Chapter 51: Stealthily Licking Popsicles at Night.
....
After secretly heading over to Gensokyo High to seek Dr. Ryoko Mikado's medical advice, Momo obtained a method to free herself from that abnormal state. Yet the confusion in her heart remained unresolved, deepening even further thanks to the doctor's mysterious smile.
"What do you mean 'you've grown up too,' 'don't worry too much about natural biological instincts,' and 'exercising more when you get back will stop your mind from wandering'?"
If she hadn't trusted the doctor's medical expertise, Momo would have seriously slapped a massive question mark over the proposed treatment plan.
Taking the advice with a grain of salt and ramping up her workout routine, she discovered that when she faced Kihara again, those worldly desires had vanished, allowing her to interact with him with a calm, composed mindset.
Her secret workouts, however, were quickly picked up by the other two members of the "Serious Weight Loss Alliance"—Anna Yanami and Nana. The discovery successfully motivated the pair, who had previously treated daily exercise like punching a timecard at work, to voluntarily step up their training.
The weight loss routine hadn't even lasted half a month when they stepped onto the scale again, only to discover that not only had they successfully slimmed down, but they were actually even lighter than before.
"Hooray!!!"
Anna Yanami burst out of the bathroom in sheer excitement. Catching sight of Kihara waiting outside, she leaped straight into his arms without a second thought. Her plump thighs wrapped tightly around his waist, locking her ankles behind him as her suffocating, soft body buried him so thoroughly he could barely draw breath.
"Wahhh~ Finally... I can finally eat normal meals again!"
Tears the size of bean sprouts poured down like a sudden downpour, instantly soaking Kihara's hair. He could only support her rear with his left hand while using his right to gently pat her back to soothe her emotions.
Forcing a complete foodie to go without snacks for half a month, cutting her food portions in half, and making her exercise every day was indeed a fate worse than death.
Having managed with great difficulty to stabilize her emotions, Anna finally realized that she had been giving Kihara a face-full of chest cushion for a very long time. Her tears had even thoroughly soaked the front of the sea-otter printed shirt she was wearing today, revealing the striking black bra underneath.
'Blockhead had his face buried in my chest... so he shouldn't have seen it, right?'
A young girl's train of thought was always endearingly bizarre. Instead of quickly hopping off him, her main concern was whether Kihara had caught a glimpse of her underwear style.
Closing her eyes to carefully sense the steady rhythm of his breathing against her chest, Anna confirmed he hadn't seen a thing. While relieved, a subtle wave of disappointment washed over her as well.
'This is a beautiful girl's chest cushion, you know! How can a super giant blockhead like you not show a single hint of agitation?!'
She completely overlooked the fact that she had been putting Kihara through years of desensitization therapy; a level of physical contact like this was nowhere near enough to elicit a reaction from him.
Hopping off him with a pout, Anna zoomed up to the second floor like a gust of wind, planning to head into his bedroom to grab a loose T-shirt to change into. She didn't dare show up in front of the other girls with her bra showing through her shirt.
Stepping back into the living room, the coffee table loaded to the brim with snacks and drinks looked to her eyes like an matchless masterpiece of art, practically glowing with a halo of holy light.
Gulp!
The loud sound of her swallowing made everyone turn their eyes over. Seeing the stream of drool threatening to cascade from Anna's mouth like a waterfall, Kihara chuckled as he handed her a tissue. "Eat if you want to, but be careful not to overdo it. If your weight rebounds, all your hard work over this period will be completely wasted."
"Slurp—" She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, turning her head away to stop looking at the snacks, forcing herself to decline through the pain: "I'll pass for now. Maintaining my weight is much more important!"
Saying that, she turned resolutely toward the entryway, determined to temporarily leave this temptation-filled room behind.
'This time, I will absolutely not be seduced by delicious food!'
Evidently, Anna had severely overestimated her own willpower. When faced with a raging appetite and raw hunger, her resolve proved as fragile as a thin sheet of paper, easily poked right through.
Rumble~
Her empty stomach let out yet another cry of protest. Even the moonlight streaming through the window seemed to transform into sweet, delicious cream, painted heavily across the walls.
Anna shut her eyes tight, trying to force herself to drift off to sleep. But having been awakened by raw hunger, falling back asleep was as hard as scaling the heavens—especially since her dinner portion had been half of what she ate during her diet.
She had been worried that if she abruptly restored her normal eating portion, the scale the next morning would present a horrifying sight.
Rumble~
Her hollow stomach voiced its protest once more. Anna could even feel the empty walls of her stomach rubbing against each other, though she knew very well that this was merely a hallucination brought on by starvation.
"If I don't find something to divert my attention, I'm really not going to hold out much longer."
She sat up with a snap, her eyes rapidly scanning the room before locking onto her phone charging beside the nightstand.
"I wonder if the blockhead is asleep yet..."
Smacking her lips, Anna picked up the phone and lit up the screen, realizing it was only one in the morning.
Based on her understanding of Kihara, there was a forty percent chance he was still awake at this hour. Given that tomorrow was the weekend, the probability of him staying up late to play video games rose to sixty percent. Thinking about it this way, she concluded he was definitely awake—and even if he were asleep, he could easily make up for it since tomorrow was a holiday.
"Blockhead-kun, my apologies! But I worked hard to lose weight so you could admire my great figure, so sacrifice a tiny bit of your sleep schedule to talk to me!"
Quickly pulling up Kihara's number, she hit dial, the glow of the screen illuminating Anna's face, which wore a mischievous grin.
Ring— Ring— Ring—
"Hello?"
Kihara's voice carried not a single trace of weariness. He was clearly still wide awake.
"Blockhead-kun~"
"Anna, huh? Why are you calling me at this hour? Don't tell me you want to ask me out to sneak snacks at the convenience store?"
"Hey! How can you imagine your cute childhood friend to be that greedy?!" Anna puffed out her cheeks like a blowfish in frustration.
Kihara's laugh echoed through the receiver, his tone laced with playful mockery: "Do you want me to count out the exact number of times back in middle school you secretly asked me out at night to buy snacks, only to get caught by your mom and get spanked until you cried?"
"Don't, don't, don't! I was wrong!"
This was the single worst part about childhood friends: he held a massive vault of her dark history, whereas she possessed virtually zero memories of Kihara making a fool of himself.
Such an asymmetrical information gap allowed Kihara to easily handle her every single time.
Slurp—
A sound that sounded distinctively like someone licking a popsicle suddenly drifted out from the phone.
"Hmm? Are you eating a popsicle?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
She threatened him in frustration: "You don't let me eat snacks, yet you're sneaking food yourself late at night. I'm going to report you to Lala and the others tomorrow!"
Kihara held his index finger up to his lips, making a shushing gesture. Ibuki Suika's eyes flashed with a hint of sly mischief, intentionally making her sounds even louder.
Left with no choice, he had to hold her head down to keep her still before responding to Anna's complaints.
"The one who needs to lose weight isn't me. Naturally, I can eat whenever I want."
"Curse you... What flavor popsicle are you eating?"
"Milk flavor. Why?"
"Tomorrow I'm buying two and eating them right in front of your face!"
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Thank you for reading.