Rizu adjusted her oversized glasses and gave Ilias the same questioning look.
Ilias didn't pause in her work.
Without looking up, she replied in her cool, even tone, "Emilia went home for a bit. She's not back yet"
She wasn't lyingEmilia had indeed returned to Ente Isla to handle something.
According to Rei Ao, she'd be back "soon" though "soon" in cross-world travel didn't mean what it did to regular people.
"As for the Master"
Ilias finally lifted her head.
Her crimson gaze shifted toward the doorway, as if it could pass straight through the walls to the tightly closed master bedroom at the end of the hall.
Her lips curved in the faintest smilejust enough to hint at knowing something and enjoying it.
Then she looked back at her two students, her tone perfectly flat but dropping a pebble into still water:
"The Master's in the bedroom."
"In the bedroom?"
Fumino and Rizu both blinked.
Fumino's expression shifted to sudden realization, tinged with embarrassment.
"So Rei Ao's home! Well, since we're guests, we should at least say hello. It'd be rude not to."
She stood up, ready to head for the master bedroom.
In her mind, if the host was home and guests came over, politeness demanded a greeting.
"Right."
Rizu thought barging into someone's bedroom might be pushing it, but seeing Fumino stand, she figured the point about courtesy made sense and got up too.
"."
Ilias stayed seated, an alchemy pen glowing faint blue in her hand as she scribbled on the parchment.
She looked like she didn't care at all.
But the faint dip of her lashes and the deeper curve of her hidden smile gave her away
She was clearly waiting for a show to start.
Chapter 863: Saw Something they shouldn't have...
"WaitFumino!"
Sakurajima Mai's voice cut through from the living room, carrying a note of urgency that was almost easy to missalmost.
She'd caught bits of the conversation drifting out from the study earlier, and every alarm bell in her head had gone off.
She knew exactly what Rei Ao was doing in that bedroom.
And knocking on his door right now?
Yeah, noshe didn't even want to picture it.
But her warning came a second too late.
Knock, knock!
Fumino's hand was already on the sturdy wooden doorknob of the master bedroom, giving it two polite taps.
"Come in."
The low, slightly breathless but crystal-clear reply from insidedefinitely Rei Ao's voiceslipped through the door.
Fumino didn't think twice. Still smiling politely, she gave the handle a light twist.
Click.
The knob turned, the door eased open, just a sliver.
Every head in the living roomMai, Tohru, Futabasnapped toward that slowly widening gap.
Fumino and Rizu both looked puzzled.
Why was Mai-senpai acting so jumpy?
What was Rei Ao even doing in there?
Curious, and feeling just a twinge guilty about possibly interrupting him, they leaned in to take a peek.
The very next second
It was like someone hit pause on reality.
A scene so vivid it could've been a flashbang blasted into their unprepared eyes.
The lights inside were dim, washed in a warm, amber glow that practically hummed with suggestionbut everything was still perfectly visible.
For half a beat, the air was dead silent.
"KYAAAAA!!!"
Three screamssharp, ear-splitting, and loaded with pure terror, shame, and shockripped through the house like blades, shredding the fragile peace into ribbons.
First scream
From Rizu, who saw everything. Her brain short-circuited instantly.
The calm, rational gleam in the science girl's eyes was gone, her gaze blown wide like copper bells.
Her glasses slid halfway down her nose as her mouth formed a perfect "O," unleashing the loudest scream of her life.
Second scream
From Fumino, right on Rizu's heels.
Her soft, refined smile shattered into pieces.
Her face flushed bright red, then drained to white, then sickly greenlike she'd just witnessed the apocalypse.
She slapped both hands over her eyes, but it was too late. That single, searing glimpse was already burned into her mind like a hot brand.
Her scream radiated pure despair: "I should NOT be here!"
Third scream
From Toyohama Nodoka herselfthe one caught in the acthumiliated beyond reason.
She buried her face into a broad chest, letting out a muffled cry that trembled like a wounded animal.
Her whole body shook so hard it was like she was trying to disappear on the spot.
And the man at the center of it allRei Ao
Still frozen in that unforgettable position.
