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Chapter 73: Miss Miyamoto Takes Action
"Um, Rei..."
The pink-haired girl, Saya Takagi, glanced at the piles of junk stacked around them, finally unable to hold back her question. "Why do we have to go to all the trouble of cleaning out this storage room?"
"Well..."
Hearing this, Rei set down the box she was holding for a moment.
She turned to face Saya and smoothly explained, "Think about it. There are so many girls living in this house now."
"Suyan is the only guy here. Don't you think it's super inconvenient for him when he's trying to sleep at night?"
"And it's not just Suyan. I bet everyone else probably feels a little awkward about it too, right?"
"So, I figured we could help tidy up this storage room and clear it out. That way, when Suyan gets back, he can use this space to rest."
"After all, Suyan has much more important things to worry about. We can't have him wasting his time stressing over minor details like this."
That was a blatant lie.
Rika's home was a two-story duplex.
The second floor consisted of a small lounge area and three bedrooms.
The first floor featured a hallway entryway, a living room, a semi-open kitchen connected to the living room, and a public bathroom equipped with an oversized bathtub easily capable of fitting several people without feeling cramped.
And finally, the storage room they were currently standing in, which was originally meant for hoarding miscellaneous junk.
Rei's plan was incredibly straightforward.
To empty the storage room and give it to Suyan for his exclusive use.
Only by doing this would she have the opportunity to execute a night attack, wouldn't she?
It wasn't like she could just sneak over to him while other people were sleeping in the same room.
Sure, Suyan could sleep in the small lounge on the second floor where Rika had rested that morning.
But Rei wasn't thick-skinned enough to completely ignore the presence of others.
If she attacked Suyan in the lounge and someone happened to walk out of their room and saw them, how could she ever face anyone again?
As for the lack of an extra bed in the storage room?
Rei didn't consider that a problem at all.
First of all, it was standard Japanese practice to sleep on futons.
Secondly, she now knew that Suyan possessed Conjuration Nen. If he wanted to, he could effortlessly conjure up a massive, comfortable bed.
Therefore, she had purposely taken advantage of the afternoon—when Suyan and Saeko, as well as Rika and Shizuka, were out—to drag Saya along and clear out the space.
"How is it inconvenient?"
Saya couldn't help but mutter under her breath. "Everyone here likes him anyway. He can sleep wherever he wants and with whoever he wants, can't he?"
"What did you say?"
Rei cupped a hand behind her ear, pretending she hadn't quite caught what Saya said.
"N-No, it's nothing."
Saya hastily shook her head. There was no way she had the courage to repeat that out loud.
Rei continued, "Since it's nothing, let's get back to work. We absolutely have to finish organizing this room before Suyan gets back and give him a huge surprise."
She had naturally heard Saya's grumbling.
And she knew that what the pink-haired girl said was the absolute truth.
Out of the six women living under this roof, three had already slept with Suyan. He really could sleep in whichever room he pleased.
That was exactly why she needed to empty out this room—to create an established fact and catch him off guard.
Seeing how hard she and Saya had worked to clean the room just for him, Suyan would feel obligated to sleep here for at least one night, right?
And one night was all she needed. It was enough to carry out her grand plan.
Rei firmly believed that opportunity favored the prepared mind.
She was going to instigate Yuriko and Saya into sharing a room, ensuring they kept each other in check.
Then, she would share a room with Saeko and figure out a way to slip past her unnoticed.
As for Rika and Shizuka, there was nothing she could do about them.
Aside from Shizuka, Rika wasn't particularly close to anyone else. At least Rei was on decent terms with both Saeko and Saya.
Otherwise, pairing Saeko with Rika, and leaving herself to manipulate the delightfully dense Shizuka, would have been the ultimate ideal scenario.
Unfortunately, the current setup was the absolute limit of what she could manipulate.
The rest would rely purely on luck.
There's no way Rika would actually drag Shizuka along to seek out Suyan tonight, right?
"O-Okay."
Saya nodded in agreement.
Despite her outward compliance, the pink-haired girl was ruthlessly roasting Rei in her mind.
A surprise?
More like a jump scare, right?
"Saya, if you're feeling tired, you can go take a break. Honestly, I can handle the rest on my own."
Rei finally noticed Saya's deep reluctance.
However, she hadn't forced Saya to help in the first place, nor was she trying to guilt-trip her now.
It simply dawned on her that because she had awakened her Nen, she hadn't felt the slightest bit of fatigue despite working for hours.
But Saya was still just an ordinary girl who hadn't even touched Nen yet.
Moreover, clearing the storage room was her own selfish agenda. Saya had no obligation to pay for her whims, so it was completely natural for her to feel exhausted and complain.
"No, I'm not. I'm not tired at all," Saya quickly denied, shaking her head.
Even though Rei offered, Saya felt too guilty to just abandon her and leave her to do all the heavy lifting alone.
Seeing through the girl's stubbornness, Rei placed both hands firmly on Saya's shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. "Saya, I'm not just being polite, so don't overthink it."
"I just realized that since I'm a Nen user now, I don't really feel physically drained by this kind of work. But it's different for you."
"Plus, this was my idea to begin with, so you really don't have to force yourself to stay and help me."
"A Nen user? I'm so jealous~"
Hearing this, Saya looked at Rei with envy. "I wonder how long it'll be before I can become a Nen user like you guys?"
"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be long."
Rei smiled softly, her tone gentle. "After all, our Saya is an incredibly cute girl too, isn't she?"
"Cute...? I-I'm not..."
Saya scratched her cheek, a bright blush spreading across her face as her words dissolved into flustered stammers.
"Alright, alright, leave this place to me. Go get some rest."
Rei thought for a moment before adding, "How about this? It's getting pretty late. Why don't you head to the kitchen and check the note Suyan left on the fridge?"
"You can start prepping the ingredients for dinner based on what he wrote. How does that sound?"
"Okay, fine."
Hearing Rei phrase it like that, Saya didn't refuse her good intentions any longer.
Shortly after, Saya stepped out of the storage room.
She immediately spotted Yuriko returning, her arms laden with heavily packed grocery bags.
"Mom?"
Saya hurried over to help. "Are these the groceries you brought back?"
"Yes. Give me a second, let me put these down, and then we can start prepping."
Yuriko nodded gracefully, then looked at her daughter curiously. "By the way, what have you been up to, Saya? Why do you look so exhausted?"
Hearing this from the person closest to her, the floodgates opened.
Saya immediately spilled everything about Rei clearing out the storage room to give Suyan a 'surprise'.
"Oh? Is that so? What a clever little girl."
Yuriko's eyes gleamed.
Unlike Saya, the brilliant Yuriko immediately deduced Rei's true motives.
However, she had absolutely no intention of stopping her.
After all, she had already made an agreement with Suyan.
She had been wracking her brain trying to figure out how to avoid the other girls tonight.
Wasn't Rei's little scheme playing perfectly into her hands?
If I simply swoop in and take the nest she built, how will a thin-skinned little girl like her possibly respond?
"A surprise? More like a jump scare! I feel like Rei is just wasting her time. With so many soft, sweet-smelling girls around, why would Suyan ever choose to sleep in a dingy storage room by himself?"
Saya was still chattering away, complaining about Rei's pointless labor.
Yuriko looked at her clueless pink-haired daughter and felt a wave of helplessness.
Why is this child's brain so remarkably inflexible?
This level of density...
She's nothing like my chil—
Oh, wait. She technically isn't.
Well, never mind then.
Since Saya wasn't taking the initiative, Yuriko would just have to lead by example and show her how it was done.
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