“That was exhausting — first day back.”
“Yeah, summer-break-brain, body feels off.”
The opening ceremony and the test had wrapped and it was after school. Riona and I were barely standing. Riona had the dead-eyed look; I probably did too.
“Ryouya-kun and Riona both have dead-fish eyes.”
“Nee-chan is just overly genki.”
“Yeah, Reona, why are you fine?”
“I train daily.”
We had that conversation as we changed at the shoe lockers and left. Tonight I was going to hit the bed and be unconscious in under thirty seconds. Guaranteed.
“What are we doing now? I have places I want to stop at.”
“No, no — going straight home is the only option.”
I wanted to go home and collapse; Reona was very much wanting to detour. We literally just had a full month of detours.
“Going to back you, Ryouya — too tired.”
“Look — Riona agrees, let’s just go home.”
“Aww — isn’t that kind of boring?”
“Settled by majority vote, give up.”
Usually Riona sides with Reona, but exhaustion had overridden that and she’d voted with me. Reona was sulking when she suddenly perked up — she leaned in and whispered something to Riona.
“Got it. That works for me.”
“Okay — Riona and I agree, going home, sure.”
”…Really?”
“Yep. Let’s go home.”
Reona, who’d been pushing for a detour, had flipped suspiciously fast — but pressing wouldn’t get me anywhere. We chatted as we walked, and I got home. I said “See you tomorrow,” moved to enter — and Reona and Riona walked in with me, without hesitation.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
“H-hey, hold on — why are you in my house?!”
“Ryouya-kun said you wanted to go straight home, and we did, exactly.”
“No, no — this is not your home.”
“I didn’t say my home anywhere in there.”
Reona was wearing a victorious smirk. I caught the trick. That’s what the unnatural backing-down had been.
“So what should we do today?”
“Yeah, you absolutely weren’t going home.”
“Of course. But we did go home via majority-vote democracy — no complaints possible.”
”…Right.”
I had no counter and conceded. I led them up to my room. Riona collapsed onto my bed and was asleep within seconds.
She’d been wrecked by the first day back. The fact that Riona could climb into my bed without a flicker was so normal I didn’t even mentally flag it anymore.
“I have to do my chores. Reona, you can chill.”
“Oh right, you share chores with Mio.”
“Yeah, you know my parents both work.”
Mio handles cooking; I handle pretty much everything else. During the hospital stay and final exams Mio had absorbed a lot of the slack; I owed her huge.
“Then I’ll help.”
“Wait, really?”
“Sure. Riona’s out cold, I’m bored.”
“Then I’ll take you up on it.”
Chores eat time; help would actually be a meaningful boost. There was probably some scheme behind the offer, but at this point — with pair rings on both my fingers — there was little left to lose.