Flop, flop~
With the crackling sound of electricity, the once-lively Yamamoto and Nojima turned into two salted fish, flopping weakly on the ground.
Standing behind them was Fujiwara's "girlfriend"!
At this moment, she was holding a sparking self-defense stun gun, looking sweetly at Shiori.
Her expression was as relaxed as a killer with no emotions who had just slaughtered two fish.
Shiori: ∑(′△｀)?!
Shiori blinked in confusion. Th-this… are they really okay?!
Because she wasn't familiar with stun guns, Shiori couldn't quite tell how those two on the ground were doing.
Subconsciously, she looked to Kamishiro beside her.
Sensing Shiori's confusion, Kamishiro patted her head and said casually, "Minor issue. You should know—cockroaches aren't that easy to kill."
Not to mention that among the men present besides him, whose survivability wasn't better than a cockroach? They were totally fine!
Hearing this, Shiori let out a sigh of relief. That was good, she'd feel guilty if something happened to the big sister because of her.
Though… this big sister seemed a bit strange.
Looking at the blond big sister's gaze full of desire, Shiori suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
Not long ago, when her idiot brother and the others came home, that foreign woman had the same expression!
And she was blond too!
As it turned out, Shiori's intuition was spot on.
After dealing with the two idiots, the blond big sister instantly "teleported" in front of Shiori.
"Those boys really are so annoying~"
Hearing that syrupy voice by her ear, Shiori suddenly felt a bit nauseous for some reason.
She tried to retreat behind Kamishiro again, but suddenly felt both her hands being grabbed.
The blond big sister leaned in even closer.
"At times like this, us girls should ride together~"
Shiori: !!!
N-no!
She hadn't forgotten how that foreign woman had harassed her at the inn for a whole week before.
She even almost married her idiot brother!
Was history about to repeat itself?!
Although she really wanted to forcefully pull her hands free, since this big sister had just helped her (even if it wasn't really needed), Shiori found it hard to refuse outright.
She could only look at Azusa-nee with pleading eyes—at times like this, the purple-haired big sister was the most reliable!
At the same time, she kept giving Kamishiro meaningful looks, hoping he'd get the "big sister's" boyfriend to pull her away!
Seeing this, Kamishiro looked playfully at Fujiwara. By now, he was drenched in sweat—some people's girlfriends really couldn't stand close inspection~
Although Kohei's makeup and feminine voice could, in a sense, pass for real.
That was only to strangers. To people who knew him well…
"Haha, in that case, I'll be the one to ride with Shiori—right, Kohei?"
Azusa laughed and playfully exposed Kohei's true identity. Don't forget—women's sixth sense is incredibly sharp~
In fact, the moment Azusa saw Kohei, she sensed something was off. It was only because Kamishiro told her to wait for the time being that she hadn't exposed him earlier.
Now that the poor little Shiori had already asked her for help, how could she possibly just stand by and do nothing~
Hearing Azusa reveal his identity, a flash of panic appeared on Kohei's face, but he quickly hid it.
He believed that with his makeup skills, he could achieve a flawless disguise—no one could recognize him!
No one!
Noticing the suspicious looks around him, Kohei continued covering it up with a feminine voice.
"Um… what are you talking about, miss? I don't quite understand. Kohei? Is that your friend… Ah! Bastard, what are you doing?!"
Before he could finish his lie, he suddenly felt his wig being yanked off.
Turning around, he saw Kitahara staring at him with dead-fish eyes.
"Stop pretending. You're already exposed."
"Damn it!"
Kohei clicked his tongue in annoyance, snatched back his wig full of resentment, and muttered,
"If Azusa hadn't guessed it, I would've succeeded by now!"
Kamishiro: "You already gave yourself away when you tried to protect Shiori just now."
What kind of big sister casually uses a stun gun on people anyway…
Iori: "Not only that—aren't you forgetting the most important point?"
"What?"
Kohei was confused. He'd made thorough preparations for this plan!
Iori didn't beat around the bush and directly pointed at Fujiwara.
"How could this dumb giant possibly have a girlfriend?!