He glanced toward the door, his unfairly handsome face now wearing an expression worthy of a painting: a forehead full of thick, dark, visible frustration lines.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Even he could feel the tidal wave of awkwardness crashing through the room.
Mai and the others just covered their faces.
Yeah there was no stopping this train wreck.
Three hours later.
For Fumino and Rizu, those hours on the living room sofa felt like three centuries.
The faint scent of body wash hung in the air, making the atmosphere even harder to bear.
They sat side by side, rigid as a pair of newly unearthed terracotta soldiers, heads ducked so low they were practically folded into their own chests.
Fumino's silky brown hair fell like a curtain, shielding the deep crimson burning across her ears and neck.
Rizu's eyes stayed screwed shut, her round glasses slightly crooked on her nose.
Behind the lenses, her lashes trembled like panicked butterfly wings.
Their hands, resting on their knees, were clenched so hard their knuckles had gone white.
Inside their minds, the same image replayed on a relentless, endless loop
Rei Ao and the tearful, flustered Toyohama Nodoka.
That sceneevery flicker, every movementwas etched into their eyes, echoing in their ears.
Shame.
Overwhelming, searing shame.
Like millions of ants crawling across their hearts.
Like being dropped into molten lava, every inch of skin set on fire.
They could feel the heat radiating from each other, embarrassment in perfect sync.
Click.
The soft sound of the master bedroom lock turning dropped into the silence like a pebble into still water, shattering it instantly.
Both girls jerked upright like startled rabbits, heads shooting uponly to see Rei Aobefore snapping back down even faster, comically in sync.
He stepped out, now dressed in loose, dark loungewear.
His damp black hair fell casually over his forehead, the ends still dotted with beads of water.
He carried an air of lazy satisfaction
Like a predator after a full meal, calm, confident, and entirely at ease.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 220+ Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 864: A little bit of fun...
Rei Ao's usual air of overwhelming, invisible pressure seemed to have eased a little.
He was casually toweling his hair dry as his gaze swept over the two girls on the sofaboth looking like they wished they could sink into the cushions and vanish completely.
Sakurajima Mai leaned lazily against the doorframe of another bedroom, lips curved into a smirk that screamed she was enjoying every second of this.
First, she shot Rei Ao a look that clearly meant, This one's all yours.
Then, with a raised brow, she silently mouthed to Tru and the others, Go on, let them talk.
They caught on instantly. In a quick, practiced move, they slipped into the other bedroom behind her and gently closed the door.
The large living room was now just Rei Ao and two girls whose embarrassment levels had gone nuclear.
For a moment, the only sounds were the three of them breathing and the distant hum of the city outside the window.
Rei Ao walked over and dropped into the armchair facing Furuhashi Fumino and Ogata Rizu.
He draped the towel over the armrest, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, fingers loosely laced, and calmly looked at the two girls, who seemed ready to disappear into thin air.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
Both girls flinched like they'd been zapped, their heads ducking even lower. Rizu's glasses nearly slid off her nose.
"Earlier" he began, his voice low and even, no obvious emotion in it.
"was an accident."
Fumino & Rizu: !!!
An accident?
Thatthat vivid, seared-into-your-brain scenewas an accident?
Their minds went completely blank for a second before the memory came back in even sharper, high-definition detail, looping like a cruel mental slideshow.
The shame hit them like a tidal wave all over again.
Rizu's brain felt like it had just overheated and shut down entirely.
Fumino's romantic-girl heart felt like it had just collapsed in an apocalypse-level disaster.
"You don't need to think too much about it," Rei Ao said, with a casual tone that somehow made it worselike this was nothing at all. There was even the faintest hint of satisfaction?
He leaned back in the chair, posture relaxing.
"I certainly don't mind."
Then, almost too casually, "Otherwise I wouldn't have well, waited until we were finished to talk."
Fumino & Rizu: !!!
Every single word hit like a sledgehammer to their fragile dignity.
Rizu's lenses fogged over completelyshe couldn't even tell if it was from tears or sheer heat.
Fumino's face was burning so badly she had to cover it with both hands.
Rei Ao watched the two of them, both looking seconds away from either bursting into flames or evaporating on the spot. He shook his head faintly and sighed under his breath. Overreacting much
"If you really want to blame someone" His tone lightened, almost teasing.
