Just as Chihaya Tetsuya had predicted to Misumi Uika, the moment he returned home the next day, he was immediately greeted by the sight of the four girls sitting primly in the living room, ready to begin their interrogation.
Although his expression and tone were filled with the nervousness and awkwardness of a child telling their first lie, the moment he presented the design sketches he had drawn at Uika's apartment, the four girls, who had been ready to call him to account, were instantly dumbfounded.
In reality, before he returned, they had listed out many possible scenarios.
For example, the business partner he mentioned was actually Jean-san, and he had indeed spent the night at his studio. Or, the story about going to a business partner's home was just a clumsy lie, and he had simply found a hotel to take refuge in. They had even considered that he might have been a guest at the Sakurakouji household...
Every scenario had one common premise: that he was absolutely not working, but was simply trying to hide from them.
However, even after imagining so many possibilities, they had never once considered that he had actually gone to work, and had even brought back design drawings.
"...Sakiko, go take a look at the sketches."
Nagasaki Soyo whispered in Togawa Sakiko's ear, "Maybe he didn't draw them. Maybe he got them from Jean-san..."
Clearly, the theory that he had gone to Jean-san's place had been proposed by Soyo.
When Sakiko took the design drawings and observed them carefully for a moment, she immediately made her judgment.
"Drafting habits, stroke style, and the specific notes on pattern-making... Mhm, these are definitely Tetsuya-kun's own drawings. And they're quite detailed; not something you could finish in a short time."
"Eh..."
Soyo's expression was one of utter shock.
As the one who was most concerned about his physical well-being, she had long since noticed he was running on empty and was the first to call for an end to the punishment. That was precisely why she had naturally seen his incredibly suspicious message as his first act of "rebellion." But now, the design drawings laid out before her directly refuted all of her theories. He had really just gone out to work, just as he said...
"See! I trusted my brother from the very beginning!"
With concrete evidence presented, Chihaya Anon immediately went to his side and said with an air of great importance, "My brother has never been good at lying. Since he said he went to work last night, he definitely wasn't lying!"
"But weren't you the first one to suggest he might have escaped to a hotel?" Soyo said, annoyed. "If you hadn't started it, we wouldn't have been randomly guessing where he spent the night."
"But at least I firmly believed he didn't cheat! Unlike you guys, letting your imaginations run wild about him being with another woman outside!"
"I also believed he absolutely didn't cheat, which is why I said he probably just went to Jean-san's studio."
With a rustle of paper, just as the two were bickering, Togawa Sakiko suddenly flipped over the design sketches and saw the musical staves on the back.
"This is... a discarded music score? To use the back of a score as scratch paper, that's quite casual..."
Sakiko's eyes widened slightly.
"Hm? This melody and this rhythm..."
She hummed a couple of lines from the score, then raised an eyebrow slightly.
"It feels a bit familiar. Could it be a song I've heard before?"
After muttering to herself, Sakiko began to study the sheet music in her hands more carefully.
Meanwhile, Hoshino Ai, who had been planning to thoroughly interrogate him, finally let down her guard in front of the design drawings and picked up her bag.
"Since Tetsu's suspicions have been cleared, I can go to work with peace of mind... Soyo, let's follow the schedule we agreed on from now on."
With that, she walked up to Tetsuya and said with complete honesty, "I'm sorry, Tetsu. Last night, I was suspecting you might have found another woman..."
"Eh? Ah, you don't need to apologize at all, Ai. My message yesterday was admittedly a bit too vague!" he said, quickly shaking his head. "More importantly, do your best at your recording session today."
"Mhm, I will... eh?"
Halfway through her sentence, Hoshino Ai suddenly looked up, her expression full of confusion.
"Did I ever mention... I had a recording session today?"
"Ah..."
Tetsuya's mouth fell open. His eyes darted around wildly for a moment before he said in an extremely guilty tone, "You... didn't, actually. I guess you could say I understood from the atmosphere... or maybe our hearts are just linked... Haha, hahaha..."
"..."
The overly stiff, awkward laugh and the clearly guilty reaction deepened the confusion on Ai's face. However, considering her upcoming work and the design drawings that served as evidence, she ultimately accepted the "linked hearts" explanation and prepared to head out. Seeing that she wasn't going to press the issue, Tetsuya finally breathed a sigh of relief and gently patted his chest.
But the next second, as Ai walked past him, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
"Hm?"
Her eyes widened slightly. Then, to his bewilderment, she moved closer to him and lightly sniffed the air around him a few times.
"..."
After confirming the faint, lingering scent of osmanthus, she took a half-step back, a pensive expression on her face.
Seeing her look like a detective who had just found a crucial clue, Tetsuya asked with a very guilty conscience, "Um... Ai? Your work... is it okay?"
"..."
Ai looked up and carefully studied the expression on his face. After staring for nearly ten seconds, she finally, slowly, averted her gaze.
"Mhm, you're right."
With that, she picked up her bag again and went to the door to put on her sneakers.
At the same time, Togawa Sakiko, who had been staring at the music score, suddenly snapped her head up as if waking from a dream, as though she had just remembered something very important...
"..." The two of them, having noticed certain clues at almost the exact same time, exchanged a brief glance, then, with a tacit understanding, both swallowed the words they were about to say.
"I'm off," Hoshino Ai said to everyone as she left, just as she always did. But this time, Togawa Sakiko was the first to respond.
"Mhm, have a safe trip!"
And so, this "sudden sleepover," filled with suspicious points and things to question, came to a peaceful conclusion under the silent understanding of these two. After this heart-pounding inspection, Chihaya Tetsuya became even more determined never to lie to anyone ever again.
But thankfully, he had passed this trial without any major incident. Since everyone believed his story, then in the future, as long as he could produce corresponding design drawings after visiting Uika, they probably wouldn't suspect him!
With these incredibly naive thoughts, he took back the design sketches under Sakiko's thoughtful gaze and prepared to return to his room to continue working on these half-finished pieces...