After the storm of passion, the room fell completely silent.
Shichen let Yamauchi Sawa sleep peacefully, while he got dressed and quietly left the room.
He went to the living room, sat down on the sofa, and leaned back with a satisfied look.
Sawa really lived up to being an adult woman—she was bold, played very wild, and even managed to surprise him a bit.
It was like she didn't have a shred of shame.
But that only showed how excited she was, how thrilled she felt.
She had finally become the same as everyone else—a spirit.
Sawa didn't care much about being special, or about eternal youth, or about having powerful spirit abilities. Her wish was simple: she just wanted to be the same kind of being as everyone else.
As a friend, as a teammate, as family—having that "difference," not being like the others, had been suffocating.
She'd wrestled with that for a long time, feeling inferior for just as long.
Now her wish had come true, and all that pent-up emotion burst out. It was only natural that, unlike a girl doing it for the first time, she'd show superhuman endurance.
The only problem was that it took a pretty long time—it was already time for Tokisaki Kurumi and the others to get out of school.
Kurumi wouldn't be coming straight home. She'd be going back to his house to eat dinner with him.
Sawa wouldn't be able to join them today.
Which was fine—she needed the extra sleep. Shichen planned to cook her something good later to make up for it.
With that thought, he went straight back home.
Kurumi had already arrived with Tokha and the others.
"Shichen~"
"Shichen~"
Unlike usual, Kurumi couldn't hold back the sweetness in her heart. Just like Tokha, she came up close to Shichen, looking up at him with sparkling eyes.
That alone made everyone turn to look at her.
Because this really wasn't how they knew her. The Kurumi they were used to had the air of a refined young lady—reserved and elegant.
What was with her now?
"What's up with them?" Yoshino asked quietly when she saw even she herself was staring at Kurumi, and Kyouno Natsumi couldn't help asking aloud.
"Kurumi is acting really weird," Yoshino whispered back.
"Weird?"
"Looks like something good happened," Kotori said around the lollipop in her mouth, lips curling.
"Why do you say that?" Natsumi asked on.
"Ah, little Kurumi-chan usually wouldn't just waltz up to Shichen like that in front of everyone~" Honjou Nia said, slinging an arm around Natsumi's shoulder as she explained.
"So that's why you're saying something good happened?"
"Of course. Why else would she be acting this bold?"
"I see… By the way, what's with this 'Seven-chan' thing?" Natsumi flicked Nia's arm away and demanded.
"Aww, don't be like that~" Nia immediately hugged her again.
"Don't come over here!"
"Seven-chan is so cute, let me hug you more~"
"Saying I'm cute won't change anything!"
"Darling~ I'm here. Why didn't you come keep me company today…? Kurumi, what are you doing?" Izayoi Miku trotted over and the first thing she saw was Kurumi gazing at Shichen with starry eyes.
"Don't mind me, I've just reunited with Shichen, that's all," Kurumi said with a sweet smile, hugging Shichen's arm. As a noble young lady, when she smiled like that it felt like a spring breeze.
"Reunited? Don't tell me it's the same kind of story as mine?" Miku asked.
She'd walked this path herself, so she understood Kurumi's tone immediately.
"Mm~" Kurumi smiled and didn't deny it.
"So all of you have some kind of history with Shichen, huh?" Kaguya said sourly.
"Correction. What's the problem? You and Yuzuru also have quite a deep history with Shichen now," Yuzuru added calmly.
"Well, that's true…"
"Not like you two, doing everything together," Kotori said meaningfully.
"Uu…"
That made Kaguya instantly embarrassed. As one of the parties involved, she knew exactly what Kotori meant.
She still didn't really understand how she'd gone from "never even thought about it" to "knows exactly what pose to take when Shichen pats her backside and she's lined up with Yuzuru."
She was totally molded into Shichen's shape now.
"My connection with Shichen-nii isn't any weaker than yours."
Always quiet until now, Origami suddenly squeezed herself between Tokha and Kurumi, and just crouched down to hug Shichen's legs.
Her head pressed right against his abdomen, her cheek glued there.
If anyone were close enough to see her face, they'd have seen pure bliss.
"Origami… what are you doing?" Shichen looked down at her, feeling helpless.
"Just doing what I always do."
