Chapter 35: Give-Up Game

♧♧♧

The sound of rain echoes through the mansion, with thunder rumbling from time to time.

The dim room gives off a drunken haze, like we’re performing some secret ritual.

The game starts with Hayasaka-san going first, and we’ll take turns.

“Pet my head~”

She says, offering her head, and Yanagi-senpai strokes it gently. Tachibana-san mimics her, offering her head, so I pet it the same way Yanagi-senpai did.

Yanagi-senpai’s turn is a question instead of physical contact.

“Hayasaka-chan, when did you start liking me?”

“Back in middle school. When I saw you at a soccer club match by chance.”

Recalling that time, Hayasaka-san lowers her eyes shyly, her expression pure, like a junior admiring a senior from another school. That’s right. That’s the kind of girl Hayasaka-san is at heart.

I can’t bear to look at the two of them, so I just mirror the action.

“Tachibana-san, when did you start liking me?”

“Since we first played together at the park in elementary school. I still love you.”

Recalling that time, Tachibana-san speaks with a girlish expression. I want to hug her but hold back. If I do, Yanagi-senpai will hug Hayasaka-san the same way.

“Your turn, Shirou-kun.”

Tachibana-san prompts me. I think for a moment and hold out my palm to her.

“Shake.”

Tachibana-san gives me a disappointed look, muttering, “Coward.” Half-heartedly, she says, “Woof,” and slaps my palm with her curled hand.

Hayasaka-san, watching, barks energetically, “Woof woof!” and does the same with Yanagi-senpai. Her maid-puppy act is far more charming.

It’s a cautious start. Every action you take is mirrored back at you.

I don’t want Hayasaka-san and Yanagi-senpai getting too cozy.

Yanagi-senpai doesn’t want me and Tachibana-san getting too cozy.

Hayasaka-san, with her cheerful smile, probably isn’t thinking about anything.

I thought we’d keep hitting the brakes like this. But—

When it’s Tachibana-san’s turn, she boldly parts my legs as I sit on the sofa, sits between them, and leans into me.

“Hug me from behind.”

She says it with a sultry expression, surrendering her body to me. I hesitate, and she seems to feel the gazes from across the room, looking a bit embarrassed. Still, she drapes her neck lazily over my shoulder and whispers in my ear.

“Let’s show them how much we really love each other. Then Yanagi-kun and Hayasaka-san will give up, and everything will fall into place.”

In this game, Tachibana-san is the only one who doesn’t need brakes. She can go all out to break the other two.

Her provocative sidelong glance.

Hayasaka-san, still smiling, looks visibly ticked off.

I’m absolutely going to make Kirishima-kun jealous, force him to give up, and make sure he doesn’t end up with Tachibana-san. Follow the rules when that happens.

Her eyes convey this as she mirrors Tachibana-san, sitting between Yanagi-senpai’s legs.

The clash of the two girls’ emotions creates an unexpected dynamic in the Give-Up Game.

“Shirou-kun, hurry.”

Tachibana-san looks up at me, visibly annoyed.

Yanagi-senpai says with a distant look in his eyes:

“If you don’t like it, you can give up.”

In that moment, Tachibana-san’s face crumples as if she’s about to cry. If I give up, it means I prioritize Hayasaka-san over her, and our connection would be severed.

Fine, whatever happens, happens.

I hug Tachibana-san. She lets out a soft, “Ah,” her breath tinged with desire. Her delicate frame feels so good to hold, her affection for me giving a direct mental thrill.

But when I look up, Hayasaka-san is being hugged the same way by Yanagi-senpai. His strong arms dig into her warm, soft body. He’s feeling the addictive sensation of her body, said to drive reason away in seconds.

I feel pleasure holding a girl in my arms, but jealousy gnaws at my brain.

It’s driving me insane.

Yanagi-senpai looks at me with a pained expression, then glances down at his own arms with a shy smile, struggling to process his emotions.

Is this okay? The intoxication is overwhelming.

“I love you, Shirou-kun.”

Tachibana-san, with a seductive gaze, licks my neck.

“I love you, Yanagi-kun.”

Hayasaka-san licks Yanagi-senpai’s mature neck with her thick, plump tongue.

