Soon, the bell rang, signaling the end of the first class of the morning. As the teacher left the classroom, the room quickly grew lively. A bunch of students immediately gathered around the three Michaela sisters to greet and chat with the new arrivals.
"Hey, hey! Lala, Nana, and Momo—are you three sisters?"
"Yeah, yeah! You all look so alike! Are you biological sisters?!"
"Lala, what kind of anime do you like?"
"Momo, what kind of makeup do you use?"
The girls in the class buzzed around them, chattering nonstop. It was a lively scene. Lala responded to the warm greetings with equal excitement. With her personality, she was laughing and chatting with the other girls in less than a minute.
Momo, on the other hand, was more composed compared to Lala. She responded to everyone's questions with a polite, graceful smile.
"Yes, we're biological sisters. Lala is the eldest, Nana is the second, and I'm the youngest. And no, I don't use any makeup~" Momo answered each question calmly, like an elegant young lady.
"Amazing! Momo's the youngest? The youngest is actually more mature than her older sisters!" The girls marveled at the discovery.
"Hehe, you're too kind. Momo's personality is really nothing special." Momo covered her mouth with a soft laugh, showing no hint of pride from the compliments. Her gaze drifted toward Yuki, and she gave him a subtle wink, as if to ask, Surprised?
Yuki just shook his head lightly. Truth be told, he had known about this since yesterday, when Momo mentioned she would be bringing her sisters to his school. Momo wasn't disappointed; she simply smiled and continued chatting with the other girls.
Over by Yuki's seat, Marin approached him. "Yuki-kun, do you know the three new students?"
She was still hung up on how Lala had plopped herself onto Yuki's lap earlier, so she came over as soon as class ended to get some answers. Eriri was nearby too, slowly making her way toward Yuki's seat but instead of greeting him, she pretended to admire the view outside the window.
Unfortunately for her, Yuki saw right through the act. Watching the tsundere blonde stretch her ears to eavesdrop, he found it pretty amusing.
"Yeah, I know them. They're a friend's daughters. They just moved here recently and transferred to this school because they knew I was attending." Yuki gave a simple explanation.
"I see. They don't really look Japanese, do they?" Marin didn't question the story. She just assumed the three sisters were foreigners who had come from abroad. "Right, Sawamura?" Marin then turned to Eriri for backup.
"Huh? What? What are you talking about?" Startled by the sudden question, Eriri quickly pretended she hadn't been listening at all.
"Don't bother pretending. You heard everything we said," Marin mercilessly called her out.
Caught red-handed, Eriri's face flushed with embarrassment. For a moment, she didn't know where to look. "Ahem." She cleared her throat to ease the awkwardness and dropped the act. "I'm different. My father is British, but my mother is purely Japanese. So I'm half-Japanese. As for the three new students… I wouldn't know."
"I see." Marin nodded as if she had just learned something new. "Speaking of which, Sawamura—how many siblings do you have?"
"Why do you ask?" Eriri looked confused.
"Oh, no reason. Just curious."
"Well…" Eriri paused for a moment before answering. "Aside from me, I have one older sister."
"Oh! An older sister? That's nice." A flicker of envy crossed Marin's face. "What about you, Tobiichi?" She then turned to Origami.
Origami answered in her usual flat tone. "I'm an only child."
"Same as me, then."
And so, the group chatted about this and that. Time passed quickly, and soon it was lunch break. Unlike usual, Yuki didn't go to their usual spot with Origami and Marin.
Instead, Lala dragged him along to the school cafeteria—she wanted to see what it was like, she said. And since she asked, Yuki agreed. Origami and Marin came along too. Even Eriri tagged along.
With Lala around, Marin quickly grew close to the three sisters during the walk. Soon, they arrived at the cafeteria. The moment Yuki and the others stepped inside, they drew a lot of attention—because, well, a guy surrounded by a bunch of beautiful girls was bound to stand out. Of course, if Lala and her sisters hadn't been hiding the physical traits they had inherited from their Chamlian mother, the commotion would have been even bigger.
"Hey, hey, Yuki! Is this braised pork good? Is it as good as Mio's?" Lala pointed at a dish of braised pork at the food counter.
The school Yuki attended was well-funded, so the cafeteria offered a wide variety of tasty dishes. Of course, the prices were higher too—most students eating here came from wealthier families.
"It's alright. Though I haven't tried it," Yuki shrugged.
"Okay, then I'll get this! Ah! And this chicken looks good too! And this one!" Without overthinking it, Lala started ordering.
"Sis, the only reason you didn't bring a bento is so you could order from the cafeteria, isn't it?" Nana watched her sister go on a spree and couldn't help but tease her.
Aside from Lala, both Nana and Momo had brought their own lunchboxes. So Lala was the only one ordering food here.
"Hehe! You guys go grab a seat!" Lala cheerfully shooed them off so she could keep ordering.
With nothing else to do, Yuki and the others went to find a table. They settled by the window and waited about five minutes before Lala finally returned. By then, however, her tray was piled high with food—enough to make everyone around stare in disbelief.
"Um… Lala-san, you normally eat this much?" Marin was stunned by Lala's appetite. There was enough rice and dishes on that tray to feed her for several meals.
"Yep!" Lala nodded. "Everything looked so tasty, so I got a little bit of everything! Hehe."
She grinned, completely unfazed by the strange looks from others. Neither Marin, Eriri, nor anyone else around had expected such a delicate-looking girl to have such a monstrous appetite. Whoever married her would definitely have to think twice about whether they could afford to feed her.