Watching Tsukuyomi Komoe throwing herself on the floor in a full tantrum, Tsushima Kagami let out a helpless sigh.
"Fine."
Only then did Tsukuyomi Komoe satisfy herself and scramble back upright, once again hovering her fingers back and forth between his two cards.
Then Tsushima Kagami saw himself break into a grin the moment her hand drifted to the right card — and pull a long face the instant it drifted to the left.
Tsukuyomi Komoe let out a sly little chuckle and plucked the right card free.
"Ta-daa~ I'm going to wi—"
The words died in her mouth. She looked down at the card in her hand — the Old Maid — and immediately burst into wailing.
"Waaah, Kagami-kun, you big fat liar!"
"Moe-sensei just told me to give her a reaction."
"Nobody said I had to throw the game — so I just made up whatever face I felt like."
Tsushima Kagami gave a casual shrug.
"Komoe, you absolute dummy!"
"You actually fell for that!"
Douraku Utage, sitting to the side, fixed Tsukuyomi Komoe with a pitying look.
"She trusted Kagami-kun so completely, you know."
"Who would've thought he'd go and trick her!"
"Right, my turn to draw."
Douraku Utage wasn't about to get bogged down in Tsukuyomi Komoe's complaints — all that mattered was that she won first. She reached out her hand, ready to draw.
Tsukuyomi Komoe, meanwhile, had already decided: even if Douraku Utage drew a matching pair, that'd still be fine by her. She began frantically flashing her eyes at Douraku Utage.
Douraku Utage responded with a look that said she understood perfectly.
"Ahem — no cheating through signals, you know."
"Otherwise I'm not playing!"
Tsushima Kagami smiled as he looked at the two of them.
"All right, all right!"
At that, Tsukuyomi Komoe switched tactics entirely, mimicking what Tsushima Kagami had done earlier — breaking into a smile whenever Douraku Utage's hand drifted to the right card, and pulling a long face whenever it drifted to the left.
"Heh heh, this is just copying you — that doesn't count as cheating, does it!"
Tsukuyomi Komoe declared with great satisfaction.
"Fine, fine — doesn't count."
Only then did Tsukuyomi Komoe give Douraku Utage a meaningful look.
Douraku Utage gave a faint smile in return, as if to say she'd got it.
So Douraku Utage promptly reached out and pulled the card on Tsukuyomi Komoe's left — and simultaneously cried out in triumph:
"We're cham—"
The last syllable never made it out. Douraku Utage's jubilant expression crumpled on the spot.
She stared at Tsukuyomi Komoe.
"Why is it the Old Maid?!"
Tsukuyomi Komoe looked ready to bite through her own teeth.
"Dummy! Dummy! Dummy!"
"I smiled whenever you stopped on the right."
"So why did you go and draw the left, the one I was making a miserable face at?!"
"Because I thought you were copying Kagami-kun's reverse-signal trick!"
"So I deliberately drew the opposite one!"
"…Oh, never mind that."
"It's my turn to draw."
Hayase Kinue chimed in from the side.
Douraku Utage could only hold her two remaining cards out toward Hayase Kinue in resignation. She was still trying to work out some way to tip Hayase Kinue off — when Hayase Kinue simply closed her eyes, resigned herself to fate, and drew a card at random.
Then, ever so slowly, she cracked one eye open to peek at what she'd drawn.
Tsushima Kagami didn't even need to look at Hayase Kinue's expression — because the moment she'd drawn that card from Douraku Utage's hand with her eyes shut, Douraku Utage's face had already crumpled like she was about to cry.
Sure enough, once Hayase Kinue had opened both eyes fully, she wore exactly the same look — the expression of someone desperately trying not to bawl.
Tsukuyomi Komoe and Douraku Utage both heaved a sigh.
Victory felt very far away.
By now, Tsushima Kagami had already reached out toward Hayase Kinue's cards. When his hand drifted to the left card, Hayase Kinue's face lit up with a barely concealed look of delight. When it drifted to the right, her whole body gave a faint, involuntary shiver.
Come on — this was painfully obvious.
It was nothing at all like the trick he'd just played on Tsukuyomi Komoe.
Without a shred of mercy, Tsushima Kagami closed his fingers around the card on Hayase Kinue's right — and was about to pull it free when he discovered that Hayase Kinue had clamped down on it with both hands and would not let go.
Tsushima Kagami added a little more force.
Hayase Kinue gripped the card with both hands.
Tsushima Kagami pressed harder still.
