Meanwhile, on the other side of town...
"Achoo—!" Kaguya suddenly sneezed, raising her hand to cover her mouth.
How strange. It felt as if someone was talking about her behind her back.
"Good morning, Miss."
Hayasaka entered the room, pushing open the door.
"Good morning," Kaguya replied, turning to face her. She blinked in surprise. "Wait, Hayasaka, your dark circles are worse today!"
"Ah..." Hayasaka stifled a yawn. "I stayed up reading a really interesting manga last night. Before I knew it, it was already morning."
That, of course, was a lie.
She hadn't read any manga at all. Her dark circles were a result of not sleeping the entire night.
After watching Amamiya's livestream from the bathroom the night before, Hayasaka had gone to shower herself—only to encounter several evil spirits haunting different bathrooms. By the time she'd finally finished, it was already past 11 p.m. Exhausted, she returned to her room, only for something even worse to happen.
An eerie spirit with long hair draping over its face appeared by her bed. It vaguely resembled a woman, and she sat there, continuously combing her hair with her fingers.
Hayasaka had shuddered, and any trace of sleep that had clung to her vanished.
She had undergone intense spy training, sure, but even if James Bond himself were in her place, he wouldn't have been able to sleep with that evil spirit beside him!
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!' she fumed. Sitting beside her bed in the middle of the night, combing her hair—yet there was nothing Hayasaka could do but pretend she didn't see it. That was a nightmare!
Suddenly, Kaguya's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Hey, Chika's back?"
Kaguya had picked up her phone and quickly found a message from Chika.
"I landed at 10 last night and went straight to Amamiya-kun's place..." Kaguya froze, her expression darkening. "You stayed at Amamiya's house last night?"
Her eyes scanned through the photos Chika had sent, and a dark aura seemed to rise from her.
"We slept in the living room last night."
"We had breakfast together this morning..."
"We went out for a walk with the dog..."
'This is too much!'
'Way too much!'
'I haven't even been to Amamiya's house, and they're already spending the night together?! How far ahead of me are you going to get?'
Behind her, Hayasaka peeked at the messages over Kaguya's shoulder, her own expression neutral. Sensing Kaguya's frustration, she gently suggested, "If it bothers you this much, why not just go over and join them?"
After all, if Kaguya went, Hayasaka would have to go as well. It was the perfect chance to retrieve the surveillance equipment she'd left behind.
The thought of the surveillance gear made Hayasaka blush slightly as she recalled last night's bathroom livestream. 'Big monsters!' she thought to herself, embarrassed.
Kaguya's heart raced. Umi and Chika were already there—she couldn't just stay behind now.
But just as quickly, doubt crept in. "But..." Kaguya hesitated, her usual confidence waning. "I wasn't invited. Isn't it awkward to show up unannounced?"
Hayasaka leaned in closer, whispering conspiratorially in Kaguya's ear, "A man and a woman, alone in the same room. If you wait any longer, Amamiya might end up with someone else."
Biting her lower lip, Kaguya's expression grew serious. "Send the message. Now!"
---
Elsewhere, Amamiya had arrived at the park, walking the dog with Chika and Umi.
Miko had already gone to her part-time job at the convenience store, having politely declined Umi's offer to become a model. For Miko, the thought of standing under the spotlight and being the center of attention felt far too overwhelming. She preferred to keep her life simple and out of the public eye.
Suddenly, a vibration came from her pocket.
Amamiya pulled out his phone and saw a message from Kaguya.
Kaguya: '"Chika texted me, saying she came back last night?"'
Amamiya glanced at the pink-haired fool next to him and replied truthfully: '"She's at my place."'
Kaguya: "Did the evil spirit show up?"
Amamiya: "No."
Kaguya: "Should I come over and help plan our next move?"
Amamiya: "If you have the time, feel free."
Kaguya replied almost instantly: "Of course, I'm free."
"..."
For some reason, Amamiya felt like this girl was being unusually eager.
The trio walked the dog and returned home. Soon after, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Chika, who had been lounging on the couch watching TV, sprang up at the sound of the doorbell, cheerfully calling out, "...Kaguya-chan?"
Amamiya glanced toward the entrance.
Standing there was a girl with black hair, red eyes, a ribbon tied behind her head, and her hands resting elegantly on her belly. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Today, she had swapped her usual dark and icy look for a white sundress, like an angelic figure descended from the heavens, so radiant that Amamiya couldn't help but stare.
It was a shame about her flat chest, though.
Flat, with no discernible rise or fall, like the vast plains beneath the sky.
It could only be Kaguya.
"Good morning, Shinomiya-san," Amamiya greeted her, quickly averting his eyes from the area he'd been caught staring at.
"Morning," Kaguya replied, biting her lower lip slightly, clearly having noticed exactly where Amamiya had been peeking.
'Idiot!'
It made her furious! She had put in so much effort with her makeup, spent ages picking out her outfit, even meticulously choosing the perfect stockings and shoes—yet 'that' was where his eyes went?
They're just lumps of fat, are they really so important?
"Kaguya-chan, it's been forever!" Chika wrapped herself around Kaguya's arm, nuzzling it affectionately. "I missed you!"
Kaguya turned her face away, clearly unimpressed: "Get off."
If you really missed me, you could've texted me to come hang out.
It was clear—the friendship ship had already sunk.
As Kaguya entered the house, a blonde girl in a maid outfit followed closely behind her. It was Ai Hayasaka.
"It's my first time visiting. I hope I'm not intruding," Hayasaka said politely, slightly bowing and offering a gift with both hands, displaying perfect maid manners. "Please accept this."
Amamiya, already familiar with Hayasaka in her maid persona, nodded and handed her a pair of guest slippers from the shoe cabinet.
"Thank you," Hayasaka said politely as she slipped into them. She walked past the entrance, but her eyes swiftly locked onto something.
"Kaguya-chan, Mommy missed you!"
It was Shimizu, affectionately approaching Kaguya.
Seeing the two of them together, Hayasaka suddenly understood. They looked so much alike—there was no mistaking it.
"Is that the young lady's mother?"
"She looks exactly like the photos. This must be her."
As Hayasaka recalled, there was that one afternoon after school when Kaguya had invited Amamiya into the car to visit the old family house in the suburbs.
They hadn't seemed to do much, spending no more than ten minutes together before leaving. But now, in hindsight, it was clear: something 'had' happened. It just hadn't been obvious at the time.
"So, that's what had happened that day…"
Hayasaka's thoughts quickly fell into place.
The phone floating in the air—it had actually been her young lady's mother playing with it, hadn't it?
The surveillance cameras simply hadn't picked it up.
"But one thing still puzzles me… If that's the young lady's mother, why is she in Amamiya's house?"
Hayasaka kept her cool, pondering the situation. Unfortunately, no answer readily presented itself.
"Amamiya-kun," a voice whispered near Amamiya's ear. Umi had leaned in close, covering her mouth. "Doesn't the maid's back look strangely familiar?"