In the end, Hanaka and Rakuraku still failed to win the spots beside Nadeshiko, and they slept on the living-room sofa, Rakuraku on the far left and Hanaka on the far right…
A night of peaceful sleep.
Rakuraku was woken by the smell.
She rubbed her bleary eyes and sat up.
The weather was lovely again today.
Sunlight lay warm on her, and Rakuraku stretched in comfort.
“Where’s Hanaka?”
The other side of the sofa was empty, and Rakuraku asked it in puzzlement.
“Over here, you lazy pig.”
Hanaka pulled open the kitchen door and came out, and Nadeshiko followed behind her with a plate.
Only then did Rakuraku find the source of the smell.
“Morning, Rakuraku.”
Nadeshiko was wearing pajamas that were a little too big. Even the set Mawata used to wear hung a bit loose on her.
She waved a sleeve at Rakuraku.
Nadeshiko… this cute first thing in the morning.
Rakuraku shook her head and drove the strange thought out of her mind.
She bounced over to the dining table.
The table was covered with dishes: fried eggs, cheese bread spread with butter, miso soup…
“Amazing… Nadeshiko made all of this?”
Nadeshiko shook her head and pointed at Hanaka beside her.
“Hanaka helped too.”
Hanaka struck her signature pose again, narrowed her eyes, and teased, “While a certain someone was sleeping in, Nadeshiko and I got breakfast ready.”
She put the weight on those words, “and I,” terrified Rakuraku might not realize she and Nadeshiko had been in close contact in the little kitchen.
“Mmmph…”
Rakuraku puffed her cheeks and sulked like a pufferfish.
These two have this much energy first thing in the morning…
Nadeshiko glanced over the two of them bickering and said, “Rakuraku, go wash up first. I’ll go upstairs and wake Mawata.”
Leaving the still-bickering pair behind her, Nadeshiko went upstairs and pushed open the door to Mawata’s room.
“Mawata? Time to get up.”
Nadeshiko called into the room, but she got no answer.
“Mawata? If you don’t get up you’ll be late. Didn’t we say we were going to school together?”
When Mawata still did not answer, Nadeshiko had no choice but to step inside and poke the quilt balled into a lump.
“Mawata…? Sleeping like that, you’ll suffocate…”
Before she finished, a cold hand reached out of the covers and caught Nadeshiko’s wrist.
Nadeshiko did not react in time.
She was yanked into Mawata’s quilt and met those cyan eyes.
“Nadeshiko… thank goodness. You’re still here.”
Mawata, just woken, did not seem as reserved as usual.
She buried her head in the crook of Nadeshiko’s neck and breathed in Nadeshiko’s scent.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
Nadeshiko smoothed her slightly sticking-up hair and patted her back gently.
“Mm… I dreamed you disappeared, Nadeshiko. I was so scared.”
Mawata pressed close to Nadeshiko’s small earlobe and let the words in her heart out one by one.
“That tickles… I’m right here, aren’t I?”
In the little quilt, their long, pale legs overlapped.
Mawata’s arms circled Nadeshiko’s waist, so Nadeshiko had to use her free hands to cup Mawata’s face and pinch it lightly.
“Nn…”
Mawata did not struggle.
She nuzzled Nadeshiko’s hand like a cat being petted the right way.
If she really were a cat, she would already have been letting out a comfortable purr.
Wheedling with a face this handsome is against the rules…, Nadeshiko sighed to herself.
She really had no resistance to handsome girls.
A few figures flashed through her mind, and Nadeshiko hurriedly pinched a cheek to keep herself from remembering something strange again.
The cheek she pinched, though, was Mawata’s.
“Nadeshiko…?”
Mawata’s face had been kneaded into all sorts of shapes, and she asked in confusion.
“Anyway, get up. We’re really going to be late.”