55 - Lover's Practice (Advanced)②

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"Well, let's switch."

After Haruto's stretching, Ayaka moves away from him and says.

"Now, Haruto, push my back."

With that, Ayaka sits with her legs stretched out on the yoga mat.

Haruto, who managed to calm himself down by concentrating on his stretching, moves behind Ayaka and gently places his palm on her back.

"So I'll push you?"

"Yeah, it's good."

After saying that, Haruto slowly pushes Ayaka's back. At the same time, a strange "uuuu" sound comes from her mouth.

"...Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Whew... I'm okay."

Ayaka stretches her arms desperately, aiming for her toes, and lets out a cute moan.

Haruto tries his best to hold back his laughter when he hears this. "Then I'll push a little harder, okay?"

"Please..."

Haruto pushes her back a little harder than the first time.

"Okay, hold here for 10 seconds."

"Grrr..."

"One, two, three..."

"Haruto... aren't you counting too slowly?"

"Four, that's not true? It's normal. Okay, five, six..."

While Haruto is counting, Ayaka seems to be in some pain, groaning and enduring it with a "Huh..." sound.

"Nine, ten, okay."

"Whew! You've stretched so much."

"Okay, now let's open your legs and lean to the right."

"...You're actually quite a Spartan, Haruto?"

Ayaka looks back at Haruto, who is standing behind her, and says with a dirty look in her eyes.

Haruto smiles back at her.

"That's not true, you know? I'm the type to encourage people by praising them."

"Hmm."

She looks a little dissatisfied when Haruto denies it.

"Okay, face forward. I'll lean your body to the right."

"Ugly..."

As Haruto pushes her back, Ayaka moans cutely again.

She's not particularly stiff, but compared to Haruto, who's been doing stretching exercises since he was a child, the way she leans her body is completely different.

"One, two, three..."

Haruto counts as he pushes Ayaka's back.

As she pushes him, he feels a soft sensation every now and then, which makes him feel flustered. Not to reciprocate, he counts a little slower.

Ayaka spreads her legs and leans her body forward and to the left and right, then sits with the soles of her feet together and has Haruto push her knees.

"If Haruto's educational policy is to praise and encourage, I want you to push me more while praising me."

Ayaka pouts as Haruto has been relentlessly pushing her back since earlier.

"...Ayaka, you're so flexible. Okay, let's count slowly. One, two."

"I feel like you're making fun of me..."

"I'll push your knees a bit more. I'm sure you can do it, Ayaka. Okay, five, six."

"Hmm hmm..."

"Nine, ten, done. You did a great job."

Finally, Haruto pats her on the shoulder and gives her words of appreciation, and Ayaka exhales.

"Okay, now that we've finished the warm-up exercises, it's time for the main subject, couple yoga."

"Okay, well... which pose should we start with?"

"Let's start with this sitting and twisting pose."

Ayaka suggests to Haruto, showing him the screen of her smartphone.

"Okay, let's start with sitting and twisting our bodies."

Haruto looks at the screen of her smartphone to check the pose.

He sits cross-legged on the yoga mat with his back to her, and Ayaka sits cross-legged with her back to him.

"Now, I just need to twist my waist and put my hands on your knees, right?"

"Yeah. I'll put my hands on your knees too."

The two of them twist their bodies together and put their hands on each other's knees.

"How's it? Is this right?"

"Maybe. But it feels good to stretch my waist and back."

They sit cross-legged with their backs facing each other and keep their twisted positions.

Ayaka's back was pressed tightly against Haruto's, and he could feel her soft warmth and breathing.

The feeling made Haruto's heart beat faster and his face flushed.

"Next, we'll do it on the other side."

"Understood."

At Ayaka's words, the two of them turned their bodies in the opposite direction.

While doing yoga with Ayaka, Haruto's mind was filled with thoughts of her feelings and what she thought of him.

"Phew, let's do this pose next."

Ayaka showed Haruto the screen of her smartphone again.

It said "Tree Pose" and there was an image of a man and woman standing close together on one leg with their arms raised, like a tree.

