“I’m so glad I can shower properly. Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Aris whispers with a flushed face.
“I should be the one thanking you, Senior Saionji.”
“Ugh… No, it’s nothing. Just doing what I should.”
As the club president shakes her head, turning even redder, a sudden sound interrupts.
Tap, tap.
The sounds of water in the shower start to dwindle.
“Ah, feels refreshing to shower. What’s the next schedule?”
“I heard we’re supposed to have an official meeting with the UK Academy, right? In front of the temporary teacher’s playground?”
“If it’s the UK Academy, does that mean we get to see the princess’s face?”
“To think we might catch a glimpse of the fairy princess Evangelin Stewart’s divine features… My heart’s racing already!”
The chatter of the students starts to echo in the hallway.
Looks like everyone is finishing up their showers one by one.
Gulp.
Aris swallows dryly.
“I’ll step outside for a moment. Senior.”
Nod.
Aris gives a nod.
Having gotten her permission, I peek my head out of the shower booth.
The shower room is completely empty.
No sounds of water are left.
To confirm the situation, I close my eyes and use my gift to spread darkness throughout the shower area.
‘No one’s here.’
I sense no presence of others besides Aris and me.
Not just the shower room, but the entire vicinity seems empty.
It looks like everyone has moved to the temporary teacher.
Gaining confidence, I step back into the booth and speak to Aris.
“Senior. There’s no one here now. You can come out.”
“Thank you for confirming. Good job, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Upon hearing my words, Aris places a hand lightly on her chest, as if she just endured ten long years, and bows to me.
“Trouble? It’s nothing serious.”
Just as we were having such a warm conversation and getting ready to leave, suddenly—
Tap.
Aris steps on a bar of soap lying on the floor.
“Uh, uh-uh-uh?!”
Slip.
She screams and falls toward me.
Caught off guard by the sudden situation, I panic.
Should I dodge?
No, if I avoid her, she might fall and get hurt.
I brace myself to catch her.
Just as I make my decision—
Thud.
Aris’s soft body crashes against mine.
The faint scent of flowers wafts toward me from her body.
In that instant, we fall together onto the shower booth floor, like a scene from a romantic comedy manga’s lucky mishap.
Squish.
Her ample chest squishes against me without mercy, and her smooth skin presses tightly against my upper body.
Lastly, Aris’s soft lips collide with mine, overlapping.
Lip smack.
Falling… and a kiss?
Moreover, this is my first kiss, isn’t it?
My mind goes completely blank.
It turns white.
After all, it’s an accident.
“Hu….”
A hot sigh escapes from Aris’s lips, which are pressed against his.
Her face turns bright red.
His figure comes into Aris’s view.
Black hair, black eyes, a face that looks like a scoundrel, and a perfectly sculpted muscular body that seems like a statue.
Maybe it’s because he’s in swimwear, but Aris, unable to resist, is now hugging him on the floor while their lips are pressed together.
‘K-k-kiss? Wh-what do I do…’
Thump.
Aris’s heart starts racing as she fully realizes the situation.
In stark contrast to the cold, splashed floor of the shower room, his warm body temperature is transmitted to her through her bare skin.
The sensation of solid muscles, his breath, and the smell of soap tickle her nose.
She feels the soft touch of his lips.
‘F-f-first kiss…’
Thump, thump, thump.
Aris’s heart rate skyrockets.
A first kiss.
She thought it would happen someday, but she never expected it to be with him.
‘Of course, it’s not that I dislike it… but uuuh, what am I even saying right now?’
Her chest tightens painfully.
Memories of Kyoto flood her mind.
The night she drunkenly shared a bed with him, the warmth and comfort she felt in his arms are still vivid for Aris.
While Kim Deok-Sung insisted on pretending it never happened, Aris couldn’t forget.
In fact, every night, his body heat still vividly comes to her mind.
The warmth she had thought was scandalous and had tried to deny now brightly approaches her whole body.