Hayase Kinue lifted her head, eyes brimming with tears, and looked up at him.
Tsushima Kagami gave a small smile and bore down once more — just as the card was about to come free, Hayase Kinue let out a loud, heaving sob.
And then Tsukuyomi Komoe and Douraku Utage burst into tears alongside her.
Tsushima Kagami froze.
Oh, for —
This game was rigged from the very start!
Ah, whatever. He'd said from the beginning he was keeping them company. He really ought to just play along and keep them happy.
And besides — looking at the three of them like this, it was at least providing him with some emotional entertainment, wasn't it?
Wait, no!
Since when did he start enjoying watching women shed little pearls of tears?
Not that he'd say it out loud — but three of them crying at once was actually kind of adorable...
Tsushima Kagami looked at the three of them, and in the end shifted his hand away, drawing back the Old Maid himself.
The instant they saw it, all three women's faces broke into radiant smiles.
Did I just get played by women again?
Damn it all — never trusting a woman's tears again!
And here I was just now feeling guilty about having some weird new fetish.
I, Tsushima Kagami, hereby swear on my name — from this day forward, I actively love watching women shed little pearls of tears!
"Ara, don't be angry, Kagami-kun."
The three of them noticed the thin, politely vacant smile playing on Tsushima Kagami's face.
They had a fairly good idea he was quietly blaming them for the fake crying that had tricked him.
The three of them rushed to smooth things over.
"I'm not angry. Come on, let's keep going — hurry up and draw."
Tsushima Kagami said with a breezy, indifferent smile.
"So scary."
The three of them quickly reined in their expressions, not daring to keep grinning.
"Th-then… I'll draw now, okay."
It was Tsukuyomi Komoe's turn again.
Tsushima Kagami simply smiled mildly and gave a nod.
Tsukuyomi Komoe swallowed, watching his expression with a nervous eye.
In the end, she simply copied Hayase Kinue — shut her eyes, and drew a card at random.
When she opened them again, she found that the card she'd drawn made a perfect pair with one already in her hand, and she slapped them both down.
"Yes!"
"I win!"
Tsukuyomi Komoe looked happily over at Douraku Utage and Hayase Kinue — then glanced at Tsushima Kagami, and shrank her neck down into her shoulders.
"Ah, um, about that…"
"Maybe we can just… skip the forfeits..."
Tsushima Kagami smiled and shook his head.
"A bet's a bet — I'll take my punishment like a man."
"Go ahead, Komoe-sensei."
"What would you like us to do?"
"Alright then!"
Tsukuyomi Komoe sprang to her feet.
"My first command."
"Kagami-kun — you have to call us 'Mama,' and drink out of this while we take turns feeding you!"
She produced something from beside her.
Tsushima Kagami stared.
It was a baby bottle.
Hang on — a baby bottle? Produced by three single women living alone?
"Hold on — this feels like I'm the only one being punished!"
Tsushima Kagami protested.
"Ara?"
"Utage's and Kinue's punishment is being your mama~"
Tsukuyomi Komoe tilted her head.
"Ah… this…"
"What's wrong?"
Komoe tilted her head.
"Didn't Kagami-kun say he'd take his punishment like a man?"
Tsushima Kagami looked at the baby bottle, then looked at the three women before him, all watching him with hopeful eyes.
He had the distinct feeling he could scrape together enough secondhand embarrassment right now to buy out an entire luxury apartment in Hayase Kinue's building.
"I..."
"Come on, come on."
Komoe had already thrust the bottle toward him — freshly filled with milk.
Hang on — when did they pour the milk in?
Tsushima Kagami hesitated for a moment.
Ah, forget it. A bet's a bet.
Besides, it wasn't as if it was the first time.
He'd done it that time at the hospital too.
And again at the kindergarten not long ago.
Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is...
Three times!
THREE TIMES!
Tsushima Kagami made his peace with it entirely.
"Ahahahaha."
Tsushima Kagami threw his head back with a sudden, unbridled laugh — then dropped to one knee before the three of them.
"I, Kagami, have drifted half my life like a leaf in the wind — my only regret, never having found a guiding mother."
"If you will not cast me aside, I humbly ask to be taken in as your adopted son."
The words left his mouth, and Tsushima Kagami promptly buried his head in Tsukuyomi Komoe's lap.
"Mama!"
Mama.
Mama.
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Uchiha Reborn in Jujutsu Kaisen: The System Thinks I'm in Konoha, but I'm Not
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!