“Hey, Ryouya-kun. Why’d you fall asleep before us?”
“I was — tired…”
“And so you left me and Nee-chan?”
”…I mean — yeah, that’s how it worked out, but.”
Morning had arrived, and I was currently being cross-examined by Reona and Riona. The first thing I’d seen on waking was the two of them standing in front of me, looking down at me. The dangerous aura had short-circuited my drowsiness. Needless to say.
“Aw, I was looking forward to sleeping together — and Ryouya-kun ditched me.”
“Nee-chan and I were too shocked to sleep well.”
“That is dramatically overstating it.”
“We stayed at a love hotel and nothing happened — too sad to tell anyone.”
“If something had happened that would also be untellable, you know.”
Reona and Riona were grilling me with a kind of frustrated energy I could not parse. What had been so unforgivable, I had no idea.
For half a second, the thought do they mean it in that sense flickered up — but the idea that Reona and Riona, who lived in the shining pop world, would see me, a dweller in the shadows, as a romantic prospect was, frankly, impossible.
This whole situation was a passing thing. The Yagami Ryouya phase would pass and they’d never engage with me again.
I would vanish from their memory. As I was thinking that, a vague feeling that I was making some massive miscalculation nagged at the back of my head.
“Ryouya-kun, you’ve been zoning out — are you listening to me?”
”…Sorry.”
“Ryouya not listening is an unforgivable offense, gets a penalty.”
“Especially harsh this time.”
This was entirely my fault for going into my own head, but I’d earned the wrath of Reona and Riona, and I had no idea what kind of nonsense I was about to be assigned. Terrifying.
They calmed down once the punishment had been decreed, so we shifted to breakfast. I picked up the bedside phone, called the front desk to order food, and after a while it was delivered.
“Huh — they hand it through a small window.”
“Probably designed for guests who don’t want to make eye contact with staff.”
This was, after all, not an ordinary hotel — the discretion was a thoughtful touch. I doubted I would ever be back at a love hotel, but I had genuinely learned something today.
We finished breakfast, packed up, paid at the entrance kiosk, and left.
“Clear out.”
“Yeah, weather like this is great. What should we do today?”
“Since we’re already in Kisarazu, I want to do some sightseeing.”
”…Hey, sorry to interrupt the planning, but can we move away from the entrance first?”
A guy-and-two-girls trio standing in front of a love hotel was attracting fierce attention from every passerby, and the male contingent in particular was looking at me with murderous intent.
“Aw, there’s nice shade here, I want to keep talking a sec.”
“The looks are seriously bad right now.”
“Me and Nee-chan are not bothered.”
“I am very bothered—”
“Caring is losing — make them watch.”
This was a waste of breath. Until they were satisfied I had to endure what was effectively a public execution.
In the end Reona and Riona kept chatting there for nearly twenty minutes, and my HP went from zero into negative territory.
Finally released from the hellscape, I thought I was out of the woods — but the rest of the day’s sightseeing in Kisarazu was also a forced march, and by the time we got home in the evening my legs were unable to hold me. Needless to say.