After the commotion died down, I asked why Mayuri and Yoshino had been dressed like that in the first place.
What I got back was a little shocking.
"So this was all Marina talking and Natsumi planning it?"
"I just wanted you to cheer up..."
[Who told you to stay depressed?]
Natsumi kept her head down and fidgeted with her fingers as she made her excuse, while Marina acted shamelessly.
If she had at least tried to make an excuse like Natsumi, I might have let it slide. But the way she just stood there so brazenly annoyed me enough that I decided to punish Marina.
You might ask how I was supposed to punish her when I couldn’t exactly climb into a phone, but there were actually two methods.
The first was to ask Maria for help.
I didn’t particularly like this one, since it just meant bothering Maria.
The second, and more important one, was to use the ring.
This was an application of the effect gained from equipping both rings of [Irregular] I had gotten after sealing Marina and Maria last time, which let me interfere with machines.
"Yoshino, could I borrow your phone?"
"Huh? Yes..."
After putting on both rings, I took Yoshino’s phone.
Then I focused and expanded my senses to interfere with the machine.
I could clearly feel the shapes of the two people.
Among them, I lightly touched the one outlined in a slightly darker color.
"Here!"
Gah!
Marina’s shrill scream spilled out through the phone speaker, and on the screen I could see a tiny bump rise on her forehead.
[What are you doing!]
"What am I doing? This is your punishment for egging the others on."
After punishing Marina like that, I handed Yoshino her phone back and looked at Natsumi.
"Eek!"
Maybe because I had just hit Marina’s forehead, Natsumi flinched backward and curled up the moment our eyes met.
Seeing that kind of reaction made me feel a little bad too.
"Natsumi?"
"I-I’m sorry! Just not the weird food...!"
"Oh."
So the weird food I’d forced on her last time had apparently left some trauma, since she’d nearly died from it.
I crouched down and approached the trembling Natsumi, then gently patted her head.
"I’m not going to make you eat weird food over something like this."
"...Then why did you make me eat it last time?"
"Because the pranks you pulled before that went too far. Thanks to you, I could barely even secure time for a nap."
"That... yeah. Sorry."
Natsumi admitted it herself, so I really had been pranked a ridiculous amount.
But that was all in the past now, and I wasn’t such a rotten human being that I’d get angry over something like this and force her to eat weird food.
As I stood up, I gave Natsumi’s head a rough rub.
"Ah! You’re messing up my hair!"
"That’s the point. You still have to be punished."
Honestly, I had considered making her look like Marina too, but that felt a little too harsh.
Her intent had been good, at least. She’d only wanted to cheer me up because I looked depressed, so I settled for messing up her hair.
[Then why me!]
"Because you were shameless about it."
[...Hmph!]
At my words, Marina turned her head away as if she couldn’t accept it.
I wasn’t worried, though. By tomorrow, she’d have cooled off anyway.
"So why were you making that face?"
Mayuri, who looked exhausted from stopping me, asked from where she sat on the sofa.
To be exact, I’d been worried about Itsuka-kun, which was why I’d looked depressed.
But if I explained that properly, I’d have to tell them that Itsuka-kun had turned back time and changed history for Tobiichi.
That might have been a little too shocking to explain outright, so I decided to mix in a little lie.
"It’s just that Itsuka-kun didn’t look so good."
『Well, Shido did seem kind of off today~!』
"If that was the case, you should’ve said so. I thought it was some girl trouble again."
Natsumi, who was fixing her messed-up hair, muttered that under her breath, but honestly, wasn’t it a little strange to jump straight to girl trouble just because someone looked depressed?
"Um, are you okay now...?"
Yoshino looked at me with concern and asked that.
I smiled at her and answered, "Yes. Thanks to the three of you, I’m feeling a little better."
In truth, the ridiculous sight had helped me let go of some of my worry, aside from the part where I almost started jabbing a knife into my own head wondering if I’d finally gone insane.
"I-I’m glad..."
Yoshino looked relieved at my answer, and she was so cute I almost patted her head without thinking.
