Aoharu x Kikanjuu の Mirai

Bold = Speech

Italic = Thoughts/Flashback

Bold + Italic = Speech in Thoughts/Flashback

Chapter 1

Hotaru couldn't even sleep a wink last night surprisingly.

She never had a sleepless night before and it was torturing her so much.

Whenever she tries to close her eyes, blood rushes to her cheeks.

Because every time she closes her eyes, she is reminded of what has happened during last night.

However no matter how hard she thinks, she doesn't understand why she is so conscious of last night's event.

'It's just a kiss! But... It's my first...' she thought in an attempt to comfort herself that it was no big deal but it seems to have an opposite effect.

She touched her lips and again, the scene replays in her mind once more.

Last night.

While Hotaru and Haruki were fast asleep in the car, Yukimura and Matsuoka secretly drove them to the hot spring in order to surprise them.

However, the truth is, Tachibana is a girl, no doubt, and that was her biggest secret and most likely the first secret in her life.

She isn't trying to fool them, it was all because of one rule that says that no girls can join Team Toy GunGun.

Holding an overwhelming passion for survival games Tachibana lied about her gender convincingly with her unfeminine appearance, but now she is afraid that if the truth is revealed, she will be forced to leave the team.

As she hides her secret, it was slowly discovered by people around her; Midori then Haruki.

Luckily, they have kept a tight lip about it.

But Yukimura and Matsuoka had no idea so by the time they arrived at the hot spring entrance, it was too late for Tachibana to make her escape.

With no way to escape from this situation, Tachibana could only enter the male side of the hot spring and experience a whole new world.

But life isn't a bed of roses, it was a bed of roses with thorns.

There are times when she was almost exposed but with her quick reflex and Yukimura's poor vision to her advantages, she successfully escaped from various obstacles.

When she thought that everything was over, the boss arrived and it was definitely the toughest at the boss stage; Hoshishiro's Midori and his subordinate, Fujimoto.

Hotaru has Haruki as a support but he is now gone!

At first, the both of them were enjoying the bath until Fujimoto and... the brother-obsessed Haruka who suddenly popped out from the water separated her ally and towel from her.

Fujimoto followed by Midori joined in the bath.

Midori was surprised when he saw her next to him.

He looks at Hotaru with his dumbfounded eyes "... Eh...? Why are you in the men's bath..."

Hotaru then remembers that Midori found out that she was a girl from their first encounter.

Sweats flow down from the side of her face as she struggles to stay in the warm bath.

But it feels like she's already reaching her limit and is about to faint in the bath.

With Fujimoto in front her and Midori next to her, there's no more escape route for a girl with no towel, if she faint everything will be exposed as well!

She calmly examines the situation and realizes that there's only one way, which is to ask help from Midori who knows about her gender, despite the fact that he is Team Toy GunGun and Matsuoka's enemy.

With her flushed cheeks from the bath, she looks at Midori and asks "Excuse me, can you lend Tachibana your towel...?"

Midori quickly realizes her situation, but that is when his sadistic side makes its appearance, he makes a deal with Hotaru in exchange for his towel.

With a smile, he whispers into Hotaru's ears so that Fujimoto would not hear him "If you kiss me, I will lend it to you"

Hotaru's cheeks are as red as a tomato, no one knows if it was because she was in the bath for too long or because of his request.

She was so shocked by what she just heard that she froze at the spot.

Meanwhile, Fujimoto was still in his own world, unaware of what is happening in his surrounding.

Tachibana clenches her hand into a fist as her face turns red with anger and embarrassment.

Midori was very satisfied with her expression and was enjoying it so much.

'Interesting' he thought as he looks at the innocent girl, maybe she's just a perfect girl for a sadist like him.

He hopes to be able to tease and see more of her amusing reactions.

Then he playfully pointed to his cheek and ask her to give him a peck there.

