Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Let Me See!

“Little Jin, you have another woman’s scent on you!” Hotogi Shirayuki’s voice dropped an octave, her gaze losing its luster and turning sharp.

“Ahaha, Shiraiyuki, you sure are a joker. How could I possibly have anyone else’s scent on me?” Tohyama Kanako’s heart pounded violently as she thought, ‘Could it be because I was around Aria for too long and picked up her gardenia perfume scent?’

“Little Jin doesn’t like using perfume or cosmetics, usually you only have the lavender scent of laundry detergent. Where did this very distinctive floral fragrance come from?” Hotogi Shirayuki pressed closer step by step.

“Perfume… oh, right, you know I had my part-time job today, right?” Tohyama Kanako first set aside the fact that her childhood friend knew her body scent so well and quickly tried to think of an excuse to brush it off.

Hotogi Shirayuki nodded.

“When I passed by a shopping mall, I happened to run into a cosmetics counter doing a promotional event on the street. A salesperson stopped me and sprayed a bit of trial perfume on me. That’s all it was.” Tohyama Kanako lied to her childhood friend. Passing by the mall was true, but there was absolutely no mall event.

“Really?” Hotogi Shirayuki eyed Tohyama Kanako’s face suspiciously.

“Of course it’s true!” Tohyama Kanako nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Hotogi Shirayuki smiled as if ice and snow had melted, but then her expression turned worried. “I received a notification email from the Academic Affairs Division today. It mentioned a student being targeted by a bicycle bomb attack. That student wouldn’t happen to be you, Little Jin?”

“Uh, it was me.” Tohyama Kanako didn’t hide this fact.

“Oh no! Are you alright? Were you hurt? Let me see!” As Hotogi Shirayuki spoke, she reached her hands towards Tohyama Kanako.

One of Hotogi Shirayuki’s hands went for the hem of Tohyama Kanako’s sailor uniform, the other grabbed at her skirt zipper—she was poised to strip the latter’s clothes off right there in the entryway.

“W-wait, calm down, Shiraiyuki! I’m completely fine, not hurt at all. It was just a false alarm!” Tohyama Kanako quickly used her free hand to block her childhood friend, preventing any further action.

“Th-that’s such a relief.” Hotogi Shirayuki didn’t insist. She breathed a sigh of relief and muttered quietly, “How dare they target my Little Jin? I’ll definitely tear them limb from limb, fill them with cement, and sink them in Tokyo… no, I mean, arrest them!”

Tohyama Kanako thought she heard some rather terrifying words…

‘Must have misheard. There’s no way Shiraiyuki would talk like that. Definitely misheard!’ Tohyama Kanako repeated to herself silently.

“Alright! Let’s stop there. For a Butei student, encountering cases is just daily life, no big deal!” Tohyama Kanako hurriedly ended the topic.

“As long as Little Jin is okay, I’m relieved… That package contains bamboo shoot rice. Starting tomorrow, I have to go for another training camp. This time it’s at Mount Osore in Aomori, so I won’t be able to cook for you for a while…” Hotogi Shirayuki’s expression was a bit downcast, but then she seemed to think of something and added, “How about you come with me, Little Jin? Just choose S-Ken as your elective this semester. The teacher wants you to come too!”

S-Ken is the abbreviation for the specialized subject—Supernatural Search Research (SSR), the department Hotogi Shirayuki is in. For a shrine maiden to study in such a subject is quite fitting.

“That’s impossible, right? Supernatural powers and such have absolutely nothing to do with me.” Tohyama Kanako felt her childhood friend’s invitation was just an excuse to keep her by her side.

Tohyama Kanako didn’t believe she possessed any supernatural aptitude. The S-Ken teacher’s supposed interest was likely just her childhood friend’s pretense.

“Could it be that Little Jin is just resisting ju—?” Hotogi Shirayuki was about to say something more but was interrupted by a sound.

“Splash!” The sound of water hitting the floor came from inside the dorm room.

Tohyama Kanako’s heart began pounding violently again. ‘What is that idiot Aria doing? Playing with water in the bathroom?’

“…Inside… is there someone else?” The light in Hotogi Shirayuki’s pupils vanished again.

“No! No! How could there be? It’s just the sound from the TV!” Tohyama Kanako waved her hands frantically.

