A few days later, the scheduled day for the trip finally arrived.
"It's a deal then. I'll have to trouble you to look after the house while I'm out." Before leaving, Asakura handed his spare house key to Shiina.
"If it's just cleaning, there's no problem at all; after all, Asakura-kun is still my boss." Having adjusted well to the Rabbit House over the past few days, the girl readily accepted Asakura's key. "But let me ask in advance, just in case Ms. Hiroi suddenly 'refreshes' these next few days..."
"Then just call this number; I've already cleared it with her." Asakura took out his phone and sent Ichiji Seika's contact information to Shiina. "Or you could just give her a 'Personality Correction Punch.' I don't think anyone would object..."
If a correction were that simple to achieve, the members of Hiroi Kikuri's band would probably be the ones thanking Shiina.
"I wouldn't do something like that..." Shiina sighed helplessly.
"Oh, right," Asakura added, "don't worry about the wardrobe in my bedroom. I'll organize it myself when I get back."
"...Asakura-kun has a typical boy's side to him too, I see." Shiina's lips curled up slightly as she looked at him meaningfully.
"I don't know what you're specifically implying, but you're definitely wrong." Asakura looked at the girl. She had looked like such a good girl before, but after getting to know her, he realized this girl had an unexpectedly mischievous side—though mild, far from reaching the level of a 'brat'.
In reality, his wardrobe didn't contain anything shameful in the usual sense; it was just stuffed with the uniforms of the Ministry of Magic members.
Actually, after Eriri's design was chosen by vote at the uniform workshop, the system had issued them directly to Asakura. However, he felt that bringing them out right then would make it seem like that set had been pre-decided, so he planned to wait a couple of days. Since then, there hadn't been a suitable time—after all, during summer break, anyone who isn't a completely idle otaku has at least a few things to do, so he could never get everyone together. In the end, he had to temporarily stuff them in his bedroom wardrobe until after the trip.
"As a thank you, I'll bring you back a souvenir, so look forward to it." Asakura waved to the girl. "Besides, I'll be passing by and dropping in a few times during the trip, so you can really look forward to that."
"Asakura-kun... you're a bit like a frog?"
"In the princely sense?"
"In the traveling sense."
Well, at least Asakura understood that she was looking forward to the souvenir.
"Does Shiina play mobile games too?"
"A little bit. I can't handle the really intense ones."
"Just asking, but what's the upper limit of 'intense' for you?"
"Tetris."
"..."
"No matter how many times I play, the countdown always makes me flustered."
"...I see." Not even versus mode, just plain old traditional Tetris? That was indeed "intense".
After saying goodbye to the girl, Asakura drove his invisible vintage car, gliding through the air directly to the Gotō household. After parking the old Ford in the alley behind the house, he ran to the front door and pressed the doorbell.
The door opened quickly, and it was Gotō Michiyo who answered.
"Sorry to disturb you, Ma'am." Asakura greeted her.
"This child—are you still calling me 'Ma'am' at a time like this?"
"...Auntie?"
"..." Gotō Michiyo furrowed her brows.
"...Big Sister?"
"While that's a nice way to put it, it's not right either." Despite being a mother of two, Gotō Michiyo's face, which bore few traces of age, showed a playful, girlish expression as she wagged her finger. "Don't forget your relationship with Hitori. What should you really be calling me?"
"...Mom?" Asakura called out.
For some reason, Asakura, who was actually quite thick-skinned, felt a strange sense of shame when saying it.
"That's more like it!" Gotō Michiyo squinted her eyes with satisfaction. She rested her chin on her hand and said happily, "Hitori and Futari are great and all, but I've actually always wanted a son."
"Ahaha..." Asakura, unsure of what expression to make, could only let out a dry laugh. Go say that to your husband.
Gotō Michiyo led Asakura into the living room. Hitori's father was likely still at work, and Futari was happily playing with Jimi-hen (the dog), but there was no sign of Hitori.
"Where is Hitori?" Asakura asked Gotō Michiyo after sitting on the sofa.
"That child is still in her room." Gotō Michiyo poured him a cup of barley tea. "She's been strictly vetting her luggage since the day before yesterday, and even today she hasn't finished choosing."
"...Is she an elementary schooler before a field trip?" Asakura couldn't help but complain.