It’s warm.
She wants to be together a little longer.
She wants to continue pressing their lips together like this.
Unwholesome, unthinkable thoughts for a student council president swirl through Aris’s mind.
“…Mmph, umph.”
Just then, as Aris’s face turns as red as a sunset.
A groan escapes from Kim Deok-Sung’s lips, which are pinned by hers.
It’s only then that Aris snaps back to reality.
She quickly pulls her lips away in shock.
“This guy is really crazy! M-my sanity, look at this, wh-what an embarrassing—!!”
The moment the Kansai dialect bursts out from flustered Aris’s mouth.
Kim Deok-Sung’s finger presses against Aris’s lips.
“Be careful. Someone might come. Senpai.”
His voice is sweet as it reaches Aris’s ear.
So sweetly that it makes her heart flutter.
Thump.
It aches in her chest as if it’s being tightened.
Kim Deok-Sung’s finger leaves her lips.
“Uhh…”
Aris’s expression breaks.
She barely holds back a sweet sigh trying to escape her lips.
He’s right.
As the student council president of Shuo Academy, she cannot show a disheveled appearance.
Struggling to hold onto her reason, Aris shuts her eyes tightly.
“I understand… I will. I’ve caused another scene, haven’t I? I’m sorry, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
She speaks in a trembling voice.
This is the second time, right after the Kyoto Exchange Tournament.
Showing her clumsiness to him.
Whenever she stands in front of him, her heart feels painfully tight, yet she unexpectedly relaxes and becomes disheveled.
It feels comfortable.
She wants to stay together.
She wants to be held.
She wants to kiss him even deeper.
Aris desperately suppresses and denies such scandalous thoughts and emotions.
‘What just happened is merely an accident! It’s not a kiss! I am the student council president of Shuo… I have a duty to be a model for all the students… I cannot be swept up in personal feelings.’
“One mustn’t get swept away by personal emotions.”
Aris bit her lip.
The pain jolted her back to reality.
The student council president of Shuo carried not just immense power, but also heavy responsibilities.
There was no luxury of being lost in personal feelings.
Aris barely gathered her composure and slowly rose.
The warmth of his body, the refreshing scent of soap, and the feel of his firm muscles faded away.
Ah.
Unintentionally, a sigh rose in her throat, which she suppressed with all her might.
“······My apologies, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. What just happened was purely an accident. It was definitely not a first kiss······. Nothing like that.”
Embracing her rapidly beating heart, Aris averted her gaze.
A moment of silence ensued.
Feeling her heartbeat pounding painfully, Aris hesitated before asking in a small voice, “Was it your first, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung?”
A nod.
Kim Deok-Sung slightly reddened and nodded his head.
It was his first too.
At that implication, Aris let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.
‘What a relief······. Now, wait, what kind of embarrassing nonsense am I saying······.’
Flustered, Aris shook her head vigorously.
“That question was just out of curiosity······! I absolutely had no scoundrel intentions! This was purely an accident! It doesn’t count towards the kiss tally!”
Aris defended herself, her face flushed as she lowered her eyes to the ground.
“I understand. As for that······ I’ll be okay. By the way, since you got dirty from the fall, should you take a shower·····? I’ll wait outside, Senpai.”
Hearing his response.
Ever since their encounter in the shower room, she felt she had been nothing but a bother to the student council president.
And just now, even though it was unintended, hadn’t she just stolen his lips?
Even if he resented her, Aris had no words to defend herself.
Yet he remained gentle and considerate, not complaining even once.
Any girl would have her heart race.
‘If I were just an ordinary student and not the student council president······ I might have fallen for you, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. You’re really a dangerous person.’
As Aris struggled to calm her racing heart, she bit her lip.
“······I understand.”
“Then I’ll wait outside the shower booth.”
Clack.
The shower booth door closed.
Swoosh.
Aris turned on the showerhead.
