“……♪”

When I got into the limo, for some reason, Emera casually sat down next to me.

She even leaned in close enough that our shoulders were about to touch.

On the opposite side was Furei, who had been dragging my arm since we left home and still hadn’t let go.

Because of that, Hina, who was sitting across from me, was giving me a look like she wanted to say something.

“Um… aren’t you a bit close…?”

“Isn’t Furei closer?”

When I addressed Emera, she blinked in confusion and responded with a puzzled look.

It was true—if we were talking purely about distance, Furei, who was clinging to my arm, was definitely closer than Emera, whose shoulder was only almost touching mine.

But Emera wasn’t someone who would naturally stick close to me in the first place.

After all, she was famously known as a girl who hated men.

Well, if I put it that way, Furei might fall into the same category too, but anyone who’s seen how these two usually act would know that Furei is naturally clingy, unlike Emera.

In that sense, when it came to the relationship between Emera and Furei, the one who had always been dependent was Emera. So her starting to cling to me like this might, in a way, be inevitable. But even so, she was supposed to be the one who spoiled Furei, not the one acting spoiled herself.

Maybe she only acted that way because she was the older sister, but deep down she actually has a strong desire to be spoiled herself?

Still, her current behavior is so different from her behavior yesterday that it feels extremely dissonant.

“Furei, you’ve already dragged me all the way to the car, right? Can you let go of me now?”

While thinking about Emera’s strange behavior, I figured that unless Furei let go first, Emera wouldn’t back off either. So I chose to ask her to release my arm first.

I did feel a little reluctant to push her away, but with Furei clinging to me—or rather, since a certain very feminine part of Furei was pressed against my arm—Hina was probably getting annoyed, so I really didn’t have much of a choice.

“Nn…”

After achieving her goal of bringing me to the car, Furei nodded and released my arm.

However, unexpectedly, she rested her head on my shoulder instead.

“Hey…!?”

“Sleep…”

It seems Furei intends to use my shoulder as a pillow.

Wait, hold on…

“Don’t fall asleep, we’re almost at school already!”

It’s only fifteen minutes if you take a walk, after all.

After all, taking the car meant we’d arrive in no time, and if she fell asleep now, it would be a problem.

In fact, before I could finish speaking, the school was already within sight.

“……”

Then, perhaps envious of Furei, Emera looked at me and Furei alternately with a clingy expression and—without saying anything—rested her head on my shoulder too.

Unexpectedly, I found myself completely sandwiched between the Tenjouin sisters.

A flower in each hand?

Some might think that way.

After all, their looks were so exceptional they hardly seemed part of this world.

But, if someone who only knew their school personas saw us like this, it would be like watching a guy sandwiched between two dangerous animals.

I’m even slightly cautious now despite Emera’s changed attitude today…

“Muu…”

To make matters worse, Hina, in front of me, was pouting with her cheeks inflated.

She was probably getting jealous because someone was taking her big brother away from her.

It’s cute, but if Hina starts sulking too, it’ll be beyond what I can handle…

“Both of you, please move now, we’re almost at school.”

Under my little sister’s disapproving gaze, I let out a wry smile and asked the two of them to move.

At school, there were probably already crowds of attendants waiting for Emera and Furei to arrive.

If we showed up together looking like this, it would cause an uproar without question.

Especially the way Emera was clinging to me—something that never would have happened before. People might even start suspecting I’d used some kind of drug on her.

…Well, in a sense, it was because of a drug, but still…

“I suppose there’s no helping it…”

Whether she simply didn’t want me to get angry or not, Emera surprisingly let go of me without any resistance.

Conversely, Furei—”suu… suu…”—was making cute little snores.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, she actually fell asleep…!?”

“It seems Furei fully intends for Eito-kun to carry her straight to the classroom.”

“I’m not some convenient courier, you know!?”

What on earth is this girl thinking!?

“Normally, she wakes up once we’re close to the school, but it seems she got up early today so she could play with your cat, Eito-kun… and she also knows that with your strength, you can lift her with no trouble at all…”

For a moment I thought Emera was joking, but based on her explanation, it seems she’s serious.

So basically, because of Myaa-san, she woke up earlier than she’s used to, played around afterward, because of that, she didn’t get enough sleep, and now she has fallen asleep, is that it?

Come to think of it, when I walked into the living room earlier, she was lying on the bed looking sleepy…

Maybe she even calculated it all—her absolute authority at school, the fact that I can carry her easily, that we’ll be announcing the fiancée thing, and that if it causes a commotion, she can just sleep while Emera or I handle the explanations.

Still, this girl is definitely carefree.

And the worst part was that she was doing all of this fully aware of everything—which made her all the more troublesome.

“Should I just wake her up…?”

“Um… she’s doing this because she trusts you, Eito-kun… so it would be heartless to wake her…”

Just as I reached toward Furei’s cheek to give it a little pinch, Emera, who was always soft on her sister, stopped me.

Letting me carry her body like this probably did mean she trusted me.

Otherwise, there would be a risk of being molested while she sleeps, and she wouldn’t let a man touch her like that.

But still—don’t think you can get away with anything just because you trust me… got it?

…That’s what I thought, but Furei was light enough that carrying her wouldn’t be a burden, and I did kind of owe her a favor for helping me out previously, so I decided to just go ahead and carry her quietly.

More importantly, tonight we’ll have to sleep together, and if I provoke her now, she might retaliate while I’m asleep, so I chose not to wake her up carelessly.

“Fine then… anyway, we’re almost at school, right?”

“Yes, please leave it to me. I’ll do my best to act as usual.”

Switching my thoughts and shifting the conversation to what comes next, Emera brought a hand to her chest and nodded with a smile.

Back at the house she’d seemed a little unsure of herself, but now that school was right in front of us, she might have regained her usual confidence.

But still—is this really something that requires that much effort…?

Afterward, just as expected, the moment I stepped out of Emera’s car carrying a sleeping Furei in a princess carry, the whole place erupted.

But Emera, maintaining a dignified aura, declared,

“Eito-kun and we are now engaged. There are surely many questions you want to ask, but we’ll explain later, so don’t make a fuss right now. Also, if anyone tries to lay a hand on Eito-kun or his sister Hina, consider that the same as making an enemy of us.”

She even made sure to say it in a way that kept Hina from being targeted in the future.

Of course, even after being told not to cause a commotion, the school was buzzing, and the attendants looked thoroughly bewildered… but none of them dared approach Emera or me directly.

Watching all that, I couldn’t help being impressed—

“Hmm, you’re actually good at this.”

—I whispered that into Emera’s ear, but…

“—! Y-yes…♡”

The moment I praised her, Emera’s entire demeanor changed—her face flushing red as she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. And when the students saw her like that, they were completely stunned.

In fact—

“Eh? Did she get tamed…?”

“They fought at school yesterday, right? Did he… put her in her place afterward…!?”

—voices like that started popping up all over the place.

Yeah… I really messed up…