"We're back!"
Iori pushed open the door of Grand Blue and called into the shop as he walked in.
"Oh, it's you two. What took you so long? Kotobuki and Tokita have been back for ages — they've probably headed home by now."
Nanaka came out to greet them, as expected.
"Couldn't be helped. Too many maniacs in the class, the teacher turned out to be a maniac, the principal has issues of his own.... It's been a lot. Too much to explain quickly."
Sebastian followed Iori in and answered Nanaka's question with a wry smile.
"I'm back."
Another voice came from outside. Sebastian and Iori turned — it was Chisa, walking in with an expression that said her day had not gone well. A shadow seemed to have settled over her face.
Understandable. Today's events in class had probably left most of the students in a similar state.
Or rather — come to think of it, apart from a specific few, most of the class had actually been reasonably normal, hadn't they?
"Oh, Chisa, you—"
Iori had barely opened his mouth to say something when Chisa slipped past the two of them with a quick sidestep, left behind a look that was not particularly warm, and was back upstairs in her room in moments.
"They really don't seem to be on good terms, do they. Whatever should be done about that...."
Nanaka had taken in the whole scene. She pressed her lips together in mild concern.
"See? I told you your chances are slim, Iori. You might as well introduce her to me instead."
Sebastian looped an arm around Iori's shoulder with a grin.
"Absolutely not! Even if I don't have a chance, there's no way I'm introducing her to someone like you!" Iori fumed.
"Why are you two at it again? No loud voices in the shop, please."
Nanaka's gentle intervention successfully brought the two of them to heel. She had also, in the meantime, prepared dinner — and now carried out a plate of freshly fried, golden-brown pork cutlets toward the still-simmering pair.
"Alright — come help bring out the dishes. Anyone still angry when the food's ready doesn't get pork cutlets."
"Nanaka is an angel."
Sebastian felt genuinely moved, and chose to selectively overlook the earlier incident involving Nanaka and a certain item belonging to Chisa.
"Hmhm.... A mere mortal, daring to use the word angel."
Angel's punchable young voice arrived in Sebastian's ear right on cue.
"Could you give me some kind of warning before you just start speaking? Every single time — it's genuinely startling."
Sebastian complained at the invisible goddess.
"A goddess must maintain a goddess's mystique. You'll get used to it."
Apparently having learned nothing from their previous arguments, Angel remained as breezy as ever.
This time, however, Sebastian couldn't be bothered to engage. There was food in front of him, and that was what mattered.
One by one, the carefully prepared dishes — modest in portion — were brought to the table. Sebastian, Iori, and Nanaka sat down, picked up their chopsticks, pressed their hands together:
"Itadakimasu~"
The centerpiece, naturally, was the freshly made golden pork cutlet served over shredded cabbage, drizzled with a house-made Caesar dressing.
The first bite of juicy golden pork cutlet went down, and a sense of satisfaction unlike anything Sebastian had felt since crossing into this world filled him completely.
"A person really does need to eat."
Sebastian delivered this with the same reflective gravity as the old principal.
"Hey, Nanaka — isn't Uncle Kotegawa going to eat with us? And Chisa?"
Iori asked this with a piece of pork cutlet still in his mouth, words somewhat muffled.
"Swallow first, then talk! Dad has work tonight — he'll probably eat out. That's normal for him. As for Chisa.... she seems to be in a bad mood today. I'll take a plate up to her room separately."
"You really do spoil her, Nanaka."
Iori muttered this in a tone that couldn't quite decide between envy and admiration. Nanaka simply kept her smile and said nothing more.
After dinner, Sebastian went outside to help unload some diving equipment for the shop. When he came back, he found that Nanaka had already tidied his room while he was away.
His room was a small prefab structure outside the main building. Apparently it had once been slated for demolition, but with Sebastian arriving, it had found a purpose.
Power, a fan, a light, some basic furniture — it had everything it needed to be functional.
No bed, just tatami — but given that this was simply how they lived here, there was nothing worth noting about it.
For Sebastian, honestly, having a stable place to rest was already more than he'd dared to count on.
And given that they were essentially charging him no rent in exchange for occasional help around the shop, he had even less ground to complain.
"Nanaka, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble."
Sebastian watched her bustling around, sweeping and arranging, and felt genuinely moved in spite of himself.
"Not at all — Dad says you're going to be a long-term member of the household from now on. Of course we'd want to make things comfortable for family."
Nanaka finished putting everything in order, wiped a light sheen of perspiration from her forehead, and smiled warmly at him.
At this particular moment, Nanaka was, as far as Sebastian was concerned, the most ideal romantic prospect he'd encountered since arriving in this world.
The sister-con thing — as long as it stayed within reasonable bounds — could simply be read as evidence that Nanaka was a warm and caring person, couldn't it?
"Hey, Nanaka...."
Sebastian had just opened his mouth to attempt some further conversation when Nanaka seemed to remember something and jumped to her feet with a look of alarm.
"Oh no — I completely forgot Chisa's dinner! I'm so sorry, I need to go."
With that, Nanaka hurried back into the shop in a few quick steps, leaving Sebastian alone in the evening air, internally disheveled.
"Well...."
Sebastian touched his nose with mild dejection.
Fine. There would be plenty of opportunities later. No need to rush.
He looked around the neat, clean little room. This was where he would most likely be living for the next four years — his own private base of operations.
"If the opportunity comes up, I should really fix this place up properly." Sebastian thought, already mentally mapping out where posters and prints might go on the walls.
For now, though, the most important thing was rest.
Ever since the drinking contest at noon, he'd been running on a continuous high — nerves strung taut. A spring wound too tight will eventually snap if it isn't allowed to ease.
And as if on cue, a wave of exhaustion arrived — the kind that felt like it rose from somewhere deep in the soul.
"What's... happening...."
As though his consciousness had simply been switched off, Sebastian pitched forward face-first and crashed down onto the freshly made tatami, dead to the world.
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