The room’s humidity spikes. With the girls in maid outfits sitting in front of us, Yanagi-senpai and I hug them from behind, showing off as the game progresses.

Hayasaka-san traces Yanagi-senpai’s inner thigh with her finger. His expression shows a shiver of pleasure.

Tachibana-san does the same to me, sending a jolt from my thigh to my head, and I instinctively hug her tighter.

Yanagi-senpai mirrors me, hugging Hayasaka-san tighter.

“N-no, Yanagi-kun!”

Hayasaka-san tilts her chin up, mouth open. Her back arches, her chest accentuated between Yanagi-senpai’s arms. Already sweating from being held, she’s sensitive to heat.

Yanagi-senpai stares intently at Hayasaka-san in his arms and presses his face into her neck.

“Ah!”

The breath must have felt good, as Hayasaka-san lets out a soft moan.

Unable to watch, I bury my face in Tachibana-san’s neck and inhale, mirroring Yanagi-senpai.

“No, I haven’t showered!”

Despite her protest, Tachibana-san, sensitive to touch, starts writhing cutely as I hug her from behind and breathe on her neck.

The rationality in her eyes fades, and she’s completely lost in the moment.

Tachibana-san takes my hand, brings it to her mouth, and starts licking my index finger.

At first, she licks slowly with a needy expression, but soon takes it into her mouth, sucking hard with wet sounds. It’s not a substitute for kissing. She gives me a resentful sidelong glance, her face begging for more.

“H-Hayasaka-chan.”

Yanagi-senpai lets out a strained voice.

Hayasaka-san is sucking his finger, drool dripping from her mouth, wetting the front of her maid outfit.

The two girls compete, licking fingers relentlessly. Mixed with the sound of the storm, the sticky sound of saliva reaches my ears intermittently.

Jealousy, temptation, affection, confusion, desire, flesh—in this stormy mansion, an isolated otherworld has formed.

I pinch Tachibana-san’s tongue and pull it upward. She writhes, letting out sweet breaths with her chin raised. Across from us, Hayasaka-san is being toyed with in the same way.

There’s no turn order anymore. Someone acts, and we mirror it.

Biting earlobes, intertwining fingers, pressing foreheads together—edging physical contact, over and over.

Gradually, the boundaries between the four of us blur and melt together.

I can tell Yanagi-senpai is captivated by Hayasaka-san’s body. He wants to stay loyal to Tachibana-san, his number one, but knows it’s hopeless. The impulse to give in to Hayasaka-san, who’s right there, is palpable.

In a normal four-way relationship, this might have been settled. Succumbing to physical temptation, neither of us gives up, and we stick with these pairings. But we’re twisted.

Hayasaka-san occasionally moves her lips toward me.

I trust you.

Yanagi-senpai, hugging her from behind, can’t see.

Not yet?

Even when Yanagi-senpai licks her ear, her lips move while she makes a pleasured expression.

Should I get more broken?

With Yanagi-senpai losing himself to Hayasaka-san’s body, it’s down to my choice.

Give up, choose Hayasaka-san, and abandon Tachibana-san—or don’t give up, choose Tachibana-san, and let Yanagi-senpai have Hayasaka-san.

I’m completely trapped.

And the girls have said what happens if I don’t choose them: one wants me dead, the other will throw herself away carelessly.

I have to think about what to do.

But jealousy and pleasure batter me alternately, dulling my thoughts.

In this state, Tachibana-san, who has no need for brakes, finally lets go of her rationality.

“Hey, Shirou-kun……”

Embarrassed by the gazes but unable to hold back, she leans into me and whispers, “I can’t take it anymore.”

“……Touch my chest.”

♧♧♧

Tachibana-san is usually shy, but in love games, she tends to lose her rationality. That switch has flipped now. There might be a bit of intent to show off to Hayasaka-san.

“Not…… over my underwear……”

She reaches behind her back, deftly unhooks her bra through her clothes, and pushes it up above her chest inside her outfit.

Hayasaka-san, watching, does the same.

I’ll do it thinking of Kirishima-kun.

Her lips move to say this.

Tachibana-san isn’t even looking at Hayasaka-san anymore. She grabs my hands and pulls them to her chest.

Through the maid outfit, I feel the modest shape of her chest in my palms.

