Yuna scrambled over, her eyes widening as she read the messages. Her face went from pale to an angry red. "RELIABLE-SENPAI?!" she shrieked, her voice dropping to a venomous growl. "Who the hell is this Yui?! And why is she commenting on his tie?! I'M THE ONE who picked that tie for him!"
Ayane leaned in, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the chat history. "A junior designer… look at all those emojis. She's trying to act like a cute waifu with the 'kyaa >__<'. And that '^^' is a classic innocent flirt. And she's daring to ask Makoto for a coffee date?"
Her usual playful smirk was replaced by a sharp territorial grin. "Her Slack avatar is cute, too. Ash-grey hair and petite. She's trying to play the Work Wife role."
"Correct, she's trying to build a connection with him." Mika stood up, her fingers already flying across her own phone. "If we let this happen, everything will fall apart. I won't have it!" She calmly continued. "We need more intel. Ayane, search her name on social media. Cross-reference with the company LinkedIn page."
"On it," Ayane said, her thumbs flying.
"Yuna, check his bag. Look for receipts from any lunch spots. Did he buy two coffees?" Mika commanded.
"Roger," Yuna said, diving for Makoto's briefcase.
"Mafuyu-san," Mika said gently. "Keep watch."
Mafuyu sighed, but she went to stand in the hallway, listening for Makoto's shower water.
Ten minutes later, the war council regrouped.
"Found her," Ayane announced, turning her phone around. The screen showed an Instagram profile named Yui_Chan_Design.
The photos were innocent but threatening. The first photo was a selfie in a cat-ear hoodie with the caption "Coding is hard! >*< Need a senpai to help me!"
The second one is a picture of a bento box with text, "Tried making lunch today! It's a little burnt… Hope he likes it!"
The last photo, uploaded just this morning, is of the Clitify office. In the background, blurry but unmistakable, was the back of Makoto's head. Its caption read "View from my desk. Working late with the best team and best senpai!"
"She's documenting him," Yuna hissed. "She's stalking him in the wild."
"Hope he likes it?" Mika looked at the bento caption. "She has a specific target for her bento. It's a classic move." She looked at Mafuyu.
Mafuyu frowned. "Her tamagoyaki is sloppy, and she used too much oil."
"She's trying to be a wife," Ayane concluded. "She's trying to Isekai her way into our life."
The shower water stopped. "Scramble!" Yuna hissed, and they dispersed: Yuna grabbed a controller. Ayane grabbed a donut. Mika opened a book. Mafuyu ran back to the kitchen.
Makoto walked out, drying his hair with a towel, completely oblivious to the fact that his digital life had just been invaded. "Dinner ready? Do you need any help, Mafuyu-nee?"
"Almost, honey!" Mafuyu called, stepping out of the kitchen with a steaming platter.
Mika said, not looking up from her book (which was upside down). "Darling, you look tired. You should leave your work and focus on your family tonight."
"Yeah," Yuna muttered, her eyes fixed on her controller but her voice tight. "You're very reliable, after all. Right, big bro?"
Makoto blinked. "Uh… yeah. I try to be."
Ayane winked at him, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. "So reliable that even the girls at work are noticing. That's our Makoto."
Makoto sat down at the table, a strange prickle of unease running down his spine. He looked at the three of them. They were smiling and acting normal. But the air in the room felt heavy like the moments before a storm.
Mika stood up, offering Makoto a perfect smile. "So, do you have much work to do this weekend?"
"Not this weekend," Makoto said, oblivious to the danger. "But actually, I might need to leave home for the next weekend for our 48-hour hackathon. It's gonna be so tiring," Makoto yawned.
"Anyway, I'm beat. Gonna go to sleep early now." He yawned and walked to the bedroom, leaving his phone charged on the table.
As soon as he was gone, Mika stood up. Her eyes were cold pink diamonds. "We can't let this slide!"
"What do we do?" Ayane asked, cracking her knuckles. "Do I go visit his office again? Do I pee on his desk to mark my territory?"
"No," Mika said. "We need surveillance and data first."
"What are you going to do then, Mika?" Yuna asked, her breath coming in short, angry huffs.
Mika murmured. "I'm installing a family tracking app on his phone. It will mirror his incoming messages on my tablet and track his GPS coordinates via the Wi-Fi handshake."
She nods confidently. "I'm also enabling the remote microphone. I want to hear exactly how reliable he sounds when she talks to him."
Mafuyu gasped. "Mika-chan! That's… that's spying!"
"It's for his own good," Mika said. "He's important to us. We must protect him from trouble."
"He's gonna kill us if he finds out," Ayane said, but she was grinning.
