[TSSIM] Chapter 384: Simple-Minded?

Homura was silent for a while before a smile emerged on his face.

"Then how come no one helped me set up a futon?" 

""Eh?""

Every girl in the room exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Elf asked with a confused tone.

"What else?" Homura rolled his eyes. "If you all really want to sleep in my room, then you better help me set up some futon. I don't want to be the only one sleeping on the bed, with you all below me like some members of a creepy cult."

"..."

The girls were speechless, but once he mentioned it, they all couldn't help but start picturing the scene.

Homura quietly lying on the bed above them, surrounded by them on the floor, with Utaha looking disgruntled, and Eriri glancing between Homura and the others, almost on the verge of tears.

This whole vibe just changed instantly, didn't it?!

Elf started snickering, even Utaha and Eriri's faces returned to normal, with a hint of amusement.

"But hey, Homura, even if you sleep on the floor, where would you sleep exactly?" Elf asked with a smile.

A few immediately perked up their ears.

Homura thought for a moment before answering.

"By the door, of course... I wake up the earliest, after all."

Eriri immediately rushed to the spot by the door.

"Then I'll sleep here!" Eriri quickly declared with a firm tone, pointing to a spot which unsurprisingly should be right beside where he would sleep.

"Ara... but I had my eye on that spot too, Eriri..." Utaha stood up, looking directly into Eriri's eyes.

"I want to sleep there too." Mashiro joined the fray.

Homura: "..."

'My goodness, these two... Are they still thinking of ambushing me? There's no point in worrying about that in this kind of situation, right? It seems like getting a good night's sleep won't be so easy after all...' Homura sighed inwardly.

Yet, in the next moment, Nayuta entered the battlefield, followed by Sagiri!

After several rounds of arguing, in the end, they decided to make Homura sleep right in the middle of the room!

Homura: "???"

===

Who knew how the night went by, but early the next morning, when Homura woke up, he found himself sandwiched, one arm held by Eriri, the other by Nayuta, Sagiri's little head resting on his stomach, and legs seemingly entangled with several other limbs.

He totally couldn't move at all.

'What a terrible sleeping arrangement...'

After thinking like that, Homura turned his head and blew out a breath, looking at Megumi not far away.

Megumi's face, with her hair tousled by his breath, quickly woke up. Gazing at him for a while, she quickly noticed his troubled situation.

She suppressed a smile, maneuvered past all obstacles to reach his side, and, under his gaze, used her hands to steady his head, lowering her own, and—

===

"Ahh..." Elf groaned. "Everyone's sleeping position is so terrible... all piled on top of each other... feels like my whole body's out of whack..."

"You're probably the worst sleeper of us all, no?" Muramasa rolled her eyes. "You end up taking everyone else's spot, then blame others for their sleeping habits?"

"Then, how come I'm the one getting squished at the bottom?" Elf voiced her protest.

"Heh, it's simple..." Homura chuckled. "They toss and turn in place, while you're rolling all over the floor... so when you roll next to someone else, you just happen to get squished by someone turning in place..."

Elf: "..."

"But surprisingly, Homura-kun has the best sleeping position..." Utaha was puzzled. "Could it be because you're being squished by everyone else?"

"Maybe I just have a naturally good sleeping habit?" Homura smirked. "Otherwise, do you really think you all could keep me from turning over just with your strength?"

"Hmm... makes sense..." Utaha nodded.

"But... Homura is unexpectedly honest, huh?" Elf grinned mischievously. "I thought for sure you couldn't resist your lust after your little 'experience' with Megumi!"

Upon hearing that, Homura rolled his eyes.

"If I were just a creature thinking with my lower half... then maybe I couldn't resist..."

Everyone understood that the bond between Homura and all of them was far more important than mere lust. Moreover, the incident with Megumi was probably just a natural development.

Utaha, however, looked meaningfully at Elf.

"So, Elf... knowing that Homura-kun might not resist his lust, you still suggested that we all sleep in Homura-kun's room, huh?"

"I've said it before, haven't I? Every day with Homura is bound to be a blast!" Elf smirked proudly.

"Indeed, that's so you..." Utaha shook her head.

===

After school.

"I just feel like I don't have enough energy today..." Elf said awkwardly. "I don't know if it's because of not sleeping well or feeling pressured..."

"...Probably didn't sleep well. I've been making small mistakes all day and had to fix them several times." Eriri's expression wasn't too good either.

"Me too..." Izumi chimed in quietly.

Sagiri nodded and stayed silent.

"Looks like only Mashiro hasn't been affected..." Utaha sighed lightly as she watched Mashiro still drawing as usual.

"Mashiro went to bed early..." Eriri glanced at Mashiro, looking a bit complicated.

"I'm also fine!" Nayuta raised her hand.

"I don't feel anything either..." Muramasa suddenly interjected.

"Hmm... seems like the simple-minded ones are actually fine, huh?" Elf pondered.

"Simple-minded?" Sagiri looked at Mashiro and Nayuta skeptically.

"Eromanga-sensei, no matter what they think now, anyone who is single-mindedly focused on one thing can definitely be called simple-minded."

Elf explained as she glanced at Muramasa.

"For Hana, I don't know if she has feelings for Homura or not, but even if she does, those feelings have definitely never outweighed her pursuit of an interesting story. Saying that Hana is simple-minded is absolutely not wrong."

"Mashiro too, though she's much less scheming than before, her knowledge of common sense is still lacking, and her mind isn't too complicated like us."

"As for Nayu... her mind is all on Homura, for her, novels come second, isn't that also a kind of simplicity?"

"We... maybe just think too much..."

After Elf finished explaining, there was silence. For a moment, everyone contemplated her explanation and couldn't help but somewhat agree that it was quite sensible.

"But... even if we aren't simple-minded and think a lot, nothing has actually happened, right? Where did this exhausted feeling come from then?" Utaha pondered, stroking her chin, surprising everyone with her insight.

"...I don't even know how to comment on that." Eriri responded with a hesitant tone, already quite used to Utaha and Elf's sudden way of speaking.

"Anyway, it seems we really should've considered not messing around too much, I'm really worried it'll affect the anime adaptation." Eriri continued, feeling a bit reluctant.

Hearing her words, Utaha also recalled how Megumi looked yesterday after doing the 'deed' with Homura.

It was fine for those responsible for dubbing, but the crucial ones were those in charge of the animation and artwork. If any of them had any problem, the impact would be huge!

However, as Utaha thought about it carefully, she realized something.

She wasn't in charge of those, right?