"Here..." Shirayuki said as she placed a wooden board that had 3 cups of iced tea, on top of the table that was between the couch and the armchair of the living room.
Tatsurou was sitting on the couch, with his arms crossed, Shirayuki took a seat next to him after she placed the wooden board on the table and Marie was sitting in the armchair in front of the couch.
"Thank you, Shirayuki!" Marie said as she grabbed one of the cups with iced tea, and took a sip, in the meantime both Tatsurou and Shirayuki were in complete silence as they looked at Marie.
"Oh! This is quite good..." Marie said as she finished taking a sip from her glass.
"Chateunoire-san?" Tatsurou called Marie in a way to break the silence, but she ignored him, as she took another sip from her glass.
"Chateunoire?" Tatsurou called Marie once again, but she ignored him once more as she now looked at Tatsurou in silence.
"Don't tell me...she wants me to call her by her first name, in front of Shirayuki?" Tatsurou thought to himself as he looked at Marie, that was taking another sip from her glass, and then he glanced to his side to see that Shirayuki wasn't giving him the happiest of looks.
"God! What kind of situation is this?" Tatsurou thought as he was now facing a dilemma, we had on one side Shirayuki, that had for the past few days asking Tatsurou to call her by her first name, something he was avoiding, then we had Marie, someone Tatsurou had no problem calling by her first name, that is if they were alone or didn't have anyone giving him unhappy looks.
"This is not good, if I want Marie to talk, I have to call her by her first name, but then I have Shirayuki that has been asking me to call her by her first name...just what am I supposed to do?" Tatsurou though still with his arms crossed thinking if there was a way out of this.
"Seriously, there is no way around it, I have to comply but then...I will deal with it when the time comes..." Tatsurou thought as he sighed and saw Marie placing the cup on the table.
"M-Marie..." Tatsurou said with a faint hint of embarrassment as he looked away from both Marie and Shirayuki.
"Yes, Tatsurou, what is it?" Marie asked with a cute voice as she smiled and placed her hands together, this prompted Shirayuki to pout a bit as she kept looking at Tatsurou.
"Well...ahem, what you said about living here earlier..." Tatsurou said as he looked in Marie's direction but still avoiding to look at her directly.
"That was a joke, right?" Tatsurou asked not expecting the answer he was going to get from Marie.
"Of course not! I would never joke with serious things, like this!" Marie said with a tone that had a faint hint of anger, that caught Tatsurou off guard.
"I-I see, but do you have a reason to do that? I mean living here?" Tatsurou asked as he laughed a bit nervously and meanwhile Shirayuki picked up her glass and began drinking her iced tea, still pouting and trying not to think too much about what was happening.
"Yes! The reason is you!" Marie said as she pointed at Tatsurou, and when Tatsurou heard this he looked like he was just hit by lightning, and Shirayuki upon hearing this, spat out what she had just drunk like a geyser.
"M-Marie!! What do you mean with that?!" Shirayuki asked with an embarrassed tone as she got up from the couch and pointed at Marie, that just looked at her confused for a bit until it hit her.
"W-Wait! I didn't mean it like that!" Marie said as she blushed a bit.
"Well...ahem, context, you see, I was given a new mission by my superior in the Supreme Cross, to now keep Tatsurou under surveillance.. ." Marie said as she regained her composure a bit, Tatsurou upon hearing this, came back from his shocked state.
"Keeping me, under surveillance?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone.
"Yes, exactly, I have to keep an eye on you from now on..." Marie said with a serious tone that made Tatsurou finally realize, that she wasn't joking around.
"I see, but I thought I wasn't a problem anymore, from what you said in the hospital..." Tatsurou said as he remembered the talk he had with Marie in the hospital more or less a week ago.
"Well, you are right with that, but that is the case with me, my superior on the other hand does not have the same idea..." Marie said as she looked at Tatsurou for a bit.
