"Nagami, don't you think you're seriously lacking in gentlemanly manners right now?"
With delicate, slender hands dragging a large suitcase in each, Kiana puffed out her cheeks and shot a disdainful look back at Nagami, who was piling even more bags onto the stack.
"Chivalry is reserved for ladies. Do you really think you qualify?" Nagami replied in an exaggerated, theatrical tone, not the least bit embarrassed.
"Are you saying I'm not ladylike?!" Since both her hands were occupied, Kiana couldn't do much more than glare at the smirking boy.
"Alright, Nagami, stop bullying Kiana already~" Mei gently patted Nagami on the shoulder. "If it's too heavy for you, I'll help."
Despite her own hands being quite full, the girl—graceful as a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko—offered a warm smile.
As a descendant of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū sword school, she had trained from a young age.
In terms of raw strength, she could easily outmatch the average adult.
Not to mention, it was her luggage to begin with.
"Hehe~ Hear that, Nagami? Mei's on my side!"
Kiana, who had been pretending to be all pitiful just a moment ago, instantly lit up with a bright, triumphant grin.
She bumped her hip into Nagami with a smug little wiggle.
"Hmph." Nagami snorted at the overexcited "stinkbug" flaunting her minor victory.
He was just about to tease Mei about how someone with Kiana's energy wouldn't even flinch if you doubled her luggage weight—
—but Mei, already anticipating his jab, shot him a quick side-eye.
A simple glance. Long, curled lashes.
No words, no effort. And yet it carried an air of undeniable charm.
'...Alright, I'm motivated again.'
With a thumbs-up to Mei for reasons she didn't quite understand, Nagami picked up the package he'd been stacking, slung it over his shoulder, and marched ahead.
Mei tilted her head in confusion at Nagami's sudden burst of enthusiasm.
————————————————————————
By the time the three of them returned to Nagami's place, it was already 10 PM.
Mei, who was normally strict with her sleep schedule, was starting to nod off.
But for Nagami and C.C., this was prime time.
The girls quickly finished setting up Mei's room.
Meanwhile, Nagami returned to his own room and unstrapped the sheathed sword from his back.
It was a straight-edged blade bought at great expense by Raiden Ryoma—a renowned sword known as Muramasa, the Demon Blade.
Okay… that was just a name Nagami made up.
But the quality? Not bad at all.
He pushed his thumb against the sword guard, exposing half the blade.
The cold gleam from the polished steel reflected sharply in the room's lighting.
With this kind of craftsmanship… it had to be worth a good chunk of change, right?
Not that he planned on keeping it forever.
He was just borrowing it.
'Not like Jackie Chan-style borrowing, though.'
After waving it around and trying out a few random slashes from a totally made-up style, he sheathed the blade and tossed it aside.
Time for games.
C.C., knowing it'd look bad to go into Nagami's room while the girls were still around, hauled her PC into her own room and logged in separately.
————————————————————————
'Ping!'
Just as Nagami logged into League of Legends, the familiar chime rang out.
He glanced at the screen and clicked open a message window from [Silver Wolf].
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[Silver Wolf]: Want to queue ranked?
————————————————————————
Nagami smirked.
So Bronya was gaming on the job while supposed to be monitoring him, huh?
He couldn't help but imagine her face if she knew she was inviting her target to duo.
————————————————————————
[Solo Bot Lane God]: Let's go!
————————————————————————
As the matchmaking screen loaded, with its familiar visuals and BGM, Nagami sent out the party invite.
————————————————————————
[Solo Bot Lane God]: You weren't online all day yesterday. Something up?
————————————————————————
Since they were playing duo queue, C.C. didn't join them—she went off to play a different game.
————————————————————————
[Silver Wolf]: Had to relocate my work setup. Change of base for operational purposes.
————————————————————————
Nagami nodded slightly to himself. So she had just moved to a new spot.
————————————————————————
[Silver Wolf]: Let's go—I'll carry you.
[Solo Bot Lane God]: ???
————————————————————————
Nagami blinked. Excuse me?
————————————————————————
[Solo Bot Lane God]: Bronya, it seems you have no idea who the real carry is.
[Silver Wolf]: No doubt. It's me.
[Solo Bot Lane God]: Your judgment is highly questionable.
————————————————————————
Nagami's deadpan stare was like a father arguing with his son over who's actually the dad in this household.
————————————————————————
[Silver Wolf]: My conclusion is based on nearly a hundred games of joint data.
