It was a strange... no, a familiar ceiling.
Erimi stared blankly at the ceiling above her. Her mind was a total vacuum; she couldn't remember what had happened or how she had even returned to the room. Right now, there was only one sound echoing in her skull: "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"
It wasn't someone else's voice. It was her own.
After drifting in a daze for a long while, Erimi finally recalled the memories her brain was desperately trying to purge—the insult that was more ultimate than the "Ultimate Insult." Although she tried to force it out of her mind, memory is a mischievous thing; the more you want to forget, the deeper it carves itself into your psyche. Those moments of embarrassment so intense they are etched into your DNA can make your skin crawl with shame even decades later.
And for Erimi, it hadn't been decades. It hadn't even been forty-eight hours.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Erimi buried her face under her pillow, screaming into the fabric. Yesterday morning, being played with by Sagiri in front of Emily was one thing, but last night... last night, in front of Emily and everyone else, she had been inspected by Master. She had been "checked" until she lost her mind, squirted everywhere, and let out those ridiculous moans before passing out.
"Explode, reality..."
"Shatter, world..."
Erimi muttered small curses into her pillow.
"What kind of nonsense are you babbling?"
"Eeek!!!!"
Rin's voice rang out right next to her ear. Erimi let out a startled yelp, reflexively clutching the pillow to her chest and shrinking into the corner of the bed. After swallowing hard, she slowly lowered the pillow, revealing her scarlet, burning cheeks.
"Ma... Master... about last night..."
"Last night? You passed out while I was inspecting your ass, so I carried you back. Does it still hurt? If it does, I'll take you to the hospital."
Erimi clenched her sphincter experimentally. There was no pain, no stiffness—it felt perfectly normal.
"I think I'm okay."
"I see. Since you're fine, get up and pack your bags. We're heading back."
"Ah... okay." Looking at Rin, who was acting as if nothing had happened, Erimi felt a bit dazed. It was as if that ultimate humiliation from last night hadn't even occurred.
"By the way, since you call me Master now, do you want to join my studio?"
"Eh... you mean Baummkuchen? Sure, no problem." Erimi blinked, then nodded.
"Good. Then get packed."
"Master!" Erimi called out to Rin as he turned to leave. She looked at his face, her words caught in her throat. "Master, did you... did you do all of that for Emily?"
Facing Erimi's direct question, Rin nodded without a hint of hesitation.
"If it wasn't for Fairy, who would bother doing so much for a girl with no tits and no ass?" Rin paused. "Fairy treats you as her best friend, but... only as a best friend. She doesn't want to reach a point where you two can't even be friends anymore."
Rin figured Erimi had reached a point of total acceptance. After having her heart broken and then suffering the ultimate humiliation at Rin's hands while Fairy watched, Erimi had lost any right to play the "male" role in front of her idol.
Looking at Rin, Erimi's expression was complex. Even though Rin had done terrible things to her, he had done them for Fairy's sake. Erimi found she couldn't truly hate him for it. If Master had told her about Emily's plan in secret... she might have even cooperated with them. After all, it was for Emily. She knew there was no room for her to interfere in that relationship anymore.
However...
Erimi's blue eyes flickered as she stared at Rin. While there was no room with Emily, Master was so promiscuous that there seemed to be plenty of room on his side. A wicked thought formed in her mind.
Since Emily had gone to such extreme lengths to break her heart... then it wouldn't be too much if she stole her man, right?
"Master, I have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Amelia Almeria. Remember it, Master. My name is Amelia Almeria."
It was Sunday, and Ami and the others had school the next day. With the situation with Erimi settled, there was no reason to stay on the island.
"I'm back—"
When Rin returned home in the afternoon, he was cut off by an angry shout before he could even finish his sentence.
"You bastard! Where the hell have you been the last few days!?"
The voice came first, then the person. A second later, Nino appeared in a black T-shirt and loose shorts. The thin shorts and short-sleeved top were clearly her loungewear. It seemed the sisters had been staking out his place all weekend, or perhaps even moved in waiting for him.
"Well..." Rin blinked. "Hehe?"
"Stop playing dumb!"