"Even Futari wouldn't be this excited." Gotō Futari, with the dog on her head like a Great General, protested to Asakura. She was an actual elementary schooler.
"My bad, my bad. Take this as an apology to Futari." Asakura took a small cake out of his bag.
"Whoa~ It's a chestnut cake~!"
Futari happily took the cake and was about to leave when Gotō Michiyo called out, "Did you say thank you to onii-chan?"
"Ah!" Futari stuck out her pink little tongue, then gave a deep bow with a huge smile. "Thank you! I love you the most, onii-chan!"
With that, she quickly rode off on Jimi-hen and left the living room, likely thinking that if she ate the cake under her mother's nose, she'd be strictly limited with excuses like 'If you eat that much now, you won't be able to finish dinner!'
"Good grief, if you keep spoiling her like that, she'll become disrespectful sooner or later." Although Gotō Michiyo grumbled, her smile showed she didn't truly mind.
"It's fine. Futari is cute and cheerful, and with your guidance, she won't turn into a bad kid," Asakura said.
"Well, I've never really worried about Futari. I just used to worry that Hitori would go through her whole life with only one... well, fortunately now..." She glanced at Asakura, her eyes full of the approval and satisfaction of a mother-in-law.
"Hitori is kind and cute too. Even without me, she'd surely be popular. She's just in that awkward phase before breaking out of her cocoon."
"Being awkward from elementary school all the way through high school, that's a bit too long of a cocoon phase. I think Hitori might just be a caterpillar for the rest of her life."
"..." Are you really Hitori's biological mother?
"No, following general impressions, a slug seems more accurate."
"..." No doubt about it, you're definitely Hitori's mother. Others would at least pay attention to etiquette and wouldn't be this biting.
After drinking tea and eating snacks in the living room for a while, there was still no sign of Hitori coming downstairs.
Gotō Michiyo went to the stairs and shouted up, "Hitori! How much longer are you going to dawdle? Asakura-kun has been waiting down here for a long time!"
A faint cry of 'Eh? You're lying! I just... Ouch!' came from upstairs, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, accompanied by the chaotic clatter of various things tumbling down.
Now even Asakura couldn't sit still. He went to Gotō Michiyo's side and called up, "Hitori? Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine... don't come up yet... ugh..." Hitori's panicked and slightly pained voice drifted down.
Asakura went silent for a moment, then looked at Gotō Michiyo. "Um, Ma'am..."
"Call me 'Mom' and I'll let you go up," Gotō Michiyo said with a smile.
"Ma... Mom..." Asakura felt increasingly ashamed of the title.
"Go on, Mom gives you permission!" Gotō Michiyo gave a brilliant smile and a thumbs up to Asakura.
Having received permission, Asakura headed straight up the stairs. Come to think of it, although he was Hitori's boyfriend, he had never seen her home life before. This was only his second time at the Gotō house, and his first time visiting Hitori's room...
Steeling himself, he arrived at the girl's door and pushed it open.
He saw the girl in her loungewear, fallen on the floor in a quite awkward position, wearing several layers of clothes (it was hard to imagine what state one would have to be in to trip and end up like that). She looked as if she were bundled up and couldn't move.
Hearing the door open, Hitori instinctively thought it was her mother and wriggled as she pleaded, "Mom, help me undo this... ugh, are... why won't it come off..."
As a result of her heavy struggling—or perhaps her "assets" were too great—the button at the chest of her loungewear suddenly popped off, revealing a large expanse of soft, elastic white skin. Even a slight tilt in angle would reveal a hint of pale pink areola.
Her pink hair was disheveled, with a small strand clinging to her chest due to sweat from the struggle. Combined with the incessant panting of a physical weakling like Hitori after such an ordeal, it created a sense of "disordered" beauty. Furthermore, her vulnerable pose was simply too suggestive. If he hadn't remembered that her mother and sister were still downstairs and could come up at any moment, Asakura felt his rationality might not have withstood such a trial.
However, Asakura felt it would be a bit boring to just untie her directly. So, he tiptoed to the girl's side. When the girl, wondering why her mother hadn't come to help yet, looked toward the door, he gave her a brilliant smile.
"Surprise~"
Hitori blinked, seemingly unable to comprehend what was happening.
A moment later...
"Eeeeeeeeeeeek——!"
The girl's scream pierced the neighborhood's silence that day, echoing over the Gotō house.