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[AI CENSORSHIP BLOCKED THIS CHUNK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

“!” Akane frantically wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Realizing she’d been tricked, she puffed out her cheeks and glared at Saito.

“That’s a dirty trick…” Her voice was that of a sulking child.

“They’re free, so you might as well try one,” suggested Saito.

“It’s…embarrassing,” said Akane.

“Embarrassing? Why?” Saito was puzzled.

“I don’t know… It feels greedy. Or shameless. Stuff like this is usually expensive too, so if you take a sample, it kind of feels like you’ve gotta buy it,” explained Akane.

“You don’t, though. All you gotta do is just say, ‘It wasn’t that great, I’ll pass,’” Saito said.

“That would hurt the employee’s feelings, though!” Akane replied.

“They’re literally there for tasting. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t feel pressured to buy it.”

Without giving her a chance to escape, Saito grabbed Akane’s wrist and led her to the sampling table. Then, before she could protest, he popped a sausage into her mouth.

“Ah—! Mmf! Mngh…!”

Akane flailed for a moment, but then—she chewed, swallowed, and her whole face lit up.

“It’s delicious! So, so good!” Apparently, her excitement had outweighed her embarrassment.

“You have to try one!”

She grabbed another sample and shoved it at Saito.

Saito took a bite. The juicy, springy texture! The burst of savory meat! The subtle hint of smoky spices! It was incredible. The employee beamed at them, clearly pleased.

“These sausages taste great even cold! They’re perfect for bento boxes. One pack is three hundred yen, but if you buy three, it’s eight hundred yen—a one-hundred-yen discount!” The store employee smiled warmly through his pitch.

“Aw…still too expensive.”

Akane hesitated, shrinking back slightly. She was clearly tempted but couldn’t justify the price. Her eyes darted back and forth between the sausages and the price tag, obviously locked in an internal battle.

“If you want it, you should get it,” Saito sighed.

Plop.

Before she could even react, Saito picked up a pack of sausages and casually dropped them into their shopping basket. Without another word, he turned and walked off. Akane let out an indignant grunt and hurried after him.

“Hey! Don’t just decide things on your own!”

Saito didn’t even glance back.

“If three hundred yen is enough to make you smile, then it’s a damn cheap price to pay,” said Saito.

Akane stopped in her tracks. Her cheeks flushed bright red, and she muttered under her breath, “What the hell…? You can’t buy my affection that cheap, you know.”

If sausages were the key to bringing peace to their household, Saito had no complaints. Now that he had seen how pleasant Akane’s smile could be, he never wanted to return to their old battlefield.

The pair lined up at the register. Akane, looking pleased with herself, proudly handed over her point card to the cashier.

“You actually collect points?” asked Saito, slightly surprised.

“Of course. I got this card the day after we moved in. We buy groceries and cleaning supplies here all the time so it’d be a waste not to use it.” Akane spoke with pride, as if the card were a badge of honor. Saito watched as she pulled reusable tote bags from her school bag and carefully packed their groceries away. The bags were decorated with cute bear and rabbit characters—an uncharacteristically adorable choice for Akane.

Carrying one bag apiece, they exited the store and stepped into the golden hues of early evening. The riverbank road stretched before them, bathed in amber light. The setting sun shimmered across the water’s surface, painting the scene in a soft, warm glow.

“You’re really…meticulous, huh?” Saito chanced voicing his honest thoughts.

“You mean stingy, don’t you?” Akane shot him back a suspicious look.

“No, I meant it as a compliment… You’re going to make a great wife someday,” said Saito.

“Wha—?!” Akane’s ears turned bright red.

Saito realized just how expressive Akane was. He had always thought of her as someone who only scowled or yelled, but in the past few days, he had seen so many different facets of Akane—sulking, laughing, flustered, even earnestly happy. She had been hiding all of this away right in front of him, and he had never noticed. Akane turned her head away, her voice small and hesitant.

“You know…we’re already…married.”

“Ah—right.” Saito immediately covered his mouth.

Somehow, his own words hit him like a bulldozer. Had he just said something way too bold? His body burned with embarrassment. They walked side by side on the way home, neither one able to meet the other’s eyes.

Saito’s eyes fluttered open in the bedroom. Beyond the curtains, the sky had begun to lighten ever so slightly, but dawn was still hours away. The air was tinged with the cool stillness of night.