And suddenly such a pretty one, at that!"
Fujiwara: "Hey, hey, hey! I can't just pretend I didn't hear that!"
Kamishiro: (;＿;)
"...I'd advise you to keep hiding yourself for now. Judging by your 'partner,' you might become the next big star of Izu University."
After all… Kohei really didn't look like a girl anymore at this point.
Hearing Kamishiro's words, Fujiwara froze for a moment, then very sensibly covered his mouth and squatted off to the side.
Fortunately, Yamamoto and Nojima were already unconscious, and with Kitahara and Kohei in the middle of a scuffle, no one had brought this up yet—otherwise he'd be in big trouble.
That's right.
At this very moment, Iori and Kohei were locked in a full-on brawl, the kind aimed at killing the other.
The two were like a pair of stag beetles, palms pressed together as they strained against each other.
Iori: "Didn't we agree you wouldn't come?!"
Kohei: "Hah, how ridiculous. Once I sensed Shiori's presence, how could I possibly miss it!"
Kohei sneered. This whole thing had to start that morning.
From the morning on, Kohei felt his heartbeat speeding up nonstop, as if someone important was about to appear.
This had happened before—back when Maya sama was holding a concert.
Feeling that familiar pounding, Kohei thought Maya sama had secretly come to Izu and immediately leapt out of his little nest.
Following his intuition, he made his way to the Wild Boar Park. Although he didn't see his Maya sama there, he did see Shiori, who had come with Kamishiro!
In that instant, Kohei realized he'd been mistaken—this heartbeat was for Shiori!
And at that moment, he just so happened to run into the envious Fujiwara at the entrance.
The idea of disguising himself as a girl began to grow uncontrollably in his mind.
And after that… well, this is how things turned out.
Bang!
(▼皿▼＃)
"You're just spouting nonsense! What the hell is this psychic connection crap—do you think you've got superpowers or something?!"
Iori didn't believe Kohei's story at all and threw a punch straight into his face.
As if he didn't know—when Maya-san came before, this guy hadn't shown any heartbeat sensing nonsense at all!
It was obviously something he made up on the spot!
"This is the proof of love between me and Shiori! I won't let you deny it!"
Kohei retaliated fiercely, refusing to back down. He didn't care—this was the truth in his mind!
Off to the side—
Kamishiro twitched at the corner of his mouth and wrapped an arm around Azusa's waist.
"Do you believe what Kohei just said?"
He certainly didn't. He was more inclined to think it was just a myocardial infarction caused by this shut-in staying up all night gaming.
"Well… it does sound kind of fantastical… haha…"
Azusa laughed awkwardly as long-buried memories slowly began to resurface in her mind.
The news about Shiori coming… seemed like she was the one who'd told Kohei.
At the time, she thought Kohei already knew, so she casually chatted with him about it. Who knew he actually didn't…
Having brothers like Kamishiro and Iori was really pitiful~
But judging by the current situation, Kohei, the person involved, didn't remember it at all. Good thing she'd gone through all that trouble to get him drunk back then.
Looks like it had worked—Kohei only subconsciously remembered that Shiori was coming, without knowing the truth!
"Hm? Why do you seem a bit off?"
Kamishiro looked at Azusa nee suspiciously. For some reason, her expression felt strangely familiar—just like how he looked after doing something he felt guilty about…
Seeing that Kamishiro was starting to suspect her, Azusa hurriedly changed the subject.
"Let's go line up first. This roller coaster is really popular—if we don't queue now, we might have to wait a long time!"
Distracted by Azusa's words, Kamishiro followed the direction she pointed.
Sure enough, people were already starting to line up at the roller coaster, and more were heading over.
At this rate, it would soon turn into full-on torture mode.
Kamishiro didn't want to waste too much time waiting in line.
But…
"That's true, but are we really not going to wait for them?
Didn't Shiori want to ride the roller coaster with Kitahara?"
Kamishiro pointed behind him. At this moment, Iori and Kohei's fight had entered a white-hot stage, with both sides pulling each other's hair and poking nostrils.
