*King called me to patrol the mountain~*
Just as Homura was about to type out his blog post, a phone call interrupted him.
"You little punk! What the hell happened?!"
Kousuke's hurried voice resounded from the phone.
"It's nothing, Dad." Homura sighed.
"Nothing my foot. If that was the case, then what's with that video online? It's the first time I've seen you run that fast!"
"Bruh, that's what you're focused on?" Homura's face darkened. "I was on the phone with a friend when I suddenly heard a scream on the other end, so I rushed over. But when I got there, turns out it was nothing."
"Friend... heh, you mean girlfriend, right?" Kousuke's tone turned a little sleazy.
"Yeah yeah, girlfriend, happy now?" Homura scoffed. "If I don't say something soon, the rumors are gonna start flying, so I need to post something as soon as possible."
"Alright, go explain it already, or things'll blow up over here too. Oh, and you better keep it up!" Kousuke chuckled and hung up.
Homura looked at his phone and shook his head with a smile.
'Like I wasn't planning to already.'
Right after that, he rushed back to the blog so he wouldn't get interrupted again.
Next to Homura, Mafuyu had a bright red face.
Not surprising, really—after all, the two were standing right next to each other, and with how loud Kousuke was, it would be weird if she hadn't heard anything.
As soon as she heard Kousuke say 'girlfriend', Mafuyu started feeling kind of weird, and once Homura admitted it, that feeling only got stronger. Naturally, the final blow was that little 'keep it up' exchange, which left her beet red.
Still clinging to Homura's arm, Mafuyu rested her head on his shoulder while also peeking at the post he was editing.
...
[Minamiya: So, why am I suddenly trending? I took a quick look at the comments and things felt a little off, so I figured I'd explain things myself.
First off, yeah, that's me in the video, no denying that. As for my expression... how should I put it... I was seriously panicking! I mean, imagine you're on the phone with your sister and outta nowhere she screams and then goes silent.
What would you do?
I bet most of you would freak out just like I did, right? But no worries, I figured out what happened. A tiny animal suddenly flew past and scared her so badly that she dropped her phone.
Her scream? It was pure heartbreak for her poor phone.
As for why she didn't reply to me, and why I had that face in the video... can I just say her phone broke?
Anyway, thanks a lot for worrying about me!
For that, I've decided to prepare a little gift! A giveaway!
Three lucky winners in the comment section will get the full set of manga volumes of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, signed by yours truly—Minamiya! Good luck!]
...
"Alright, send."
Homura read over his post once more, then nodded in satisfaction.
"Minamiya—Homura-kun, are you sure this is okay?"
'Huh? Did she just call me by first name? Nice.' Homura thought with raised eyebrows, then smiled. "It's fine since this version sounds more real. If I told the exact truth, no one would buy it. Plus... wouldn't people just end up making fun of you?"
"...You always do so much for me, and yet... I can't really do anything for you."
"Nah, I'm not doing all this expecting anything in return anyway." Homura reached out with his free hand, trying to pat her head, but—
*Achoo!*
Mafuyu let out the cutest little sneeze Homura had ever heard.
"...What a seriously cute sneeze." Homura couldn't help saying.
Hearing this, Mafuyu gave him a light smack, looking kind of shy.
"You caught a cold or something?" Homura checked Mafuyu's forehead. "You should get under the blanket. If you keep sitting out like this, you're gonna catch a real cold."
"What about you?" Mafuyu didn't move but looked around the room instead. "You gonna clean up my place?"
Her face turned red again, this time from embarrassment.
After tucking Mafuyu into bed, Homura glanced around the messy room and muttered, "How does it even get this bad anyway?"
"It just... kinda happened..."
From inside the blanket, only Mafuyu's eyes peeked out as she mumbled.
"Got it..." Homura nodded. "One day you move something and forget to put it back, and the next day it's something else. Ten days, maybe a couple of weeks go by, and suddenly you're too lazy to clean. In the end, since it's not like you can finish it all in one go anyway, might as well leave it as is, right?"
At this, Mafuyu didn't reply and just pulled her head back under the blanket.
Homura chuckled and started tidying up.
Meanwhile, Mafuyu secretly lifted the corner of the blanket, quietly watching Homura move around the room.
For a moment, she just stared... completely entranced.
===
Minamiya Residence.
"Homura really knows what he's doing. Most of what he said was true, and he even made it sound fun on purpose to calm everyone down." Elf said with a sigh. "And ending it with a giveaway? Yeah, that totally shifted everyone's attention."
Hearing this, the girls all nodded and picked up their phones to check out Homura's blog.
...
[Comment 1: So that's what happened! No wonder Minamiya-sensei had that look on his face.]
[Comment 2: Wait a sec... that scream about the phone getting wrecked—wasn't that a little too real?]
[Comment 3: A little? That was super real! My little sis does the same thing—drops her phone by accident and starts tearing up, even if it didn't break.]
[Comment 4: Hold up! You have a little sister?!]
[Comment 5: Calm down, dude. Lemme tell you, real-life sisters aren't like anime ones.]
[Comment 6: Yo, did your little sis hurt you or something?]
[Comment 7: Whatever, I'm just here for that giveaway! It's a full set of Monthly Girls manga volumes signed by Minamiya-sensei.]
[Comment 8: With Minamiya-sensei's fan base, whoever wins should go buy a lottery ticket next!]
[Comment 9: Probably not gonna happen, but hey, might as well give it a shot, right? What if I actually win?]
[Comment 10: What if I actually win?]
[Comment 11: What if I actually win?]
[Comment 12: What if I actually win?]
...
"Ugh... these people are hopeless..." Eriri muttered.
"No matter how many comments they post, Homura-kun's only giving away three sets, right?" Utaha said with a chuckle.
"Exactly, exactly!" Honoka said as she stared at her phone. "Sending it now."
Behind her, Kotori looked exasperated.
"Honoka-chan, seriously?"
"Eheehee..." Honoka scratched her head with an awkward grin. "I just wanted to test my luck a little..."
"What's going on?" Nanami asked, confused.
"Honoka-chan joined the giveaway too."
"It's just leaving a comment, right? Does that even count as really joining?" Nanami still didn't get it.
Was there something more to this?
"First of all, Honoka-chan doesn't just randomly comment on Homura-kun's blog, y'know?" Kotori looked a little helpless. "But the thing is—do you even know what she posted?"
"What was it?"
"What if I actually win?"
Girls: "..."