Hanako Used Charm! It was Very Effective!

I felt off on my walk home from school. Ever since talking in the group at lunch with Hiroshi and Noboru, I was a little out of it. Actually, who was I kidding? It definitely had something to do with Minami.

I went for the handle of my apartment’s front door, but paused to collect my thoughts.

Did I suddenly like her or something? Was this what they called a fateful encounter?

“Maaaaaaster!”

“HIIIEEEEEE”

I practically fell backwards as Hanako opened the door to greet me before I even had the chance to. What was this, The Shining?

“Don’t scare me like that! How long have you been waiting there?”

“Don’t worry about it! It’s good to see you!”

Somehow that same smile she wore managed to have a frighteningly ominous aura to it. Like those little manga-esque “gogogogogo” effects you see behind JoJo characters.

Not that I’ve seen JoJo or anything, I just see memes about it on Vchan a lot. I haven’t actually seen The Shining either. Who actually cares about foreign films?

“Right… were you heading out?”

“Nope!”

“Then let’s, uh, head inside.”

“Mhm!”

Though I asked the question, of course she wasn’t heading out in nothing but her usual lingerie-esque uniform. But was she really waiting awkwardly in front of the door for me like that? How long was she waiting? And why didn’t she want to tell me?

Another odd detail was that her tail was swaying back and forth as if she did. I could almost clearly imagine fluffy puppy ears donning the top of her head.

“Are you a dog or something?”

She giggled.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Your tail is literally wagging, and you were waiting in front of the door for me to come home. Obviously something is going on.”

She seemed a bit surprised and caught it behind her with her hands.

“E-eh? Oh, you’re right! How embarrassing…”

It was an exceptionally rare moment, getting to see Hanako express her emotions so plainly. I felt a little proud for being able to notice the slight differences in her smile or body language as her mood changed. Learning to notice those subtle tells made me feel as if I really was learning more about her, and understanding her better.

Though, most of the time her thoughts were still an absolute mystery to me. Like right now, for example.

This kind of obvious reaction was its own sort of reward though.

“How was school today?”

“It was…”

Minami’s smile flashed in my mind again. The feeling I had been struck with when I saw her was still fresh. Was it purely the fact that I had talked to a girl? No way that was all it took, right?

“Actually-”

No… Wasn’t Hanako a girl too? Sure, she technically wasn’t human, but it still counted, right? At least, seeing her clad in such skimpy clothing, I was definitely thinking about it now. The way the thin, web-like strings of her underwear grabbed her hips at multiple spots and pulled them in. It covered more skin than a g-string would, but somehow felt far more promiscuous.

And the heart-shaped sticker on her chest which barely seemed to hide anything… Could you ever call that anything close to a bra? It might as well have been a glorified pasty. Her breasts were basically hanging freely.

…Was I staring?

Damnit, I think I was staring.

Before realizing it, I had taken a few steps back. All of the sudden, I was hesitant to even tell her about my day.

What was going on with me?

“I- it was a normal day.”

“Hmmmmmmmm? Is that so…”

I was very obviously averting my gaze. I couldn’t bear to look at Hanako in such a lustful manner. She was my friend. There was something that felt horribly wrong about it.

“What’s wrong, Shoutarou?”

“N-nothing!”

The lock on her neck.

Didn’t that mark me as her master? Was there actually anything wrong with me looking at her that way? She was a succubus after all, right?

Of course there was!

But she even said I could command her to have sex if I wanted to…

But friends don’t have sex!

She’s been excited since I got home. Did she know I was feeling strange? Was she just using her charms on me?

Was she waiting for me to make a move?

For my command?

As her master…

“Hanako! I-I’m going to give you a command!”

My first command…

“Yes! Anything!”

From master to servant…!

“Leave the room! And cover your ears! Until I say so!”

“Eh?”

~

It never even occurred to me until today, but it had been weeks since I had done that. I had been so preoccupied with other things that I didn’t even have time to take a break to think about it. And with Hanako living under the same roof as me, pretty much any privacy I had was gone.

“Y-you can, uhm, come in now…”

I quickly got it over with and let her back in.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was pouting a little bit. But I think she was also doing her best to hide it.

With a clear head, I assessed the situation again.

I felt uncomfortable. Dishonest. I wasn’t sure if it was because of me, or because of Hanako. But I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t want to feel that way around her.

“Uhm…”

Open communication was important, right? So it’d be okay for me to ask this. Not that any justification could quell my nerves.