"'What you always do'!" Natsumi was the first to react; her head was full of this kind of thing after all.
"Natsumi, why are you blushing?" Yoshino asked.
"I-I'm not!" Natsumi denied immediately.
"Do you… know something?" Yoshino pressed.
"Anyway, you don't need to know."
"Is that so."
"Origami, what exactly are you doing?" Tokha demanded, staring.
"Don't worry about it. Just the usual."
"What do you mean 'usual'?"
"Do you really want to know? I can teach you—ow~"
Origami didn't finish. Shichen rapped her lightly on the head.
"Quit talking nonsense, you'll end up corrupting Tokha."
"Eh? Shichen, what's going on?"
"Don't worry about Origami, you know better than anyone how weird she is sometimes."
"But…"
"Are you hungry? I'll make whatever you want to eat." Shichen rushed to change the subject.
"Really? Then I want kinako bread!"
"…We're not eating that for dinner. How about I make it tomorrow morning?"
"Okay then… I want braised pork ribs!"
"No problem! I'll get started on dinner now. You guys watch some TV or do your homework."
Shichen rubbed the heads of the three who were huddled around him and headed alone into the kitchen.
"Shichen, do you need help?" Kurumi asked.
Right now she wanted to be with him all the time if she could.
"Forget it. I'm afraid you'd just get in the way," Shichen rejected without hesitation.
"How could I!" Kurumi pouted unhappily.
"Need me to have Sawa testify?" Shichen looked back at her with a teasing smile.
"...Then never mind," Kurumi said with a strained little laugh.
"By the way, why isn't Sawa here yet?"
"She's got something going on and can't come by right now. I'll just bring food over to her later."
"I see." Kurumi nodded and dropped it.
But the ones with experience didn't take it that lightly.
"'Something going on', huh~" Nia said with a sly grin.
"Hmph~ Looks like Sawa-nee got one step ahead of you, Kurumi-nee," Kotori added, smirking.
"What do you mean 'one step ahead'?" Kurumi frowned.
"Aww~ little Kurumi doesn't get it?" Nia looked over at her.
"Get what?"
"Eeh~ Don't tell me you and Shichen haven't done anything yet? Don't tell me you haven't even kissed him?"
"Kissing or…" Kurumi trailed off, cheeks turning pink.
"So you have kissed."
"…What on earth are you two implying?" Kurumi protested, flustered.
"Well~ let's not say it. But if you go back with him now, you might just walk in on something incredible."
"Something incredible?"
"Or you could wait until after dinner and it'll still be too late. Just make sure you stick with Shi later, okay? Don't let him slip away."
Kurumi: "?"
Riddle-talk really was annoying—and she had a strong sense of déjà vu.
Why did she find riddlers so annoying again?
Suddenly, she remembered the very first time they'd met Shichen. He'd been exactly like that—speaking in riddles.
Looks like everyone had picked up bad habits from him.
After dinner and a bit of rest, Shichen got ready to bring some food over to Sawa.
She'd probably slept it off by now; she needed to refill her energy. Now that she was a spirit, her body was far tougher, even with how far he'd pushed her.
"Shichen, wait, I'm heading home too. Take me with you," Kurumi said quickly when she saw him about to leave.
"Don't you want to hang around here a bit longer?" Shichen asked.
"No, I'm tired from school today. I want to go back early."
"I see…"
"Oh my, Shichen, are you afraid of something?" Nia teased.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?" Shichen blinked, puzzled.
"Afraid of Sawa, of course."
"Oh, so that's what you meant. You're the sharp one as usual," he shot back, rolling his eyes.
"Hmph~ You didn't keep me company at noon because you were with Sawa, huh."
"I saw you were working hard on your manuscript and didn't want to interrupt."
"I don't care!"
"Not dealing with you… Kurumi, let's go," Shichen said, offering his hand to her.
"You're sure it's okay?" Kurumi asked.
"Of course. It's not a big deal."
He didn't mind her knowing about him and Sawa.
He took her hand, and the two of them warped away together.
When they arrived at the apartment, Kurumi headed for the living room but didn't see Sawa there; she went straight for Sawa's room instead.
The moment she pushed the door open and saw what was inside, she froze on the spot—then her face went bright red.
"Eh—?!"