"blame that Ilias brat for not warning you. She lives for this kind of chaos."
He tossed Ilias under the bus without hesitation.
"And anyway," he added, a tiny, playful smirk forming at the corner of his mouth, "you didn't exactly ruin anything."
He paused, choosing his words carefully.
"If anything, you might have made things a little more fun."
Fun?
The girls froze, heads snapping up in jerky unison like rusty robots.
Four wide, shocked eyes locked on him. Both their mouths formed perfect "O" shapes big enough to fit an egg.
Fun?!
They'd stumbled into something so mortifying they wanted to erase it from existenceyet to him, it was fun?
The mental whiplash was just as bad as the original scene.
If that earlier moment was a physical hit, this was a direct shot to the soul.
Their worldview, their shame threshold, even their definition of fun shattered and rearranged on the spot.
Their minds went totally blank, the word echoing endlessly.
As that calm, unreadable face stayed perfectly composed, Rizu's glasses finally gave up and slid off, landing in her lap.
Without the lenses, her usually sharp purple eyes were now just dazed and overloaded.
Fumino's hands slipped away from her face, revealing a face so red it looked like it might start bleeding, paired with a completely blank stare. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a small, choked "Ah"
In both their heads, the same horrified thought surfaced: We were just part of their play?
Silence fell again.
Rei Ao looked at their completely short-circuited expressions and realized his "honest reassurance" had backfired.
Not that he caredhe was telling the truth.
That little interruption earlier hadn't dulled anything between him and Toyohama Nodoka; if anything, the tension and closeness after resuming had been beyond words.
Put simplyit had been amazing. So amazing he wouldn't mind it happening again.
His gaze shifted to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, the night was deep, neon lights twinkling in the distance. The streets below were quiet, with only the occasional car or pedestrian.
Considering what these two had just been through tonightand their current out-of-body statesending them home alone didn't seem like a great idea.
"Ahem."
His voice cut through the silence again, back to calm and steady.
"It's pretty late," he said, nodding toward the window.
"Might not be easy to get a cab right now."
Chapter 865: The Teacher in Heat...
Furuhashi Fumino and Ogata Rizu were still in shock from Rei Ao's earlier let's say very unorthodox explanation of what "romance" meant.
They followed his pointing finger with dazed eyes, staring blankly at the pitch-black night outside the window, then slowly turned back to look at him againstill lost in thought.
"It's pretty late," Rei Ao said casually. "Do you want me to drive you two home?"
The words sounded like an offer but the air around him still had that commanding presence that made it hard to refuse.
Drive them home?
With him?
After that conversation?
In the small, enclosed space of his car?
In both their heads, a rapid-fire slideshow of painfully awkward and socially lethal scenarios played out in high definition.
They shook their heads furiouslyso hard it looked like their necks might snap.
"Or" Rei Ao went on, like he'd seen that coming from a mile away, "you could just stay here for the night."
He nodded toward the guest room Mai and the others had disappeared into.
"There's still an empty room."
Stay the night?
In this house?
The same house still charged with the awkward tension of earlier?
Their heads moved even faster, practically vibrating like overworked phone motors.
Nope!
Absolutely not!
The thought alone was enough to make them want to dig a hole and bury themselves in it.
Watching them shake their heads like a pair of bobbleheads, Rei Ao raised a brow and threw out a third optionthe one he probably thought was the most realistic from the start.
"Or you could ask your teacher, Kirisu Mafuyu, if you can crash at her place."
That name hit them like a flashlight beam in a dark cavesuddenly their hopeless, scrambled brains were full of clarity.
Kirisu Mafuyu!
Strict on the surface, but warm and caring underneath.
Reliable. Safe.
And most importantlyan adult.
She'd understand probably.
And even if she didn't, staying with her was a million times better than staying here or paying for a taxi home.
The two girls didn't even hesitate.
The second the words left his mouth, they snapped their heads up, eyes still brimming with embarrassment but now burning with desperate hope, and nodded like crazy.
"Y-Yeah, that works!"
"I agree!"
Their voices shook like people who'd just been pulled out of a sinking ship, scrambling to grab onto the lifeline.
