VALRRR
patreon
[TSSIM] Chapter 345: Progress
🕑 Added 2024-02-13 21:04:20 +0000 UTCAfter hearing Homura's words, Rizu involuntarily started to reminisce about the memories of the past, recalling every detail of them.
First and foremost, because her family ran an udon shop, it was inevitable that all sorts of customers would show up.
As the shop's poster girl, she naturally couldn't avoid lecherous glances from the customers.
She remembered that there was a moment when the creepy ones tried to get handsy, but her father, upon knowing that, didn't even care about the shop anymore and immediately chased those creepy guys away with a stick, running them down for several blocks.
She had to admit, her father had been quite handsome and amazing back then.
However, how had he turned into the person he was now?
Homura, observing Rizu's expression, had his mouth twitch.
If he saw right, the warmth on her face had suddenly turned into a look of disdain.
As he expected, the current image of her father triumphed over his past image.
Even so, her disdain seemed more like a helpless feeling toward her father's behavior and not her father himself.
"I got it... Let's think of another way." Rizu sighed, nodded, and moved on from the topic.
"By the way... Furuhashi—I mean, Fumino, are you having a stomachache again?" Homura asked as he saw Fumino touch her stomach.
"Uh... you noticed again, Minamiya-kun?" Fumino showed no special reaction to Homura's change of address to her first name as if it were expected or unnoticed.
"Eh? Fuminocchi, you have a stomachache?" Uruka asked with a confused tone, as she didn't know about Fumino's condition.
"It's been like this for a while... Whenever she hears something troubling or starts worrying, her stomach hurts." Miyako explained to the others.
As Fumino's childhood friend and neighbor, she clearly knew about Fumino's condition the best.
"Sorry, Fumino, it's because of me..." Rizu apologized.
"No, it's not Ri-chan's fault." Fumino shook her head.
"Let's sit on that bench over there for now..." Homura led Fumino to a bench on the roadside, pressing her down.
In the next moment, Homura began massaging Fumino to relieve her pain, making the other three watch in surprise.
Homura, however, continued massaging, oblivious to the stares of the girls.
"Eh? Why are you doing a massage?" Miyako asked, blinking her eyes in confusion.
"Hmm..." Fumino thought for a moment before answering. "Because Homura-kun is really skilled?"
"Fuminocchi, you're amazing!" Uruka exclaimed in surprise. "While we didn't know, you and Minamiya-kun have gotten this far?"
"This far...? Wait, what do you mean by 'this far'?!" Fumino shouted with a flustered tone. "Nothing is going on between Homu—Minamiya-kun and me!"
Homura: "..."
"Ah, no, that's wrong!" Fumino realized something was off with what she had said, so she quickly added. "It should be something like that."
"Something like what?" Rizu asked subconsciously.
"Friendship?"
"Why is it in a questioning tone?" Uruka couldn't help but chuckle. "I mean, we all share a friendship with Minamiya-kun, right?"
"Mm... you're right, so... what else?" Fumino nodded, then pondered.
'Why does this feel like a skit now?' Homura thought speechlessly, then stood up. "Well, this is just an ordinary massage, nothing special. Alright, does it still hurt, Fumino?"
"Oh... it doesn't hurt anymore..." Fumino replied after feeling her stomach. "Yep, it's just a massage. Everyone's reactions are so weird though..."
With that, Fumino took the lead and continued walking, while the three girls behind her exchanged doubtful glances.
Wasn't Fumino's reaction the weirdest one?
Now, they couldn't help but feel that something was fishy.
And so, the group continued their journey home.
===
Homura couldn't help but feel that the two times he had sent the girls home had left him with a mix of emotions, as many things kept happening one after another.
It seemed that fully opening up to them had consequences.
However, unlike Honoka's group, the relationship between Homura and Fumino's group hadn't progressed very much, though they didn't seem to have any negative feelings toward him either.
Maybe the only progress was that he could now call them by their first names directly, which was honestly still a pretty good step forward.
As for the rest, it was really just a matter of spending more time together, which wouldn't take too long.
===
"I'm back!"
As Homura returned home, this time, Haru was the one who came out to greet him.
"Hey, everyone's still in the living room, right?" Homura asked as he picked Haru up with a smile.
"Living room? They're all together now, but what's a living room?" Haru asked curiously since she didn't quite understand the terms.
"A living room is... the name of a room? Well, the place we were in before is the living room, and the sleeping place is called a bedroom, and the cooking place is called a kitchen."
"I see..." Haru nodded thoughtfully. "So we're usually in the living room, and the kitchen is where you cook? Hmm, the name 'kitchen' sounds like it has a special appeal."
Homura: "..."
'No, what's appealing to you is the food, not the kitchen.'
Shaking his head with a smile, Homura then walked to the living room.
"Welcome back... Were you giving Haru-chan a lesson or something?" Utaha asked curiously.
She had heard Homura's words earlier, so it seemed like the only plausible explanation.
"Yep." Homura nodded.
"Only you would make teaching a cat sound so simple..." Eriri chimed in with a helpless smile.
"What can I do? I have no choice but to teach the little one since the other cats aren't as clever as her." Homura remarked, then turned to look at today's guest. "Kirisu-sensei, how are you feeling?"
"Good... Everyone has been keeping me company." Mafuyu nodded.
"By the way, Homura-kun, Kirisu-sensei has decided to sleep in our room tonight." Megumi chimed in. "Kirisu-sensei and Izumi-chan will sleep together."
"Oh? Decided already? Okay, let's go with that." Homura nodded with a relief smile.
"By the way..." Eriri crossed her arms, looking at him with a 'smile' yet not a 'smile'. "You should probably explain, right? Who did you make a move on exactly?"
Homura: "..."
As Homura fell silent, contemplating how to explain it, his phone rang suddenly.
"Wait a sec..."
Homura quickly pulled out his phone and opened the incoming message.
[Minami Kotori: Homura-kun, I've finished the design! How do I send it to you?]
"Well, just send it to the group chat..." Homura muttered to himself before sending this message to Kotori.
"I'll explain to you later, okay? I'm a bit busy now." Homura said to Eriri, then, after grabbing a pen and paper, grabbed a laptop from the table.
"Busy? What else do you have to do?" Elf asked with some confusion.
"Heh, you'll see when you look." Homura said while chuckling.
"Is this Muse's group chat?" Utaha raised an eyebrow. "Is it okay if we see?"
"No worries, why would I hide it from you?" Homura shrugged casually.
Hearing his casual response, Eriri rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, your carefree attitude makes it awkward for us to read, you know?"
"Don't read it then." Utaha quipped, then leaned in next to Homura. "Let's not bother with Sawamura-san. I'll read."
Seeing this, Eriri's right eyebrow twitched.
She couldn't help but wonder when she could ever be as shameless as Kasumigaoka Utaha.
"Mou! I wanna read too, okay!" Eriri declared, moving closer to Homura.
Upon seeing this, Utaha's lips curled slightly upward.
