Ren, pulling on the reins of his mount, suddenly stopped. Eriri tilted her snow-white neck and looked back.
"What's wrong, Ren-kun?"
Ren pointed to the door. "Listen."
"…"
That familiar voice instantly sobered Eriri, and she gasped softly: "Mom—!"
Ren nodded awkwardly. He had just noticed the movement. He used Observation Haki to check and saw Sayuri outside the door…
"Shall we continue?" He respected Eriri's choice.
Who knew, Eriri actually curved the corner of her eye and dismounted from Ren herself. She walked to Ren's side and whispered softly in his ear.
"!!!" Ren's eyes widened, his gaze seemingly confirming with Eriri.
Eriri nodded, giving him her answer again, her gaze dropping, and she smiled triumphantly.
*****
She poured a glass of water. Sayuri let out a long breath, leaning against the door. After calming down, there was no more movement in the room.
"It's over?" Then I should leave too!
Just as she was about to get up, Click. The door opened.
"!!!!" Ren!
Then, as Sayuri's mind short-circuited, Ren bent down and picked her up. Before she could react or resist, Ren went straight into the room and closed the door.
*****
The next day, Ren went to school with Eriri and Yukino. Sayuri was still sleeping in Eriri's room. They must have eaten very well, so there was no need to worry about breakfast. Ren also conveniently transmitted knowledge of Six Styles and Haki to them. He just wasn't sure if the two of them could learn it.
As for Yukino, during the night, Ren also told Eriri about the current situation in the house, regarding the seven newcomers and the maid Yukino. She was initially resentful. After being lectured by Ren, she obediently accepted it.
However, he put more of his energy into Sayuri. Sayuri… Ren could only say that she was deeply hidden, even more insane than Eriri. Ren also satisfied her wholeheartedly.
*****
All the way to school, Yukino didn't say a word. Eriri was engrossed in her affections with Ren. Her change was really big. The tsundere Eriri of the past had truly disappeared in front of him. The feeling he got was that she was starting to develop in Sayuri's direction.
The two of them were in different classrooms. Eriri reluctantly parted ways. Ren and Yukino entered the classroom at the same time.
"Yahallo! Ren-kun!" Yui Yuigahama saw Ren. She greeted him happily as usual. It was just that her cheeks and earlobes were much redder than usual.
"Yahallo! Yui." Ren responded with a smile. He sighed inwardly… another sin. He still had to resolve Yui's matter today.
Ren, sitting in his seat, immediately turned his head. "Megumi, why didn't you say hello when you saw me?"
Megumi's lips curved into a faint smile. "As expected, Ren-kun still found me."
"Oh ho, did you just test me with Presence Concealment?"
"I just wanted to see if it would work on Ren-kun."
Ren pinched his chin. He did clearly feel that Megumi's presence had decreased a lot. However, he controlled presence, easily filtering it out, so no matter what, he could find Megumi.
"Ren-kun, is that Eriri one of them?"
"You saw her. She is one of them." Ren glanced around, controlling the sound waves to a range only the two of them could hear. He confessed his situation to Megumi.
"..." The information did indeed shock her. The sheer number of people shocked her, not to mention those from the Otherworld. The complexity also shocked her. That girl named Eriri and her mother...
Megumi's gaze was profound: "Ren-kun, you are amazing."
Ren feigned ignorance: "Thank you for the compliment, Megumi."
"Sigh..." Megumi sighed: "Anyway, I can't escape anymore. I'll get along well with them."
The sensible and cute Megumi made Ren feel refreshed.
*****
During the long break, Ren called Yui Yuigahama to the rooftop.
On the rooftop, the two stood face to face. "Um... what did Ren-kun want to tell me?" Yui, who learned that Ren also liked her, was nervous and shy.
Ren chose not to procrastinate and spoke frankly. "Simply put, I have girlfriends, and more than one." It was concise and easy to understand.
"Wh-what..." Yui's smile froze on her face. She lowered her head in disappointment, trying hard to keep her tears from falling. "Wait, Ren-kun, you must have made up this reason to reject me. Actually, there's no need to do that." Yui thought Ren was intentionally using this reason to deceive her, when he actually wanted to reject her.
Ren grabbed Yui's shoulders with both hands. "Yui, look into my eyes."
Yui looked up. "Ren-kun..."
"I have no intention of deceiving you. I said I like you, but the truth is I really do have more than one girlfriend. I must tell you this; otherwise, carelessly accepting your feelings would not be fair to you." Ren told her very seriously.
"..." Yui stared blankly into his eyes. Eyes are the window to the soul. She could feel that Ren wasn't lying to her. It wasn't a made-up reason to reject her; she should be happy. It's just that this fact... made her not know how to accept it for a moment.
"Yui, besides that, there's one more thing I need to tell you. You can close your eyes first."
"Oh... oh..." Although Yui's mind was a bit overloaded, she obediently closed her eyes.
Ren's hands were still on her shoulders. A sensation of weightlessness came over her. My feet... seem to be suspended in the air? Yui could no longer feel the rooftop ground beneath her feet.
"You can open your eyes now."
Obeying Ren, Yui slowly opened her eyes.
"Eh!!!" A dizzying scene appeared. She was now completely suspended high in the air! Looking down, it was so, so high!
"Wow!" Yui fearfully hugged Ren, and asked in a trembling voice, timidly: "What's going on? How are we flying?"
