Before long, they reached the entrance hall.
The moment they stepped inside—
"Welcome home, milady!" × N
"Welcome, friends of milady!" × N
Two rows of maids stood by the doors and bowed in solemn unison.
"..." It wasn't just the girls behind him who had frozen. Even Ogura Asahi paused, then looked at Yashiro Ichiyo, who had returned from the apartment after receiving his message.
"What's this?"
"Well, you said you were bringing friends home, milady, so we made a few preparations!"
Following his gaze, Chihaya Aine couldn't help murmuring, "She's so tall..."
Compared with them, Yashiro Ichiyo was practically a giant, standing around thirty centimeters taller than Aine.
"Hmm..." He glanced at the girls behind him, their mouths slightly open, and decided not to say anything more. "All right, I should've explained better."
As he led them farther inside, he put them at ease. "Things are pretty casual at my house. There aren't many rules, so don't worry about it. Just relax."
"Huh? We don't have to take off our shoes?" Chihaya Aine asked what the others were wondering, then hurried to catch up.
"Nope. The floors are cleaned every day, and asking guests to do that can be inconvenient. What if someone has particular habits?"
What he didn't say was that, if everyone took off their shoes, some unexpected odors might make things awkward for both sides.
"Oh, I see~"
"Have a seat in the reception room for now. I'll have someone show you around in a bit."
He led them to the first-floor hall. A maid attending them stepped forward to pull open the doors, then stood to one side with a smile. "Please, come in."
"Thank you..."
The girls looked around cautiously, amazed but too nervous to speak freely.
Everything here seemed to carry a