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There is nothing more bothersome than guests who don’t want to leave. However, my apartment is not a business establishment, so even if I tell them to leave, I’m sure that they will refuse. Even if I try to force them out, with their numbers, there is no chance of me winning. In other words, I’m cornered.

“To differentiate you from Kotone, I’ll be calling you Kisaragi.”
“I think I’ll go with Kotonen. What about you, Kaoru?”
“For me, I will still call her Kotone. I don’t intend to differentiate between the two. For me, you are still my precious junior.”
“I genuinely appreciate your existence as the conscience of the group.”

I’m absolutely sure that Shimotsuki will want to toy with me. And it doesn’t look like Hadzuki is finished asking questions. So I’m really grateful that Kishita exists as the good sense and conscience of this group.

“Kisaragi, since you have consistently used “he” when referring to Kotone, I suppose he’s a masculine aspect of you. To think that you have such a side.”
“He’s not an aspect of me. He’s a personality born from my wishes and aspirations.”
“Oooh?”

Why does Shimotsuki appear curious all of a sudden? Hadzuki seems to be silently pondering something, but Shimotsuki is quickly closing the physical distance between us. If I try to escape, as long as I’m in this room, I’ll still be cornered eventually.

“It’s your fault for looking like a maiden in love, Kotone. Now I’m getting a bit interested.”
“Did I really have that kind of look?”
“Yes, it was as if you were thinking about your true first love.”

Who’s to say? I was still too young back then to understand what romantic love is. Not that I can admit to understanding it at present. Rather, I’d rather step away from that kind of love right now. And yet, because of Mister, we’re forced to take on the role of cupid for someone else’s love.

‘No no, that was pretty much an accident on my end too, okay?’
‘That might be true, but why do you always seem to attract those sorts of problems?’
‘You’re saying that as if it’s solely my fault, but maybe you also have some part to play in it, you know?’

That’s impossible. If I were in Mister’s place, Akane would have never been interested… No, she would. She said she took a liking to me after seeing my sleeping face. But as I can’t cook, our current relationship should be improbable.

‘No, Akane would probably frequent this room even without the cooking. And naturally, that’d lead to Shizuru coming as well.’
‘So even if it were me, the principal might have still requested help regardless.’

How can this be? So there would still have been no escape? Moreover, if it came as a request from one of the twelve families, I would have been unable to refuse it all the more. This is strange; I shouldn’t even be a troublemaker like Mister…

‘Rather, don’t you have anything to say about the first love thing, Mister?’
‘Not really; you’re free to love who you want. Besides, you’re not really sure that it’s romantic love, right?’
‘That’s right. I don’t really know if I was in love with you or not.’
‘In that case, it’s not my place to comment on it.’

He’s dry about these things, as always. I wonder what Mister’s view of love is. He should have had some heart-thumping experiences in the past. Though rather than from love, it likely came from nerve-wracking situations.

“You’ve been displaying a lot of different expressions; were you having a conversation with Kotone?”
“That’s right. He’s also listening to this conversation. ‘Damn you, principal!’ was our shared consensus.”
“Well, this is quite a time to be catching stray shots.”

Well, it was the principal who started us on the path to becoming a singer. If not for his request, the future we have right now wouldn’t have come into existence. On the other hand, the future would have been vague for us instead.

“It doesn’t seem like you two can freely switch with each other. After all that, you still haven’t switched out.”
“I am the main personality. So whenever I switch with him, several side effects will be incurred.”
“Your multiple personality sounds quite different from our understanding of it.”

Well, of course, it’s not a multiple personality disorder. If it was, then there should be no side effects when the personalities switch. It is because me and Mister are completely different individuals that our situation has warped to this point.

“You mentioned aspirations, so is it alright to assume that he became the basis for Kotone’s character?”
“That, I cannot deny. My meeting with that person impacted me greatly and is an unforgettable memory for me. ”
“In a nightmare-ish kind of way?”
‘Shut the idiot up.’
“Shirose. Shut up, he said.”
“There’s nothing scary about a Koto-chan who can’t lay a finger on me. Well, I can’t move around due to nausea either.”

Unlike Mister, I don’t intend to attack remorselessly. I feel like if I ever go that far, I’d be poisoned by the rogue’s den’s influence. I’d rather not reach that level yet.

“Hmm, there’s still some mysteries left unanswered, but I suppose it’ll be more fun to keep it that way.”
“Meaning you don’t intend to uncover everything?”
“You don’t plan on honestly answering all my questions, do you?”
“There are things I want to keep secret as well.”
“In that case, pressing on further will be useless. In maintaining an amicable relationship, it’s important to know when to back down.”

I’d greatly appreciate it if he truly intends to back down, but with Hadzuki, it’s possible that this could just be a bluff as well. If I let my guard down, I might get tripped up without realizing it.

“And so, next player.”
“Hey, Kotonen~!”
“Mgyaa!?”

Suddenly embraced from behind, I let out a surprised yelp. I didn’t notice at all, but just when did she move from my front to my back?!

“Ohh, this reaction’s different from Kotone’s. Yup, yup, super refreshing.”
‘The beast has been released, huh.’
‘Don’t be so calm just because you’re not on the receiving end of this!’
“Kotonen, let’s do something fun.”
“Please stop whispering in my ear!”

“If I didn’t tap out, Aya would start nagging me, you see.”
“I am not a scapegoat!”
“Hohoho, does this feel good?”
“Myaa!?”
“Stop it there, you idiot.”
“Ngyaa!?”

The breast-fondling pervert, aka Shimotsuki, was struck down by the fists of conscience. You can beat her even more, you know? Actually, maybe I should land a kick at the currently curled-up Shimotsuki.

“Kotone would instinctively go with a fist, so I thought I would be safe with Kotonen.”
“That was just sexual harassment, Aya.”
“Not going for the kill does show Kisaragi’s kindness. If it were Kotone, he would probably have kicked Aya without showing mercy.”
‘I’ll even shove a fistful of red peppers in her mouth.’
‘What a savage act. Let me do that.’

And so I grabbed a fistful of chili peppers, and she swiftly backed away from me. I see, these sorts of actions can be predicted if I don’t move quickly enough. So the probability of bringing down your target is directly linked to the difference in experience. I’ll keep that in mind.

“Crap, crap, I was so close to being knocked out cold.”
“You reap what you sow, Aya.”
“That’s right. Please be aware of the weight of your crime.”
“I suppose the peppers are Kotone’s suggestion. As always, his methods are nasty.”
“A victim of this is over there on the floor.”

With this amount of peppers, even Shirose probably wouldn’t have survived. The quantity that sparked the earlier commotion wasn’t that much, but it still caused considerable damage.

“While you two don’t appear to share thoughts, as expected, things get difficult to handle when Kotone gets involved.”
“You really can’t let your guard down with him.”
“I’d say the same about you, Shimotsuki.”

If I hyper-focus on Hadzuki, Shimotsuki will swoop down on me. However, if I keep vigilance against Shimotsuki, I will get outmaneuvered by Hadzuki. This combination is too troublesome.

‘What, you just realized now?’
‘Mister. I’m impressed that you can deal with these two.’
‘Only just two of them is still easy, you know.’

Please don’t think of the rogues den as the standard. For me, even just the two of them is difficult enough. Still, if this doesn’t end soon, the other zombies might revive. What to do.