Kita Ikuyo had originally considered squeezing into one room with Momoka, but the Rabbit House was, after all, initially designed as a commercial shop, and the staff rooms upstairs were not that large to begin with, and the beds placed inside were naturally those rather narrow single beds.
While it wasn't impossible for two people to sleep there if they absolutely had to, it was estimated that by the middle of the night, someone would roll off the bed...
"Choose between the loft and the shop floor to sleep." After Asakura learned of this, he gave her two options.
"Can people actually stay in the loft of our shop?" Kita Ikuyo asked in surprise.
"I used to stay in there, but later I gave it up because it was a bit inconvenient, but the previous bedding is still there..." Asakura shrugged and said: "Of course, as a loft, there will definitely be some traditional features, like cockroaches and such to sleep with you."
"I choose the shop floor."
Thus, the girl instantly gave up the previous option that seemed very tempting and chose to sleep in the shop; anyway, the sofa in the shop was large enough that she didn't have to worry about having no place to sleep.
"Speaking of which, if cockroaches really appeared in our shop, that would be quite bad in many aspects, after all, it's a food-related shop... like the health license and such..."
"Because I also keep Heteropoda venatoria and Scutigera coleoptrata here to catch the cockroaches, so don't worry."
"The direction of solving the problem is wrong, right? Seeing that kind of thing, the shock it gives people feels even bigger than cockroaches!"
"Just kidding."
Asakura smiled and said.
"For someone who is afraid of bugs, this kind of joke can be said to be quite mean..." Kita Ikuyo accused with some dissatisfaction.
"Actually, snakes are used to catch cockroaches."
"Ha ha, anyway, in the end it's definitely another joke, right?" The girl said triumphantly: "I've already seen through Asakura-kun's train of thought!"
"..." Asakura remained silent.
"...?" The smile on the girl's face froze.
"..."
"It's a joke, right? Please tell me it really is just a joke!"
"Speaking of which, how did the clothes on your body change?"
"This way of changing the subject is also too blunt! Instead, it becomes even more suspicious!"
Although she had a certain degree of doubt regarding Asakura's claim of keeping snakes and bugs (she would rather this was a mean joke), Kita Ikuyo ultimately spoke honestly: "It's Momoka-san's spare pajamas. She woke up slightly just now, clamoring for water. Although she still looked a bit drunk, she could at least communicate, so I took that opportunity to ask her for a set of pajamas I could change into."
As she spoke, because the size was slightly larger for her, the girl used her fingers to pinch the cuffs and gracefully spun around in front of Asakura: "Does it look very strange?"
As pajamas for early July, they were slightly thick. Asakura felt that these pajamas were probably worn by Momoka in late spring or early autumn, it was just that Momoka, who had not yet recovered from her hangover and was unable to think normally, lent this set of pajamas to Kita Ikuyo as a spare.
Of course, this was not the point.
"Obviously other places look much more spacious..."
After Asakura muttered a sentence, he didn't continue, but just looked at Kita Ikuyo's chest with mournful eyes.
This caused the girl to feel a subtle tightness in her chest. For a moment, she didn't know whether the pity in the other party's eyes was for her or for Momoka's...
☆
"...I didn't expect the Rabbit House after closing to feel like this."
Lying on the sofa in the shop, Kita Ikuyo covered herself as much as possible with the blanket Asakura had given her, her expression slightly curious and filled with wonder.
Actually, it wasn't that she hadn't seen the Rabbit House after closing.
After all, sometimes the preparation work after the shop closed was carried out by her.
It was just that usually after closing, although the shop wasn't brightly lit, it was still quite bright.
A scene like this, where the originally familiar space was completely submerged in the night, was still the first time for the girl to see it.
"How should I put it..." she whispered to herself: "Within the strange beauty, there's also a sense of loneliness..."
Clearly Momoka-san and Asakura were just upstairs, not that far from her, but that kind of loneliness and emptiness was still a bit unbearable for the girl.
Am I actually such a person who is afraid of loneliness?
Kita Ikuyo laughed at herself, then tried hard to cover her whole body with the blanket. Her movement made the girl look a bit like a cocooned caterpillar, still wriggling.
Suddenly, Kita Ikuyo, who was trying to fall asleep, stopped her movements.
She thought she heard some strange sound, as if a metal tray had fallen to the ground for some reason.
In addition, if she listened more carefully, she seemed to be able to hear some sparse crawling sounds like an animal.
Is it possible there really are snakes in the house?
The girl was startled by her own guess, and the bit of sleepiness she had was instantly thrown beyond the highest heavens.
She sat up at once, holding her phone to provide basic lighting, and cautiously observed the direction the sound was coming from.
It was the kitchen.
As a dessert shop, the kitchen of the Rabbit House was actually not used much, after all, the daily supply of goods was transported by Asakura from another world, unless some guest suddenly had a whim and wanted to order pasta or something.
The girl came to the kitchen, but didn't find anything strange in the vast kitchen.
However, just as she was about to leave the kitchen, her eyes caught a dark shadow about the size of a rat, flashing past from a distance and disappearing under the cooking counter.
The girl hurried to use her phone as a light source to illuminate the bottom of the table, but saw nothing.
Was it just a mistake? The girl, who truly couldn't find anything strange, could only leave the kitchen with a head full of fog.
But she had only walked a few steps when she was startled by an expressionless person on the stairs.
"Asa—Asakura-kun?! Why are you standing there without saying a word? I was almost scared to death by you!"
"I heard a strange sound, so I came down to take a look." Only then did Asakura let out a yawn and say.
"It wasn't me." Kita Ikuyo immediately clarified.
"I know, you go back to sleep." Asakura nodded noncommittally, then walked quickly toward the kitchen.
After such a commotion, the girl finally felt a bit of sleepiness.
But just as she wanted to sleep, she suddenly realized something.
"...Why was Asakura-kun able to immediately determine the sound came from the kitchen even though he had only just come downstairs?"