Chapter 352: Muse's Visit
"In that case, I'm gonna head home for two days. If my mom finds out I had time off and didn't even think about going home, I don't even wanna imagine the chaos she'd cause."
Eriri shook her head, looking completely helpless.
"Hmm..." Utaha thought for a moment and then decided. "Well, I guess I should go home and show my face too."
Just then, Muramasa raised her hand.
"Same here. Need to go back and tell Dadd—uh, Father about what's been going on these past few days."
Ignoring the 'Daddy' that nearly slipped out of Muramasa's mouth, Elf smirked before speaking up.
"Hana, are you gonna tell your father about Homura trying to go after everyone too?"
Homura: "..."
If Muramasa really told her father, wouldn't he show up at his door with a katana?
Muramasa hesitated, her expression shifting slightly before she shook her head.
"Not gonna tell him? Why not?" Elf asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Haven't decided yet. Depends on the situation..." Muramasa responded, her expression barely changed, as usual.
When Muramasa was calm, she was really calm, but when she got embarrassed, her reaction was way stronger than most people's.
However, Homura did notice that Muramasa's feet were shifting back and forth.
It seemed that Muramasa wasn't as calm as she appeared.
Homura quickly turned to Nayuta.
"Nayu, what about you? You not heading home these next couple days?"
"But I wanna be with Senpai..." Nayuta frowned.
"Well... y'know, even if it's just going home for dinner, spending time with your parents is something you should cherish when you can before it's too late."
Saying this, Homura then looked at Sagiri.
"Me and Sagiri sure wish our parents could come home once in a while, but we don't really have a choice. But you're not in the same boat, are you, Nayu?"
Upon hearing Homura's words, Nayuta thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"Um... alright, I'll go home in the evening, but I'm staying here during the day!"
"In that case, you can play with Sagiri and Elf during the day." Homura nodded with a smile.
"Ahh! I totally forgot Senpai needs to go to school!" Nayuta exclaimed before pouting.
Seeing her pout, Homura immediately patted her head, making her pout subside.
"So, everyone's going home for these next two days? Guess I'll go back too, then." Izumi chimed in.
"Yeah, whoever wanna go home should. But we only have these two days since work starts again on Thursday." Homura nodded.
Megumi, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke up.
"In that case, I'll go home too. I do wanna talk to my mom about something, even though she sometimes doesn't notice me..."
Upon hearing this, Homura facepalmed.
'Megumi... I feel like your presence has improved a lot, but why is it still useless against your mom?' Homura thought with a helpless expression.
"Well, two days isn't enough, though..." Elf remarked and glanced at those who wouldn't leave. "Oh, and Eromanga-sensei is already at home."
"No, that name—"
Sagiri started to say something but stopped herself, forcing herself not to say the rest.
She understood that she had to grow up eventually, right?
Seeing this, Homura clapped his hands happily.
"Oh, Sagiri, you're making progress! If you can proudly tell your Nii-san that you're Eromanga-sensei, that would be even better!"
As soon as Homura's words dropped, Sagiri's face turned bright red, wondering what on earth her brother was talking about all of a sudden.
Seriously, how could she ever say something like that?
"I mean, just say that to us..." Homura added awkwardly. "If you say it to other people, I know it'd be kinda embarrassing."
Hearing this, Eriri rolled her eyes.
She wouldn't even dare to openly admit she was Kashiwagi Eri, and he wanted Sagiri to say something like that?
*Buzz—*
Homura's phone suddenly buzzed, and as he checked, it was from Kotori.
[Minami Kotori: We all got scared for a sec! We thought that gorgeous lady in the picture was one of your targets too, Homura-kun. (Smirking emoji)]
Upon reading this, Homura shook his head with a wry smile.
Kotori's smirking emoji made it clear that she was mostly joking.
"Now that we suddenly have free time, I don't even know what to do..." Elf mumbled while rubbing her chin.
