Kamijou Mutsuki and Mutsumi were jolted awake by a sharp scream.
Opening their eyes to see a certain blue-haired maid—face crimson and eyes glazed with shock—they knew they were in trouble.
Since they had drifted straight to sleep after getting tired the previous night, they hadn't exactly "cleared the battlefield."
Although they hadn't gone all the way to the final step, and as novices their play was far from extravagant—one might even call it a mere "sampling"—the scene before her was still far too stimulating for a pure-hearted young lady.
"You... you two!"
The maid, her cheeks burning and her mind a complete blank, let out a mournful cry.
"What on earth were you doing last night?!"
If they dared to play like this while she was in the house, she didn't even want to imagine how wild they'd be if she weren't around. Moreover, Mutsumi was wearing a maid uniform almost identical to hers...
Could it be that bringing her here as a maid was just a part of their "roleplay"? Sakiko felt her entire worldview being violently shaken. In this single moment, the innocent girl had experienced a lifetime's worth of "growth."
"Saki-chan," Mutsuki, for his part, didn't care much about the situation. After all, Sakiko-sensei was a girl. As long as he wasn't embarrassed, then the embarrassment belonged to her.
But Mutsumi was different. Being caught in this state by her childhood friend made even the "Cucumber Elf" flush with shame.
"This is... the responsibility of a fiancée."
"A maid... is not needed."
It seemed that rather than her own sense of shame, she was more worried that Maid Saki would misunderstand the situation because of the uniform she was wearing.
Maid Saki: ?
Sakiko was completely stunned by the "Cucumber Swordswoman's" bizarre angle of attack.
'Wait, Mutsumi, what do you mean?! Do you think I'm such a shameless person?!'
Even Sakiko-sensei wouldn't do something out of line with Kamijou Mutsuki just to fulfill her "maid duties"!
After all, she just had a strong sense of pride—it didn't mean her brain had malfunctioned.
"...Lewd!"
Sakiko squeezed the word out through gritted teeth, her face burning.
"You think I would ever do something like that?!"
"And Mutsumi, you actually..."
Where had her innocent, naive Mutsumi-chan gone?
"Saki-chan,"
Seeing the girl appearing genuinely upset, Kamijou Mutsuki suddenly spoke up from the side.
"Mutsumi and I are fiances. Isn't it perfectly normal for us to be intimate with each other?"
"..."
Hearing Mutsuki's words, Sakiko fell into an immediate silence.
What standing did she actually have to interfere with Mutsumi? They were fiances, while she was just the childhood friend.
During the time she had been away, Mutsumi had already changed into someone she didn't recognize. That crisp, green little cucumber had already been dyed in someone else's colors.
Sakiko suddenly felt as though a tragic, thick barrier had risen between her and her childhood friend.
"Even so, doing that before marriage is... it's just too impure!"
This was likely Sakiko-sensei's final stand.
"In any case,"
Seeing Maid Saki gradually regaining her composure, Mutsuki didn't press the issue.
"Sakiko, you tidy up here first. Mutsumi and I are going to take a shower."
He had truly been exhausted the night before, and now Mutsuki felt sticky and uncomfortable; Mutsumi likely felt it even more so.
"No!"
However, hearing his words, Sakiko reacted instinctively, blocking their path with a beet-red face.
The two of them showering together?
A whole night wasn't enough, they had to continue in the morning?
Right in front of her?
While making her listen from outside?!
'Shameless!'
"..."
In truth, Sakiko-sensei was definitely overthinking it this time. However, out of consideration for their maid's delicate state of mind, the two ultimately chose to shower separately.
Due to the morning's "accident," the awkward atmosphere between the three of them hadn't softened at all—if anything, it had worsened.
After finishing breakfast, washing the dishes, and changing into her Haneoka uniform, the girl practically fled the house.
Clearly, the morning's events had been a bit too much "growth" for this pure-hearted young lady to handle at once.
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While the situation at Mutsuki's was "eventful" to say the least, Soyo's morning was a masterclass in dull frustration. Her mother hadn't come home again, leaving her to eat breakfast in a silent apartment.
Yawning over her meal, the dark circles under her eyes were practically visible from space. She was still agonizing over the same questions: 'Did Mutsuki actually do something to Sakiko last night? Is my Saki-chan no longer pure?'
But no matter how much she paced or fretted, what could she actually do? Could she stop Mutsuki from doing whatever he pleased with her Sakiko?
"I can't do anything!" Soyo whispered, feeling that familiar sense of powerlessness wash over her once again.
This only hardened her resolve to infiltrate the villa as a maid.
Setting aside the grand plan of bringing Sakiko back to the band for a moment—if she didn't get in there soon, she wouldn't even have a "butt" left to push; she'd be relegated to babysitting their future child! Only she could protect Sakiko!
The glaring problem remained: Kamijou Mutsuki had flat-out rejected her. Recalling his words from the night before, Soyo's gaze turned murky. 'All that talk was just a smoke screen so I wouldn't interrupt his "fun," wasn't it?'
And then there was Uika...
What exactly made that blonde girl so much better than her?
Why did both Sakiko and Mutsuki seem to think she was inferior to Misumi Uika?
Where exactly did Nagasaki Soyo fall short?
Why could that girl talk to Sakiko so effortlessly, while Soyo gave everything only to be pushed away?!
The bitterness in her heart fueled her obsession. But since she had no leverage over Mutsuki, she was left with nothing but impotent rage.
That was, until she arrived at Tsukinomori. The moment she spotted a certain "emerald-green" girl, Soyo's dazed confusion vanished, replaced by a sudden flash of inspiration.
'If I can't handle the Master, don't I still have the Mistress?'
As Mutsuki's fiancée, Mutsumi surely had the right to hire household staff, didn't she? If she could just persuade Mutsumi, then...
The gloom lifting from her heart, Soyo's face smoothed over as she donned her practiced mask of a smiling, perfect young lady.
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Kamijou Mutsuki was naturally unaware that a certain "comedian" possessed such terrifying initiative—immediately pivoting to target his Mutsumi-chan the moment he hit a wall.
Since there wasn't much to handle at the office today, he headed over to STARRY as usual. To his surprise, he actually spotted Nijika and "Trash" Ryo there. However...
"Ryo, stop eating that! You're going to get an upset stomach if you keep eating those!"
The moment he walked in, he witnessed Ryo casually munching on weeds.
"Nijika, what's with this girl...?"
Mutsuki looked at the gender-neutral beauty currently foraging on the floor, his brow twitching.
He remembered that Ryo had just received her allowance recently, hadn't she?
Did she really blow through it that quickly?
"You want some?"
Before Nijika could even say a word, Ryo noticed Mutsuki's arrival. Her golden eyes lit up as she held out a clump of "edible" grass toward him.
..........................