Let's Collect Compliment Coupons

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"Neria-nim. I've peeled the apples for you."

"Good."

The so-called pity system. Compliment Coupons.

This little scrap of paper Neria had suddenly prepared came with an unexpected function, too.

Of course, it wasn't a feature like guaranteeing a four-star when you press the ten-pull button—anything like that.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"Anything else I need? Hmm. Nothing comes to mind right now…. …Oh, a rabbit-shaped apple."

"I suppose so…. Like running errands, or doing annoying housework, or something else…."

"…Wait, now that I think about it, are you working this hard just to touch my breasts once?"

"…I suppose so, yes."

"Huh…."

I naturally escaped that prison room.

All I could do while shut away in there was fiddle with my phone, cut off from Neria, so now that I had to fulfill the Rehabilitation Support Department's mission, it was fair to say I was in optimal condition.

…To put it bluntly, it also meant it was much easier to flatter Neria.

"Hey, can't you just touch your own chest? Is it no fun because yours is flat?"

"Rather than saying it's boring, I'm supposed to help Neria-nim develop an interest in sex. Ultimately, I'd like you to expend your magical power freely. So breasts aren't the goal; they're just a stepping stone."

"…Now that you've explained it in detail, I feel somehow even worse."

"Ahaha…. Still, sex really does feel good once you get used to it, so I'd appreciate it if you considered it positively…."

"No. It wasn't even that good when you touched my breasts last time."

"……."

Didn't you clearly have a mild orgasm then?

I desperately wanted to interrogate her about exactly what had happened that day, but unfortunately, she was Neria.

I was in a position where, even if she said "1+1=3" right now, I had to just laugh along and let it go, so I glossed over it.

Social life is this grueling.

"…I-I really didn't like it that much, okay?!"

"What did I say? I was just sitting quietly."

"That's why I'm saying it! Aren't you supposed to contradict me, like, 'There's no way you didn't feel good!'?"

"It was your first time, so perhaps it didn't feel good. You may even have found it unpleasant. Why would I argue so passionately?"

"Th-that…. Ugh…."

The story I heard afterward was no different.

This impossible-to-please witch would make some strange claim all by herself, then press her lips tightly shut.

What kind of thought process had produced the claim that I was supposed to passionately contradict Neria?

Was there some reason I absolutely had to feel good?

Since I happened to be standing beside her, I could see that not only were her lips tightly pursed, but they were sticking out, too.

As I stared at Neria like that, I also started to notice the down parka she'd been wearing since earlier.

That thing looks incredibly hot.

Should I ask about it casually, partly to change the subject?

"Are you planning to keep wearing that outer layer?"

…I-I am."

I felt that Neria's manner of speaking had become a little strange.

But if it was just a manner she was using to assert her superiority over me… well.

There was nothing especially strange about it, so I let it pass in silence.

"You must be awfully hot. Wouldn't that pitch-black jersey you usually wear be better? Even looking at you is making me feel hot."

"I put it in the washing machine."

"The washing machine? Did you spill something on it?"

"…Your hands touched it. Your hands. So I washed it. Why? Is there a problem?"

"Ah, because it touched you when I was touching your breasts…."

"…Hmph. You pawed at me over and over and over through my clothes…."

I certainly had been rather persistent when I'd groped Neria's breasts then. I had to admit what I had to admit.

To begin with, Neria was a witch.

Witches' beauty was already famous for being enough to topple kingdoms, so the fact that I'd been bewitched had played a major part, too.

For all that her personality was childish and immature, she was surprisingly well-developed where it counted.

Even if her breasts weren't especially large, they were prominent enough to naturally draw the eye.

From my perspective, it was basically like suffering a natural disaster, wasn't it?

…But.

"Even if you washed it right away, shouldn't it have finished washing and drying by now?"

The fact that she'd washed it didn't explain why she was currently buried in that fluffy padded jacket.

I had done that thing with Neria in broad daylight.

If she'd washed it immediately, it should have been done yesterday, and she'd have had plenty of time to dry it by now.

Be honest.

You're just hiding in there because you're embarrassed, aren't you?

"Neria-nim?"

"…Huh, huh? Why?"

"Is it still not dry?"

"O-of course it isn't. Why else would I be wearing this? Do you think I like wearing clothes like this?"

"……Hmm."

"Jeez…. The laundry room's right over there, so go check it yourself if you want."

"No, it's fine. If you say so, there's no need…."

"I said go check it yourself."

"…All right."

When I probed a little, Neria began to stammer.

Until then, I'd thought my theory was correct, but unexpectedly, she confidently pointed me toward the laundry room.

There was probably a drying rack over there, too.

She was being this confident, so apparently there wasn't any lie involved.

And as an aside, even the Water Witch uses a washing machine.

Along with that small revelation, I casually walked toward the laundry room.

"……."

"So? What do you think? See? I told you it was still damp, so I was wearing it, didn't I…."

