The White Beneath the Glove

The first sensation upon removing the glove wasn't visual, but olfactory.

Like finely ground spices being bottled grain by grain, Cool Mita's delicate fragrance drifted past Alain's nose, straight into his mind.

Having just taken off her glove, Alain was still holding her hand.

The texture of her skin, perhaps due to being constantly wrapped in the glove, seemed exceptionally fair and tender, as smooth and moist as a peeled egg.

A healthy pink hue faintly showed beneath the skin. Her ten fingers were slender, her nails trimmed neatly into rounded shapes, clean and shimmering with a faint pearly luster.

The veins on the back of her hand were distinct yet not prominent, resembling a meticulously crafted piece of art, every inch radiating youthful vitality and purity.

Each time Alain unintentionally (deliberately) teased her, it was like a gentle breeze rippling across a pond, sending shivers across her skin.

His focus shifted from the back of her hand, concentrating instead on her palm.

The stuffy glove wasn't as breathable as Cool Mita claimed, or perhaps it was due to the girl's inner nervousness:

Her palm was slick, as if touched by morning dew, slightly damp with sweat.

It wasn't thick. On the contrary, it was very moist.

With a light press of Alain's finger, he heard Cool Mita let out a soft cry.

"Um… Bro, that tickles a bit."

Her bashful words pulled him out of his state of appreciating art.

Only then did Alain realize that, as a gentleman, doing this to a secluded maiden was quite impolite.

Squeeze.

"D-Don't squeeze, my hand is very sensitive."

She averted her gaze, staring at her own photo on the wall as if that could alleviate her awkwardness.

"Sorry…" Alain felt like he really was scum.

Squeeze.

"I said don't squeeze… it tickles!"

"I'm really sorry, bro." Alain concluded that he was nothing short of a beast.

Squeeze.

"Aow…" Tears welled up in the corners of Cool Mita's eyes, causing the flames of Alain's desire to tease her to burn even brighter.

"What? Weren't you just saying you wanted to take off something else?"

He looked thoughtfully at Cool Mita's ungloved hand. "Now just taking off a glove gets you like this. You still need more practice, bro."

"That's not it… bro." Her eyes shifted cutely, turning back to him, then darting back to the photo on the wall upon meeting his mischievous gaze.

"Taking off clothes… or whatever, is… different… from gloves…"

"…Don't tell me you never wash your hands?" The thought of how fragrant that might be was almost unimaginable to Alain.

"Ahem ahem…" The girl coughed lightly. "My code doesn't include a program for having dirty hands!"

Alain fell silent, a few ideas bubbling up in his mind.

"Since it's a rare opportunity, should I help you wash your hands?"

"Eh?!" She let out a small gasp as she saw the player—one hand holding her glove, the other gripping her hand—about to drag her straight to the bathroom.

"Wait a minute! Bro, did you see me agree?"

"I don't need your consent. Because this is my payment for the extra scene you improvised." Alain stated this righteously.

She grabbed another lifeline. "But! The bathroom is past where Bestie is! Right, right!"

Cool Mita found her argument. "You're Bestie's boyfriend, and I'm Bestie's best friend! We absolutely cannot disturb her work! It's our duty. Mm, that's right!"

Alain wanted to say he and Misha weren't official yet. Of course, he also knew this was just another of Cool Mita's 'change the subject' tactics.

"…Hmm."

"True. If Darling saw me sneaking into the bathroom alone with you, it would be impossible to explain."

"R-Right! See, I'm right, bro!" Cool Mita let out a huge sigh of relief, only for her hand to be suddenly pulled again.

"Eh? Eh?!"

"We're not going to the bathroom. We're going to the kitchen sink."

"Huh?!"

"Relax, I'm just concerned about your hygiene, Bestie." Alain stopped walking and paused for a moment.

He turned back to look at her. "Yes, this is about concern for your hygiene."

"Why do you look like you just figured something out!"

Seeing she was about to be dragged into the kitchen, Cool Mita's mind raced.

Looking at his back, she quickly came up with a proposal Alain would find hard to refuse.

"Wait! I-I get it, isn't it just washing hands?" The girl patted Alain's shoulder and pulled her small hand free.

"Actually, I wasn't really resistant to washing my hands in the first place."

Her confident tone made Alain want to tease her.

"Then I'll wash them for you right here, right now—"

"Let me finish!"

Alain finally suppressed the urge stirring within him and let her finish speaking.

"Think about it, this is the first time someone else has helped me wash my hands, the first time, eh!" She raised her gloved arm slightly, like a teacher's pointer.

"Shouldn't the first time have a bit of ceremony?"

"Should I squeeze some hand soap for you?"

"Aiya, that's not the issue! Also, why do your eyes get so intense when hand soap is mentioned?"

"...Your imagination."

Alain couldn't imagine how beautiful the scene would be: the smooth, translucent hand soap being dispensed drop by drop onto Cool Mita's hand.

Right, it would be perfect if she also let out a surprised 'Kya~' from the sudden coldness. That would really hit the spot.

"Ahem ahem… I feel like you're thinking about something super weird. But I'll forgive you!" She waved her hand, dismissing the topic. "Anyway, bro, aren't you taking me home? We can talk about hand washing then!"

In Cool Mita's view, any difficult problem encountered now could simply be pushed onto her future self to solve, thus ceasing to be a problem.

This was also why she had impulsively agreed to Alain's request to "see her hand" just for the sake of the act earlier.

Anyway, once we're in reality, we'll play games, chat about stuff, talk about Alain and Bestie's romance… he'll definitely forget about this!

Ha! I'm such a genius!

"…"

Since she'd put it that way, Alain didn't want to push too hard.

Mainly because he really wanted to use hand soap to wash Cool Mita's hands. The kitchen sink clearly didn't offer that possibility.

Incidentally, if Cool Mita thought he would forget this topic and let her slip by, she was gravely mistaken.

He was the type who never forgot a face—or a number. He could recite the names of the female leads in his [Study Materials] backwards.

That was his motivation when it came to lewd things.

However, speaking of reality, Alain opened the Security Guard panel.

He vaguely remembered that he hadn't yet purchased the [Identity] item for Cool Mita.

Entering the system shop, his points were already zero. He would probably have to wait until after exiting the game this time to get new points before he could buy it.

But glancing over, Alain noticed something unexpected. Besides "Extract Bug" and "Identity," there was a new item in the shop.

The item indicated it was exclusive to Cool Mita. The cost… free.

_____

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