Kazuichi upgrades Hiyoko's punishment.

For Kazuichi watching Hiyoko being punished in awkward silence, every slap of Mikan's palm that came down on the rear of the other woman's kimono threatened to jostle something he'd forgotten to the foreground of the young man's thoughts. It felt strangely like a time limit on a game: if he didn't think up something before his turn with Hiyoko came around, he'd... What? What was the consequence? Was it just fear of missing out that was giving him a sense of urgency here?

Racking his brain, Kazuichi decided to take a look at his list of triggers for Hiyoko again. An Usami line popped up, but in his impatience, the frustrated young man hastily tapped at the screen. He wasn't surprised to see this actually did have the effect of skipping the message so he could see what he wanted to directly.

Hiyoko Saionji:

• If she insults you and then hears you insult her, she becomes unable to complain, resist, disagree, or speak offensively for a short period. When the time runs out, she will not remember your insult. Previously done: Insulted dancing, Accused of acting like a kid, Called a crybaby
• If Hiyoko acts up and you suggest a punishment that is thematic with the situation, everyone will agree it is reasonable. Previously done: Spanking to grow up
• If you tell her what she looks like while she’s dancing…

She was already shut up, and Kazuichi was already learning that wasn't enough to make this experience as interesting as he wanted. She was already in the middle of a punishment. The last one was new, but getting Hiyoko to dance in this situation sounded like a whole new challenge. Considering how much power these triggers had, he was surprised to find himself wanting new options.

A lightbulb finally went off for the mechanic as he inspected the screen. He spotted the big "upgrade" button in the bottom corner of the screen. "Oh yeah, duh! I haven't checked out whatever the heck this is yet. Do I just...?" Kazuichi trailed off, tapping the button on the touch display. It stayed depressed, and the rest of the monitor display turned dark while the three triggers he was viewing lit up. In case that was too tricky to figure out, some text at the bottom made it even clearer. "Select a trigger to upgrade!"

Apparently, he'd have a limited number of these. "No, that's wrong... There's a limit on when I get them, but there's no limit on how many I'll get, is there? Except for how long I'm here, I guess. Which is, uh, just as long as it takes Chiaki to beam that stuff into my brain..." Back to the matter at hand: although the highlighting implied he could even select the trigger he hadn't earned yet, he had two real options. When he considered which was letting him down here, it was the first one. Hiyoko not being able to complain was usually welcome, but it was kind of an uncanny effect when some protest or struggle would be called for. So, he tapped that one, then heard a confirmation ring and saw the text change:

• If she insults you and then hears you insult her, she becomes unable to complain, resist, disagree, or speak offensively for a short period. If you pat her head during this time, you can toggle on a mode where, instead, her reaction is always positive. While she will be unaware of the change in her behavior caused by the trigger, her changes in opinion do not persist once the trigger ends. When the time runs out, she will not remember your insult. Previously done: Insulted dancing, Accused of acting like a kid, Called a crybaby

While Kazuichi was still trying to process this, it looked like his last use of the trigger had already run out. This was easy to see, as Hiyoko had begun thrashing in Mikan's lap, yelling out curses and threats to the nurse who was suddenly very eager to pass her off. Mikan shouted over to Kazuichi. "D-d-do you want your turn with her? I'm sorry, b-but uh, I'm n-n-not sure I'm getting a lesson across...!"

Kazuichi grinned, setting the pad aside and rubbing his hands together. "Sure! Pass the ass and I'll get to it!"

Hiyoko gave him a **** glare that he wasn't too brave or disconnected to avoid shrinking away from. "Excuse me? Did you seriously just say that?! You monkey-brained motor-humper, I reeeeally hope you enjoy yourself... I hope this is reeeeally worth it for you." Even as she spoke, she was walking over to Kazuichi and laid herself across his lap, wearing a menacing smile even as she gave him access to her butt. "I might deserve it this one time, but if you think you're gonna get away with this again-"

"A-Are you gonna keep on being a chicken or get on with your spanking?" Even knowing he had the triggers on his side, Kazuichi was wimpy enough that he didn't want to take a verbal beating.

