Shishio was thinking about a new story, but suddenly he felt something touching his nether region.
"He-Hey, I am going to work, you know?"
Shishio looked down helplessly, watching Futaba, who fumbled with his pants, trying to do something.
On the other hand, Shiina slept, using his lap peacefully.
"You don't like it?"
Futaba, who was on the other side of his lap, asked while looking at him with an upturned gaze.
"...I have never said that, right?"
Futaba rolled her eyes, but she didn't say much since this guy was about to go to Karuizawa. Unlike the rest, she was quite a late bloomer, so she wanted to learn a lot of things from him while he was here.
His lips twitched slightly, but he decided to focus on his story first, thinking about the story he wanted to make for Misaki.
"What are you thinking?"
While her voice was slightly slurred, he could understand her question well.
"The science club wasn't going to prepare anything for the school festival?"
Futaba was part of the science club, so he wondered whether she would also participate in this kind of matter.
"Probably not. Not everyone is that excited about the school festival. The most important thing is to win a contest, competition, or an olympiad."
While many might question why Futaba, who was in her 1st year, could become the leader of the science club, the reason was quite simple.
She was the smartest, that's all.
Among all the members, she was the smartest, and she also had won a lot of contests, competitions, and an olympiad for the club and the school, which boosted the reputation of the club and the school, and fully controlled the science club.
Futaba might be on his pants now, doing something unsightly that shouldn't be done, yet without a doubt, her IQ was one of the highest among them.
"Well, don't you have a dream to show something spectacular?" Shishio felt that Futaba was boring since she didn't have a dream.
"What? Do you want me to make something for you?" Futaba looked at Shishio curiously, without stopping his hand.
"Giant robot."
"......"
"Four-dimensional pocket."
"........"
"Or a time machine."
"........"
"As a scientist, you should have such a dream, right?" Shishio sighed, feeling sad about Futaba's lazy attitude toward the development of future technology.
"Do you want me to stop?" Futaba lightly glared at Shishio.
"No, please."
Futaba snorted before she showed a helpless smile. "Instead of doing something like that, shouldn't you think of something like colonizing the other planets? Mars or Jupiter seems like a nice place to build a villa, right?"
"......"
Shishio thought that his girlfriend was amazing.
"Futaba, do you want to stay on Mars or Jupiter?" Shiina somehow had woken up and joined Futaba to take down Shishio together. Still, she was also quite interested in their conversation, making her wonder about the difference in the scenery of earth and space.
"Well, it might not be possible now since the rocket technology isn't cheap. If we can make it cheaper, then it might be possible for us to colonize those planets."
Futaba pushed the frame of her glasses before looking at Shishio. "On the other hand, what are you working on? You seem so serious before."
Shiina also looked at Shishio curiously.
Frankly, Shishio was speechless since they were talking about space when they were in 2005. If they were in 2022, he wouldn't be surprised since even a billionaire could visit the ISS in the future, but that time definitely wasn't now.
The price of a rocket wasn't low, and even if there wasn't much news, he knew that many rockets had failed to take off, exploding when it was about to enter space or when they landed.
Anyway, he knew it would be hard to develop a rocket in this country.
Finance aside, the location was the problem.
He might have a lot of land in this country, but to develop a rocket in this country wouldn't be easy. Many might protest against him since the noise pollution caused by a rocket wasn't low. They also would give him many unreasonable reasons, and frankly, doing such research in this country wasn't conducive.
After all, unlike Russia or the United States, whose lands were so vast.
This country's land was limited.
However, he suddenly realized he had gotten side-tracked by a space and forgot about what he was about to do.
"Frankly, I am thinking about a story."
"Story?" 2x
The two became interested.
Shishio also pulled his pants even though he was unsatisfied, but he knew they were eager to listen to him now.
"It's okay. You don't need to do that. We can do it while we listen to your story," Futaba said since she knew well how powerful his sexual prowess was.
"Un." Shiina also nodded.
"No, my conversation is quite serious, so listen to me first."
Shishio felt they wouldn't be able to do their "work" properly when they listened to his story, so it was better to stop since they could continue it later.
They nodded and didn't force him again.
"But what kind of story do you want to make? Is it horror again?" Futaba sighed, thinking this guy had been hooked by a horror story.
"No, it's about a relationship."
"Oh? It's romance again!"
The two became interested, and their eyes shone, waiting for him to tell his story.
"......."
Shishio rolled his eyes, but he talked about his problem.
"Have you ever thought your relationship is akin to bondage?"
He suddenly dropped a bomb without hesitation, which caused the two to frown at the same time.
"What do you mean?"
"No, I don't mean our relationship since our relationship is good, right?"
He held their hands, reassuring them that he didn't talk about their relationship.
They sighed relief when they heard his words and urged him to continue since they wanted him to explain what he meant by his words.
"It's like this..."