Driven by impulse, I grab and touch her small breasts.

“Ah…… Shirou-kun…… I love you…… I love you……”

She starts moaning sweetly—then, at the same time:

“Ah…… Uah…… Aah……”

Hayasaka-san’s breathless voice echoes.

It’s a shock.

Yanagi-senpai’s hands are kneading Hayasaka-san’s large chest, changing its shape dramatically.

Memories of Hayasaka-san flash back: visiting her when she was sick, the night during festival prep, my room, the love hotel—her body, always wet for me.

What is this situation?

Are the three of them trying to break my mind?

Has the storm passed? I can’t hear the wind or rain anymore. All I hear are the moans of the two girls.

“Shirou-kun, more…… more……”

Tachibana-san begs. I’m losing my mind, and wanting to punish her for escalating on her own, I press the fabric of her maid outfit against her skin.

Her nipples, even through the cloth, are unmistakably hard.

“No…… It’s embarrassing…… Stop……”

Tachibana-san writhes in my arms. I pinch and pull her nipples.

She cries out loudly. And at the same time—

“Uah! Yanagi-kun, that’s too much…… Uah!”

Hayasaka-san moans too. Yanagi-senpai is pinching and pulling her nipples.

This is one possible future.

If I choose Tachibana-san, Hayasaka-san might do this with Yanagi-senpai or other guys.

I don’t want that. I want to be the only one she does this with.

But if I don’t choose her, this is what happens.

Loving just one person is a fantasy. I accepted the idea of loving a second person. Now, it’s being shoved in my face.

Hayasaka-san is clearly enjoying it.

I don’t doubt her affection for me. But if you asked whether I could be intimate with someone other than Hayasaka-san or Tachibana-san, for example Sakai, in the right mood, I probably could. This isn’t about cheating. It’s about whether it’s possible. I’m saying it’s not limited to just one person.

Can Hayasaka-san only do this with me?

No, if she feels enough affection for someone, she probably could. As a possibility. And I’m being forced to watch it now.

Tachibana-san is an exception—she can only do this with me. But even that, when you break it down, is just her idealizing herself as devoted, locking herself in a mental cage.

That’s reality.

Love is fragile, uncertain, and never absolute.

That’s why, because it’s fleeting, love is precious.

We always want to be loved. Desperately, foolishly loved.

Someone who loves you is truly rare, and if you find them, you want to love them back fiercely, do everything they desire, pamper them endlessly, and drown them in love.

I have two such people, and I’m caught between them, dying inside.

What do I do?

No matter how much I escape into thought, my consciousness returns to the mansion’s great hall.

Lost in a muddy haze of thoughts, an hour passes.

All the while, both Yanagi-senpai and I keep fondling the chests of the maids in our arms.

“Shirou-kun…… I can’t take any more…… I’ll die……”

Tachibana-san is melting completely.

“Uah…… Uaah……”

Hayasaka-san moans with vacant eyes.

What do I do? What do I do?

Kirishima-kun, not yet?

Hayasaka-san’s lips move.

I’m done. I want Kirishima-kun.

I want to give up right now. But the moment I even think about it, Tachibana-san places a hand on my cheek, as if saying, “Only look at me.”

“Shirou-kun, why? Why won’t you kiss me?”

Tachibana-san is drenched in sweat, a strand of hair sticking to her cheek in her mouth. During the hour I was lost in thought, she must have been begging for a kiss the whole time.

“My body isn’t just my chest.”

She twists slightly, shielding herself from the others’ view, grabs my hand, and guides it under her skirt. It’s a flood—her inner thighs are soaked, like she wet herself.

Sliding my fingers to the wettest spot, I reach her softened underwear.

She’s so ready there’s no need for gentle touches, and I slip my fingers inside her underwear.

Tachibana-san doesn’t even moan anymore. She opens her mouth, sticking out her tongue.

When I kiss her, her body trembles with joy.

I invade her mouth while stirring my fingers inside her underwear. The long-awaited kiss sends me into a frenzy. Tachibana-san breathes heavily, tangling her tongue with mine.

The tip of my middle finger enters her.

Unable to keep kissing, Tachibana-san presses her face into my chest, breathing hard.

It’s so tight it hurts my fingertip. I hook the first knuckle of my finger and move it shallowly near the entrance.

