Shiina Mahiru, who had been standing to the side watching the whole process, couldn't help but ask.
Mainly because Saiki was way too decisive and ruthless—he hung up before the other person even finished speaking.
[It's fine. It's just one of those clingy little fairies. When she calls and I hang up, if it's really something important early in the morning, she'll call back anyway.]
"Oh, I see!"
Shiina Mahiru didn't press further, picked up her Detective Conan novel, sat to the side, and quietly started reading.
Ever since watching that previous program, she'd developed a bit of interest in the novel and had become completely hooked.
...
"Pat pat… rumble rumble…"
Vibrations came from the ground, like an earthquake, but also somehow like…
Shiina Mahiru looked at Saiki in fright: "Isn't this an earthquake?!"
[No, this shouldn't be an earthquake.]
Saiki calmly observed—it was just one person rushing over at high speed, the footsteps pounding the ground.
The sound quickly stopped right at the door.
"Knock knock knock, knock knock knock."
Knocking came from the door.
"Coming."
Shiina Mahiru stood up and went to open the door.
At first Saiki had been hearing a certain inner voice the whole time, glanced at the door from the corner of his eye, instinctively turned his head away, then confirmed again that the person outside with puffed cheeks and a round, chubby face was indeed Doma Umaru.
[Wait…]
"Click."
Saiki spoke too late—Shiina Mahiru had already opened the door.
A yellow figure instantly rushed in, hugged Shiina Mahiru, buried her head in the soft spot, and kept rubbing against it.
"Ya!"
Shiina Mahiru let out a startled cry, seemingly frightened.
"Saiki-shishou! Saiki-shishou! Why did you hang up on me? I… I hadn't even finished speaking yet!"
Doma Umaru seemed to realize something was off—why was Saiki's chest so soft?—and blurted out,
"Saiki-shishou, why are your pecs so exaggerated?"
Meanwhile, Saiki standing behind Shiina Mahiru already had a pitch-black expression.
[You got the wrong person.]
"Eh! (꒪⌓꒪)"
Umaru pulled her head away from the chest and saw Shiina Mahiru, who looked like an angel, gently supporting her and looking down at her.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Shiina Mahiru just smiled awkwardly: "That's… a long story…"
[You can let go now.]
Saiki reminded her from behind.
Umaru also noticed Saiki behind her, then quickly detached from Shiina Mahiru, hid behind Saiki, and whispered in his ear,
"Saiki-shishou, Saiki-shishou, be careful! There's a weirdo in your house!"
[You're the weirdo here!]
"You're Doma-san from Class 1-C, right? Hello, I'm Shiina Mahiru from Class 1-B."
Shiina Mahiru greeted her first.
Umaru carefully looked at the person in front of her—this was the one known as the Angel at school, Shiina Mahiru!
"Ahem!"
Umaru coughed twice, then put on a smile and switched into her school performance mode: "Hello, Shiina-san. Good afternoon. What a coincidence running into you here."
[Coincidence my ass…]
...
Ten minutes later, everyone was seated at the table drinking tea.
"So Shiina-san and Saiki-shishou are neighbors, and you occasionally visit each other! Oh."
Umaru took a sip of tea and glanced at Saiki.
Umaru [Damn it, Saiki-shishou didn't explain clearly at all. There's another woman in his house, and she's neighbors with Shiina-san and living together!]
(we're not living together.)
Shiina Mahiru explained: "Mm, Saiki-kun and I are just neighbors. We occasionally drop by to chat. It's not a cohabitation thing at all, so please don't misunderstand."
Umaru set down her teacup.
"Of course. How could I misunderstand over something so small? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
Umaru [Well, that remains to be seen. Today I'll take a good look at whether Saiki-shishou and Shiina-san are actually living together or not. Mm, that's right.]
(You don't need to observe anything. We already said it's not cohabitation. You came all this way just for this?)
"Phew~ Then I'm relieved. I'll have to ask Doma-san to keep it secret. If word gets out at school and causes misunderstandings, it would trouble Saiki-kun."
Shiina Mahiru let out a relieved breath upon hearing the response and patted her own chest. After all, she knew her reputation at school—if other classmates found out about this kind of relationship, Saiki might face some hassle.
"Oh, okay."
At that moment, Umaru was inwardly surprised at how there could be such a good girl. She was way too kind, always thinking of others, and unlike herself, she seemed to maintain the exact same demeanor whether at home or at school.
(See? That's why Shiina-san is such a great person.)
Seeing the situation stabilize, Saiki calmly took a sip of tea and asked.
[Umaru, how did you know I live here? How did you get my address?]
"Oh, that? Hiratsuka-sensei told me."
Umaru explained concisely: "I wanted to know Saiki-shishou's address before, so I went and asked your Hiratsuka-sensei, and she just told me right away without even asking what I wanted it for."
In Saiki's mind appeared an image of Hiratsuka Shizuka leaning sideways, eyes sparkling with gossip energy, giving him a thumbs-up and flashing her teeth: "It's fine, no need to thank me…"
(Damn it! That delinquent teacher.)
[So what did you come to find me for, Umaru?]
"Oh, I came to find Saiki-shishou…"
Umaru kept smiling, her expression unchanged, still looking calm, kind, and approachable.
But inwardly, Umaru [Why did Saiki-shishou hang up on me? It pisses me off so much. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have had to come all this way. Seriously so annoying, so annoying, so annoying…]
(Yare yare.)
Saiki didn't want to hang up on people for no reason either, but Umaru always called him out of the blue saying she had something important.
Every time he went over, it was just to play games with her. Over time, Saiki developed the habit of hanging up whenever she called if it didn't seem like a real emergency.
"So you came to see Saiki-kun this morning because of something? And why do you call him Saiki-shishou? Saiki-kun?"
Shiina Mahiru looked at Saiki with her question, feeling their relationship seemed unusual.
Saiki couldn't be bothered to explain. Umaru walked over to him, sat on a stool beside him, placed both hands on his shoulders, and calmly explained,
"That's because Saiki-shishou is my study master. Since exams are coming up, this time I came to have him tutor me and help me review, right Saiki-shishou?"
Saiki nodded in response.
"Oh! I see."
Shiina Mahiru nodded understandingly, then said: "Then I'll head out first. Bye bye, Saiki-kun, Doma-san."
"Bye bye."
Umaru waved back.
[See you.]
"Click."
The sound of Shiina Mahiru leaving and closing the door echoed.
"Phew~"
Only after Shiina Mahiru left did Umaru finally relax and let out a sigh.
"That was close. I was so nervous just now—it felt like sneaking over as the mistress to see my man, only to run into the legal wife."