Ch.155Season of Pure Love (9)

-Ding dong

The next day, Do Hamin visited Miss Ban Doyoung’s house as promised.

Hamin’s hand had already repeated this experience several times.

Like Teacher Miso, he pressed the doorbell without any hesitation.

“Excuse me. It’s really hot today.”

Visiting his girlfriend’s house without feeling nervous.

A natural greeting directed at any potential family members besides Miss Ban Doyoung.

For Hamin, Miss Ban Doyoung’s house had become more familiar than special.

“Welcome. You came exactly at the time I mentioned★”

“Yeah. You said you needed time to prepare, so I thought I shouldn’t come too early. I figured you’d probably have some at home, but just in case, I bought some Zero Lime from the convenience store on my way. If you’d like, we could drink it now…”

-Thud

“Huh.”

Hamin’s hand flinched as he was naturally handing over the cola.

The pet bottle containing Zero Cola rolled across the shoe rack by the entrance with an elastic sound and hit against it.

“Why are you so surprised? You were greeting the living room so naturally and casually offering me Zero Lime★”

“…Well, even if it wasn’t me, I think anyone would be surprised seeing you like this.”

Hamin froze in place the moment his eyes met Miss Ban Doyoung at the entrance.

This place was no longer somewhere that gave Hamin familiarity and comfort.

“Hehehe, to freeze in shock the moment you see Pure Marina-chan, you must be an evil force aiming for Marina-chan’s innocence★?”

“Ma-Marina-chan doesn’t talk like that! Why is it half mixed with your way of speaking?!”

Why, you ask?

Because from now on, this house will be ruled not by Miss Ban Doyoung,

but by the magical girl of fantasy, Baek Kyaru-chan, no, Marina-chan.

.

.

.

“Let’s put the Zero Lime you brought in the refrigerator. If we open the cap now, it’ll be a bukkake right away★”

“J-just say it’ll overflow…!”

We decided to store the cola Hamin had dropped on the floor in the refrigerator.

The cola in the bottle, which had been shaken when it hit the ground, was on the verge of exploding with carbonation bubbles rising to the cap.

Unless it cooled down in the refrigerator for a while,

it would remain in a state where it couldn’t be drunk.

I sat Hamin down on the living room sofa,

and prepared a drink from the refrigerator instead of the Zero Cola.

“…Where are the master and your mother?”

“They went out together. I think they said they’d walk around the nearby reservoir park and do some shopping. They just left, so they probably won’t be back for two or three hours★”

“I-I see. They really get along well.”

“Yeah. The whole world is pure love★”

The day before Hamin was supposed to come.

I gave advance notice to Mom and Dad.

My relatively oblivious Dad suggested that we all go out to eat together with Hamin.

Thankfully, Mom stopped Dad and they decided to go out by themselves.

As expected, she was a master of both kendo and reading the room.

Of course, the main reason was probably that they wouldn’t have the luxury of being lovey-dovey with each other while Hamin was visiting.

“Th-then what about Scarlet-chan… Siyoung?”

“She went out with her friends too. They’re elementary school classmates she hasn’t seen since before studying abroad. They probably have a lot to talk about★”

“That’s good. Come to think of it, she’s Doyoung and Solyoung’s sister. There’s no way she wouldn’t be popular at school.”

“Ooh, look at you praising Scarlet-chan while subtly complimenting Ban Doyoung. Not bad★”

In Siyoung’s case, I hadn’t planned to ask for such consideration or understanding.

Until recently, I only saw her as an innocent baby who thought babies were made through kissing.

I thought she wouldn’t have the sense to vacate the place knowing my plans for today.

‘Scarlet-chan. Where are you going?’

‘Out with friends. I’ll be back after dinner.’

‘Does someone who asks to be called Scarlet Swordmaster even have friends?’

‘I swear I’ll kill you.’

But they say when the main heroine desperately moves, the universe moves accordingly.

Before I could even give her a hint, Siyoung left the house saying she had plans with friends.

‘How about it? Want your big sister to give you some pocket money for hanging out with friends?’

‘No thanks. I’d be grateful if you didn’t steal my piggy bank from my closet drawer, you thief sister.’

‘Oh, so my sister’s piggy bank is in the closet drawer. I should remember that.’

‘I told you I’ll kill you if you take that, didn’t I?’

Whether that appointment was hastily arranged or had been planned all along, I wasn’t sure.

Either way, at this moment, only Do Hamin, the protagonist of <Half of Ban-do>, and Ban Doyoung, the heroine, remained in this house.

Up to this point, it was a familiar scene.

Hamin himself was now comfortable enough to press the doorbell of Miss Ban Doyoung’s house without hesitation.

