Who is it this time, coming to ruin the mood!
I could not help but feel furious. Just a little more, just a little more, and I would have been able to touch Saori's lower abdomen with her full consent!
"Saori." I took a deep breath. "Go hide in the bathroom. Do not make a sound."
"I understand."
I was sure that when she saw Wakamo inside as well, Saori's expression would be especially interesting.
After Saori went into the bathroom, I opened the door. When I saw who it was, I fell silent.
"You are way too slow!"
Momoi stood there with her hands on her hips, complaining at me. She did not even ask whether it was convenient. She simply barged in boldly, eyes shining as she looked around my bedroom with great interest.
…Is this girl a little too familiar with me?
I tugged at the corner of my mouth and closed the door.
"Huh?"
I heard Momoi let out a puzzled sound. Then she bent down and picked up a mask, and grabbed another one from my bed. After examining them carefully, she said,
"Aren't these the things belonging to those two seniors who like to stay silent and pretend to be experts, with that super edgy vibe? Why are they in your bedroom?"
I glanced toward the bathroom and silently prayed for Momoi's safety, hoping she would avoid walking alone at night for a while.
Still, Momoi had always been like this. That she had managed to survive safely in Millennium until now was, in itself, something of a miracle.
"That is of course because…" I thought about a suitable excuse, deliberately lowering my voice as if building suspense.
"Because of what?"
"I borrowed them from them," I said as I took the mask and face covering back from Momoi, holding them up to my face. "I was researching which one looks more handsome on me."
"…What?"
Even Momoi froze for a moment.
"You came at just the right time."
I first put Saori's face covering on, then switched to Wakamo's mask, then took it off as well. As I wondered whether this counted as an indirect kiss, I asked Momoi with a solemn expression,
"Which do you think is more handsome, the face covering version of me, or the mask version of me?"
"Ah! I know this one!" Momoi cleared her throat, her expression serious. "O gentleman of the lake, the one I dropped is you without a face covering and without a mask."
I nodded in satisfaction and opened my arms. "Correct. As a reward, I will give you the perfectly ordinary me."
Momoi's cheeks flushed slightly. "Y-you really are impossible. If you want to hug me that badly…"
As she spoke, she really did hug me, nuzzling her head back and forth against my chest, looking utterly content.
Sigh, it was all my fault for being too charming. Even Momoi, who used to care only about eating, drinking, and having fun, had fallen into such a pitiful state.
I patted her head, the same head I once believed had not even developed the concept of the opposite sex yet, and felt deeply sentimental.
After being a little affectionate with Momoi, I asked to confirm, "So, Momoi, what did you come here for this time?"
"It's about what happened last night."
Her answer confirmed my guess.
Momoi was filled with righteous indignation. "I never thought that awful Kei was still hiding inside Arisu. She ran away fast enough. Otherwise, I definitely would have beaten her up hard to vent my anger over what she did to G.Bible with that encryption!"
Where did she get the confidence to think she could defeat Kei, defeat Kei?
Moreover…
Judging from the way Kei behaved or performed, with that clear dislike of others calling Arisu by the name Arisu, using this pronunciation that Momoi misread with her shocking wisdom might already count as an insult toward it.
Then I heard Momoi mutter again, "What a shame. I finally had Neru-senpai as a teammate. I thought I could just lie down and win."
Then never mind.
Today's Momoi was unexpectedly self-aware.
"Anyway, after something like that happened, I figured your mood must be pretty bad. And with work being so busy, you probably do not have much time to relieve stress."
I looked away. "Yeah, that is true."
Momoi grinned proudly. "I knew it! So this is where I, as your girlfriend, make my entrance!"
…Wait, what?
What did Momoi just call herself?
Seeing my shocked expression, Momoi's face flushed bright red as well.
"W-what's wrong!" she asked stubbornly, though her gaze wandered everywhere. "It is just that, um... role-playing as the game's heroine… so you really don't get it! We already reached a relationship rank UP, so of course that means we are already dating, okay!"
