'My answer to your question... What question did I ask again?'
Nana actually knew exactly what she had just asked, but after hearing such an unexpected answer, her mind was a little scrambled.
"All of them..." Nana mumbled, then looked at Homura with an astonished expression. "Homura-kun, you mean..."
"Yep, it's exactly like you're thinking."
Upon hearing Homura's confident answer, Nana suddenly felt very conflicted.
It couldn't be helped.
In fact, the first thing that came to her mind wasn't why Homura said 'all of them', but why he was telling her about this in the first place.
Homura's expression didn't look like he was joking, but was this something one could just tell anyone?
She could understand that most men probably thought this way, but was it really okay to just say it out loud like that?
"Why are you telling me this...?" Nana asked with a hesitant expression.
"Because you asked." Homura replied calmly.
Nana: "???"
She was completely confused.
She had been struggling with this matter for a while, and it all came down to just that one reply?
"Ahem, well, let's just be normal." Homura scratched his head. "I know very well this is a very greedy and absurd thing, but no matter what, I can't suppress this feeling. As I get to know them better, each of their strengths and little flaws deeply attracts me. So... y'know, they've unknowingly become special to me—this is my true feeling."
"Really... hearing Homura-kun say all this, it's really complicated..." Nana shook her head and then smiled. "Ahh~ seriously, I wish I hadn't asked~!"
"So, they probably don't know how you feel, right?" Nana asked again.
"They do." Homura responded instantly.
"Well, as expec—" Nana suddenly froze, looking at Homura in disbelief. "Wait, they know?! Did I mishear?!"
"No, you didn't mishear."
Nana stared at Homura without blinking, and after a moment, whispered.
"Ahh, so that's why Homura-kun came alone today..."
Homura: "???"
He was confused for a while before suddenly understanding the meaning of her whisper.
'Did she think everyone abandoned me?!' Homura thought with a speechless expression.
He couldn't help but feel both amused and frustrated.
"No, whatever is inside your mind, it's not like that. I said before, everyone's busy with the anime stuff, that's why they couldn't come. I think I mentioned it on my blog?"
At this, Nana gave him a look of disbelief and skepticism.
"I don't need to lie to you, right?" Homura smiled wryly. "I mean, I've already said so much, and now you're saying I'm lying about this part?"
"It just... feels unreal, y'know..." Nana sat down, still looking a bit puzzled.
Just then, Homura's phone suddenly rang.
"Hold on, I gotta take this call."
"Honoka? What's up?" Homura asked, somewhat surprised that Honoka was calling him at this time.
"Homura-kun, where are you? We're at your place, but Elf-chan says you went out for a walk with Haru-chan!" Honoka's energetic voice came through.
'Honoka?' Nana, sitting nearby, caught a bit of the conversation and glanced over. 'Isn't she that school idol? Her voice does sound kinda familiar...'
"Did you secretly go to the Manke Bookstore, Homura-kun?" Honoka asked, sounding puzzled.
"No, I'm at Nana's pet shop."
"Nana? Pet shop?" Honoka muttered.
"Nyaa? Pet shop?" Rin's voice chimed in.
"Homura-kun said he's at a pet shop, and the owner's name is Nana." Honoka explained.
"A pet shop? Sounds great! Rin wanna go too, nyaa! There must be a lot of little animals and plenty of cats!" Rin exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement.
"But Rin-chan, you don't even know if you're still allergic to cats yet. A pet shop... maybe you shouldn't go?" Hanayo's voice joined in, sounding a little worried.
"But trying it out wouldn't hurt, right?" Nozomi's voice came in. "It's a good chance to see if Rin-chan's still allergic to cats, and since Homura-kun's there, the chances of something going wrong are pretty low."
Hearing this, Homura thought that Nozomi's suggestion totally made sense. Moreover, they would have to check if Rin was still allergic to cats sooner or later anyway, so why not just do it now?
"Rin-chan, what do you think?" Honoka asked.
"Hmm... Rin wanna go, nyaa! Rin wanna figure out if Rin's still allergic!"
"Elf-chan, do you know about this pet shop?" Kotori asked.
"I don't, but Homura mentioned it before... Well, everyone else should know, right?" Elf asked, turning to look at Megumi. "Megumi, you know, right?"
"Um, we've all been there before..." Megumi sighed lightly. "That day was the same day Elf-chan moved across the street."
"Ah, so that's what happened." Kotori nodded.
Everyone immediately understood why Elf didn't know about the pet shop.
"Megumi-chan, where's this pet shop?" Honoka asked.
"Honoka-chan... Why don't you just ask Homura-kun directly?" Megumi said with a deadpan expression.
Everyone: "..."
"Ahaha, I forgot I was still on the phone with Homura-kun." Honoka awkwardly scratched her head.
"You know, this is the first time my presence has been so low..." Homura suddenly chimed in. "Hmm, I kinda get how Megumi feels now."
"Sorry!"
"What are you apologizing for? I was just kidding." Homura chuckled. "Okay, if you wanna come over, just come. It's not far from my place. I'll send you the location."
"Okay! Wait a bit, we'll be there soon!"
With that, the two hung up the phone.
"Hmm, that phone call actually made me feel like it's not unreal anymore..." Nana said out of the blue.
"Let's not talk about that for now." Homura shook his head and quickly sent a location to Honoka. "By the way, one of the girls coming over later has been allergic to cats since she was little."
"Eh? Then we can't let her come!" Nana exclaimed with a surprised expression.
"Let me finish." Homura gestured for her to calm down.
Seeing how calm Homura was, Nana managed to calm down as well.
Homura then began to explain.
"She's Hoshizora Rin. You should know some of her background from the manga, right?"
"Rin... she's a girl who's crazy about cats. When she was little, she wasn't like this. She liked cats, sure, but it wasn't to this extreme. However... after an incident where she saved a kitten, that's when things changed."
Homura shared with Nana how Rin and Hanayo had saved a cat when they were young.
"Maybe it's because she loved cats but couldn't get close to them due to her allergy, which made her love cats even more."
"Until last time... after Rin and Haru had contact... there was surprisingly no allergic reaction at all—that was when we started having a glimmer of hope."