn’t understood what Haruka was saying right away, and her voice unconsciously leaked.

“I have a lover… Three of them, plus one…”

Tsuyuri stopped herself from asking the question “plus one?” and tried to control her shaky vision and slight headache.

“Why?”

“I wonder. I guess it just happened…”

Not expecting Haruka to have more than one lover, Tsuyuri pondered for a moment.

Haruka was a delinquent who seemed to have skipped out on life, despite that he has more than one lover.

Of course, going out with him would only tarnish Tsuyuri’s reputation.

But still…

“… Will you make me your lover too?”

The option of not going out with him didn’t cross Tsuyuri’s mind.

The members in Tsuyuri’s band were very promiscuous. Tsuyuri, who has often heard about their affairs with men had understood without a doubt that Haruka was superior to the others as a male.

More than anything else, she had been made to understand it with her own body, so it was hard to give up on it.

“……”

Haruka didn’t answer.

He patted Tsuyuri’s head from behind and started to play with her cheeks with his other hand, pinching and pecking them.

“Can I put it on hold?” (Haruka)

“No.” (Tsuyuri)

“I feel guilty about asking my lovers if I can have more…”

“You should take responsibility for taking my virginity.”

Tsuyuri was still a virgin in real life, but she made it sound in a way that will trigger Haruka’s heartstrings.

“Tsuyuri, you’re small and cute, I want to make you my lover…”

“Small is too much…”

Continue here

★

Haruka headed straight to Ria as he came back to the classroom.

“Ria.”

“? What is it, Haruka?”

Ria smiled with a sleepy look on her eyes as she replied to Haruka.

“I have a favor to ask you, also I need to tell you about something else, so please come with me.”

As Haruka said this, Ria looked surprised for a moment.

But then, she lit up with a big smile on her face.

“Okay…. I understand… Fufufu.”

With these words, Ria got up from her seat and followed Haruka out of the classroom.

★

“He skipped class again…!”

Yunika was angry while staring at Haruka’s seat, which was empty in the second period as well.

★

“Ria, can I have a word?”

The second period already ended. Yunika came back to the classroom after recess and stormed up to Ria.

“W-what is it? Yunika…”

“Haruka is slacking off too much. Ria should give him a scolding.”

“O-okay. I understand.”

Ria can’t help but smile at Yunika’s angry face.

Ria thought again that she wanted to make her first friend’s love come true.

Ria glanced at Tsuyuri behind Yunika.

Akito was pestering Tsuyuri, asking her if Haruka got her involved in something bad.

Tsuyuri answered, somewhat annoyed, that nothing had happened to her, but Akito didn’t seem to be convinced.

(Shirogane-san and Haruka, huh?)

When Ria skipped class with Haruka earlier, Haruka confessed to her everything that happened when he was abducted by [Red Rom].

Ria was very surprised when she heard about the death game, but she was also surprised to hear that Haruka and Tsuyuri had made love many times during the game.

“That’s surprising…” (Ria)

“What are you talking about?” (Yunika)

“It’s nothing.”

“…By the way.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been using too much breath care. I can smell you from far away.”

Ria smiled back after hearing Yunika’s words.

---

TL Note

breath care (ブレスケア) – capsule type breath freshener that dissolves in the stomach. It’s recommended to take take this directly after eating food with strong smells and drinking alcohol.