Chapter 246: Winter Is the Season for Two People to Lie Together

Advanced Nurturing High School, Class A classroom.

"This concludes the last class meeting of the semester. Be aware that even during the break, you must strictly abide by the school's rules and fulfill your duties as a student."

December twenty-second was the closing ceremony. After finishing all classes this morning, the students would usher in the annual winter break. Only a few days remained until Christmas, a holiday the Japanese held in considerable importance.

Class A's homeroom teacher, Mashima Tomonari, still wore his meticulous suit, standing ramrod straight on the podium, tirelessly going over winter break precautions.

Below the podium was a classroom full of Class A students in utter agony.

"Alright, alright, alright. Master Mashima, stop chanting. You were like this last summer break too." Yoshida Kenta lay slumped over his desk, both hands clutching his forehead, his face a picture of suffering.

"Exactly. Hurry up and finish." Sugio Hiroshi had already started packing his bag. "At this rate, we're going to start calling you 'Useless Thing' too!"

The moment those words landed, the Class A classroom, which had been as stuffy as congealed air, suddenly burst like a punctured balloon, letting out a few stifled snickers.

After two semesters, the Class A students had gradually grown familiar with their ever-stern homeroom teacher. Their teasing had increased accordingly. Probably in another two semesters, if Mashima kept up this nagging manner, the current "Useless Thing" would get upgraded to "Mashima the Weak-Brained."

Seeing the protests from below, Mashima's face twitched a few times. He helplessly sped up his reading of the precautions.

He had already taken three cohorts of first-years, yet this was the first time he'd seen such an unreliable Class A. And yet this current Class A's class points were rocketing up like a launched missile, far surpassing any previous generation.

I don't understand!

Twenty minutes later, with Mashima's listless dismissal, Fuyuji Mikage's second semester at Advanced Nurturing officially came to an end. Lifting his eyes to check the clock, he said goodbye to Morishita Ai and the others, then walked out of the gradually noisy school building alone.

Outside, the world had changed color. The sky was a uniform pale gray. Snow fell quietly.

The ginkgo trees on both sides had long since lost their golden leaves. A thin layer of white snow had accumulated on the bare branches, making their outlines appear crisp and soft.

The air was clear and cold, carrying the chill unique to winter. Drawing it into his lungs brought a faint, icy sting.

Many students who were already on break walked past Fuyuji in twos and threes, backpacks on their shoulders, chatting and laughing. Their shoes left shallow prints in the freshly fallen snow, soon filled in again by drifting flakes.

A few minutes later, Fuyuji walked into a supermarket.

Beef... brown sugar... spinach... oranges... Item after item he tossed into the shopping basket.

Forget it! Whatever!

In the end, Fuyuji simply swept everything that might be useful into his basket all at once.

"Please come again." The cashier's businesslike voice rang out.

Carrying two large bags of groceries, Fuyuji walked out of the supermarket and, through the cold wind, followed a quiet little path covered in thin snow until he reached the entrance to the girls' dormitory.

Beep!

He held the room card to the sensor on the lock and pushed the door open sideways.

"Senpai, are you feeling any better?"

"A little better, but still uncomfortable."

Kiryuin Fuka's crisp voice came from the bed, missing some of its usual casualness, carrying a bit more softness.

"Amazing, really. A menstrual period, and it can actually bring down my such-powerful senpai."

Setting the bags on the floor, Fuyuji sighed in admiration while taking off his coat. He gently shook the unmelted fine snow off it outside the room, then hung it skillfully on the hook behind the door.

"No helping it." Kiryuin turned over. She seemed to have been lying still for a long time. Her voice was a bit languid, carrying a hint of hoarseness. "No matter what, Senpai is still a girl. When she's sick, she's still fragile. It's just that no one gets to see this side of her."

"Then should I feel honored?" Fuyuji changed his shoes and walked into the room, teasing playfully.

The entire room was done in cool gray-white tones. The curtains were sky blue. Exam papers and books were piled on the desk. The kitchen, at a glance, was clearly the kind that had absolutely never been used. The other furnishings in the room were neatly arranged.

What was surprising was that amid this casual yet slightly orderly style, Kiryuin's pink-and-white bed and quilt stood out conspicuously.

In the slightly raised bedding, silver-white hair lay scattered beside the pillow like a snow lotus blooming in winter. Kiryuin had most of her face buried in the pillow, leaving only her smooth forehead and tightly closed eyelids exposed.

