Normally, Mutsumi could face anything with an unshaken calm, but today she had abruptly walked off just because Yahata Umiri muttered a few cryptic words. To all the other "girlfriends," her reaction seemed unusually out of character.
Even the usually carefree and giggly Chihaya Anon sensed that something was off.
"Ah~"
"Come to think of it, I've been meaning to ask… Doesn't everyone have their own pair of slippers here? But I'm pretty sure Mutsumi already had a pair last time. And why does she always arrive before anyone else?"
Anon blinked with innocent curiosity, her voice full of questions. Everyone turned their heads at once. Taki, who normally paid no mind to such things, raised an eyebrow and glanced down at her panda slippers.
This girl… occasionally she says something serious?
Anon's face lit up with a sudden spark, as though she had donned a detective's hat. Her sharp alertness rose in an instant, her mind racing ahead. "Something's not right. It's not just ten parts strange, it's twelve parts strange…"
"Tomori, what do you think?"
"Uh…"
Catching the question off guard, Tomori froze. Should she say it outright? The thought made her heart waver with panic, unsure how to respond. Just then, Soyo quietly set down her teacup.
"They're engaged. Living together is normal, isn't it?"
"Eh?"
Anon blinked again, clearly not following at first.
Uika, sitting next to Umiri, clenched her hands into small fists. As one of the "insiders," being here made her restless, yet in this moment no one seemed to notice her unease.
"Living together?"
"Wait, so what Soyo-rin is saying is… Haru and Mutsumi are already living together? And here I am, his girlfriend, knowing nothing at all? And engaged… what's with this engagement business?"
Realization finally struck Anon like lightning. Her light gray eyes widened, little tiger teeth bared as her mouth fell open in shock.
Lately, MyGO had been busy preparing for Future World Fes, and with so many other things happening recently, she had completely shifted her focus away from those "fox spirits."
After all, Anon-sama was already one of Haru's girlfriends now. She could act spoiled with him whenever she liked, even go on full-day dates from time to time. Relaxed and carefree, how could she possibly notice any change in Mutsumi?
"Eh? Why is everyone else acting so calm?"
"This is huge news, right? Haru's even keeping this from us!"
Anon stood frozen for several seconds, then swept her eyes around the room.
Tomori kept her lips sealed, fidgeting as if she wanted to speak but couldn't. Raana had disappeared somewhere as usual, unwilling to sit still. Soyo, the one who was normally most sensitive to these things, sipped her tea without a ripple of emotion. Even Sakiko beside her looked surprisingly composed.
Anon whipped her head toward Umiri.
But Umiri looked utterly indifferent, and Uika only gave an awkward smile.
Out of all Haru's "girlfriends" present, only Taki seemed genuinely surprised. The others carried an ambiguous air that made Anon blink in confusion. Just then, Soyo spoke again, her voice slow and casual.
"Keeping it from us? More like keeping it from you."
"You… all of you…"
In an instant, Anon realized she was the only true fool here. Feeling abandoned and wronged, her eyes darted left and right. At times like this, she was quick to connect the dots, and now a huge exclamation mark practically popped above her pink head.
"Wait! Don't tell me… there are other things you've all been hiding from me too?"
"O-of course not!"
Taki was the first to react, blurting a denial. But she hadn't realized that by answering so instinctively, she had drawn everyone's attention to herself. Most of all, Soyo's blue eyes narrowed with subtle meaning.
"Taki-chan, why did you react so strongly?"
"I…"
At once, Taki felt the blood in her body boil. By the time she realized it, her refined and beautiful face had already turned crimson. Her guilty shoulders trembled faintly as her eyes darted toward Sakiko.
"Sakiko, what's going on between you and him?"
"Eh? Me… me? I haven't… I haven't really done anything special."
Unless sharing a bed all night doesn't count.
As everyone's eyes began drifting back to her again, Taki nervously darted a pleading look at Yahata Umiri. But before she could even open her mouth, Umiri smiled knowingly, as if she had already foreseen it.
"Haru and I have only gone as far as kissing."
Give it a few more days and that might change.
The air in the room thickened with unease. Taki's face burned bright red, and even Anon's expression grew darker. She could tell that in this moment everyone had realized something, but no one dared to tear through the thin veil.
But why, why was it turning out like this?
She had been the first girl to fall for Haru. Yet when Anon looked around now, all she saw were fox spirits sneaking bites behind her back, while she alone still guarded her tiny patch of ground like a fool.