"He won't find out," Mika said. "I'll install it while he sleeps. The app masks itself as a system update."
"Do it," Yuna commanded.
===
The next morning, Makoto felt as if he were being watched.
As he stood on the crowded train, his phone felt hotter in his pocket. He didn't know that every time a notification appeared on his lock screen, it also appeared on Mika's tablet back at the apartment.
He didn't know that, as he entered the Shibuya building, Ayane was using a new account, GreyHairGamerGirlLover9x, to stalk the Yui_Chan_Design account, documenting every photo Yui had ever posted.
The office was buzzing today. Yui was already at her desk, wearing a stylish form-fitting turtleneck. "Morning, Makoto-kun!" she called out, waving when he walked past her. "Did you see my message about the coffee?"
Makoto felt a cold sweat. He remembered the weird vibe at home last night. "Oh, uh, yeah. I've been pretty busy, Yui-san. Maybe another time."
"Aww, don't be like that," Yui laughed and walked over. She placed a hand on his arm, a casual, friendly gesture. "Just fifteen minutes. I really want to show you the new animation curves I've been working on for the Smirk expression. I think it'll make the users go crazy."
Inside his pocket, Makoto's phone was live-streaming the audio of this interaction directly to the apartment. Back at the house, the three wives were huddled around Mika's tablet. The audio was slightly grainy but clear enough to hear the soft melodic tone of Yui's voice. "Aww, don't be like that… Just fifteen minutes…"
Yuna's hand was white-knuckled around the kitchen knife as she sliced an orange. The poor orange was already a mess of pulp and peel. "SHE TOUCHED HIS ARM!" Yuna hissed, her voice a dangerous snarl. "I heard the sleeve move! That bitch is touching him!"
"She's persistent," Mika said, her voice steady but her eyes narrowed to slits behind her glasses. "The coffee date is a classic tactic. She's trying to get some private time with him, just like when I invited him for a run."
Ayane was scrolling through Yui's latest Story on Instagram. "She just posted a picture of her outfit in the office mirror. 'Feeling motivated today!' Bitch, you're feeling predatory." She looked at the others. "We can't just sit here and listen and let that bitch seduce our poor Makoto."
"I'm already planning for your accidental lunch visit," Mika said, her fingers tapping on the table. "But for now, we keep listening. I want to see how he handles the next ten minutes."
Back at the office, Makoto felt an intense wave of guilt. He didn't know why, but every time Yui laughed, he felt like he was committing a crime. "I really should get to work, Yui-san," he said, gently pulling his arm away.
"Okay, okay," Yui said, holding up her hands in mock surrender. "Work first. But I'm not giving up on that coffee."
She walked back to her station, leaving Makoto staring at his monitor.
He opened his Slack, intending to message Kenta, but his gaze drifted to his phone. He wanted to check the group chat for a meme from Yuna or Ayane's selfie, something to ground him.
When he unlocked his phone, the background was a picture of the five of them at the park. But as he looked at it, he noticed a new icon in the top right corner. It was a small red shield symbol he didn't recognize. "That's weird," he thought. "Maybe an IT update from the office?"
He ignored it and typed into the group chat.
Makoto: Hey, guys, missing you all already.
Makoto: Work is crazy. Hope everyone is okay!
He waited five minutes, then ten. The first response came from Mika.
Mika: We're doing well, darling. We're also missing you.
Yuna: Just make sure you stay focused on your actual work, pig bro.
Ayane: It would be a shame if you got distracted by unnecessary conversations.
Makoto frowned. "Unnecessary conversations?" He looked over at Yui. She was humming to herself, her pen dancing across her tablet as she sketched. A thought ran through his mind: "She looked so simple, so uncomplicated."
He turned back to his code, but the feeling of being watched didn't go away. It followed him to the breakroom when he grabbed a water. It followed him to the bathroom and all the way back to the station at 6:00 PM.
As he boarded the train, he didn't notice the girl in the oversized tan trench coat and dark sunglasses standing three people behind him on the platform.
Ayane adjusted her hat, her eyes fixed on the back of his head. She tapped a message into their private sub-group.
Ayane: Target is mobile; he looks stressed. No signs of the intruder following him. Moving to the next phase.
Makoto slumped into a seat, closing his eyes. He was tired of code, tired of feeling watched by invisible eyes. As the train sped toward his neighborhood, Makoto's phone buzzed one last time for the night.
Yui: See you tomorrow, Reliable-senpai!
Yui: Don't dream too much about those logic loops! ^^
Makoto didn't reply. But back at the house, Mika saved the messages to a folder on her desktop labeled THREAT ASSESSMENT.
A storm was coming, and Makoto was the only one without an umbrella.