COTE : Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

The night sky above the deserted island was so transparent it was almost unbelievable. Faint, glimmering specks of starlight flowed through the deep, profound river of the Milky Way like grains of sand within a stream. Moonlight cascaded down like water, shrouding the entire island in a silvery-white luminescence.

At the small wooden hut not far from the cave campsite, Fuyuji Mikage sat with both legs dangling over the edge of the cliff, his hands braced against the ground, his head tilted back as he gazed up at the scattering of stars dotting the night sky.

The ocean beneath his feet surged and receded in a steady, rhythmic cadence, crashing against the reefs below and emitting low, deep, resonant roars.

It was the height of summer—one of the best times of the year for stargazing.

On this deserted island in the Pacific, utterly free from light pollution, the stars were clearly visible to the naked eye.

Lyra...

Orion...

Antares...

The bright star on Orion's left shoulder—its light had traveled six hundred and forty years just to reach this small wooden hut, just to be seen by Fuyuji's eyes.

In other words, at this very moment, what he was seeing was the image of that star, named Betelgeuse, from six hundred and forty years ago.

Such an impossibly vast distance—so vast that even light itself had to travel for six hundred and forty years just to reach his side...

But even so, it had still arrived here.

A series of light, graceful footsteps sounded from above. Then came the tap-tap-tap of someone climbing down the ladder.

Fuyuji did not turn his head. He continued gazing up at the various constellations in the night sky.

A figure slowly sat down beside him, bringing with her a faint, delicate fragrance. What followed was an indescribably soft sensation transmitted through his arm. Strands of hair, lifted by the sea breeze, brushed faintly, elusively, against the nape of his neck.

Fuyuji said nothing. The young girl leaning her head against his shoulder also said nothing.

The ocean waves crashed and lapped beneath their feet. The navigation lights of an airplane drew near in the darkness, then receded into the distance, until they vanished into the clouds, never to be seen again.

Finally, Shiraishi Asuka's palm covered Fuyuji's palm. She gently lifted it, interlacing their five fingers together. She spoke softly, her voice like a gentle stream murmuring through a spring day.

"Why did you come so early?"

"Shiraishi-san also came very early. It's still far from the appointed time."

"Because you were here." That same tenderness as always, embracing everything like the vast ocean itself.

"...I couldn't sleep."

Fuyuji let out a sigh and gazed down at the pitch-black surface of the sea. He spoke in a somber, drawn-out tone.

"To be honest, I'm feeling a bit of regret. I'm not sure if agreeing to this rendezvous with Shiraishi-san was the right choice."

At these words, the air around them seemed to freeze solid for an instant.

"I'm sorry..."

Shiraishi's eyes half-lowered. Her warm, gentle palm abruptly tightened its grip. Perspiration seeped from her palm, saturating the crevices between their two clasped hands.

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Fuyuji scratched his head, looking pained. "If I had to say, it's me who should be saying sor—"

A fair, unadorned finger pressed firmly against Fuyuji's lips. Shiraishi earnestly corrected him. "I told you—you're not allowed to say that word to me. Also... the one who created the current situation is me. Please don't doubt this feeling... otherwise, I'll be very sad."

Both fair, slender hands reached out and gently cupped Fuyuji's cheeks, turning his head around. Staring directly into those deep, profound eyes, her cherry-blossom-colored lips parted softly.

"Lie down... Fuyuji..."

Shiraishi gently adjusted her sitting posture. Her legs, clad in the athletic uniform, drew together with knees bent, signaling for Fuyuji to lie down.

With a long, soft rustle, Shiraishi slowly unzipped her jacket, revealing the pristine white inner lining beneath.

His cheek slowly drew near her thigh. In an instant, an indescribably soft sensation spread outward from the point of contact. This sensation was of the same origin as the touch of her arm from before—warm and exquisitely fine, as though sinking into a layer of elastic embrace, transmitting a faint body heat.

A fragrance unique to a young woman, mingled with the scent of the body wash distributed by the school, enveloped Fuyuji from all sides.

Opening his eyes, his field of vision was filled entirely with snowy whiteness. With each of Fuyuji's breaths, the white inner lining was sometimes faintly lifted, revealing the soft, supple skin of her abdomen.

Fuyuji stared at that vast expanse of whiteness. His mind went completely blank. He couldn't utter a single word.

A palm gently, tenderly covered the crown of Fuyuji's head. Slowly, bit by bit, it stroked downward, as if a mother were comforting a child who had suddenly been placed in an unfamiliar environment, restless and anxious.