Sure enough, a black jersey that hadn't dried yet was hanging from the drying rack in the laundry room.

It wasn't wet enough to be dripping, but it was still just a little too damp to wear.

I'd seen it with my own two eyes, so I hadn't intended to argue with her over it in the first place, and now I had even less reason to.

She'd simply done the laundry a little late.

Probably late at night. Or this morning. She'd washed it around then.

That was all I thought.

However.

"……C-can't you stop looking and turn your eyes away? Huh?"

"…I didn't see anything."

"You did see it!!"

Because Neria's snow-white underwear, which seemed to have been washed along with it, was dangling right beside it.

A pure-white bra of unmistakable size,

and a pair of panties in the same color.

They were hanging limply right beside the pitch-black jersey.

Thwack—Neria hit me on the forearm, then pushed my back toward the kitchen again.

*****

Since the apples I'd brought had been prepared as a fruit basket rather than an apple basket, the ones I'd set out ran out quickly.

They would have lasted longer if Neria hadn't handed one to me and told me to eat it too, but she'd threatened to deduct points if I didn't.

The team leader, who was also a witch, was always relaxed and easygoing, so why did Neria give off such a tyrannical vibe…?

I knew it was just a matter of their individual personalities and quirks, yet I was grumbling inwardly when—

"…Hey. Do you have anything to do?"

As I was about to clear away the empty fruit plate, Neria spoke to me.

Since she was still hiding beneath the down parka, she looked unbearably hot.

"No, I don't. Whenever I've visited Neria-nim's house until now, I've just been reading comic books in the prison room."

"…Hmm. So that's how it is. What about having to visit another witch besides me later, or something?"

"That's fine too. I'm assigned exclusively to Neria-nim right now, so I don't mind staying here for twenty-four hours. The team leader gave permission, too."

"No. I'll refuse that on my end. That's creepy. Go home when the time comes."

"Anyway, is there anything you'd like me to do?"

"Yeah. There is."

If she had something for me to do, I was more than happy to oblige.

The Compliment Coupon was currently worth only 1.2 points—fried rice +1 point, peeling an apple +0.5 points, peeking at her underwear -0.3 points—so I wanted to fill the remaining 8.8 points somehow, as quickly as possible.

I put on my best, most amiable smile, and Neria said,

"Be my chair."

"Pardon?"

"I want to use it while I play games. Take on the role of a chair."

"Pardon?"

I hadn't asked again because I didn't understand Korean.

I simply couldn't understand the intent behind that order itself.

Using me as a chair meant she intended to use me in the same position as yesterday, when she'd fondled my breasts, didn't it?

…Thinking about it a little further, I did come up with another possibility: she could make me get down on all fours like an animal and sit on my back.

No way.

That couldn't be it.

"Hmm. Was that too difficult for a boy who thinks only about dirty things?"

"No, it's just…. If you mean the chair, Neria-nim, are you talking about the position we used yesterday?"

"That's right. That one."

"Ah…."

See? She meant the one from yesterday.

I had that thought for a moment. Then a great many curly, winding question marks popped into my head.

Wouldn't I be the one who ought to beg her to do that?

I never thought Neria would be the one to suggest it first.

Could I have some talent as a chair that I didn't even know about…?

"Don't want to?"

"No, I'll do it."

Regardless of whether I understood it, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

I answered while setting the plate down in the sink, and Neria beckoned for me to follow, then led the way to her room.

"Come in. And don't step on my tablet again like last time."

This was my second time, after yesterday.

Having entered Neria's room, I looked around carefully, watching where I stepped.

To put it very simply, rather than the room of a girlfriend I'd visited a few times, it looked like the room of a male high-schooler who just liked games.

Various gamepads and a Nintendo rolled around on the floor. A large TV. Finally, the monitors on the desk entered my field of vision one after another.

These days, a dual-monitor setup was practically standard, but this place had no fewer than four monitors.

Honestly, I wondered whether she really needed that many, but it was the owner's choice.

Naturally, I didn't say so aloud.

"For now…, go sit on the bed over there. I have something to get ready."

"Understood."

Because she'd told me to sit on the bed like last time, I had a little—really, only a little—hope, but that brief hope was dashed when Neria began gathering her gamepad.

As it happened, if I simply raised my head comfortably from here, I had a direct view of the TV, didn't I?

The very TV Neria had turned on while fiddling with the mini dock to connect the screen, at that.

Which meant,

"Hey. Move a little farther to the left."

"…So I'm lined up exactly with the TV?"

"Yeah."

"…Um, Neria-nim. May I ask why you specifically need me?"

"The computer chair is too close because of the bed. And if I just sit on the bed, the TV screen is too high."

"…Ah."

She really did mean she was going to use me as a substitute chair.

"But I'll give you two points when it's over. Is that enough?"

So there probably wouldn't be anything particularly lewd about it.

It would probably just end with my legs going numb.

…But she's giving me two points for just this short while.

"…Understood."

At the time, I nodded without giving it much thought.