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Chapter 71: Hesitation Means Defeat
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 15:00:14 +0000 UTCAoki held his breath, staring at the panel in front of him displaying three options. For a moment, he was completely unsure what to do.
After a silent pause, he began wavering on which one to pick.
Option One: Do nothing.
Low risk, low reward.
It was the safest, sure—but also incredibly underwhelming. Still, he decided to keep it in reserve. If he couldn’t decide, he could always fall back on this one.
Option Two...
To be honest, Aoki really didn’t want to choose this one.
If he had just explained things before Ryo opened the door and came into the room—if he’d just spoken up before diving under the kotatsu.
He might’ve been able to clear things up.
If he had laid everything out, how the whole situation with Ryo started after inviting her out for a simple meal—it could've been resolved.
But now...
He’d been hiding under the kotatsu for a while, and Ryo was doing her best to cover for him.
If he suddenly crawled out now and tried to explain everything...
Yeah, Aoki seriously doubted he had the verbal finesse to make that go smoothly.
And besides, more importantly—
Option Two didn’t offer any particularly amazing rewards either.
Forget the 300 points.
The two "random" expert-level skills? Too unpredictable.
The skill pool in Love Obstacle Simulator was absurdly huge, and the word random just screamed uncertainty.
Unless the requirement was dirt-easy or there were no better alternatives, Aoki generally avoided gambling on random rewards like that.
Which brings us to Option Three.
Now that was tempting.
Forget the points—just the skill reward alone was a game-changer.
A master-level music-related skill, hand-picked from the entire pool.
Everything from cello and violin to tambourines and vocal techniques—if it was music, it was fair game.
And this wasn’t some random draw—this was a guaranteed, selectable master skill.
Under normal circumstances, that’d already be great. But right now? It was perfect timing.
During his discussion with Niijima Yousuke at the café, Aoki had mentally settled on the idea of performing "Fireworks" (打上花火).
And since he didn’t want to waste this chance at free publicity, if the follow-up went well, Aoki definitely wanted Kessoku Band to perform "Fireworks" as flawlessly as possible.
Here was the problem:
"Fireworks" is a song built around a piano melody.
And right now, Kessoku Band had five members—three of whom were guitarists, including himself.
Not a single keyboardist.
To perform it properly, they needed a skilled pianist. And the skill reward from Option Three? It was the exact piece of the puzzle they were missing.
However...
Staring at the panel hanging in front of his eyes, Aoki found himself hesitating again.
There was no doubt—the reward from Option Three was exactly what he needed.
But the requirement to complete it...
Under the kotatsu, Aoki’s expression twisted through a wide range of emotions.
For a moment, he even thought about just going with Option One and calling it a day.
But to give up here, when such a perfect reward was on the line... that felt too frustrating to accept.
From his spot beneath the kotatsu, Ryo’s legs clad in sleek black tights—were right in front of him.
As the option described... yeah, the texture really did look incredible. Just looking at them, he could imagine how smooth they’d feel...
He yanked his thoughts back on track.
No distractions.
He went back to weighing the pros and cons.
Pros: Gain a master-level music skill and 200 points.
Cons: He’d absolutely have to apologize to Ryo later—thoroughly, and with every ounce of sincerity he had.
Still, Aoki figured he was probably the one closest to Ryo in Kessoku Band.
Maybe not a best friend, but definitely close enough to be considered like family.
So… touching her leg for the sake of a greater goal...
That’s not too outrageous between siblings, right...?
———————————————————————
Outside the kotatsu.
Being touched like that by Aoki was definitely strange—really strange but oddly enough, Ryo didn’t hate it.
But not hating it didn’t mean she wasn’t reacting.
First, the embarrassing misunderstanding with the R-18 doujin she accidentally bought and Kei found.
Then, panic mode when Nijika suddenly showed up, prompting her to hide Kei under the kotatsu.
Even Ryo, usually cool and collected, couldn’t stay emotionally unaffected.
Still, she kept her poker face.
Wearing her usual stoic expression, she sat before the kotatsu, trying hard to act normal.
Behind her, Nijika was rummaging through a nightstand drawer, searching for her drumsticks.
“They’re not here either...” Nijika muttered, sounding puzzled.
“Hey, Ryo, are you sure you left the drumsticks here? I’ve looked everywhere.”
Ryo paused to think for a moment, preparing to respond—
When suddenly—
She felt something on the sole of her foot.
———————————————————————
Under the kotatsu.
Aoki silently apologized in his heart as he took a deep breath.
There was no use hesitating anymore.
He’d chosen Option Three.
If he wanted that master-level skill, this was the price.
Steeling himself, he reached out with his right hand and gently touched the bottom of Ryo’s foot.
...
The texture was... yeah, definitely smooth. The tights were amazing.
Thanks to the kotatsu’s warmth, her feet weren’t even cold despite the air-conditioned room.
He shook the thoughts away before they spiraled.
Steady breath. Heartbeat under control.
Slowly, his hand slid upward...
In front of him, Ryo’s small foot wrapped in the sheer black tights—reacted instinctively to the touch, her toes curling up tightly.
———————————————————————
Outside the kotatsu.
Ryo had just been about to answer Nijika, when the unexpected sensation made her voice jump into a single startled syllable.
“Mm—!”
Nijika flinched in surprise and turned around.
“What’s wrong, Ryo?”
Ryo froze.
She could still feel the touch creeping slowly up her leg.
Her whole body tensed, face flushing crimson.
She wanted to ask Kei what the hell he thought he was doing—but Nijika was right there, watching.
What kind of bizarre play is this...
Ryo’s hands trembled slightly.
Struggling to keep her cool, she forced a reply, voice shaking faintly as she endured the strange sensation moving upward.
“N-no, it’s nothing. Just… a bug. A bug flew at me and startled me.”
Nijika tilted her head, still suspicious, but didn’t press the issue.
She went back to searching while muttering under her breath.
“Ryo, you’re acting super weird today…”
