Nakano household living room.
Nino and Sakurai Saki were frozen in an incredibly awkward position.
"Don't move. Close your eyes," Nino ordered.
Sakurai Saki obeyed, slowly closing his eyes.
Nino crouched down, picked up the towel from the floor, and wrapped it around herself again.
"Done. You can open your eyes now."
Sakurai Saki opened his eyes and glanced downward—round white.
Then immediately turned his face away.
"What's wrong?"
Sakurai Saki didn't answer, continuing to search through the cabinet. His luck was decent—he found her contact lenses in the very first drawer he opened, along with a pair of regular glasses with an old-fashioned black frame.
He personally helped Nino put the glasses on.
Then Sakurai Saki slowly made his way back to the sofa.
A few seconds later, he heard Nino groan softly behind him.
"Uuungh~"
It sounded like the adorable whimper of a small animal.
Nino in a flustered state might just be the cutest among the five sisters—Sakurai Saki couldn't help but think.
Nino looked down at her chest.
She'd messed up when rewrapping the towel—an important area hadn't been properly covered.
But now—she could only pretend nothing had happened!!
Just act like nothing happened!!
She took her contact lenses from the drawer, feigned composure, grabbed the hair dryer on the sofa, and went upstairs.
'Let's pretend this never happened!'
( //>///˶˶<˶)
Shinobu said, face red.
There was nothing weird about his technique, but it was surprisingly comfortable.
And kind of… sensual.
"It tickles?" Sakurai Saki's hand gently slid across her pale neck, lifting her hair from underneath.
"Umm~" Shinobu let out a tiny, adorable moan.
Shinobu: (,,Ծ‸Ծ,, )
A few minutes later, her hair was dry.
"..." Shinobu's face was still red as she dove straight into the shadow under his feet.
Sakurai Saki had a confused look on his face. It was just drying hair, wasn't it?
After that, he returned the hair dryer and continued reading the light novel.
Sitting on the sofa, he heard footsteps. He looked up.
One of the sisters.
Probably Miku.
She was rubbing her eyes, clearly still sleepy. "…Umu?"
(* ´ ﹃｀*)
Sakurai Saki sensed that she wasn't fully awake.
She was probably wondering why he was in her house in the middle of the night.
He watched her as she walked straight to the bathroom.
Then he looked back down and continued reading.
The living room was very quiet. A few minutes later, Sakurai Saki saw a figure wobble out of the bathroom.
'That's probably Miku, right?'
To be honest, among the five sisters, the hardest to tell apart were Miku, Nino, and Itsuki. Because they all had long hair, and if they weren't wearing hair accessories, it was nearly impossible to tell who was who.
Nakano Miku walked over to the sofa, then—
Lay down right on Sakurai Saki's lap.
Sakurai Saki: (っ º - º ς)
Being that half-asleep was kind of overkill, wasn't it?
"Hey, Miku, wake up." Sakurai Saki pinched her cheek.
"Umm~" Miku slowly opened her eyes.
(っᆺ -｡)
Then closed them again.
And started breathing steadily.
Sakurai Saki realized—besides being bad at studying, these five sisters had a lot of problematic daily habits.
Nino refused to wear glasses when going out and cared too much about her appearance.
Ichika slept without clothes and liked teasing him with her "Ara ara~" act.
Miku got super clingy after waking up.
Yotsuba didn't know how to say no to people.
Itsuki was obsessed with meat buns and high-calorie food.
Totally hopeless… "( – ⌓ – )
Sakurai Saki sighed inwardly, put his light novel aside, and got ready to carry Miku back to her room.
Anyway, he'd already carried Nino once tonight.
Lifting her gently, Sakurai Saki carried Miku upstairs.
He opened the door and laid her on the bed...
"..."
His shirt was being tightly gripped—and her strength wasn't weak, either.
"Miku, you're awake, aren't you?"
Useless.
Sakurai Saki had no choice but to pinch her cheek—Miku puffed her cheeks up like a sulking hamster.
Miku: ( ,,⩌'︿'⩌,,)
So girls could sulk even in their sleep… truly eye-opening.
After a few more soft cheek-pinches, Sakurai Saki left her room.
He felt like aside from being a tutor, he was also playing the role of babysitter.
...
Note: two light-hearted chapters.