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Time passed—still the familiar apartment living room.
When morning's first ray of sunlight shone through the balcony into the living room, Yukina Himeragi—who hadn't regained consciousness since the two a.m. battle's end—suddenly moved her fingers slightly.
"Mmm..."
With a low moan, the Sword Shaman girl opened her eyes with some difficulty.
Her vision remained somewhat blurry. What met her eyes was the living room already illuminated by sunlight.
This is... oh, my own place.
Her just-awakened brain remained murky. Yukina took two or three seconds to recall her current situation.
Wait, hold on!
As her rebooting brain gradually finished buffering, memories of last night suddenly flooding her mind made the Sword Shaman girl jolt upright.
She still remembered hesitating outside the corridor doorway last night, unwilling to enter. Ultimately, Bokue-senpai had forcibly lifted her like a reverse standing position and carried her in, then in front of Sayaka, she'd been... ugh!!
Recalling certain details from last night, Yukina's face immediately flushed red like fire.
Though speaking of which, it was quite strange. Despite being treated like that last night, waking up now she felt almost no discomfort.
At most her head felt a bit dizzy—like being filled with cola, bubbling profusely, somewhat tingly.
Probably because she'd received relatively less "firepower." After all, last night the one who actively bore the most firepower was Nagisa, followed by Sayaka...
Right, Sayaka!
As if finally remembering, Yukina rapidly turned her head to scan the surroundings, searching for her friend's figure.
However, after looking around the entire living room without finding anyone, just as she was about to get up and search the bedroom, subtle sounds from her right side instantly redirected the Sword Shaman girl's gaze.
Right beside her on the same sofa, a certain Sword Shaman girl also seemed to have just awakened. Both hands supporting herself on the sofa, she lifted her body slightly while raising her face. Her chestnut-colored long hair scattered somewhat messily across the bare back behind her. Her jade-green eyes still carried threads of confusion from just waking. From her slightly parted lips, a thin stream of milk flowed down.
"Say... aka..."
Yukina hadn't expected that her friend—whom she'd searched left and right for—was right beside her the whole time. Both in just-awakened states, neither wearing anything.
Meeting gazes under these circumstances made the atmosphere inevitably somewhat awkward.
"Yuki... na?"
Sayaka similarly hadn't reacted yet. Seeing her friend, she'd instinctively started to smile, only to freeze mid-expression.
Her brain slowly revived. Memories from last night gradually surfaced.
She still remembered that scene when she'd opened her eyes on the apartment sofa yesterday afternoon.
That was Yukina being held from behind by Bokue, right in front of her.
Why... did it turn out like this?
Sayaka couldn't help thinking.
She'd originally wanted to use yesterday's meeting to reveal her relationship with Bokue to Yukina. Never expected not only would Yukina see her turned into a cream puff, she'd even witness Yukina being turned into a cream puff throughout the entire process. Of course, there was also Nagisa-san.
Sayaka had never imagined Yukina and Bokue also had that kind of relationship—possibly even far earlier than hers.
Didn't that make her... a home wrecker?
Thinking this, the Sword Shaman girl couldn't help biting her lower lip somewhat conflicted.
Even so, after briefly falling silent, she still tentatively spoke.
"Um..."
"About last night..."
Almost simultaneously, Yukina also spoke.
Their voices overlapped, making both instinctively close their mouths at the same time.
"Uh... you go first, Sayaka..."
Yukina said quietly with a flushed face.
But Sayaka—recalling last night's battle situation—was equally flushed, stammering out one line.
"N-never mind... you go first, Yukina..."
Whoosh~
With no other choice, Yukina could only take a deep breath, calming herself as much as possible before switching to the most composed tone she could manage.
"I'm sorry, Sayaka."
"Eh?"
Completely not expecting this opening, Sayaka froze.
"Wait... no, why are you apologizing, Yukina?"
"Because... I kept it from you."
Yukina lowered her head, her tone full of apology.
"Actually, Bokue-senpai, Nagisa, and I have been in that kind of relationship for a long time. But because I didn't want you to know, I kept hiding it..."
"I-I didn't really mind that much..."
Seeing the Sword Shaman girl so sincere, Sayaka immediately panicked.
"No, how should I put this... it's not that I don't care, just... actually I also hid something from you, Yukina. About my relationship with Bokue..."
"Then... you're not angry, Sayaka?"
"Eh?"
"I don't mean at me—at Bokue-senpai."
Yukina also stammered somewhat.
"After all, you've always been that way with men, Sayaka. You finally worked up the courage to take this step only to encounter this situation. So I want to know if you'll blame Bokue-senpai... for that."
Referring of course to Bokue two-timing—or rather, multi-timing.
"About that..."
Sayaka hesitated.
"Actually, no. After all, if we're really counting, I don't have any standing to criticize Bokue for being a playboy."
This was true. From an absolutely objective perspective, aside from Yasaka-san, everyone else was a third party.
Though Sayaka still didn't know about Yasaka-san's existence, she knew about Asagi Aiba's existence.
To her, Bokue's legitimate partner—whether Yasaka-san or Asagi Aiba—definitely couldn't be her.
Since she'd already solidified her status as a third party regardless, she had no standing to criticize Bokue for being a playboy.
"So from now on, we..."
Yukina asked tentatively.
Sayaka turned her face aside with slightly reddened cheeks.
"Yeah, if you don't mind, Yukina..."
Before their words could finish, just then the bathroom door on the living room's east side was suddenly opened from inside.
Instantly, water vapor mixed with body wash fragrance poured out in large quantities. Bokue emerged carrying Nagisa in a standing position.
Yet despite the progress bar nearly breaking through its limit, Nagisa still turned around to wave at the two girls on the sofa with a smile.
"How is it, how is it? Have Yukina-chan and Sayaka-san already talked things through? Then from now on, everyone will be one happy family~ Every day we'll receive Oniisan's psychological counseling together!"
"Nagisa..."
"What are you two doing?!"
Seeing them appear in such a state, the two girls on the sofa flushed, feeling something stirring faintly in their bellies.
"The living room smells pretty strong. Let's air it out first anyway."
Bokue sniffed the living room's scent and said casually.
Then he came before the sofa to set down Nagisa first, before turning to the balcony and opening the window that had been sealed for a day and night.
Just at that moment when the window opened, a breeze blew in from outside, carrying threads of coolness.
This long summer was finally almost over.
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