I woke up from my sleep, as usual, because of Koko.
Maybe I learned too much from Kuro, the cat, or maybe it was just Koko’s instincts, but Koko curled up wherever and whenever she fell asleep. At first, it seemed like she was sleeping straight, but suddenly she coiled up like a round ball.
And then she burrowed into my side.
When I woke up, my side was sweaty from her body heat.
Usually, I wouldn’t wake up until morning, but I guess I woke up in the middle of the night because the sleeping arrangements had changed.
It was an old room, but it had air conditioning, which made it much cooler than where we usually stayed. Ironically, it seemed that the difference between that artificial coolness and Koko’s body heat had woken me up.
If it were just a moment of opening my eyes, I could just fall back asleep, but the thirst I felt was quite severe. Was it because I had been in the hot spring for a while earlier?
After a brief internal struggle about whether to hold back the thirst and go back to sleep or to overcome the annoyance and get up to drink water, I chose the latter. My throat felt as if it was cracking. Now that I think about it, I had turned on the air conditioning. It’s understandable that it felt a bit dry.
Yawn, as I carefully sat up to avoid waking Koko—
Slurp, thud.
That sound reached my ears.
I froze, my body jerking at the sound as it seemed like the door had closed. A faint light seeped in through the window, but it was still the middle of the night. It was a bit too dark to see clearly.
After blinking and trying to get used to the darkness for a few tens of seconds, I gradually began to make out my surroundings and cautiously looked around.
Fortunately, there was no sight of a ghost sulking in the corner or a spectral figure peeking through the door.
However…
…Hagiwara was gone.
I wiped my face in frustration.
It was all too easy to imagine why she was missing. She must have gone to Sasaki’s room.
I briefly pondered if there was a valid reason for me to stop them, but concluded there wasn’t and got out of my spot.
Yeah, whether they were filming a love comedy or not, what did it have to do with me? If I were the one losing out on the role, I might have shed some tears, but I wasn’t even a male character.
Besides, this was a world within a ‘family-friendly light novel’; nothing ridiculous was bound to happen. Hagiwara didn’t exactly fall into the category of a “seductive yet inexperienced woman” either.
In reality, she would probably get flustered and run away after turning red in front of me.
I counted down before the door. It was a no-go to run into Hagiwara inching her way or something silly like that.
I should just drink water quickly, go back in, and pretend to sleep.
Thinking this, I slowly opened the door and peeked toward the living room, finding it empty.
Still a bit dazed from sleep, I stumbled out of the room.
I turned my body toward the kitchen.
…And then I caught sight of Nakahara, frozen mid-step up the stairs.
“…”
“…”
I pondered for a moment.
Would it be strange to wipe my face in this situation?
It probably would, so I decided against making a show of it.
I just turned and faced the kitchen as if I hadn’t seen anything.
“Hey, wait a sec!”
Nakahara called out, her voice just loud enough for me to hear. I can only describe it as a whisper; either way, it was quiet enough for it not to reach the room.
As I was pouring water into a cup from the fridge, I felt Nakahara’s hand lightly touching my shoulder.
When I turned to look at Nakahara’s tired face, she stammered, red from embarrassment, unable to figure out what to say.
“Um, you see…”
“…”
“…This is not something you think it is.”
What is it that I’m supposed to think?
There’s no way the childhood friend character would be this aggressive.
Thank goodness they were in separate rooms; otherwise, I would have been awakened not by thirst in the middle of the night but by those two fighting.
“…Let’s just pretend I didn’t see anything.”
When I spoke with a sleepy voice while holding the cup of water, Nakahara looked around, seemingly flustered.
What should I do?
In this situation, Nakahara could easily ignore me and leave. She could just tell me Hagiwara went to Sasaki’s room.
…After all, Shii would be caught up in the situation the moment Hagiwara went in.
“No, it’s not what you think…”
“…”
“I was just worried that Hagiwara-senpai might do something bad to Sasaki.”
