Early Sunday morning, even though it was the weekend, Kasumigaoka Utaha still got up quite early.
The moment she began to stir and regain her senses, she looked around, confirmed she was in her own room, and then headed out the door—to the entrance of Shichen's room.
Without knocking, Utaha pushed the door open and walked in.
The room wasn't large, so she could see everything at once. And the sight on the bed made her roll her eyes—though at least it wasn't anything too extreme.
All three people were still sound asleep: Shichen lay on his back, while Tohru and Chisato, on either side of him, were lying on their sides, each holding onto one of his arms. Both were sleeping deeply, looking rather cozy.
Utaha could clearly see Tohru and Chisato's blissful sleeping faces.
So that was the outcome from last night. But in fact, Shichen hadn't chosen to upset only one person. Both options were bad—how could he let even one of them be unhappy? This wasn't about "two versus one" anymore.
Since he had to keep everyone satisfied, sharing the bed with Tohru and Chisato became inevitable.
As for Utaha, he'd made it up to her in other ways.
Actually, she didn't truly object to him sharing a bed with them. After all, she'd come to understand the situation. She'd initially assumed they might be doing something inappropriate, but it turned out nothing of the sort was happening. All they did was let Tohru and Chisato cling to his arms. The reality was so different from her guess that she no longer minded.
Nor did Shichen do anything special to "compensate" her; he just let her hang out with him in his study, where they read some books together. They stayed up rather late—past midnight—and she ended up dozing off on his desk.
He had to carry her downstairs afterward.
When Shichen picked her up, Utaha woke up but pretended to be asleep until they reached her room, where she "just happened" to regain consciousness. Shichen carefully laid her on the bed, tucked her in, said good night, and then went back to his own room to sleep with Tohru and Chisato.
And after that, Utaha soon fell asleep as well.
A perfect three-way win.
Such a small show of attention had been enough to make them all content.
It's not that "all girls are easily satisfied," but these girls—young and fairly naive—didn't have overly complex thoughts. They weren't stupid, merely innocent. Simply put, if they were unfortunate enough to meet a scumbag, they might well give him their all. Luckily, Shichen wasn't that kind of guy.
Now, standing beside the bed and looking at Tohru and Chisato's contented sleeping faces, Utaha couldn't help but feel annoyed. She'd thought herself pretty lucky last night, having been carried downstairs in Shichen's arms, but clearly her experience couldn't compare to these two.
"Time to get up!" she shouted without hesitation.
"Mmm…"
"Eh?"
Tohru and Chisato slowly opened their eyes, dazed. Meanwhile, Shichen was instantly awake. His enhanced senses had alerted him the moment Utaha entered the room.
"Morning, Utaha," he said, pretending he'd just woken up, and yawned behind his hand.
"Morning my foot! Isn't it lovely, being in the arms of two girls every night?" Utaha stood with her arms crossed, wearing a not-so-pleasant smile.
"It's not as great as you think—I can't even move. It's pretty uncomfortable."
"Huh." Utaha didn't believe a word of it. She snorted, then said, "So why didn't you go along with my plan last night?"
"Well, I didn't want them feeling left out."
"Aren't you just the perfect gentleman?" she said sarcastically.
"I did keep you company first, didn't I?"
"Oh, I'm so touched," Utaha replied with a sneer and a roll of her eyes.
"What's wrong? Wanna sleep together too?"
"As if!"
"Heh heh~"
"What's there to laugh about?" she snapped.
At this point, Tohru piped up, "Utaha, what brings you here?"
Both Tohru and Chisato were now fully awake.
"Utaha, could it be you want to join us, too?" Chisato joked, looking at her.
"Why would I? I'm not so easy," Utaha shot back, sounding unimpressed.
"Then why barge in first thing in the morning, hmm? Don't wanna let us keep hugging Chen-nii?" Chisato teased.
"Don't make me out to be so petty," Utaha huffed, looking away awkwardly. "I mainly came to see if you're truly doing what you say you do—and besides, I'm hungry."
