kscans

Chapter 63 - At the Love Hotel

"...Ugh... my head hurts..."

I wake up with a dull pain. A typical hangover. While I look no different from an ordinary human, my physical resilience far surpasses that of normal people. But even someone like me can get hungover? Yes, I can. As I once told Hikaru, the abilities of superhuman types are influenced by mental state. If you have the mindset of enjoying alcohol, the alcohol will naturally affect you. In my case, that alone wouldn't be enough to get me drunk, so I normally intentionally lower my tolerance and such. Today was especially so. After all, it was a reunion with another old friend. Of course the alcohol would taste good.

"What time is it...? And where am I...?"

I organize the situation with my still foggy, not-quite-awake head. The ceiling that hazily comes into view is unfamiliar. At least it's not home. Plus it's a bit chilly... Am I in my underwear? It's summer, but the air conditioning is working perfectly, so if I'm in my underwear, naturally it would feel chilly.

"Hm...? Something's weighing down my right arm..."

Could it be that? Did I drunkenly perform some real Rocket Punch party trick? Was my regeneration sloppy because I was drunk, causing my arm to...? This is bad, I can't remember anything. My memories from last night are mostly gone from a certain point. For now, let me check what's causing this by looking over—

"——"

I was speechless. Why? Because Suzuki's head is resting on my arm. And judging from what I can see despite the blanket covering most of her... she's naked... no, she's wearing underwear. Cold sweat starts pouring out. You think it's fine if she's wearing underwear?

(...In my case, not necessarily)

Why? Because among my many fetishes, I have a thing for lingerie. I can't rule out the possibility that we did it while she kept them on.

"——Did you do it?! Hideo!!"

The face of that old hag I know flickers through my mind. Hey old hag, you usually give me the cold shoulder, so why do you look slightly amused...? That's just like you, old hag. You act like you see the big picture, like your perspective is different from ordinary people, but you're strangely vulgar in weird places. No, the old hag doesn't matter right now. Before the old hag, I need to confirm the facts first.

(P-please...)

I lift the blanket like I'm praying. ...There were no traces of anything like that. If we'd done it, there would be various... you know? Things. Since there was nothing like that, I can relax for now. So Satou-kun didn't devour his friend (former ♂) on the night of their reunion... Thank goodness. Well, I believed in him. I believed that Satou-kun, that Satou-kun's lower half wasn't that unprincipled.

(But then, what's this situation...?)

When I calmly look around the room, I immediately understand. This is a love hotel. By the way, the time is a little past five. Today's a normal work day, but I have plenty of time so there's no problem. I usually don't, but if I wanted to, I could drastically shorten my commute time.

(Why am I at a love hotel with Suzuki——ah)

My gaze wanders and stops at the table. On the table, various dishes were scattered about along with alcohol. Seeing the half-eaten honey toast, I remember last night's events.

"Say, Satou-kun... um, have you ever... been to a love hotel?"

Suzuki asked with droopy upward-looking eyes. Her cuteness was annoyingly irritating. Irritating yet arousing. Well, she was just normally drunk. I think it was the second bar? I remember drinking quite a bit.

"Love hotel? Well, enough to call myself a sommelier."

I said before that I prefer home when hiring professionals, but that doesn't mean I don't use love hotels. For one-night stands, or even when I'm out on business, I sometimes use them for rest. Not in a weird way—actual rest. I don't think I'm in the minority. I think there are others who use them for normal rest too. Back in high school, there were guys who'd used them normally for shelter from rain and such. Plus, I think they're a perfectly valid choice as a place to hang out. They wouldn't become standard spots, but as an occasional change of pace, they're totally fine.

"..."

"What's with that look?"

Suzuki narrows her eyes and looks at me reproachfully. I don't get it.

"Nothing really? But I see. So you're fairly knowledgeable about them."

"So what?"

"Well... what was it... I learned somewhere before that love hotel food supposedly has surprisingly high quality."

"Yeah yeah, that's right."

Places that don't put effort into it still use frozen foods normally, but places that do put effort in have dedicated chefs. Originally, they had potential as places to hang out with karaoke, games, and such. Putting effort into food to match the diversifying needs of the times is, in a way, a natural result. There are even things like "love hotel girls' nights."

"! I knew it! Hey hey, what's it like? How is it?"

"You're really pushing... If you're that interested, why don't you just go?"

"Don't make it sound so easy. I can't just casually go to a love hotel."

"It's not that big a deal~ Don't you have friends? Ah, same-sex friends, I mean. Nowadays love hotel girls' nights are totally normal, you know?"

"Why are you so knowledgeable about recent trends?"

"It's not that recent. It's been around for quite a while."

Well, anyway. Suzuki-kun seemed very interested in love hotels. I could have ignored it without any problem, but Satou-kun is a gentleman with a reputation for thoughtfulness.

"Hmm... Hey Suzuki, do you have room in your stomach?"

"? I have plenty of room~"

"Then want to go check one out? I know several hotels with good food too~"

"...Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

So that's how we came to the love hotel. When we first arrived at the love hotel... she's prudish, so she was incredibly fidgety. But once the food we ordered started arriving, Suzuki probably relaxed. She started reviewing the meals like a food critic from a gourmet manga. The fact that her style was to point out good points rather than find fault made a quietly good impression.

"Ahahahaha! Satou-kun! Karaoke! There's karaoke!!"

"Dahahaha! Of course there is! Want to sing!?"

"Let's sing, let's sing! Duets!!"

Good food, good alcohol—naturally our mood would rise. Before I knew it, we'd thrown off our clothes and were singing with our arms around each other's shoulders. Then we belted out about thirteen songs and were completely exhausted.

"I'm tired..."

"I'm tired too..."

"Sleep?"

"Let's sleep."

And so we got into bed. That's how we ended up here.

"Ugh, uh..."

I hear groaning. Looking beside me, Suzuki seems to have woken up.

"Ah, my head hurts—! S-Satou-kun...?"

"Oh, you're awake. Good morning."

"G-good morning."

She's quite flustered, but unlike me, she seems to have had her memories from the start. She quickly understood the situation.

"...Um... don't look too much... it's embarrassing."

"O-oh... sorry..."

Uh, what's this atmosphere? It suddenly got awkward.