The commotion in the bathroom drew the attention of the rest of the Kobayashi household.
Kobayashi-obaasan, hands clasped behind her back, came to the bathroom door. Seeing Tashiro-san throwing up miserably, she sighed.
"Honestly… no matter how young and able to drink you are, there's a limit… You must feel awful. I'll make you some hangover soup later."
"Ugh… thank you… Kobayashi… obaa-san… urgh—!"
While patting Tashiro-san's back, Kuroba Akira couldn't help but grumble.
"Can the old lady's hangover soup even be considered drinkable?"
Kobayashi-obaasan kicked Akira aside, took over tending to Tashiro-san, and said,
"Shut it, brat. Go wash up! And aren't you going for your run today? It's almost seven already."
"…It's already that late?"
He'd been talking with Tashiro-san so long that the whole morning had slipped away.
Akira didn't want to be late two days in a row—that would draw too much attention. So today, he'd have to break the morning run streak he'd kept up for nearly half a year.
Even though he didn't get his daily Futami Haruka big-thunder viewing, thanks to Tashiro-san, he'd gotten a much closer, more intimate kind of contact. His "lightning energy" reserves were practically overflowing.
A supreme, heart-soothing experience. He could get used to sleeping with such a soft, warm pillow of flesh every day…
No!
Stay faithful—he was a steadfast leg man!
Leaving Tashiro-san in Kobayashi-obaasan's care, Akira went to wash up. While brushing his teeth, he noticed that there was an extra set of cup and toothbrush on the sink.
Huh? Strange… did cups and toothbrushes reproduce?
Yeah right. Probably just Shion's new set.
Though—she'd gone and bought the exact same design as his…? Wasn't she afraid she'd mix them up herself?
If he didn't look closely, even he might confuse them. Luckily, the state of the bristles gave it away—one worn, one new—so the one on the left was definitely his.
He picked up his toothbrush, squeezed on toothpaste, and just then, Shion walked into the washroom, freshly awake.
She glanced at his toothbrush, came up beside him, picked up hers, and held it toward him—clearly asking him to squeeze toothpaste for her too.
Akira obliged. But as soon as he did, Shion shoved her toothbrush straight into his mouth, then snatched his toothbrush from his hand.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she began brushing her teeth with his toothbrush and, mid-brush, asked,
"Good morning, Akira-kun. You didn't come back to sleep last night, did you?"
"…"
Akira wasn't dense. He could tell—Shion seemed… a bit angry.
But… why? What reason?
It couldn't be that she somehow knew he'd spent the night with Tashiro-san holding onto him, right?
That didn't make sense. She'd been asleep by then, and he hadn't made any noise in Tashiro-san's room.
Or was she mad because she woke up and found him not in her bed this morning…? Akira really couldn't figure it out.
The truth was—Shion was upset because she'd been waiting for Akira to return to the room last night. She waited and waited… and eventually drifted off without realizing it.
At one point, she'd even thought—maybe Akira will still come back and sleep in my bed. That way, they'd be sharing a pillow, under the same blanket…
She knew he wouldn't make a move on her, but still—she'd looked forward to that back-to-back warmth. It felt like it would be nice.
Then she'd scolded herself for even thinking of such things—how shameless am I?—leaving her heart a tangled mess.
And then, waking in the morning to find he hadn't come back after all…
She thought maybe he'd slept on the sofa in the living room for her sake. That gentle consideration made her grateful—yet also disappointed.
It was like expecting your dad to come home with cake for your birthday… only to have him return empty-handed. That deep, crushing letdown.
You really didn't have to be so mindful of it… Aren't we already blanket-sharing good friends?
And given her naturally low blood pressure, mornings were already hard for her—so her mood inevitably soured.
"Oh, last night, when I went downstairs to put away my computer, I found Tashiro-san drunk out cold. So I took her back to her room…"
"And? Akira-kun, you didn't sleep in Tashiro-san's room, did you?"
"Uh…"
He wanted to deny it, but without an S-class [Soul Performance] talent, he couldn't keep a poker face. His thoughts showed plainly in his expression.
Seeing that awkward look only worsened Shion's mood. She grabbed his cup, filled it with water, swished it noisily in her mouth, then wiped her mouth with her arm.
She turned on the tap and splashed her face with cold water—mainly to cool her head and extinguish the nameless irritation in her chest.
She'd heard Tashiro-san retching earlier, so she knew the situation. She was willing to believe Akira had only stayed to take care of her, not to do anything inappropriate.
After all, she was the newcomer here. Akira had known Tashiro-san longer—it was perfectly normal for their relationship to be closer. Still… her chest felt tight and uncomfortable.
Is this… jealousy?
But… did she even have the right to be jealous?
Mothers got jealous because the object of jealousy was the father. But she and Akira were just friends…
"Huuhhh…!"
She let out a long exhale, as if to blow away her tangled thoughts and the stuffy feeling in her chest.
No point fretting over this nonsense. What she needed to do was focus on her voice acting practice. As long as she debuted early and earned big, Akira would naturally look at her more.
Akira just stood there brushing his teeth, slow and idle. When she finished washing her face, he handed her a towel.
"Thanks… So, Akira-kun, what's the plan for today?"
Looked like she'd smoothed her mood out.
Probably just morning temper.
"How's your foot?"
"No problem anymore."
"Then go running on your own later. Just follow yesterday's route."
"You're not coming with me?"
"Don't have time today. If I go running, I'll be late. Plus I'm a bit tired from staying up—didn't sleep till after three."
Seeing how exhausted he looked, Shion's irritation melted away more than half, replaced by a faint ache of concern.
Akira-kun was working so hard… she couldn't fall behind.
"Before I leave for school, I'll write you a program list. Just watch the anime that's airing on TV according to it—and record them too. They'll all be good practice material."
"Okay, got it."
"This time, just focus on enjoying them. Try to get a sense of your own preferences—what types you like, what you don't, what you can't get into at all. Like yesterday, take notes, and if you can, jot down some thoughts."
"Alright, I understand… That notebook—Akira-kun, you saw it, huh…"
Shion lowered her head, feigning a little shyness.
In truth, she'd been awake at that time—she'd only pretended not to know, so she could steer Akira into saying exactly what she wanted to hear.
Akira, playing right along, praised her handwritten notes.
"Yeah, those notes were excellent. I can see you really put effort into them. Your voice acting practice is making great progress. Very well done—keep it up."
"…Mm!"
In that instant, Shion's mood lifted completely, her energy restored by just one compliment from him.
If Akira could read her mind, he'd probably sigh—what an easy woman to please.
But the price for being "easy to please"… that, Akira had no idea about yet.
---
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