Itsuki's fear was gradually ebbing away.
Even though just thinking about that bloody scene still made her feel physically queasy, watching the way the three people in front of her interacted, an even bigger doubt surfaced in her mind.
Just what kind of relationship did these three have?
"All right, enough talking. Let's head back. If you're late, Sayuri's going to start worrying about you."
Takumi ruffled Eriri's small head, earning himself a dramatic eye-roll.
She grumbled, "Worry about me? I think Mom's only going to worry about you!"
"You have no idea how bright Mom's smile gets whenever she mentions your name. I've never seen her that happy my whole life."
"Haha." Takumi just laughed it off. With an outsider present, it really wasn't the time to get into mother–daughter talk.
"Let's go." He dissolved the separate space.
Takumi's gaze flicked off to the side for a second, then he pulled it back and activated his ability. Spatial Movement!
…
"!!!"
In the brief blur of an eye-blink—
Itsuki realized she was suddenly standing in a completely unfamiliar living room.
Before she could even voice her confusion, Takumi explained, "This is my place."
This was his living room.
Kanae rose up from the sofa. Takumi had deliberately shared the earlier incident's information with her ahead of time, so Kanae had already noticed Itsuki's presence. "So this must be our neighbor, Miss Itsuki, right? Hello, I'm Kanae."
"H-how do you know who I am? And by neighbor, you mean…" Itsuki was absolutely sure she'd never seen this gentle, purple-haired big sister before.
Kanae only smiled softly and didn't explain how she knew. "This is YY Apartments, Room 401. I'm Takumi, Class 1 in XX High, and the student council president for the high school division. We just moved in not long ago," Takumi said.
Yukino slipped out of his arms, straightened her clothes, and said seriously, "I live in 402. Takumi-kun, I'm going back to see if my sister's home."
"Okay."
Eriri chimed in as well. "I'm Eriri, I live in 301. I'll head back too—Mom might actually be worrying about me."
"Mm, mm, go on."
Eriri and Yukino both left.
Itsuki was completely lost. Since when did so many people move into YY Apartments? How did she have no idea?
"T-Takumi-kun! Your overlord demands kissies!"
Dressed in a sheer, white nightgown, Neko burst out of the bedroom with Haru the cat in her arms and immediately launched herself at Takumi.
Haru seized the perfect moment to spring out of Neko's arms and onto Kanae's, narrowly avoiding the dire fate of being squashed into a cat pancake.
Takumi caught Neko steadily.
Neko was a human with an absurdly strong set of cat-like traits; in every way she was as bold and uninhibited as an animal. Anything she saw from Kanae and the others in bed, Neko could learn fast and boldly.
Right now she was going straight for Takumi without the slightest hesitation, demanding kisses.
"???" Itsuki felt like her brain had turned to mush.
Monsters and classmates with strange powers had all been shoved to the back of her mind.
Instead, she was desperately trying to process the relationships between Takumi and Yukinoshita-san and Eriri-san—and now this shamelessly dressed white-haired woman in front of her.
It felt like her brain was running at full power and was about to overheat.
Takumi lightly patted Neko's back, and only then did she obediently release his lips. He said, half exasperated, "We've still got company."
He turned to Itsuki. "Um… Nakano-san, do you want me to walk you back, or will you head back on your own?"
"Ah!"
Suddenly being addressed snapped Itsuki Nakano out of the whirlpool of her thoughts, nearly making her jump.
Realizing all three people and one cat were looking at her, she shook her head in a panic. "Thank you so much for your help! I'm really sorry for causing trouble—I'll go back on my own."
Itsuki fled his place as if she were escaping.
Behind her, Takumi called out one last reminder. "Don't go around spreading what you saw tonight."
"Okay! I definitely won't tell anyone!"
Click.
Once the door was shut properly, Kanae asked with a smiling squint, "Takumi-kun, you seem pretty interested in that girl."
Takumi nodded with grave seriousness. "Kanae, you don't understand. That girl is very special."
"Does she have some kind of superpower or something?" Kanae asked curiously.
"No. She's more special than that."
Takumi shook his head, then said meaningfully, "She's got four older sisters who look almost exactly like her. They're quintuplets."
"…"
Quintuplets?! Almost identical?!
"Eeh, T-Takumi-kun, don't poke me there," Neko muttered from his arms.
The way Kanae reacted after hearing that made her practically get it in a single second.
Takumi had his eye on that set of quintuplets, and honestly, it made sense. Mothers and sisters were already on his target list; let alone quintuplet sisters.
Kanae's pretty, seductive eyes rolled at him. "Look how worked up you are. Let's go back to the bedroom—Neko and I will help you calm down."
…
Just as Takumi was gearing up for another big battle—Itsuki, still feeling dazed and dreamlike, made her way home.
"I'm home…"
The moment she stepped inside, four people hurried over. They were Itsuki's older sisters. Ichika, Nino, Miku, and Yotsuba.
Though their hairstyles and outfits were all different, their faces really were incredibly similar.
Only once they confirmed it really was Itsuki did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Itsuki! Why are you just getting back now, and without sending a single message? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"
The one speaking in a strong, slightly scolding tone was Nino, clearly intent on giving Itsuki a thorough lecture.
Itsuki lowered her head guiltily and admitted fault. "I forgot to charge my phone…"
Miku, pink hair draped down as she listened with headphones on, also frowned. "Itsuki, that's way too careless."
"Sorry…" Itsuki ducked her head even lower.
"Nino, don't get so worked up. Itsuki didn't do it on purpose."
Short-haired, orange-yellow-haired Yotsuba tried to soothe Nino, smoothing over the tense atmosphere.
"You…" Nino did ease up a little, but she still wanted to keep lecturing.
"Nino, that's enough."
She hadn't expected to be stopped by Ichika, whose pink short hair and more mature demeanor made her stand out among the five.
"Ichika…" Nino looked at her in confusion.
Ichika only shook her head slightly, then said to Itsuki, "Itsuki, go take a bath first."
"Okay…" Obediently, Itsuki went off to bathe.
After that, at Ichika's suggestion, the four of them gathered around the sofa.
Nino, unable to hide her bluntness, voiced her doubts first. "Ichika, why didn't you let me talk some sense into Itsuki? What if something like this happens again? It's way too worrying."
"Haaa." Ichika let out a helpless breath. "Didn't you notice how anxious Itsuki looked?"
"Anxious?" Nino froze for a second.
The other three quietly recalled the expression on Itsuki's face when she came in—she had seemed pretty stiff and off.
"It did kinda feel that way," Yotsuba said, tapping her fingertip to the corner of her mouth. "So how are we supposed to ask Itsuki what happened?"
"If something happened, we just ask her directly, don't we?" Nino's agitation was obvious; she was really worried about Itsuki.
Itsuki coming home this late, with her mood clearly so unsettled—the first thing Nino thought of was whether Itsuki had run into some creep.
Ichika looked to the other two. "What do you two think?"
Yotsuba raised her hand just a little. "I'm with Nino. We're sisters—if something's wrong, we should just talk about it openly."
Miku nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Seconded."
Ichika clapped her hands lightly and said, "All right. When Itsuki finishes her bath, we'll sit her down and have a proper talk."
None of them noticed that as she said this, there was a faint, bitter curve to the corner of Ichika's lips.
....
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