After hearing Kitasan Black's half-joking, half-serious complaint, Little Anzu, Duramente, and Futanari Shingang all laughed.
"If it were Little Kita, not being able to properly talk to people..."
After laughing, Futanari Shingang also joked, "Then you really would feel stifled. After all, at the Academy, whenever Little Kita isn't in class or training, she's either getting ready to go out and have fun with someone, or she's already out having fun."
"Yeah, that's just how Little Kita is."
Duramente nodded in agreement. "It was only after I got to know Little Kita that I started going out to have fun more often too."
"Exactly." Futanari Shingang sighed emotionally. "In my memory, Meisei used to be such a quiet, closed-off girl. You'd have to shake her before she made a sound or two. But after following Little Kita around, she's become more and more cheerful."
Duramente froze, lowered her head to look at herself, and scratched her head. "I... look like a gourd?"
Futanari Shingang, Kitasan Black, and Little Anzu, who had all been smiling just moments ago, stiffened at once.
When they saw Duramente actually treat herself like a gourd and give herself a little shake, their expressions grew even stiffer.
A moment later, Futanari Shingang rubbed her forehead, smiled, and helplessly explained, "That was just a metaphor, Meisei. How could you take something like that so seriously...?"
Then she smiled again and changed the subject. "Oh, right, Little Kita. If you haven't had anyone to chat and play with these past few days, then have you been training with Little Anzu every day?"
Kitasan Black paused, then shook her head. "No. I may be terrible at foreign languages, but there are translation apps on phones, aren't there?"
She pulled out her phone and waved it around with some pride.