When the two sisters returned home, only Nakano Yotsuba and Nakano Itsuki were in the living room. Nakano Miku was holed up in the bedroom, as usual.
"Huh? How come you two came back together?" Nakano Yotsuba asked first, hopping up curiously, her bright eyes carefully inspecting the pair.
Nakano Itsuki, currently stuffing her mouth with Shirase's homemade cookies, vaguely mumbled while chewing, "I remember Nino said she was going out with Shirase-kun, and Ichika said she had work… So why are you two returning together?"
Nino blushed and couldn't respond, still caught up in Ichika's earlier teasing.
Ichika, however, responded naturally, smiling calmly. "Nino and I talked it over and decided to kick Shirase-kun out midway so we could have some quality sister-bonding time."
"You can do something like that?" Yotsuba genuinely believed it, shocked.
Itsuki paused mid-snack, saying flatly, "If you two really did that, Shirase-kun is way too pitiful. And that's really unfair to him."
Ever since accepting Shirase's snacks, Itsuki was more than willing to speak up for him.
"Yeah, everyone knows Shirase-kun likes Nino!" Yotsuba nodded vigorously.
Nino's face burned hotter. Say whatever you want, but stop dragging me into it! Do I look like such an easy target?!
"All right, don't overthink it, I was just joking," Ichika stopped teasing, satisfied with the results.
Under Yotsuba's muttered protests of "Ichika's so mean—lying like that," Nino hurried back to her room and locked the door.
She collapsed onto the bed, sprawling like a salted fish.
Though her posture was lazy, her restless eyes told another story.
After a long pause, she suddenly shot upright, grabbed her phone, and scrolled to Shirase's number.
Could he really have been holding himself back all along?
Recalling Ichika's words again, her cheeks began to burn once more.
"It's not impossible, considering that guy's a pervert…" she murmured shyly, glancing unconsciously at her slender, shapely legs.
She still vividly remembered Shirase's teasing request—that day he joked about her putting on black stockings and heels and stepping on him.
Though she knew he'd said it in jest, sometimes true thoughts slipped out through careless jokes.
Holding her phone, Nino stared down at her legs beneath the skirt. Her white thigh-highs snugly wrapped around her delicate feet, slender ankles curving elegantly upwards into well-proportioned calves, continuing up past the hem of her skirt to her full, smooth thighs and the alluring curves of her hips—the pride of her youthful figure.
With a body this good, wouldn't it be normal if he had certain thoughts…?
Face flushed pink, lips gently bitten, Nino's eyes filled with a girl's unique blend of hesitation and embarrassment.
She hesitated for a full five seconds before opening the camera app and aiming it at her legs, pressing the shutter button.
Click.
With the shutter sound, she captured a photo of her beautiful legs.
She didn't immediately send it, instead first messaging Shirase:
[You lied last time about only liking black stockings.]
Within ten seconds, her phone buzzed with a reply.
[Shirase]:You figured it out already? That's right—black stockings, white stockings, nude stockings—I love them all equally.
Nino smiled, holding back laughter as she typed: [So you're actually such a playboy? I misjudged you. I was even thinking of giving you a small reward, but now I've changed my mind.]
[Shirase]:Rewards aren't important. What's important is satisfying my curiosity—what exactly was this reward going to be?
"Here he goes again."
Nino giggled softly, hesitating a few more seconds before finally sending over that photo of her legs, face flushed with embarrassment.
After sending, she suddenly became nervous, eyes fixed anxiously on her screen, eagerly awaiting Shirase's reaction.
Yet, three whole minutes passed. Shirase's usually quick replies had seemingly been paused completely; the phone remained quiet.
Nino felt an inexplicable anxiety, like waiting endlessly after messaging someone she deeply cared about.
Just as she contemplated calling him directly, Shirase finally responded.
Quickly glancing at the message, she froze on the spot.
[Shirase]:The lighting in that photo was kinda bad. Can you take another one?
[Nakano Nino]:Get lost!
...
Holding his phone, Shirase muttered regretfully, "What a pity. I couldn't get another picture…"
...
On Sunday, Shirase was at home studying as usual, using [Fixed Hosting].
In the afternoon, he and Kojima Kana went as promised to Kirisu Mafuyu's place, prepared to tackle the dreaded "Cockroach Dungeon."
Although mentally prepared before entering, Shirase still fell completely silent upon seeing the indescribably chaotic state of the apartment.
Standing awkwardly beside him was Kirisu-sensei, dressed in her old, shabby tracksuit, cheeks flushed bright red in embarrassment.
Kana, anticipating this mess, smoothly tried to diffuse the tension. "All right, Shirase-kun, don't just stand there frozen. We're counting on you."
Surveying the living room, resembling a literal garbage dump, Shirase slowly muttered, "Kirisu-sensei is truly… unfathomable. Impressive, really impressive."
Mafuyu's face instantly went scarlet.
It's over. His impression of me has definitely collapsed now.
Humiliation. Absolute humiliation!
Fortunately, Shirase tactfully said nothing further, put on a mask, and activated [Fixed Hosting] to start cleaning.
That was the convenience of hosting mode—tedious tasks like cleaning became incredibly easy and automatic.
Kana had suited up thoroughly beforehand, but knowing there might be cockroaches lurking around, she didn't dare launch into full-scale cleanup mode like Shirase.
She cautiously moved garbage around with Mafuyu, trembling with every action, terrified that some monstrous cockroach, described by Shirase as "big as a baby's fist," might suddenly fly out.
While automatically tidying under hosting mode, Shirase's attention never wandered. He kept carefully inspecting the living room—
Until he suddenly spotted a cockroach darting out from beneath the messy sofa. He immediately grabbed a broom and swung precisely through the air. The insect plummeted downward as if shot down, landing motionless on the floor.
A mere cockroach dares show off in front of me?
Exiting [Fixed Hosting], Shirase prepared to remove the cockroach manually.
But the instant he noticed a second roach rapidly scuttling across the floor, two shrill screams erupted behind him.
Before he could react, he felt a trembling arm wrap tightly around his own—
It was Kana, shaking in terror.
Chuckling slightly, Shirase began to reassure her, "Kana-nee, could you please let go of me—Wait, wha—?"
Before finishing, a heavy weight suddenly pressed against his back.
Kirisu Mafuyu had panicked and jumped onto him.
Yet the real issue wasn't this—it was that, in her frightened confusion, Mafuyu's arms had wrapped tightly around Shirase's neck.
A naked choke?!
This was unmistakably a naked choke!
Kirisu-sensei is applying a naked choke on me?!
Caught completely off-guard, Shirase found himself physically, genuinely choking for air.
---
T/N: RIP Shirase... he's dead