Ichinose gave a satisfied smiled as I thanked her. Then she headed back to the cafeteria without going to the bathroom.
Had she just been waiting here to tell me her idea…?
I returned to the cafeteria, where Hoshimiya began feeding me sushi again and Haruka continued to attack my feet. By the time I’d finished dinner, I barely had any recollection of what I’d eaten.
As we cleared the table, I saw Tsukishiro wash out the sushi packaging and separate it from the general trash, though I doubted anyone was still around to recycle plastics…
Once everything on the table was put away, the five of us sat down again. Tsukishiro stood up, looked each of us in the eye, then opened her mouth to speak.
“As of today, the five of us will be living together. I expect we’ll be faced with all manner of hardships, but let’s work together to make it through them. Next, let’s all give a brief self-introduction. I’m Mai Tsukishiro, a third-year student. I was in the Japanese archery club, so I know how to handle a bow and arrow.”
“Yeah! That’s our leader!” Hoshimiya shouted. She seemed to be in high spirits now that she knew we had a way of getting food.
“Let’s go clockwise around the table. Stand up when you introduce yourself, okay? Hoshimiya, your turn.”
“Okay. Um, I’m Lisa Hoshimiya. I like playing video games… Unlike Tsukishiro, I don’t have any skills that might be useful to everyone, but I’m happy to take care of any chores!”
“I’m Yuuma Kousaka. My special skill is…tying up zombies, I guess. You can let me take care of gathering supplies, and feel free to let me know if there’s anything you want in particular.”
“I’m Haruka Hyuuga. I don’t have any useful skills, but I do have an…interesting video of Yuuma, so if anyone wants to see it—”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Aw, now I’m curious. What’s it of?”
“Hee-hee! I’ll show it to you when we have a chance, Hoshimiya.” A meaningful smile crossed Haruka’s face.
I wondered when they might have that chance she’d mentioned…
“Okay, last but not least, Ichinose, introduce yourself.”
Prompted by Tsukishiro, Ichinose stood up. Her expression was taut with nerves.
“…Um, I’m Ayumi Ichinose. I, uh… I don’t have any skills in particular… But I like to read. I can read manuals or instructions for you if you don’t feel like doing it yourself. I’m a science student, so I often read technical books and other publications…and I can also do simple mechanical repairs.”
“Oh wow! That’s a huge help!” Hoshimiya cheered with joy. I felt the same way.
“We’ll have to fix anything that breaks down ourselves from here on out. It’s a good thing we have you,” I told Ichinose.
“Hee-hee-hee…” She laughed shyly, then quietly sat down.
Once we’d all introduced ourselves, Tsukishiro got to her feet again. “Let’s take the rest of the day to relax. We don’t have any work to do inside the dorm right now, so feel free to do whatever you want until tonight.”
“So is it okay if I take a shower…?”
“Sure.”
“Yaaay!!” Hoshimiya cheered again and jumped up from her chair.
Meanwhile, Ichinose covered her mouth and yawned.
“I think I’ll go to my room and rest… I’ve been so worried lately that I haven’t been able to sleep…”
“I’ll come and wake you up when it’s time for dinner.”
“Thanks…”
With that, we called an end to our lunchtime meeting and everyone stood up to go. Hoshimiya immediately approached me.
“Kousaka, do you have any plans now? How about playing a game with me? After I take a shower, that is.”
“Sorry, I’m going back to the supermarket. With Haruka, this time.”
“Oh, you are…? Okay, take care.” Hoshimiya sounded a little disappointed as she left the cafeteria. Maybe there was something she’d wanted to talk about…
“I had a feeling this would happen. You’ve become super popular with everyone.”
I hadn’t realized Haruka was standing right next to me, and she gave me a searching look.
“I’m not super popular. They’re all just grateful for my help.”
“Are you an idiot? A girl doesn’t wear revealing clothes like that when she eats sushi if she’s only feeling grateful.”
“I don’t know what eating sushi’s got to do with it, but you can’t assume that from how much skin a person’s showing. Hoshimiya just seems to like those sorts of clothes.”
“You’re a lost cause, Yuuma. Never in my life have I met someone as stupid as you.”
“That’s an awful thing to say…”
“…Still, I was glad you prioritized your plans with me when Hoshimiya invited you to play games with her…,” Haruka said with a shy smile.
As we stood there talking, Tsukishiro approached us.
“I’d like to assign rooms to the two of you. Let me know if you have any preferences, like which floor you want to be on or if you want a corner room.”
“I’d like to be on the first floor,” I said. “I want to be able to respond right away if a zombie comes climbing over the fence.”
“Thank you for thinking about security. Okay then, I’ll clean out the room closest to the entrance for you. How about you, Hyuuga?”
“Whatever Yuuma wants is fine.”
“……? Do you mean you’d like a room next to him?”