Already, after working on Natsumi, it felt like my reputation was hardening into that of a lolicon, so I held myself back and asked the others instead.
"By the way, who on earth came up with those outfits?"
That was what I wanted to know.
Even if Marina was the one who said girls should solve girl trouble, who in the world had decided to go along with that and dress like that?
"...That was me."
Natsumi slowly raised her hand.
Come to think of it, the only one who could turn Mayuri and Yoshino into adults and make them wear swimsuits and maid aprons was Haniel.
My question was answered by Natsumi’s reply, but Mayuri apparently wasn’t satisfied and glared at Natsumi.
"Ah! Right! Natsumi, why were you the only one in a normal maid outfit?"
It was true. While the other two had outfits that combined swimsuits and maid aprons, Natsumi was just in a regular maid uniform.
"I-It’s just... I felt weird about wearing something that embarrassing... It kind of felt stupid, I guess..."
"I see."
After hearing Natsumi’s answer, Mayuri started walking toward her with a cracking sound coming from her clenched fist.
It was obvious she was about to get violent, so Yoshino and I had a bit of trouble stopping her.
The next day, I entered the classroom, where Tobiichi was still absent.
The seat of the girl who had always been the top student did look a little empty after all.
Still, thinking there was nothing to be done about it, I sat down and opened the manga I’d recently started reading, Silver Bullet, waiting for Teacher Tamae to arrive.
It was really fun, but if there was one problem, it was that the author had been on hiatus for five years.
Even so, it was entertaining enough that I kept reading to pass the time, and before I knew it, all the students had filled the classroom.
"Has it already gotten this late?"
When I checked the clock, it was almost time for Teacher Tamae to come in.
In other words, Silver Bullet was so fun I’d lost track of time while reading it.
With that pointless thought that maybe I should try writing manga someday too, I closed the book.
Now that it was time for Teacher Tamae to come in, I put Silver Bullet in my desk drawer and waited.
About three minutes later, the front door of the classroom opened and Teacher Tamae came in, greeting us with a bright smile.
"Good morning, everyone~!"
Was it just my imagination, or did Teacher Tamae seem extra lively today?
Her expression was much brighter than usual.
Yeah, to be exact, it was the same expression she wore when introducing a new transfer student, like she had with me and Tohka, or with Mayuri.
"...A transfer student?"
No way. There was no way.
It was early November. Who would transfer in this late?
And yet, for some reason, my instincts were telling me a transfer student was coming.
"Today, I’d like to introduce you all to a new friend. Come in, please!"
Yep. Definitely the face she made when introducing a transfer student.
At Teacher Tamae’s signal, the front door opened and a girl stepped inside.
With a girl possessing the traits of white hair and blue eyes appearing before us, Itsuka-kun and I could only stare in shock.
"Eh?"
"...Is this for real?"
Because the transfer student today was none other than the Tobiichi Origami we knew so well.
I’d seen her before too, but the long-haired Tobiichi from after the alteration walked up beside the teacher’s desk and introduced herself.
"I’m Tobiichi Origami. Nice to meet you all."
As I stared blankly at her sudden appearance, I felt someone glaring at me from beside me.
Actually, from both sides.
When I looked around to see what was going on, the Fire Keeper and Mayuri were glaring at me.
Not understanding why they were looking at me like that, I broke out in a cold sweat, and Mayuri asked, "Hai, why are you staring so hard at the transfer student?"
"Huh?"
"Could it be that you’re into girls like that, my lord?"
"What?"
No, what kind of misunderstanding was this?
"Um, you two? I wasn’t staring at Tobiichi because she’s my type, okay?"
"Then why were you looking?"
The question came flying at me with sharp eyes.
If I hesitated or answered wrong here, the misunderstanding would only get worse, so I had to answer carefully.
"I was just surprised that a transfer student would come in a season like this. That’s all."
"...Well, it is pretty late in the year."
"So that’s what it was? What a shame."
Luckily, it seemed like my excuse worked, but Fire Keeper, why exactly were you disappointed?
"It would’ve been a chance to confirm your preferences."
"......"
I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard that.
Did I really not talk about my preferences enough in everyday life?
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