It’s Always A Shame When The Devil Gets The Better Of You

What? I can't move my arm…

When Minato woke up, he found that one of his arms was not responsive at all.

When he looked over next to him, he saw Airi sleeping comfortably with her head resting on his arm. (T/N: Sad we'd never get to see this as an illustration.)

!?!?!?

Seeing her sleeping face like a work of art at close range, his heart started to beat faster than usual.

He tried to move his arm from underneath Airi, but she would wake up if he did, so he desperately restrained himself.

Perhaps it just so happened that they turned over in their sleep and ended up like this. Minato wondered if Airi was a bad sleeper, but she would always have her head firmly on the pillow when Minato woke her up, which means that she must be a good sleeper.

The most likely reason for Airi's unusual situation was that Minato was next to her today and she had a hard time sleeping, so she turned over several times.

As he put together enough reasons in his head to make sense of the situation, the beating in his chest finally calmed down.

His thoughts stopped as he looked at Airi to see if he could somehow change the current situation with his calm mind.

…It's the first time I've seen her this close.

He always tried not to stare at her face when she woke up from sleep because he felt it was wrong to do so, but he couldn't help but admire Airi as she slept at a distance where he could even feel her breath.

He always focused on her hair and facial expressions, but her eyelashes were long and beautiful, and her cheeks looked smooth.

Minato was tempted, so he gently touched her cheek. It was as smooth as he had expected, but also soft and pliable. He felt like he was going to fall in love with it.

As he continued to enjoy the feeling, Airi's eyes slowly opened. Her clear blue eyes reflected nothing. As usual, she seemed to be unconscious.

"What time is it now…?"

He tried to take his hand away from Airi's cheek while he still could, but he was stopped by a muffled sound of her tongue.

This was the first time he had seen Airi make a sound in her sleep. Thinking she was completely unconscious, he asked her to go back to sleep.

"It's still earlier than when you usually wake up, so you can sleep a little longer."

"Y~Yes…"

He whispered to Airi so as not to wake her, and she smiled in relief and closed her eyes again.

He quietly removed his hand from her cheek and watched her for a while, feeling relieved to hear her breathing soundly and regularly.

Afraid that Airi would get mad at him if he stayed as her arm pillow, he decided to do something about it and looked for the pillow that originally Airi was using.

Where's the pillow? …Ah, there it is.

He slowly lifted Airi's head and replaced his arm with the pillow, which was outside of the futon. Finally, blood started to flow to his arm, making it numb.

Thinking that his arm was not going to move for a while, he chuckled, and then he heard a groan from beside him.

He looked at Airi, wondering if he had woken her up. Her eyebrows were raised, as if she was uncomfortable with having her head moved.

"Mhmm~…"

"Sorry, Airi."

"…Mm~m."

He gently stroked Airi's head as if to comfort her, and she seemed to be at ease and peacefully fell asleep.

Now that the numbness in his arms had subsided, Minato stood up and mumbled inwardly to the sink.

"You're too defenseless…"

The cold water was just right for his burning face. He doused himself with water to cool his head down properly.

"Did you have a good night's sleep, Minato-san?"

"Yeah, I guess futons are different."

"Right? That's why I've been telling you to sleep in the futon."

"I could really feel the difference."

While they were having breakfast, Airi asked him how it felt to sleep on the futon.

It was totally different from the floor, and he didn't feel any pain when he woke up.

When he replied sincerely that he was not tired at all, she gave him a dumbfounded look, but since she could not argue with Minato, she gave him a wry smile.

"Speaking of which, Minato-san. Did you do something while I was sleeping?"

"…I didn't do anything. Why?"

Airi tilted her head curiously.

He was so flustered that he didn't have time to react, but there was no way he could say that when he woke up, she was in his arms and he touched her cheek and then stroked her head.

When he denied Airi's words with as little reaction as possible, she looked at him questioningly.

"No, there was a moment when I felt strangely good. I think I woke up, but then I felt so good that I fell asleep… This happened a few times I think."

"Well, I don't know."

"…I see."

When he replied that he really didn't know, Airi stared at Minato's face.

The clear blue color seemed to be able to see through Minato's mind.

"Why? Is there something on my face?"

"…Did you touch my cheek?"

"HAH!"

The bomb was dropped on Minato with a smirk and mischievous smile, which made it bad for his heart.

It was so sudden that it made him choke. He wondered how Airi had found out when she was supposed to be unconscious.

"Eh, h-how?"

"I knew it. I could feel someone caressing my cheek."

"…Sorry. I'll be careful next time."

"No, it's fine if it's Minato-san."

When she smiled softly, as if she didn't have an ounce of disgust for Minato's behavior, all he could do was advise her.

"Don't be so naive."

"It means I trust you. Do you want to touch it?"

"That's not what I'm talking about."

Although they were family members, they were not lovers, so no matter how much permission he got, he shouldn't be touching her cheek.

I'll be careful when I wake up from sleep from now on , Minato thought.

Airi smiled with her eyes narrowed as Minato warned her. She didn't seem to be reflecting at all.

"Yes, yes, I understand."

"So, did Airi have a good sleep?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, that's good."

He wondered if she had trouble sleeping and threw her pillow out of the futon, but seeing Airi's soft smile, it didn't seem so.

She didn't bring up the matter of pretending to be asleep yesterday, and Minato wouldn't touch it either.

Besides, Airi seemed to think that he only touched her cheek, but the fact was, he also stroked her head after the arm pillow.

Airi looked at Minato with a gentle smile as he remembered his overly embarrassing behavior from before he went to bed yesterday to when he woke up today. He then prepared for school in an attempt to get the memory out of his mind.