“Huh? Aren’t we sharing the same room?” Haruka asked, cocking her head.
Tsukishiro looked at me in surprise, but it was my first time hearing this as well, and I didn’t know how to react.
“Boys aren’t allowed in the dorm, but Yuuma’s going to be living here because I insisted. I’ll share a room with him and keep an eye out to make sure he doesn’t cause any problems.”
“That’s not necessary. I’ve already determined Kousaka to be trustworthy, so please sleep in different rooms.”
“I know he may not look it, but Yuuma’s a predator. I mean, only yesterday, he—”
“Don’t say something that might alarm her!” I said, stopping Haruka before she could say anything incriminating. I didn’t know what she’d been about to say, but I could think of too many possibilities, like squeezing her breasts by the river and gazing at her naked body through the frosted glass.
Arguing with her was likely to cause problems, though, so I just decided to do what she said.
“I’m fine sharing a room with Haruka. And if something does happen, I’ll have her as my alibi to prove I’m not the culprit.”
“Still, don’t you think it’s problematic for a man and a woman who aren’t married to sleep in the same room? And if you really are a predator, isn’t there a risk you’ll take advantage of Hyuuga?”
“…I don’t mind, as long as he’s willing to take responsibility…,” Hyuuga mumbled embarrassedly. Though I really wished she’d deny that I might take advantage of her… “We’ve known each other since grade school, so I think I’ll be able to keep him under control. Please let us share a room so I can keep an eye on him.”
I couldn’t believe how rude some of the things Haruka was saying were, but I knew that if I made any sort of protest, we’d just end up getting tangled in the weeds. So I decided to shut my mouth for now.
“…Really? Since grade school…?” Tsukishiro muttered to herself. Was it just my imagination, or did she look a little sad?
However, she quickly went back to serious mode.
“All right. Then the two of you can use the room closest to the entrance. And since I’m now the dorm manager here, I need to be able to respond immediately should something happen, so I’ll move into the room next to yours. I’ll come running if I hear anything unusual.”
With that settled, we moved into the dorm. Each room had a bunk bed, desks, and chests of drawers, so we didn’t have to furnish them ourselves.
First, we moved everything left behind by the previous resident into an unused room. I let Haruka take care of all the stuff in the drawers that I was better off not seeing, while I changed the bedsheets and pillowcases.
We were finished in under half an hour.
“We’re all set with our new home!” Haruka said proudly, looking around the room. I felt my heart skip a beat—she was talking like this was our first night as a married couple…
“Yuuma, do you want top or bottom bunk?”
“You can choose.”
“Then I’m taking the top one. I’ve never slept in a bunk bed! ♪”
Haruka excitedly climbed the ladder up to the top bunk. I’d see up her skirt if she kept going like that, but I didn’t look away because I knew she was wearing leggings. Even if I couldn’t see her panties, men still fantasized about being able to see up a girl’s skirt—
But for some reason, she wasn’t wearing her leggings, and I caught a glimpse of her light blue panties at the top of those milky-white thighs.
Flustered, I quickly turned away.
“Yuuma! I’m so high up!” Haruka rolled over on the top bunk and waved.
“Y-yeah.”
“…? What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Something’s clearly wrong; I can see it all over your face. What happened? All I did was climb up the ladder—”
Haruka seemed to have figured out the reason behind my strange reaction. She pressed her skirt down and, with an embarrassed looked, asked, “Yuuma… Did you look…?”
“…Sorry.”
“Geez… I can’t even let my guard down for a second…”
“No, it’s not like that. I thought you were wearing leggings…”
“I took them off because it was hot. I figured we wouldn’t be climbing over any more fences today.”
“Climbing a ladder without wearing leggings is way too careless.”
“I trusted you.”
“…I feel so bad, hearing you say that.”
“If anything, don’t you think it’s more perverted trying to look up my skirt at my leggings than trying to see my underwear?”
“I don’t know how to answer that…”
“Honestly… You’re so obsessed with me…”
“Why do you look happy about that?”
“Don’t try to make it sound like this is my fault. I’m really angry at you right now. You’re going to have to make up for this—”
Just then, someone knocked at the door.
“Have you two finished moving in?” Tsukishiro called out. She’d come to check on us, and I told her we had.
“Good… By the way, I could hear the two of you arguing from the hallway. Perhaps it would be better for you to take separate rooms after all?”
…Apparently, the walls here weren’t all that thick. I was embarrassed that Tsukishiro had heard about what I’d done.
“We’re fine. That’s just our way of communicating, isn’t it, Yuuma?”
“Y-yeah.”
I didn’t know whether it was a good idea to call peeking up Haruka’s skirt communicating, but I thought it best to go along with whatever she said.
“I see… In that case, I’ll stop meddling,” Tsukishiro replied, the disapproval evident in her eyes. It looked like she was stopping herself from voicing what she really wanted to say…