The evening air was cool.
Taking a deep breath gave the feeling that even one's lungs and stomach were being washed clean. Looking at the sunset outside the window, watching people gradually make their way home, and eating dinner at a little past six in the evening should have been something truly relaxing.
It should have been, anyway...
"Why is Tazuna-san in Onii-sama's room?"
"Obviously to take care of greedy little Chiya."
"Normally, that kind of thing should be left to Rice. Thank you for troubling yourself, Tazuna-san, so from here on, please leave it to Rice."
"Hehe... It really seems like Rice loves her 'brother,' doesn't she? But in the end, you're only a 'little sister.' I'm much more suited to helping Chiya manage his room."
The two of them sat on either side of Fujiwara Chiya.
Even though their tone sounded no different from usual, every single word made Chiya's heart pound in terror.
He felt like his hands were being crushed beneath two hydraulic presses, totally unable to break free. If either of them applied just a little more force, he really might end up split cleanly in half.
Who could possibly care about the faint softness pressing against him in a situation like this? Great misfortune. This is great misfortune, Fukukitaru!
"Onii-sama, would you like to try the sweets Rice made? Rice adjusted the flavor specially for Onii-sama." Rice Shower smiled with complete innocence.
"What a coincidence. I just made something in the kitchen too. Why not try it, Chiya? It's still warm." Hayakawa Tazuna's expression remained as gentle and beautiful as ever.
Only their grip kept getting tighter.
A little lighter, please. I'm just a pitiful, weak little human. I really can't handle being tossed around like this. The muscles Fujiwara Chiya had once been proud of were about as useful as balloons in front of the two of them. Forget resisting. At this point, all he wanted was for them not to kill him.
Looking at the sweets being held out in front of him, Fujiwara Chiya's survival instinct exploded into action.
"...I think sweets are best when the flavors are more complex. And I haven't eaten dinner yet anyway."
He opened his mouth and bit both sweets at the same time. The speed, the precision, it was practically professional.
"My, my, so impatient, Chiya."
"Onii-sama, Rice's sweets are delicious, right?"
Looking at the eerie darkness gathering in their eyes, Fujiwara Chiya let out an awkward laugh.
Meanwhile, while Fujiwara Chiya was practically being tortured, Fujiwara Shirayuki was not sitting idle either. She hurriedly pulled out her phone and started sending messages.
As the saying went, even if you had never eaten pork, you had at least seen pigs run. Although Fujiwara Chiya had never experienced a love-triangle battlefield in his life, based on his vast viewing experience, he knew that in a situation like this, all it took was one person barging into the room to end the match.
That person also needed to be someone emotionally unrelated to the conflict, someone whose arrival would not make things worse.
Shirayuki switched her account to Chiya's and sent a message into the trainers' group chat:
[SOS, SOS, room, save me, now!]
Then she followed it up with another stream of SOS signals.
A few seconds later, several question marks popped up in the chat.
[Come to my room. Hurry hurry hurry!]
[Not going.]
[Busy.]
[Say what it is first.]
These people!
Fujiwara Shirayuki was furious enough to want to curse them out.
Usually they were all over the place, showing up constantly, but at the critical moment none of them could be relied upon. Seeing how stubborn everyone was being, Fujiwara Shirayuki directly sent Yota a message instead.
[Room. Come now!]
But Katsumura Yota, who was sitting at his computer and getting heated in the middle of a match, glanced at it and tossed his phone aside.
Brothers were nothing compared to teammates.
These guys really are trash!
Half a day passed with no response, and Fujiwara Shirayuki almost crushed her phone in anger.
Luckily, someone did see the messages and came to Fujiwara Chiya's room.
"Hey, Chiya, what's up? Spit it out."
Nishizaki Ryu knocked on the door from outside.
The instant he heard someone had come, Fujiwara Chiya felt all the tension leave his body. It was like the revolution had finally succeeded.
"I'll go open the door." Wearing a look of relief, Fujiwara Chiya tried to stand up and asked the two of them to let go.