"So by her request, I shall keep a close eye on you and make sure to gather proof that you are the good person, I told her about!" Marie said with a determined tone as she clenched her fist.
"I understand, but, living here?" Tatsurou said, with a confused tone as he looked at Marie.
"It's a lot easier to keep an eye on you if I live in the same place as you do, right?" She said as she raised her index finger, as if she was explaining something.
"And besides, I don't have a place to go, so this is my only option!" Marie said with a happy tone that made her look as if she was beaming with light.
"I do understand that, but..." Tatsurou said this as if he was trying to find a way to escape this situation, but...
"Don't say that, Tatsurou! I'm your friend and I won't hurt you or anything!" Marie said as she got up from her chair and grabbed Tatsurou's arm, and as she did that, Tatsurou blushed as he could feel her chest pressing against his arm and Shirayuki became a bit shocked and angry upon seeing this.
"Come on...your not going to leave me without a place to stay, right?" Marie said as she grabbed Tatsurou's arm even more prompting him to blush from ear to ear.
"O-Ok, I get it you can stay..." Tatsurou said as he avoided looking at Marie.
"Really? Yay, Thank you!" Marie said as she kept holding on to Tatsurou, as he began to not know where to look or how to react to Marie's actions, but it was at that time that something unexpected happened, Shirayuki suddenly pushed Marie away from Tatsurou.
"Alright, Tatsurou-san said it's ok for you to stay, so you can stop clinging on to him Marie!" Shirayuki said with a faint hint of anger as she placed herself between Tatsurou and Marie.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't noticing how close I was..." Marie said as she scratched her cheek with her index finger and laughed a bit, this laugh of course sounded to Shirayuki like a fake one.
"Don't try to laugh this away, you were doing it on purpose!" Shirayuki thought as her ahoge pointed upwards looking like thunder as she gave an angry look to Marie.
It was at this moment, that despite still considering Marie a friend, Shirayuki was now looking at her as if she was an enemy of sorts.
"I just know it, she isn't here to just keep an eye on Tatsurou!" Shirayuki thought again as she looked at Marie, that just smiled at her as if she knew what Shirayuki was thinking, and as they kept looking at each other, having what looked like an intense "starring contest" Tatsurou just kept looking at them with worry.
"I don't know what's going on between those two...and all this is just too confusing, but ruining my head trying to make sense out of this won't solve the problem, so let's just go with it..." Tatsurou thought as he sighed and looked at both Shirayuki and Marie that, we're still locked in they're "staring contest".
"Ahem, well Marie since you're going to be staying here, you don't mind sharing a room with Shirayuki-san?" As Tatsurou asked this both, Marie and Shirayuki looked in his direction.
"Well, I do not mind, after all, I'm used to room sharing!" Marie said with a happy tone while she smiled at Tatsurou and placed her hands together.
"That's good to know, how about you Shirayuki-san?" Tatsurou asked as he now looked at Shirayuki, that was kind of surprised by this question.
"I don't mind sharing my room either, but I think my opinion doesn't matter too much, after all this is your home..." Shirayuki said as she blushed a bit while looking down, but Tatsurou didn't let her do that for too long.
"Well, the room where your staying is yours now, and I think you should have a saying in that, and besides this is also your home too!" Tatsurou said as he patted Shirayuki's head prompting her to blush again.
"T-Thanks...Tatsurou-san..." This was the only thing Shirayuki could say as Tatsurou kept patting her head, but it was at this moment that Marie, that was giving off a not so happy look upon seeing how close Tatsurou and Shirayuki were, intervened.
"Isn't it great? We will be roommates, Shirayuki!" Marie said as she hugged Shirayuki from behind and took her a bit away from Tatsurou so that he would stop head patting her.
"Yes, it's going to be really great!" Shirayuki said with a happy tone as her ahoge wiggled around, as she was happy with the idea of sharing her room with a friend, upon seeing this Tatsurou smiled a bit, as he looked at Shirayuki and Marie, but then his phone rang interrupting this small moment.
