"Ahem... Is everyone okay?"
Sato walked over with Hirasawa Ui and sat down. After glancing around at everyone present, he asked in a somewhat awkward tone.
The girls all avoided his gaze.
However, the moment they noticed Hirasawa Ui following behind him, they immediately understood. Sato had probably come over because of pressure from Hirasawa Ui.
Hirasawa Ui stayed close behind him every step of the way. Her timid face was filled with nervousness and guilt.
"W... What could possibly be wrong!"
Ritsu waved her hand, pretending to be calm, but no matter how you listened to her, she sounded guilty.
"R... Right! Nothing's wrong!"
Yui quickly chimed in after Ritsu.
Mio kept her head lowered, her face bright red, remaining silent for the time being. Meanwhile, the young lady stared at Sato with sparkling eyes.
"Is there a problem?"
For some reason, Sato suddenly felt guilty. Lowering his voice, he quietly asked Kotobuki Tsumugi, who was sitting beside him.
Kotobuki Tsumugi didn't answer.
Just as Sato looked at her in confusion, she suddenly blinked and said,
"My mother once told me that a girl's body should only be seen by her husband."
Huh?
What was that supposed to mean?
More importantly, why bring that up all of a sudden?
Sato was completely bewildered. Looking at Kotobuki Tsumugi, he instinctively asked,
"So...?"
Kotobuki Tsumugi looked at him with her bright blue eyes, her expression utterly serious.
"So Nohara-kun wants to marry us?"
"Huh?!"
Sato froze.
Everyone else froze too.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, Sato and Mio both stood up at the same time and spoke anxiously.
Still sitting in their seats, Yui and Ritsu stared blankly at the two of them, silently thinking how perfectly in sync they were.
"You first."
Sato glanced at Mio in surprise and politely yielded.
"N-No, you first."
Still blushing furiously and unable to meet Sato's eyes, Mio softly murmured the words before quietly sitting back down.
Alright then.
After seeing her sit, Sato took a deep breath to calm himself before looking seriously at Kotobuki Tsumugi.
"Tsumugi, I think you used the wrong word."
The young lady blinked innocently.
"Look."
Trying to explain it to her, he thought for a moment before saying,
"You used the word 'want.' Saying someone 'wants' something means they already had that intention. If you put it that way, doesn't that make it sound like I opened the door on purpose?"
In other words, because he wanted to marry them, he deliberately opened the door.
That made it sound as if he'd done it intentionally.
He absolutely had to clear this up, or his reputation would truly be ruined.
"Really?"
Kotobuki Tsumugi nodded thoughtfully. After thinking for a moment longer, she suddenly looked enlightened, her face lighting up with delight.
"So what you're saying is that I should have said you should marry us."
"Exactly!"
Sato wore an expression of proud satisfaction, as though a student had finally understood the lesson.
Now that fit the proper chain of cause and effect.
But almost immediately, his expression froze.
"W-Wait! That's not what I meant!"
"Scumbag."
Not far away, Yukinoshita Yukino's calm voice drifted over.
Turning toward her with a headache, Sato snapped,
"Would you shut up!"
Things were already messy enough. She really didn't need to make them even worse.
He felt as though his head was about to split open. It was like he'd accidentally stepped into a whirlpool, with people constantly trying to drag him even deeper.
"P... Pervert!"
Mio raised her head and shouted at him.
The black-haired girl with the long straight hair stared at him with eyes shimmering with tears. She bit her lip tightly, looking as though she had just suffered some terrible violation.
Why does it actually feel like this is all my fault?!
Black lines filled Sato's face.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Nohara."
Ritsu stood up, clicked her tongue a few times, then patted Sato on the shoulder.
"I never imagined you were this kind of person."
What the hell...
Sato suddenly whipped his head around to look at Kotobuki Tsumugi.
The young lady stood there quietly, wearing a faint, gentle smile on her perfectly innocent face as she watched everything unfold.
He gradually calmed down and fixed his gaze on her.
Young lady...
You're secretly a schemer, aren't you?
You definitely are, aren't you?
"Huh?"
Yui stared blankly at everything happening, her mind full of question marks.
What in the world was everyone talking about?
Seeing how things had turned out, Hirasawa Ui hurriedly stepped forward to defend Sato.
"Everyone... Senpai really didn't do it on purpose!"
That just makes me sound even more like I did it on purpose!
Sato looked up at the ceiling and let out a helpless sigh. He couldn't shake the feeling that the situation was becoming more and more chaotic.
Honestly, he really hadn't seen anything.
Everyone had still been wearing bras and panties. If you really thought about it... it wasn't all that different from when they'd gone to the water park together.
Why was it fine to confidently wear something that looked almost identical as a swimsuit, but bras and panties were suddenly unacceptable?!
He grumbled to himself.
After thinking it over, he decided the matter in front of him still needed to be resolved. He took out his phone, checked the time, then asked everyone,
"By the way, are we still going to recruit new club members today?"
It was an obvious attempt to change the subject.
But it worked wonders.
"Huh? That's right! We still have club recruitment today!"
Ritsu suddenly remembered and turned to Kotobuki Tsumugi.
"Tsumugi, did you put up the posters?"
After working on them yesterday, everyone had eventually realized the young lady was by far the best artist, so the job had been entrusted to her.
Hearing that, Kotobuki Tsumugi quickly nodded. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation for the underclassmen who might join.
"I already put them up this morning."
"Then why hasn't a single person shown up yet?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Ritsu and Yui both looked rather dejected.
Ritsu rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"I guess we still haven't advertised enough."
Her gaze suddenly landed on Sato.
"Sato, go change your clothes. Let's hurry downstairs."
"Okay!"
Sato finally let out a sigh of relief.