Eriri's mother finished her words with a knowing smile, then got up and left, drawing a temporary pause to the conversation that had unfolded due to her sudden appearance.
Eriri closed the door and locked it this time.
She turned back around and sat down again with an apologetic expression.
"Sorry about that, Chisato. My mom has always been like this—super outgoing and familiar with everyone."
Chisato shook his head.
"It's fine. She's a really cute mom. I didn't mind at all. But… I got the feeling she was looking at me kind of strangely.
Like, when I introduced myself, it felt like she was thinking, 'Oh, so it's you.' Did you mention me to her before?"
"Of course not."
Eriri denied it immediately. Then, realizing her reaction was a bit too strong, she quickly turned to glance at the door.
Even though the door was locked and her mom couldn't barge in again, who knew if she might be eavesdropping outside?
So Eriri lowered her voice and scooted closer to Chisato until they were nearly touching.
"I wouldn't mention you to my family without your permission, not even in passing. Every time I stayed over at your place, I used Kasumigaoka as an excuse.
Either I said I needed her help with my studies or that I had to work on illustrations for her novel."
"I see… I guess I was just overthinking it."
"Probably. But there's also a chance my mom saw a video of you online. You were pretty popular on the internet recently."
Eriri was referring to Chisato's performance at the music festival.
Clips of it had spread everywhere for a while, though the buzz died down quickly since he deliberately avoided the spotlight.
After all, the internet was never short on new trends.
"Stay here until lunchtime, and after we eat, you can head back. I'll handle the rest myself.
Once my dad comes home tonight, I can finally get myself excused from our family's summer activities."
"I don't mind staying a bit longer."
"No need, no need. As long as my mom knows you actually exist and that I wasn't lying, that's enough."
That phrasing was a bit odd—like Eriri had a history of lying to her parents before.
But Chisato didn't dwell on it. He simply nodded in agreement.
Since Eriri said this was enough, he wouldn't go out of his way to interfere.
"But there's still some time before lunch… Hey, Chisato…"
Eriri spoke while getting up and sitting on her bed. She reached under her pillow and pulled out a handheld gaming console, then patted the spot beside her.
"How about we kill some time with a game?"
A game was fine, but why did they have to sit on the bed?
Chisato held back a laugh and nodded seriously, taking a seat next to Eriri.
…
"Eriri, Chisato, come down for lunch!"
At 12:30 PM, Sawamura Sayuri called them from downstairs.
"Coming!"
Eriri answered energetically, though she still dawdled for a couple of minutes before finally bringing Chisato down to the living room.
Watching her daughter cheerfully lead Chisato to the sink to wash their hands together, Sayuri once again showed a thoughtful expression.
During lunch, she was exceptionally warm, constantly chatting with Chisato, making sure he felt welcomed as a guest.
This friendly atmosphere lasted throughout the meal. Chisato, following his instincts, repeatedly praised her cooking skills.
Considering his taste, the Western-style dishes she made were genuinely excellent.
Sayuri quickly developed a favorable impression of the boy, and since Chisato wasn't the shy type, plus Eriri occasionally chimed in to keep the mood lively, the meal went quite harmoniously.
Then, after lunch—
Eriri was about to drag Chisato back upstairs when her mother stopped them.
She knew her daughter's attempt to leave was to prevent her from having too much interaction with the boy.
But precisely because of that, as a mother, she became even more curious about him.
Stretching lazily, she looked at the messy table with a troubled expression.
"Wait a minute, Eriri. Don't rush upstairs just yet. I got up early to buy ingredients and spent all morning cooking—I'm exhausted. At least be considerate and help me clean up the table first."
She used her authority as a mother to say something Eriri couldn't refuse.
And she got what she wanted.
"…Fine, I got it."
Though reluctant, Eriri had no choice since her mom had put it that way.
"I'll help too."
Chisato rolled up his sleeves and began gathering the dishes in front of him with practiced movements.
Just then, Sayuri, who had been waiting for this moment, stood up and stopped him.
"Chisato, you're our guest. How can we trouble you with this? That's not how we treat visitors in the Sawamura household. Eriri can help me instead."
"But—"
"It's fine, Chisato. You go upstairs first."
Seeing Eriri discreetly signal him with a look that said, "Just go along with it for now," Chisato didn't insist.
He took a napkin, wiped his hands, and went upstairs as they wanted.
He wasn't very familiar with Sayuri yet, but he knew Eriri inside out.
She probably wanted to talk with her mother privately after he left. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone out of their way to send him upstairs.
Recalling his behavior since he arrived that morning, Chisato felt confident he hadn't done anything questionable.
So he put those trivial concerns aside, trusting Eriri to handle it, and casually flipped through her sketchbooks in her room.
Meanwhile, downstairs, after clearing the table, the mother and daughter carried the dishes into the kitchen sink.
Mrs. Sawamura volunteered to wash the dishes, leaving Eriri with the task of drying them.
With that arrangement, it was up to her mother to decide when this one-on-one time would end. A subtle strategy, really.
In the past, Eriri might not have noticed her mother's little manipulations due to her lack of experience.
But now? She saw through them, though she chose not to point it out.
