novelVolume 2, Opening X-01 - Rainy Days Don't Have to be Boring
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Volume 2, Opening X-01: Rainy Days Don't Have to be Boring
"At any rate, the map is filled with hotels, hotels, hotels, and more hotels!!"
"Byahh!! Ligerrrrrrrrr!!"
(Opening X-01 Open 04/29 19:00)
Rainy Days Don't Have to be Boring
It was an incomplete Golden Week.
If the office workers used their paid leave well, they could get a maximum of fourteen days off of work, but that meant nothing to the students. They got a few bursts of two or three days off and they could already predict that their mood would quickly grow blue as they switched back and forth between staying up late on their days off and heading to school first thing in the morning on the school days.
On top of that, it was raining.
It was not raining hard, but it showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. That gentle but constant rain had continued almost nonstop since the end of last week. The days repeatedly switched back and forth between cloudy and rainy, so no one could make any plans to head out.
But all of that meant nothing to Swimsuit Girl Aika who was holed up in her top-floor luxury apartment!
Her half-opened eyes looked somehow boundless. Her long brown hair was tied into two slender braids and then tied into two large loops on either side of her head for a variation on the twintail. She almost always wore a swimsuit and used her white liger (a cross between a lion and a white tiger, making a monster 1. 5 times the size of a lion) as a couch, but today things were a little different.
Aika had made a fortress out of the luxury apartment building's top floor, the floor below that, and the roof which functioned as a midair park. She stood on that roof letting the light but unending rain pelt her entire body.
She also wore a baggy T-shirt over her bight green and white striped bikini.
"A genius like Onii-chan isn't satisfied by a simple swimsuit anymore, but I can win his heart with the wet and see-through effect. The fabric clings to my bodylines and my girly skin color will show through, so no boy can resist a baggy T-shirt over the standard stripes!!"
The earpiece she wore produced a quiet beep.
That meant she had a guest. Earlier, she had received a text saying "We'll be there soon" from Shiroyama Kyousuke who she referred to as "Onii-chan" (even though they were not siblings, blood-related or otherwise). The fact that Lu Niang Lan, a busty beauty in a modified China dress, would be with him was unfortunate, but Aika kept her thoughts positive. Yes, having those extra-large bags of fat in front of him would emphasize her modest and slender body!!
"Heh heh heh heh heh! I hope you enjoy your position as the potatoes served next to the main meat...no, the onions laid out below the meat, you old hag! Onii-chan belongs to the little sister who can call him Onii-chan!!"
Certain of her victory, Aika walked back indoors with wet and bare feet.
The large and needlessly bright space looked just like the model rooms seen on TV commercials. The showy living room was large enough to hold a normal family apartment and the visitors had already come in using their spare key.
However...
For some reason, Shiroyama Kyousuke and Lu Niang Lan were gasping for breath, soaked with sweat, and leaning up against each other on the sofa bed.
In his sports brand hoodie and track pants, one might think Shiroyama Kyousuke had been jogging, but the beauty in a modified China dress gave off an entirely different impression as she lay sprawled out there. Her breasts smoothly rose and fell with her breaths, the full length of her slender legs stuck out of the dress's large slit, beads of sweat trailed down her fine exposed skin, and warm breaths escaped her scarlet lips. Altogether, it brought a vision of certain actions to mind.
Shut-in Girl Aika's face paled.
She directly gave voice to what first came to mind.
"Wh-what...what happened between you two!? What happened in the few minutes it took me to get here, Onii-chan!? D-don't tell me you've stooped to new levels of cruelty by using a shut-in girl's final stronghold as a place to bring girls for some fun! You aren't that kind of Onii-chan, are you!?"
Incidentally, the white liger who was her pet, couch, conversational partner, and vessel was as relaxed as a cat curled up in a pot.
"Ah...ueh...auh..."
Kyousuke somehow managed to speak even though he was still gasping for breath and his throat was still blocked up.
"Th-that was all...pant...Lu-san's fault... She's the one...pant...that suddenly knocked me out..."
"What are you saying, Kyousuke-chan? Pant...This was all your doing, Kyousuke-chan... Pant, I told you to stop, but you went for it anyway..."
Collapsed on the sofa bed and unable to move, their arms crossed as they pointed at each other's face and blamed the other.
But none of that put Aika at ease.
In fact, her vision grew dark.
"Wh-what is this perfect synchronization? I feel like something happened without me and there's no room for me here!"
"I-it should be...on the news before long..."
Kyousuke finally wiped sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and answered from the sofa bed.
Lu Niang Lan waved a hand and used her toes to poke at an attache case on the floor.
"It was a pretty impressive incident, so the stations are probably holding back until they can carefully look over the report and remove anything that would foster social unrest. But then the amateur online news and video sites beat them to the punch and you start to wonder what the point of the TV news even is..."
