Fumika Ogawa had goo the restroom to ge her stogs and panty, feeling a wave of relief as the dry, fortable fabric repced the sticky disfort from earlier. Yet, a deep sense of embarrassment li was truly mortifying to have to step away for such a reason.

  Clutg her handbag, she quietly returo the theater and slipped bato her seat beside Shuichi Chiba. The joy in her heart swelled again as she settled in.

  If only this moment could st forever…

  As this thought crossed her mind, she g Shuichi's shadowy profile in the dim light. Her lips pressed together as she recalled the earlier, intoxig moment. She wanted more, uo shake the memory of how wonderful it had felt.

  However, she soon noticed something odd. Shuichi seemed to be holding his hand over his mouth, occasionally sug in a sharp breath.

  “Chiba-kun? What’s wrong?” Fumika whispered softly, evident in her voice.

  Shuichi managed a faint, wry smile. “It… hurts a little.”

  Fumika froze for a moment, her cheeks flushing as the realization dawned on her. Could it be… swollen? She vividly recalled how engrossed she had been earlier and suddenly felt self-scious.

  “I-I’m sorry…” She stammered, trying to suppress her embarrassment as she offered an apology.

  “No, no, this isn’t Fumika-san’s fault,” Shuichi replied quickly, though his left hand stealthily reached over and gave the "culprit," Sayuki Ogawa, a firm squeeze ohigh.

  Sayuki, unwilling to back dowaliated by ping Shuichi’s thigh just as hard.

  Their silent test escated as they exged squeezes and pinches, her willing to be the first to make a sound and risking the embarrassment of drawing Fumika’s attention.

  Shuichi Chiba suddenly felt a pang ret. He really shouldn’t have expressed envy earlier about Sayuki Ogawa’s ability to tease her sister, Fumika. Sayuki’s grip strength was no joke—he was clearly outmatched for now.

  Trying to distract himself from the test, Shuichi opened his system interfad checked the test updates from the "System" feature.

  [Tamako Akiyama, Sense of Belonging: 60] [Ogawa Fumika, Sense of Belonging: 50] [Ogawa Sayuki, Sense of Belonging: 40] [Current Monthly Sary: ￥1,600,000]

  Looking at the numbers, a sense of aplishment surged within him. All his hard work over the past few days aying off.

  Success truly favors the diligent, he thought smugly.

  While lost in his system analysis, Shuichi suddenly felt his right hand being taken. Startled, he looked down to find Fumika Ogawa guiding his hand toward her “absolute territory,” the tantalizing area where her thighs met the hem of her skirt.

  “Since we ’t… kiss anymore, we could… do something else as pensation,” Fumika whispered, her voice trembling slightly. Her cheeks burned as she added hurriedly, “But don’t… tease me too much, okay?”

  “What ts as ‘too much,’ Fumika-san? Could you expin that to me?” Shuichi asked pyfully.

  He hooked his finger around the garter strap of her stogs a snap back against the soft flesh of her thigh with a crisp snap sound.

  The impact left a pink mark on her abaster skin, which was so tehat it reddened almost instantly.

  “Mm…” Fumika bit her lip, holding back a sound. She couldn’t bring herself to speak further, especially with her sister sitting right there. If it were just the two of them, she might have been able to articute her feelings. But with Sayuki present, embarrassment swirled through her, heightening the thrill of their subtle, secret as.

  And precisely because her sister was still nearby, the forbidden aspect of their covert py made her heart race even more.

  Shuichi Chiba, fully engaged in juggling his mischievous as betweewo sisters, suddenly heard a loud, high-pitched cry from the row ahead and to the right.

  The sound startled all three of them, causing their covert antie to an abrupt halt as they instinctively turo look.

  In the dim light of the s, two shadowy figures could be seen moving—a flickering silhouette remi of a se lit by dlelight. Although the exact details were obscured, the peculiar motions, bined with the earlier cry, left little to the imagination about what was happening.

  Fumika Ogaed a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in shock as she pressed her kightly together. “T-That’s way too bold! Aren’t they worried about being seen?”

  “They probably want to be seen. It only makes things more exg for them, doesn't it? Besides, no one really see their faces,” Shuichi replied, his voice low and matter-of-fact.

  While Shuichi felt that the couple’s overt dispy was crossing a line, he aowledged a certain... human curiosity. Small, discreet mischief could be fun, but this kind of fgrant behavior? It wasn’t something he could accept, and he doubted the two women beside him could, either.