Feeling crushed, Anon slumped back onto the sofa. Her eyes flicked around, seeing nothing but fox spirits closing in from all sides. In desperation she turned to the one she trusted most, her little penguin. She hurried forward and grasped Tomori's hand tightly.
In that instant, it felt like she had found her last safe haven.
"Tomori, you and Haru… you don't have any secrets from me, right?"
"Uh?"
Tomori's amber eyes went wide, her face flushing crimson. She was never any good at lying.
The others saw this and silently understood. Even the one who seemed the purest and most honest, the little penguin, wasn't as innocent as she looked. The sharpest among them were already beginning to suspect the truth from just these few casual exchanges.
Could it be that someone had already crossed the line?
The air grew heavier still. The lively chatter evaporated, replaced by an uncanny silence, as if everyone had begun calculating something privately. Not even Mutsumi's return with a fruit plate could stir them.
"…"
Only Raana, her little "expedition" concluded, remained unconcerned.
The carefree cat-girl grabbed a matcha cookie off the table and was about to pop it into her mouth, when she suddenly sniffed something. Her feline brows furrowed as she leaned in close to Mutsumi, her delicate nose twitching near the girl's neck.
Perhaps to ordinary eyes Mutsumi's doll-like face betrayed nothing, but to a "scent detective" like Raana, any attempt at hiding was meaningless. Within seconds she had already caught the anomaly.
Her lips curled into a catlike smirk as she tilted her head.
"There's so much of Haru's scent on you… way stronger than before."
"…!"
Mutsumi's body jolted, the fruit plate trembling in her hands. Heat flooded her cheeks until her pale face burned red, and even the doll-like girl was left speechless, unable to explain.
Sakiko, teacup in hand, shivered in turn.
As the young lady of the family, grace had been etched into her bones since childhood. Yet even she spilled a few drops of tea this time. Forget the tea, her eyes were locked on Mutsumi's flushed face.
"Mutsumi, don't tell me…"
But Mutsumi only pressed her lips tight, turned, and hurried toward the kitchen. Her quickened steps and guilty red face made her inner turmoil obvious to all.
And to the others, it confirmed their suspicion.
Mutsumi had definitely done it.
The silence pressed down to its breaking point. Strange lights flickered in the girls' eyes, their expressions subtly shifting. From this moment, they all knew the truth of the matter had changed.
Someone had broken the unspoken pact.
"Sorry! We're late! We just ran into Yuutenji-san on the way over—"
A lively, sweet voice broke through the heavy air. A red-haired beauty burst into the living room like a flame, her bright yellow-green eyes sparkling. She embodied the phrase "sunshine girl" to perfection.
It was Kita Ikuyo. The moment she stepped in, her sensitive instincts picked up the strange atmosphere.
Eh? What's going on here?
"Ikuyo, my stomach is full of holes already… let me through."
"Ryo-senpai! W-wait a second…"
Hot on her heels came Ryo, face blank as ever. She seemed completely oblivious to the mood, striding over to sit by Sakiko. Ignoring Raana's irritated look, her eyes gleamed faintly as she grabbed for the cookies and began munching away without hesitation.
"Ryo, could you at least try to care a little?"
Nijika quickly turned an apologetic gaze toward the room. But she soon noticed the peculiar atmosphere as well, especially Taki's flushed face as she gulped down water, and Soyo who sat with her head bowed deep in thought.
And finally, Anon, arms folded, face blank, leaning against the sofa.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"..."
Only Bocchi, who was still lurking in the "Cucumber Greenhouse" group chat, understood the full picture. The moment she walked in, her eyes met Tomori's from across the room. Tomori's cheeks were flushed, and she gave a small, shy nod.
A faint look of shock crossed Hitori's eyes, quickly followed by admiration as she looked toward Tomori.
Tomori was incredible.
She couldn't even imagine what that must have felt like, but even her own earlier experience had been… really nice.
Hitori's face burned as if it might burst into flames. She knew this was a rare chance. After all, she only had some secondhand theory she'd secretly read about, she had no idea what the real thing was actually like.
She made up her mind. Later, she would ask Tomori for advice.
The girls scattered around the living room each carried different thoughts, but Yuutenji Nyamu's expression was particularly strange. She wasn't close to the MyGO girls, fine, but why were even her own bandmates sitting there silently?
Was she not part of Ave Mujica too?