Why am I awake at this hour?Slightly puzzled, Saito tried to reach for his smartphone on the headboard to check the time—but he couldn’t move.

He wondered if Akane had finally completed some kind of torture restraint to keep him trapped. But no. It wasn’t that. Akane was clinging to him in her sleep. The same Akane, who had once threatened to break his fingers if he ever touched her. Talk about a double standard,Saito thought.

And yet…Saito wasn’t annoyed. Draped in nothing but her thin nightwear, Akane felt unbelievably soft, as delicate as a dream. Her smooth, bare legs tangled gently with his, and her delicate fingers clutched to the fabric of his shirt. With each slow, steady breath, her chest rose and fell, her warmth seeping into him. A faint, sweet scent—reminiscent of wildflowers and morning dew—drifted from her hair and skin, wrapping around Saito in an intoxicating haze.

The sheer destructive power of this moment was far too much for a healthy, virile eighteen-year-old boy to handle. For a brief second, he even forgot this was the same girl he supposedly hated.

If I move…she’ll wake up, won’t she…?

It was like having a cat fall asleep on your lap—you know you should move, but the thought of disturbing it feels wrong. Saito held his breath, his body stiffening as if he were trapped in a minefield.

Up close, Akane’s sleeping face looked almost…angelic. Her long lashes rested gently against her cheeks; her lips slightly parted in unconscious innocence. The soft, peachy cheeks that Akane never allowed Saito to touch were now in front of him, completely defenseless.

Almost without thinking, Saito reached his hand out toward her. Akane opened her eyes just as Saito’s finger was about to poke her cheek. For a moment, she stared at him blankly, her gaze still hazy with sleep. Then, as if instinctively seeking warmth, she nuzzled her face against his chest like a sleepy kitten searching for comfort. The sensation—both physical and emotional—was so unexpectedly ticklish that Saito let out a small, involuntary sound.

“H-hey.”

A fatal mistake.

“?!”

That single word shattered the moment. Reality crashed back into Akane like a sledgehammer. With her full force, she shoved Saito away. Her face drained of color, and she snatched up a pillow in a flash, holding it up defensively like a shield.

“Y-you were trying to attack me, weren’t you?!”

“Youwere the one clinging tome!” Saito retorted.

“As if! I’d never do something like that!” Akane shouted.

“You did, though! You were hugging me like a damn body pillow!” Saito protested.

“I’d rather cuddle a giant sea urchin than use you as a body pillow!” exclaimed Akane.

“You wanna get impaled in your sleep? Be my guest.”

Saito gritted his teeth, trying his best to keep calm.

“Listen, I truly didn’t do anything. I was just trying to stay still so I wouldn’t wake you up,” explained Saito, with all the earnestness he could muster.

Akane wasn’t buying it. Her gaze darted toward the smartphone on the nightstand, which filled him with anxiety. If she called the police, he’d have to explain everything. Not just this dicey situation, but also why two high school students were even living together in the first place. That would cause a commotion.

“You expect me to believe you weren’t up to anything? You were about to stab my cheek with your fingernail, weren’t you?!”

The sweet, peaceful girl who had been asleep moments ago was now glaring daggers at him.

“What the…?! No! I wasn’t going to do anything like that!” said Saito, a chill running down his spine.

“So what were youreallytrying to do to me?” Akane interrogated him, hugging her pillow tighter.

There was no way out; he was completely trapped. Saito let out a deep sigh and confessed to Akane.

“Listen, I…I was just captivated by how adorable your sleeping face was… I couldn’t control my impulse to touch your cute cheek. I’m really sorry.”

Akane said nothing—but her entire face turned bright red. Akane proceeded to bury her face into the pillow, her voice barely audible.

“Is, is that…really what happened?”

“Yeah.”

“How cute…was I?”

“…Cute enough to make me almost lose control for a second.”

It couldn’t be said that Saito was completely innocent, so Saito decided to be honest. Akane’s shoulders tensed, her entire body trembling. Saito braced himself, expecting one of her furious outbursts.

But instead, she peered out at him over the pillow.

Her flushed lips barely moved as she whispered, “…If it’s only a bit…it’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“I mean… If it’s just a little, you can stare at my sleeping face.”