Tachyon blinked, momentarily startled to find Keiichi's face inches from her own. Then, the memories of the previous night flooded back, and a soft, rhythmic kukuku of a laugh escaped her. She took a deep breath and puffed a playful cloud of air onto his face. When he didn't even stir, she gave a bored huff and decided to let him sleep.
As she stepped out into the main room, the brightness of the house and the presence of others made her squint. It took her a second to remember she was a guest in the Tagami household.
"Good morning," she said.
The men sitting at opposite sides of the kotatsu looked up. "Morning," they chorused.
"Did you sleep well, Ms. Agnes?" Kensuke asked.
"Yes, thanks to a certain someone, I slept quite soundly," Tachyon replied. The father and son exchanged a look of pure shock, but Tachyon ignored them, heading for the washroom to splash some cold water on her face.
The moment she returned, Kensuke jumped straight to the point.
"Ms. Agnes... I, uh, happened to notice you were sleeping with my son. I have to ask... did he do something untoward? Was he disrespectful?"
Tachyon blinked, then realized why Kensuke was being so delicately formal. She let out a silvery giggle. "No, no. I was the one who asked him to sleep with me."
"Why?!" Kensuke squeaked.
"Oh, it's nothing scandalous," Tachyon reassured him, still giggling. "It's just that an Umamusume's sense of smell is quite sharp. Being in a stranger's house... it's unsettling. I couldn't relax."
"So you used my son as a... security blanket?"
"Huh," Kosuke nodded. "Lucky guy," he muttered, earning a sharp look from his father.
"Kosuke! You aren't thinking of—!"
"No! Of course not!" Kosuke waved his hands frantically. "I... I have a girlfriend, actually."
"A girlfriend? Where'd you pick her up?"
"She isn't something I 'picked up,'" Kosuke grumbled, glaring at his dad. Tachyon slipped past him and took a seat at the table. "We started dating at the end of summer. I was going to keep it quiet until things were more stable, but I guess the cat's out of the bag."
He pulled out his phone and showed his father a photo of Natsuki.
"Oh! She's quite the beauty! Well done, son!"
Kosuke rubbed his nose, looking a bit flustered.
"Let me see," Tachyon said, leaning in with genuine curiosity.
"Here," Kosuke said, his chest puffing out slightly.
"Oh, she has a wonderful smile. It's a very well-composed photo. Did you take this?"
"Yeah. I've got even better ones. Look at this..."
For the next ten minutes, Tachyon was subjected to a slideshow and an exhaustive list of Natsuki's virtues. She eventually began casting desperate glances at the father for help, but Kensuke was listening so intently he didn't notice her plight.
"I really wish I could have brought her here," Kosuke finished with a heavy sigh.
Kensuke chuckled. "If she were here too, the house would be overflowing. You brothers would have been forced to share one tiny blanket."
Kosuke wanted to say, "That's what I was hoping for," but realized how creepy that sounded and kept his mouth shut.
A short while later, a groggy-faced Keiichi wandered into the room.
"Morning," he croaked.
"Morning," they all replied.
A special feature was playing on the TV about a singer Keiichi liked. "Hey, Keiichi," his father said, pointing to the screen. "Isn't this that band you like? 'The Great Snake'?"
"Yeah, that's them. Did they put out a new album?"
"No, they just did a live show."
"A dome tour, huh... I'm not much for live crowds, though."
"Well," Kensuke said, turning back to the TV, "apparently they debuted a new song at the show."
"I'm watching, Dad. Shut up for a second."
Keiichi sat down, his eyes fixed on the screen. The announcer explained that they were going to play an exclusive clip of the first verse of their new track, "Hello Depression," from the album Refresh If It Vanishes. Keiichi smirked. With a title like that, he wondered if it was even allowed on broadcast TV.