“D-did you try to charm me? With, like, succubus magic or something.”

“Hmmmmmm, perhaps it was just my maidenly charm?”

She was trying to brush off the question, but she didn’t directly deny it either. Had she really used some sort of spell on me?

“So you didn’t then?”

I didn’t want to think that she did. It felt as if I was just pushing the blame of my own indecent thoughts onto her.

Her smile dropped and she let out a bit of a sigh. I think she could tell I was serious.

“It wasn’t exactly a spell, but I did maybe, possibly… release some pheromones to turn your attraction towards me up a little bit. W-was that wrong?”

I let out an almost exasperated sigh of relief. It meant that I could feel a little less guilty about my own thoughts. But what was left was still a feeling of discomfort.

“Why?”

Didn’t she lack a libido? But then why was she so excited? Was she lying? Was she just using me after all?

She responded timidly.

“I t-thought that you might have needed some relief is all. Us succubi can detect the pheromones that both humans and demons release when they feel the urge to procreate. It’s no good for you to be pent up like that and handle it alone. Wouldn’t you agree?”

A protruding thought.

Could I trust Hanako?

“I-I see…”

Could I trust her?

“Is… that really the only reason?”

Could I…?

She was nervous. Nervous as if she was about to be disowned. It was obvious; I knew the feeling too well.

Is that how I was coming off to her as her master?

What a horrible feeling.

Is this how my sister felt when she talked down to me? But that’s just how Koyuki always was.

…No, she must have really cared about me. Hanako assured me of that.

They both did. Nobody in this household was trying to trick me, or get anything out of me.

That’s what I chose to believe for now.

I let my anguish go in the form of another long sigh.

“I guess it’s-”

“I may have been–a bit jealous as well…"

“H-huh?”

She avoided my eyes. Not just by averting her gaze, but her whole head was turned away from me. And yet, I could see a rosy blush escape from her long, pointy ears.

“I could sense your pheromones from before you arrived home… which means some other, filthy, wretched human girl was making you swoon in such a way. Even though my own body seems to have such a little effect on you. And yet, I’m in no place to feel such things as your servant… I’m truly sorry.”

Was she absolutely adorable because of her nervous behavior, or terrifying because of the way she looked at other humans as if they were less than dirt? Surely this was what people meant by “gap moe”.

Maybe that "gap" was a little too big.

“But—that doesn’t make sense! I thought you weren’t interested in those kinds of things.”

“I’m not. But even so… if you’re going to feel that way about somebody, I’d much rather it be-”

She paused. Her hands were behind her back.

“A-about me.”

“Even though you have no sexual desire?”

“Even though.”

“Even though we’re friends? Friends don’t do things like that. I don’t think...”

“Even though.”

I didn’t really understand it. Isn’t that too difficult? I wanted to respect her boundaries, but this situation was a bit unreasonable to understand even for me.

Hanako turned her face back to me, and hung her head low with a bright red nose. She was even more nervous than before, but still looked me right in the eyes; right into the deepest depths of my soul. I could tell that she was barely managing it. She was so cute I could mistake her for a light-novel childhood friend.

No, even cuter than that.

“I’m unfit, aren’t I? To be your servant…”

There were no charms this time; no pheromones. These butterflies in my stomach were mine alone.

No fair, Hanako.

“AGH! It’s fine!”

I threw my hands up and ruffled my hair. I had never even made such an exaggerated show of emotion before. Were those two rubbing off on me?

I lost our unspoken staring contest and looked away.

“I forgive you. Just don’t use any more of those weird pheromones or whatever. I-”

Think you're beautiful?

Think you're plenty erotic on your own?

What the hell was I even trying to get across?

“I think… you’re already perfect without any tricks.”

Surely, I was blushing. We both were.

Did this mean we solved the issue? Reasonably speaking, of course not. I was still worried. Maybe there was even a small part of me that was afraid of her.

Deep down, I knew it; that she wasn’t human; that I was just pretending she was. But what was wrong with that? Underneath all of the pretenses of race and weird religious context, here was somebody who I had found a genuine connection with.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was really what you’d call “friends.” Perhaps it was something else entirely.

Was I actually experiencing a romance? With a succubus, at that?

No, maybe this relationship didn’t need any sort of label. It was undoubtedly already an important bond that the two of us shared.

For now, that’s all it needed to be.

“Hey, I got you two—Eh? What the hell is with this atmosphere?”

Koyuki walked in on us.

Definitely not a good look.