Yukino arrived ho at 5:10 p.m.
As she was changing her shoes at the entrance, she heard voices coming from the living room and imdiately guessed that Utaha and gumi were already there.
Her recent ti with her sister had been pleasant. Without any pressure from work or University, Haruno had simply accompanied her for chats and occasional shopping trips.
Although her sister still teased her from ti to ti, Yukino was genuinely happy with how their last eting had gone.
So she entered the living room and took the initiative to greet the two girls.
"You're both here. Don't tell this is a surprise intervention?"
"We've been waiting for you forever," Utaha replied lazily, curled up beside the kotatsu. She gestured with her chin at the folder sitting to her left.
Yukino imdiately understood.
"That's the printed script, isn't it?"
Utaha nodded. By now, she had fully regained her composure and no longer looked as flustered as she had earlier.
gumi chid in."I've also compiled so resources I found online. If you're interested, we can go through them together."
"Resources on acting?" Yukino asked, guessing gumi had focused on the subject since she was cast as the second female lead.
gumi gave a small nod."Utaha-senpai's nearly done revising the script. She just wanted to wait until you got back before going over the final details."
"Got it." Yukino casually shrugged off her coat and glanced toward the kitchen."Haru's cooking?"
"Mhm. He said he was waiting for you," Utaha replied with a rare, genuinely friendly smile—grateful, no doubt, that gumi hadn't outed her earlier blunder.
Yukino called out softly toward the kitchen.
"Haru, you can start cooking now."
A mont later, his voice responded in the affirmative. With that, Yukino sat beside the kotatsu and began flipping through the script pages with full focus.
The living room quickly turned into a little "girls-only creative conference."
By the ti Haru erged with the dishes, the three of them had already gotten comfortable and only got up to wash their hands when the food was served.
"So?" he asked while arranging plates on the table. "You've finalized the script?"
Yukino didn't rush to serve herself food. Instead, she ladled a bowl of hot soup and took a small sip. The warmth and rich flavor blossod on her tongue, and she closed her eyes in contentnt."Most likely. We'll have it locked in today. What soup is this?"
"Crucian carp and tofu."
"Oh, that one… it's part of Cantonese cuisine, right?" she asked, slightly unsure.
"Yeah, that's right."
Pleased with herself, Yukino took another sip.
"Teach how to make it soti."
"No problem," Haru said, recognizing that spark of culinary curiosity in her eyes.
Utaha didn't seem very interested in the cooking discussion. In her opinion, Haru's food was already at a god-tier level—why concern herself with the how when she could just enjoy the results?
Since she wasn't in post-al "Sage ti" yet, she still had energy to stir the pot a little."Speaking of which, Yukino told us earlier—you're planning to let Jelly shoot a comrcial for cat food?"
gumi also looked over, clearly intrigued. After spending ti around the plump orange cat, she'd grown quite fond of it too.
Haru, while helping himself to vegetables, replied casually,
"Yukino and I have only discussed it in passing. Whether Jelly actually gets selected is still up in the air."
"She's so clever and adorable. She'll make the cut," Yukino said flatly but firmly.
The other three in the room instantly picked up on the love in her tone when she talked about the cat.
Utaha let out a soft chuckle.
"I actually brought that up too before. I even looked into it—apparently, auditions for pet comrcials are pretty fair. The directors usually just pick the most obedient cat."
gumi looked down at Jelly, who was sniffing around curiously."I rember you said you've successfully trained her before?"
Haru nodded.
"Yeah. I'm planning to teach her a few new tricks soon. If she can nail those, the role's practically hers."
As soon as he ntioned it, the girls instantly perked up.
"What kind of tricks?" they asked in unison.
Haru responded with a perfectly straight face, "The legendary Hakimi Tornado."
"…What?" All three girls blinked.
Of course, "Hakimi Tornado" was just a joke. What Haru actually had in mind was training his chubby cat to respond to simple commands—not on a dog's level, but enough to demonstrate so basic obedience.
Now that he had the [Hypnosis] skill, teaching his cat a few new tricks was definitely doable.
One of those tricks? A backflip.
