"Zenjiro-kun, why are you avoiding me?"
The blunt question hung heavily in the damp, quiet air. Asuka probably knew the exact answer already. It was obvious. She did not ask the question because she is dumb. She asked it for two very specific reasons.
First, she wanted to test the waters. She needed to see if the brutal, harsh rejection from weeks ago still caused him active, lingering pain.
Second, she used the blunt question to seize total momentum. Making a heavy statement before he could even form a single syllable was a calculated psychological attack.
A third reason existed. It was a quiet truth known only to Asuka.
A sudden, freezing breeze swept around the corner of the brick building. The morning rain left a lingering chill in the damp air.
Zenjiro froze completely. He could not force his dry throat to work. He avoided her simply to forget the crushing pain of a broken heart. Her blunt question tore the old wound wide open, dragging the bitter memories straight back to the surface.
She succeeded perfectly in her psychological ambush.
Gesturing casually with her free hand, Asuka pointed toward the short flight of concrete stairs near the rusted doors of the old gymnasium. She wanted him to sit with her.
She didn't wait for his verbal agreement. She walked over and sat down, claiming the right side of the top step.
Zenjiro forced his stiff legs to move, walking over and sat down clumsily. He positioned himself on the left side of Asuka, leaving about half a meter of empty space between them.
Positioned firmly on Asuka's left, he kept his head down. He stared blankly at the dirty tips of his school shoes. He was still entirely frozen in place.
Beside him, Asuka dug into her expensive canvas bag. The sharp click of a cheap plastic lighter broke the heavy silence. A tiny orange flame flared. She lit a thin white cigarette and took a long, deep drag.
Blowing the smoke out slowly, she let the gray cloud drift across the narrow gap.
"Zenjiro-kun," she murmured quietly.
He slowly lifted his head and looked at her. His eyes immediately caught a startling, highly inappropriate detail.
She wasn't sitting like a proper, polite lady at all. Instead of keeping her knees pressed neatly together, she spread her legs wide apart on the cold concrete step. She wore her standard school uniform.
The careless posture pulled the dark fabric of her pleated skirt taut. The hem rode high up her legs. She completely revealed both of her bare, pale thighs to the freezing afternoon air.
The sight short-circuited Zenjiro's tired brain. He stared at the smooth skin.
Asuka lifted the cigarette to her lips again. She exhaled another thick stream of gray smoke directly toward him. The bitter, sharp scent of burning tobacco washed over his face.
He inhaled the toxic smoke without coughing. He didn't react at all. He just kept his eyes glued to her exposed legs.
They sat together in the damp shade for several long minutes. The quiet hiss of the burning paper and the heavy rustle of the tall green weeds filled the empty space. He waited until she finally dropped the short cigarette butt onto the wet concrete.
"Let's eat lunch, Zenjiro-kun," Asuka said flatly.
Reaching into his leather bag, Zenjiro pulled out his dark blue bento box. He popped the plastic latches and picked up his wooden chopsticks. He ate his cold rice and fried egg in total silence.
Next to him, Asuka unpacked a small sandwich from a clear plastic wrapper. She took tiny, deliberate bites. The wind rustled the tall, overgrown weeds near the chain-link fence as they chewed their food. They didn't exchange a single word during the entire meal.
After finishing the last grain of rice, Zenjiro snapped his box shut. He unscrewed the cap of his plastic tumbler, taking a long drink of water to wash the dry food down. Asuka drank from her own tumbler and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
With the meal finished, Asuka reached back into her bag. The plastic lighter clicked again. She lit a second cigarette.
Taking a deep drag, she blew the smoke up toward the gray sky.
"The rain was brutal today," Asuka said out of nowhere, leaning back against the cold metal door. "It ruined my shoes. And don't even get me started on that new history teacher. The man talks so slow I nearly passed out."
She took another drag. The smoke curled thinly around her pale fingers.
"Plus, the guys in the back row are disgusting. They just stare at my legs all period long like a bunch of pathetic perverts."
