The cheerful atmosphere in the living room drifted upstairs.
Eriri, who was in her room, heard it and stepped out, a little curious.
As soon as she came downstairs, she saw Tanaka Masao and Sawamura Sayuri sitting in the living room watching TV, laughing from time to time.
Eriri walked over, sat down, and asked Tanaka Masao,
"It's pretty late—aren't you going home?"
"I'm not going back today. I'm staying over."
Sawamura Sayuri chimed in immediately, "That's right. I asked Tanaka-kun to stay. He's been out all day and worked hard—going back now would be exhausting."
"Oh, I see."
Eriri nodded and didn't say much more.
She turned her attention to the TV just as a face with an over-the-top reaction suddenly filled the screen, startling her.
"Whoa! What is that?"
"A prank variety show. Eriri, you should watch too—it's really funny," Sawamura Sayuri suggested, hoping it would help her relax.
"What's so interesting about this kind of thing?"
...
Two minutes and thirty seconds later.
"Hahahaha—this is hilarious! That random guy has it way too rough!"
Leaning back on the sofa, Eriri laughed loudly at the screen, tears even forming at the corners of her eyes.
After calming down for a while, she finally stopped laughing, wiped her tears, and said,
"This prank is way too funny. I have no idea how the staff comes up with this stuff. I kinda want to try it too."
Hearing that, Sawamura Sayuri's eyes lit up, her excitement obvious.
"Oh? You think so too, Eriri? Honestly, Mom's been wanting to try something like that as well."
The mother and daughter exchanged a glance, then—without any need for coordination—both turned their eyes toward Tanaka Masao.
Tanaka Masao, who had been happily watching the drama unfold, suddenly realized he had become the target and shivered.
With his survival instincts kicking into overdrive, he quickly spoke up,
"Pranks only work if they catch someone off guard. Now that I know your plan, it's already useless."
Eriri nodded. "Yeah… when you put it that way, that's true."
Seeing Eriri seemingly give up, Tanaka Masao finally let out a sigh of relief—but before he could fully relax, another voice spoke up.
"Who says knowing about a prank beforehand makes it boring? If anything, it makes it even better.
You're on guard the whole time, completely focused, super alert—yet you still get pranked anyway. That reaction would be even more priceless."
Eriri's eyes sparkled.
"Oh, you're right."
Her interest was completely reignited.
She turned toward Tanaka Masao with a wicked grin.
"Hehehe… Tanaka-kun, are you ready?"
"Don't come any closer!"
Tanaka Masao felt like he'd read this exact scenario in a doujin before—just… why were the genders reversed this time?
...
In the end, the scenario Tanaka Masao had expected—being reverse-pushed—never happened.
Tanaka Masao: [It's not like I was really expecting it or anything.]
After joking around for a while, all three were in high spirits. As the sky grew darker, dinner was finally ready.
Sitting at the dining table, Tanaka Masao wasn't sure whether the Sawamura household usually ate like this, or if it was because they had a guest.
Staring at the lavish spread in front of him, he couldn't help swallowing.
Personally, he leaned toward the idea that these dishes were specially prepared for him.
After all, judging by the figures of Sawamura Eriri and Sawamura Sayuri, their everyday meals were probably much lighter.
"Itadakimasu."
All three said it together, then began eating.
According to Yukinoshita Yukino's diet plan, Tanaka Masao was allowed one cheat meal over the weekend.
He decided to use that chance right now.
Watching Tanaka Masao bury his head in his food, clearly extremely satisfied, Sawamura Sayuri smiled.
During the meal, none of them spoke.
Whether it was because he hadn't eaten anything this good in a long time, or because training had increased his appetite—
More than half the food on the table ended up in Tanaka Masao's stomach.
He patted his round belly, thoroughly content.
Seeing him like this, Eriri couldn't help complaining,
"You look like someone who hasn't eaten in ages."
Tanaka Masao let out a burp, paused for a moment, then replied,
"I've been dieting recently, so I've been pretty strict with my meals."
Eriri blinked. "Dieting? You mean starving yourself? Wouldn't that just undo all your effort?"
Sawamura Sayuri added seriously, "Tanaka-kun, extreme dieting isn't a good method. It's bad for your health, and you won't be able to keep it up."
"I know. I'm not starving myself."
Tanaka Masao nodded. "I'm losing weight through exercise. I just usually eat pretty light. This is my only cheat meal this week."
Eriri asked, somewhat puzzled, "Exercise? Can you really keep that up?"
Even though she had a great figure, she'd tried dieting before herself—and whether it was food restriction or exercise, she'd never been able to stick with it.
Hearing that, Tanaka Masao felt a little offended.
"Eriri, don't underestimate my willpower. I've been training two hours every day—and I've kept it up for a whole week."
"That's impressive."
Eriri was genuinely surprised. She hadn't expected Tanaka Masao to work out that long every day, let alone stick with it for a week.
That made her curious.
"So why did you suddenly decide to lose weight? Did something motivate you?"
Before Tanaka Masao could answer, Sawamura Sayuri—having misunderstood and assumed he was doing it to pursue Eriri—spoke up first.
"It's for his health. Being too overweight isn't good for the body, right, Tanaka-kun?"
As she spoke, Sawamura Sayuri winked at him, as if saying,
[Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you're dieting because you want to chase Eriri.]
Seeing her wink, Tanaka Masao was a bit confused, but he still nodded.
"That's right."
"I see. Well, good luck with it then."
Eriri didn't think much of it and offered a casual word of encouragement.
After resting for a while, the three of them watched some more TV.
Before they knew it, it was getting late—it was time to head back to their rooms.
As the guest, Tanaka Masao was invited to use the bath first.
Even though the Sawamura family was well-off, the bathwater in their tub was shared in turns.
Partly for saving resources, and partly because it was usually just the mother and daughter bathing—there was no need to change it every time.
Watching Tanaka Masao head toward the bathroom, Eriri flashed her fang in warning.
"Don't do anything weird in the bathtub. If something happens, I won't forgive you."
All three present were seasoned adults—everyone understood exactly what she meant.
Tanaka Masao felt both embarrassed and indignant.
"I'm not going to do anything like that!"
Entering the bathroom, Tanaka Masao looked at the bathtub.
He shook his head—there was no way he'd do something like that in there.
...
In the end, Tanaka Masao didn't leave anything behind in the bathtub.
He didn't even soak—he just took a quick shower.
Having transmigrated here, Tanaka Masao simply didn't have the habit of taking baths.
When he came out of the bathroom in under ten minutes, the Sawamura mother and daughter exclaimed at the same time,
"Hayaaai! (That was fast!)"
"That's a perfectly normal speed!"
...
Nothing happened that night.
The next morning, after having breakfast at Eriri's house, Tanaka Masao took his leave.