Mia had been hesitating outside the restroom for a long time before finally giving in and entering.
The moment she pushed the door open, she saw Ogura Asuka being supported by Hikari, their hands resting on each other's waists in an intimate manner.
Seeing the two of them pressed so closely together, she froze for a moment. Then, catching a faint, peculiar scent in the air, she froze again.
A blush immediately rose to her delicate cheeks.
After all, she was of mixed heritage and had previously studied in the more liberal environment of the U.S., only transferring to Japan in recent years.
Though her personality wasn't particularly open, by American standards, she was quite conservative. She had never been in a relationship, never held hands with a boy, let alone done 'that' kind of thing.
But just because she hadn't eaten pork didn't mean she hadn't seen pigs run.
Seeing Hikari supporting Ogura Asuka, with Asuka obediently and affectionately half-leaning into his arms, their closeness unmistakable, combined with that smell, Mia could vaguely guess what had happened.
For a moment, her face burned red, and she couldn't bring herself to meet either of their eyes.
Hikari, who was still supporting Asuka, noticed Mia pushing the door open and immediately asked, "Mia, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Hearing his voice and seeing the look Asuka gave her from within Hikari's embrace, Mia grew even more flustered, her hands and feet fidgeting nervously.
She stammered, "I… uh… n-no… nothing's wrong."
"I just… just felt a bit tired and wanted to rest in the lounge for a bit."
"And also… I ran a few laps earlier, so I was… uh… planning to ask Hikari-kun to help me stretch, but… uh…"
Sniffing the strange scent in the air, Mia felt her body grow unusually warm, her cheeks burning so much that she forgot what she had originally intended to say, her words now a jumbled mess.
Seeing Mia's incoherent babbling, Asuka, her face still flushed, couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Hearing Mia's words, Hikari thought for a moment and said, "You need stretching? Let me help Asuka settle down first. She said she wants to rest outside for a bit. After that, I'll come back and help you stretch, Mia."
But as soon as he finished speaking, Mia frantically shook her head, "Uh… no, no! I don't need it today! Hikari-kun, you must be tired after helping Asuka. I'll… I'll pass for now…"
Seeing Asuka nestled so comfortably in Hikari's arms, Mia's heart twisted with conflict, and she outright refused.
Noticing Mia's flushed face and her inability to meet his gaze, Hikari didn't press further, simply nodding slightly.
He guessed this girl probably wasn't mentally prepared yet, not ready to accept the kind of 'physical and mental relief' he could provide.
And he understood.
Though Mia was mixed-race and a transfer student from the U.S., her personality and outward demeanor were actually more innocent than many Japanese girls. She blushed just seeing him and now couldn't even look him in the eye.
She likely had never interacted closely with boys, maybe never even held hands. So, he got it.
If she were truly the open-minded type of American girl, she probably would've jumped at the chance earlier and joined him and Asuka without hesitation.
After helping Asuka out of the lounge, Hikari stayed with her for a while longer. After all, the two had just engaged in some deep and thorough communication, bringing them much closer.
Once he had reassured her, he turned to Mia and said, "Since you don't need stretching or guidance right now, Mia, I'll head back first. Asuka might be feeling a bit unwell, so could you look after her for me?"
"Y-yes, of course!", Mia immediately agreed, nodding repeatedly.
Hikari then packed up his things, ready to leave Seika Private Girls' Academy.
"Goodbye, Hikari-kun!", Asuka called out reluctantly as he prepared to leave.
"Goodbye, Asuka-chan," Hikari replied with a smile, waving at her.
Asuka's gaze lingered on his retreating figure, only withdrawing reluctantly once he had completely disappeared from sight.
Mia noticed her longing and reluctance. Now that Hikari was gone, and since she and Asuka often trained together and were fairly close, Mia finally couldn't hold back her curiosity.
"Asuka-chan, ever since you came out of the lounge, you've… you've seemed like a completely different person."
"Weren't you still conflicted earlier about whether to accept Hikari-kun's help or not? About whether to go through with the psychological counseling?"
"How did you suddenly become so close to him? You care about him so much now. It's like you've really fallen for him…"
Faced with Mia's questions, Asuka smiled frankly, "Yeah, I have fallen for Hikari-kun."
"Huh?"
Mia's eyes widened in shock.
"F-fallen for him?"
She blinked her beautiful eyes, staring dumbfounded at Asuka's flushed face and slightly swollen lower abdomen, utterly stunned.
Though she had asked the question, she hadn't actually expected Asuka to develop feelings for Hikari this quickly.
Sure, Hikari was incredibly handsome, but Asuka was also stunningly beautiful.
As a well-known track-and-field athlete with a city-wide reputation, Asuka had no shortage of admirers. After every competition, countless boys confessed to her.
With her exposure and popularity, the number of confessions she'd received was easily in the triple digits.
Yet, Asuka had never accepted anyone, always focusing solely on training, her only goal being to achieve better results.
So how, after just one day of interacting with Hikari, had she suddenly fallen for him?
Mia stared at Asuka in disbelief, only now noticing that her usual track pants had been replaced with a short skirt.
Her plump, pale thighs were now exposed to the air, faint bruises visible here and there.
And her face, which Mia knew so well, carried an unusual flush, her relaxed brows and eyes tinged with a satisfied, almost seductive glow.
Mia couldn't wrap her head around it.
'Could it really be because of just one counseling session?'
'Isn't this kind of thing only supposed to happen in fictional stories?'
As if sensing her confusion, Asuka suddenly smirked and asked, "Mia-chan, you're still a virgin, right?"
The abruptness of the question made Mia blush furiously, but she still nodded shyly.