[Solo Bot Lane God]: Enough talk. 1v1 me. Best of three. Let's settle this.
————————————————————————
High-ranked queues take forever to match, so after all that back and forth, the game still hadn't started.
Nagami backed out of queue and set up a custom match.
————————————————————————
[Silver Wolf]: Very well. Bronya accepts your challenge. Bring it on!
————————————————————————
On both sides of the screen, the competitive fire had been lit.
This would decide who the true carry was.
On Nagami's side, in the room next door, C.C. paused her own game, laid back on the soft bed, closed her eyes—and channeled all her mental energy into Nagami, boosting his reaction speed to its peak.
On Bronya's side, a massive semi-humanoid mech emerged from the void, its cold, metallic hand replacing her chair as it gently cradled the petite girl, syncing its computational power with her biological neural chip.
Without her mechanical exoskeleton, Bronya elegantly crossed her flawless legs, her fair, dainty feet dangling in mid-air.
Her five toes, soft pink and smooth as jade, swayed slightly.
Though her refined face showed no overt emotion, the flickering ripples in her silvery-gray eyes betrayed her rising excitement.
Can physical enhancements be considered cheating?
Obviously not~!
Nagami won the first round.
In response, Bronya wasted no time and allocated all of Heavy Bunny's computing power into the second match.
She won that one.
Then, Nagami activated his "Alpha Stigma" for round three—
—And unsurprisingly took the win.
Well, what can you do? It's not like Bronya has a second-stage transformation to fall back on.
'This one? This one was pure skill, baby.'
Although Bronya was reluctant to admit it, the truth was undeniable.
After a long silence, she begrudgingly acknowledged Nagami as the true carry between them.
From then on, she seemed to take out her frustration on the enemy team.
The normally calm and composed Bronya started spawn-camping like a maniac.
They duo-queued all the way until the early hours of the morning, only heading to bed after calling it a night.
————————————————————————
The next morning, the sun was shining and a gentle breeze flowed outside.
It was a perfect day.
Still half-asleep, Nagami felt something tickling his face—accompanied by a faint, sweet fragrance.
He lazily opened his eyes just a crack.
In his blurry vision appeared the delicate features of a mischievous girl, her sapphire eyes twinkling with playful delight.
Kiana had somehow gotten her hands on a feather and was teasing Nagami's nose with it, clearly having a blast.
Nagami's awareness snapped into focus—but he didn't move, still pretending to be asleep.
After a few moments of tickling with no reaction, Kiana started to feel suspicious.
Why isn't he reacting at all?
Two seconds later, a new prank idea popped into her head.
Kiana leaned forward slightly, her slender waist arching as she brought her face closer to Nagami's.
Just as she was about to strike—
'Bam!'
Nagami sprang into action.
With a sudden burst of speed, one arm looped tightly around her neck, the other seized her wrist.
While Kiana was still caught off guard, he flipped them over and pinned her to the bed in one fluid motion.
"Caught red-handed. Anything you'd like to say for yourself, Kiana-san~?"
Swallowing nervously, Kiana forced a smile and tried to play it off.
"Hehe… Good morning, Nagami~"
"Morning~" Nagami replied with a grin.
Before Kiana could destroy the evidence, he snatched the soft white feather from her hand.
With her slender arms twisted behind her back, Kiana squirmed in protest.
But the moment she struggled, a sharp twinge in her joints made her wince.
"Easy there. Unless you want me to take advantage of the situation, I'd suggest you stop moving~"
Even through the thin loungewear, Nagami could clearly feel Kiana's softness and curves against him.
"D-Don't mess around! Mei's in the living room! I-I only came to wake you up for breakfast! You can't just pin me like this!"
Realizing just how compromising their position was, Kiana's eyes widened and her body stiffened with embarrassment.
"Relax, relax. Under normal circumstances, humans don't get turned on by protozoa~"
Nagami brushed aside her white braided hair, revealing the pale skin of her neck.
Smiling, he gently dragged the feather across it.
"Ahhh-haha! No—haha! I'm sorry! Nagami, I give up—hahaha!"
The unbearable tickling had Kiana in tears of laughter.
"Hmph. Looks like someone hasn't been disciplined in a while. Today, I'm teaching you a lesson. Prepare yourself!"
Nagami wasn't the least bit moved by her begging.
He'd seen through Kiana's usual antics—always apologizing with a straight face and never learning a thing.
"Nooo—! Hahaha! Stooop!!"
And so, another typical day began in the Nagami household—just as lively as ever.