Every time Anne’s hand dropped, Yuli’s hand would come up, and every time Yuli’s hand dropped, Selian’s hand would come up, and when Selian’s hand dropped, Anne’s hand would come up again….
They had started taking turns touching my smooth stomach, but by this point, it felt like they had been at it for so long that my stomach was smooth because they kept touching it.
I tried my best to resist, but with the three of them, all I could do was make sure my skirt didn’t ride up too much.
“Heehee! El is so ticklish, it’s fun!”
This kind of physical teasing always starts with Anne.
She’ll lightly poke my side, suddenly hug me and let out a burp, or on weekends, she’ll lie on the bed reading a book and use my stomach or thighs as a pillow. No matter the kind, whenever she gets bored, she always clings to me first.
And when Anne starts fooling around, Yuli and Selian, who were doing something else, will sneak over and join in.
Before, I thought only guys played physical jokes, specifically non-punching ones. But becoming a girl taught me that women also enjoy physical play.
If I were a guy, the thought of such intimacy would probably have been disgusting, but surprisingly, women don’t seem to feel much burden in sharing such physical contact.
However, mentally, I’m still a guy, and having not had any contact with girls of my age before joining the Academy, I still feel embarrassed every time my friends get close.
Of course, I can’t let my true identity be discovered, so I act as if such physical teasing among girls is completely normal, pretending to be calm as if nothing is unusual.
“Anyway, we should probably look into the ecology observation assignment soon.”
“Hmm… The professor did say that we’d probably just be passed, but we should at least show some effort, right?”
While I was still lying on the mat, recovering from the playful teasing, the two were calmly discussing nearby.
“Hey, you know what…”
In contrast, Anne squatted beside me where I lay and looked down, opening her mouth.
She must at least realize that it was her fault I ended up like this. After all, unlike the other two who left me be, she was the one that came over to talk to me.
“We could use ‘Why is El’s stomach so smooth?’ as the ecology observation material. Don’t you think this has enough research value?”
…I take back what I just thought. Apparently, Anne is the biggest demon among the three.
Not only did Anne physically KO me, but she also mentally defeated me again.
“Will it even work…?”
Thanks to my anger toward Anne, I gathered enough strength to rise and raised an objection.
“Hah!”
The Anne who had squatted beside me, started getting up when she heard my voice, then quickly fled and hid behind a distant tree.
She even skillfully climbed the tree and was peeking at me from up there.
It was like she thought she was a monkey or something.
While I watched her with a perplexed look, having just barely gotten up, she seemed a bit awkward and gave a smile.
“Ha ha ha… El, you’re not mad, right?”
If I made a fuss here, it would seem like I’m some weirdo who gets offended by a simple playtime between girls. Or rather, a weird gal.
“I’m not mad, just stop saying weird things and come down already. If we keep playing around, we might actually miss turning in our assignment.”
Though, in reality, I wasn’t angry. We’ve played around like this many times.
Anne cautiously looked at me from up in the tree for a moment, then slowly came down and approached me.
“Alright, let’s start the serious ecology observation then?”
As I got up, and Anne who had climbed the tree came down, Selian clapped her hands once and said.
But before that…
Poke.
“Kyek hek hek!”
I poked Anne’s side once.
Anne, who had let her guard down, reacted by wriggling her body a lot and responded enthusiastically.
Good. This is enough for me.
They say the grudge of an assassin is scary, but thank you, Anne, for it ending just at this.
“Let’s stop fooling around and explore the surroundings, shall we?”
At Yuli’s suggestion, we tidied up the blanket we had spread out, picked up our partially eaten bento boxes, and began to move.
We kept a careful eye on our surroundings while moving.
Of course, we also looked around carefully when we first entered the forest to find a place to spread out the blanket. But that was more casual.
This time, we kept a sharp eye out for traces such as animal marks on trees, medicinal herbs from our textbooks, and dangerous insects to watch out for, all with the purpose of ecological observation.
“But it would be nice if we could find something impressive this time.”
“Anyway, there’s no score, right? We can probably pass by just picking up something random. Do we really need to go that far?”