His story originated from the original Sakurasou, but he wanted to pack it into a different story since the romance on the Sakurasou definitely wasn't good, considering the girls were too easy to fall in love with the protagonist.
While he knew it might sound narcissistic, unlike the original protagonist, he was handsome and thoughtful. It was normal for the innocent girl to fall in a few days.
However, the original protagonist was far from that.
Shishio knew it was rude, but the original protagonist was pathetic and could only blame his failure on the heroine.
While Shishio wouldn't say it badly when he thought of the original protagonist's personality, he wouldn't be surprised if this guy became an abusive husband, and Shiina could only accept it since her blank canvas had been tainted.
Anyway, that guy would no longer appear in front of Shiina again.
Shishio also wasn't so free to mention him. Instead, he told his two girlfriends about the story he thought of.
The story he thought of was the story of a female and a bluebird, who longed for each other companion, but the female thought that their relationship made her partner trapped, so she thought to let her partner go in order to give them happiness.
The girl wanted the bluebird to soar freely in the sky and release her from the cage.
On the other hand, the bluebird was happy with the companion, the girl, and wanted to stay with her forever. However, the girl suddenly told her to leave her cage and left. She was confused, but because she was in love with the girl and wanted her happiness, the only thing she could do was leave.
When the bluebird left, the girl could only stare at the bluebird from her house, alone and lonely, but still hoped for the happiness of the bluebird since she thought leaving her and joining the companion of the other bird was the happiness of the bluebird.
"...Can they just be together?"
Shiina, who was simple, was extremely confused and didn't understand why the bluebird and the girl would do that.
However, Futaba somehow understood. After all, unlike Shiina, who was simple. If she liked someone, she would like that person and want him to be happy. Back then, as long as she could see him smiling, it was okay, and she was willing to do anything for him, even if that price was him leaving her.
Fortunately, they were together now, and she was glad she could be truthful about her feelings.
"Maybe, this question is a bit too hard for you, Mashiro."
Shishio rubbed Shiina's hair dotingly. Her innocence was something that made him fall for her and was also the reason why she was able to save him. She only fell for him and wanted him to be happy, that's all, nothing else.
However, not many people could be like that.
Various emotions made love extremely complicated, like a twisted string.
The love between Misaki and Mitaka was like that.
If Shishio didn't take Shiina, the relationship between Sorata and Shiina would be like that.
Mitaka and Sorata were mediocre, normal people, but that was alright. Nothing was a problem. However, they fell for someone like Misaki and Shiina, who were the personification of talent. Maybe, their pride, or maybe, it was their youth, or it might be a different reason, but they felt they could also do the same, standing by their sides proudly and telling them how much they loved them.
Then, live happily as a pair of talented couples.
However, the reality was cruel, telling them their work was boring. When they compared themselves with the ones they loved, they couldn't help but feel inferior and didn't feel suitable for them.
Yet the girls didn't care about any of that. They didn't fall for them because of their talents or how successful they were. It was because you were you that it made them fall for you. Even if they didn't have talent, were unable to show their worth of talent, or were even poor, they were okay with it since those statuses meant nothing in front of love.
Love was an irrational emotion, and it was impossible to be bound by material, talent, or something.
The feeling of the bluebird and the girl were like that. They only wanted each other's happiness, but unlike Mitaka or Sorata, who clung to their loved ones like a chain, trapping their loved ones like a slave, the bluebird and the girl could do anything for love, even meaning that they would part away.
"So you want to create a story about the love of two people who are troubled by such a feeling?" Futaba was dumbfounded.
"Yes."
Shishio nodded. "The two of them are clearly in love and want their partner to be happy. However, their happiness means their separation, so should they part away in order for their partner to be happy?"
"........"
Futaba and Shiina were in a daze since they could not answer that question.
They were in love with him, and naturally, they wanted him to be happy. However, his happiness could be achieved if they were separated.
Could they do that?
"How will you answer that, Shishio?" Shiina asked softly, feeling her heartache when she thought of such a problem.
"If it were me, I would search for a way so my partner's happiness can be achieved without sacrificing our relationship," Shishio said.
"Huh? Can you do that?" Futaba was dumbfounded.
"It might be impossible for someone else, but not for me, so don't worry. In case something like that happens in the future, I won't sacrifice our relationship, and I will also make you happy."
Watching his smile, Futaba and Shiina also smiled with tears before they hugged him tightly.
Shishio also smiled, but somehow he felt this story wasn't used to help Misaki's relationship with Mitaka. Instead, it was used to make sarcasm at their relationship, so they could give up on their morbid, sickly relationship in order to give happiness to their loved one.
He knew this wasn't the time to take down Misaki.
A time was still long, and it wasn't the time for him to do that.
After all, tomorrow, he was about to go to Karuizawa. He shook his head and decided to put the matter in the story aside before pushing Futaba and Shiina to the sofa since he was about to take a few days off the trip with his older girlfriends.