"Your suspicions were correct. My feelings toward you... were not love at first sight... During those first days of school, I was indeed approaching you under false pretenses..."

The body that had just lain down instantly stiffened.

A long while passed.

"Couldn't you have lied to me, just a little? Starting off so cruelly." Fuyuji buried his cheek fiercely into Shiraishi's abdomen and drew in a deep breath of the girl's fragrant scent. A muffled, subdued voice emerged. "Letting me believe that, in this world, there truly was such a gentle, tender, beautiful girl—who fell for me at first sight, who was unconditionally good to me, who accepted everything about me."

"And then let the stalemate between us continue? Let you be snatched away by Morishita-san? Even if it's me... I also want to occupy a larger space within your heart." Shiraishi's voice drifted over, somber and ethereal.

"..."

A snow-white little hand took hold of Fuyuji's palm and guided it, slipping it beneath the pristine white shirt. From bottom to top, it glided across skin as smooth and fine as silk, pressing it against that incomparably exquisite, incomparably soft place.

Beneath it, a heart beat with powerful vigor. The vibrations transmitted through the skin, passing layer by layer into Fuyuji's palm.

"Can you feel it? Right now... I'm not deceiving you. So... Fuyuji, please... hear me out..."

The soft, gentle voice slowly seeped into every part of Fuyuji's being.

"I came to the Advanced Nurturing High School with a mission. I needed to stay here for a full three years as an ordinary student, while simultaneously secretly monitoring a student named Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, periodically reporting back to the higher-ups."

Her palm stroked smoothly through Fuyuji's hair, again and again, in a ceaseless, back-and-forth rhythm, as though it would never stop.

"And then?"

"That's it. That's everything. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka went missing. I lost my target. The mission was canceled. I can stay here until graduation and do as I please."

"So that's why Shiraishi-san paid so much attention to me from the very beginning?"

"Mm. Because you had a peculiar, unique aura. That's why I initially approached you."

"That very first self-introduction. The swimming class. Saying you were interested in the special exam—all of it was actually to confirm whether or not I was that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka?"

"Correct."

"Didn't you say it wasn't like him?" Fuyuji let out a bitter smile.

"That's exactly why I came to like you... No, I shouldn't say it like that. What I should say is... it was precisely because I came to like you that I realized you weren't like him."

"So it really wasn't love at first sight." Fuyuji felt a twinge of regret. "I really thought that kind of development had actually happened to me."

"I don't think there's any normal girl out there who would fall in love at first sight with a boy who introduces himself on the lectern by saying he likes Ultraman Saga." A stifled, muffled giggle sounded beside his ear.

"Then when was it?"

The shirt at her lower abdomen had already been dampened by a small patch of Fuyuji's warm breath.

"I don't know. It's really not fair, you know. I had originally just wanted to probe and test you... and ended up ensnaring myself instead." The girl let out a small sigh. For the first time ever, a tiny note of complaint emerged in her voice. "Even now, I still don't know if you did it on purpose, or if this is just how you are."

Fuyuji sank into a long, prolonged silence. After a great while, he too let out a sigh.

"Couldn't we have just maintained the status quo? Letting me peacefully enjoy your unique, singular tenderness."

"No."

The girl who had never once refused Fuyuji, this time, without the slightest hesitation, refused him. "If I don't tell you... you'll keep avoiding me, just like last time. Even if it's me... I'll also grow greedy for your love..."

After a moment of silence, Fuyuji asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Because when you call me, it's always 'Shiraishi-san'..."

Fuyuji's body came to an abrupt halt.

The young girl seemed somewhat troubled. Her voice was tinged with fretful vexation. "It was only much later that I realized—whether it's Morishita-san or Yamamura-san, you always call them directly by their surname. Morishita-san, you even call her in all sorts of different, ever-changing ways. Kamuro-san, too—you use that kind of address that shows you're close. Only when you call me... do you always add '-san.' '-San' is the universal honorific in Japanese. Just by adding a '-san' after the name, one can express one's respect for the other party."

"Most likely, you sensed from the very beginning that I was approaching you with some kind of intent. Yet you weren't quite sure exactly what it was—or perhaps you simply didn't care that much—but subconsciously, you still maintained a certain wariness toward me. At first, this didn't really matter. But as I came to like you and tried to draw closer, you would always instinctively, subconsciously pull away."

Shiraishi bent over and wrapped both arms around Fuyuji's head, holding it tightly, firmly, against her bosom. She murmured.

