When Nana, Rin, and Hanayo returned, Rin had stopped sneezing, though her nose still looked a little red.
"No problem, nyaa~!" Rin took a few deep breaths through her nose. "Guess it's still just allergies… but I don't know if the symptoms got better on their own or if rinsing my nose helped."
Hearing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
Ultimately, after waiting a bit longer and seeing that Rin didn't sneeze even once—her nose wasn't even that red anymore—they finally felt at ease.
"You know what? It could be both..." Homura stroked his chin. "When Rin was little, she always thought it was a cold. If she had cleaned her nose properly back then, maybe the symptoms wouldn't have been so bad."
"Even so, Rin-chan, you can't just go around touching cats that trigger your allergies!" Hanayo said seriously.
"Mhm~! Rin knows, nyaa~!" Rin nodded with a smile.
"But... does that mean Rin-chan's only allergic to long-haired cats?" Nana asked, looking a little puzzled.
"Hard to say. Allergies are complicated." Homura shook his head.
"As long as Rin's not allergic to Haru-chan, that's all that matters, nyaa~!" Rin crouched down and stroked Haru's fur. "Besides, the only cat Rin really spends time with is Haru-chan anyway. So even if Rin can't have a cat, it's no big deal."
"Umu!" Elf chimed in with an air of importance. "At this point, we all pretty much treat Homura's place as our own, so of course, Haru-chan belongs to all of us too!"
No one objected to her statement since the Minamiya residence really did feel like home to them.
Meanwhile, after hearing Elf's statement, Nana glanced at Elf in mild surprise and then shifted her gaze to Homura.
'Looks like these girls really do know Homura-kun's feelings, and they're not distancing themselves from him either...' Nana thought speechlessly. 'Seriously, Homura-kun's charm is kinda scary...'
"Hm? Homura-kun, what's that?" Kotori suddenly noticed the brush peeking out of Homura's pocket.
"Oh, the little one's started shedding, so Nana gave this to her." Homura held up the brush and shook it slightly.
Kotori nodded in understanding.
'So that's why Homura-kun went to the pet shop this time, huh...?'
She thought while glancing at Haru before shifting her gaze to Nana.
'I must admit, she's really gorgeous, but... she doesn't seem interested in Homura-kun at all...'
'But then again... who knows what'll happen in the future?'
"Homura, your new manga is getting crazy good reactions!" Elf suddenly called out to Homura while holding up her phone.
"Oh? Let me see."
Homura was about to take out his own phone, but Elf just shoved hers into his hands instead.
He didn't refuse and started reading right away, but in the next moment, he raised an eyebrow.
'Start from the middle? Oh well, it's no big deal.'
[Comment 1: Man, I'm already stuffed just from reading.]
[Comment 2: For real, this manga's dishing out some serious relationship vibes.]
[Comment 3: Even though it's kinda intense, gotta admit, it's so freaking good!]
[Comment 4: Lol, it's a whole other level of rom-com compared to Monthly Girls. Totally digging it!]
[Comment 5: Takagi-san is mine, no cap!]
[Comment 6: Bro, stop dreaming. She belongs to Nishikata!]
[Comment 7: But seriously, why isn't there someone around to tease me like that?]
[Comment 8: Bruh, get some chick already!]
As Homura read these comments about his new manga, he shook his head while smiling.
"Well, these guys are always so cheerful, huh?"
"That's great, though. Seeing them so cheerful makes it fun for me too." Elf said, taking the phone Homura handed back to her.
"Since they're this hyped, how could I not say a few words?" Homura said with a grin.
[Minamiya: Yo, I've been lowkey checking out all the comments about Teasing Master Takagi-san online, and wow, it really made me so happy!
For real though, isn't it just the best feeling when a work you love is getting mad love from everyone else too? I'm sure you've all noticed that Takagi-san not only took over from Monthly Girls, but the hype won't even die down! Sure, the chapters might be a tad shorter, but we're getting updates every freaking Friday now!
But seriously, what other manga could keep me hooked like this for so long? Oh well, happiness is more important than anything else. Please enjoy the manga to your heart's content, guys!
Btw, brace yourselves, because soon there might be a counterattack from our boy, Nishikata! But like, even if he does, you know Takagi-san won't sweat it one bit. She's just too smooth for that. In short, Nishikata, your wife will always win!]
[Comment 1: Yo, Minamiya-sensei!]
[Comment 2: Bro, so Minamiya-sensei was lowkey lurking?! Does that mean he's got a secret account?]
[Comment 3: Yo, Minamiya-sensei! Binge-reading your weekly manga is so addictive, but honestly, I always wanna take it easy since I don't wanna finish it too soon, but it's so damn hard!]
[Comment 4: Hold up, is that legit? Nishikata counterattacking? I can't even wrap my head around it.]
[Comment 5: Bruh, is it even legal for a waifu to be that cute?]
"Pffft, legal for a waifu to be that cute? What a funny guy..." Elf covered her mouth, giggling.
And so, everyone started chatting, mostly sharing comments about interesting things they had noticed and calling others over to take a look. Every time Homura released a new manga, this kind of scene became a routine.
After quite some time had passed, Homura spoke briefly with Nana before taking the girls and saying their goodbyes.
Watching their retreating figures, Nana began to mutter in a daze.
"They all obviously have feelings for Homura-kun, but their relationships with each other are still this good? Homura-kun, Homura-kun... Just what kind of magic do you have?"
===
"We're back!"
Honoka's voice echoed through the hallway as she pushed open the Minamiya residence's front door.
"Haru-chan's really shedding a lot, huh? Just a couple of days ago, it wasn't like this at all. It happened so suddenly, nyaa~!" Rin said, looking at the cat fur all over her clothes after setting Haru down on the floor.
"Well, this probably means the shedding season's going to be short, right?" Hanayo guessed. "Otherwise, Haru-chan doesn't have that much fur to lose."
"But how are we supposed to clean this up?" Umi couldn't help but ask.
"Well, there are always some people with nothing to do, so let's just brush the little one." Homura chuckled.
Considering now was shedding season, he was a bit hesitant to use the 'Clean' skill on Haru.
Who knew if it would just remove all the loose fur at once?
However, not using it wasn't an option either, so given the System's skills would never harm Haru, he decided to just do it every night.
"Oh yeah, Homura-kun, we're staying over tonight too." Eli said, suddenly remembering they hadn't told him yet.
"Yeah, that's totally fine. Frankly, I'd say you're more than welcome." Homura replied casually.
"We might even end up staying over every week... as long as your lessons don't stop, Senpai." Yukiho added.
"Whether my lessons continue depends on your progress, but you girls are picking things up really fast." Homura shrugged.
He honestly couldn't help but be amazed.
With the combination of the 'Teaching' skill and the 'Mentor-Disciple System', teaching others became ridiculously efficient, almost like having double EXP!
"Oh, right... Honoka, Eli-senpai, did you teach Yukiho and Alisa the training method I showed you before?" Homura asked, turning his head to Honoka and Eli.
At this, Yukiho and Alisa looked completely clueless, making Homura's right eye twitch.
Honoka and Eli, on the other hand, exchanged a surprised glance.
""We forgot!""