That was a pretty accurate assumption.
Although she probably just blurted it out as justification.
“Uh, um, I mean, yes!”
As if she had received a hint from her own words, Nakahara said with a bright expression.
“Hagiwara-senpai is in her room, right? Then I can go back without worrying!”
“…”
What should I say in response?
If I said that Hagiwara was in her room, it would seem like I was siding with Hagiwara. Either way, I would eventually discover her sleeping next to Sasaki in the morning.
I… well, I’m not super close with Hagiwara. If I were to count the number of times I’ve seen her face, I’ve seen her a few more times than Nakahara, and we share some secrets, but I’m not sure if we have a friendly relationship.
Nakahara also shares secrets with me. After all, we went through everyday life experiences together.
It’s almost impressive to see Nakahara showing this kind of mentality. It seems to be the standard state of mind of a light novel heroine.
Later they might meet Sasaki and burst into that whole ordeal, or Sasaki could comfort her at school—or maybe something like that happened, but if it did, it happened in a place where I didn’t know.
“Eh?”
As I failed to respond, Nakahara’s expression changed.
For a moment, she blanked out and then her expression hardened as if she had come up with an idea. Her eyes turned upward sharply.
“Wait, could it be Hagiwara-senpai…?”
I said nothing.
It’s called the right to remain silent.
“…”
Seeing my expression, Nakahara, filled with indignation, released her hand from my shoulder and walked over to our room, opening the door.
Naturally, Hagiwara’s spot was empty.
Nakahara quickly turned around and rushed up to Sasaki’s room.
After gulping the water I was holding, I filled the sink with tap water and headed back to my room when—
“Senpai!”
I flinched at the voice that shouted.
I never expected someone would yell so loud in the middle of the night.
I thought, being a harem light novel, maybe they would just fall asleep on the other side, but on second thought, Shii was in the room too.
Sasaki would definitely be with Shii.
“Nakahara-senpai…?”
I heard Shii’s voice, and there was a sort of groaning sound coming from the direction Hagiwara opened.
Then, Yuka poked her head out from outside the door, looking incredibly sleepy.
When her eyes met mine as she was rubbing them with her hand, she asked, “What’s all the commotion…?”
“…Nothing’s going on.”
I replied.
Thank goodness Yuka didn’t seem to fit the original role. If she had pieced together the situation, she would have jumped right in.
Although saying that I don’t particularly like you is something I can barely imagine saying to Yuka now.
“Nana—? No, Hagiwara-senpai!?”
“Yeah.”
I could hear the sound of Sasaki realizing what was going on, followed by Hagiwara making something resembling a moan that sounded rather exaggerated, almost comically.
“…”
Suddenly noticing the commotion, Yuka turned to look for Hagiwara.
Seeing the empty spot, she looked back upstairs, then gave me one last glance.
Her expression was one of shock.
“…”
I ultimately couldn’t help but wipe my face this time.
*
“Uu….?”
“It’s fine. You can sleep more.”
“Isn’t it morning…?”
“No.”
While we were having a somewhat serious conversation with the lights on in the living room, Koko appeared, rubbing her eyes and noticing my absence.
Instinctively walking over to me, I adjusted Koko’s disheveled outfit.
At my words, Koko plopped down next to me and curled up there.
And now she was sitting next to me.
It seemed she had no intention of going back to sleep again. She would likely stay right here until I returned to my room.
Watching Koko doze off leaning against my shoulder, I pulled a blanket from the sofa and draped it over her shoulder.
The kids, who had momentarily forgotten their words while watching Koko, began to gather their thoughts and express their opinions again one by one.
“But still! I don’t think it’s right to do that in someone else’s grandmother’s house!”
Izumi raised her voice.
“Eh, if they like each other, it can happen, right?”
“But they’re not adults yet!”
Kaoru retorted to Shii’s comment.
“That’s why a woman can get married at sixteen, you know?”