“…Little Jin, are you hiding something from me?”

It hurts!

Tohyama Kanako felt pierced by her childhood friend’s gaze!

“How could I be! A child couldn’t possibly hide things from her mother, right?” In an effort to appease her childhood friend, Tohyama Kanako even blurted out such words.

‘Oh, Mother in heaven, please forgive your unfilial daughter, wu wu wu…’ Tohyama Kanako wept inwardly with grief.

“Is that so? Little Jin feels that way too? That’s wonderful!” Hotogi Shirayuki immediately revealed a doting smile. Her face-changing speed was really fast.

“Yes, hahaha…” Tohyama Kanako forced a dry laugh, saying words contrary to her true feelings.

After saying goodnight, Hotogi Shirayuki finally turned and left.

“So tired…” Tohyama Kanako closed the dorm door, leaned her back against it, sweat beading all over. Dealing with her childhood friend was more exhausting than fighting a war.

After tidying up the dishes and putting the bamboo shoot rice Hotogi Shirayuki made into the refrigerator, Tohyama Kanako slumped onto the sofa, looking utterly drained, waiting for the bathroom to become free.

“Jin, I’m done. Your turn.” Aria, drying her hair with a towel, stepped out of the bathroom. She was wearing a pink nightgown, not just wrapped in a bath towel, so there was no need to worry about any accidents.

“Oh, is that so?” Tohyama Kanako struggled to her feet and shuffled back to her bedroom to get her change of clothes.

“What happened to you? Why are your clothes all wet?” Aria pointed at Tohyama Kanako’s sailor uniform.

“Just a little post-meal exercise…” Tohyama Kanako brushed it off casually.

Carrying her clothes into the changing room outside the bathroom, Tohyama Kanako then realized the entire bathroom was filled with Aria’s gardenia fragrance. She quickly covered her nose and aired out the bathroom, afraid her Hysteria Mode might activate because of the scent.

Tohyama Kanako knew very well that the triggers for Hysteria Mode were varied, the body scent of other girls was one of them.

After waiting ten minutes, Tohyama Kanako entered the bathroom again.

She took off her girls’ uniform and underwear, placing them in the laundry basket. The underwear was plain, ordinary pure white—very simple. To avoid unnecessary trouble, most of Tohyama Kanako’s underwear was of simple colors and styles.

In the wardrobe, there were also undergarments Hotogi Shirayuki had bought for Tohyama Kanako, but those were mostly black, purple, lace, etc. She found them too flashy.

Tohyama Kanako had only tried them on a few times secretly in her bedroom with the door locked and had basically never touched them since. The effect of wearing those flashy undergarments was really too embarrassing to mention!

In another laundry basket were Aria’s clothes. Besides the girls’ uniform, that childish playing card patterned underwear set was also in there.

Taking a towel into the bathroom, Tohyama Kanako noticed Aria hadn’t filled the bathtub.

‘She really is a foreigner, not used to soaking in baths.’

Because she was so exhausted today, Tohyama Kanako decided to splurge and take a proper bath. To save on water bills, she mostly showered. As for public bathhouses, she really didn’t dare go.

Since Aria hadn’t used the bath earlier, it saved Tohyama Kanako the trouble of changing the water.

Lying in the bathtub, letting the water’s heat seep into her limbs and bones, felt incredibly comfortable. Tohyama Kanako really wanted to just fall asleep like that.

‘How do I get that pink-haired one to leave here…’ Tohyama Kanako used the alone time during her bath to think hard about countermeasures.

Hotogi Shirayuki was about to go to the training camp at Mount Osore in Aomori. This did give Tohyama Kanako some buffer time, she wouldn’t have to worry about her childhood friend coming over in the morning and discovering Aria’s presence for a while.

Just thinking about that pink-haired girl watching TV outside gave Tohyama Kanako a headache. It made her feel like she was harboring a secret paramour, having to employ every possible means to deceive others.

Tohyama Kanako knew very well that if others found out Aria was staying with her, those jealous girls would probably try to give Aria a hard time in secret. And if the news reached her childhood friend’s ears, given how Shiraiyuki had acted earlier, she herself would probably be in trouble too.

[To Be Continued.]

[https://ko-fi.com/golden_dragon]