"Hm? Why the sudden change of heart?" Kotobuki looked at Sebastian with mild puzzlement.
"No reason. Some people just ought to face the consequences of their own actions."
"You look very serious all of a sudden — did something happen?"
Tokita turned his head and looked at him with some concern.
"None of that matters now. Come on, seniors — let me take over."
Sebastian's face broke into a radiant smile. He stepped in and took over the two seniors' work in quick, efficient movements.
"Oh...." The two seniors exchanged a glance, not entirely sure what Sebastian was up to, but since he was offering to help, it was no great matter.
"Right — next, help me stick these photobooks on the wall. They're all short-haired, generously proportioned girls. From what I've observed of Iori lately, that's definitely his type."
"Oh — looks like you really do know the guy well."
Kotobuki took the photobooks Sebastian handed over, studied them for a moment with his chin in his hand, and nodded approvingly.
"It really is the fellow freshmen who understand freshmen best. Keeping you here was the right call."
While the two seniors happily went about sticking up the posters, Sebastian had already opened Iori's laptop and was hammering away at the keyboard at speed.
His usually vacant, dead-fish eyes were locked on the screen with uncharacteristic intensity.
"What are you doing?"
The sound of typing drew the attention of the two seniors, who turned to look at Sebastian.
"Tch.... Iori's computer is completely clean. Never mind that." Sebastian leaned back. "Pass me two of those discs. And turn on the external speaker — volume all the way up."
Even Kotobuki went slightly still at that sequence of instructions.
"Is... all that really necessary? I thought we were just making the room look a bit more like a proper university student's space. The way you're going about it, this is full adult-content territory — Iori might actually be in trouble."
Even the ever-enthusiastic Kotobuki had a trace of reluctance in his voice as he said this.
That said, neither of them stopped what they were doing. Within moments they had everything Sebastian requested set up.
"No — it's necessary to come down hard on someone who sneaks away..... ahem, I mean — for someone with Nanaka's level of sister-con, her protective instincts toward Iori must be extremely strong. We need to apply sufficient force to break through."
"Even granting all that — if Iori comes back and he's furious, that's nothing to do with us, just so you know." Tokita said absently, still working.
Sebastian turned and looked at the two seniors with a complicated expression.
Honestly, what these two had already done was more than enough to make Iori furious. And they were still saying things like that.
That's not how you dodge responsibility.
At that moment, footsteps began drifting from outside Iori's door, growing closer.
"Nanaka — I don't have any other motive, I just wanted to...."
"It's alright, Iori. I understand you want to go out and have fun. But we haven't seen each other in so long — staying home for a couple of days isn't so terrible, is it?"
Nanaka's gentle voice came through the door, without any trace of the terrifying near-darkness from that morning.
"I hear you, but — are you really not upset, Nanaka?"
"Why would I be upset? It was such a small thing — how could I be so petty as that? Iori, aren't you underestimating your big sister a little?"
The people inside heard the conversation and immediately went into a panic.
"Already ten minutes?! Seniors, we need to—"
Sebastian's panicked words hadn't finished before Kotobuki moved with startling agility, stepped lightly into the wardrobe that had been left conveniently open, and pulled the door firmly shut behind him.
Tokita, meanwhile, dropped into a deep squat with a ferocious expression, launched himself upward, and landed directly on top of the wardrobe.
He curled himself into a compact bundle, placed a finger to his lips, and made a shhh gesture at Sebastian.
Sebastian stared at the two of them, speechless. Bodies built like bears, moving like cats.
He slapped his own face sharply.
No — this is not the moment for that. If Iori walks in and sees the room in this state, then finds only me here, every last bit of this is going to land on my head.
Though, to be fair, his contribution to the current situation was not inconsiderable.
Sebastian gritted his teeth, swept a look around the room.
Between the explicit photobooks jammed into every corner, the posters, the magazines, and the DVDs — there appeared to be exactly one hiding spot remaining.
Under Iori's bed.
In one smooth sliding motion, Sebastian dove under the bed and lay still, not daring to move.
His body had barely cleared the frame when the door opened.
Sebastian pressed his ears flat and listened.
"Nanaka really is the most understanding person.... Anyway, I've got a little surprise for you in here—"
Iori's sentence cut off mid-delivery.
Something hit the floor with a thud. Apparently a phone.
"Iori, do be careful with that. Now — what did you say was in the room?"
"Nanaka, please don't come in just yet — I need to deal with something first!"
The frantic sounds of Iori pressing himself against the door came through from the corridor.
"But you rushed me over here with such urgency, and now you won't let me in.... Iori, you've gotten stranger and stranger after all this time apart. I'll just take one little peek, it's fine~"
Before anyone could stop her, the door let out a soft creak and swung open again.
The world inside the room and outside it plunged into a silence like death.
"Nanaka, please let me explain — the thing is—"
"Well — ah — for a boy Iori's age, I suppose this is all perfectly... normal? Nothing unusual about it. I'm so sorry for barging in, Iori, I just remembered something I wanted to check with a friend — I'll be going now!"
Rapid, stiff footsteps retreated down the corridor and faded into the distance.
"You've GOT to be KIDDING ME!!"
Sebastian lay flat under the bed, listening to Iori's anguished howl from outside, expression suitably solemn.
Not.
He was grinning so wide it was nearly reaching his ears. Face pressed against the floor under the bed, he clapped both hands over his mouth with everything he had, suffocating the laughter.
Iori — don't blame me.
If you're going to blame anyone, blame the fact that when I was trying to reach you in your hour of need, you were busy flirting with Chisa. Consider this your reckoning.