"It can't go on like this. I like you. I want to be close to you. I want your embrace. I want your kisses. Everything about you—every last thing—I want it all. If this continues, I won't be able to bear it."

The always serene and tranquil girl had now become as turbulent and tempestuous as the raging sea.

The sea breeze swept past, carrying with it a salty, bitter chill. The branches and leaves rustled and whispered in the wind... An atmosphere of silence lingered and curled around the two of them.

At this very moment, Shiraishi's heart beat with an unprecedented, violent intensity, anxiously, desperately awaiting the answer from the boy cradled in her arms.

After a long while, Shiraishi was the first to break the silence. Carrying uneasy and hopeful anticipation, she spoke with careful, cautious trepidation.

"Everything I've hidden—I've told you without reservation. I will absolutely never deceive you again... So..."

At this moment, time itself seemed to stand still. The sound of the ocean waves, the chirping of the insects, the rustling whisper of the leaves—all of it vanished completely. Only the sound of two breathing breaths lingered and surrounded them.

In... and out...

In... and out...

...

"Fine, you! Shiraishi Asuka! You bad woman! So you didn't fall in love with me at first sight! And in the very beginning, you even tried to deceive this pure, innocent young boy!"

Fuyuji flew into a towering rage. He reached out both arms and wrapped them around Shiraishi's slender waist. Lifting her shirt, he used every ounce of his strength to pepper kisses across the snow-white, soft skin of her belly.

"Chu~ I sentence you to wear white stockings for me!"

"Mm..." Those violet-amethyst eyes grew hazy and unfocused, veiled in a thin, watery mist. She murmured. "Alright."

"Chu~ I sentence you to like me even more from now on!"

Her hands involuntarily clutched at Fuyuji's hair. With difficulty, her throat overflowed. "Alright..."

"Chu—! I sentence you—from now on, your tenderness is for me alone!"

"Alright!"

"Finally..."

Fuyuji propped up his upper body and gazed at Shiraishi, whose brain had completely and utterly crashed, frozen motionless. He gathered her into his embrace, completely enveloping that soft, delicate frame. He spoke with ferocious, mock viciousness.

"I sentence you—in the future, you will marry Fuyuji Mikage. You will wash his clothes, cook his meals, raise his children. But you will receive no salary. And your wages will absolutely never be handed over to you!"

"..."

"?"

"Why did you go quiet?"

Fuyuji lowered his head and looked.

Shiraishi, whose entire body had now flushed a thorough, all-encompassing shade of red, spoke in a tiny, faint voice. "It's fine. My family still has some savings. If the money isn't enough... I can go home and get more..."

...

The disc-like moon gradually rose to the midpoint of the sky. The pure, bright moonlight spilled down upon the two figures embracing one another at the small wooden hut.

"Fuyuji." Shiraishi drew a deep breath, as though she wanted to imprint the scent of this very moment deep into her mind. Smiling, she made her request. "Can you... call me by my name?"

"Asuka."

"Again."

"Asuka."

"Once more."

"Asuka."

...

As the final call—uttered without the slightest impatience—fell from Fuyuji's lips, Shiraishi seemed to lose every ounce of strength in her body. She collapsed entirely into Fuyuji's arms.

"What a pity." Shiraishi closed her eyes peacefully and spoke as though in a dreamy murmur. "There's no recording equipment here. Earlier, I had wanted to record it..."

"If you want, I'll keep saying it for you, always."

"No. What I want most right now..." Shiraishi squeezed her eyes shut. Her head burrowed slightly deeper into Fuyuji's embrace, finding a comfortable spot. "...is for you to hold me, and let me sleep soundly."

Fuyuji's pupils trembled faintly.

He recalled the way Shiraishi had been yawning incessantly today. It wasn't that she hadn't slept well—it was that she hadn't slept at all...

"You didn't sleep? Last night?"

"How could I possibly have fallen asleep..." Shiraishi once again squeezed herself deeper into his embrace, finding an even more comfortable position. As though in a dream, she spoke. "Such an important moment... haah~ I'm going to sleep now. Let me be selfish, just for tonight. Don't leave me."

"And in the future?"

"In the future... naturally, Fuyuji will be the one sleeping in my arms." Shiraishi pressed her cheek close against Fuyuji's chest and spoke as though it were the most natural, obvious thing in the world.

"Goodnight, Fuyuji. I like you."

"Mm, mm. I like you too."

...

The sound of the ocean waves gradually became the sole background noise. Moonlight tenderly, gently wrapped itself around the two figures nestled in each other's embrace.

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