I know it’s not polite to keep a guest waiting for long. But isn’t it also not polite to disturb the private time between lovers?
That’s what I think, anyway.
So, it would be understandable if it took a little time to open the door for a guest who came to our room, right? Yeah.
“Wh-why are you doing this?! What did I do?! L-let go of me!”
When I finally opened the door, what I saw was two Bunny Girl Guards and our poor little one, who was being dragged away, tied up. The sobbing was quite a racket, really.
“Uh, well. You all worked hard. Is it alright if you head out now?”
The arms-crossed Nagisa said that to the guards.
Honestly, since I’m the one who exchanged the VIP pass, they turned their gazes toward me upon hearing those words. When I nodded, the two guards bowed and left the room without a word.
“Excuse me?! I didn’t say anything, but as a member of the seminar, this kind of outrage is unacceptable! Do you think you can handle the consequences? This might be a little much to say, but… our senpai are super scary, you know?! So it’s better not to do anything you can’t handle!”
I was indeed pondering what to do with this noisy kid who was now kneeling on the floor of our room.
I didn’t have any personal grievances against Koyuki, and since handing her over to those C&C guys might spark trouble due to what Akane did earlier, I felt a bit fidgety.
“Hey, are you even listening to me—”
“Shh. Koyuki-chan, it’s not going to change anything, so just be quiet, okay?”
I took out my phone and tapped on one of my precious contacts, indicated with a heart symbol at the top. Then I showed the screen to Koyuki.
“Do you know what this is?”
“…Is this my beloved husband in the whole wide world? What’s the meaning of this? Why are you showing me this… wait a minute. This picture is… Senpai Noa? Eeeeh???”
Huh? I don’t remember saving Noa’s contact like that.
“…Mika-san?”
“No, Nagisa-chan. It’s not what you think. Nope. Total misunderstanding.”
Looks like Noa secretly changed the name in my contacts. Double-checking, I noticed one by one that there were names sneakily changed.
“Ugh. I only wanted to take a picture and here we are…”
I didn’t care much, but from Nagisa’s standpoint, it seemed a bit concerning that her contact was saved as ‘Husband♡’ without any elaboration.
However, I thought that saving it like that was the most honest way to express my feelings for Nagisa. Sure, I could add countless descriptors, but one glance between us is worth a thousand words…
Um. Maybe that’s a bit off?
More than that, this situation… was oddly embarrassing. I was caught by this noisy brat in the act of being lovey-dovey with my husbands.
Of course, that feeling vanished in an instant. With no shame in my relationship with my lovers, I quickly regained my composure.
“Yep, it’s exactly as it looks. So, Koyuki-chan… would you care to repeat that? What did your senpai do?”
“…I-I don’t believe it. No, I won’t believe it! This is something you could say my life has been a Koyuki Show level of disbelief?!”
Heueng… Well, maybe that might actually be the truth?
“…Haha! That’s a bit troublesome if you take my joke seriously. Just kidding, right?”
Seeing Koyuki’s voice trembling, I simply smiled back at her in silence.
“T-This is the part where you should say it’s a joke so I can feel at ease…”
Watching Koyuki sweat buckets, I briefly fell into deep thought. Then, with a finger on my lips, I reached my own conclusion.
“First of all, you need to know that C&C is infiltrated on this ship.”
“Does that mean the explosion earlier wasn’t just a kitchen accident…?”
“Koyuki-chan, didn’t you hear the announcement earlier?”
“Of course not, I was too busy playing the lottery.”
“…?”
Wait a minute. Something feels off. According to what she just said, when I went to the play lounge as told, I should have naturally bumped into Koyuki. Therefore, there was no need for them to cause an explosion.
Could it be that we passed each other?
“…In any case, that explosion was definitely caused by those C&C guys. It’s weird that guards would be so busy just because of a kitchen accident.”
“It’s only natural they would assume it was because of me since I was in this state when I was brought in. Don’t you know that?”
Wow. Koyuki may not know much, but her ability to attract trouble is top-notch. The fact that she’s saying it without a hint of irony means that’s just her true self.
“Hahaha… Anyway, I was originally thinking of handing you over to the C&C guys like this.”
“Wait, what? I’m fine with anyone but Neru-senpai!”
“…I was going to hand you over, but since you managed to get on my bad side.”
“Haha, so that means you’re letting me go! I’m saved!”