  But… as for Sayuki Ogawa, her rea was harder to predict.

  “You two aren’t much better,” Sayuki suddenly quipped, her voice tinged with irony. “Making ht in front of me like that—exg, isn’t it?”

  Fumika let out a soft, embarrassed whimper, burying her flushed fa her chest. She had no terargument.

  And as if inspired by the audacity of that bold couple, the other pairs iheater seemed to lose their inhibitions as well, being even more uninhibited in their as.

  At this point, if a single person happeo wander into the theater, they’d likely suffer an instant morale-shattering blow from the overwhelming spectacle of roman the air.

  …

  By the time the movie ended, it was safe to say that no one iheater had any idea what the film was actually about. However, as the audieed the theatre, almost every single person had a look of utter satisfa on their faces.

  Naturally, this se was reflected in the glowing reviews left on various rating sites:

  [Full marks, no expnation needed.]

  [I have no idea what the movie was about, but the atmosphere iheater was amazing. I loved it.]

  [Highly reend for young couples—it’s bound to deepen your retionship.]

  [Same as above.]

  Shuichi Chiba smirked as he typed the simple phrase "Same as above" into his own review, then watched as the Ogawa sisters departed. Ohey were out of sight, he turned and headed back to the shopping street alone.

  As he walked, Shuichi absently licked his lips, which still stung faintly from where they had been bitten. There was a lingering sweetness, though he couldn’t tell whether it came from Fumika or Sayuki. Not that it mattered—why bother s out such details when the overall experience was what ted?

  Passing the ma office, he paused briefly outside a familiar ramen shop, only to find its shutters drawn and lights off. It had already closed for the night.

  Shuichi Chiba, notig the ramen shop had already closed, recalled seeing the store’s business hours on the flyer that m—open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a one-hour break at 3 p.m.

  Entering the shop, he sat down at the ter and found Mrs. Akiyama was being pampered by her younger daughter, who was massaging her shoulders.

  “How was the first day? Did business go well?” Shuichi asked, grinning as he looked at the se.

  Mrs. Akiyama let out a theatrical sigh, "Too well! So much so that my arms feel like they’re going to fall off. I haven’t worked this hard in ages.”

  “Mom, stop sg! It’s your turn to massage my shoulders now!” An Akiyama huffed, puffing out her cheeks as she lightly pushed her mother.

  An, after finishing her club activities and preparations for the sports festival, had rushed back to help as the shop’s pirl. She’d been busy all evening and had only just gotten a break after closing time.

  “An, you’re the one sg! We agreed on five minutes, and there’s still half a minute left!” Mrs. Akiyama retorted childishly, her tog her daughter’s as the two began bickering.

  Watg the antics, Tsuki Akiyama rolled her eyes and focused on bang the day’s ledger. But something caught her attention, promptio goward Shuichi.

  “This is odd,” She said thoughtfully.

  “Oh? What’s odd? Surely not odder than you, Madam President,” Shuichi teased, his smile mischievous.

  Tsuki gave him a sidelong gre. “I’m talking about the promotional respohe ratio of ers to the flyers distributed is unusually high.”

  “And what clusion has our brilliant Madam President drawn?” Shuichi leaned in, smirking, and discreetly grabbing her ass.

  Exhausted from the day, Tsuki stiffe the suddeion, her body shivering with an involuntary rush of pleasure. She barely mao steady herself by gripping the table.

  “Co-clusion…” She stammered, biting her lip as she forced herself to focus. “The flyers distributed must… hngh… be more than what we pnned yesterday, or there must… mmm… be other promotional els used.”

  “As expected of Madam President, always so sharp.”

  Shuichi chuckled and leaned closer, pressing his lips to her ear and whispering softly, “You’ve worked hard today, Tsuki. sider this your reward.”

  Tsuki, her cheeks flushed, whispered back while gng at her bickering mother and sister to ehey weren’t paying attention, “Not enough… Still not enough…”

  “Oh? What more do you want?” Shuichi asked, his hand sliding down to her thigh for a pyful squeeze.

  Tsuki’s breath hitched. Her soft lips parted as she murmured huskily, “Tomorrow… the cat… you demahis before, didn’t you…”

  Her words, though fragmented, were enough to stir Shuichi’s spirits to a fever pitch.