Pervert. The specific word stabbed directly into Zenjiro's chest. Cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. He remembered his own twisted, dirty thoughts about his sister from this morning. He did not answer her, keeping his mouth tightly shut as he stared at the wet concrete.
"Zenjiro-kun," Asuka asked quietly. "Aren't you going to claim your prize?"
He jumped slightly. The sudden question caught him totally off guard. He startled in his seat.
"The lunch time will be over soon," she continued calmly. She flicked a bit of gray ash onto the ground. "I always honor my words. But if you don't claim it yourself, it's not my fault."
Zenjiro lowered his gaze directly to her thighs again. She still kept her legs spread wide apart. A thick brick wall stood directly in front of their position. It completely blocked the view from from outside the campus. He thought about the heavy privacy of the spot. Nobody could see what was happening underneath the shadow of the overhang or what was hidden underneath the dark skirt.
Looking at her spread thighs, specifically her left thigh, he felt a sick twist in his gut. He knew this entire situation was pathetic. Deep down, a small, rational voice warned him it was probably a cruel trap designed to humiliate him further.
But his current state of mind was a total, ruined mess. The severe physical starvation from the past few weeks tore his rationality to shreds. His dark craving made him lose his mind entirely.
Slowly, he lifted his right palm from his lap. His fingers shook violently in the cold air. He moved his hand inch by inch toward Asuka's exposed left thigh.
The distance closed. Ten centimeters. Five centimeters. Three.
Just as his trembling fingertips hovered roughly one centimeter away from her warm skin, Asuka leaned forward fast.
"Hah!" she yelled loudly.
Zenjiro gasped. He jerked his entire body backward in pure panic. His shoulder slammed hard against the cold metal door behind them. Pure, blind shock flooded his veins.
Asuka burst into loud, genuine laughter.
"Ahahaha!" She clutched her stomach, shaking her head. "Sorry, sorry. Your hands are just too tense and trembling. It's hilarious."
She continued laughing hard at his expense. The cruel sound bounced off the damp brick walls.
Zenjiro dropped his hands limply beside him. He stared at the cracked concrete. A hot flush of deep embarrassment crawled up his neck.
After a few moments, Asuka's laughter finally died down. Her face grew completely serious again.
"Aren't you going to touch it?" she asked coldly. "You will lose your chance when the lunch time is up."
Instead of answering her, Zenjiro just kept his mouth clamped shut in total silence.
She took another drag of her cigarette. She blew the smoke sideways. "It's your loss, Zenjiro-kun. You're a coward."
The word coward hit a raw, exposed nerve.
Something dark and heavy triggered deep inside his chest. He remembered the pitch-black bedroom. He remembered his terrible cowardice to cross the line with Liora. He remembered the agonizing hardship of enduring his dirty urges night after night, desperately fighting to do the right thing and hold himself back.
He wanted to just cross the line and take what he wanted, but his cowardice held him back. A tiny scrap of sanity was the only thing that made him stop.
Turning his head slightly left, he looked directly at Asuka's bare left thigh.
Another gust of cold wind swept past the old gymnasium. The morning rain left a lingering, freezing chill in the damp air. Because of the biting cold, his tired brain desperately wanted warmth.
The dark urge inside him increased tenfold. His heart beat fast, drumming a frantic, loud rhythm against his ribs.
Everything in his vision suddenly seemed to shift into a slow, blurry motion. The rusted metal doors, the overgrown weeds, and the gray sky all faded away. All he could see was the incredibly attractive, warm flesh of her left thigh resting just inches away from his hand.
He moved his right hand again.
Slowly. Very slowly.
Before he fully registered the action, the gap vanished entirely. Heat transferred instantly from her pale skin directly into his right palm. He could feel the intense, radiating warmth.
This is the exact kind of warmth I've been craving for, he thought wildly.
The texture was flawlessly smooth and dangerously soft under his fingers. He pressed his hand flat against her leg.
Beside him, Asuka blew another stream of gray cigarette smoke into the wind.
"Zenjiro-kun, listen to me," Asuka said quietly.