"I want you to touch me.~" (Wholesome?)

I legitimately had a moment as I paused over this request. And I frowned over the multiple meanings this request can have - the verbal flex implied something sultry, but it was best to clarify.

"Are you referring to groping or-"

"I want you to pet me, you dummy!" Akae huffed angrily, blushing as she realized her wording could have been better, but too proud to admit it. How cute.

Still, the request puzzled me a bit, but while I would have expected a higher price, maybe I was looking at it the wrong way.

Cat-girls were, in this world, meant to have just a few unusual characteristics cat have. Beyond the ears and tail, there was a tendency of focus over touch and smell. In the former case, this meant that their bodies were quite keen to appreciate the right sort of scratching.

"Okay... do you want to start now?"

The cat-eared delinqued perked up at my words, the annoyance vanished as all that remained was some ****.

"F-Fine. But you better be good at this?"

Akae was really getting on my nerves now. Wasn't she the one asking for it as a price? Why would she offer it if she knew I could be bad at it?!

Shoving aside my own irritation, I intended to show her off with my 'skills'. And, as she lied belly down by the lone bench in the rooftop, a tragic dilemma came to mind:

'Is this like with cats?'

After all, cat-girls were meant to be close but not the same as their animal versions. They were meant to have similarities, but not outright the same attitude about it. I was quite unsure if what I was about to do would work as intended or not but...

I had to do it.

My fingers were soon slowly teasing over her shoulders, the girl's nerves was as stiff as a board and I couldn't fault her. Between her usual paranoia of being jumped and the overall situation, she had plenty of reasons to be shifty over my touch.

But the very moment I started to massage Akae, her mood started to slowly shift. From tense to confused and partially trusting, two minutes of my hands at work made her more accepting of the situation, going as far as closing her eyes and smiling at the bliss she was going through.

It looked pretty tame as a reaction considering this was a hentai world, but I didn't lower my guard as this was not the point of the situation: I had to pet her, not massage her. Massaging was to make her more receptive of my hands tweaking her ears, and I was sure as hell this was going to get different as soon as I got to that.

Which was quite soon considering her eyes opened to flash a glint of impatience. She wanted it, even though her blush confirmed my suspicions - she was going to be loud about it.

Gulping nervously, and bracing at the chance she may throw a jab at me if I messed it up, I finally stopped with her shoulders and moved my fingers to the top of her head. I saw her immediately go stiff and... then melt in the bench, her entire posture completely sinking onto the bench as she allowed me to have an easy time teasing her ears.

Her silence soon changed into quiet purring, amusing and intriguing me at the same time . It was unusual, for my mind was so accustomed to cat-girls not being real for so long that I had imagined them to feel like those furry headgears with fake hair on it.

Yet, those feline ears were very real to my touch and kind of puzzled my inner rational self. I started to softly knead, to test how genuine those were without being too harsh on them and-

"Ah~"

I almost stopped as I heard her voice let out something so fragile and cute. The moan truly unexpected as Akae went stiff again, expecting me to talk about it but... I continued my ear-teasing, and her posture mellowed once more.

"Aaaah~"

A longer but quieter moan followed shortly after, the girl turning to look forward, an unfocused expression aimed at nothing in particular as she refused to see what I was doing to her.

Ten more minutes, and Akae was twitching and burning at my care. It all ended with her suddenly going stiff again, but this time her legs closed down as she bit down a particularly loud moan.

"Hmmm~!"

...Did she just cum from that?

A new piece of information I saved up which, from the way things were going, was going to be reliable in handling Akae in the long run.

Still, I gave her some time to recover as she clearly needed a moment to recollect her thoughts, scattered by a much needed orgasm.

"You..." Akae muttered, her kitty ears twitching in bliss. "You're good."

"Thank you-"

"And I will date you."

Perfect! This was all going according to my plan but...

I also saw the opportunity to go further with it. After all, the more loving gestures I got in early on...

"Would you like for me to give you a lap pillow during lunchtime?"

The more I will be able to press for sultrier options in the near future.

Still, with a blushing Akae nodding at the offer, I looked at the next meaningful step. If we were dating, we had to hang out outside of school. And we had to start with places that not only were ideal for a first date, but also the kind of places Harui had never checked out with me and thus couldn't find us there.