https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9531ga/82/
Episode 82: Drunken Princess
“What are you doing Yuri-chan~?”
Just as my brain was starting to run off in a dangerous direction, Saki (who I had completely forgotten about) entered the room. N-No….saying I forgot her is an exaggeration. It’s just, these beautiful girls were acting really strange right? It can’t be helped that Saki may have slipped from my mind for just a brief moment right?
Her cheeks were stained vermillion, and her walk had a stutter to it that made it clear she was drunk too….. What? Everyone got drunk off of a couple whiskey bonbons…..? I know none of us have any resistance to alcohol, but it’s still surprising to see how effective it is.
Saki approached us slowly and deliberately, her shoes clicking along the floor with each step. Ranko took one look at me before standing up and taking a step away, but the other two held fast to me. I raised my head, but Saki’s eyes did not meet mine. Even so I could tell, her gaze was completely glazed over, yet there was something dark and dangerous smoldering in the center.
“What a naughty prince you are to cheat with another woman when you already have a princess.”
The smooth, gentle tone to Saki’s voice was undercut by the sharp, prickly presence in her eyes.
“D-Do you want to join in too Saki? I’d welcome you?”
“Hoh~ Quit the self-confidence despite being a cheater.”
Saki pointed towards the two girls who were still stuck fast to me. Her smile grew wider, and I physically flinched. The longer I look into her eyes the more scared I get, yet I’m too scared to look away from her.
“It’s not like I’m really cheating on anyone or anything. I-I’m just not turning anyone away. Look! Isn’t it more fun if we play together!? So let’s get along! …..Ok?”
“Yeah, we’re all really good friendsー!!!”
“Born together, yet we all swore to die apart…..”
“Die apart? I think you got that backwards Yuzurin.”
These two have completely lost their brains and are going to be zero help here.
“How about you Saki? There is a seat open in the front right now.”
Ranko on the other hand felt almost too enthusiastic in trying to help me out.
Unfortunately, as soon as she made her suggestion…..
“No…. This is my seat…..”
Suddenly Yuzuriha stopped clinging to my right arm and returned to her original position on my lap.
“Ara Yuzu-chan~ That’s my spot?”
“This is my special seat…..”
“And when can I have a turn~?”
“……In one year.”
“So long…..!”
“I guess if you be extra nice, I can let you have it….for one minute.”
“And stingy!”
I never knew Yuzurin could be so narrow-minded. At some point I gained the special chair job without realizing it.
“Ufufufu~ you stingy girl~”
But Saki wasn’t going to let things die there. Yuzuriha was so surprised when Saki took her hand she didn’t give any resistance as she was forced to her feet. She was then taken over and pushed against the wall.
“If Yuzu-chan is going to act so narrow-minded and greedy, she’s going to need a little punishment~”
“Eh……, Eh…..?”
♠
“AaAAaAA….. Why must I endure such humiliation…..blegh…..”
Yuzuriha collapsed onto the table like a defeated villain in a battle manga. Meanwhile Saki’s skin was positively glistening after getting her fill Yuzuriha energy. So this is what a “punishment” is to Saki? Because to me it looked more like Saki just indulged in the fondling session of a lifetime….or a lesbian relationship that was about to take the PDA one step too far.
“Does Honoka-chan want to be next~?”
Honoka was still fondling my chest while holding me from behind during the whole incident which set her up as the princess’s next target. With a confrontation imminent, both girls stopped moving and quietly sized each other up.
Is what I thought would happen.
“Nahー I know I wouldn’t lose, but I don’t feel like getting tickled right now~ I’ll let Saki have this one…..”
Honoka immediately started waving her arms in the air to show she was harmless and took a couple steps away from me. It’s narcissistic of me I know, but I really thought she’d put up some kind of fight. Instead Honoka just sat down in the seat next to a lifeless Yuzuriha, (Did she pass out?), and gently pulled her into her arms.
“Hmm~m? Well thank you~”
“Sure sure. Come here Yuzurin. Cheer me up”
I had stared after Honoka as she walked away, wondering why she had given up so easily, but as she started playing around with the incognizant Yuzuriha, the answer came to me. She was as scared of Saki right now as I was, and she made the selfish decision to leave me to the wolves. Now that wolf has me in her sights, and all I can do in response is force a smile…..
Meanwhile at some point without me noticing, Ranko had returned to her seat across from me and started taking pictures again. She apparently had no interest in joining our yuri yuri time. It feels a little lonely honestly.
“So, Yuri-chan~? Will you explain yourself~?”
“Well, you know, everyone’s drunk right?”
“So you’re taking the opportunity to flirt with some drunk girls while I’m not looking……? Making you guilty then? Naughty children~, need to be punished~”
Saki’s fingers started wiggling towards me just as they had done with Yuzuriha. Guh…… I’m not sure what exactly has gotten into her, but her yuri power is off the charts….! There’s no way I can allow myself to fall into the devil’s hands like this…..
“So why did you cheat on me~?”
“Well, it wasn’t really ‘cheating’ per se, more that the three of them were just doing whatever they wanted….”
“Oh really~ Then you’ll let anyone do just about anything to you~”
“I-I mean, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by turning them down if it isn’t too unreasonable?”
“I see~ But~…..I don’t know if I can trust you when you’re always acting so lovey-dovey with everyone around you. I will require some kind of proof that I am the most important to you~”
Do I really look like I’m being lovey-dovey with everyone…..? Saki touched her hand to my cheek, but her smile is no different from normal. I can’t tell if she actually knows how I feel about yuri.
