kscans

Chapter 521 - Meanwhile: Part 1

"—...Um... what's up with her?"

"She's sulking because she wasn't invited on the trip."

"Ah..."

"I'm not suuuuulkiiiiiing!!!!!"

First thing in the morning after a rare all-nighter. I'd gotten an unusually urgent summons and headed to the meeting place, only to find one of my seniors at the Round Table, her face squashed against the surface in a clear display of displeasure.

It was an extremely troublesome atmosphere, and when Tetra asked the question without even trying to hide his own extremely annoyed expression, he received a concise answer from her composed partner, who was sitting beside the presumed time bomb.

And after understanding in a second, an instantaneous denial flew back.

Her cheeks puffed up and deflated as she squished them, and her words carried absolutely no conviction.

"How rude. Who's sulking? Who? Me? Not at all. Not in the slightest. Is it that Irorin and my brother left on a trip without saying a word? Is it that Gossan, the only one who bothered to shoot me a super casual 'Headed out for a bit,' only did so in a message he left on the morning of? Am I irritated, angry, or sulking in the slightest? Not at aaaaaall."

"You're totally furious..."

And so it seemed she had no intention of even pretending otherwise. In other words, she was in full-blown 'I'm not having fun, so pay attention to me' mode.

Again, extremely troublesome. This was an insanely annoying situation, even if I hadn't just pulled an all-nighter.

"...I don't know the details, but this is an annual thing, right? If you wanted to go, you should've just told Irori-senpai ahead of time—"

"That's a forbidden topic."

"Hah—!!! Why do I have to suck up to Irorin and say 'take me with you~♡'?! The boys should be the ones to invite us!!"

The red-haired girl slammed her fists on the Round Table over and over.

"She's super furious..."

Besides, that wasn't even the point.

"Even if you were invited, could you two go?"

These two—the Eastern Wings, Mi-na and Ri-na—may enjoy their freedom in the virtual world, but could they clear their schedules in the real world?

As I asked this simple question, Ri-na, as I expected, gave a small nod.

"No. Two days is the most we could manage, including travel."

"And leaving partway through would be way too pathetic, so that's absolutely out of the question!!!"

"Then it's impossible. Just give it up."

My mental fortitude was being ground down by her energetic voice, which followed Ri-na's quiet tone, and I couldn't tell if she was angry or just exasperated anymore.

Seriously, this was more piercing than the morning sun after an all-nighter. Can I log out now?

"What's with you, Teto-kun, so cold! Your cute, cute senior is so heartbroken right now, you could at least console me with a little more care and devotion!!!"

"So you are heartbroken, you are sulking. Just call him every night and have him apologize and comfort you already."

"She already did that yesterday."

"Ah... yeah... Wait, how do you know that, Ri-na-senpai?"

"Because the complaint email came to me."

"For the normally considerate Irori-senpai to send a complaint, just how much did you rage at him over the phone..."

I really can't deal with this anymore. She was pretending to be angry... well, she probably was angry, but I can't stand the fact that they've already flirted and made up.

"I just pulled an all-nighter. Can I go to sleep now?"

"Yeah. It's fine to leave her."

"What's with you two! Teto-kun, you're part of the 'left behind' group too, so be nice to me!"

"Don't call us the 'left behind' group. I wouldn't go even if I was invited."

Ignoring her desperate 'pay attention to me' aura, I got consent from one of them and immediately started tapping on the system window to initiate the logout sequence.

"Hmph... Boys, younger or older, are all the same."

"Good night."

Her parting words were one of particular sulkiness and one of dispassion.

It's not that I mind keeping my senior company while she vents, or that I'm averse to wasting time messing around, but—

"See ya. Good work."

For now, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me do that after I've had some sleep.