Episode 7 – Favorite Smell

–I can’t get enough of it…….

After school, I was restless in the woman’s world–the cosmetics section of the drugstore. Even though Yua was next to me, somehow I felt uncomfortable in the woman’s section. 

“Which color do you like, Seita kun?”

There are five colors covering Yua’s hand. Red, orange, salmon pink, pink, and light pink.

“So there are many kinds of lipstick.”

“These are colored lipstick.”

“……What’s the difference?”

“Basic lip balm. It moisturizes your lips. It only has a faint color to it.”

“What about this dark one?”

“That’s lipstick. But it has a moisturizer in it.”

–So difficult…….

It’s like coffee milk and café au lait.

“So, which one do you like?”

“Let’s see,…….”

Rinna looks good in light pink……

—No, no !

Let’s just get the game out of my head. It’s Yua who’s in front of me.

What’s it called, Yellowish skin tone or Blueish skin tone? It’s something about knowing what colors suit you based on your hair, eyes, skin tone, etc. I remember hearing my mom talking about it before.

I looked at Yua’s face. Her skin is so translucent that even the blood vessels seem to show through. So maybe, blueish skin tone.

–Well, I don’t know what would go with it anyway !

In this case, I have no choice but to trust my own sense. What would suit Yua is-

“I think this pink.”

“Rose pink. Roget that.”

Yua wipes the back of her hand with a cleansing sheet that she took out from her bag.

“I also thought that Seita kun might like this color.”

“Well, I don’t know about that–“

I just thought it would suit Yua.

As I was about to say that.

“Oh yeah, can I have a look at the hand cream too?”

And then she quickly walked to the skin care section.

–Such a free spirit.

I followed Yua. She was crouching in front of a shelf, examining it with a serious expression on her face. I crouched down next to her.

“Which one do you think is good?”

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, I think your hands are clean without using them.”

“I’m doing my best to take care of them. You like clean hands too, don’t you?”

Well, I don’t hate it.

Yua puts the tester’s cream on the back of her hand and rub it.

“Hmm～, maybe it’s a little too much…..”

“It seems to be more moisturizing that way.”

“But I won’t be able to touch my phone for a while.”

The most important thing to remember is that the best way to get the most out of your phone is to use a good quality moisturizer.

It’s a perspective that I don’t have.

“You try it too, Seita kun.”

Saying that, Yua put the cream on my hands.

I rub my hands together as if I was worshiping her.

“What a dynamic way of applying it.”

“I always apply it like this.”

“It’s going to be uneven, you know?–That’s right. Shall I teach you how to do it right?”

“Is there a right way or a wrong way?”

“Of course, there is. Here, give me your hand.”

When I held out my hand without hesitation, Yua once again put hand cream on the back of my hand.

She then spread it with the palm of her hand in a gentle caressing motion.

“Do it carefully so it spreads to the tip of your finger, like this.”

–Oh,…….

As soon as we start, I realize that this is a bad idea. Yua’s supple, slightly cold hand crawls over my hand. A ticklish pleasure runs from my fingertips traveling all over my body.

“Then rub it into the fingernails as if you were massaging them.”

Yua pinched my fingers and rubbed the tips of my fingers with her thumb.

“H-hey.”

“What is it?”

“This is excessive contact, right……!

“Eh? How?”

“Because it feels like–“

I was shocked.

Yua smiled at me and looked into my face.

–This girl……she knows what she’s doing…….!

“I’m just teaching you how to apply hand cream. Or perhaps….., you’re thinking of something strange?”

“N-not at all !”

“Then why not? Shall we continue?”

She carefully rubbed each of my fingers.

“Between the fingers, too.”

Saying that, she slid her fingers into mine as if we were making a lover’s connection.

“Tsu……!”

A shiver runs down my spine.

“And finally, the palm of the hand.”

She held my hand as if we were shaking hands and slid it toward my fingertips.

“Do~ne~. How’s that? Did you get it all spread out evenly?”

“Yes, thank you…….”

For some reason, she’s using honorifics. Seeing my exhausted face, Yua chuckles happily, [Fufufu.] and whispered in my ear.

“If you ask, I’ll always tell you.”

Warm breath took over, and the pleasure returned.

“W-well, not for a while…..”

“Fufu.”

Yua stood up and resumed inspecting the hand cream. I squat down and pretend to search the lower shelf. I couldn’t stand up right now.

“I think I’ll go with the one I’ve used before.”

Yua then held out a couple of testers to me.

“Which smell do you like?”

After the color, it was the smell.

I’ve always felt that Yua’s judgment’s key point is a little strange. Or should I say, there is no key point at all? Her judgment depends on the external, not on herself, but on me.

“Which one do you like, Yua?”

“……Me?”

She has a difficult look on her face like when I asked her what she wanted me to do before.

“I, um…… I want to put on the one that Seita kun likes.”

“Hand cream is a kind of daily necessity, right? You’re going to use it even when I’m not around, so you might as well put on the one you like, right?”

“But…”

“Which one makes you feel the best when you smell it?”

Yua, with a dissatisfied look on her face, opened the lid of the tester and smelled each one.

“Ah, this one…….”

Yua’s reaction was at a hand cream with an herbal scent.

“Do you like it?”

“Um, yeah. But flowers and fruits are more……”

“But you liked it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…….”

I took the hand cream from the shelf and went to the cash register.

“Eh, wait, Seita kun”

“You made me lunch, and I want to thank you.”

“That’s not something you should be thanking me for at all……”

“It’s something for me.”

Having quoted the lines she had said before, Yua had no choice but to remain silent.

After paying the bill, I handed it to Yua.

“T-thank you very much……”

She looked downward, blushed and thanked me in a whisper.

◇

When I arrived at school in the morning, I saw Yua standing at the entrance. Next to her was a real gyaru like Yua before.

Her eyes glanced at me.

Oh no. I should pretend to be a stranger around other people. I changed into my indoor shoes.

I hear them talking.

“Don’t you smell good today, Yua?”

“My smell……”

Yua made gestures as if she was stroking her hand.

“……. I see, it’s my smell.”

“What are you talking about? Of course it’s yours.”

“I know right.. –I smell good, don’t I?”

“What was that.”

Her friends puffed her cheeks.

The two of them passed in front of me. At that moment, my eyes met Yua’s.

She had a broad smile on her face, a mixture of happiness and a little embarrassment.

I froze in my posture as I put my shoes in the shoe box.

In an embarrassing way, Yua’s smile won my heart. It looked like a smile from her heart, something I had never seen before.

I could hear my heart pounding.

–No, this was different.

I wasn’t attracted to her or anything, I was just a little taken by surprise. Anyone would be attracted to a cute girl who smiles at you, right? That’s it.

That’s what I convinced myself. However, my heart didn’t slow down.