"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: "..."
"Oh, this looks pretty fun!" Elf's eyes lit up, and she immediately picked up her phone and started fiddling with it.
As the others saw this, they instantly understood.
"Fufu, it's kinda fun." Nozomi chuckled and pulled out her own phone.
And so, the rest of them exchanged glances, and then, on Homura's blog, this happened—
[Kousaka Honoka: What if I actually win?]
[Yamada Elf: What if I actually win?]
[Toujou Nozomi: What if I actually win?]
[Kasumi Utako: What if I actually win?]
[Kashiwagi Eri: What if I actually win?]
Even though their comments got buried among tons of other comments, there were plenty of sharp-eyed netizens who spotted them.
[Comment 1: Guys, look what I found! @Kasumi_Utako, @Kashiwagi_Eri, there are only three sets, y'know?! Seriously, you girls are too much!]
[Comment 2: I caught this one! @Hoshizora_Rin]
[Comment 3: And this! @Minami_Kotori. Okay, I get it now. They all joined the giveaway! Someone drag them all out!]
[Comment 4: Found another one!]
In no time, every single one of them got called out!
[Comment 5: Dude, they work with Minamiya-sensei, right? They can get anything they want, and now they're even fighting us for this? I'm seriously gonna cry from how unfair this is!]
[Yamada Elf: Don't be ridiculous! I only have volume one!]
[Yazawa Nico: Exactly! Me too, just volume one!]
[Toujou Nozomi: Ara, everyone's having fun, so of course I had to join in!]
[Hashima Izumi: Sorry, everyone else posted something, so I kinda felt awkward not joining...]
Reading this, the netizens were about to cry.
"Hahahaha—!"
Elf, on the other hand, laughed so hard she had to hold her stomach.
Meanwhile, the others weren't as dramatic, but they were all chuckling behind their hands.
They had to admit that this kind of random interaction was fun. No wonder Homura always played around like this—it was addictive.
"By the way, when is Homura coming back?" Eriri asked. "Feels like we can't even start anything without him."
"Maybe... he's off getting lovey-dovey with Kirisu-sensei?" Rin blurted out.
Megumi turned her head to look at Rin and spoke up.
"Rin-chan, y'know Homura-kun confessed to you, right? If what you're saying is true, you're okay with that?"
Rin thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"Rin knows if I ever got in trouble like Kirisu-sensei did, Homura-kun would definitely come running to save me too. Well, that's all that matters, nyaa~!"
Upon hearing this, the girls were stunned, and for a moment, they all fell silent.
"But I am curious about what Homura's doing... he's not seriously getting lovey-dovey with Kirisu-sensei, right?" Eriri twitched a little at the thought.
"Why don't we just ask?" Elf said as she pulled up the messaging app and quickly sent a message to Homura.
===
Mafuyu's Apartment.
"Huh? You're asking what I'm doing?"
Reading Elf's message, Homura looked around the room he had just partly tidied up, not sure how to respond.
"What's wrong?" Mafuyu poked her head out from under the blanket and looked at him.
"Elf's asking what I'm up to." Homura shrugged.
Mafuyu stayed silent for a moment before speaking up.
"Just tell her straight."
"...Can I?"
"Um... Everyone already knows I'm scared of bugs anyway, so there's no point hiding something like that." Mafuyu's voice became lower. "I mean... I'm just a lazy teacher anyway..."
"Alright then." Homura nodded and snapped a photo of the room before sending it over.
Before long, Elf's reply came, but her message nearly made Homura piss himself.
[Yamada Elf: Were you two having sex just now? Why are clothes all over the room?! Was it that intense?!]
"YAMADA ELFFF—!" Homura shouted, almost losing his mind.
Was she doing this on purpose or what?
"Huh? What happened?" Mafuyu was startled, wondering why Homura suddenly freaked out like that.
"Take a look yourself..." Homura tossed his phone over.
With a suspicious look, Mafuyu picked it up.
Just one glance and—poof—steam practically started rising from her head.
"IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE—!!!"
Mafuyu's scream echoed through the air.
===
Minamiya Residence.
Muramasa had already scooted far away from Elf, while everyone else looked stunned.
Eriri, especially, didn't expect Elf to say something so wild, and from the look of it, she seemed pretty knowledgeable on the topic.
"Heehee, I wonder how Homura reacted to this?" Elf giggled. "But to be fair, the pic does kinda look like that."
"Did... Kirisu-sensei actually wears all those clothes at once?" Muramasa finally spoke.
"Come on, I know that's impossible, and besides, with Homura's stamina, how could he finish that fast?" Elf waved her hand dismissively.
Hearing this, the girls were left speechless again.
Utaha looked at Eriri with a blank expression.
"You should just give the name 'Kashiwagi Eri' to Elf already..."
Eriri: "..."
Elf: "..."
Even Kotori and the others nodded in agreement.
"Oh? Homura's calling!" Elf's eyes lit up. "Let's hear what he's got to say."
"Maybe he's seriously angry and about to scold you." Muramasa responded, not missing a beat.
"Uh... I hope not?" Elf looked a little nervous but still answered on speaker.
"It's not like that! We didn't do anything!"
Instead of Homura, it was Mafuyu's tearful voice that burst out of the phone.
In that instant, Elf was stunned.
"Ah... Elf-chan made Kirisu-sensei cry..." Megumi remarked in her usual calm and flat tone.
===
Mafuyu's Apartment.
Homura didn't expect Mafuyu to call Elf directly and speak in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.
But wasn't that a bit too much of a reaction?
If she didn't have any feelings for him, she would've looked at Elf's message with disgust, not cried.
He concluded she liked him, but why that kind of reaction?
He watched as Mafuyu even admitted to being lazy on the phone, which made Elf start to panic and try to console her and agree with everything she said.
Looked like Elf didn't know how to handle this kind of situation at all.
Thankfully, Mafuyu didn't actually burst into tears in the end, which made Elf let out a huge sigh of relief.
Homura took his phone back and spoke up.
"Anyway, once I finish cleaning up, I'm heading home."
"Alright! Got it! Good luck! Byeee!" Elf quickly hung up like she was fleeing for her life.
"Heh..." Homura chuckled and shook his head with a smile.
Mafuyu had curled back under the blanket again, probably too embarrassed to face him right now.
He didn't mind and just kept on working.
Eventually, once everything was tidied up and Homura was about to leave—
"You're going now?"
Mafuyu peeked at Homura with just her eyes showing.
"Yeah, I'm heading out."
Mafuyu stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke again.
"...Come here."
"Hm?"
"Just come here..."