But both Hayakawa Tazuna and Rice Shower still held tightly onto him.
"Hearing the way Nishizaki Ryu talks... it sounds like Chiya called him over."
"That's right. Onii-sama is always spending time with those trainers. There's hardly any time left as it is."
At that moment, the two of them seemed to have formed a united front, working together to stop the enemy trainer from entering. Two small, pale hands clamped firmly over Fujiwara Chiya's mouth.
"Chiya? If you're in there, make a sound."
Nishizaki Ryu tried the door handle twice and found that the door was locked from the inside.
The little bastard's not even home.
Thinking he had been toyed with, Nishizaki Ryu stormed off angrily.
Listening to the footsteps gradually recede, Fujiwara Chiya's face went gray.
Has it occurred to no one that I might be tied up in here, unable to move or make a sound?
"Looks like the troublesome one is gone." Hayakawa Tazuna's smile sent a chill down the spine.
"Onii-sama, Rice will make dinner for you." Rice Shower's voice made Fujiwara Chiya's back go cold.
He suddenly remembered hearing once about some poor soul in ancient times who had been torn apart by five Uma Musume. Was he about to meet the same end?
Once the two of them finally took their hands off him, Fujiwara Chiya swallowed hard.
Ring ring ring...
Just as Fujiwara Chiya was about to use his trump card and summon Shirayuki over, a phone began ringing at the perfect possible moment.
Fujiwara Chiya looked delighted. Tilting his chin, he pointed toward the phone on the table.
"...I should answer that. It might be something from the Director."
"The Director?"
"Mm. It might be work."
Hayakawa Tazuna frowned slightly, but in the end, she let go. Not answering the Director's calls would be troublesome, and the last thing she wanted was for Akikawa Yayoi to show up and interfere.
Seeing Tazuna release him, Rice Shower also chose not to push the matter. She had only been clinging to Chiya out of spite. Sneaking into Onii-sama's room and stealing away her usual role in taking care of him was absolutely shameless home invasion behavior.
Rice strongly condemned it.
Standing a short distance away, Fujiwara Chiya picked up the phone. At least for now, there was no need to call Shirayuki for rescue anymore.
"Hello?" Fujiwara Chiya said, his voice full of gratitude.
"Chiya, did you miss me, Chiya!?"
A rough man's voice thundered out of the receiver.
"Dad!?"
Fujiwara Chiya shouted. Over on the sofa, Rice Shower and Hayakawa Tazuna, who had been glaring intensely at each other, both perked up and turned their ears this way.
"How've you been lately, Chiya? Doing alright?"
"I'm okay... More importantly, Dad, why are you suddenly calling? Weren't you overseas with Mom?"
"We came back half a month ago. We were thinking of coming to see you. Got time?"
"I've got time... Are you coming to Tracen?"
The moment those words were spoken, Hayakawa Tazuna stood up immediately.
"Of course. I'll check whether Tracen has any events coming up. If it's open to the public, we'll come on that day."
"Alright."
There would be an internal mock race before too long, and spectators would be invited in for it.
"Oh, right. I heard you've got a cousin now. Something like... Fujiwara Shirayuki? Whose child is that?"
Boom.
Fujiwara Chiya felt like he had been struck by lightning.
Not a sound came out of him.
"Chiya? Hello? Did the line cut out..."
Fujiwara Chiya silently ended the call.
Rice Shower and Hayakawa Tazuna had somehow come up right behind him.
"Chiya, I need to speak to the Director about something. I'll come see you another day."
She needed to tell Akikawa Yayoi about this.
"Onii-sama, Rice... Rice also has something to take care of."
She needed to go ask a friend what one was supposed to do when meeting the parents.
The two of them hurriedly left the room.
Fujiwara Chiya was left sitting silently on the sofa, covering his face with both hands.
The battlefield had been resolved.
But now there was an even more important problem.
How exactly am I supposed to explain Shirayuki to my parents?