"Ah, Miss Belle and Miss Ellen are back..."
The Landlady rubbed her eyes, and upon seeing an elegant, rabbit-eared, blonde girl following behind the two, she froze for a moment before breaking into a warm smile and asking, "And this is..."
"Good evening, Landlady. This is our companion, Alice." Luna Belle quickly introduced her, then spoke up with a bit of embarrassment, asking, "Um... Landlady, are there any vacant rooms available right now?"
Hearing this, a look of difficulty appeared on the Landlady's face. She flipped through the ledger at her side and said apologetically, "Oh dear, what bad timing... Miss Belle, as you know, rooms are in very high demand lately because of the Harvest Festival. Two more caravans arrived this afternoon, and now there isn't a single vacant room left..."
"However, your original room should be able to squeeze in three people..."
"Huh? Not even one?" Luna Belle was a bit dumbfounded.
Just then, Alice, who was standing quietly to the side, looked a bit puzzled. Her habitually calm heterochromatic eyes swept over Luna Belle, glanced at Ellen—who still looked like she hadn't woken up—and finally landed on the Landlady's face. On the display screen at her waist, the originally gentle (･ᴗ･) expression quietly changed into a slightly confused ⊙_⊙.
"Belle..." Alice's voice rang out clearly as she looked directly into the blue-haired girl's green eyes. "You and Ellen... were you living together before?"
"Uh... well..." Luna Belle's cheeks instantly grew hot. She opened her mouth, trying to explain that it was because there was only one room at the time and Ellen was...
Before she could organize her thoughts, the Landlady behind the counter scratched her head as she watched Luna Belle's hesitant, slightly blushing face. In the brief silence, Alice got her answer from the Landlady's reaction and Luna Belle's expression. The expression on her display screen instantly turned into a huffy (｀Δ´)!
She didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she took a step forward, reached out both hands, grabbed Luna Belle's wrist with one and naturally linked her arm with the Thiren's with the other.
"In. That. Case..." Alice said each word deliberately, her tone carrying an unquestionable decisiveness. "Then let's go."
"Eh? Wait, Alice? Where are we going?"
Before Luna Belle could react, she was pulled toward the stairs by Alice. Ellen didn't seem to have any objection to being suddenly pulled along; she just mumbled vaguely and followed the movement, even letting out a small yawn while Alice was still holding her arm.
The Landlady watched in a daze as the three girls headed for the stairs in a strange formation. She scratched her head and ultimately swallowed the words "actually, someone could sleep on the floor" that were on the tip of her tongue, muttering softly, "Young people these days... their relationships are so complicated..."
Back in the room on the second floor, Alice let go and closed the door behind her. Standing in the center of the room, her heterochromatic eyes carefully scanned the large bed, which was spacious enough for one person but seemed a bit cramped for three. The expressions on her display screen switched rapidly, finally settling on a hard-thinking
(̨̡ ‾ᗣ‾ )̧̢.
Watching Alice's serious planning, Luna Belle couldn't help but say, "Alice, how about... I go ask the Landlady if we can get an extra quilt, and I'll sleep on the floor..."
"No!" Alice immediately rejected the idea, her tone firm. "That would be too asymmetrical! Besides, the floor is cold; it's bad for your health."
She seemed to have made up her mind and first directed Luna Belle. "Belle, you go over there first." She gestured for her to stand on one side of the bed. Then, Alice walked to the other side of the bed, seemingly planning to lie in the middle herself. This way, Luna Belle would be on her left and Ellen on her right, perfectly matching her pursuit of symmetrical aesthetics.
However, her plan had just been formed in her mind, and before her feet could even move to the intended position, Ellen—who had been in a semi-sleepwalking state—moved. She bypassed Alice with extreme naturalness and then... thump, flopped right onto the center of the bed, burying her face in the soft pillow and letting out a satisfied sigh. That huge shark tail also drooped down, taking up quite a bit of space.
"..."
Alice puffed out her cheeks as she watched the Thiren usurp the spot. The expression on her display screen instantly turned into a bristling (｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡). She tried to condemn Ellen's symmetry-breaking behavior with her gaze, but unfortunately, the latter was completely oblivious and even let out a light snore.
Seeing this, Luna Belle couldn't help but facepalm.
Alice faced off against the "sleeping" Ellen for a few seconds. After finding no reaction, she finally admitted defeat. She sighed with some frustration, the expression on her display screen changing to (ー_ー). She walked over to Luna Belle, pulled her down to sit on the edge of the bed, and then looked at Ellen in the center again.
Finally, she seemed to have reached the only viable compromise.
"Fine..." Alice muttered somewhat reluctantly and then began adjusting their positions. She carefully nudged the dazed, sleeping Ellen a bit further to the other side, then had Luna Belle lie down in the middle.
Only after finishing all this did Alice lie down on Luna Belle's other side. She carefully adjusted her sleeping posture, making herself face the central Luna Belle, just like Ellen on the other side. This way, in terms of layout, Luna Belle was in the center, with Alice and Ellen on either side, still forming a... well, a stable structure with Luna Belle as the axis of symmetry.
"Mm... this way... it counts as symmetrical." Alice looked at the "result" before her and finally nodded in satisfaction, the expression on the display screen returning to (•̀⌄•́).
Lying in the middle, Luna Belle felt the different temperatures and textures coming from both sides of her body. On the left was Ellen, with a cool, sweet fragrance and steady, light breathing, along with that shark tail that would occasionally brush against her unconsciously. On the right was Alice, whose body temperature seemed slightly higher, emitting a soft scent like silk warmed by the sun. Her posture was elegant, seemingly maintaining a certain decorum even while asleep.
Sandwiched in the middle, Luna Belle's body was a bit stiff, and her heartbeat couldn't help but quicken. This feeling of having one on each side... no, of being pincer-attacked from both sides, was truly too stimulating, causing her brain to overload.
"Um... Alice, Ellen, is it too crowded like this..." Luna Belle tried to make one last struggle.
"No, it's just right." Alice closed her eyes, her tone certain. "The current structure is the most stable and space-efficient."
Ellen mumbled vaguely from the other side. "Don't be noisy... sleep..." Her tail even gave the bed an impatient slap...