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Waking up in the morning, it looks like Ame has yet to return. Looking for her shoes, it’s still not here either. Looks like she sent me a message, though.

‘Heading back after sleeping a bit.’

It’s currently 7 am, meanwhile this was sent late 6 am. Depending on who provided her a place to sleep, I might need to interrogate Nagatsuki. I don’t believe he’s assertive enough to pull something that bold.

“Now then, it’s my first free day in a while. What to do…”

I came home late yesterday, and the concert was also exhausting, so I took a break from my part time job. I don’t have any prior commitments either, so I’m a bit at a loss with my idle time.

“Now that I think about it, when was the last time I had a free day to myself?”

Ani has been constantly dragged around by other people, if he isn’t causing chaos himself, so I don’t really think we’ve had many peaceful free days.

“I guess I can take a stroll, eat on the way, or watch a movie or so.”

It’ll be fun to mess with my bodyguards, but I shouldn’t do that in the middle of summer. I’d rather not prank them to the point of getting sweaty myself. Getting sweaty, tired, and scolded aren’t things I want for my free day.

“It isn’t bad to walk aimlessly once in a while.”

It’s nice to have days like these occasionally. Because of Ani and Ane, most of my activities have been outside of my control. It’s rare for me to have complete freedom. Though it might cause some anxiety for my bodyguards.

“Where should I go?”

Right now, most stores are still closed, so I suppose I’ll snoop around for information first. Like which movies are currently screening, or if there’s any trending places right now. With just a single smartphone, you can look up anything.

“Okay, let’s go. Time for some fun alone time!”

Just as I excitedly opened the door, I realized that my free day has come to an end. There were two drowsy-looking seniors with bags under their eyes waiting for me outside.

“All locked. Now then.”
“Oi, oi. Don’t you think it’s rude to ignore our existence?”
“We’re the MVPs this time, you hear?”
“You guys just meddled on your own. More importantly, I’m going out now, so no resting at my place.”

Frankly, I have no idea why they came. Rather than coming to my place, it would’ve been better for them to go straight home and rest. Unless they have something else in mind.

“Fufufu, are you sure you want to say that? We carry valuable information, you know?”
“We’ve burned into our eyes information you have no way of knowing.”
“You can’t call that information accurate, making it worthless.”
“Don’t worry, it’s all captured on the phone, too.”

Apparently, there’s information I’d love to know within the smartphone they’re dangling in front of me. If so, then that information must be regarding what happened between Ame and Nagatsuki. Moreover, if it’s recorded in image or video format, then there’s value in seeing it.

“No choice then. You can accompany me today.”
“Eh? Shouldn’t this be the part where you’d let us in?”
“Where are we going? Karaoke?”

One shows total exhaustion, while the other is showing feigning liveliness. I’m absolutely sure that Aya will fall eventually. Meanwhile, Hadzuki is practically a step away from falling asleep. I have a hunch that it’ll be extremely exhausting to hang out with them.

“Who’d go to the karaoke this early in the morning? My plan is to first go to the movie theatre.”
“This girl, she’s planning to have us knocked out and leave.”
“True. Exhausted in a theater? Anyone would fall asleep.”

I don’t really have that intention. You guys just forced yourself into my schedule. If I had to accommodate for these tag-alongs, I won’t be able to enjoy myself.

“Should I go for a sappy love story?”
“Sleep inevitable.”
“Kotone, you like those sorts of movies?”
“Hmm, I’m not really particular as long as it’s interesting. That’s my stance for romance movies. I think I like action and horror more.”
“I expected action, but horror is somewhat a surprise.”
“Ah, you do seem horror resistant. Are you fine with gore, too?”
“If it’s too graphic, I’d probably avoid meat for lunch.”

There are some families that deliberately train for resistance. That guy, for example, can casually eat lunch while watching surgery scenes and thrillers. Having physical and mental fortitude that way is crazy.

“The car is nice and all, but how’s the drowsiness thing going?”
“I’m on the verge of falling asleep.”
“Can we play some loud noise in the background?”

Not good, it seems. When you force yourself to stay awake after an all-nighter, the sleepiness gets you every now and then. Especially during idle time.

“So, how much did the two progress?”
“Can I even call that progress?”
“In my opinion, Nagatsuki was dawdling too much, it really annoyed me.”

As expected, I guess. On the other hand, these two crashing the party might have helped in some ways. This does consequently add more burden on me, but I’ll invoice Nagatsuki for this.

“Ame was pretty adaptable.”
“Being Kotone’s best friend, it was nice that she didn’t hold back against us twelve families.”
“During childhood, we were close enough to get into physical confrontations.”
“ “Eh??” ”

The two expressed surprise, but Ane was still afflicted with her father complex that time, so it couldn’t be helped. Besides, we were still children who didn’t care about social status, so we could have fights. I wonder if it’s still the same now.

“C’mon, let me see some pics or videos while we’re on our way.”
“You won’t run off with the phone and leave us in the dust, will you?”
“If I do that, you’d chase me down, wouldn’t you?”
“ “Naturally.” ”

Why are they so in sync in situations like this? Just when I thought I could freely wander outdoors by myself, they arbitrarily tag along and will even chase me if I try to run. I’d hate that. In that case, I’d rather have them tag along.

“First off, this one.”
“That’s a stiff looking smile.”

One has a beaming smile, while the other has a lousy forced smile. By all means, Nagatsuki should be skilled at controlling his facial expression as well.

“And it’s like this the whole time. Moreover, conversations wouldn’t last long.”
“He’s beyond awkward; practically turned introvert, hasn’t he?”
“It was really funny seeing how flustered he was only towards Amelia. At first, that is.”
“When we realized that this would continue on forever, we decided to take action.”

I see. In that case, Ame probably took sole initiative in conversations until the seniors came in. I’m starting to doubt if she could even see it as a date.

“So, what did you do?”
“Obviously, we enlivened the mood by all means.”
“After bringing them to the karaoke, that is. We had them sing, talked about Nagatsuki’s embarrassing stories and your escapades, doing all we could.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”

I honestly have to appreciate their efforts. They did good work staying up all night just to help the two connect. No, actually, why did they even stay up all night torturing themselves?

“After all that, things finally progressed enough that they could maintain a conversation.”
“Could they really become lovers before summer break ends?”
“We’d love to know that too.”

The three of us let out a heavy sigh. There’s not a lot of problems that can stump the three of us together like this. To think that the twelve family’s flaws can be this difficult to deal with.

“Lastly, this one.”
“They seem comfortable with each other.”

Seeing the photo of the two sleeping shoulder to shoulder with each other, it appears there is solid progress, but for some reason, something feels fishy to me. I turned my gaze to the two seniors and they damn turned their whole head away from me.

“You’ve really done it now.”
“Well, I thought it would be a waste not to have photo evidence.”
“We’re honestly desperate to bring home some sort of victory, you know.”

In other words, this intimate cuddle photo was a forgery made by pushing the two close after they fell asleep. How do I even begin to explain this to Ame?

“Please don’t just conjure up a bomb at the last moment.”
“After an all-nighter without significant progress, we were losing heart, you know?”
“I really wanted to smack Nagatsuki.”

I’m conflicted on whether I should let these two stay involved with Nagatsuki’s romance or not. Sure, they did catalyse some progress, but it may have also caused some unwanted ramifications.

“Okay, let’s forget about this for now and just enjoy the day!”
“There it is, typical Kotone escapism.”
“You’re going to see Amelia when you return home, anyway.”

Shut up. If I don’t do this, I won’t be able to last. After this, we chose a random movie to see and, as expected, the two fell fast asleep. I was able to focus on the movie, so it’s all good.

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