At Rei Ao's house.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang.
Futaba went to open it.
Standing there was… Saki Kawasaki.
"Oh? It's you again. Here for the usual housekeeping job?"
"Yes."
Saki Kawasaki nodded. She hadn't forgotten her deal with Rei Ao—she came diligently every weekend.
"Come on in."
Futaba was already somewhat familiar with her. Upon entering, the living room was quieter than expected, so Futaba explained:
"Today, Fumino and the others have the day off from tutoring. Tohru took Sora and Ilia to hang out with her friend. Emilia is in her room handling some work stuff. Mai went to stay at her mom's place for a while."
"As for me, I'm basically free.
"Oh, right—Rei Ao…"
"Mm, I know about Rei Ao-kun from the chat group," Saki said a bit awkwardly.
From the group chat, she'd learned he was currently on a date with a certain underclassman.
"Oh, right—you're in the chat group, too," Futaba nodded.
"Well then, let's get on with the housekeeping. I'll help you."
"Eh? N-no, it's my job. It's fine if I do it alone."
Seeing Futaba already rolling up her sleeves and going into Rei Ao's bedroom, Saki tried to stop her, but she returned with some clothes in hand.
"Don't worry. I'm idle anyway."
"…All right then."
Saki couldn't say no further. The two got to work together.
…
Meanwhile, at a restaurant…
Eating dinner alongside Rei Ao, Iroha Isshiki felt even more stiff and uneasy than she'd expected.
She sipped water, struggling for conversation, which ironically made her have to excuse herself:
"Uh, Rei Ao-kun, I—I need to run to the restroom."
She quickly stood and hurried off, face lowered.
"Haah… Even though I planned all these topics…"
Little did she know, it just ended in awkward silence.
Rei Ao watched her go, shaking his head with a wry smile.
"She prepared so many topics, or so I thought."
He picked up his chopsticks again but then put them down and stood up. Instead of following Iroha to the restroom, he walked toward a corner table in the dining area.
…
"Mmm—so tasty!"
Having set aside her mask, Yuigahama devoured her meal eagerly, no trace of a refined image. Across from her, Yumiko sighed, exasperated.
Clearly, Yuigahama was starving and had forgotten all about the real reason they were tailing Iroha. But Yumiko herself was hungry too; they'd barely eaten anything all day. She resigned herself to focusing on the food first.
"Yo, who do we have here—my dear sweet Yui-baby and Yumiko-baby, hmm?"
"Pfft!!!"
Those words almost made them choke mid-bite. They barely swallowed the food, hearts still pounding, and turned in alarm.
"Rei—Rei Ao-kun?!"
He stood there smiling at them.
"You've been following me all day. Why so shocked to see me?"
"U-uh…"
"Y-you knew?"
Yuigahama stared at the floor, embarrassed. Yumiko shot her a glare. Then she folded her arms with a snort:
"Hmph. If we hadn't been watching, who knows what you might've done to Iroha."
"Huh?"
Rei Ao slid into the seat beside her.
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
Her cheeks flared red, sliding further in to keep distance. But he followed, so their bodies pressed side by side. It looked intimately couple-like, making Yuigahama feel a stab of envy.
Rei Ao lightly raised Yumiko's chin, looking at her with a teasing, predatory expression:
"Yumiko, with a pretty girlfriend like you around, why would I do anything beastly to someone else? If I said I wanted to kiss you, hold you, maybe go further for fun, you wouldn't refuse, right?"
"I…"
So close, hearing him say that, her heart raced. In truth, she wanted to scream, "I'd love that!" But with Yuigahama and others all around, she forced herself to remain composed.
"Who—who wants to do such shameless things, you pervert!"
She slapped his hand away. Yet at the same time, Yumiko sent him a private message in the chat group, not wanting him to misunderstand.
Yumiko Miura (private): "Hey, don't get the wrong idea. I only said that because Yui is here and other people too!"
Rei Ao (private): "Heh, so you're saying you do want to do fun things with me, right?"
Yumiko: "P-pervert! Stop saying such weird stuff!"
Rei Ao: "If you're not interested, fine. I'll go look for Yui instead."
Yumiko: "No way!"
Rei Ao: "Oh? Why not?"
Yumiko: "Because…because…"
She couldn't say "I'm jealous," so after a moment she typed, thoroughly embarrassed:
Yumiko: "Because I also want to do fun things with you!"
Rei Ao: "Could've said so from the start."
Rei Ao's grin turned mischievous.
"Rei Ao-kun, Yumiko, why are you two suddenly silent?" Yuigahama blinked. They'd gone quiet, but their expressions kept shifting.
"Oh, nothing."
Sensing that Iroha was returning from the restroom, Rei Ao got up.
"Don't follow me anymore—go home. Don't make your families worry."
He patted Yuigahama's head. "Tell Auntie I said hi."
With that, he headed back to his table.
"Hehe…"
Yuigahama beamed happily after the pat. After a moment, she asked Yumiko, "So should we go home?"
Yumiko shot a complicated look at Rei Ao's back.
"Since he's caught us, what's the point? Let's go. About Iroha, he won't do anything bad to her."
"Eh?"
She was sure. Because she'd read his final chat message:
Rei Ao: "Get a hotel room, and I'll come find you later."
~~~
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