I was left speechless for a moment, sinking into deep self-doubt.
Was there something wrong with Momoi, or was something wrong with me? That was a question worth pondering.
"O-okay!"
Momoi, embarrassed and angry, shoved me lightly, then pulled a game console out of her arms.
"Let's play games together and forget all those annoying things for now!"
She handed me the peach-colored controller. Just holding it, I felt as if I could smell a faint peach-like fragrance.
I never expected that a mere Momoi could show such thoughtfulness. It was truly moving.
However, just as Momoi was about to power on the game console.
The knocking returned.
"Oh no, oh no!" Momoi jumped to her feet, her face full of panic. "It has to be Midori!"
"…How do you know that?"
Momoi answered instantly, "Intuition!"
From where I stood, it was clearly just projecting herself onto others.
"There is no time to explain. Let me borrow the space under your bed. Do not tell Midori!"
As she spoke, Momoi grabbed the game console that was missing one controller and, using her small frame, slipped effortlessly under my bed.
I placed the peach-colored controller along with the mask and face covering side by side on the bed, then went to open the door.
What followed made me want to rub my forehead and sigh.
Standing outside the door was Midori, who looked almost exactly the same as Momoi, aside from her clothes, eye color, and expression.
How did she actually guess it right? Could there really be some kind of sisterly bond at work?
Thinking that, I stepped aside. "Come in."
Midori, who was about to speak, froze for a moment, then smiled shyly and said politely, "Alright, thank you."
After entering my bedroom, Midori was also a little curious, but she was much more restrained. She even chose to sit on the chair by my desk.
When she noticed the items lying openly on my bed, she only showed a doubtful expression and did not ask anything, keeping her thoughts to herself.
All of this made one sigh at how vast the difference between twin sisters could be.
Still, the reason they came was probably the same.
It was all because of what happened last night, with Arisu and Kei.
Perhaps after some buildup, Midori would also pull out a game console and hand me a green controller.
"Sensei…"
Midori hesitated, struggling for a moment before clenching her teeth.
"Arisu-chan actually seems to… know something about Kei."
I never expected that Midori would drop such a shocking piece of information right at the start.
After the initial confusion, I quickly realized what it would mean if what Midori said was true.
Arisu… no, AL-1S knowing about Kei meant that it really had been deceiving me all along.
For a moment, my thoughts were in chaos, and my expression darkened.
"I thought I should tell you about this, but this is only my guess. I cannot be certain…"
Hearing that, I took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Midori, I want to confirm something first. What did you base this guess on?"
"It was this afternoon, when we were playing games together."
Midori looked as if she were recalling it. "I tried asking Arisu-chan whether she remembered what happened with you last night after the rest of us fell asleep. The result was that Arisu-chan suddenly became very flustered, blushed deeply, and insisted that nothing happened."
My expression turned a little strange.
Thinking back to what happened when I was alone with Arisu, before Kei appeared.
That kind of reaction actually seemed… understandable?
Noticing the change in me keenly, Midori asked curiously, "Eh, Sensei, did you also think of something?"
"Ahem, well, actually."
I said seriously, "After all of you fell asleep, Arisu asked me to soothe her to sleep."
That was indeed what happened.
"Eh?" Midori exclaimed in surprise. "So that means, because Arisu-chan asked Sensei to help her fall asleep, that is why she was so shy when I asked her?"
Seeming to put herself in Arisu's shoes, Midori let out a sigh of relief. "So that is how it was. I thought… thank goodness."
Just like that, Midori easily believed that Arisu was still a companion.
Sometimes I truly envied her and many of the other students, for being able to so simply believe in what they wanted to believe.
"That means," Midori murmured, "it was only after Arisu fell asleep that Kei took control of her."
No, that was not it.
When Kei replaced Arisu…
If it was AL-1S, then why did it deliberately ask me for a goodnight kiss before revealing another face?
Would it not have been better to pretend to fall asleep first, then switch personalities?