Rin walked toward the living room. There, four pink-haired girls in light summer clothes were sitting around the coffee table, giggling and waving at him. Beside them, Nanami pushed up her glasses awkwardly, pretending she hadn't noticed him. The table was covered in homework and textbooks; Nanami was clearly tutoring them.
"Rare to see all five of you together. Ichika, don't you have class? Yotsuba, what about the track club?" Rin shrunk back playfully.
Seeing Rin acting so terrified, Ichika wanted to laugh, but she knew he was just putting on an act to let Nino vent her frustration.
"Yotsuba and I are off today, so we came over. You look a bit tanned. Did you go to the beach?"
"Yeah, the beach... wait, Nino, don't hit me!"
Seeing Ichika play along with Rin's act, Nino swung her fist and punched Rin in the shoulder.
"Hmph..." Nino glared at him. "Ichika, you knew he had other women and you kept it from us! You let us get tricked!"
"Eh... I told Miku, though." Ichika blinked innocently.
"Miku! Speak!"
Finding the target moved to her, Miku didn't back down. "I wanted to tell you, but Nino, you said we should keep it from Ichika. You said if he didn't pass your 'test,' we wouldn't tell her. So I waited for him to pass... but you're so stubborn you won't just accept him even when you went easy on him during the test."
"That's right, that's right~" Yotsuba added with a grin. "It's all because Nino is too tsundere. Otherwise, we would have known ages ago."
"Ha? My fault?" Nino's lip twitched. "I came here to interrogate him, and you traitors are pinning everything on me!"
Nearby, Itsuki sighed. To her, studying was more important. She couldn't be bothered with their drama. Anyway... she was his "good daughter." If her grades were good, she knew she'd get a reward later.
Nino couldn't win against Ichika, Miku, and Yotsuba combined. Frustrated, she turned her fury back on Rin. "Hey! You! Tell us! Why did you come after us when you're already involved with so many girls!?"
Ichika didn't help; she just watched Rin with a smile. Miku and Yotsuba also wanted the answer.
"Because... Nino is Number One in the World!"
Rin finished the sentence in his head: But Kaede and Rin are the Heaven!
"Ha? Wh-what are you saying!" Faced with such a direct strike, Nino's face turned bright red, leaving her no room to see through his little trick.
Ichika giggled. Nino is number one? Then who is 'Heaven'?
"Ichika is number one, Miku is number one, Yotsuba is number one, Itsuki is number one, and Nanami is number one too."
Nanami, who had been focused on her work, couldn't help but snort with laughter, though she kept her head down to pretend it didn't happen.
"..." Nino was speechless. She didn't know how to complain, so she just glared at Rin, stomped hard on his toe, and sat back down at the table.
In truth, Nino was just making a show of her attitude. They weren't like Kaede and Rin—they wouldn't just allow him to be with other girls. They wanted to snatch him all for themselves!
"Alright, alright, do your homework." Rin patted Nino's head, but she swatted his hand away.
"If you all pass at least two subjects in the next exam, I'll give you a reward." With that, Rin fled to his room like he was escaping a crime scene.
Nino didn't chase him. She started studying seriously. Though she was jealous, she had thought it through. Him having other women had a silver lining. If it were just an internal struggle between the five sisters, they might end up hating each other. But with common enemies outside, the five of them would be forced to stay united.
Still... studying came first. Even that idiot Yotsuba had a chance at university; she couldn't fall behind!
Upstairs, Rin stretched his back. With Fairy's situation settled, he didn't have many plans for the immediate future. He needed to focus on the club's business.
First was the most important deadline. He checked the calendar; he still had some time, so there was no rush. Then there was the voice acting and BGM for Eriri's game. The release was set for Winter Comiket, about two months away. Given the time needed for disk burning and printing, they had to finish by the end of this semester.
Nanami could find the time, but Hitori and the others were entering a music festival, and he didn't know when the auditions were.
More importantly, the staff at Baumkuchen was growing. To get things on track, they couldn't just keep meeting sporadically. Especially the ones who wanted to be professional manga artists—they needed a place to interact and work together.
So, the next step was to find an office big enough for everyone.