The young woman on his lap registered momentary protest at being interrupted before her face fell to a frustrated frown and she went completely silent.

"What's the deal?" Kazuichi asked her with a mean-spirited grin. "You've got a problem with your spanking?" Emboldened, he tried giving the blonde a condescending pat on the top of her head.

"Have I got a problem?!" The blonde curled her lip at him in disgust, somehow managing to look down on him from a disciplinary position lying across his lap. "My problem-" she started, before swiftly transitioning to a sunny smile, "-is that you didn't do this to fix my bad behavior earlier! What a great idea, hehe."

Everyone looked surprised by that, Kazuichi included. "Okay... this feels way weirder than I thought it would. But it looks like I'm safe, at least..."

"Oh, you're muttering to yourself? Cool!" Hiyoko giggled, then began kicking her legs rhythmically in contentment. "I feel so comfy here, I'm fine to just wait all day, if you want!"

Kazuichi gulped, not having any idea of what to expect when he started actually spanking now. "Here we go..." He looked at the hump of Hiyoko's behind curving over his lap, prepared himself, then thought again. "H-hey, Hiyoko, actually... I think you'd learn your lesson better if I was spanking your butt without this kimono in the way. Dontcha think?" He preposterously asked the woman who was to be subject to the punishment.

"Oh? Yeah, I agree!" Hiyoko agreed, and although she was grinning, she had a flush across her face now. "I mean, it's a little... uh, a little interesting to do that in front of the others, but I can't argue it'd teach me a lesson! I'd love it if you'd untie it for me."

"Untie it?" Kazuichi parroted her, not understanding.

"Hehe, lucky for you, I love repeating myself! The obi, I mean. Untie the obi."

The young man nodded, now understanding, and began working on the knot with clumsy fingers. It took a couple of tries... When he finally got it, Hiyoko helpfully lifted her body slightly to allow him to unwind it. This took some time, and Kazuichi couldn't help but wish he had some kind of visible timer for how long he had until his trigger ran out.

In any case, his worries were outpaced by his anticipation as he finally got the obi sash off of Hiyoko's body, causing her ordinarily tightly-wrapped kimono to release tension. Without much idea of what he was doing, Kazuichi began grabbing at the sides of the garment and pulling it up, exposing the calves, the thighs, and onward. Partway through, he realized he was pulling up two layers; the young man didn't have the cultural exposure to know what a nagajuban was, but there was basically another thinner robe under the main garb. The whole thing was pulled up carelessly by the young man, who just needed to get to what he wanted...

"Gee, Kazuichi! I'm really looking forward to learning how to clean this outfit and make it look nice again!"

Hiyoko's comment went unheard as Kazuichi's eyes locked onto the panties he'd just exposed. He was reminded that the outfits his fellow students wore had been altered to appropriately fit their more adult bodies in this simulation, but that didn't mean everything had been made age-appropriate... The pattern of underwear Hiyoko was wearing, a sunny yellow decorated with cute magenta-colored flowers, wasn't something that looked at home on the more mature curves of her tight ass.

"Aren't they cute? Go ahead and spend all the time you want staring at it," Hiyoko offered.

Kazuichi continued doing so. A throat-clearing from Mahiru's direction was probably intended to snap him out of it, but he was checked out. When he spoke again, he tried to **** an ordinary smile that ended up looking like an insane grin. "Actually... B-bare bottom would be better, right?"

At this, Hiyoko actually did turn red. She glanced around at the others before turning her pale orange eyes to Kazuichi again. "... Yeah! I think that'd teach me my lesson for sure... By the way, I'm totally okay with that dick of yours poking me right now! No problem. I'm happy you're enjoying yourself!"

Becoming aware of what she was talking about, Kazuichi hastily tried to adjust himself to a more comfortable position before hooking his thumbs into the sides of the panties and starting to peel them down before he could talk himself out of it. "Y-you're cool with this, huh, Hiyoko?"

