“Ah, Konuma-kun.”
“amane-sama...!”
“Why that name...? You’re not Yuri.”
I had come to the shared washroom to brush my teeth.
“Ah, n-no, sorry...”
...This is serious! Ichikawa-san is wearing pajamas! Pajama-mane is here!! It’s one of those fluffy sets that looks like it feels great to the touch!
A thin T-shirt, a fluffy hoodie-like thing over it, and fluffy short pants on the bottom!
It looks incredibly good on her!
It’s that thing—ranked 2nd only to the ‘boyfriend shirt’ as a guy’s ideal sleepwear! Fluffy pajamas!
“...?”
Pajakawa tilted her head while holding a toothbrush in her mouth.
Since I couldn’t look an angel directly in the eye, I also dipped my toothbrush in water and applied toothpaste.
“Ah, Honuma-kun.”
I felt like I was called Ahonuma-kun, but that’s wrong. This is the phenomenon where ‘Konuma’ becomes ‘Honuma’ because she’s biting a toothbrush. Probably.
“What’s up?”
When I asked, Pajakawa took the toothbrush out of her mouth and said,
“Lend me some toothpaste.”
“O-Oh, sure... here.”
I gently handed it over, and she applied the toothpaste I had brought.
...I’m getting excited over sharing toothpaste, but is this surely too much? (It’s too much.)
“...Somehow, it’s been a while since just the two of us talked.”
“Eh, really?”
I thought about it while making scrubbing sounds with my teeth.
“Yeah, if you don’t count phone calls, I think it’s been since the Rock On classroom. About ten days?”
“Ah, is that so...?”
“Shouldn’t you say, ‘Yeah, that sounds right’?”
No, usually I would.
But knowing that Ichikawa had remembered and counted the days made it hard for me to hide my agitation.
“Ah, Honuma-kun, what time should we wake up tomorrow?”
“Hoe?”
Pajakawa was consulting me about wake-up times through the mirror.
What, am I supposed to match my wake-up time? With Ichikawa?
Even through the mirror, I couldn’t keep looking her in the eye, so I looked down and averted my gaze.
What is this, I can hear the sound of my own heartbeat...!
“Practice times can be decided by each band. Breakfast is at eight, but we can do morning practice before that.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Do you want to do morning practice?”
“Well...”
However, if I’m going to compose, it seems like I’d make more progress when Ichikawa and Sako aren’t around. Either way, it looks like the daytime will be spent practicing Ichikawa’s new song.
“Well, let’s start band practice after we finish breakfast.”
“Yeah, got it!”
Pajakawa nodded while still biting her toothbrush.
Then she rinsed her mouth using a small plastic cup she had brought.
“...Want to use it?”
S-s-s-she said that while offering the cup to me.
“Eh, m-me?”
“Who else is here...?”
Ichikawa made an exasperated face.
“M-May I use it?”
“...Now that you say it like that, I’m starting to feel embarrassed.”
She started to pull the cup back.
“How cruel.”
“...Are you a samurai?”
Ichikawa narrowed her eyes.
“I-I’ll just rinse with my hands, so it’s fine.”
“It’s fine! Just use it!”
She thrust the cup in front of my face again.
“Th-thanks...”
As I gratefully accepted it,
“Geez, I’m also using up a lot of courage to say this...”
She muttered, her cheeks flushing red.
What does that mean?
“Th-then, I’ll tell Sako-san about the practice too.”
Ichikawa said that as if to hide her embarrassment.
“Ah, you’re in the same room, right?”
I asked after rinsing my mouth using the opposite side of the borrowed cup.
“Yeah, I’m in the same room as Sako-san and Erina-chan.”
“I see...”
It feels like a room that guys would really want to visit.
“...You shouldn’t try to sneak in for a night visit, okay?”
“I-I won’t!”
Crap, I gave a reaction like a middle schooler.
“I wonder about that~?”
Ichikawa gave a mischievous grin.
“Well, Konuma-kun probably doesn’t have that kind of guts anyway~. Though you don’t need that kind of guts.”
Wasn’t I just unnecessarily dissed?
“Anyway, where are Sako and Erina-san? They didn’t come to brush their teeth with you?”
“Ah— well, umm...”
“Hmm?”
“Well, there’s just, a lot going on. As the president, it’s a bit of a failure on my part... but I guess you could call it ‘youth’ too...”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ahaha, well, it’s fine! See you tomorrow for practice after breakfast then! Good night!”
“Yeah, good night.”
Pajakawa walked away. Parting feels so lonely...
“Ah, Konuma-kun.”
Just as I thought that, Pajakawa looked back.
“Yeah?”
“The yukata looks good on you! Bye!”
“O-Oh...”
I was completely captivated by Ichikawa as she waved shyly and walked away, and I stood there dazed for a while.
After a bit, I came back to my senses and decided to return to my room.
My room was the same as the four members of the Cherry Boys. It seems the arrangement is: the one male member of band amane and the Cherry Boys in one room, and the one female member of the Cherry Boys and the two female members of band amane in another.
“I’m back—”
I said as I opened the door. I wanted someone to say ‘welcome back’.
“Ah! Takuto-kun, welcome back!”
“Welcome back, Takuto.”
For some reason, two familiar girls welcomed me back.
“So that’s how it is...”
In there, the four Cherry Boys, Sako, and Erina-san were playing cards.
“Yes, 8-cut! And that’s my last card! I win!”
“Ah— he went out on a 2! Kenji loses!”
“Hey, say that earlier!”
“It’s your fault for not checking. Kenji loses.”
“Gah, Sakohasu is tough... fine...”
“As expected of Sako-sama!”
They seemed to be having quite a lot of fun...
So this was the reason for Ichikawa’s awkward attitude earlier.
I don’t know if she wasn’t invited or if she couldn’t come because she’s the president, but that means Ichikawa is currently in her room all alone... Poor thing... She should learn what it feels like to be a loner...
“Takuto, joining?”
Sako asked (probably).
Somehow, her eyes were sparkling. She looks cool, but she actually likes this kind of thing, doesn’t she, Sakohasu?
“No, I’ll pass...”
I felt a bit bad for Ichikawa...
“Ehh— come on, let’s play!”
Erina-san urged me in a spoiled tone.
“Well, just once...”
One hour later. Starting from that ‘one time,’ I racked up win after win, making the title of Grand Millionaire my own.
“Takuto is strong at Grand Millionaire.”
“Why are you acting all smug, Sakoshu? In fact, Sakoshu has basically been the Great Small-chest— wait, I mean, the Grand Pauper the whole time.”
“Hey, do you want to die?”
No, seriously, Sako putting a question mark at the end of her sentence like that is dangerous.