The Saint Next to Me Who Sometimes Comes Without Wearing Underwear Tells Me What’s Under Her Skirt in Secret - 9

Chapter 9

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“If… If you noticed, I wish you’d said something sooner… Or, like, laughed it off or something… That would’ve hurt less…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Eh? W-well, um…”

Saotome averted her eyes.

“It’s… It’s nothing.”

“That so? …Anyway, how was the doujinshi? You haven’t finished reading it yet?”

I brought the conversation back to the main topic.

“I finished it. Y-yeah. It was quite interesting. Yeah, not bad at all.”

“I brought some others too. Do you want to read them?”

I lifted up the paper bag as I spoke and Saotome’s eyes widened at that.

“O-others…? Y-you mean, ummm… More naughty books…?”

“Yeah, well, I figured you’d be bored. I brought a few I thought you’d like. …If you don’t want them, that’s fine though.”

“N-no, I-I’ll take them!”

Saotome leaned forward and snatched the paper bag from me. At that moment, the fabric around her chest loosened and opened up. A glimpse of her pale, beautiful cleavage peeked out from between the fabric. And her bra…. Was nowhere to be seen. 

“You…”

“Hm? What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Don’t tell me she’s.. She’s not wearing a bra…?

“By the way, this is kind of a trade, but that doujinshi I lent you before… Where is it?”

The truth was, I kind of wanted to reread it myself. Bringing her new doujinshi was partly in exchange for that.

“Eh? Ah, um… It’s not… here right now, exactly…”

“It’s not here? …You left it at school or something?”

“N-no! I have it, I do! I didn’t lose it or anything… It’s just… It’s kind of in a hard-to-reach place right now…”

Saotome said this while squirming her hands under the blanket. A hard-to-reach place?

“You mean you’re hiding it?”

“Uh, y-yeah! That’s it! You know, if I left it out here, the housemaid might find it while cleaning!”

“I see.”

Everyone has their own hiding spots after all. I get it.

I wanted to read it now, but I decided to wait a bit longer.

“Are your parents really strict or something?”

Judging by her reaction to the doujinshi the other day, she didn’t seem very used to that kind of thing. Maybe her parents banned that stuff, or just kept it far from her.

“Well… I guess my parents are more the hands-off type. My grandparents… They used to be strict, tried to teach me proper manners, but now they kind of leave me alone, since they know how I operate.”

Sounds like her relationship with her family isn’t that great. Better not dig too deep.

“Well, don’t worry. I’ll make sure it doesn’t get found. Even if they do, I’ll just say it’s something I borrowed. They care a lot about appearances, so they won’t throw it away.”

Saotome clapped her hands as if trying to clear the gloomy mood. At the same time, her chest jiggled slightly.

Honestly, right now I was more curious about whether she was actually wearing any underwear than about her family situation. Maybe I should test the waters a bit.

“By the way, are you keeping warm enough?”

“Huh? Warm…?”

Saotome tilted her head, then froze completely.

“Ah… Crap…”

Panicking, she yanked the blanket up and wrapped herself tightly in it.

“O-of course I am…! I’m not that stupid!!”

“R-right…?”

But my eyes weren’t on Saotome. They were drawn to the edge of the bed. When she pulled the blanket, something that had been hidden came into view. Two pieces of white cloth and the doujinshi I had lent her.

The dots connected.

“Ah… Yeah, I see now…”

“N-no, that’s not… I just couldn’t sleep well, so I happened to be reading it, that’s all! I-it’s not like… That, really…!”

“Well, anyway, glad to see you’re feeling better. …Alright, I’ll be going. Sorry for bothering you.”

“W-wait! Listen to me! Let me explain!”

Saotome shouted and clung to me as I tried to leave. She pushed down on my shoulder forcefully.

“H-hey…! S-stop. Y-you’re gonna expose yourself…”

I hurriedly averted my gaze. Saotome’s negligee was in a pretty dangerous state, and it looked like something important of her might pop out at any moment.

“Then just believe me! I was only reading it, that’s all!”

“R-right. Got it. I believe you.”

“Good.”

Saotome nodded, seemingly satisfied. Then she looked down at her own negligee and let out a small scream.

“Y-you didn’t see anything, right?”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t quite catch anything.”

Honestly, I might have caught a glimpse of something, but I didn’t get a good look.

What a shame.

“I-I see. I’ll choose to believe you.”

Saotome nodded hesitantly and returned to bed, but for some reason, she seemed a bit down.

Yeah, well… Having that kind of thing found out by the opposite sex is probably embarrassing.

“…I mean, I use doujinshi all the time too. It’s totally normal.”

“Hmph, I-I see. Is that so. W-well, I don’t, okay? Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Right, right. There’s no way a saint like you would.”

Even though she was more of a lewd woman (性女 =せいじょ / seijo) rather than a saint.(saint= 聖女= せいじょ / seijo)

“Y-yeah, exactly. …By the way, can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Do you ever… Use me?”

She suddenly threw a fastball right at me. I hesitated for a moment, wondering how to answer…

“I don’t, so don’t worry.”

I decided to deny it for now.

“I-I see… That’s a relief.”

Saotome looked a bit down after saying that.

“So, when are you leaving? You’re done here, right? Go home already. If my grandparents come back, it’ll be a hassle.”

“You’re the one who stopped me from leaving.”

Pushed out by the suddenly cold Saotome, I left her room.

Did I do something to upset her? There were too many possibilities to figure it out.

She might not talk to me again….

I left the mansion feeling a little down. Later, the housemaid who came to see me off said to me. 

“It’s been a while since I heard the young lady sounding so lively.”

Apparently, our whole exchange had been audible.

Man, that’s so embarrassing…

*****

And then, two days later—

Saotome came back to school. When our eyes met, she looked away awkwardly, then walked up to me with a flushed face.

“Today’s red.”

She whispered that in my ear.

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