Humming and Whining

Nakano Ichika immediately smiled. "What fee? Tell me first, and I might be willing to pay."

Fushimi Makoto: "Then first, please send me a sweet photo of a beautiful girl."

Nakano Ichika's cheeks flushed, but she sat right up.

Sweet, huh?

A beautiful girl, huh?

Just you wait. I'll knock your socks off.

Nakano Ichika raised her phone, found a good angle, and snapped a gorgeous photo of herself with a dazzling smile.

She hit send.

She started looking forward to Fushimi Makoto's reaction.

One second.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds passed.

Just as Nakano Ichika was starting to wonder what was taking so long, Fushimi Makoto finally replied: "What's with all the bottles and containers behind you?"

Oh, no!

Nakano Ichika whipped around and looked at her messy bedroom.

She was lazy and couldn't be bothered to tidy up her room.

She'd been so focused on smiling while taking the photo that she'd completely overlooked the background.

Then Fushimi Makoto sent another message: "There's something I'm not sure I should say."

Nakano Ichika: "Go ahead."

Fushimi Makoto: "Cute Ichika, do you live in a garbage dump?"

Nakano Ichika: I'm dying inside!

So, in the middle of the night, when Nakano Nino came out of her room to get a drink of water, she saw Ichika standing at her bedroom door with a broom.

Nakano Nino stared at her, baffled. "What are you doing?"

Nakano Ichika looked mortified. "Cleaning my room."

Nakano Nino's eyes widened. "Did you hit your head or something?"

Nakano Ichika looked even more embarrassed.

"Do you live in a garbage dump?"

Such a short little sentence, and yet it hit like a truck.

"Nino, what's wrong?" Nakano Yotsuba was still awake. Seeing Nino standing there dazed, she couldn't help asking.

Nakano Nino turned around, looking dumbfounded. "Ichika's gone crazy. She's cleaning her room in the middle of the night."

"Huh?"

Nakano Yotsuba was stunned too.

Then she rolled up her sleeves with a smile. "I'll help, then."

Fussy, Fussy

Fushimi Makoto got home a little after eight that evening.

He hadn't done anything special at Matsukaze Mayu's place that day. He'd mostly just chatted with the beautiful teacher and watched a show with her.

So Matsukaze Mayu hadn't shown him her breasts that night.

Fushimi Makoto could tell that, ever since that night, the existence of the "aura" had made Matsukaze Mayu care about him more.

Especially after that overly intimate experience.

If he had to guess, Fushimi Makoto hadn't been the only one unable to sleep that night. Matsukaze Mayu had probably been lying awake, making little noises too.

Fill in the blank: Making little noises in the middle of the night meant lying in bed unable to sleep, softly moaning because you wanted to ().

The Yukinoshita Couple wanting to meet him had been expected.

After all, he'd already met them during the Time Loop.

Whether it was the strict, old-fashioned Mrs. Yukinoshita or the mild-mannered, easygoing Mr. Yukinoshita, he'd gotten them both on his side after trying again and again in the Time Loop.

In other words, he'd grown closer to them.

He'd also realized a long time ago that, even though he'd spent so many years in the Time Loop and experienced so many things, he could still remember every single thing that had happened.

Normally, the longer someone lived, the more their memories of the past faded, except for major events that made a deep impression.

But he remembered everything with perfect clarity, and his mind had suffered no ill effects.

Clearly, it was an effect of the Time Loop.

When it was time to go to bed, Fushimi Makoto was about to put down his phone when Nakano Ichika messaged him.

He opened it and found another photo.

She was still wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, looking beautiful with a sweet smile. She'd picked a good angle again.

But the drink bottles and bento boxes that had been behind her in the earlier photo were gone.

Nakano Ichika: "I think this one turned out even better."

Fushimi Makoto: "Did you secretly clean up to restore your image?"

Nakano Ichika: "Just tell me if I look good."

Fushimi Makoto: "You look good. I like it. Send me more."

Nakano Ichika: "That's all I wanted to hear. I'm going to bed. Good night."

Fushimi Makoto had just received the message and hadn't even had time to reply when Nakano Ichika sent another one: "Come to think of it, am I the first girl to say good night to you?"