That aside, Saki’s face was getting closer and closer. I leaned back in my chair. Maybe she noticed I was acting cautiously because she moved slower as she brought her lips close to my ear,
“A promise kiss….would do nicely….”
and whispered softly.
“T-That’s something best saved for when you’re getting married right…..?”
“But it’s the best proof that someone is the most important to you.”
Saki put her finger to her lips as if she were in thought.
“Right?”
“No! Not right!”
“So it won’t work? Then~, we can just have our wedding night first. I promise to be gentle with you~”
“Slow down! I’m the bottom!?”
Her hands were already moving towards my chest, but I managed to avoid her fingers by twisting my body.
“Don’t worry, it’s not like you will be losing anything~”
“I will! I will be losing something――!”
Even though I might not be losing something physically, I know that if I let Saki touch my breasts or butt right now, I will be losing all sorts of things.
But more importantly, it doesn’t matter that everyone is drunk right now. If I were to accept a kiss from someone who is going to treat is so seriously, it will create a rift in my relationship with the others. Best case scenario, I can skilfully avoid diverge the kiss and treat it as an extension of friendly, physical contact, but….
The devil’s hand was creeping up on me again after I let down my guard. I hadn’t yet figured out I wasn’t safe yet before those fingers deftly undid the buttons of my cardigan. Both hands then tried zeroing in on my breasts, but after I tried getting up out of my chair, both of my shoulders were grabbed and pushed against the wall.
“Guh….”
“Where ya goin~?”
I managed to slip away at the last moment and tried avoiding Saki’s attempt to kiss me by circling the table. Unfortunately, an assortment of chairs and a Yuzuriha worked as obstacles to physically block my way, and the fluttering sleeves of my cardigan ended up grabbed.
“Ah!”
“Are you prepared?”
I tried turning around to move away again. And that’s a wall. I’m cornered. Finished. ……Until
“Enough.”
“Ack!”
My arm was grabbed, and I was yanked into some other direction. I quickly turned to see what had happened and found that Ranko was now standing in front of Saki rather than me.
“Stop!”
The distance between the two of them was only a few centimetres. In that instant, Ranko’s face covered Saki’s lips…..
And nothing happened. Saki managed to cover Ranko’s mouth just in time with her own hand, preventing any sort of accidental smooch from happening.
Saki’s eyes were smoldering again after her target managed to narrowly escape her. I could tell though that she hadn’t given up and probably never would.
The two girls were calmly keeping their distance between each other. Their eyes were narrow, a glare shared between them. Ranko was the first to speak.
“I was planning on stopping you before something accidentally happened there as well, but….. You made it seem like you liked me a great deal, yet you do not want to share a kiss with me….good to know.”
They took a step to distance themselves from each other. Saki was wearing her usual princess smile, but the light in her eyes only grew darker at Ranko’s words.
“You’ve finally calmed down…. And I can see the blush on your cheeks…. You’re not actually drunk, so let’s keep the jokes in moderation.”
Ranko turned and returned to her seat without ever glancing back. Saki watched her go disinterestedly before shaking her head.
“You’re not drunk either though, are you Ran-tan? You got to have your fun with Yuri-chan, yet you won’t let me have mine~?”
“Haven’t you had enough fun? Tease her too much, and you might end up hurting her.”
“And if I haven’t had ‘enough’?”
“Hmph”
This time it was Ranko’s mood that started turning sour. The girls had been acting distant to each other up until now, but somehow, it started to feel like invisible sparks had begun to fly between the two of them.
Ranko broke the mutual stare first, and
“Then I might need to start getting serious too….”
muttered something quietly to herself.
“What did you say?”
“No, nothing important.”
Getting serious…..? If she means seriously attacking me, then please, by all means. If she means seriously going head to head with Saki though, it’s going to turn into an actual battlefield won’t it? I’d really like to avoid that if you please.
But, this anxiety-inducing, yuri-filled development…..there is a part of me that is very excited and can’t wait to see what happens next. The troubles of being a fan of yuri harems.
Anyway. The Hono-Yuzu pair have mostly recovered from the alcohol at this point. They’re back to doing what they were already doing before all this started: a yuri-filled cuddling session with Honoka doing whatever she wanted while Yuzuriha tiredly tells her to knock it off. They must’ve been playing with each other through the entire Saki/Ranko confrontation.
Meanwhile, Ranko was playing with the camera again.
“Did you have fun today Yuriha?”
I turned towards her fully when she called my name and found a cynical smile pointed my way.
“However, we’ll remember this, okay?”
Ranko placed her finger to my lips and traced the outline of my mouth…..I feel so pathetic being caught so off guard that I just let it happen without saying anything. “Hmph!” And I could hear Saki’s grumpy pouting from the other side of the table without having to look.
Little by little, each girls’ true feelings are coming out, and their love arrows are pointing my way. Unfortunately though, it feels like this incident has created a rift in our peaceful yuri harem before it was able to fully complete…..
The silly Hono/Yuzu duo have continued to cuddle and flirt this whole time, so they probably won’t change no matter what happens. Although, I am a little bit curious about the girl who seemed to be taking the occasional short break from cuddling Yuzuriha to eavesdrop on our conversation.
Experimental Translations 