However, when I casually mentioned that I couldn’t be satisfied with just the ordinary traces we could find near the city, Yuli immediately responded.
“Well, it’s embarrassing for me to say, but we have Selian, who is the top student in the entire school, and both Yuli and me have good theoretical scores. It feels a bit regrettable to bring things similar to what others have. You know, when others do it casually, it’s an opportunity for us to show our excellence?”
Of course, since it’s a course without any specific grading system—just pass or fail—there’s no need to put in extra effort.
However, if at this time we get to leave a good impression on the professor, it might slightly help us with our grades in other subjects later, so there was a slightly calculating strategy behind my thought.
“Ah! El, you just left my name out! That’s unfair!”
Before Selian and Yuli could say anything to my comment, Anne butted in with a loud voice.
Actually, looking back, I did not mention Anne by name while talking. But…
“That’s because Anne’s actually the one with one of the lowest written test scores in the class.”
In reality, Anne’s ranking in written exams is so low that her name comes up almost instantly when counting from the back among not just the class but all students.
“Tch… But my practical score is at the top, and my overall grade is above average!”
Of course, as Anne said, she covers for her poor written test scores with an overwhelmingly impressive practical score, which only barely raises her overall ranking slightly above average.
And that excellent practical score has little application in ecological observations.
So, I guess I subconsciously skipped over Anne’s name while talking.
“…So, what’s the name of this mushroom?”
Instead of apologizing to Anne, I picked up a mushroom sticking out by my feet and asked her.
“…”
But Anne remained silent despite my question. In fact, she was even moving her eyes around, pretending not to see or hear, completely ignoring it.
How long did this awkward silence last?
Finally, Anne gave in first and pouted, muttering unhappily.
“Ugh… Okay, I’m dumb! El is dumb too! We’re all morons!”
The sight of Anne expressing her frustration toward me. But does she realize? Actually, her angry behavior only makes her cuter.
I threw the mushroom far away and instead approached Anne and hugged her tightly.
I’d feel shy and avoid hugging Selian and Yuli too easily, but in Anne’s case, because of her youthful appearance and behavior, I unconsciously hug her often without much thought.
As usual, Anne’s small frame fit snugly into my embrace.
“Hehe… Anyway, Anne is just so cute it’s troublesome, you know. Who called Anne dumb? If there’s such a cute dummy, let them step forward! I’ll scold them!”
Of course, appearance and intelligence are separate things, but in reality, Anne only dislikes studying and isn’t dumb.
Fortunately, Anne, who was struggling in my arms, calmed down right away with just a word of praise.
Anne could have easily shrugged off my hands with her incredible strength, but she didn’t, indicating that she wasn’t actually upset.
Even as I hugged Anne snugly, I caught Selian’s eye from a little distance.
Well, even if we’re all girls, isn’t hugging for this long a bit excessive?
I loosened my hug on Anne and slightly let go, checking my friends’ reactions.
The main person, Anne, fortunately didn’t seem to mind my sudden hug.
Next, I looked at Selian, who I had made eye contact with earlier.
?
When did she pick it up? In Selian’s hand, the mushroom I had tossed earlier was being held as she stared at me.
“Ah… What was the name of this mushroom again? I can’t remember at all.”
?
“Me too… I’m such a fool! Yes, there’s no fool like me!”
Selian was giving a conspicuously awkward performance.
With a voice stiff like someone reading a book, she was muttering incomprehensible things and surprisingly looked at me with hopeful eyes.
…?
!
Indeed!
Living up to her true qualities as a hero, Selian was acting to cheer up Anne, whom I had just called a dummy.
I was so impressed by Selian’s thoughtful act that I couldn’t help but admire it.
To praise Selian’s efforts, I discreetly gave her a thumbs up without Anne noticing.
Yuli seemed to have also noticed Selian’s gesture, as she lightly tapped Selian’s shoulder and quietly said something so quiet Anne wouldn’t hear.
It must have been praise directed at Selian.
Just from the fact her amateurish acting had been discovered, Selian’s expression was tinged with a faint frown.
It’s okay, Selian! Anne doesn’t seem to have noticed it!
By the way, we submitted the mushroom that Selian picked up again as our ecological observation sample.
