There was no doubt about it—Suki-san had definitely gotten the wrong idea.
Staring at Aoki's face, which was painted with that unmistakable "Don't worry, I get it" expression, Ryo who was usually composed and emotionally reserved showed a rare, almost urgent need to explain herself.
Even though she had already been cut off once, she opened her mouth again, determined to clarify why she had bought that particular doujinshi magazine.
"Suki-san—about that magazine… It was shrink-wrapped in black plastic at the time, so I couldn't see the cover. The vendor was also advertising it as a parody of a certain manga. That's why I bought it."
Her speech was faster than usual, her voice more serious than her typical monotone.
And yet… no matter how she framed it, Ryo's flustered attempt at explaining came across as nothing more than a guilty excuse...
To be fair, Aoki actually did believe Yamada Ryo's explanation.
If she had intentionally purchased that kind of magazine, she probably wouldn't have left it out so carelessly on her desk—unhidden, unguarded, and stacked right next to something like Geological Studies of Hokkaido.
Still, that wasn't really the core issue here.
Never mind the fact that they were currently a guy and girl alone together in a room—even if Ryo were a guy, the socially correct reaction in a situation like this.
Where you accidentally discover an adult magazine at a friend's place, especially after already saying "I understand", would be to just pretend nothing happened and move on like civilized people.
But right now…
Because Ryo insisted on explaining herself so seriously, Kei was now the one who felt awkward.
What was he supposed to do? Reply just as seriously with something like:
"I believe you, Ryo-san. I'm sure you only bought this doujinshi titled 'Silent-Type Heroine, Female-Dominant, Pure Love' because you were tricked"?
'…Yeah, no.'
His mind began to drift wildly as he glanced again at the magazine still lying peacefully on the floor.
The cover featured a scantily clad anime girl—beautifully drawn, though possibly deceptive advertising.
The title? Blatantly explicit. Kei knew at a glance it was an adult doujinshi.
Underneath the title, a series of helpful tags had been added:
———————————————————————
"Pure love."
"Female-dominant."
"Silent-type heroine."
———————————————————————
He blinked and looked away.
…Come to think of it, Ryo-san is kind of a silent-type herself, huh?
He immediately shook that thought out of his head before it could go any further.
After a moment of hesitation, unsure how best to respond, Aoki tried to steer the conversation elsewhere, his tone slightly tentative:
"Got it. Let's just clean up for now. The food's gonna get cold if we wait any longer."
Ryo, likely understanding this was not the time to bring it up again, nodded firmly.
Without another word, she crouched down and began gathering the scattered books.
Kei joined her, and for a while, the only sound in the room was the rustling of paper and books.
Despite the silence, the tension in the air eased—slightly.
———————————————————————
Three minutes later.
The two of them worked quickly, and in that short time, they had neatly stacked most of the books back onto the desk.
"Most" being the key word.
Because neither of them had touched that one adult doujinshi, which still lay there, untouched, like the elephant in the room.
Once everything else was cleaned up, it was the only item left on the floor.
The awkwardness returned like a cold breeze.
They both froze for a second, eyes meeting in uncomfortable silence.
Then, without hesitation and with the resolve of someone going to her doom—Ryo crouched again and picked it up.
Putting it back on the desk was clearly out of the question.
After a brief pause, she tossed it straight into the room's trash bin.
And as a side note—just before she threw it away, her eyes caught the genre tags again:
"Female-dominant."
"Silent-type."
She couldn't help but recall how she'd invited Suki-san over to her house for dinner.
Now, knowing Kei had likely seen those tags, Ryo realized the misunderstanding might have just gotten even worse.
That thought weighed heavily on her.
In addition to the embarrassment, and despite being someone whose emotions rarely fluctuated, Ryo was now visibly flustered—a rare sight indeed.
...
While they were organizing the books, something else turned up—
a jumbo-sized roll of toilet paper.
Though it was called "jumbo-sized," it was really just slightly larger than normal.
Covering the entire kotatsu would take nearly a whole roll.
Ryo had no use for something like this under normal circumstances, but now that it could finally serve a purpose, she figured she might as well use it all.
She used the tissue paper to cover the surface of the kotatsu.
The awkwardness in the room still hung heavy in the air.
Unable to bear it any longer, Aoki that is desperate to just eat quickly and get the hell out—moved swiftly to lay out the food.
He only sat down once everything was ready.
And just as they were finally about to settle in for a normal meal—
A sudden ringtone broke the silence.
It wasn't Aoki's.
Ryo picked up her phone from the side and tapped the screen to light it up.
———————————————————————
Caller ID: Nijika.
———————————————————————
Puzzled by why Nijika would be calling her at this hour, she answered with a mildly confused look.
On the other end, Nijika's voice came through.
Though she hadn't turned on speakerphone, the two were sitting close enough that Aoki could clearly hear the conversation.
"Ryo, are you home right now?"
"Ah… yeah, I'm home," Ryo answered simply.
"Cool! I'll be coming in then. I think I left my spare drumsticks at your place, right? Since I'm passing by, I thought I'd grab them~"
Nijika and Ryo were extremely close friends.
Ryo often dropped by Nijika's for meals, and in return, Nijika still had a spare key that Ryo had given her long ago…
It had only been a brief exchange of words, but—
In that exact moment, from inside her room, Ryo could clearly hear the sound of Nijika unlocking the door with the spare key.
"R-Right now?!" Ryo blurted out, her eyes darting toward Aoki.
It was the second time today her expression—usually unreadable—visibly cracked.
But Nijika didn't hear that shaken "right now."
She hung up after saying she'd come by to pick up the drumsticks.
Ryo turned off her screen and took a deep breath.
Her gaze met Aoki's, their eyes locking for a tense second.
'If Nijika saw this scene… she would definitely misunderstand.'
Normally, it might not be a big deal. But Ryo was still emotionally rattled from the earlier embarrassment, still not back to her usual cool-headed self.
And of all people, it just had to be Nijika the same girl who once shyly asked her if she and Suki-san were dating...
She had to cover this up somehow—
But there was no time!
If she remembered correctly, the spare drumsticks were in her bedroom.
Nijika would be heading straight here.
She scanned the room quickly.
It was decently spacious, but somehow there was absolutely nowhere suitable to hide someone.
Except…
Her eyes locked onto the kotatsu.
With the blanket still draped over it, it was the perfect hiding spot.
She turned back to Aoki, her eyes serious.
"Suki-san, Nijika's about to come in—can you hide under the kotatsu?"
Aoki blinked in surprise.
"Why do I need to hide?"
"Because if Nijika walks in and sees this, she's definitely going to get the wrong idea," Ryo explained quickly.
"Can't we just clear up the misunderstanding by talking—"
He didn't even get to finish the sentence.
Already flustered, Ryo grabbed him by the arm and started nudging him toward the kotatsu.
"Suki-san no Aoki-senpai—this kind of thing can't be explained!"
Half-pushed and half-stumbling, Aoki hesitated for a moment.
Realizing that she had a point that it would be pretty hard to explain, he let out a small sigh and nodded.
He crouched down, lifted the edge of the kotatsu blanket, and slid under it like a fugitive dodging pursuit.
And the very next moment—literally just a second after he disappeared under the kotatsu—
Yamada Ryo's bedroom door creaked open. Nijika had arrived.