"Oh, right, Sensei."
Midori's words interrupted my thoughts.
The girl reached into her chest and took out a sheet of paper, blushing as she handed it to me.
Could it be a love letter?
When I took it and looked, I realized it was actually a sketch.
"Th-this is a gift I wanted to give you…" Midori stammered, nervous beyond measure. "Please be sure to accept it… a and if possible, please feel a bit better…"
As I carefully looked over Midori's hand-drawn picture, my smile grew warmer.
"Thank you. A gift filled with Midori's feelings like this, I will definitely treasure it… no, I will even frame it tomorrow and hang it by my bedside."
I promised her solemnly.
"Y-you don't have to cherish it that much…" she said.
Even so, joy naturally surfaced on Midori's face.
I thought that Midori definitely liked me, just like her sister Momoi did.
It was just that Midori's personality was more reserved. With the atmosphere being so good right now, if I pressed on a little more, could I also win Midori over?
I gazed at the adorable Midori, my throat tightening as I was just about to act.
Like a festering curse, the knocking sounded once again.
Why, why was it almost always at times like this?
"Oh no, oh no!"
Midori instantly panicked. "It must be my sister!"
…This reaction felt strangely familiar. Had I not seen the exact same thing not long ago?
I thought for a moment and asked, "How do you know?"
Midori answered without hesitation, "Sixth sense!"
No, no, Momoi is literally under the bed right now. Clearly, it is because both of you sisters share this kind of lowly disposition, understand each other's personalities somewhat, and since you snuck off on your own and are panicking, you immediately assume it is the other person, right?
I could not believe I managed to carry out such rigorous logical reasoning in such a short time.
Then, thinking of how Momoi had just told me not to tell Midori, I felt that out of humanitarian concern, I should point Midori to a different hiding spot.
"There is no time to think. Please borrow the space under the bed,"
But Midori had already slipped under the bed with her petite body. "Please do not tell sis… eh?"
"What a coincidence, Midori."
"…Onee-chan! You actually learned how to sneak off too!?"
"What do you mean, too? So you also came here with the intention of being alone with Sensei behind everyone's backs, right!?"
"Are you not the same!?"
The sound of the sisters arguing came from under the bed, making me chuckle.
After knocking on the bed frame and telling them to be quiet, the two finally realized the situation and fell silent.
I shook my head with a sigh and walked to the door again.
When I opened it, a small blonde girl with red eyes looked up, pushed her glasses, and smiled smugly.
"Heh heh, let me explain! Because I made an appointment with Sensei this afternoon, agreeing that once you had time I would come explain things to you, I deliberately waited until now, when Sensei finally had free time, and rushed over without delay to explain the knowledge I could not fully cover earlier!"
Huh? No, wait!
At that moment, I felt the urge to close the door, but while I hesitated over whether that would be too cruel, it was already too late.
"Last time, I had just gotten to the third of the four manufacturing techniques of bronzeware…"
Kotori spoke endlessly as she naturally stepped into my bedroom, enthusiastically looking around while her mouth never stopped moving.
If I remembered correctly, was the thing she actually wanted to explain to me not a railgun?
Filled with confusion and suffering, I closed the door, accepted Kotori's explanatory baptism, and sincerely hoped for the arrival of the next lowly girl.
However, ten minutes passed, and the reinforcements I longed for still did not arrive.
Taking advantage of a moment when Kotori paused to catch her breath, I hurriedly interrupted.
"Speaking of which, Kotori really likes explaining things, does she not?"
"Ah, about that…" Kotori pondered. "While I do like explaining itself… to be precise, I think I like seeing the happy expression people make after listening to my explanation…"
I immediately put on an enlightened expression. "So that is how it is."
Kotori was delighted. "Yes, just like that! Oh, right, speaking of enlightenment, that reminds me…"
Why can even that become a topic!?
After enduring another ten or so minutes.
Finally, a heavenly voice sounded from the doorway.