"Hmm... I've finished reading."
Closing the book, Eriri nodded.
The first volume of Love Sync wasn't particularly long, so Eriri finished it quickly and already had some thoughts about it.
Of course, though she read fast, she had still absorbed the content—she even had her own opinions about the relationship between the male and female protagonists.
Just as she was about to share her thoughts with Utaha Kasumigaoka, she suddenly noticed that Utaha's expression seemed a little off.
In the time it took Eriri to read the book, Utaha's face had become flushed, her breathing had grown heavier, and her body seemed weak, as if she could barely sit properly.
Though Eriri held some hostility toward Utaha, she was still a good kid at heart. Seeing Utaha , she couldn't help but feel concerned. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾·𝗇𝖾𝗍
"...Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell? Maybe we should call it a day?"
In truth, when Eriri saw Utaha , her mind involuntarily flashed back to the times she had been intimate with Shin.
As a doujinshi artist, Eriri couldn't help but think that Utaha's expression looked a little... lewd. It even made her wonder if Utaha had been doing something inappropriate in public.
But Utaha was sitting properly across from her, both hands on the table—there was no way she could be doing that.
So Eriri quickly dismissed the strange thought and instead worried that Utaha might be sick.
Utaha's voice was slightly hoarse, sounding almost like one of those intentionally seductive ASMR recordings.
But this wasn't an act—her strange behavior was entirely because Shin had been playing with her foot.
That's right. Shin wasn't the type to take teasing without retaliation. After noticing Utaha rubbing her foot against his ankle, he had decisively struck back.
Under the table, he reached out, grabbed Utaha's foot, and began massaging it in various ways.
If it were just an ordinary massage, it probably wouldn't have affected Utaha much.
After all, feet weren't typically considered erogenous zones—massaging them usually just made people feel pain or itchiness, not the kind of reaction Utaha was having, as if her sensitive spots were being teased.
But this time, Shin had also used ki, channeling it into Utaha's foot to stimulate her body, which naturally gave her an entirely different sensation.
While Shin's actions left Utaha completely weak, she was also surprised to discover that her feet could be this sensitive in his hands.
While Eriri had been reading Love Sync, Utaha had essentially been enduring Shin's teasing the entire time, leaving her looking thoroughly... indecent.
"Still, today might not be the best time to continue our discussion... Let's exchange contact info instead."
Though she wasn't actually sick, Utaha—now with a newly discovered weakness—felt she couldn't focus on discussing the novel in her current state.
With great difficulty, she pulled her foot back and forced herself to calmly exchange contact information with Eriri.
Originally, her reason for seeking out Shin had been to ask him about the truth behind the supernatural incidents. Teasing him with her foot had just been a playful move because she was interested in him.
But she hadn't expected this to backfire, resulting in Shin forcibly awakening a strange new sensitive spot in her, leaving her flustered and at a loss.
At this point, even if Eriri offered her thoughts on the novel, Utaha doubted she'd be able to process them properly.
So it was better to exchange contact details and hear Eriri's suggestions later.
After they finished exchanging information, Eriri excused herself to the restroom.
While reading Love Sync, Eriri had been sipping on her drink nonstop, and now she couldn't hold it in any longer.
Once Eriri left, Utaha—now sitting across from Shin—finally relaxed slightly and shot him a strange look.
"Shin-San, you're really something... To do something like that while Eriri was right beside us..."
Though she had reverted to calling him "Shin-San" after Eriri left, this wasn't a sign of distance—if anything, there was a teasing undertone to it.
Of course, despite her words, she didn't actually pull her foot away.
Shin's earlier kneading had left Utaha's foot with lingering sensations. Even after withdrawing it, she didn't dare let her feet touch the ground.
She even felt like something terrible would happen if she did, so she planned to wait until the strange feeling faded before putting her shoes back on.
"You were the one who made the first move... or rather, the first step."
Shin picked up a wet wipe and cleaned his hands—while playing with stocking-clad feet was a pleasure for foot fetishists, hygiene still mattered.
As for his actions just now, he felt zero guilt.
After all, Utaha had started it. He was just retaliating. If anyone should apologize, it was her.
"You're such a bad club president."
Utaha shot him a light glare but didn't say anything else.
This time, she had tried to tease him only to end up being teased instead. She was in the wrong here—and she could tell Shin wasn't the type to just take things passively.
If she pushed too far, she was afraid she'd end up suffering even worse consequences.
So she took a moment to calm the strange sensations in her feet and the fluttering in her chest.
Then, while Eriri was still away, she asked Shin the question she had been meaning to ask all along:
"Hey... Shin, do you have some kind of special ability?"
"Hm? Why do you ask?"
Shin glanced at her in surprise, not expecting that kind of question.
He didn't know that Utaha had accidentally seen him teleporting.
But given that rumors of the "Spirit Medium" had been circulating among the underworld and high society lately, he assumed she might have heard something.
"Well... I suppose you could say that."
Shin took a sip of his coffee—he hadn't touched it for a while, and it had gone cold.
"So you joined the Paranormal Research Club because of this?"
He had always wondered why Utaha had suddenly taken an interest in the supernatural... Now it seemed [she had noticed Shin's unique traits].
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