NOVEL NEXT chapter 49
49 Swamps
As the dry heat fills the air, I received a provisional acceptance to the academy, and the frequency of outings with Mirim increased.
We didn’t do anything special.
Since this is a trial period for our relationship, we might have tried something special, but honestly, we couldn’t imagine what to do. So, we continued to hang out and learn as we always had, taking advantage of Mirim’s leniency with a “Well, it’s fine, right?”
It’s strange. Nothing has happened. Absolutely nothing has happened, yet as the summer heat intensifies, the expectation that “something is about to happen” continues to grow.
At such a time, a single message once again plunges me into chaos.
“How’s this summer? Exams?”
It was an invitation from Karina… no, it was a summoning.
It seems that the scent of the rotting sea has permeated me since last year when Karina and I peered into the rotting sea together. Aiming for that scent, Karina has reached out to me from the darkness once again.
In other words, it’s an invitation to help with the doujinshi convention.
I immediately replied, “What about exams?”
Since last year, Karina had been ignoring my messages after the exchange of “Take care this winter” and “How are your exams?”.
After managing to get into university and hearing that she’s been active in club activities, I felt relieved.
While Karina is my senior and I’m her junior, there’s a strange connection between us, and I even taught her some subjects. I’ve been quietly concerned about Karina’s studies since then, and I had assumed that she would rely on me for her exam preparation—well, that assumption turned out to be wrong.
Well, I had the feeling that I could join in again to help Karina with her bookmaking.
That time, it was definitely like, what? What do I call it? A sense of fulfillment, or satisfaction… a feeling of being “dragged into the swamp,” so much so that I even thought about starting my own doujinshi production alone after that.
But the registration for the Winter Festival closes shortly after the end of the Summer Festival, and since I didn’t know that, I hadn’t registered. Due to this, I had to give up on debuting solo at the Winter Festival…
I certainly had the feeling that I wanted to taste that hazy sense of fulfillment from that summer once again.
But now I have a girlfriend.
The doujinshi production involves working overnight with three women… when I think about it calmly, it’s a situation that makes me want to interject with a “what were you thinking?”
To be honest, the work was so tough that it was nothing short of surprising with Karina and the others, and it’s likely that this year will be the same. However, I felt that it might be seen as disloyalty to Milim.
That’s when I had a revelation.
I had always felt the need for a new stimulus in my relationship with Milim, but I was troubled by not knowing what could be considered a “new stimulus.”
But then an event called the “Summer Festival” occurred— I decided to drag Milim into it. I thought of experiencing that slimy sense of fulfillment together in that stinky swamp.
“Got it. I’ll go,” Milim agreed solemnly.
Her exceedingly casual agreement left me a bit taken aback— after all, I had described it as a situation like “three women, continuous all-nighters, no time even for a proper bath. The room turns into hell” and such.
As I spoke, my feeling that she would probably refuse gradually intensified, so Milim’s unhesitating consent was not just surprising, but unexpected.
Could it be that “hell” didn’t resonate with her?— After all, having undergone a million reincarnations, I’ve remembered a lot of “bad places to fall after death,” and sometimes these memories get tangled up.
However, it seemed that the meaning did get through.
Even when I asked for a reason, Milim just said “I’ll go.” Well, if that’s the case, then it’s fine, I thought, and I informed Karina that Milim would also be joining the work this year.
“Welcome to the swamp,” Karina welcomed us.
And so, we found ourselves venturing into the deep, dark swamp.
Completely unaware that chaos greater than last year awaited us…