"...We're pretty close."

"It's couple yoga. Don't you like it, Haruto?"

Ayaka asked, tilting her head.

Seeing her expression, Haruto felt it was unfair. There was no way he could refuse when she said that with that face.

"Um, should I stand like this?"

Looking at Ayaka's smartphone screen, Haruto took the tree pose.

Seeing this, she also had a happy look on her face and moved next to Haruto and took the same pose.

"Couples yoga is pretty fun, isn't it?"

Looking at Ayaka's profile as she said this with a smile right next to him, Haruto tried to guess what was going on in her mind.

What does Ayaka think of me...?

Even though they were pressed so close together that there was no personal space, Ayaka laughed happily without a single sign of displeasure.

Ayaka had suggested practicing being a lover because she wanted to act the perfect girlfriend in front of her grandmother.

Was she really suggesting this to improve the quality of her fake girlfriend?

As Haruto was thinking about this, Shizuku's words came back to his mind again. Along with her expression as she let out a big sigh.

"Practice as lovers? That's because Tojo-senpai is trying hard to get Haru-senpai to notice her."

If Shizuku's words were true...

"Haruto, let's try this heart pose next."

Looking at Ayaka's happy smile, Haruto thought.

Maybe I was just as Shizuku said, insensitive, naive, and simple-minded.

But what if what I was thinking was just a misunderstanding...

If Haruto were to interpret Ayaka's feelings as he wanted and confess his feelings to her and be rejected, his future part-time job as a house helper would become hellish.

Ayaka, who could never understand Haruto's inner conflict, gave him a charming smile that troubled him.

"Haruto, you put your left foot forward, and I'll put my right foot forward."

"Is it okay like this?"

"Yeah. So we'll put our feet together and hold hands."

As she said this, Ayaka reached out her hand towards Haruto. Haruto grabbed it.

"Now pull each other to make a heart shape."

Hearing her words as a signal, Haruto pulls Ayaka's hand.

"Haha, I want to take a picture of you in this pose."

"But I'm a little embarrassed if other people see me like this."

If the boys at school saw Haruto doing couple yoga with Ayaka, the school idol, so close and having fun, they would surely beat him up in a flash.

"Haruto, next is the boat pose."

"Isn't this difficult unless you're pretty flexible? Are you okay, Ayaka?"

"Ah, did you just make fun of me? It's okay, I can do it."

Haruto smiled at Ayaka's cute, plump cheeks, and continued to do couple yoga with Ayaka.

After completing the couple yoga routine, Ayaka and Haruto spread their study materials on the desk and started studying.

Since he has told Ikue and Shuichi that he will study, he can't keep practicing being a lover forever.

If she doesn't study hard and get good marks on the exams at the end of summer vacation, Ikue and the others will ask him, "What on earth have you been doing?"

Ayaka says with a serious expression, writing on her notebook.

"Maybe it's the effect of couple yoga? I feel like I can concentrate really well."

"I feel like my blood circulation has improved. My body is loosened up, too."

Haruto stops studying for a moment, picks up his smartphone, and looks up the effects of couple yoga.

"Yoga has a meditative effect, so it's great for improving concentration."

"It also improves sleep, and it's good for dieting! I tried it and it was pretty fun, so couple yoga is full of good things!"

Haruto smiles back at Ayaka, who says this with a big smile, and suddenly reads a warning about the effects of couple yoga.

"Hey, look, it says you need to keep doing it for 3-4 months to see any results."

Ayaka's pen stopped dead when she heard that.

She slowly raised her head and gave a thumbs up.

"Persistence is key, Haruto."

"I agree."

Haruto gave a wry smile and resumed his studies.

He'd probably get invited to do couples yoga from time to time in the future.

Thinking about that, Haruto thought that maybe that wouldn't be so bad after all.

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Thanks for reading this series so far!

Little bonus chapter I thought it was better to upload this one as well.

Quick info I've just seen that there's a manga on this series here (2 chapters so far) if you want to rediscover it with pictures or just put a face on the characters go and read it!