It looked like the outcome would be decided any second.
Iori: "You idiot, just go ride with Fujiwara!"
Kohei: "Who'd want to ride with that stinky man?!"
Iori: "Huh? Wasn't he the partner you chose yourself?"
Kohei: "That was just a last resort so I could see my little sister!"
Watching such a fierce scene, several black lines appeared on Shiori's forehead. Great—now she didn't really want to anymore.
Especially since it seemed people around them were starting to gather. Shiori wanted even more to escape this place as fast as possible.
"Um, actually, it doesn't have to be big brother…"
She could do it herself!
Hearing that, Kamishiro rubbed his chin. True—this couldn't go on forever. It was better to find Shiori a new partner.
At that moment, the usually ignored Yamamoto's mom suddenly spoke up.
"How about riding with me? I still really want to try it."
"Eh?!"
Completely unprepared for this option, Shiori was startled and hurriedly asked,
"Is that really okay?"
"Of course. I was just wondering who to ride with myself."
Yamamoto's mom smiled gently at Shiori, her eyes full of affection.
Faced with her invitation, Shiori had no reason to refuse. It really did seem like the best option—but…
She glanced toward Yamamoto in the arena and asked timidly,
"Is it really okay…?"
Your son is lying over there because of me!
"Oh, you mean Yamamoto?" Yamamoto's mom noticed her concern and waved it off.
"It's fine. Young people just sleep deeply—let him nap for a bit.
You know, Yamamoto's like that at home too. He just falls asleep in his room for no reason, with lots of little white paper balls on the floor.
If you ask me, young people these days just sleep way too well."
"..."
{{(°△°; "}}!
Kamishiro and Azusa exchanged looks after hearing this random piece of Yamamoto trivia.
Th-this is really just sleeping deeply?!
He's clearly been shocked unconscious, okay?!
Young people these days… really have no sense of moderation.
By the way, how long do you have to "sleep" before your room stops smelling like magnolia blossoms?!
Terrifying. Better stay as far away from Yamamoto as possible in the future—this guy's a double pervert, physically and mentally!
With Yamamoto's mom joining, they now had exactly enough people to pair up.
They looked at one another, then, with perfect tacit understanding, the four of them lined up for the roller coaster, completely ignoring the two still dueling in the middle.
…
Bang!
"Die, you bastard!"
Restricted by his outfit, Kohei's movements were severely limited, and in the end, the Land Battle God seized the chance and sent him flying with a single punch!
Flop~
The sister-loving Kohei failed to get back up. Before his "death," he could only say resentfully,
"Damn it, if not for what I'm wearing today…"
Before he could finish, he collapsed completely.
Meanwhile—
Fujiwara, who'd been trying to keep a low profile, also failed to escape. After being found by Iori, he was sent off to join Yamamoto and the others with a single stun gun shot.
"Victory!"
Joy flashed through Iori's eyes. He had successfully protected his sister!
Compared to riding with the partners of this group, riding the roller coaster with Shiori didn't seem that hard to accept anymore.
"Shiori, now we can ride together… together… (???)"
Victorious, Iori happily looked around for Shiori, wanting to fulfill her wish and ride the roller coaster with her.
However…
It seemed there was no place for him anymore.
Looking at Shiori and Yamamoto's mom standing in line, Iori learned for the first time what "cherishing" meant.
At this moment, he had three choices:
One, stay down here with Yamamoto and the others.
Two, randomly grab someone to ride with him.
Three, Nojima's girlfriend…
Thinking about these options, Iori suddenly felt like he didn't want to ride that roller coaster anymore.
The problem was, because he'd set the voltage too high earlier, it looked like those guys wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
And most of the attractions here… seem to be designed mainly for pairs, don't they?!
There was no way he wanted to stay here with these "corpses" until closing time!
After all, the money had already been spent—he still wanted to experience something.
So, Iori turned his gaze toward Nojima's girlfriend.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Iori somehow felt he saw a hint of mockery in those hollow eyes.
Nojima!
She's already made of plastic—couldn't you at least have chosen a better-looking girlfriend?!