Watching Hotaru getting less fired up and is looking like she might faint anytime, he thought that he might have gone too far so he offers the towel to Hotaru and says, "I was just kidding. Here, I will give you my towel..." But there was no reaction from her 'Did she not hear me?' he thought as he observed that Hotaru seems like she's engrossed in her own thinking.

Just then, a very serious voice came out from her mouth "Midori-san".

In a spite of second, Midori felt something on his lips, and he knows that it is not a feeling he would detest.

Hotaru had her eyes shut tightly and that was the decision she made.

Her original flushed face turns even redder when she opens her eyes and met Midori's, she nervously nibbles on her lips then quickly snatch away the promised towel from the dumbfounded Midori and quickly made her escape.

The dumbfounded Midori quickly recovers from the surprise, he laughs out and made a rare smile which hardly anyone even Fujimoto has ever seen before. He pushes his hair backward as he watches the girl bareback disappear from his view completely.

"I totally lost to her," he said but with a smile on his face.

Never did he expect Hotaru to actually kiss him on his lips, even though this isn't the first time someone kissed him, this kiss was definitely the most shocking and impressionable he ever had.

Hotaru rolled over her bed ample of times, the next thing she knows is that the alarm already rang and she has no chance to sleep anymore.

"Hotaru what happened to you?!" Matsuoka rushed to her and caress her eye bags with his thumbs.

"It's nothing" Hotaru claims, Matsuoka narrow his eyes and look at her suspiciously.

Her face was clearly showing that something is wrong.

"You have been weird since-. Is it because of Midori?!" He watches the girl's face turns beet red and he knew her answer.

He saw them, he saw them kissed.

"Do you perhaps like guys...?" Matsuoka gets straight to the point. Hotaru flings her hands around embarrassingly.

"Tachibana is straight and like gu- girls!" She feels that Matsuoka looks a bit disappointed after what she says.

Before either of them can say something, Yukimura rushed towards Matsuoka, shedding tears and shouted "Mattsun! Hoshishiro is here!"

Hotaru feels her heart skip a beat upon hearing the name of the other team.

The first thing she thought is 'Is Midori-san also here?', then she places her hand on her chest where she could feel her heart thumping at an unusual rate.

'It's probably because I'm nervous, that's all' She reassured herself.

"AHHHHHH! HELPPP!" Cries of Haruki can be heard on the outside of the apartment, Hotaru gulp as she apologizes silently to Haruki because she won't be able to help him this time.

'Tachibana is sorry, Haruki-san, Tachibana will settle my problems real quick and save you' Hotaru make a mental note.

"Matsuoka-san, Yukimura-san" Hotaru call out, but there are no replies. She has been abandoned.

'What should Tachibana do, where should Tachibana hide?' she anxiously looks around her house in search of a hiding spot.

She decided to hide below the desk, where she crouches up. "Shh... Stop beating so loudly" She whispers as she places her hand on her chest. 'Am I getting sick? My heart is beating at an unusual rate these days'.

She then hears the front door creak open slowly, followed by some footsteps after thinking about some meaningless stuff.

'Who is it...?' Her hand clench up in nervousness as she tries to suppress her desire to peek who is inside.

As if the intruder know where she is, she could hear the footsteps coming towards her without any hesitation. Afraid, she got ready in a fighting stance to fight off the intruder.

The shadow slowly approaches her, as soon as she saw the owner's of the shadow stops in front her and was about to bend down, she timed her punch but was unexpectedly stopped as if the intruder has predicted her action.

"Midori-san" Her eyes widen when she saw his face in front her. She hit her head against the desk when trying to move back from Midori and whine in pain.

Midori chuckles at her clumsiness and holds her fist tighter then he forcefully pulls her towards him.

"How did you know Tachibana was hiding here?" Hotaru asks, she tries to free her hand from his strong grip but was proven to be a failure.

He shows his sadistic smile again and arches closer to her. She was trapped under the desk with nowhere to go. "Midori-san...?" Hotaru's eyes widen, his eyes slowly trace to these sweet lips of hers.

"Tachibana is being a bad girl and bad girls who hide from me have to be punished"