"That's not necessary." She kept her eyes closed and tilted her head slightly, revealing her perfect jawline and a small portion of her pale profile. "It was meant for you to see anyway."

Fuyuji, who had crouched down and was about to stuff the groceries from the bag into the fridge, froze mid-motion.

"Senpai, you're playing dirty," Fuyuji murmured under his breath.

"What?"

"No, nothing." Fuyuji continued with his hands.

Kiryuin's lips, buried in the pillow, curved upward. She let out a light laugh. "Dishonest little junior..."

"Senpai," Fuyuji tugged at the corner of his mouth and slammed the fridge door shut with a bang, "you clearly heard that, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't." A muffled voice came, tinged with amusement.

"Liar."

...

Amid their desultory chatter, the snow outside grew heavier, fluttering down like goose feathers. It quickly dyed the world outside the window into a blurry white. The noise from downstairs was cut off by the thick curtain of snow, seeming distant and vague.

In the room, only the sound of their soft breathing and the occasional hum of the heater remained.

Ten minutes later, Fuyuji came out of the kitchen, set a cup on the bedside table, and sat down close beside Kiryuin, looking at the figure curled up under the quilt.

"Senpai, time to get up."

With that, he reached out an arm, gently slipping it under the edge of the bedding. He wrapped it around Kiryuin's thin shoulders and carefully lifted her upper body, letting her lean against his shoulder.

Silver-white long hair cascaded down her waist like a waterfall. She wore white pajamas dotted with small patterns. Her face was somewhat pale, and a few strands of hair clung to the corner of her lips.

What a contrast to the senpai who usually treated the rules of the second year as if they didn't exist.

"What's this?" Kiryuin opened her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering a few times. She turned her head to look at the amber-colored transparent liquid on the bedside table. Her moist wine-red eyes were like polished rubies.

"Brown sugar ginger tea. An old hometown remedy. I heard it helps girls feel better during their period."

The supernova of the dark culinary world, Fuyuji Mikage, might cook in a way that bordered on mysticism, but boiling brown sugar ginger tea was still within his abilities.

"Oh?" Kiryuin raised an eyebrow slightly, a half-smile on her face. "So you've tried it on all those girls of yours?"

She was different from the other girls who were busy to the point of not touching the ground. Aside from enjoying campus life, her greatest pleasure all day long was watching what her little junior was up to. Combined with her intuition, which far surpassed ordinary people, she had basically dug up and mapped out all the girls around Fuyuji after just one look.

But she didn't particularly mind. She did whatever she wanted.

"Cough cough," Fuyuji's expression faltered. He spoke awkwardly. "I've tried it."

And it had been received as a revelation from heaven, with lavish praise. Morishita had even grabbed a wooden sword and exclaimed, "You can't possibly be Fuyuji Mikage! Get out of his body right now, or I'll summon the ancestors of the Morishita family!" That was also one of the rare times Yamamura, Shiraishi, and the other girls hadn't turned their noses up at his cooking.

"..."

Kiryuin said nothing. She simply narrowed her eyes slightly, silently watching Fuyuji's cheek for a good while. Only when Fuyuji was about to squirm under her gaze did she leisurely withdraw her eyes and casually take the cup.

"Forget it. Senpai can't beat you today. Whatever you want, I can't do anything about it."

Her fair neck stretched like a swan's. Kiryuin leaned toward the rim of the cup, carefully blew on the steam, and took a small sip.

Her slender brows first furrowed instinctively, as if stimulated by the spiciness of the ginger. Then that slight furrow melted away like snow and ice, gradually smoothing out...

"How is it?" Fuyuji widened his eyes, asking with a bit of expectation.

Kiryuin glanced at him and delivered her verdict without mercy.

"Too sweet."

"Really?" Fuyuji thought back to the amount of brown sugar he'd added. "Isn't that a normal amount of sugar?"

Unfortunately, before Fuyuji could figure it out, the cup had already been shoved back into his hands.

"Another cup."

"Okay."

...

A short while later, having finished her second cup of brown sugar ginger tea, Kiryuin's spirits had visibly improved. A bit of healthy color had returned to her pale cheeks. The warmth dispelled the chill and discomfort in her body.

"Phew..."

She stretched both arms out, lazily extending her waist. Her tall figure was fully on display. The thin pajama fabric clung to her body, clearly outlining the full curve of her chest, her slender waist, and the graceful, undulating line of her hips. She was full of youthful, alluring vitality.