"Sure am!" Even as she gave her consent, Hiyoko watched what he was doing with wide eyes and a strange smile. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest quicken.

The whole room was silent for a moment as Kazuichi finished, leaving the young woman's pale, presented ass bare to the lobby.

The exposed young woman clenched her teeth in an excited grin, keeping her slightly manic-looking red face turned away from the others. The silence continued for a moment before she was **** to break it herself. "Kazuichi, are you going to-"

The young man interrupted her inquiry with his first sharp slap to her behind, sending a "smack" noise reverberating through the lobby. Mikan's earlier work on Hiyoko didn't seem to have left any marks at all, but this immediately registered a pink palm print on the woman's jiggling behind. Her eyes and jaw had both opened in wide surprise, and an "aaah~!" left her throat, but with a strange, satisfied register that kept it from sounding upset.

There was another brief silence, and Mahiru was the first one to speak after that. "W-what the heck? Hiyoko, I've been thinking this for a while now, but... Why is the way you're reacting to Kazuichi's punishment so weird? Did, uh... the extra stuff Kazuichi added, which, of course, we all agree is perfectly okay since it's an appropriate spanking punishment... But did it make it that much different from when Mikan did it?"

"The way Mikan did it was fine! I was okay with it," Hiyoko responded without hesitation, still facing away from the others. "But the way Kazuichi does it feels awesome. It's also super exciting that he's doing it this way with everyone watching."

Kazuichi laughed in disbelief, trying to reconcile this Hiyoko with his usual image of the bratty young lady that hated his guts. "So, you're into it? It's turning you on?"

"... I... Y-yep!" Hiyoko offered after a rare moment of hesitation in her newly-compliant mode. "Totally! I'm super turned-on right now."

"Cause that was a pretty nice slutty moan you just made," Kazuichi pointed out tactlessly.

"Oh, you liked that?" Hiyoko giggled. "Yeah, I'm super comfortable doing that in front of everyone! I never made that kind of sound before, but I love learning new stuff about myself!"

"Hehe, okay..." Kazuichi drew his hand back. "Well, uh, keep 'em comin'!"

The mechanic began raining more smacks onto his classmate's unprotected bottom, registering more inappropriate (and, if the inexperienced young man had known what they ought to sound like, unrealistic) coos of pleasure from his target. Before Kazuichi knew it, he'd gotten carried away, and without any protest to stop it, he'd well-reddened Hiyoko's butt with slap after slap, leaving the decoration of his palm all over her pale skin. He wasn't ready to declare this was a new kink of his for sure, as a judgmental part of himself was hastily suggesting it could just be excitement for the rare turnabout on Hiyoko. Regardless, his body was making its approval of his choice known, as it was getting tricky to find a way to shift his lower body so it didn't uncomfortably poke into the woman on his lap.

The mechanic paused, giving both of them a brief break. He looked at his handiwork as if seeing it for the first time and grimaced, noting not just the markings but the light sweat that had started to break out on Hiyoko's body, which was warming up. "Holy crap! Does that hurt?"

"It feels... s-stingly!" Hiyoko replied, although she was panting hoarsely. "In a good way!"

"Heh... Kyehehe!" Pleased, Kazuichi grinned as he rotated his good arm in preparation for more. "So you want me to go harder in round 2?"

Hiyoko didn't respond for a moment, simply panting as she seemed to consider something. Finally, she spoke, sounding tentative. "I'd love to know... if you wanna go harder in round 2. It's totally up to you."

"Yep! I'll punish you for real this time, finally get all that brat out of ya!" Kazuichi wiggled his fingers in excitement.

"Then I'd love that! Give it to me hard and really teach me that lesson, hehe!" Hiyoko looked back again to show him her strange smile, with eyes that seemed both bright with excitement and abnormally cloudy at once.

Looking at that face gave Kazuichi a moment of hesitation, although he wasn't willing to spend time interrogating why. He was too far into this to pump the brakes now. It felt like he could just keep going and going... It felt like nobody could stop him from going until he'd had all the fun he wanted.