If Jelly could pull that off, he'd have the perfect excuse to tease Yukino later:"Wanna co over and see my cat do a backflip?"
Dinner proceeded smoothly, and as always, Haru's [Drugging] skill subtly kicked in. But this ti, rather than succumbing to the skill's usual effect of blissful laziness and blank-mindedness, the girls pushed through and continued workshopping the final draft of the script right there in the living room.
Haru, not wanting to interrupt, quietly kept to the background—only stepping in to pour tea or refill cups when needed.
By the ti they wrapped things up, it was already 8 p.m.
Utaha neatly gathered the printed pages into a folder, her expression one of barely contained excitent.
"Once the school break ends, why don't we shoot this with the photography club?"
Yukino and gumi had no objections.
But Haru did have one question: "So far you've only confird Kato as the second female lead, right? Who's playing the protagonist?"
Utaha flashed him a sly smile.
"Obviously, Yukino."
Yukino's tone imdiately chilled.
"I don't recall agreeing to that."
Utaha remained calm and composed.
"Last ti, you were the director and I was the female lead. So naturally, we switch roles this ti."
"Based on what logic?"
"Isn't it obvious? For freshness and challenge. Tell I'm wrong."
"…That reasoning is shaky at best. Personally, I'd much rather stay behind the scenes."
The discussion ended in a draw.
Yukino knew full well that Utaha's talk of "freshness and challenge" was just a smokescreen.What the girl really wanted was to experience what it felt like to give Yukino orders for once.
Which was precisely why she hadn't agreed yet.
Even though… Yukino was genuinely intrigued by Utaha's new script.
Later, after everyone relaxed for a bit in the living room, Haru stood up to escort gumi downstairs.
Unlike Utaha, who always found excuses to stay over, gumi wasn't the type to casually lie to her family. She still kept a relatively low profile.
Once outside the apartnt complex, Haru called a driver—he wasn't about to let a girl walk ho alone this late.
gumi seed about to object, but stopped herself when she saw the concern in his eyes. Instead, her lips curled into a faint smile as she asked,
"By the way… back when I was talking with Utaha-senpai in the living room—were you eavesdropping from the kitchen?"
Haru replied with utter conviction, "Nope."
Technically speaking, he was simply "listening in righteously."
gumi clearly wasn't buying it. "I think you're lying."
"And what makes you think that?"
"Knowing how much you care about Utaha-senpai, there's no way you wouldn't be curious about what we were discussing."
"Oh, you an the bunny ears? I already heard you ntion that."
gumi narrowed her eyes slightly and said with a deliberately ambiguous tone,
"If it were just bunny ears, I wouldn't have been that shocked."
That definitely got Haru's attention. "…Go on."
A sly glimr lit up gumi's gaze, like a duelist flipping her hidden trap card at just the right mont.
"I'll tell you… if you agree to do one thing for ."
She had, after all, promised Utaha not to tell Yukino—but no such promise had been made about Haru.
"So one condition?" Haru asked curiously. "Can I at least know what it is?"
gumi shrugged, her voice casual.
"I'd rather tell you another ti."
Haru grinned.
"Still playing mysterious? What is it, sothing spicy?"
"If you're trying to bait , it won't work."
gumi rolled her eyes. She wasn't falling for that.
Haru wasn't surprised.
"Alright, deal. I'll agree."
gumi looked mildly taken aback.
"You're not even going to question it?"
"If Utaha-senpai had said that, I'd assu she was about to drag into sothing ridiculous. But if it's you, I trust it's nothing dangerous."
…For so reason, gumi's cheeks suddenly felt warm.
Just like that—out of nowhere—she felt as if she'd just been flirted with. And she wasn't even sure if he ant to.
Under the quiet glow of the streetlights, she took a small breath and said as calmly as she could,"Utaha-senpai wasn't just wearing bunny ears. She had on a see-through nightgown… and black stockings."
Haru's eyes widened instantly.
gumi glanced up thoughtfully.
"Now I'm starting to suspect she's hiding even sexier outfits sowhere."
She probably is, Haru thought.
Like that risqué bunny girl costu buried in the bottom of the closet.
Reviews
All reviews (0)