Yesterday, Yoko stayed over.
The popular idol expressed deep gratitude for her Ren's help, and that gratitude showed in the little details of her words and actions.
The next morning, Ren woke up early.
The sky outside was still pitch-black. Spring mornings didn't see the sun rise too early, and the nights were still longer.
After releasing a lot of emotions yesterday, Ren found himself in a good mental state today.
"Hmm…"
Sensing Ren wake up, Yoko, who was sleeping in his arms, also stirred. She slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes.
A pair of eyes were staring at her intently, which made her wake up instantly.
Blinking, she remembered her initiative from last night, and her face immediately turned red.
"Morning… good morning."
"Good morning."
But when she noticed Ren's gaze still fixed on her, she quickly pushed him away with a flushed face.
"Don't stare at me like that so early in the morning."
Realizing his gaze was too intense, Ren restrained himself.
However, thinking about what happened yesterday, no matter how hard he tried to control it, his eyes would still drift toward Yoko.
The same went for her. Overly conscious of last night's events, she couldn't stop glancing at him either.
Because of that awareness, whenever they met each other's eyes, both couldn't help but blush.
Without saying anything, they tacitly skipped over the embarrassing topic.
"Let's get up first."
"Mm."
They quietly took out pajamas from the closet and got dressed.
Experience is something that takes time to accumulate, and everyone has a first time.
After changing, they went to the living room and sat down.
Both were complete newcomers to this sort of thing, and neither had any experience, so sitting across from each other felt even more awkward.
Movies might show you what to do the next day, but reality was different.
Yoko found herself feeling a little frustrated.
When she looked at Ren across from her and saw that he was also at a loss, she realized they were stuck in the same loop.
At this point, as the older one, she had to take the initiative.
With that thought, she stood up, hands on her knees.
"!?"
It was only after she stood up that she saw Ren doing the exact same thing. Clearly, they had the same idea.
Realizing they were thinking alike made Yoko laugh despite herself.
She didn't know if this was some subconscious reaction between a man and woman after their first physical contact, but there was still a tacit understanding between them.
"Ren, shall we talk it out?"
"Mm."
Ren snapped out of his daze and nodded slightly.
Yoko walked over from her seat and gently leaned her head on his shoulder.
In a soft voice, she said,
"This is our first time, so let's not rush. We can take it slow."
"…Then let's not talk about yesterday."
"Okay, let's not talk about it."
Both of them needed time to calm down from the excitement of the day before.
"Well, I should get going. I have an appointment with Terumi and the others today. We just finalized the studio's establishment yesterday, so things are going to get busy from now on."
"And Ms. Ayako also arranged to meet me later."
"We'll also need to terminate the previous contract with the agency and have that discussion with them."
After her excitement faded, Yoko started thinking about everything that lay ahead.
Each task might sound simple when mentioned individually, but none could be completed in a single day.
As artists, they also had to juggle their existing work.
Switching to a startup team meant many things had to start over, which was both exciting and troublesome.
"Well, be careful… Are you coming over again tonight?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the composure Yoko had been holding onto completely shattered.
Her face flushed, she gave him a glare, but still nodded slightly.
"I'll come tonight."
After saying that, she quickly left the room with a red face.
Ren was left standing there in a daze.
It took a while before the chill in the air brought him back to his senses.
He sat down on the sofa.
"I'm not calm anymore."
He didn't know how others handled this kind of thing, but he definitely couldn't treat it with a cool head.
Gently patting his cheeks, the faint stinging pain helped him calm down bit by bit.
"No wonder so many teachers in the past said lust is an invisible knife. I get it now."
"Let's set this aside for the moment."
He took out his diary again.
Yesterday, he had been so focused on Yoko that he forgot to claim his diary reward.
That wasn't her fault, but his own.
It was the first time he had been so caught up in something like this.
It was like making friends with the boy next door in childhood, easily losing yourself in an atmosphere completely different from before.
The feeling that you and others are different.
It was inevitable to get immersed in such moments.
Ren didn't want to make excuses for himself, but he still opened the diary to claim yesterday's unclaimed reward.
Since Katsura Hinagiku had become a believer, there should be some major changes in the story.
That impact wouldn't result in a cheap reward.
[Lord of Mysteries]
[Obtained Sequence 5 Potion: Marionettist.]
"…"
Ren rubbed his temples in mild frustration.
It wasn't disappointing, but something was missing.
He already had Sequence 6 Faceless and Sequence 5 Marionettist, but the problem was that he couldn't skip levels within the Sequence pathway.
Without a Sequence 7 Magician, there was no way to move up.
This caused his promotion process to get stuck halfway.
Ideally, he could just purchase the Magician potion directly, but the diary's reward was too high-level, which was great but also blocked his progress.
It seemed not only Hinagiku was affected, but also the influence of all those police yesterday, as well as Kuroba Kaito, Koizumi Akako, and Nakamori Aoko.
He really hoped things like this wouldn't pile up again.
***
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(To be continued.)