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In any case, Serafall's move into Keystone Gate had become a fait accompli, and the farce brought about by the now-physically-removed-from-Itogami-Island Kusuki Happiness Enterprises had completely concluded.
Time flew by to the next day. When Bokue woke, the second period at Saikai Academy had just finished.
According to yesterday's discussion, today's task involved adjusting the villa's teleportation array so tomorrow he could bring all the girls to the resort island for vacation (partying).
Today remained beautiful and sunny. However, since autumn's arrival had progressed some time now, temperatures no longer blazed hot like midsummer. Instead, several hints of crisp autumn freshness pervaded the air—perfect weather for travel and vacations.
And barring any surprises, this weekend's Saturday and Sunday would feature similar conditions.
Well, surprises wouldn't matter anyway.
After all, bad weather's fundamental cause was cloud clusters gathering to block sunlight, creating overcast skies or even rain.
But as long as you directly blasted away the cloud cover, sunny weather remained perfectly intact.
With this mindset, after Bokue shared a wave-tossed breakfast with Kuroka at the apartment, he set out for the seaside villa.
Well, it was literally just a few steps away.
In any case, when Bokue arrived at the villa entrance and pushed open the door to enter, the interior proved—as expected—completely quiet without a single person present.
Though this was perfectly normal.
Currently residing in this villa were only Serafall, Sona, and Yume. The latter was likewise a Saikai Academy student, just in the elementary division. So at this hour, she should theoretically have already departed for school alongside Rias and the others.
As for a certain Satan girl—even less worth mentioning. These past days, Serafall basically spent her days at Saikai Academy clinging to her little sister Sona.
In summary, the seaside villa should currently be empty.
Just like subway maintenance typically occurred after service hours, testing and adjusting the villa's teleportation array—with no one present—represented the optimal timing.
So then... begin.
Identically to the teleportation switch's location at Yasaka Shrine, the villa's teleportation array toggle had likewise been positioned by Bokue beside the entrance door.
No hesitation needed—after closing the main door, the young man directly pressed the switch.
Thud!
Like the Going Merry dropping from the sky and hitting a reef, as the teleportation array activated, the entire villa emitted a dull thud. Even the floor tilted at roughly fifteen degrees.
This... barring surprises, probably meant the teleportation coordinates weren't precise enough. During transfer, one corner of the villa's foundation accidentally ran aground on some beach rock.
Though mentally understanding what happened, Bokue still pushed open the entrance first.
Whoosh~
The moment the main door opened, cool ocean breeze blew inward from outside, accompanied by natural tidal sounds. Yesterday's newly created resort island presented itself before his eyes.
Looking outward from the entrance, the first thing entering view was the beach being continuously washed by waves, plus...
Thud!
Just then, a dull thud from upstairs interrupted the young man's thoughts.
Hm?
Bokue glanced upward questioningly.
The thud from upstairs clearly came from something toppling over. But considering this villa had only been whipped up for one emergency night initially, plus yesterday's expansion had just finished, basically nothing was inside.
Like how the second floor's bedrooms each contained only simple beds and air conditioning, with everything else built into the structure itself—shower heads, toilets, and so on in the bathrooms.
Logically, nothing should be capable of toppling over, right?
Out of curiosity, Bokue climbed the stairs to the second floor, arriving before the room that had produced the sound.
It was one of two rooms at the hallway's end.
Originally, when staying on that deserted island with Sayaka and La Folia, Bokue had preserved all the rooms they'd used, still leaving them for their original occupants.
And these rooms at the hallway's end were two master bedrooms.
One belonged to Serafall. The other belonged to Yume.
As for which room just made that sound—if he'd heard correctly, it should be...
After briefly recalling, Bokue gently pressed down on Yume's doorknob.
Creeeak—
As the door shaft rotated, the door slowly pushed open.
Inside, a certain nightmare girl still wearing only a thin nightgown stood beside the bed, small hands covering her forehead that had just gotten bumped.
"Ow... that hurt."
"Yume?"
Standing in the doorway, Bokue couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
"So you were home. I thought you'd already left for school with Rias and the others."
"..."
His words fell, yet no response came.
The nightmare girl standing beside the bed seemed to freeze upon hearing the young man's voice—like someone had cast a petrification spell, instantly halting in place.
"Yume?"
Bokue asked again.
This time, the nightmare girl finally reacted.
She slowly lowered both hands from her forehead, revealing the slightly reddened area where she'd just bumped herself. Behind her, bat-shaped demonic wings characteristic of nightmares spread open. From beneath her skirt, a heart-tipped tail emerged.
She looked up toward the young man in the doorway, pursing her lips while folding slender, pale arms across her chest.
"It's not Yume—right now it's Ririu!"
"...Personality switched again?"
Bokue's expression grew more subtle.
Indeed, when they'd met that second time the afternoon before yesterday, she'd apparently switched personalities. Completely different from the somewhat timid, weak-willed nightmare girl encountered that morning at the office—she'd become far more articulate and confident when facing others, more aggressive too.
Though describing it like that might be vague. More specifically—she'd transformed from a cute, timid girl into a bratty little gremlin you wanted to pin down and thoroughly discipline.
"Personality switch? Mm... you could say that~"
Ririu brushed back her light brown short hair, somewhat disheveled from just getting out of bed, proudly puffing out her small chest.
"After all, that dummy Yume usually calls me big sister. And Ririu's not playing hooky—I just don't want to see those boring kids at school, so I chose to stay home instead."
"Plus, didn't big brother say so yesterday? You said you'd come over this morning. Ririu was specially waiting in her room for you~"
Reaching this point, the nightmare girl padded barefoot across the wooden floor toward the young man at her doorway. She raised her defensively-folded arms into a "pick me up" gesture, unreservedly displaying the still-budding, tender lines beneath her thin silk nightgown. Smiling, she tilted her head.
"So, since you've discovered Ririu's home... won't you come sit for a bit?"
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