The hem of her pajamas rode up slightly, revealing a stretch of fair, firm skin at her waist and abdomen.

Witnessing such a splendid scene, Fuyuji's Adam's apple bobbed twice. His gaze involuntarily followed that fleeting glimpse of her waistline. He silently swallowed a mouthful of saliva, feeling as if the heater in the room had been turned up too high.

"Senpai, do you want more?"

Catching sight of Fuyuji's expression, Kiryuin curved the corner of her mouth. "I want more."

Fuyuji was just picking up the cup to leave when Kiryuin grabbed his wrist with a smack.

"What's the rush? I haven't even said what I want yet."

"Huh?" Fuyuji turned back, startled. "Didn't you want—"

Before he could finish, a force far greater than any sick person should possess came from his wrist. The next moment, Fuyuji's whole body was yanked forward, his center of gravity pitching. The words were still stuck in his throat, and the scene before his eyes flipped violently, finally becoming that unfamiliar ceiling.

Thud!

He landed squarely in the soft bedding, sinking into it.

You liar, Senpai!

You said you were sick and fragile, but this strength of yours could kill two oxen!

Before Fuyuji could react, the warmth of Kiryuin's body heat and the bedding's unique fragrance instantly enveloped him. The scent of her hair, mixed with the girl's natural body fragrance, rushed at him.

Then, an arm that felt soft even through the thin pajama fabric reached across, domineeringly wrapping around his waist, pinning him firmly in place.

Kiryuin's face was close at hand. A few strands of silver hair brushed against his cheek, ticklish.

She adjusted her posture slightly and yanked the corner of the quilt hard over both of them, her movement so brisk it was completely unlike a sick person's. She closed her eyes.

"Sleep with me."

"..."

Her pretty face, her fiery figure, that hint of fragility no one else got to see when she was sick, and that smooth yet resilient touch...

Fuyuji spoke quietly. "Senpai, aren't you afraid I'll devour you from head to toe right here?"

"Senpai is on her period right now. I still have plenty of confidence in my little junior."

Kiryuin, emboldened, pressed even closer to him. Both hands wrapped tightly around his neck. Under the quilt, her two long legs, like white pythons, clamped around Fuyuji.

"But Senpai is too tempting." His hands under the quilt quietly reached toward Kiryuin's pert, round buttocks, whose bounce was astonishing. The thin, soft pajama fabric couldn't block the kneading touch of those mischievous hands at all. The fullness and warmth beneath his palms made his fingertips burn.

"Don't worry."

The girl put strength into both hands and returned her whole body to a position parallel with Fuyuji. She brought her head close to his ear and spoke in a low voice, tinged with a smile.

"If there's a problem, Senpai will take care of it. What do you want?"

In that moment, Fuyuji made a choice entirely dictated by his body's instincts.

He reached out and fumbled around beside him. The next second, the pink quilt spread open in the air and slowly settled over the two of them, covering them completely. Kiryuin's tall body was pulled entirely into his embrace. The two bodies fit together like puzzle pieces, seamless.

At this point.

Quickly tossing aside that tiny remaining shred of shame in his heart, Fuyuji lowered his head with a solemn expression and gazed at Kiryuin's face. "Senpai... I'll be counting on you in a bit."

"Of course. This is Senpai's reward for her cute little junior."

"Then let me give a reward to my cute senpai too."

"What reward?"

"This!"

The next second, Fuyuji's head dropped. Lips met lips in an instant. Nose tip met nose tip.

"Mmph!" Kiryuin's closed eyelids flew open, then curved into crescent moons. She forcefully launched a counterattack.

"Mm... it really is a bit sweet after all."

In the bathroom, water dripped from the faucet. The sound of water echoed in the small room.

"Shut up." After a brief separation for air, Kiryuin panted slightly, pinching the back of his neck in dissatisfaction. Her voice was hoarse as she commanded, "Continue."

"Oh."

"Mmph... you're pretty skilled. How many girls have you kissed?"

"Senpai, don't say such mood-killing things at a time like this."

"Who told you to stop? Continue. And... stick your tongue out."

"Senpai, you're such a pervert."

"Then do you like it?"

"I like it."

Outside the window, the snow fell quietly, just like that.

The whole world seemed wrapped in this gentle white. The usual clamor of the campus seemed to have been absorbed by the snow. Even time itself seemed to slow down.

-----------------------------------------------------------

50 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!