"Why not play games with Sagiri?" Homura suggested.
"Ohh~!" Elf's eyes lit up before she clapped her hands and smiled. "Nice idea, Homura! Why didn't I even think of that?"
"Elf, you've changed so much from before..." Eriri's mouth twitched.
"Yeah, back then, Elf was a deadline-dodging maniac, but she never stopped gaming. Now it's the complete opposite." Homura chuckled.
Elf went silent for a long time before sighing.
"Guess environments really do have a huge impact on people, huh? Still, that won't stop me from chasing happiness!" Elf put her hands on her hips, looking smug. "What's more? Now, no one's hounding me about deadlines anymore!"
"Speaking of that, your publisher should seriously give me a reward, no?" Homura asked, glancing at Nayuta. "Same goes for you, Nayu. I cured two deadline-dodging maniacs, and they're not even giving me a little recognition?"
Hearing this, Nayuta puffed up her cheeks in annoyance but quickly went back to normal.
"Well, yeah, there was talk about that, but I shut it down." Elf sarcastically remarked when she saw Homura's teasing expression.
Homura: "..."
"By the way, isn't the publisher of Nayu-chan's work owned by the Minamiya family?" Megumi tilted her head and looked at Homura. "I mean... there's no way they'd give you a reward, right?"
Homura: "..."
He had to admit, what Megumi said really made sense.
===
As everyone was done chatting, all the girls went home one by one.
Since it was still early, not even dusk yet, they turned down Homura's offer to walk them back, and he didn't insist either since, at this time of day, he wasn't too worried about there being danger like stalkers or something.
"My goodness, it's so quiet... Feels kinda weird..." Elf, used to a lively atmosphere, wasn't used to the sudden silence.
*Ding-Dong!*
Just as she finished speaking, the doorbell suddenly rang.
"Hmm? Did someone forget something?" Elf muttered in wonder.
"Well, why don't we check and see? But y'know, everyone who stays here regularly has a key, so it's probably not them." Homura said, shaking his head as he got up and headed to the entrance.
"Yahoo! Homura-kun, we're here!"
As Homura opened the entrance door, Honoka called out cheerfully, and behind her stood the other eight members of Muse, but Yukiho and Alisa weren't with them.
Homura blinked in surprise.
"What's up, everyone? You wouldn't all be here if there wasn't something going on. Yukiho and Alisa aren't here either, so I doubt this is about voice-acting lessons."
"Rin-chan was too shy to come alone, so we all came with her." Nozomi said with a grin.
As soon as Rin heard this, her eyes widened.
"Nyaa?! Since when?! No, this is the first time I'm hearing about that!"
"Well, that's what Rin herself said." Homura chuckled.
"Tch, you're no fun, Rin-chan..." Nozomi sighed, looking disappointed.
Homura glanced at Rin's outfit, noticing that her practice outfit had already turned into a skirt.
"Mmm, this suits you. You look super cute, Rin." Homura praised while giving Rin a headpat.
"See? Homura-kun said so himself." Nozomi teased, playfully nudging Rin with her elbow, making her blush.
Getting complimented by the boy she liked and immediately getting teased by her friend—if Rin didn't blush, that would be strange.
"Isn't that great, Rin-chan? Homura-kun praised you!" Hanayo grinned at Rin.
"Huh? What's everyone doing here?"
Noticing that Homura hadn't come back in yet, Elf came to check, and when she saw Honoka and the others standing there, she asked in surprise.
"We're planning to make an outfit for Rin-chan at Homura-kun's place." Kotori explained with a smile. "Since Homura-kun's house is pretty big, it'll be easier to work here."
Upon hearing this, Homura turned to Nozomi.
"Knew it. Nozomi-senpai's just looking for chances to tease me and Rin."
"Ara?" Nozomi smiled slyly. "Well, I did have that in mind. I mean... Rin-chan got confessed to by you just yesterday. Wouldn't it be a shame if you two didn't get to see each other today?"