An Early Afternoon Nap, and Mahiru's Curiosity

One weekend, in the early afternoon, Amane was stretched out on the sofa enjoying a nap.

Though summer was growing closer day by day, the temperature was still comfortable without turning on the air conditioner. It was just the right season for taking afternoon naps.

About an hour after he lay down on his favorite sofa, he sensed a presence beside him and woke up.

"…Good grief, no matter how warm it might be, you'll catch a cold with your stomach exposed."

He heard a somewhat exasperated voice, and when he cracked his eyes open, he saw it was Mahiru who had spoken in a chiding tone. She was standing there with her back to him.

Then she took a blanket from the basket that was on the shelf.

When he glanced down at his own midsection, he saw that it was bare, probably because his shirt had ridden up when he had turned over in his sleep.

Thanks to Mahiru managing his diet and a moderate amount of jogging and weight lifting, he didn't have any excess fat, but he also didn't have very distinct stomach muscles like Yuuta did; his stomach was just slim enough that the muscles were faintly visible. He felt something akin to embarrassment at being so exposed in front of Mahiru.

"Really, what a hopeless guy you are…," she mumbled quietly. Her words had a sort of tender, loving ring to them, which made Amane's heart thump.

Mahiru turned around with the blanket in her hand and approached him.

He was curious to see what she would do if he kept on pretending to be asleep, and he watched her through narrowed eyes, just barely open, so that she wouldn't notice.

For some reason, Mahiru stopped and stared fixedly at his midsection, still holding the blanket.

He braced himself for her to say that his stomach looked flabby, but then Mahiru cast her eyes downward. She looked slightly embarrassed.

She glanced back up at him, then her gaze settled on his stomach again. Her cheeks were faintly flushed, and she seemed to be wavering indecisively over something.

"…Come to think of it, he did say he had been lifting weights. Compared to before…"

When she quietly muttered those words, Amane thought to himself, You know, I guess I do have a better figure than I did when she nursed me back from that cold.

Back then, he had been living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle, so he had looked more like a string bean than a manly man. Now he was more disciplined, however slightly, so he probably looked a lot sturdier than he had back then.

Mahiru seemed to remember that time, too, and her face suddenly turned quite red, but she still didn't take her eyes off his stomach.

She didn't seem to have noticed that Amane wasn't sleeping, and she looked restless.

Amane was awake, but he couldn't show it. He was sure that she would run away if he got up now, so all he could do was watch her. With a determined expression, Mahiru came over and softly touched his stomach, which almost made him flinch.

She seemed curious as her small hand explored his exposed abdomen.

Every time her soft fingertips ran up and down one of his meager abdominal muscles, a sensation ran slowly up his spine, which he knew he mustn't let show on his face.

…Th-this isn't good.

Normally, he didn't think anything of her facing him straight on and touching him without hesitation, but it was a completely different story when she looked so timid and shy and hesitantly traced her fingers over him with the slightest pressure.

The way she was touching him was almost frustrating; plus, he was ticklish, and it seemed likely to stir up feelings and urges he didn't want at the moment.

If she was going to do that, it would have saved Amane some grief if she had applied a little more pressure, since that wouldn't have been such a perplexing sensation. But Mahiru carefully touched him with discretion and caution, intending not to wake Amane from his pretend sleep.

That made it all the more tantalizing.

Honestly, he was delighted to have the girl he liked there touching his body, but the location and timing were all wrong. If she kept going, things would get really out of hand.

So when he grabbed her wrist to stop her from touching him anymore, Mahiru visibly shuddered.

"…As you can imagine, touching me like that puts me in an awkward position."

Her hand was below his abs, approaching his lower abdomen, so that was really not good. When he restrained her from going any farther, Mahiru froze all over.

Only her mouth and eyes moved. Her eyes went wide in disbelief, and her mouth opened and closed silently.

Mahiru herself probably wasn't the least bit aware of the danger, but Amane was all too aware and had no option but to stop her.

"It's okay for you to touch me when I'm awake, but…Mahiru?" "Y-you were f-faking?"

"Sorry, I was curious to see what you would do."

Amane's words caused Mahiru's cheeks to instantly ignite. Then she yanked her hand out of his and put the blanket over her head.

"…I-I'm sorry. I just, y-your body looked stronger than I remembered, and—"

"If you were curious, you could have just said so, and I would have let you touch me. But…how can I say this…if you touch me too much like you just were… Well, I'm a guy, so it's not a good idea… I might have a reaction that you wouldn't like, so I want you to be careful."

He had narrowly avoided disaster this time, but if she had carried on touching him for just a little while longer, things would have gotten very out of hand.

"I'm grateful that you were kind enough to think of putting a blanket over me. But next time, I'd rather you just put it on and be done with it."

"I-I'm sorry…"

"…Well, did you enjoy yourself?"

Mahiru was too cute, slumped on the floor with a bright-red face, trembling, and Amane asked in spite of his better judgment.

The moment he did, Mahiru rocked back, then battered his stomach with both fists, looking as though she might cry.

"…I was in the wrong, but now you're just being mean, Amane," she grumbled.

She stood up and fled the room, taking the blanket with her, and Amane pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, trying to settle his body, which was still feeling somewhat restless.