Hagiwara asserted.
Didn’t they say that earlier in the daytime?
“Sota is only fifteen!”
Naturally, it was Nakahara who interjected, sounding cross.
“What do you think, Mako-chan?”
“Uh, I, I…!”
“…”
Fukuda asked Mako in a teasing tone, and of course, Mako stuttered.
Yamashita appeared disinterested, staring at her phone.
“…Excuse me, everyone.”
And now, amidst that heated debate… or whatever you call it, an oddly strange conversation was going back and forth, Yuka quietly raised her hand to speak.
Her voice had a somewhat sharp edge to it, suddenly silencing the chatter.
Each person reacted differently. Kaoru and Izumi, who had interacted with Yuka often, barely flinched, while Miura and his gang, who had seen how Yuka fights, weren’t worried at all. They were, in a sense, comrades.
Hagiwara had no reason to be scared. Nakahara, having dealt with such moments before, also wasn’t frightened by that level of intensity.
“Hyik.”
So, there was only one person who was truly scared.
The biggest victim of this situation was Shii.
“…”
Listening to Shii’s hiccups, everyone’s gaze turned towards her.
Then they looked back at Yuka.
“…I’m sorry.”
I understood why she worded it like that.
The situation was indeed unfavorable.
I sent my sincere apologies to Yuka internally. Although it felt as if it didn’t quite reach her.
“Ahem.”
In any case, the atmosphere shifted, and I needed to say something.
“Everyone, I understand that you all want to have fun. However, right now, we do have a purpose, don’t we?”
I’m pretty sure at least Hagiwara and Nakahara came here because of Sasaki.
Of course, I was perceptive enough not to raise objections about that.
“We gathered here to help Koko.”
At least that was the surface goal. It was probably what they thought when they first arrived yesterday.
However, now that Koko had readily absorbed knowledge from day one and was getting good scores, it probably led them to think, “Maybe it’s okay to relax a bit.”
“If we make noise like this in the middle of the night, Koko won’t sleep properly—”
Sniff, sniff.
“…”
All eyes turned toward Koko, who had her head resting against my shoulder.
Koko was sleeping soundly.
Yeah, she always cuddled up to me when she slept, and never once complained about having a sore back.
So it wasn’t much of a problem for her to sleep leaning against my shoulder.
“She’s sleeping well.”
Kaoru said.
As Koko’s focus shifted back to Yuka, her face reddened again as she spoke.
“Koko may be able to sleep well, but it’s still disruptive to others.”
At least that much was certainly logical.
“Koko has much more to learn. Even if the learner is fine, if the one teaching isn’t, won’t that affect the results as well?”
“…”
Everyone seemed to agree with that remark.
“And Hagiwara-senpai, given Shii’s presence, what are you doing?”
“…”
Hagiwara averted her gaze as if trying to dodge the question.
Shii still appeared to be a bit shy.
She glanced at me, and I nodded. When she saw my expression, Shii seemed a little reassured.
I wasn’t clear on what she found comfort in, but hey, if Shii had one more place to lean on, I welcomed it.
…After all, the nighttime incident was partly my fault for pretending not to notice, so I should do my part.
“…Well then.”
With the atmosphere quieted down, Yuka spoke.
“Shall we all head to the rooms?”
Everyone nodded.
It was still the middle of the night. Even though we didn’t need to wake up early tomorrow, if we stayed up too late, it would affect our condition for the next day.
With Yuka’s words, everyone began to rise from their seats.
“Koko, let’s go to sleep.”
“Uu.”
When I softly shook her shoulders, Koko let out a sound and opened her eyes a bit.
“…I’m sorry, Shii. I didn’t think things through.”
On the other hand, Hagiwara was also apologizing to Shii from over there.
“I feel the same way. Even if you acted like a child, I should have been more adult-like.”
“…Didn’t Nakahara say that Sota is fifteen, and he can’t get married?”