"Yumeko? What could she want?" Tatsurou thought as he took out his phone and saw that Yumeko was the one calling him.
"Well, I have to answer this could be important..." Tatsurou said as he looked at both Shirayuki and Marie that were still hugging each other.
"While you do that why don't we go to my room and get you settled up, Marie?" Shirayuki said as she looked at Marie.
"Sure, let's do that!" Marie answered as she let go of Shirayuki and grabbed her suitcase, and after a while, they left the living room with Shirayuki leading the way and Marie following behind her, after they left Tatsurou finally answered the call.
"Hello, Yumeko." Tatsurou said as he placed the phone close to his ear.
"Hey there, Tatsurou, are you busy right now?" Yumeko answered almost immediately from the other side.
"Well, that depends..." Tatsurou said in a joking tone as he laughed.
"Don't worry, I'm not calling because I need a favor! No need to act like that!" Yumeko said with a tone that a faint hint of anger.
"I know, I know...so what is it?" Tatsurou asked a bit curious as he took a seat on the couch.
"Say Tatsurou, what was your student Id number again?" Yumeko asked with a faint hint of curiosity.
"My student Id? It's 1410KT, why do you need that?" Tatsurou asked more suspicious than curious as he scratched his head.
"You know...just to...fill up somethings for faculty...yeah that..." As Yumeko finished saying this she gave Tatsurou what sounded like a fake laugh, this made Tatsurou even more suspicious.
"Oh, really? Is that what this call is really about?" Tatsurou asked with a tone as if he was interrogating Yumeko.
"I'm telling you, it's just for a few faculty things...Oh! By the way, there are no classes, tomorrow!" As she said this Tatsurou's eyes opened wide.
"Wait, Really? Why?" Tatsurou asked with a tone that was more happy than worried, forgetting about all of his suspicions, something he would regret later.
"Yes, it's because of a meeting with the higher-ups from Soteria, so no classes, lucky you, having a Friday off..." As Yumeko said this Tatsurou couldn't hide his happiness, after what happened today not going to school tomorrow was something he actually welcomed with open arms, but then...
"Well, since you have the day off tomorrow, why don't you take a chance and go on a date with Shirayuki-chan?" When Yumeko said this Tatsurou became silent for a bit, as he slowly began to blush.
"Wait, a second! I already told you, it's nothing like that!" Tatsurou said with a tone filled with embarrassment as he finally stooped being silent, Yumeko just laughed.
"Then are you going to show that Marie girl around town? When you already have Shirayuki-chan? What a player!" Yumeko said with a joking tone that made Tatsurou even more embarrassed.
"I'm going to turn the call off..." Tatsurou said with a faint hint of anger as he took the phone away from his ear and looked at the phone's screen.
"Wait, don't get all angry like that, I'm just pulling your leg a bit..." As Yumeko said this Tatsurou placed the phone close to his ear again.
"I know..." Tatsurou said still a bit embarrassed.
"Oh! I have to go now, just don't get into any trouble, ok?" Yumeko said as if she was distracted by something.
"Sure, I will keep out of trouble" Tatsurou said as he scratched his head.
"Ok then, we'll see each other on Monday! And have a nice weekend" Yumeko said with a happy tone.
"Yeah, right back at you" Tatsurou said as he took the phone from his ear and turned the call off, and as he did that Tatsurou placed his right hand on his forehead.
"Seriously, Yumeko...It's nothing like that..." Tatsurou said as he sighed a bit.
"But then again, since I'm free tomorrow, I might as well ask Shirayuki if she wants to go out...to show Marie around town, yes only that! It's not a date if we're three people going out!" Tatsurou said a bit embarrassed as he got up from the couch and went to Shirayuki's room, to tell them that he didn't have classes tomorrow.
And as Tatsurou was about to do that, somewhere in an alley in District 4, something was about to go down...