A faint wet sound echoes from under her skirt.

Even Yanagi-senpai, who was engrossed in Hayasaka-san, stares at us in a daze. The girl he loved so much is having her skirt explored by another guy.

Hayasaka-san, lips tightly closed, watches with feverish eyes.

Noticing their gazes, Tachibana-san shrinks in embarrassment. But the pleasure wins, and she keeps exhaling hot, moist breaths against my chest. And then—

“……It’s coming………… Ah………… It’s coming……”

She whispers faintly, her body shuddering two or three times before going limp.

Tachibana-san’s face is rapturous.

Despite her shyness, despite being such a romantic, she reached climax in front of them.

This is her statement.

With a faintly satisfied look, she glances at Hayasaka-san.

Hayasaka-san—

“Ehehe, the onahole…… the onahole’s doing something again……”

Her face is a mess, laughing and crying, as she says this.

Tachibana-san, with a chillingly cold expression, says:

“Hurry up. If you do it, we’ll go next. I’ll show you…… there’s no room for you between me and Shirou-kun.”

That’s how it goes.

Yanagi-senpai, with hesitant movements, places his fingers on Hayasaka-san’s inner thigh. Though he pauses before sliding his hand under her skirt, his other hand touches her chin.

What I did wasn’t just exploring under her skirt. I kissed her too.

He’s about to do just that.

Kirishima-kun, not yet?

Hayasaka-san’s eyes plead for me to give up.

“Shirou-kun…… No……”

Tachibana-san clings to me. But Yanagi-senpai lifts Hayasaka-san’s chin for a kiss, his other hand nearing the hem of her skirt, and my mind is on the verge of collapse.

Stop it. Not this game. Stop this whole situation.

Yanagi-senpai’s lips approach Hayasaka-san’s. I scream in my head, Stop, stop! but his face moves to her neck, and I feel relieved—except, no.

“Ahh!”

Hayasaka-san’s body trembles, and she cries out.

“If you suck that hard…… it’ll leave a mark……”

Hey, stop that too! That’s my Hayasaka-san, damn it!

I press my lips to the white nape in front of me and suck hard. Tachibana-san moans. Yanagi-senpai, with a pained expression, moves from Hayasaka-san’s neck to her shoulder, leaving multiple hickeys.

“Uah…… Uah……”

Hayasaka-san moans.

I mark Tachibana-san’s skin too, desperate to overwrite Hayasaka-san but unable to, so I plunge my hand under Tachibana-san’s skirt, fondle her wet core, touch and pull her chest, melting her completely.

It’s dizzying. What is this? Stop it.

Finally, as if resolved, Yanagi-senpai starts lifting Hayasaka-san’s skirt. Her white thighs are exposed. He leans in for a kiss.

I want to give up, but I can’t let go of the girl in my arms, who’s mine alone.

But if I do nothing, Hayasaka-san will—

Let lightning strike, burn this mansion down right now.

But it doesn’t, and as Yanagi-senpai’s lips nearly touch Hayasaka-san’s, my head screams—

“Let’s stop.”

The one who says it—

It’s Yanagi-senpai. He’s clutching his forehead.

“This is crazy. It’s wrong.”

Breathing heavily, with a deeply troubled expression, he heads toward the door to the corridor as if escaping.

“Let’s pretend tonight never happened. The one-night partner swap is off too…… Let’s do this properly, not with games, but with the original time period, seriously. I was out of my mind…… Let’s sleep in separate rooms…… Sorry, I’m feeling a bit……”

With that, he leaves the great hall.

The three of us are left, and after a brief pause—

“Kirishima-kun, I believed in you.”

Hayasaka-san says, pushing Tachibana-san aside and hugging me.

“Ehehe. Yanagi-kun said to call it all off, but that was a give-up, right? He chose Tachibana-san over me. He’s banned from pursuing me now, right? Aww, I wasn’t chosen by Yanagi-kun~”

Hayasaka-san bounces happily.

“Now I really only have Kirishima-kun. You’re so cruel, such a jerk, letting another guy touch my chest. It was awful, I wanted you to save me sooner. That Yanagi guy was so gross. And yet, at the last second, he ditched my body to keep his chances with Tachibana-san. It was so humiliating, like nobody wanted me. I was about to cry like a puppy. But in the end, Kirishima-kun saved me like this. It’s driving me crazy. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you—”

Ranting, Hayasaka-san presses her bare chest against me and kisses me.

