Time flew like a bolt of lightning, and soon there was just one day left that I had to spend in Gehenna. That means my legal vacation ends today!
During the week, the time I spent running around on external errands seemed to match the time I stayed in Gehenna — it couldn’t be just my imagination!
So I decided to dedicate my last day entirely to Hina. However…
“Hina-chan, it’s already 10 o’clock. Shouldn’t you be getting up soon?”
“Ugh, so annoying…”
Of all times, Hina’s laziness just had to explode now.
While I lay there with my arm draped over Hina, staring at the ceiling, I couldn’t help it and hugged her from behind, closing my eyes again.
“…Ugh. Mika, watch out for the horns.”
“I’m strong, so a little poke is fine… Ahaha, maybe☆”
After pulling the blanket up and burying my face in Hina’s hair, I found comfort in the familiar scent of the shampoo we shared. Maybe I was just used to it or something, but the smell calmed me down.
By the way, just like the day before and the day before that, I woke up with my lips feeling oddly dry. It was strange since this never happened before. I should really grab some lip balm in a bit.
“Hina-chan, should we just stay like this all day?”
“As tempting as that is, we can’t. We need to brush our teeth… yawn. And eat breakfast too…”
“To be honest, don’t you just want to stay like this?”
“…Yeah.”
Well, as Hina said, we can’t just stay like this forever. No matter how cozy this bed is or how much I don’t want to let go of Hina, who is using my arm as a pillow.
But hey, isn’t it okay to laze around just a little longer?
Click.
“…Huh?”
Wait a second. What was that sound…?
“…”
My hand couldn’t have taken a picture without me knowing. Hina occupied one arm, and the other was wrapped around her waist.
And if I ask if Hina took the picture, I’d have to answer no again. The shy Hina would never take a messy photo of herself! That’s just absurd.
So that means there’s someone else in this room aside from us…
“…Aco. I’m going to count to ten now.”
“President, I won’t run away like a coward. If I can leave this picture forever…!”
“Okay… I’ll respect your determination. You worked hard, Aco.”
Wait, does Aco even know Hina’s house password? If she didn’t even realize she was in this room, then she must have been here for quite a while!
“…So Aco-chan, when did you get there? And you have to send me the photo before I die. Got it?”
“Since two hours ago. And as for the photo… sigh, I guess I can’t help it now. I’m no longer just yours, after all…”
“…?!”
For some reason, Hina seemed startled when she heard “two hours.” Was she just surprised that Aco had been watching us for so long…?
“More importantly, President, I’m glad to see you’re taking care of things. I was worried Mika-san might be getting pushed aside because of where she came from, but it seems I was worrying for nothing.”
“…Aco, you don’t have to go to school starting tomorrow. It’s not like I’ll be able to anyway.”
“Uh, President. Can’t we compromise with a hundred reflective essays or something?”
“Go die.”
In the blink of an eye, seeing Hina spring into action and grab her gun to aim at Aco makes it seem like it wasn’t such a trivial reason after all.
With Hina’s wings fully spread, the sound of the gunfire abruptly chased my sleep away.
Ah, it was just another ordinary morning in Gehenna.
…But seriously, what was going on?
*
Somehow, I found myself cooking enough curry for three people, including Aco, for breakfast and lunch. There were still some ingredients left from when we shopped before, but since our relationship isn’t really a secret, I’m planning to have Aco come over occasionally and use some of them.
I don’t need to worry about the minor incidents that come up; Aco will take care of those. After all, this is all for Hina. Aco, being a Hina fanatic, will gladly do the cleanup.
Right? It’s gotta be true.
In any case, the day I originally wanted to spend with just Hina ended up being shared with Aco as well. Our plan to holed up at home naturally transformed into a city outing, leading to a legendary shopping marathon.
Something truly strange happened during this little adventure. Haruna, who happened to run into us in the city, approached me without a word, hugged me, and planted a peck on my cheek before simply saying she’d see me later and continuing on her way.
Both Nana and Hina were equally shocked, but Aco was the only one who took it further, judging Haruna for always coming to bother the President during her time like a problem child.
By the time our near-three-hour shopping marathon wrapped up, Hina had reached her mental limit, looking drained like a wilted vegetable. After all, she must’ve felt like she tried on every piece of clothing we picked out. I completely understood how she felt.
