The Quintuplets' Birthday

The girl with short golden-white hair and dressed in a kimono slid open the Shoji, looking somewhat impatient:

"Did you find her, Kurumi?"

"Of course!"

Sitting on the tatami, with a laptop in front of her, the petite blonde loli wore a proud expression:

"As if you could forget who personally handled it!"

"Let me see!"

The girl with golden-white short hair excitedly walked over and stared intently at the photo displayed on the computer screen, a happy smile spreading across her face:

"He really is there."

The cool-looking girl with long black hair tied into twin tails also leaned over, murmuring softly:

"Kira-kun..."

Kurumi stretched lazily and asked curiously:

"Hey, are you going to look for him?"

The girl with platinum-blonde short hair answered without hesitation:

"No!"

The black-haired girl lowered her head, her eyes somewhat dim:

"Kira-kun wouldn't want to get involved with us again. We've already caused him enough trouble."

Kurumi rolled her eyes. Haven't you caused him plenty of trouble, and didn't he solve all of it for you?

Since you want to see him so badly, just go find him. What's the big deal?

The self-proclaimed thirty-year-old blonde loli picked up the cup beside her and sucked hard on it, only to draw up nothing but air.

When she looked down, she discovered that the cup contained nothing but ice.

Kurumi shouted without hesitation:

"Nanami! Refill my cola!"

The young girl's voice came from outside the room:

"Okay, Senior Kurumi."

Chapter 43: The Quintuplets' Birthday

"Angel Ladder"

Ding-dong~!

Yukinoshita Haruno stepped out of the elevator and looked toward Kira Yoshikage behind the bar:

"Kira-kun, come to my office for a moment."

"Okay."

Kira Yoshikage looked up, set aside his work, and followed Yukinoshita Haruno straight toward the office.

Yukinoshita Haruno sat down on the sofa and crossed her right leg:

"Kira-kun, close the door~"

"Click!" Kira Yoshikage obediently closed the door.

"Come sit here."

Yukinoshita Haruno patted the spot beside her and said with a bright smile.

Kira Yoshikage felt no pressure and sat down beside her with an unchanged expression.

The girl leaned slightly closer and asked with a hint of slyness:

"Do you know why I called you here?"

Kira Yoshikage answered seriously:

"It's payday."

Today was payday. He knew that much.

Although he didn't know why Yukinoshita Haruno handled the accounting, he didn't care.

As long as he got paid, that was enough.

"Ehh~ What an uninteresting man."

Yukinoshita Haruno pouted, pulled her face back, and her tone became somewhat colder:

"Kira-kun, you worked a total of eighteen days last month, with four fixed hours per day, so the total is 144,000 yen."

Eighteen days, 8,000 yen per day. If he kept working without taking a single day off all year, he could earn nearly three million yen! That was far more than he had made from his previous part-time jobs!

After deducting his living expenses, he could save around one million yen—

It wasn't much. In fact, it still fell short of Shuchiin Academy's tuition, but he could make up the difference through other part-time jobs.

That was precisely why Kira Yoshikage would never give up this job, no matter what!

Besides, since he was a "part-timer" and hadn't formally signed an employment contract, he didn't have to pay taxes either.

The advantage was that he received every yen he earned. The disadvantage was that without a formal employment contract, he didn't receive the four types of insurance—health insurance, employees' pension insurance, employment insurance, and nursing care insurance.

And Kira Yoshikage was a student. It was impossible for him to sign a formal contract in the first place.

This kind of "part-time" employment arrangement was actually the best option.

Yukinoshita Haruno wore a somewhat playful smile:

"Kira-kun, aren't you going to say something?"

Kira Yoshikage thought for a moment and answered seriously:

"I'll go back to work right away!"

Work hard and repay his boss!

Kira Yoshikage left the office without looking back, leaving only Yukinoshita Haruno behind with a slightly stiff expression.

Yukinoshita Haruno folded her arms, lowered her crossed right leg, and placed her left leg on top instead. She muttered somewhat unhappily:

"Tsk, he really is impervious to persuasion."

"If it weren't for the fact that you saved Yukino, I would have fired you long ago."

"But speaking of Yukino, she doesn't know that Kira-kun is working for me, does she?"

Yukinoshita Haruno's smile was brilliantly radiant. She was already eager to see Yukino's reaction.

Ding-dong~!

Amid the crisp chime, the elevator doors slowly opened.

Five girls with similar appearances stepped out of the elevator, each with subtly different hair colors and hairstyles.

"Hey, Nino, cheer up~!"

The short-haired pink girl held the hand of another girl with equally pink long hair, a Hime cut, and a purple butterfly hair ornament. She looked somewhat troubled:

"Weren't you the one who suggested coming here?"

"I..."

Nakano Nino had just begun to answer when a whispering murmur, like a harbinger of death, reached her ears again:

"Hey, can you see me?"

"Hey, hey, can you see me?"

The girl's face went pale, and her eyes filled with terror as she watched the two-meter-tall Slender Ghost pass by her side, then lean its terrifying, featureless face toward the five sisters and repeat itself over and over like a broken recording.

Slender Ghost leaned its face toward Nakano Nino. Its featureless face split open into a huge bloody maw, and its voice became incomparably sinister:

"Hey, hey, hey, you can see me, right?!"

Tears glimmered in the girl's eyes, but her instincts kept warning her:

Don't answer. Don't answer!

Whether it was Ichika or the passersby they had encountered along the way, no one except her could see the ghostly figure.

Yet Nakano Nino clearly realized that Slender Ghost was not a figment of her imagination, but a monster that truly existed!

They had left home specifically to shake off this monster, yet it had continued following them, asking the same question again and again.

The girl's intuition told her that something incredibly frightening would happen if she answered its question!

Perhaps drawn in by the girl's fear, Slender Ghost let out an excited cry:

"You really can see me!"

"I'm going to eat you!"

The girl's hands and feet went cold. Fear left her unable to make a sound, and even her breathing grew still.

It was as though she hoped that stopping her breathing would make the monster unable to see her.

But it was ultimately futile. She could only watch helplessly as the huge maw filled with sharp teeth continued moving closer.

The short-haired pink girl happened to pull her away at that moment:

"Nino, this way!"

Nakano Nino stumbled and was pulled by Nakano Ichika toward the bar.

The other three sisters felt baffled, not understanding why Nino was wearing such a terrified expression.

Nakano Mayu turned back curiously. Slender Ghost, its empty form bent over, lowered its featureless face toward the girl.

"Can you see me?"

"There's nothing there."

Nakano Mayu muttered softly before turning around and jogging to catch up with her sisters.

Ding-dong~!

Another elevator opened at that moment, and a black-haired girl with a white headband walked skillfully toward the bar.

But when she saw the Nakano Quintuplets heading there as well, she instinctively stopped.

After a moment of silence, the girl moved toward the sofa to the side.

Meanwhile, back at his post, Kira Yoshikage faithfully carried out his duties and politely asked the customer sitting at the bar:

"What would you like to drink?"

"I... I'd like a Long Island Iced Tea."

The pale girl's voice trembled slightly.

A Long Island Iced Tea wasn't tea, but a cocktail whose color resembled black tea.

It sounded harmless, and it tasted sweet and sour.

In reality, however, its alcohol content was as high as 40 percent. People who weren't good at drinking often passed out after just one glass.

For that reason, this cocktail was commonly known as a "date rape drink."

Thus, customers who ordered a Long Island Iced Tea were usually drinking to get drunk.

And that was exactly what Nakano Nino intended to do. All she wanted now was to get drunk as quickly as possible.