“Let’s do it, let’s just do it. No prep needed. Just like this. Wow, if we did it now, it’d be incredible. I know I could make you feel so good. Some weird guy left hickeys all over me, so overwrite them~”

Her eyes are devoid of reason. Then—

Tachibana-san slaps her across the face.

It’s a merciless hit, the sound echoing. Hayasaka-san collapses to the floor. Tachibana-san grabs her collar, pulls her up, and glares with a demonic expression.

“Don’t do weird things to my boyfriend.”

“……Kirishima-kun, help me.”

Hayasaka-san tugs at my sleeve.

“Let’s calm down—”

I say, but Tachibana-san isn’t listening.

“Never touch my boyfriend again.”

“Your boyfriend’s that Yanagi guy right now, isn’t he?”

“……Then follow the hugging-only rule.”

“You’re the one who broke the rules first and turned into an onahole.”

Tachibana-san’s eyes widen, and she slaps Hayasaka-san again. It’s terrifying to watch, but Hayasaka-san just laughs, “Ehehe.”

“The onahole’s hitting me. The onahole’s mad.”

Tachibana-san grabs Hayasaka-san’s hair and slaps her cheeks repeatedly.

I step between them.

Seizing the chance, Hayasaka-san dives into my arms and clings to me.

“That was scary~”

As I shield Hayasaka-san, Tachibana-san bites her lower lip in frustration.

“Why?”

“Violence isn’t okay……”

“I know, but…… Shirou-kun…… That’s cruel……”

Tachibana-san looks deeply lonely.

Adding insult to injury, Hayasaka-san says from my arms:

“Tachibana-san, just go away. You heard it, right? When that Yanagi guy said, ‘Let’s stop,’ and stood up.”

Yanagi-senpai probably didn’t hear his own voice.

But Tachibana-san, in my arms, must have heard it.

At the same moment Yanagi-senpai gave up—

In a tiny voice—

“Kirishima-kun said, ‘Stop it.’ He chose me.”

♧♧♧

The next morning, the storm has passed, and it’s clear and sunny.

The bus drives through dappled sunlight, the interior calm and peaceful. The scenery outside the window is beautiful.

Last night, we were out of our minds.

It must have been that cursed mansion’s fault.

Before leaving, we all vaguely agreed on that. There’s no doubt the Give-Up Game was played in a state of impaired judgment. It was a frenzied game.

The True Love Notebook must never see the light of day. That’s what I thought.

So, last night’s events were relegated to unofficial records, but they undeniably left deep scars on our hearts.

Yanagi-senpai asked for the lover rotation to be with Tachibana-san for the entire period until graduation.

That was the original proposal.

Tachibana-san agreed, and the line between Hayasaka-san and Yanagi-senpai was completely severed. Ironically, the Give-Up Game’s rules were upheld.

Of course, it’s clear Tachibana-san has no intention of wavering from her stance of dating him out of obligation.

The hope that one of them would naturally end up with Yanagi-senpai for a soft landing—after last night, that possibility was less than one in ten thousand.

I had no escape left.

The faint, “Stop it.” I uttered lingers as a knot in my heart.

Hayasaka-san and Tachibana-san no longer sit side by side.

Inside the bus, we’re all scattered.

Last night’s storm completely shattered the relationship between the four of us.

Only Hamanami sits next to me.

“It’s all that mansion’s fault…… Something possessed us, made us do all those things…… Everyone was acting strange……”

“About that.”

Hamanami starts hesitantly.

“It seems the haunted stuff about that mansion was fake.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up, but……”

Hamanami shows me her phone screen. The posts on the paranormal site were all made-up. The reason the rumors started—

“It was used for filming a horror movie.”

It was a famous movie. I remember the trailer, with scenes of a killer sealing a door with chains and someone hanging themselves in a guest room.

Hamanami scans the bus with a deadpan look and says:

“……Everyone’s a bit too easily influenced, or maybe just too into it, don’t you think?”

I sigh and say:

“No wonder it felt familiar.”