“Ahh, Geez! What the heck is with that moron?!” Aina’s voice echoed throughout the clubroom as soon as Eru left, its speaker rising to her feet.
Aina’s usually pleasant mask had been pulverized in rage. “What’s with her?!” she demanded to know, wearing her emotions on her sleeve while she pounded both fists against her backpack. “Does she think that I’m the only one at fault?! No, well, she might be right, but what’s with her attitude?! Don’t screw with meee! Arghhh, geez, geez, geez! I’m so... mad... oh.”
Kai had never witnessed such a clear example of someone returning to their senses before.
“J-Just kidding, ♪” Aina sang out melodically.
“Pff,” Aya’s stifled laugh broke the awkward silence that followed. “Ahahahahaha! Oh my, ahaha, God, oh, ahaha... my sides!”
“A-Ah-chan,” Nanaka warned, “you’re laughing too much.”
“Oh, come on, Nana-sen, you can’t tell me not to laugh at that!” Aya cackled. “Aye-aye, oh man, that was good! I was getting all bummed because I figured that idiot was causing another pain-in-the-butt incident. Plus, it wasn’t trouble with Nana-sen like last time, so I was all, ‘I don’t wanna do anything~ What a pain~’ but that was the perfect catharsis! And the cherry on top: afterwards, you went back to your usual dead-obvious schtick without missing a beat!”
Aina covered her eyes with her right hand and let out a massive sigh. “...Oh well,” she finally said. “It’s not like I was trying to hide it, anyway. I sorta knew that Aya saw through me from the beginning... I’m guessing you caught on, too, Nanaka-chan?”
“U-Umm...” Nanaka’s pupils swam around for a moment, but she quickly straightened up and answered, “...Sorry. Since you were a new member of our club, I asked around to see what kind of person you were... That, and I figured there must have been something, based on Eru’s reactions.”
“Welp, I don’t think it’s that weird for Nana-sen to figure it out,” said Aya, “but I’m surprised that you’re not surprised, senpai.”
“Well...” Kai answered, “A lot happened.” Aina had come to Kai’s house, attempted to seduce him, and then somehow, he’d ended up at her house instead... He had felt completely paralyzed due to the project proposal, but looking back, perhaps a little too much had happened over the past few days.
“...A lot?” Nanaka asked.
“Huh?” Kai was taken aback by the rare pressure in her voice. “Nanaka-san...?”
“I just told him to use me as a voice actress,” Aina clarified. “That’s all, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“...Anyway,” Aya cut in, “Do you have any plans to talk, Aye-aye?”
“Nope.” Aina’s response was shockingly brief and decisive. “You’re getting the order mixed up.”
“...Order? What do you mean?”
Aina threw up her hands in despair at Nanaka’s question and said, “Are you stupid? You’re mixing up the order of who you should be listening to: between Kuroba and I, there’s clearly one person you guys need to hear out first... Don’t make me say it out loud.”