"Raki… you… you heard that, right?" Conis pressed her lips together and whispered to the woman beside her.
"Yeah. I heard it," Raki answered, nodding hard.
There was a door between them and the room, so the sounds weren't perfectly clear—but after everything they'd seen from Arton and Uta earlier, it wasn't exactly hard to guess what was going on. And with how long it had been since they knocked without getting an answer, Raki was even more certain.
"S-So… do we keep waiting?" Conis took a slow breath, nerves making her voice tremble.
"…Or we could just go in now," Raki suggested.
"Go in… now?" Conis blinked, flustered. "I-I mean… is that… okay? Arton-san and Uta-san probably don't like being interrupted…"
"Arton probably doesn't like being interrupted by men—or by women who have hostile intentions," Raki said calmly. "But for diary-copy holders like us, he probably won't mind."
She was speaking from experience—the kind you got from reading far too many doujinshis.
In those stories, when she and Arton were playing, people sometimes showed up mid-session. If the one who appeared was another diary-copy holder like Conis, Arton wouldn't get annoyed—he'd do the opposite. He'd invite her in.
Sure, Conis would blush and squirm… but she'd still join. And then the three of them would end up in a sweaty, shameless mess of a collaboration.
If that kind of thing existed in the works… then if she and Conis walked in right now, Arton might very well invite them too.
And if that happened…
Raki's pulse started to race. With Arton's personality as he'd shown it so far, he wasn't the type to ditch a woman once she was his.
"As for Uta-san," Raki added, balancing the tray, "I don't think she'd mind either."
"Is… is that so…" Conis swallowed, then nodded hard. "Okay. If that's your judgment, Raki… I'll follow your lead."
They'd already decided to act together. Conis didn't want to back out now.
She drew in a deep breath, handed her bowl to Raki, and pulled a key from her waist. With shaking fingers, she slid it into the lock.
Click.
With a small twist to the right, the latch released. Conis pushed—just a little—and the scene inside opened up in front of them.
"—Hng!" Conis sucked in a sharp breath.
She'd prepared herself, but seeing Uta—spent, satisfied—resting her head on Arton's shoulder still made her whole body heat up.
Raki, meanwhile, acted like she saw nothing at all. She walked in with a bright, perfectly composed smile, carrying the pumpkin noodles like a dutiful hostess.
"Arton-san. Uta-san," Raki said sweetly. "You two must be exhausted."
She stepped right up and held out the bowl. "Why don't you eat some pumpkin noodles before you… continue?"
Then, as if the idea had just occurred to her, she tilted her head. "Or is Arton-san… not in a position to eat right now?"
Her smile sharpened. "If that's the case, I can feed you."
With that, she lifted a strand of noodles with her chopsticks—clearly intending to bring it straight to Arton's mouth.
Conis, still stunned by how bold Raki was, hurried in after her—closing the door behind them and turning the lock again with a firm click.
Arton stared, then blurted out, "I usually start by drinking the broth—so give me some broth first… no, wait. I mean—why did you two come in here?!"
Chapter 546: Uta Cleans Up
"I… we knocked and you and Uta-san didn't respond for a long time," Raki said, taking a deep breath as she faced Arton and Uta. "We thought something might've happened, so we came in. Um… sorry if we interrupted you."
She tried hard to stay composed, but with the scene right in front of her, her heart was still hammering—and her thoughts kept trying to run away from her.
Arton twitched at the corner of his mouth. "And you think this counts as not interrupting?"
Even he was feeling a little awkward—though not because Raki and Conis had seen him and Uta in the middle of it.
It was because this wasn't his room.
This was Conis's.
"Uh… sorry, Conis," Arton said, turning to her with a genuinely apologetic look. "I'll have Uta clean the room up later."
"I-It's… it's fine!" Conis waved her hands frantically, shaking her head so hard she looked like she might topple over. "R-Really—it's nothing!"
"Huh?" Arton blinked, then looked her up and down in surprise. "That's not the reaction I expected."
Normally, wouldn't she be mad right about now? Even if she was gentle, this felt… too gentle.
"I-I swear, it's really okay!" Conis said, so anxious her eyes were starting to water. The last thing she wanted was Arton misunderstanding her, sensing something "off," and deciding not to invite her into the crew.
Uta lifted her head off Arton's shoulder, wearing a bright, shameless grin. "Aww, look at her—Conis is even gentler than we thought."
Then she nodded as if proving a point. "See? I told you she wouldn't mind us messing around in her room—"
Uta paused mid-sentence, then corrected herself with a perfectly straight face. "No—wait. This is serious business. You agree, right, Arton?"
"You've got some nerve saying that," Arton shot back, glaring at her like she was the world's most adorable menace.
He shifted his hips just enough—
"Ah!" Uta let out an involuntary little yelp.
"Oh my god," she complained, cheeks puffed out as she shot him a sulky look. "We already finished a round, and you're still this energetic."
Then she sighed dramatically. "But… yeah. Based on experience, I should've known."
Uta leaned in again, pouting as she kept talking—clearly not done. "And by the way, Arton, you were making a mess in Conis's room too."
"So why am I the only one cleaning up?" she demanded. "Can't you help me for once?"
Arton flopped back into the chair like a man who'd been defeated by life itself. "Because you're the one who dragged me into this, and I'm tired. No strength left to clean."
Uta narrowed her eyes. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"
"You wrestle Marine Admirals—how are you out of strength from a little… exercise with me?" she huffed.
"It's not the same," Arton said, dead serious. "Sparring with you burns energy in a different way. Sometimes it's even more exhausting than fighting an Admiral."
He wasn't joking either. Beating a shamelessly eager, gorgeous girl like Uta sometimes cost him several times what an Admiral fight did—especially when she fought dirty with that cute face.
Uta's lips curled up. "Fine. I'll temporarily accept that explanation."
She braced both hands on Arton's shoulders and climbed off the chair, then—without a hint of shame—dropped into a squat in front of him and opened her mouth.
"Cleaning up, right?" she mumbled around her own boldness. "I'll do it… mmph!"
Arton's eyes went wide. "H-Hey—is that what I meant by cleaning up?!"