“Um… it might be rude to ask while you’re wearing that outfit, but… where is the cat you mentioned yesterday—”

“…hehehe★”

I sat down next to him with the drink I was going to serve.

“Marina-nyong★”

Whispering in his ear that

the magical girl Marina-chan before him was that cat.

“Eek!”

The breeze by his ear.

Marina-chan’s white hair tickling his ear along with that breeze.

Hamin touched his ear where the sensation remained and backed away.

“Kekeke. Look at you getting startled. Here, your drink. You liked mango juice, right Hamin★?”

“Ah, yes… thanks.”

-Flinch!

As Hamin reached for the cup containing the drink and touched Miss Ban Doyoung’s hand,

he flinched as if struck by static electricity and pulled his hand back.

“S-sorry… I was just a bit startled.”

“Hehehe, that can happen. It sure can★”

As expected.

It was going according to plan.

This reaction of being startled when first touching Miss Ban Doyoung’s hand.

He reacted this strongly just from brushing against a gloved hand, not even interlocking fingers.

As I thought, the appearance of Marina-chan, his favorite character, was the answer to drawing in the remaining 1% of Hamin.

Even after that, Hamin couldn’t take the cup from my hand.

Perhaps it wasn’t easy to casually touch Marina-chan.

When I put the cup down on the table in front of him, only then did he realize he didn’t have to touch me, and he picked up the drink.

Ban Doyoung transformed into Marina-chan. This is completely invincible.

“I had no idea you even had a Marina-chan costume… complete with a wig and cat ears.”

“I have the 69-shaped gloves too. I took them off for a moment because I can’t hold cups with them. They came as a set when I ordered. When Marina-chan receives power and transforms into a beast-person, both hands turn into nyaa hands, right★?”

“Oh, wow… the costume pays more attention to accuracy than I expected.”

“Do you like it? The wish I prepared★”

-Swoosh

When I made the transformation hand gesture and asked him, he quickly averted his gaze.

“It… it suits you.”

“Really★?”

“R-really….”

Hamin answered without making eye contact.

At this close range, he seemed unable to maintain his gaze due to Marina-chan’s destructive power.

But occasionally, with quick glances,

as if not wanting to completely turn away, I could feel his eyes taking in bits and pieces of Ban Doyoung who had become Marina-chan in fleeting moments.

Desperate to see something he couldn’t look at directly with the naked eye.

It felt like watching a child desperately trying to look at the midday sun with the naked eye.

“Um… but why are you dressed like that…”

“Well, you know. You must have wanted to try something like this at least once. Making Ban Doyoung cosplay as [Mari★hana] and have her attend to you for a day. You just couldn’t say it out loud at school. But it’s actually been your inner desire all along, right★?”

“Cough, cough!”

Hamin spat out the drink he was sipping along with his cough.

The spewed mango juice soaked his shirt and pants.

‘Oh, ohh… I knew it. Look at this guy struggling down there.’

I noticed Hamin’s distressed jeans as he was desperately trying to suppress something that was about to rise.

What hadn’t grown as much as before when he hugged Miss Ban Doyoung yesterday.

Now it was about to explode like the dropped cola, just from a brief touch.

“Wh-who said I wanted something like that from you? I never did!”

“Oh, wasn’t Marina-chan your favorite? Should I have gone with Harina-chan instead? Come to think of it, Harina-chan has bigger breasts than Marina-chan in the setting. And pink hair too★”

“Th-that’s not what I meant!”

“So you prefer Marina-chan’s appearance after all★?”

“That’s true! But anyway, I never thought about turning you into a magical girl, Doyoung!”

“Really…? Do you really think so★?”

“O-of course!”

Though he insisted it absolutely wasn’t true, Hamin’s cheeks were already flushed beyond description as he looked at Miss Ban Doyoung who had become Marina-chan.

It was evidence that the 1% of otaku Hamin’s ego was responding very strongly,

even more fiercely than when she was just Ban Doyoung.

“Then you could calmly handle the same situation as yesterday★”

“Y-yesterday’s situation…? What do you—”

“Marina-nyaa★”

“Whoa!”

I sat on the sofa, pushing away Hamin’s legs that were already there.

“It’s a special opportunity. The wish you asked for in the classroom. I’ll grant it again right here★”

I handed Hamin my phone with the stopwatch open.

“D-don’t tell me, that wish from yesterday?”

“One minute. You can do whatever you want to me here for that time★”

The wish that Do Hamin, who ranked first in the school, asked of Miss Ban Doyoung.

It was for her to close her eyes and not move for one minute.

I proposed that wish to Hamin again,

this time in the form of Marina-chan.

This time, truly.

Could it end with just a hug?

“You start. I’ll keep my eyes closed★”

“…”

-Click

After a moment of silence, Hamin activated the stopwatch.