Chapter 181: Kei-chan Ruined the Mood

After finishing the hot pot and eating the rice porridge topped with salmon roe…

「Ikura is the Russian word for fish roe!」

leaving Shima-senpai alone with her trivia which I don’t know where she got it from, I and Earthworm brought the ice cream from the dining room, and Takasago-senpai was sitting on the floor, waiting for us… or the ice cream.

「…Hurry up」

「Yes, yes, please wait a moment…」

I chuckled as I placed the ice cream on the plate in front of her, and Takasago-senpai immediately reached for the spoon.

She has no intention of waiting for others.

A double scoop of vanilla and chocolate mint.

I’m sure she’ll ask for a refill anyway, so I double the serving from the start.

「…Delicious」

While Takasago-senpai looked happy and relaxed, Shima-senpai, who wasn’t drinking at all, was fighting with Centipede and Tapeworm.

This was the result of Centipede’s bad-tempered agitation, “Shima-senpai is the only third-year student who is not the favorite princess, isn’t she?”

（I wonder what they are talking about now?）

I’m listening to them while handing out ice cream.

「Well, I’ve always had a longing for something like that」

「Longing?」

「Yeah! I wanted to go on a date to an aquarium or something, have dinner at a romantic restaurant with a night view, and have him hold my hand and say something like “I was admiring your face”. Then we’d kiss and spend our first night together…」

「Are you a maiden!?」

「I’m not a maiden, you idiot!」

「You’re not a maiden!?」

Shima-senpai locks Centipede in a headlock and grinds her temples.

「Ouch, that hurts! No violence! No violence!」

She looks like she’s in pain, but there’s no reason for Centipede to be hurt by a normal girl’s strength.

In her own way, she was reading the atmosphere.

As I put out the ice cream, I interrupted her in a soothing way.

「Well, now that the death game is over, Confinement King-sama can have some time, can’t he? Why don’t you ask him for a date or something?」

「I-idiot! I can’t do something so embarrassing! Besides, if he’s got time, he’ll have to deal with Ui-chan more than me…」

「So you’re more of a manager for her… wow, that’s friendship」

Shima-senpai shook her head with a subtle expression on her face as Earthworm let out a sound of admiration.

「No, that’s not it… Ui-chan, she’s been neglected so much that it’s really irritating. She doesn’t seem to be aware of it, but the practice is getting harder and harder because she’s working herself into a corner」

「Ugh…」

「…Why don’t you give her some sleep drug or something? You could mix it into her food」

「Rather than that, I think it’d be quicker to use a tranquilizer gun or something and shoot her with it…」

「Well, let’s just use a tranquilizer gun and put the sleep drug of all tranquilizers in her…」

「…What do you guys think Ui-chan is? Well, even though the death game is over, I hear there’s still the takeover of the entertainment company. It seems that Lili-chan and Shiratori are working on that one」

「Oh, that’s right…Shiratori-senpai…I’m afraid of her because I don’t know what she’s thinking」

「I have no idea either. Before I came here today, she said, “I’m sure she’ll come even if I leave it alone, but if you see that devil girl, tell her to come over tonight”」

「Wow… calling on Lili-sama… she’s not afraid of anything…really」

Centipede muttered, and Earthworm and Tapeworm nodded in agreement.

In fact, it may be a matter of appearance, but the favored princesses are too ignorant of Lili-sama’s terror.

When the ice cream was finished, Shima-senpai stood up and grabbed Takasago-senpai by the neck, who was about to lie down again with the spoon in her mouth.

「Okay, we’re leaving. Maybe Kijima will come out of the bedroom by now…」

「Ah…yes」

Then, Shima-senpai turned around as she put her hand on the knob of the door, looked at the pot and smiled sadly.

「Aramaki-san… you will live on in my body」

Shima-senpai is a romantic, despite what she says. She probably has some kind of attachment to that salmon.

But–

「…It’ll be out tomorrow, though」

Takasago-senpai ruined it.

「Wait! Takasago! Don’t say that! You make me don’t want to get it out now!」

「…Constipation?」

「Is that the worst?」

The sentimental mood was gone in a flash.

◇ ◇ ◇

After 3:00.

I left “the Confinement King’s bedroom”.

Akira was completely out of consciousness, so I let her rest in bed.

I’m going to call Ryoko to take care of her tonight or tomorrow.

The long death game is over.

President and Ponpoko-san are asleep and pinned down.

As for Yamauchi-san… well, I don’t want to think about her.

Also, Kirihito Hikami is being sent back from the demon world tonight.

Lili says she’s going to put him in a container and sell him to Southeast Asia. The money will be used for the establishment of a new company.

The acquisition of First Beauty Agency will be completed tomorrow. According to Lili, Shiratori-san found the investors and made all the arrangements.

To be honest, I don’t know her very well, though I think I should reward her in some way.

It’s not easy for me to talk to her face to face, because I’m easily outdone.

The new company’s press conference is the day after tomorrow.

I haven’t heard yet how I will be involved in the new company, but I’ll leave that to Lili.

I’m just a student, I don’t know anything about management.

As I walked into the dining room with such thoughts, I saw Shima-san and Kei-chan.

Apparently, they had been waiting for me to come out of the bedroom.

As I sat down across from them, Shima-san opened her mouth slowly.

「Um… there’s a track and field competition on the 17th, and I was wondering if Kijima would come…」

（Come to think of it, Saori-chan said something like that too…）

Today is the 12th, I think. I don’t think there are any plans for the 17th, except for radio gymnastics.

「Yes, of course I’ll go」

As soon as I said so, Shima-san’s expression brightened.

「Really? Well, I don’t mind, but Ui-chan was wondering if Kijima was coming or not, so she was very anxious!」

Then Kei-chan muttered to herself.

「…Liar, the one who was the most anxious was Shima-pai」

「Huh!? Oh, you, that again! No, no, no! K-Kijimaa! I’m not!」

I couldn’t help but relax my mouth.

It was so cute to see Shima-san’s face turn red and confused.

If I hadn’t been planning to receive a reward from Kaneko-san, I probably would have taken her straight to bed.