[TSSIM] Chapter 383: Sleep in My Room?

After arriving at Nozomi's home, she finally got off Homura's back.

"Well, if I didn't get down now, Homura-kun would really carry me back home~" Nozomi chuckled and continued. "But... let's forget about the others for now. Since Rin-chan doesn't want to run away, I shouldn't either."

Upon hearing that, Rin smiled at Nozomi.

"Hahh..." Homura sighed, his heart touched.

The bond between these nine girls was beyond what others could imagine. Not running away wasn't for themselves, but entirely for the sake of others.

'But wait... If 'that' really happens, they're not seriously planning to go together, right? Can my body handle nine of them?'

As he thought and imagined the future, Homura shuddered involuntarily.

"Hehe... Homura-kun, you gotta keep it up!" Nozomi hinted, waving to the others before heading back home.

"..." Homura stayed silent.

"Why is Nozomi-chan cheering for Homura-kun?" Hanayo couldn't help but ask.

"Who knows what she's plotting..." Maki scoffed, turning to Hanayo. "But she definitely doesn't just say things casually."

"Does Rin-chan know?" Hanayo turned to Rin.

Currently, besides Homura, there were only the three of them left.

"Eh?" Rin paused, her face slightly blushing, then shook her head. "Rin doesn't know, nyaa~"

It was a good thing it was nighttime, the lighting wasn't that obvious, otherwise, Maki would have noticed something was off with Rin long ago.

"And what about you, Homura-kun? You don't know either?" Hanayo continued to ask. "Is it about cheering for the anime adaptation?"

Homura didn't immediately respond; he only stroked his chin. After a while, he smiled faintly and put his index finger in front of his lips.

"It's a secret..."

"A secret?" Maki raised an eyebrow. "So you know then?"

"Probably... but since she doesn't plan to tell, how can I just spill it?" Homura smirked, playing a little smart. 'Let's see if Maki can guess.'

In fact, Hanayo didn't really care much, but Maki was indeed thinking it over.

'Nozomi doesn't plan to tell and she's cheering for Homura-kun... That means it's related to Homura-kun...' Maki analyzed in her mind. 'Earlier, she said since Rin isn't planning to run away, she won't either... So not running away means she wants everyone together? Eh? So if that's the case, Nozomi cheering for Homura-kun means... not running away from him? But what—"

Maki's thought halted as a realization suddenly hit her. Her face quickly turned completely red, matching her hair.

'No wonder Nozomi was beating around the bush like that!' Maki exclaimed with embarrassment in her mind while discreetly glancing at Homura. 'Ahh! If only I hadn't figured it out! Now I can't get this out of my mind!'

She glanced enviously at Hanayo, wishing she could return to that state of not understanding anything.

However, Maki suddenly felt a big hand on her forehead, accompanied by a voice whispering in her ear.

"Why is your face suddenly so red?" Homura asked with raised eyebrows.

"I-It's nothing..." Maki replied awkwardly but didn't pull away from his hand or remove it.

"The temperature hasn't changed much, just a little warm... Could it be..." Homura glanced at her face meaningfully, then fell silent.

"..." Maki fell silent before sighing inside her mind. 'Did I just get busted in an instant? What a terrifying guy...'

"What's wrong, Maki-chan?" Hanayo asked confusedly.

"Haha, maybe she just remembered something? It's okay, she's just a little flushed, not sick or anything."

While giving Maki a headpat, Homura answered Hanayo's question with a slight chuckle on Maki's behalf.

Hanayo looked at Maki suspiciously until Maki couldn't bear the scrutiny and was about to blurt something out, but fortunately, Hanayo averted her gaze.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Maki, who was trailing behind, raised her hand to touch where she had just been touched before shaking her head slightly and catching up with the rest.

'It actually... feels quite nice...'

===

Homura felt a bit quiet when he got back home.

"No one in the living room?" Homura turned to the activity room. "Not here either... Are they all asleep? It can't be..."

Homura glanced toward the side, which happened to be his own room. As he listened to the noise inside it, he raised his eyebrows.

'Heh, so Megumi, Eriri, and Utaha are all here...' Homura raised an eyebrow. 'Wait a sec, even Nayu... Sagiri? What's going on?'

'...So, everyone's here, huh? Even Nanami, Izumi, and Muramasa...' Homura facepalmed. 'Is this some kind of spontaneous sleepover in my room?!'

Taking a deep breath, he walked up to his room door and pushed it open.

"Hey there, Homura, you're back!" Elf greeted him with a smile.

Homura looked around at the futons scattered all over the place, his lips twitching.

"Could someone explain this to me?"

"I... I'm not comfortable sleeping alone in such a big room..." Izumi timidly spoke up.

"I was dragged here by her." Muramasa calmly added, pointing at Elf, though a faint blush colored her cheeks too.

"Kukuku... I just wanted to join the fun!" Elf chimed in with her own explanation.

"I came to take Mashiro back..." Nanami said somewhat shyly.

"I'm not going back." Mashiro shook her head.

"I came to protect Nii-san!" Sagiri said, her tiny fist clenched and waving.

"That doesn't seem right..." Homura frowned. "Why do all of you bring futons if you all are here for different reasons?"

Right?

Some were here to bring someone back, some were dragged here against their will, and some just wanted to join.

If that was the case, why did they all bring futons with them? It seemed like a planned act.

"Allow me to explain..." Megumi spoke up, raising her hand.

Homura nodded, prepared to listen intently.

Megumi turned to Utaha and Eriri, who had been looking slightly off.

"Eriri and Shi-chan were secretly planning to ambush you tonight as usual."

"..." Homura was speechless. 'Megumi had already known their plan?'

"However, today they decided to sneak into Homura-kun's room early. Even if Izumi-chan and I found out, they didn't plan on stopping and still sneaked into your room. But when they arrived, they found your blanket all puffed up. Upon opening it, they discovered Nayuta-chan." Megumi continued.

Homura: "..."

"Ehehe..." Nayuta wasn't embarrassed at all and just smiled happily at him.

"Shortly after, Mashiro also came over, along with Nanami-chan, who realized Mashiro and Nayuta-chan were missing, followed. As Nanami-chan talked about taking them back, Sagiri-chan and Elf-chan were attracted over." Megumi continued.

"Finally, I said, why don't we all sleep in Homura's room!" Elf smugly patted her chest.

"So, the end result is just this mess of futons all over the floor, huh..." Homura summed up with a twitch of his mouth. 

No wonder Eriri and Utaha didn't look pleased. With so many people, how could they ambush him?

Homura sat down casually, and Haru suddenly popped out from somewhere, strolling over to his side.

Reaching out to stroke Haru's fur, Homura spoke up.

"So, all of you really planning to sleep in my room?"

"Have you not seen all our futons already spread out?" Elf stated the obvious.

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?""