"Yu, I know, Yu has already grown up, but you can't just go around grabbing unknown girls… Yu, if you're really pent-up, you can come to me, I wouldn't refuse Yu…"
Sitting in the room, Ichika crossed her arms, looking like an older person who couldn't rein in their grown child, lecturing Nakano Yu.
"Bam!"
Before Ichika could finish, Nakano Yu brought his palm down on her head.
"Seriously, there are outsiders here. Ichika, please don't say such ambiguous things."
Nakano Yu scolded Ichika, speaking with a hint of helplessness. Even when they were alone, she knew how to go too far, and today she was saying things like this on top of that. What kind of person did she think he was?
Would he just grab some unknown girl and bring her home like that? Who did she think he was?
He was the only Demon King in this world! If he were to grab someone, he'd grab a beautiful girl and bring her home.
"Ichika! Seriously, I'm not joking with Yu anymore. What actually happened to this girl?"
After being hit by Nakano Yu, Ichika stopped joking and looked at Ryuuji Momo, asking.
"She got into some trouble and I saved her. Oh, right, she's also a student at Shuchiin Academy."
Nakano Yu said honestly. He had nothing to hide from the Five Sisters.
"Is that so? Is she alright? She didn't get so frightened that she lost her mind, did she?"
Hearing this, Ichika stood up and leaned closer to Ryuuji Momo, reaching out to poke her cheek.
It was fine until she touched her, but the moment she did, it was as if she had pressed a switch on Ryuuji Momo, who screamed and jumped to her feet:
"Ah?! It's gone! That mountain, it's gone!"
"The mountain is gone?"
Looking at the excited Ryuuji Momo, Ichika didn't really understand what she was talking about.
"No, nothing, it's just… I saw something that completely overturned my view of the world."
Coming back to herself, Ryuuji Momo said this with lingering fear in her eyes, glancing at Nakano Yu beside her.
Just now, she hadn't died at the hands of those monsters; instead, she had almost been carried away by the aftershock of the explosion of that enormous wolf head.
When she recalled it now, that magnificent scene of the explosion was still vividly before her eyes.
Seeing the expression on Ryuuji Momo's face, Ichika roughly understood what had happened; this child had probably been badly frightened.
"It's fine, I've already contacted your father's people to come pick you up. Just wait downstairs for a bit after taking the elevator and they'll arrive."
Nakano Yu put away his phone and told Ryuuji Momo that he had contacted the Ryugu Group to come pick her up, while Ichika and Ryuuji Momo were talking.
After all, leaving aside the issue of where she would sleep if she stayed here, there were already six people in his house, completely full. And what if Ryuuji Momo stayed overnight and disrupted his and Miki's nice time?
"Mm, about today… thank you, Nakano-kun."
Hearing this, Ryuuji Momo nodded, thanked the young man, then went downstairs and left.
"Yu, aren't you going to see her off?"
Seeing Nakano Yu just let Ryuuji Momo leave by herself, Ichika nudged him with her elbow and asked.
"What else would I do? By the way, Ichika, why did you actually call me back?"
Nakano Yu shrugged. He and Ryuuji Momo weren't close. Rather than seeing her off, Nakano Yu was more curious about why Ichika had called him.
"Ah, right! Yu, the notice about filming the show arrived! It's next weekend!"
Hearing Nakano Yu mention it, Ichika remembered, slapped her forehead, and excitedly hugged the young man's arm.
"Next week, huh? Alright, I got it. Ichika, is there anything else?"
Nakano Yu nodded. He felt the timing was about right and nodded lightly, but when he looked at Ichika, he saw her fidgeting, as if she still had something she wanted to say.
"Um, Yu, you said we'd pretend to be a couple, right?"
Ichika's gaze wandered around, her grip on Nakano Yu's arm tightened slightly, and her body leaned closer and closer to the young man, making her posture a bit awkward.
"Didn't Ichika say we'd pretend to be a couple? But during filming, I doubt there will be many real couples."
Nakano Yu said. Although the production team had said so, Nakano Yu estimated that most of the couples during filming would be fake, with very few real ones.
"Then, Yu, don't call me Ichika. You have to call me something more intimate. We need to practice now. Yu, first call me 'darling.'"
Seeing that Nakano Yu had fallen into her trap, a triumphant smile appeared on Ichika's face, and she subtly grabbed Nakano Yu's hands.
"Darling."
Just as Ichika thought Nakano Yu would refuse, the young man looked at her and spoke directly and decisively.
"Huh?"
Seeing how resolute Nakano Yu was, Ichika, who had been shy just a moment ago, clearly didn't have time to react.
"What is it, darling?"
The young man tilted his head, revealing a gentle smile. The expression on his face was as if he truly were Ichika's longtime lover. As he spoke, Nakano Yu even gently stroked her hair, his eyes full of tenderness.
"No… nothing."
Being treated like this by Nakano Yu, a blush imperceptibly appeared on Ichika's face. A high temperature instantly flooded her brain, and she looked at the young man in front of her, his beautiful eyes full of emotion.
The two of them looked at each other like this. Suddenly, Ichika grabbed the young man by the collar, stood on her toes, and leaned forward.
Just as the two of them were about to touch, a voice suddenly came from the doorway:
"Moshi moshi, Yu? A girl just ran downstairs and said she's your friend. Yu, do you know her?"
Along with that voice, Yotsuba's figure soon appeared at the door of Ichika's room.
At that moment, as soon as she heard the voice, Ichika hurriedly let go of Nakano Yu and sat down on the nearby bed. To ease the redness on her face, she kept fanning herself with her hand.
"Oh? You're here."
Yotsuba looked at Nakano Yu and Ichika, a bit surprised as to why Nakano Yu was in Ichika's room.