"This is the other thing I wanted to tell you: I'm actually a Psychic." Ren was serious, and with the current situation, it definitely wasn't fake!
"Th-this..." Yui stammered for a long time, unable to express her amazement.
After a brief demonstration, Ren slowly descended with Yui. Standing on the ground, Yui finally felt secure. It's just that her legs were still a bit weak, and she tried to stand straight but collapsed onto Ren.
"S-sorry."
"It's okay. After all, I took Yui flying without permission." Ren chose to be frank with Yui. Facing a girl he liked, and who also liked him, he didn't care about a little Cognitive Doomsday. The Doomsday couldn't affect the matters in his life. If the Cognitive Doomsday directly broke out because he told Yui about supernatural things alone, then let it be destroyed. He wouldn't bother trying anymore.
"So Ren-kun is a Psychic!" Yui covered her mouth in shock.
"That's right. As for my girlfriends, many of them are also very special." To make it easier for Yui to understand, he directly released the Dominator and transmitted the information to her mind.
"So many things suddenly appeared in my head!" Yui only saw stars appear in Ren's eyes, then suddenly hugged her head and screamed.
"Relax, those are the memory information I want you to see, about the others."
"Oh, oh." With Ren's comfort, Yui calmed down. Psychic transmission of memory information is indeed very shocking, isn't it? Yui knew Ren wouldn't harm her, so she quietly processed the information. The part about the Chat Group in the information was directly absent. He had also tried various ways to transmit it to Kanae, but unfortunately, they all failed. Kanae at most knew that Ren could travel between worlds with others. She knew nothing about the Chat Group information.
A moment later, Yui Yuigahama, who had completely received the information, had a rather confused and complex expression. Otherworlders... mother and daughter... Doomsday... and so on. One by one, things that could shatter Yui Yuigahama's worldview simultaneously assailed her. She was a bit lost and helpless.
"Yui, you go back and think about it first. You can give me your answer anytime."
"Hmm… I'll think about it carefully." With a jumble of thoughts, Yui lowered her head and walked away from the rooftop step by step.
*****
"How long have you been watching? Come out." Ren called out softly.
Eriri, wearing a school uniform skirt and sporting golden twin tails, bounced out from the stairwell. She walked up to Ren and angrily swung her twin tails at him. Ren, quick as a flash, grabbed both pigtails. These pigtails were good stuff. Last night, they were like the reins of a knight.
Ren leaned against the iron fence, embraced her, and whispered into her ear, "Why are you angry?"
Eriri bared her fangs and bit his hand. However, she didn't bite hard; instead, it was very gentle and comfortable. She glared at him fiercely.
"Hmph, it's all because of you, you philanderer. I went to look for you, and you weren't there. Then I heard someone named Ka… who was it again? Ugh, I forgot. Anyway, someone said you were on the rooftop. I didn't expect to come and see you seducing young girls and making them distraught. Haven't you had enough, even with so many already?"
Ren didn't answer her directly but playfully said, "How many people do you think it would take to defeat me? With you and Sayuri, I didn't even use one-tenth of my strength, you know."
"Huh?" Eriri looked disbelieving. They had gone that far, and he hadn't even used one-tenth? How was that possible?
"If you don't believe me, let's try again." Ren smirked and started to move his hands.
"Here? We'll be seen!"
"Don't worry, I've already controlled our presence. Even if we're in front of others, we won't be discovered."
With that, Ren began his actions.
*****
"No one's on the rooftop, so why is the door open?"
A beautiful girl with long black hair and tight black stockings walked onto the rooftop. There was no one there, yet the door was open. This puzzled her.
However, no one being there was just right; it was the environment she liked. She found a spot and sat down, leaning against the iron fence. She picked up a book and read it with a nostalgic expression, caressing it.
"I wonder how Senior is doing."
She was Kasumigaoka Utaha. A third-year student at Comprehensive High School. But she also had another identity: a light novel author. Her light novel, "The Metronome in Love," written under the pen name "Kasumi Utako," was published by Fujikawa Shoten's Fantastic Bunko, with a total of five volumes and cumulative sales exceeding 500,000 copies. For her age, it was a very impressive achievement.
But only Kasumigaoka Utaha herself understood. The reason she achieved such success was because of that industry senior she had never met, Unheard Flower Name. He was very skilled. He was proficient in both light novels and manga, and his achievements were astonishing. Many of his works from a few years ago are now considered classic masterpieces. It's just that the senior retired too early. After creating several myths in a few years, he disappeared from the light culture circle.
Initially, her works were not good; it was not an exaggeration to call them flop works. By chance, she obtained the contact information of this great senior from her editor, Machida Sonoko. With a nervous heart, she added him as a friend. She was eager to know where she was lacking at the time. Very impolitely, she recommended her work to him, hoping to get his critique and feedback. After saying it, she regretted it. After all, he was an old senior who had already retired; how could she disturb him like that?
To her surprise, as she was about to retract the message, he actually accepted her file proactively. And after reading her book, he pointed out her problems one by one, with great insight. Those suggestions were a turning point for her at the time. Afterward, she also tried to continue asking the senior for guidance. He kindly guided her. Finally, under his guidance, her "The Metronome in Love" became a work that could be considered qualified since her debut. She succeeded.
After excitedly telling the senior the news, he congratulated her. But also said goodbye. He said he was pleased to see her growth, that she could now stand on her own, and it was time for him to leave. Since then, the senior changed his contact information, and they lost touch.