“Mika, given that my stocks have dropped, you really didn’t have to pay for my clothes…”
“Ahaha! Hina-chan, I just wanted to do this for you. And honestly, you don’t need to worry about the money. I didn’t lose that much, and it’s from a different account…”
“…Oh, Mika-san, what happened with your stocks?”
Just then, Aco asked, and without thinking much, I replied honestly.
“…Well, I sold after hitting the lower limit two days in a row.”
“Don’t tell me it was with Kaiser…?”
“Yep, that’s the one. What? Aco-chan knows about it too?”
“Of course, I timed my short selling to coincide with Mika-san’s plans… ahem.”
I couldn’t believe my ears for a moment. I mean, it was entirely my fault, but I had to experience the life of a retail investor. And Aco just played her part in the operation, happily taking her share…?
I had this feeling that Aco wasn’t the only one benefiting from this. Many smart kids were in on this operation, and the target was basically the entire Kaiser group. It was like having a swimming pool filled with cash just waiting to be swooped up.
“…I feel oddly empty. I’m not even jealous or anything, so why do I feel this way?”
“Aco, don’t talk about that in front of others. Even if you weren’t directly involved, you shouldn’t outwardly reveal any connections.”
“Yes, President.”
Putting aside the uncomfortable topic, we headed to a board game café after finishing shopping. It’s only natural that there are more games to enjoy with three people than just two. Even the card games that were just between Hina and me turned more exciting with another player.
“It’s kind of nostalgic. I probably would have never dreamed of bringing you here without Mika-san.”
“Yeah, Hina-chan was amazing when we first met.”
“…Still, I’m glad I knew nothing back then. Thanks to that, every moment with you, Mika, was more enjoyable than ever.”
Gah… Hina, you can’t say such bold things in public! I’ll die from excitement!
“So, um, Hina-chan, do you have any games you want to try?”
“I’ll pick from what you show me, as long as the rules aren’t too complex.”
Given that it was Hina’s day off and she was already exhausted from shopping, she probably didn’t want to spend time studying complicated rules.
After sorting through a few games, Hina started contemplating between Hali Gali, Uno, and Jenga. They were definitely simple enough to enjoy without much thought. But she discarded Jenga because she figured I would end up crying if she picked that one.
…Who would cry? Seriously.
In the end, the game that almost got decided was Hali Gali. The rules state that after distributing cards illustrated with four types of fruit ranging from one to five, you flip them one by one in turn, and when the sum of the same fruit shown on three cards totals five, you have to hit the bell placed in the center… but.
“But if that’s the case, Aco-chan might get her hands wrecked.”
“…Huh? Let’s just switch to another game.”
Even though I know Hina’s pretty sturdy, Aco… no matter how hard I try to control my strength, it’s tough. Would the bell even be able to withstand my quick and strong action?
Anyway, for that reason, we decided to put a hold on Hali Gali until we could find a suitable alternative rule and started with Uno.
It’s a simple game where you play cards from your hand that either match the color or number of the card in the center, and when you have just one card left, you shout “Uno!” The first person to get rid of all their cards wins. There are also skip, reverse, and attack cards that make the game more interesting.
Once the game started, Aco forgot to shout Uno and had to draw another card, or Hina put four cards in when she shouted, but I ended up winning the first two games.
However, after that, I faced a string of unfortunate losses, and eventually I surrendered and suggested we switch to Jenga since this one wasn’t exciting at all since luck wasn’t on my side.
With three of us playing, the dynamics definitely changed from when I was facing Hina one-on-one. The first factor was that Aco had a partner in shared defeat. The second was that I learned how to ruin Hina’s rhythm by deliberately removing blocks haphazardly.
“…Mika, if you keep doing that, it’ll be bad.”
“Huh? I’m not sure what you mean.”
I carelessly removed the middle block while stacking the blocks more on the side, causing Hina to stare at me in disbelief. No way, until now, I was just focusing on removing the side blocks and losing—I knew that much!
Crash.
—No, it was definitely stable after placing the last block. Why did it fall with a delay like that?
This board game was definitely conspiring against me. That’s the only explanation.
But I didn’t cry. Really.