Fushimi Makoto glanced at the "Good night" Yukino had just sent him, then typed a reply: "No."

The girl curled up under her blankets on the other end of the phone froze, her smile vanishing.

I'm not the first?

Who got to him before I did?

Nakano Ichika was suddenly wide awake. She tapped out a message: "You really are popular, aren't you? I wonder which girl said good night to you."

Fushimi Makoto: "Yukinoshita."

With a rustle, Nakano Ichika shot upright like "a dying patient suddenly sitting up in bed."

She climbed right out of the warm blankets and stared blankly at her phone.

"Only a fool would date him."

The words Yukino had said to her came back to her.

Nakano Ichika bit her lip.

Had Yukinoshita been lying to me all along?

Saying one thing and doing another.

How was that any different from being a terrible woman?

Nakano Ichika pressed her lips together and typed: "You and Yukinoshita are really close, huh?"

After sending the message, she couldn't help feeling nervous.

It was a clumsy way of testing him, but if she didn't say something like that, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight!

Nakano Ichika waited and waited, until Fushimi Makoto finally replied: "Good night, cute Ichika."

That's not the good night I wanted!

Never mind. I'll ask next time.

Nakano Ichika: "Good night."

Fushimi Makoto put down his phone, thinking that fishing was fun—especially when the bait took the hook on its own.

Two days later, on Sunday.

Fushimi Makoto got a message from Yukino that morning.

She didn't just wish him good morning; she also told him that her parents would arrive at eight thirty and asked when he'd be free to meet them.

After thinking it over, Fushimi Makoto arranged to meet Yukino at ten.

Once Yukino replied, he immediately went and knocked on Matsukaze Mayu's door.

"Good morning, Teacher Matsukaze. Are you free today?"

Fushimi Makoto got straight to the point.

"I am. What did you need me for?"

Matsukaze Mayu was still in her pajamas, as gentle as ever.

Fushimi Makoto told her that he was going to meet the Yukinoshita Couple.

Matsukaze Mayu was startled. "Are you and Yukinoshita already at the stage where you're meeting each other's parents?"

Fushimi Makoto: "Of course not. I helped her out with something, and her parents wanted to thank me in person."

"I see."

Matsukaze Mayu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Then it hit her: why had she been so nervous?

She turned away, using her falling hair to hide her blush. "Since it's Yukinoshita's parents who want to see you, I suppose I don't need to go with you?"

Fushimi Makoto answered seriously, "I'll feel at ease if you're there."

Matsukaze Mayu's face turned completely red.

She clenched and unclenched her fists, delighted and embarrassed, then murmured, "All right. I'll go with you."

"Thanks."

At nine thirty that morning, Fushimi Makoto and Matsukaze Mayu left together.

The Yukinoshita Couple hadn't arranged to meet at a common venue like a café. They'd invited him to their home.

Yukino had told Fushimi Makoto over the phone that it was a temporary residence her mother often used when she came to Tokyo for work.

That showed how seriously the Yukinoshita Couple took this meeting.

Since he was visiting their home, Fushimi Makoto bought some fruit and sweets on the way as a gift.

After Fushimi Makoto and Matsukaze Mayu reached the door and rang the bell, Matsukaze Mayu murmured, "This kind of feels like a parent-teacher conference."

"If it were a parent-teacher conference, what would that make me?" Fushimi Makoto teased.

Matsukaze Mayu blushed and chuckled. "My colleague?"

Fushimi Makoto: "I think it makes more sense for me to be your child."

"How does that make sense? We're not that far apart in age," Matsukaze Mayu said, sounding both annoyed and bashful.

Fushimi Makoto had to admit she had a point.

Matsukaze Mayu was very good at taking care of people, but her homemaking skills were only average.

When it came to homemaking and looking after people, Nakano Nino was clearly the better fit.

Now that he thought about it, Nakano Nino was the kind of woman who could become my mother.

Soon, the door opened. Standing before Fushimi Makoto and Matsukaze Mayu was a beautiful, elegant woman dressed in stylish clothes.

It was Mrs. Yukinoshita.

Her figure was nothing like Yukino's flat one. Instead, she had the curvy body of a mature woman.