Under the pouring water, she finally let out a sweet sigh.
Aris brushed her pink lips with her hand.
It still felt like the touch of his lips lingered.
She wanted more.
Aris shook her body sharply, trying to deny her budding feelings.
“Stealing my first kiss······. Truly, a dangerous person······.”
Amidst the sound of cascading water, Aris’s mutterings echoed inside the booth.
*
While Aris was showering, I also rinsed my body on the opposite shower booth.
Swoosh.
As the shower water hit me, I fiddled with my lips.
‘Who would have thought this could happen······.’
Even in a light novel world, falling over and ending up with a lip smack doesn’t make sense, right?
It’s absurd.
If this were reality, the moment we fell in the shower, we’d have cracked our heads and probably ended up in the hospital by now.
Is it because it’s a light novel world? Even if I fell, it didn’t hurt at all, and during the lip-smacking process, our teeth didn’t clink together either.
“I didn’t even bump into your teeth during the lip-locking process.”
Well, it really is an absurd setup where the strongest superhuman of the academy, the Student Council President Aris, slips just because she stepped on soap.
It’s a world that seems to have as much believability and realism as a speck of dust.
[But it was nice, wasn’t it? Partner? A kiss with a beautiful girl. I’m jealous.]
The Black Prince rambles in my head.
I can’t really argue against it.
A kiss with my favorite character—it’s something even a major fan might have imagined at least once.
If my heart isn’t racing, then that would be a lie.
Plus, isn’t this my first kiss, both before and after reincarnation?
Thump.
My heart keeps pounding.
I shake my head.
Not yet.
Now isn’t the time to indulge in such sentiments.
No need to get unnecessarily excited.
I take a deep breath and try to calm my racing heart.
After wrapping up a light shower and not waiting long outside, Aris stepped out of the shower booth.
“…I’m done.”
I double-check the floor, just in case.
No soap.
It’s clean.
Good. A mishap like earlier won’t happen again.
“Let’s go.”
Now all that’s left is to exit the shower room.
If showering is this difficult…
Just as I was about to leave the shower room with Aris.
“…Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Aris called out to me.
Turning my head, I saw Aris blush and fidgeting with her fingers.
“If it’s alright, would you like to come with me to the House by the Sea…?”
“Suddenly?”
An unexpected proposal.
My mind fills with question marks.
The House by the Sea.
I know what that place is, of course.
It’s a makeshift restaurant located near the beach, a wooden shack that’s essential for beach episodes.
In other words, it’s like a Japanese-style valley samgyeopsal eatery.
It frequently appears in scenes where the protagonist and characters relax and chat over food after swimming.
But why is she suggesting that?
“I… I caused quite a bit of trouble for you in the shower room, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung… Including the earlier accident, so I wanted to make it up to you. Would that be unwelcome?”
Aris’s gaze turns towards me.
Her silver eyes tremble.
Unlike her usual cool and perfect student council president persona, she now appears anxious.
Aris bites her lip.
[Partner. You wouldn’t seriously refuse a lady’s earnest request, would you?]
The Black Prince chimes in.
“No, it’s fine.”
I had no intention of refusing from the start.
Honestly, I wanted to see what the House by the Sea was like.
And above all, no one dislikes free food.
Especially if it’s a meal paid for by my favorite character.
“Alright. Then please follow me.”
Aris strides ahead.
I follow her out of the shower room.
I see students still hanging out on the sandy beach.
Passing them, we arrive at a makeshift restaurant constructed of wooden beams, something that seems straight out of an anime.
It was, as the name suggests, the House by the Sea.
Guided by Aris, I sit at a table.
A female student in a bikini greets us and hands over the menu.
“This House by the Sea is operated by the student council, so feel free to eat as much as you like.”
I wondered why a place like the House by the Sea exists on Coral Beach, and it turned out it was created by the student council.
The menu was filled with familiar names like shaved ice, yakisoba, curry, and ramen.
