The next day, around lunchtime, Yuki and the group were eating at their usual spot. Things were different now, with the addition of the three Michaela sisters, it had gotten a lot livelier.
"Uh... Lala, slow down. No one's going to steal your food." Watching Lala scarf down her bento, Yuki couldn't help but say something.
"I—cough, cough, cough..." Lala tried to respond, but sure enough, she started choking.
Yuki quickly handed her the soup from his own bento to help wash it down. Lala took it without a word and downed it in one go. A moment later, she was fine.
"Phew! That was close! Thanks, Yuki. This is why you're the best, Lala knows it!" Lala grinned and hugged him without a second thought.
Someone as naturally open and carefree as Lala got close to people fast. In just a few days, she was already hugging Yuki as if it were no big deal.
"Sis, Mom has told you so many times, chew your food properly. You never listen," Nana tried to lecture her older sister. "And hey, mind your manners. You're a girl, Yuki's a guy. You can't just go hugging him like that."
Marin nodded in agreement, especially with that last part. Men and women should keep a proper distance. It wasn't as if they were a couple. But really, Marin was just jealous that Lala could be so physically close to Yuki without any self-consciousness.
"Is it really that bad?" Lala tilted her head, genuinely puzzled.
"Yes, it's bad!" Nana answered firmly, sneaking a glance at Yuki.
Yuki caught her looking and returned the glance. Nana's eyes flickered with a hint of panic.
"But... being close to Yuki feels nice." Lala furrowed her brows, reluctant to let go.
"Well... maybe it's not that bad, Sis." Just then, Momo chimed in from the side. "As long as you become Yuki's wife, no one will say anything." Momo smiled knowingly, her eyes carrying a hint of suggestion.
Lala's eyes lit up. "Right! Then I'll just become Yuki's wife! Yuki, let's get married!"
She made the decision on the spot and grabbed Yuki's arm, ready to drag him off to tie the knot.
Marin and Nana both spat out their rice at the exact same time.
"Pfft—! Cough, cough, cough..."
The moment Marin spat out her rice, Origami, who was sitting across from her, calmly tilted her head to avoid the spray. Then, she went back to eating her lunch as if nothing had happened.
"I'm so sorry, Tobiichi-san," Marin quickly apologized.
"It's fine," Origami replied with her usual unflappable tone.
Marin didn't dwell on it. She turned her attention back to Lala. She never expected Lala's brain to work like this, just like that, she wanted to marry Yuki.
"Sis, what are you even saying?!" Nana stood up, her cheeks flushed, and scolded her.
"Getting married!" Lala answered matter-of-factly.
"I know that! I'm asking how the two of you can get married?!"
"Yeah!" Hearing Nana's question, Marin nodded instinctively.
But her response made Nana freeze. Nana turned to look at Marin with a strange expression. I wasn't asking you, why are you nodding?!
Marin noticed the stares from Nana, Yuki, and the others, and her face instantly flushed bright red. She quickly lowered her head and focused on her food, desperately trying to hide her embarrassment.
Nana decided to ignore Marin for the moment and returned to the matter at hand. "Anyway, it's not allowed! Because Mother..." Nana started to remind Lala about their mother Sephie's relationship with Yuki, but then she remembered Marin was still there, an outsider. So she trailed off, trying to hint at it instead.
"I know that! But so what? Mother is Mother, and I'm me. I like Yuki too. That's why I want to marry him." Lala didn't see the issue at all. She separated her feelings from her mother's.
Nana was dumbfounded. She hadn't considered that angle. Did that mean she could...? She quickly shook the strange thought out of her head.
Seeing that Lala wasn't backing down still clinging to Yuki and begging him to take her to get married, Nana sighed. She shot a glare at Momo, as if blaming her for this. If Momo hadn't said what she had, their sister never would have thought of going down this road.
Momo, however, didn't look guilty at all. Instead, she wore a knowing smile, as if everything were going exactly according to plan.
Under Lala's persistent pestering, Yuki somehow managed to finish his lunch. Afterward, Nana finally dragged Lala away, and Yuki got a moment to breathe.
He stepped out of the storage room and wandered around the school grounds. When he passed by the art room, he spotted a familiar golden figure inside.
Recognizing who it was, Yuki quietly opened the door and slipped in. Inside, Eriri sat in front of an easel, staring blankly at the nearly empty canvas. Most of the outline was there, but she didn't know where to go next.
She didn't even notice Yuki standing behind her. It wasn't until Yuki called out to her that she jolted back to her senses.
"Eriri."
The moment Yuki spoke, her blonde twin tails seemed to bristle like a startled cat. Her whole body trembled, and she spun around.
"Y-Yuki-kun. Wh-What are you doing here?!"
Eriri's expression flickered with panic. She stood up and rose onto her toes, trying to block Yuki's view with her small frame. But at 158 cm, she wasn't about to hide anything from someone over 180 cm tall.
Yuki had already seen that the sketch on her canvas was of a person—clearly male.
"I finished eating and was just wandering around. I happened to pass by and saw you in here. I thought I'd come say hi." He smiled, finding it quite amusing how desperately she was trying to block his view.
"I-I see... So... you've seen it now, right?" Eriri's cheeks were tinged with pink. She couldn't meet his eyes and glanced away, clearly feeling guilty.
"What's wrong? Are you not happy to see me, Eriri? Trying to kick me out?" Yuki pretended to look disappointed and sighed.
"Huh?! No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Realizing she had misspoken, Eriri quickly tried to make amends.
Only then did Yuki's expression soften. He chuckled softly at the flustered girl before him.
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