In the student council, Chika Fujiwara seemed to have gotten addicted to the thrill of a secret relationship.
She was constantly pulling little tricks behind Kaguya's back.
With one Eriri and one Chika in the mix, even Tatsuki sometimes felt like he wasn't twisted enough.
Hiratsuka-sensei, on the other hand, was acting pretty strange—always looking for chances to dodge him.
At home, he had truly become a master of time management.
Today he went over to Nezuko's place to play around with their family of three.
Kie's spatial Blood Demon Art combined with his Source of Space could be used to bloom a spectacular, silver-tinted chaos.
Three-person linkup? Totally wrong.
Try nine-person linkup instead!
It was so outrageous that absurd itself needed to open the door and go, "Okay, now this is home."
The next day he'd drop by Leone's side to look after things.
With Mine and Sheele joining the party, Leone's camp had effectively doubled its battle power.
But when faced with Tatsuki, they were still nothing but rookies.
He gave them a proper, in-depth look at what a true Whiteout Hell really was.
The day after that, he'd go find Cocolia.
First order of business with Cocolia: get Chito and Yuuri out of the house.
Tatsuki wasn't enough of an animal to lay a hand on Chito or Yuuri.
Of course, even with those two out, there was still Yukino at home.
He and Cocolia very deliberately didn't close the door, putting on a whole performance just for Yukino.
After checking in on Cocolia, he could conveniently give the overflowing Yukino a bit of tender comfort.
No matter how many times it happened, Yukino's shyness never changed—that was something Tatsuki would love forever.
The rest of the time he'd be with Eriri, Sayuri, or Kanae—and now there was also one very curious "cat."
"Cat" wasn't Haru. Haru was a proper, literal cat; no matter what he saw, he'd just yawn and go back to sleep.
The "cat" was a person, but with a cat's curiosity—she'd mimic Sayuri and the others' movements and poses.
That gave Tatsuki a truly one-of-a-kind experience.
This set of time-management routines left both Chinu and Abe no Seimei utterly dumbfounded.
School, home—he really wasn't neglecting either side.
Add in the King of Time's ability, and his time allocation was more than enough.
Just in school alone, he needed to expend extra "King of Time" charges to accompany both Yui and Chika; otherwise there simply wasn't enough time.
After getting over her first wave of shyness, Yui had already become bold enough to automatically snuggle up against him—no way he could leave that need hanging.
And even with his schedule this packed, he could still squeeze out time to slip over to Pandora's Love's Nest in the Chaos Domain.
On the way, he'd swing by the City of Angels to reward the hard-working Kayo.
But by coincidence, Aya, Niji, Enju, Tina, and Fuse Midori were all there too.
In the end, Tatsuki unavoidably held a full-on award ceremony.
In his own words: A full, yet peaceful week.
That weekend, Tatsuki and the others used the break to finish moving house. With his spatial ability, it was literally just copy-paste in one click.
Given that the building had four units per floor, Tatsuki also had everyone pick their own rooms properly.
On the first and second floors, each had a single original tenant family.
On the third floor, one unit was Eriri and Sayuri's, with Abe no Seimei and Chinu added in to fill the last room.
Another unit was for Nezuko, Kie, and Tamayo's family.
The fourth floor was Tatsuki's.
For now, his "family" there was just him, Haru, Neko, and the ever-inseparable Kanae.
Then there was Yukino and Haruno's unit—Yukino hadn't objected to Haruno moving in.
As for the spare room, Haruno said it was for her mother.
Yup… truly a devoted daughter.
On the fifth floor, aside from one original tenant, the other unit was now home to the new family formed by Cocolia, Chito, and Yuuri.
On the sixth floor—at Night Raid's very emphatic insistence—the seven of them were still all in one unit. They were used to living together and weren't about to change that now.
The other unit was arranged by Tatsuki for Talulah, Alina, and Annie.
Talulah and Alina didn't reject Annie's presence; Annie herself had a naturally calm, reserved personality.
But with a little fawn like Alina around, Tatsuki believed Annie would soon make friends with her just fine.
He also introduced Talulah's trio to everyone else—and by now, everyone was used to new faces joining in.
After all, Tatsuki's solo ability to manifest a Whiteout Hell was something they'd all witnessed.
Talulah, Alina, and Annie, on the other hand, had their jaws nearly hitting the floor at the sheer number of women around Tatsuki. It looked like they were going to need some time to mentally process it.
On the seventh floor, there was another original tenant.
The eighth and ninth floors were currently unoccupied.
As evening approached, Tatsuki decided to go pay his respects to the other residents in the building.
He didn't immediately use Dominance to snoop through their thoughts—he still trusted Kaguya's little maid's ability and eye for people.
Before seeing them with his own eyes, he wouldn't do anything unnecessary.
The two units upstairs didn't seem to have anyone home, so he headed downstairs instead.
Unit 201.
Ding-dong!
Tatsuki lightly pressed the doorbell.
Click.
After a short while, the door opened.
Standing there was a silver-haired woman with a dangerously styled haircut.
"And you are…?"
She looked puzzled at Tatsuki's appearance—a young man she didn't recognize.
Tatsuki politely introduced himself. "Hello, sorry to bother you. I'm Tatsuki from 401; I just moved into the building. I came by to greet my neighbors. This is a little gift—please look after us from now on."
He handed over a bag of fruit. Realization dawned on the woman's face; she accepted it and bowed. "Welcome. I'm Saya Izumi. Please look after us as well."
After a bit of small talk, Tatsuki headed downstairs.
Closing the door behind her, Saya Izumi carried the fruit back inside.
At the staircase landing, a little head poked out. "Mom, who was that?"
Putting the fruit away, Saya smiled. "A new neighbor. Sagiri, when you have time, come with me to say hello, okay?"
"No way, I'm going back to draw."
Sagiri Izumi, whose hair was the same silvery white as her mother's, pouted and scampered back upstairs with quick little pat-pat footsteps.
(Author's note: I don't actually know Sagiri Izumi's mother's canon name, so I'm using this as a stand-in. All content involving Mrs. Izumi is second-setting; there's no father Masamune in this version, but the family name is still Izumi—this is a fan-reinterpretation.)
"Sigh…"
Saya Izumi could only feel helpless. Because of her influence, this child had turned into a full-blown shut-in.
Thinking of the young man who had just come by—Tatsuki—he'd left her with a pretty good impression. She hoped they wouldn't have any disputes between neighbors.
"Cough, cough!"
Saya suddenly coughed twice, a sharp pain shooting through her chest.
Lately, it felt like her condition was getting worse and worse.
...
"Saya Izumi… Izumi…"
On his way down, Tatsuki turned the name over in his mind. Paired with that young-looking face framed by the dangerously married-woman hairstyle…
He couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. The name Saya Izumi naturally made him think of the name Sagiri Izumi.
Lost in thought, Tatsuki had already arrived at Unit 101 on the first floor—the building's other tenant.
Ding-dong!
He pressed the doorbell.
This time, quite a while passed before he heard footsteps. The door opened, but only a crack.
A pair of eyes peered out at him. Through the gap he could see that the person was a girl with pink hair. It was the girl he'd met that other day.
Tatsuki remembered the girl he'd brushed past in the elevator last weekend when he was viewing the property with Haruno.
Seeing him again, the girl's eyes flickered slightly—she clearly remembered that brief encounter, too.
....
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