Daily Life

"Holy crap! You can do that?!"

"Hmph. You've got a lot of practice to do, kid."

"No, what's so exciting about your dodge roll?!"

At that moment, in Room 404, Naoki Shimizu was furiously rubbing at his phone screen while playing a game.

He leaned left, then right, his brow tightly furrowed. He looked as if he'd just taken a scalding-hot bath.

The match was over!

The battle-ending sound effect rang out from his phone. Naoki stared at the two huge words on the screen—DEFEAT—and looked ready to crush it with his thumb.

He abruptly looked up at U Amakusa, who was sprawled on the bed. U was watching him with a teasing look.

U's mouth formed a huge U, and two words seemed to come out of that oddly shaped mouth.

"Scrub."

"..."

"Temee!"

Naoki set down his phone, rubbed his hands together, and headed toward U as if he meant to do something to him.

Seeing this, U held up a hand to stop Naoki from coming any closer.

"?"

As usual, Naoki stopped in his tracks.

Then U turned his palm into a pointing finger, aimed it at Naoki, and said with a serious expression, "Shimizu, you're not only bad at this, you also tilt way too easily."

"..."

Naoki clenched his teeth. His face was bright red, and he kept rubbing his hands together as he advanced toward U.

And then...

Naoki stopped at the edge of the bed, planted both hands on the floor, and used them to push himself into a handstand.

U, still lying on the bed, took a small sip of the cola beside him, opened the timer on his phone, and started it.

"Humiliating..."

"If you're doing a handstand, don't talk. You can see how much blood's rushed to your head. One minute."

U held his phone up in front of Naoki, who was still upside down, so he could see it.

A minute passed...

Naoki's feet found the floor again. He dusted off his hands and picked up his phone, still refusing to give up.

"Again!"

"Let's not. You can't beat me. No matter how many times we play, it'll be the same."

"Tch."

Naoki tossed his phone onto U's bed.

"Then what do you want to play?"

"I don't know, either. Have Satonaka and Sanada come back yet?"

"Shopping for groceries doesn't take that long."

Sanada sat in front of U in class and was also his neighbor. They'd gotten to know each other over time.

So U had introduced him to Naoki and Satoshi Satonaka, expanding their group from three to four.

Sanada really did live up to his gentle, bespectacled upperclassman look. He could cook, too.

Some idiot had suggested they try Sanada's cooking, and Sanada had readily agreed. It wasn't a big deal to him.

As for why they were in Room 404 instead of Sanada's Room 405...

"Meow~"

That was the reason. Naoki had heard that U had a cat that could do a backflip.

Of course, U had been bragging about the backflip.

"Meow! I can't!"

So the four of them had gathered in U's room. It had a simple, clean style—or, more accurately, U just couldn't be bothered with having too much stuff.

He'd locked away the masks, props, and other things he'd bought in secret in his cupboard long ago. Fortunately, the cupboard was big enough, with two levels.

"This is so boring..."

"Yeah, so boring."

One sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, while the other sat on the bed, leaning against the wall. They sighed in unison.

"Meow~"

"Hm?"

Orange caught U's attention. Of course, one meow wasn't enough to make him look over. It was because...

"Hey, Orange, don't mess with that."

Orange was curiously edging toward the can of cola U had just been drinking. She peered at it from one side, then the other.

She was clearly plotting something against the cola. It was in a can, after all.

U's words caught Naoki's attention, and the two of them quietly watched Orange's antics.

Clunk—

At last, Orange couldn't resist and reached out a paw toward the cola. She touched the can, though she didn't seem to have decided what to do next.

"Hey, hey, Orange, don't do that."

That was what they said, but neither U nor Naoki moved. They stayed slumped in place as before.

"Meow?"

The adorable cat didn't seem to care. U had put this thing to his mouth, so she wanted to try it, too.

Orange licked the rim of the can, cleaning up the leftover cola. The next moment—

"Meow—!"

Orange let out a loud yowl, opening her mouth as wide as she could and sticking her tongue out.

"See? I told you not to mess with it. You're ruining my fun, too... Hey, hey—!"

U hadn't even finished speaking before he hurriedly tried to shout Orange into stopping, but it didn't seem to work.

Clatter—Crash!

"Oh~ my gosh~!" Naoki said gleefully.

Orange looked at the can lying on the floor, the corners of her mouth seeming to lift. She looked quite pleased with her handiwork.

U leapt to his feet. "I swear, if I don't teach you a lesson today, you'll be tearing the roof off tomorrow."

Seeing this, Naoki knew he couldn't just sit there. He hurriedly stood up to stop U.

"Hey, hey... Forget it. Why are you picking a fight with a cat..."

Clatter—Crash!

The same sound rang out again. The two of them looked toward it and saw another drink on the floor.

"Looks like... that was your Mitsuya."

Naoki expressionlessly lowered the hand he'd used to hold U back and picked up the cushion he'd been sitting on.

"Hey, hey..." This time, U hurriedly grabbed Naoki.

"Don't stop me! If you keep spoiling this cat, she'll think she can do whatever she wants."

"I know, but that won't work."

U pointed at the cushion in Naoki's hand. "That won't scare her."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"I've got a plan."

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

"Is this enough?"

"That should do it. If we buy any more, we won't finish it."

Sanada and Satonaka each carried a bag as they walked back to the dormitory, attracting plenty of attention from the girls along the way.

One had the air of a gentle upperclassman, the other was handsome and cheerful. Together, they were a direct hit with the girls who cared about looks.

"By the way, do you need any help when you start cooking?"

"Can you chop vegetables?"

Satonaka awkwardly scratched his head. "Uh..."

Sanada chuckled. "It's fine. You can help wash the vegetables."

"Sure. I'll handle the cleanup and dishes with U and the others."

Sanada didn't refuse. He simply smiled and agreed. If he'd turned down even that, Satonaka might have felt awkward about eating.

Before long, they reached the door to Room 404. But neither of them knocked. Before Satonaka had left, U had given him his room key card.

U couldn't be bothered to open the door himself.

Satonaka had even complained that U was a lazybones.

Beep—

The door opened as soon as Satonaka held the key card to the reader. He pushed it open and saw a scene he'd never forget.

"Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof—!!!"

U and Naoki were wearing Tengu masks and scaring a cat.

Naoki was barking wildly in Orange's face, while U whispered demonic suggestions by her ear.

"He says if you knock anything over again, he'll eat you! Like a pile of shit... No, like Onio!"

Click—

Satonaka closed the door and opened it again, as if trying to refresh what he was seeing.

Satonaka turned to Sanada and asked, "Did we get the wrong room?"

Sanada glanced discreetly at the number on the door. The three digits, 404, were right there. He gave an awkward laugh.

"Ahahaha... I don't think so...?"