"?"
Aika tilted her head, so Kyousuke started to explain.
"Lu-san and I were out at A Block. And what's located there?"
The girl reached for a glass table and grabbed a notebook-sized tablet that had a waterproof cover for use in the bath. She operated it with her index finger and the ceiling turned into a giant projector screen.
It was originally a joke product meant to let her surf the web while lying down. She had taken being a shut-in to the point that going to another part of the same room seemed like too much effort.
She did a search on Toy Dream 35's A Block and displayed its webpage for tourists.
"The A of A Block is for Airport and it acts as a giant entrance for Toy Dream 35."
It might be heard to imagine how an entire block could be named after the airport, but it was basically an area filled with duty free shops that sold luxury bags and wristwatches. Overall, it had a chic and mature atmosphere, but that may have come from the people there as much as from the simple urban planning. After all, brand-name bags could be bought there for (a little bit) cheaper than usual, so it tended to be filled with couples(?) that had an unnaturally large age difference.
As she continued her search, Aika found it.
She found another unique trait of A Block.
"O-Onii-chan, what is the meaning of this?"
"Of what?"
"Because of all the foreigners coming from the airport or people who were waiting for a cancelation that never came, A Block has everything from super luxury three star hotels to super cheap capsule hotels. At any rate, the map is filled with hotels, hotels, hotels, and more hotels!!"
"Eh? Ah?"
"Members of the opposite sex vanished into a hotel district...they're out of breath...and they won't give a straight answer about what happened... I'm asking what in the world is going on, Onii-chan!!"
"How did looking at a map of A Block make this my fault? I'm having trouble keeping up with the connections of your synapses!!"
"Byahh!! Ligerrrrrrrrr!!"
For some reason, Aika gave a tearful command with Xs in her eyes.
The giant beast had been curled up like a sofa in a corner of the room, but it immediately began to move. All it did was stick out its front paws and stretch its back, but that was enough to demonstrate the threat of its five meter body. It was now the ruler of this scene. Everything was instantly recolored by its presence.
But no matter how large it was, it was still a nocturnal feline. It produced no sound as it walked. Its approach toward Kyousuke seemed oddly unreal and he felt like he was watching an overwhelmingly powerful ghost.
However, the beast did not use its gigantic claws and fangs to tear apart the boy on the sofa bed.
She (it was a girl) approached Kyousuke on Aika's orders and then...
Lick.
She licked across his cheek with a tongue that looked like a giant rubber spatula.
"Wahyah!?"
Kyousuke nearly jumped back, but the white liger did not care. She used the pad of her front paw to stroke his head and rubbed her tree trunk sized neck against him. She was putting her scent on him to claim ownership.
"Wait, what, eh!? Fur...my mouth is full of fur...ueh!?"
Then Aika exploded.
"Liger...et tu, liger? Are you saying even you're going to get ahead of me? This love is just like the warring states period. And that means I can throw out all my morals, doesn't it!?"
"I'm not even going to try to comprehend your synapses. I give up, so...bwah...can't you do something about this white liger!?"
There was a reason Kyousuke sounded so concerned.
The white liger meant no harm. In fact, she had narrowed her eyes sleepily and let down her guard just like a kitten curled up in its favorite cat bed.
But that did not change the fact that the white liger was a five meter beast.
She weighed between 300 and 350 kilograms.
To be blunt, it was like being crushed below a small motorcycle, so the sofa bed began to creak in protest while Kyousuke was sandwiched between.
"Wait...this isn't good... Aika, this really isn't good! And, Lu-san, you can help too. Just someone get this thing off of me!"
"Heh heh heh heh heh. So is this your plan, Onii-chan? You're going to flirt with the liger too in order to burn me with the flames of jealousy? I understand. I understand all too well. I won't hold back anymore either. It looks like I have to take things a step beyond the swimsuit strategy!!"
"Kyousuke-chan, you really don't understand how girls' hearts work, do you? If you dismissively say I can 'help too', of course I'm going to refuse to help."
Why was Alice (with) Rabbit Shiroyama Kyousuke being crushed by the weight of a midsized motorcycle?
What had led to this?
To find out, let us turn back time a bit and see what Kyousuke and Lu Niang Lan were up to.
Let us see what they were doing in A Block.
Facts:
*Shiroyama Kyousuke currently has no contract and thus has no vessel to act as a partner. As such, he cannot use the summoning ceremony.
*Shiroyama Kyousuke went to Toy Dream 35's A Block with Lu Niang Lan of Illegal.
*Some kind of major trouble occurred in A Block. Something big enough for the state-run and privately-owned stations to hold off on reporting it.
*Aika loves her Onii-chan.
*The white liger also loves her Onii-chan.
*But that does not mean their actions will make everyone happy.
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