“I’m personally planning to hand you over to Noa-chan.”
Realizing her fate, Koyuki froze with the same expression she had while laughing.
“A-aang…”
Then Koyuki started with the siren-like sobbing.
“By the way, if you cry, I’ll just give you to Neru-chan.”
“…”
At my threat, she immediately stopped crying. It was definitely much better now that it was quiet.
“More importantly, Mika-san.”
“Yeah?”
“Where are you planning to keep this kid?”
The expression that seemed to silently ask, ‘Don’t tell me it’ll be in our room, will it?’ from Nagisa felt oddly cute. Was that just my imagination? It’s like her true feelings are extremely visible.
But it’s unnecessary worry. I’d hate that as well.
“Well, should I tie her up on the terrace railing? If I cover her eyes and ears—”
“Aeeeeeeng!!!”
…Wow, she’s making a fuss over one little joke. Naturally, she’d have to be sent to the on-board prison.
*
Beep. Beep.
The sound of opening the room door with a card key reached my ears. Soon after, a group burst into the room.
“Haah, haah.”
As I glanced that way, I saw the teacher and three girls, breathing somewhat roughly.
As soon as our gazes met, Akane looked down, seemingly lost in thought, while Karin was being cautious not to let her gaze meet me in case it went below the waist.
And, lastly, there was Neru, whose expression clearly showed she wasn’t in a good mood.
…Wait a minute. Neru always walks around with a face somewhat similar to that. So it’s not like she’s particularly grumpy right now.
“Hey there.”
Neru raised her hand to greet me nonchalantly, which felt very much like her personality. After all, she’s a friend with whom I’ve gotten pretty friendly.
Inevitably, their gazes fell on Koyuki, who was squirming on the bed, bound.
“…Hey, Mika. What’s going on with her?”
“Yeah? You can’t tell? She’s the Koyuki-chan you were looking for.”
“No, that’s obvious. It’s not that. Why is she here?”
Looking into Neru’s eyes, I could guess what she was thinking.
“Like you said, I just came back from the play lounge. That Bakuto guy wasn’t around at all there. So I returned here only to find you here.”
“Huh…”
It was quite enjoyable to see Neru getting more and more uncomfortable in real time. If I didn’t have the strength to handle Neru’s rampage, I would’ve likely needed to leave quietly by now.
But there was no reason for me to bow down to Neru.
If we clashed, it would simply be a matter of who would win. The fact that we had equal footing became evident in this situation.
This was the kind of confidence that only a person with the physique to fight for the front seat in Kivotos could hold.
“Honestly, I had no particular thoughts about Koyuki-chan. She’s your Millennium problem, not mine, right? Of course, it would be a different story if Noa-chan asked me for help, but that’s not the case.”
Seeing Neru, who seemed to want to hear anything I say, I smiled and raised my hand. My finger pointed at Akane.
“Even without me having to explain, you guys… um, collective responsibility might be a little much? Anyway, I figure Akane-chan probably knows what kind of mistake she made. Right? Besides, the teacher is also with you, after all.”
“Ah, yeah. That’s fair. Akane did make a big mistake.”
“Good to know. Ah, and put the apology back. I don’t think it changes anything for me to accept it, and I don’t believe you did that with the intention to upset me.”
Neru frowned as if she found my surprisingly accommodating attitude strange.
“Wait a minute. What does that have to do with Bakuto being here?”
“Well, it’s all related. The guards were sent to capture her because of what Akane-chan did.”
All four of them looked at me with expressions that said they were utterly confused.
The answer I was about to give them was actually quite simple.
“This girl, I’m planning to pass right over to Noa-chan. That way, your C&C mission fails. I think that would suffice as an appropriate end to my issues with you guys. What do you think? I’m quite satisfied with that.”
“…Hah. I’m extremely dissatisfied, though. What about the guards?”
With her hand in her hair, Neru bluntly asked.
“Oh, that? I’m the VIP on this ship. Of course, that’s possible.”
“…VIP? Is that the one where you have to exchange an S-rank? I heard you get authority that isn’t bound by the ship’s rules.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
After listening to me, Neru seemed to go into thought for a moment. Then, suddenly, she chuckled.
“Nice.”
“…Huh?”
“Hey, Mika. How about a match?”
“Huh…???”
What the heck does that mean, Neru? Are you saying you want to fight?
