"Sorry... maybe I came at a bad time."
Mai's cheeks burned. She lowered her head slightly and turned to leave the room.
"No... you came at just the right time."
Akutagawa Shang called out to stop Mai.
He slowly sat up in bed and casually drew Maki to his side.
"Come here, Mai. There's something I need to tell you..."
Akutagawa Shang extended his free arm and waved Mai over, motioning for her to sit beside him.
"Ah... isn't this a little inappropriate...?"
Mai clutched the hem of her clothes with both hands, her face slightly flushed. She fidgeted bashfully, her heart fluttering.
Just then, Maki, who was in Akutagawa Shang's arms, also beckoned to Mai:
"Mai, what are you standing there for? Come here..."
"Even you, Sis...? Fine... I'll come over..."
Mai bit her lip as though she had made up her mind about something, stepped forward, and plopped down into Akutagawa Shang's lap.
"That's more like it. You're both my wings-"
"All right, now let's get down to business..."
"Mm-hmm..."
Mai quickly turned her head away, forcing herself not to look at Akutagawa Shang's face as she secretly anticipated his next move.
"I called you two over today because I wanted to tell you that I think I've found a way to lift your twin curse."
"What-!!!" the sisters exclaimed almost simultaneously.
But their reasons for crying out were not quite the same.
Maki shouted because she was delighted that she could finally stop being a half-baked version of herself.
Mai, on the other hand, did so because...
"What-!!!"
"You called me over in the middle of the night just for this-!!!"
Mai whipped her head around and looked at Akutagawa Shang with a complicated expression.
"Yeah..."
"What else... did you think it was for?"
Akutagawa Shang scratched