"Oh, so a glutton, are we?" Tohru teased, then vaulted out of bed with a nimble move, tail swishing behind her as she landed. "Chen-dono, are you hungry too?"
"Mm, I'm a little hungry," Shichen admitted, rubbing his stomach. After being up so late with Utaha, he'd gone to bed hungry.
"Then I'll go make breakfast!" Tohru struck a posture like a soldier, then dashed off. "Chisato, wash up and come help me!"
"Aren't you going to wash up?"
"I don't need to," Tohru called back as she ran out of the room.
"Wait for me—I'll be right there!" Chisato hopped off the bed after her.
"Is Tohru always this full of energy first thing in the morning?" Utaha couldn't help asking.
"Every single day," Chisato answered with a grin.
"Figures… By the way, she's wearing that tail all the time? She sleeps with it on, swings it around? It's just like it's real."
"Uh?" Shichen blinked. "Didn't we mention that? It is real."
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
Not just Utaha—Chisato, too, was staring at him in confusion.
"You didn't know either, Chisato?"
"I had no idea."
"Well, no point hiding it. Tohru is a dragon. You know, like a Western fantasy dragon," Shichen told them.
"Are you feverish?" Utaha stepped forward, putting a hand to his forehead. "You don't feel hot."
"I'm telling the truth," Shichen said, brushing her hand aside with a wry smile.
"Sure you are. Guess you got carried away reading too late last night."
"Oh well, seeing is believing." Shichen hopped out of bed, grabbed each girl by the hand, and led them downstairs to the kitchen.
Chisato didn't care whether Tohru was a real dragon or not—she let Shichen hold her hand easily, in fact, giving it a light squeeze back. Utaha didn't resist either. She just wanted to see what kind of nonsense he was spouting.
"Chisato, that was quick… Chen-dono, you too? Why'd you all come down?" Tohru had been preparing breakfast, and turned around at the sound of footsteps. "I was just about to start cooking."
"Tohru, they don't believe you're actually a dragon. Show them your true form," Shichen said.
"Huh? But that'll interrupt my cooking—and if I don't cook, Chen-dono will go hungry," Tohru complained, glaring at Utaha and Chisato.
"It won't kill us to wait a minute," Utaha declared, folding her arms. "Shichen claims you're a dragon. Let's see it."
"Tohru, are you really a dragon?" Chisato asked excitedly.
"Alright then—since Chen-dono told you, I'll show you." Tohru gave in, her body suddenly glowing white, and her big green tail swished vigorously behind her.
"Huh?" Utaha was already staring in shock. White light enveloping her entire body?
Before she could think further, Tohru's body swelled, in an instant filling the entire kitchen. Shichen quickly pulled the other two back to the doorway.
Suddenly, their vision was dominated by a gigantic mass of green scales. In front of them loomed a fearsome dragon's head, its golden, slit-pupil eyes boring into them.
"…" Utaha was stunned speechless.
"Tohru, you're really a dragon!" Chisato exclaimed in delight.
"How about that? Believe me now? Chen-dono wouldn't lie to you," Tohru said in human speech from a dragon's mouth.
Her breath washed over them like a huge electric fan, blowing their hair back. Thankfully, no foul odor accompanied it.
"I… must be dreaming," Utaha murmured blankly at the enormous reptilian head.
"Why still not convinced?"
Shichen chuckled, taking Utaha's hand and guiding it to Tohru's lower jaw so she could feel the hard scales for herself.
"I must still be asleep…"
"Tohru, do you think she's losing it?" Tohru exhaled again, buffeting them with more dragon breath that made Utaha flinch.
This time, there was no question: she wasn't dreaming.
"Hehe~ Don't worry; her worldview just got overturned," Shichen explained.
"Meaning?"
"Never mind. Turn back, Tohru."
"Alright~"
Tohru glowed with white light once again, returning to her humanoid maid-dragon form. Mysteriously, the kitchen was untouched, despite having just been full of her massive dragon shape.
~~~
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