"The one who just left, she's a classmate from Shuchiin Academy. Yotsuba should see her there from time to time. She can also be considered my friend, I guess."
Looking at Yotsuba, Nakano Yu lied without batting an eye, speaking vaguely to send her off.
"I see. Then that's a relief. Oh, right! Nino is cooking today! Ichika and Yu, come downstairs for dinner!"
Nodding, Yotsuba finished speaking and turned to leave.
However, when she reached the stairs, Yotsuba looked back toward Ichika's room, and the image of Ichika's move toward Nakano Yu from earlier appeared in her mind. Her eyelids lowered slightly:
"Could it be that Ichika… also likes Yu?"
Seeing Yotsuba leave, Ichika let out a sigh of relief.
"That was close, Yotsuba almost saw us."
Hearing Ichika's relieved words, Nakano Yu said nothing. Had Yotsuba really not seen it?
That wasn't necessarily true.
And indeed, the truth was that Yotsuba had seen everything the moment Ichika grabbed the young man by the collar.
It was just that she was afraid that exposing the situation between Ichika and Nakano Yu would cause a huge rift among the Five Sisters. So she pretended that she had just come upstairs and even spoke up to warn Ichika.
Yotsuba, who usually seemed a bit naive, was actually the most thoughtful person among the Five Sisters. Many times, when conflicts arose among the sisters, it was Yotsuba who mediated, preventing the relationship among the Five Sisters from becoming too strained.
"Yu, come on! Let's go downstairs for dinner!"
Ichika saw Nakano Yu looking toward the door and thought he was still thinking about her bold move from earlier. Her cheeks reddened again. She walked over, grabbed Nakano Yu's hand, and said.
"There are really too many eyes in the house, it's a bit bothersome. I'll have to make my move when I'm alone with Yu later."
Ichika secretly made up her mind. Since she had already gone this far, she had to see it through to the end!
She didn't want to just be an onlooker between the Five Sisters and Nakano Yu. She wanted to stand by Nakano Yu's side, as his lover!
"Mm…"
Nodding, Nakano Yu responded and followed Ichika downstairs.
"Ah~ I was really busy late last night. Is it true that not sleeping really isn't good?"
Yawning, Nakano Yu leaned against his school desk.
Even though he was a God Slayer, he had developed a habit of sleeping. Although he wasn't tired, normal sleep followed by suddenly staying up all night still felt strange, as if something was missing.
"Nakano Yu, didn't you rest well last night?"
Placing today's love bento on Nakano Yu's desk, Kiyoura Setsuna asked.
"Mm, not really. I rested quite comfortably last night."
Sitting up straight, the young man stretched and answered honestly.
"By the way, Nakano Yu was actually first in the entire class on this week's test! And with a perfect score!!"
Sitting at the desk in front of Nakano Yu, Kiyoura Setsuna's eyes sparkled as she spoke.
"Well, it was just luck. I knew everything that was on the test and got everything right."
Scratching his head, Nakano Yu said.
"Nakano Yu must have achieved that result through his own ability, that's amazing! Even more amazing than President Shinomiya!"
Hearing Nakano Yu say that, Kiyoura Setsuna didn't think it was just luck. After all, no matter how good your luck was, it was impossible to get a perfect score across so many subjects, right? There had to be an ability factor.
"Haha, not bad. By the way, Setsuna, you didn't do badly on this test either, right? Any news about joining the Student Council?"
Smiling, Nakano Yu didn't pay it much mind. After all, it had been the same at Sobu High School; he was already used to it. On the other hand, Kiyoura Setsuna—he remembered that her weekly test this time had placed her among the top fifty.
"Mm, thanks to the knowledge Nakano-kun taught me during tutoring, I managed to handle some difficult questions during the exam."
Kiyoura Setsuna nodded. This time, thanks to Nakano Yu's teaching, she had done so well; otherwise, given her usual grades, getting into the top hundred would have been a huge challenge.
As for the situation with the Student Council, Kiyoura Setsuna also had very good news:
"As for the Student Council, I've already become a candidate. Secretary Fujiwara assigned me to handle logistics and procurement for next week's sports festival. If I perform well, I can join directly."
"That's good, Setsuna is excellent, there won't be any problems."
Nakano Yu nodded and praised her.
As for why Shinomiya Kaguya hadn't allowed Setsuna to join the Student Council directly, Nakano Yu naturally knew the reason.
Although the Student Council was currently short on people, procedures still had to be followed; otherwise, certain people at Shuchiin Academy would start complaining.
Nakano Yu could certainly have arranged for Kiyoura Setsuna to join the Student Council directly, but there was no need for that. Setsuna's ability was enough for her to prove herself. Rather than pulling strings, it was better to let Setsuna show her own capabilities.
However… the sports festival at Shuchiin Academy, huh? If Sobu High School hadn't been blown apart by his hand, they would probably be holding a sports festival now as well.
Although such activities didn't have much to do with him, Nakano Yu usually sat in the audience and cheered for Yotsuba.
Just as Nakano Yu was lost in thought, Kiyoura Setsuna, who was smiling broadly beside him, suddenly remembered something. She looked at the young man's face, and her expression became a little dejected.
"What's wrong, Setsuna?"
Noticing the change in Kiyoura Setsuna's mood, the young man snapped out of it and asked.
"No, nothing…"
Shaking her head, Kiyoura Setsuna didn't ask the question that was pressing on her heart. But if the rumors she had heard were true…
"Is that so?"
Nakano Yu naturally didn't believe her words. She was so down; how could she be fine?
"…Hey, Nakano Yu."
"Hm?"
"Are you… planning to leave Shuchiin Academy?"