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Nyamu couldn't shake the feeling she was being excluded.
…
"Cheers!"
The living room echoed with laughter and the clinking of glasses. The girls raised their drinks together in celebration, carbonation bubbling furiously in their cups of soda.
Even the Kazami household living room felt a little cramped with so many packed in. And naturally, the spots beside Haru were the most contested. As his girlfriends, they all wanted to sit next to him.
But clearly, Haru's knees couldn't bend in a full circle to accommodate everyone.
"…Why did it end up like this?"
Yuutenji Nyamu, holding a glass of cola, shot Haru a strange look. In the end, the "outsider" like her had been placed by his side, simply because that was the most "fair" arrangement for everyone else.
But she didn't want to be here at all!
Did they really think sitting next to this playboy was comfortable? To Nyamu, it was the opposite. She could feel envious stares stabbing at her from every direction, and it gave her nothing but chills.
At first, she thought Haru was just juggling three or four girls, a ridiculous womanizer trying to sink his claws into entire bands. But to see him invite over a dozen girls to a single "welcome home" party, and each one a top-class beauty?
Even Nyamu herself could hardly believe it.
She scanned the room carefully and realized every girl there, from Ave Mujica to the other two bands, was a stunning beauty in her own right, each with her own unique charm.
All of them gathering for one person, how was that not insane?
More importantly, how could they so easily accept their "rivals in love"?
"…Nyamu-san, I know I'm handsome, but do you really need to stare at me this much?"
The intensity of her gaze finally made Haru raise an eyebrow. She had been glaring at him openly since the beginning, without even pretending otherwise. It made him uneasy, even as he tried to focus on the sizzling barbecue.
Honestly, Nyamu was starting to kill the mood.
"Haru's just a kid. Even if you're handsome, Nyamu-pii isn't interested, okay?"
Nyamu squinted lazily, tossing out the line like it was nothing. By now, after spending some time in their "partnership," both she and Haru understood each other's personalities well enough that there was no need to pretend.
She had already realized how thick-skinned he was.
Haru blinked, then his face shifted slightly.
Now she was calling him a child? He was hardly the weak, frail boy he used to be. Having already crossed that line, Haru felt far more of an adult than Nyamu gave him credit for.
"Well then, sixteen-year-old onee-san, would you mind grabbing me those tissues?"
"…You knew?"
"I told you before, didn't I? Handling band operations makes things like this second nature."
Nyamu curled her lips. She had guessed Haru would dig up her background sooner or later, but knowing he had her whole story in hand still left her unsettled.
She had always prided herself on being the "mature adult."
It had been fun, playing mysterious, sipping beer and acting grown-up. But now that Haru knew her real age, she could forget about drinking—he would never allow it. As "management," he technically was one of their bosses, after all.
"So, when do we finally get to do it?"
Nyamu narrowed her striking pink-diamond eyes and leaned closer to him with a teasing tone.
Haru knew exactly what she meant.
Calmly, he lifted his chopsticks, plucked a piece of charred beef from the grill, and popped it into his mouth. His deep black eyes stayed fixed forward as sweet voices from the girls filled the room.
Not far away, Bocchi had pulled out her little notebook and was whispering with the blushing Tomori. Anon was flailing her hands in dramatic gestures as she argued with an overwhelmed Ikuyo.
Ryo was stuffing her mouth with food while Sakiko kept trying to say something to her. Mutsumi and Soyo were chatting nearby, while even the usually quiet Umiri was laughing as she teased Taki.
Once you gathered this many girls together, the chaos reached a terrifying scale.
Haru couldn't help grumbling inwardly at the sight. When Nyamu's patience finally began to wear thin, he answered slowly, "Wait a little longer. I've got more shows lined up."
"Haven't we already played the Budokan?"
Nyamu's voice was casual as she glanced around at the others. Luckily, the celebration was noisy enough that no one paid attention to their private conversation.
"It's not enough. The effect isn't there yet."
"…Haru, my video views have started dropping again. Looks like people don't like it when I keep them hanging. How about you show up on camera? Just a shot of your back would be enough."
Haru shook his head. That was out of the question.
If he appeared now, Nyamu would have to give up all the attention that followed.
She seemed to expect his refusal, though a trace of dissatisfaction flickered across her face. She was just about to press further when a sudden voice cut through her thoughts.
"We've disbanded the band, and now we're preparing for a live show!"