Seeing Mia's innocent, inexperienced reaction, even though she herself had only just lost her virginity, Asuka placed her hands on her hips like a seasoned veteran.
"Mia, since you're still a virgin, I doubt you'd understand even if I told you how amazing Hikari-kun is."
"Let me ask you something first, you do take care of yourself pretty often, right?"
"As athletes, our hormone levels are way higher than normal people's. So, you must relieve stress and vent your pent-up frustrations pretty regularly, yeah?"
Mia's face turned beet red, her toes curling in embarrassment as she whispered, "W-why are you asking that? Asuka-chan!"
"Just answer. Do you or don't you?"
Asuka kept her hands on her hips, smiling calmly but pressing relentlessly.
Before Hikari's counseling, Asuka hadn't been much more open than Mia. But now, after experiencing his guidance, she felt leagues ahead, completely overwhelming Mia with her boldness.
Cornered, the shy Mia could only nod, her voice barely audible, "Y-yes…"
Unfazed by Mia's embarrassment, Asuka immediately followed up, "As athletes with crazy-high hormone levels, doing it ourselves does feel pretty good, right?"
Mia, red-faced, nodded again, "Mhm…"
She had no idea why Asuka was being so explicit, but she was already trapped in the conversation, only able to answer meekly.
Hearing her honest reply, Asuka wrapped an arm around Mia's waist, leaning in like a seasoned mentor and whispering into her ear, "I used to think doing it myself was the best it could get… until Hikari-kun helped me relieve my stress just now."
"At that moment, I realized. I could never truly vent my frustrations on my own. Hikari-kun is the real master of psychological relief!"
"Only Hikari-kun can truly clear away the knots of stress in our hearts."
"The way Hikari-kun relieves stress is a thousand—no, ten thousand times better than doing it myself. No—it's beyond comparison!"
"It's like the difference between a firefly and the light of the moon. Completely incomparable, understand?"
Hearing Asuka's vivid description whispered into her ear, Mia's beautiful eyes widened, her small hands covering her lips in shock.
Yet, beneath that disbelief, there was also a hint of curiosity… and anticipation.
Her throat moved slightly as she swallowed, her tongue unconsciously wetting her dry lips before she couldn't help but ask, "I-is it really that good?"
Asuka didn't elaborate further, simply smiling, "You'll know once you try it. You could do it too, you know."
"Though, it's not that the act itself is this good. Only Hikari-kun, a professional counselor like him, can make it feel this amazing. Even though it was my first time, I'm absolutely certain of this. You've watched those kinds of movies, right?"
"Let me tell you. Hikari-kun isn't just skilled at counseling. His tools are way more powerful than any of those so-called 'masters' in movies. Whether it's Japanese or American ones."
Watching Asuka gesture wildly with her hands to emphasize her point, Mia gulped, "R-really?"
Asuka grinned, "Cross my heart! Why would I lie to you, my dear friend?"
"If I'm lying, then for every centimeter I'm off, my cup size drops by one."
Hearing this, Mia swallowed hard several times, the anticipation in her eyes growing stronger.
At the same time, she couldn't help but regret her earlier hesitation. If only she'd stuck to her original plan and asked Hikari to help her stretch, she wouldn't have missed this opportunity.
Seeing Mia's conflicted expression, Asuka smirked triumphantly, "Alright, that's enough for now. Let's drop this topic."
"Let's rest for a few more minutes, then go for a run."
Mia blinked, "Huh?"
She stared in shock as Asuka began stretching, warming up for exercise.
"B-but… normally, after the first time, doesn't it hurt? Doesn't it bleed? Shouldn't you be unable to move?"
Asuka chuckled, "Come on, you know how tough athletes are."
"Although Hikari-kun was espec-especially amazing, and it really was hard to bear. But at the beginning he was still very gentle, it was really wonderful, he…"
"Forget it, I can't say more, if I keep talking we won't finish even by evening, Hikari-kun has way too many good points and merits."
"Anyway, after Hikari-kun helped me channel my body and mind, my body didn't hurt for long, and I recovered, and I even felt especially energetic."
"I finally understand why that Katou Mio girl was so far ahead of us last time, hmph!"
"Let's hurry up and run, compete a bit, and see just how much I've improved!"
Stroking her slightly raised lower abdomen at the moment, still able to clearly feel the burning heat.
Ogura Asuka remembered that Hikari had previously told her a bit, that physical constitution might possibly be improved, at this moment she was full of confidence.
After resting for a few minutes.
Ogura Asuka and Mia once again stood on the track.
Just like the tens of thousands of times in the past few years, the two of them got into starting position, and with the countdown, rushed out together.
But this time, the time to reach the finish line, was completely different from before.
Looking at Ogura Asuka, who had been slightly ahead of her ever since the start, Mia quickly opened the timing machine to check the detailed data.
Looking at the data on the stopwatch, she couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Asuka-chan you… you were a whole second faster than me?"
Mia looked at the calm-faced Ogura Asuka at this moment, and couldn't help but be stunned.
You know, the two of them usually often raced and competed against each other.
And normally, their results were almost the same.
The difference was generally only about 0.1 or 0.2 seconds.
After all, the 100-meter sprint isn't like other events, usually even a difference of a few tenths of a second means several rankings apart.
In fact, just before Hikari arrived earlier, Mia had raced Ogura Asuka once, and their result difference was similar to usual, she even was a bit faster.
But in just a few short hours, Ogura Asuka had improved this much, during this time, it seemed that only Hikari helping Ogura Asuka with channeling body and mind had happened.
So if it's not Hikari's influence, what else could it be?
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y