"Why wash them by hand? We have a dishwasher, and it's a high-end model Dad bought to keep you from working too hard in the kitchen."
Eriri watched her mother, usually swift and efficient, now moving sluggishly as she put on gloves and picked up a clean dish towel. She spoke in a seemingly casual, bored tone.
"The special degreaser for the dishwasher ran out, and I haven't had time to buy more. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here helping me."
Sayuri finally finished putting on her gloves, turned on the faucet, and naturally steered the conversation to their guest.
"Speaking of which, Eriri, this is the first time you've brought a male friend home, isn't it?"
So, this was the real topic.
Eriri had expected this but wasn't particularly nervous.
Her mother knew nothing about Chisato's situation. She just needed to stick to the response she had prepared.
"Not really. I've brought friends over plenty of times. You just don't remember."
"Those times in kindergarten when a bunch of kids came over for your birthday don't count."
"Why wouldn't they count?"
"Because back then, you didn't know anything. Just eating your favorite food at dinner made you happy for hours.
But now, you're in high school. You understand a lot more and probably have thoughts about wanting a boyfriend, don't you?"
"Mom! What are you even saying all of a sudden?!"
Eriri's voice shot up, her eyes flickering with visible panic.
Sayuri chuckled softly at her daughter's reaction, pausing for a moment before continuing.
"It's not something hard to notice. Anyone with eyes can see that you care a lot about Chisato, don't you?"
"I don't!"
Sticking to her plan, Eriri denied it outright.
"No point denying it. If you didn't care, you wouldn't have specifically told me last night to prepare such a lavish lunch today.
You wouldn't have woken up so early this morning to clean your room so thoroughly, vacuuming the floor and making sure everything was spotless.
And you definitely wouldn't have sat in the living room, waiting on the sofa, just so you could be the first to open the door for him when he arrived."
Sayuri smiled knowingly, laying out the facts that Eriri was trying so hard to deny.
Eriri stammered, unable to find the words to refute her.
So far, everything was proceeding smoothly.
Until her mother suddenly shifted the topic and asked for specifics about Chisato.
"Now that I think about it, I don't recall you ever mentioning Chisato before. When did you two meet? Are you in the same school?"
"…No… not the same school. As for how we met, it was… through the internet, I suppose."
"Oh, I see. So, from online friends, you two became close."
"It's not that close! Just… we get along, that's all."
"Alright, fine, just getting along. But you still haven't answered—when exactly did you meet?"
"Not too long ago."
Eriri gave a vague answer.
"Just this semester."
"And the exact date?"
"Mom, you're so annoying!"
"Don't say that. I'm just curious about what's going on in your life. Can't you satisfy your mother's curiosity?"
"I don't remember the exact date, but it was not long after the semester started. We met through a discussion group online and gradually got to know each other."
"Oh~ is that so?"
Sayuri rinsed off a washed plate, which Eriri took and began drying.
As she continued washing, she silently recalled a certain morning from early in the semester.
For her, it had been an ordinary morning—fresh air, warm sunlight.
But for her daughter, it was an entirely different story.
That morning, she had gone to wake Eriri up as usual.
And what she saw was a side of her daughter she had never witnessed before.
Even though Eriri was still asleep, her flushed face, the soft yet ambiguous murmurs escaping her lips, and her unusually suggestive sleeping posture were all undeniable signs.
Her delicate fingers clutched her pillow tightly, her pink toes curled into the sheets. Despite lying on her back, her hips occasionally arched ever so slightly.
As a grown woman with experience, Sawamura Sayuri instantly recognized what was happening—Eriri was having an erotic dream.
A sixteen-year-old, right in the middle of her adolescent years, undergoing rapid physical and emotional development.
A dream like this, caused by unfulfilled hormones, was nothing unusual.
At the time, she hadn't thought much of it.
If anything, she had only marveled at how realistic the dream must have been.
Eriri changed positions three times in her sleep, and every movement, every reaction, was so raw and immersed in the moment.
It was as if… she truly had someone there with her in that dream.
In the end, Sayuri had chosen to keep quiet, silently recording a video of the moment before leaving the room.
If she had confronted Eriri about it, her daughter would probably have been embarrassed enough to bash her head against the wall.
However, recalling it now, she had an entirely different perspective.
She clearly remembered one thing from that morning—throughout her dream, Eriri had repeatedly called out a name.
"Chisato."
Back then, she had assumed it was just some fictional character from an anime or romance novel.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
Chisato was a real person. A person who was now sitting in her home, as her daughter's guest.
Eriri had said they met online this semester.
But considering what had happened that morning, her reaction had been far too intense to be the result of just a brief online acquaintance.
Her daughter wasn't the type to fall for looks alone. What mattered most to her was meticulous care and attention. That was the key to her heart.
Taking all this into account—her sudden skipping of classes, the things her friend Utaha had said, her frequent overnight stays elsewhere recently…
She always said she was busy studying or working on her novel illustrations.
But was that really the truth?
Many things that once seemed normal suddenly became full of unanswered questions.
Sayuri sneaked a glance at her now visibly flustered daughter.
Her thoughts slowly turned into a whirlwind of confusion.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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