Hagiwara questioned in disbelief, but Nakahara didn’t seem to care about that at all.
“No, it’s just… I was a bit surprised.”
“Sorry, Shii.”
“If my older brother wasn’t here, I would have been anxious alone. There’s no need for you to apologize, brother.”
“You’re really mature. Unlike someone who randomly cuddles up under the blanket with her crush.”
“…”
Nakahara and I exchanged glances as she praised Shii.
Nakahara quickly shut her mouth, her face turning bright red.
“Uh, how did you know I opened the door thinking it was nighttime? Let’s all go to bed quickly!”
Seeing through Nakahara’s transparent words, Hagiwara chuckled, but she didn’t aggravate the situation any further.
In that aspect, she was a little more of a senpai.
I didn’t particularly think of her as mature, though.
*
“…Amazing.”
“Is Koko amazing?”
“Yeah, amazing.”
“Woohoo!”
Koko cheered, raising her hands above her head at my response.
To be honest, Koko’s mental age might not have progressed much. Her speech still sounded like a child, and her personality was still that of a kid.
Just giving her chocolate whenever she did something well or ruffling her hair in praise could motivate her to study really hard.
Perhaps for Koko, studying was similar to solving puzzles?
Even though I had tried hard to teach her Japanese, seeing her read literature properly beyond picture books and come up with correct answers shocked me.
“Surely, Koko is a genius.”
Izumi, who was responsible for Koko’s Japanese subjects alongside me, said with a very serious expression.
Miura, who had said something similar before, was watching Koko with the same seriousness.
“Well, whatever. It doesn’t really matter, does it? As long as she can take the exam and make sure Koto Ne can go to school.”
Kaoru said, and everyone generally agreed, but—
Only Hagiwara was looking at me, not Koko.
And she was wearing a rather serious expression.
“…”
I tried my best to act like I hadn’t noticed her gaze, but whether it worked or not, I wasn’t sure.
*
It didn’t seem to go well.
Even though I also bathed in the hot spring today, I decided to stand up first without being self-conscious. After all, I was really drowsy last night.
There were probably kids here who had not seen me cutting my wrist, but still, I was quite skinny.
If I were to say I felt a little dizzy, everyone would surely understand.
Yuka tried to rise with me, but when I told her to enjoy it a bit more, she hesitated before sitting back down.
Judging by Yuka’s expression, I bet she would be outside within five minutes.
“Uu Uu.”
“You need to dry your hair properly.”
While I pressed down on Koko’s hair with a towel, she whined a bit.
Well, she never actually resisted or complained when I said I didn’t want to do something. Koko was at least a good girl in front of me.
At least she was in front of Yuka too.
I was in the middle of drying her hair when I heard someone coming out of the hot spring.
Thinking it was Yuka, I turned my head, but unexpectedly it was Hagiwara.
“…Do you want me to help dry your hair?”
She was facing me rather than Koko.
I had long hair just like Koko, but because I was busy drying Koko’s hair, I hadn’t had a chance to dry mine.
Before I could respond, Hagiwara reached out and grabbed my hair.
“…”
For a moment, we didn’t say a word.
“…Um.”
“Yes?”
“That girl named Koko.”
“…”
I knew what she was trying to ask.
We’d had a somewhat similar exchange last time too.
“…She’s a person.”
I simply answered that way.
“I, too, want to live like Koko. Normally.”
“Woohoo!”
Perhaps she sensed something in my voice; Koko turned to look at me.
With those innocent eyes shining as if she didn’t know anything, they reflected mine.
She was similar to me, yet her essence felt much purer in a fundamental way.
…Her eyes reminded me of someone.
It might be why I was clingy towards her.
“…Yeah.”
I didn’t know what Hagiwara was thinking, but she replied and then quietly dried my hair without saying anything else.
It was less than a minute after Hagiwara had left the room that Yuka erupted, shouting “Koto Ne!?” as she rushed outside.
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