"What did you want to say?"
Otsutsuki Kaguya tilted her head and looked at Aoba. She seemed a little dazed.
"Well..."
Aoba pursed his lips. For a moment, he didn't know where to start with what he wanted to say.
"Hm?"
Seeing that Aoba had clearly said he wanted to talk but then stayed silent, Otsutsuki Kaguya let out a puzzled hum.
"Why did you stop talking again?"
Aoba organized his thoughts, "I told you a lot before. You know that the outside world has changed completely, right?"
"Mm."
Otsutsuki Kaguya gave a small nod.
With Aoba's explanation, she now had a general understanding of the outside world.
Seeing her nod, Aoba continued, "And considering that there are still a lot of things in the ninja world you don't understand, after we leave here, I plan to arrange for you to stay near my home."
"Huh?"
Otsutsuki Kaguya froze again.
Then, as if she had thought of something, a slight blush spread across her cool face.
"If we're living together... I don't mind."
As someone from a thousand years ago, she was also new to the current ninja world.
'Staying at... a friend's house isn't strange at all.'
'That's how it is in manga.'
"..."
Aoba coughed lightly and explained, "Ahem! Actually, not living with me... You'll be staying next door to my house. There'll also be two roommates. Would you mind that?"
"Ah? Roommates?"
When Otsutsuki Kaguya heard that she wouldn't be living with Aoba and would instead be staying with people she didn't know, her face, which had just turned red, showed a bit more uncertainty.
"You'll just be living in the same house."
Aoba explained, "Mainly because I'm worried that after you go out, there'll be a lot of things you're not used to. Having people around will make things easier. Also, one of them has an experience pretty similar to yours."
"Similar to mine?"
Otsutsuki Kaguya blinked, not quite understanding.
"Yeah. Back then, she was also sealed away for several hundred years because her power was too strong. Her seal was only removed half a year ago, but she's already fully adapted to modern life."
"Really?"
Otsutsuki Kaguya was surprised. She hadn't expected someone in the ninja world to have such a similar experience to hers.
"Really. I'm usually pretty busy, so I think if the two of them look after you, you'll adapt to life outside much faster," Aoba spoke as if it were obvious.
"..."
Otsutsuki Kaguya fell silent.
What he said made sense.
But soon, she seemed to think of something. An idea came to her, and her eyes brightened slightly.
"Didn't you say it's right next to your house? Then I can just stay at your place normally, and when you're busy, I can go find them instead, right?"
"Uh...", Aoba was instantly speechless.
What she said really did make sense.
But the problem was that his family situation was a little complicated.
"Is there a problem?"
Seeing Aoba go quiet again, confusion appeared on Otsutsuki Kaguya's cool face.
She didn't understand what concerns he had.
"Well..."
Aoba felt a headache coming on.
But he also knew there was no avoiding this issue. Once she got out, she'd find out anyway.
After considering his words, Aoba said, "The main reason is that my house is already full..."
"Full?"
Otsutsuki Kaguya couldn't understand, 'Are all his relatives living in the same house?'
"How should I put it... For various reasons, I have quite a few girlfriends. The house is already full, and quite a few of them are living in the neighboring houses too. Though I am planning to rebuild the place and expand it several times over. Then everyone will be able to fit...", Aoba explained bit by bit.
Even though they were inside the sealed space, he felt like the temperature around him had dropped.
"?"
Otsutsuki Kaguya blinked.
After a while, she finally understood what Aoba meant by all that.
Her eyes narrowed immediately.
'So many girlfriends that the house can't hold them all...'
"Then exactly how many girlfriends do you have?"
"Well..."
The question really caught Aoba off guard.
He had never actually counted.
"More than ten, I guess..."
"Mo-More than ten?"
Hearing that vague number, Otsutsuki Kaguya's brain stopped working.
She had never expected it.
'Isn't this just a scumbag?'
After sorting it out in her head, Otsutsuki Kaguya immediately pulled her hand out of his.
Then she turned her seat to face the other direction and stopped talking.
"..."
Aoba felt helpless too.
But this was actually within his expectations.
"Ahem! Anyway, that's my situation now. So after we get out, Kaguya, if you—"
"I'm not going out!"
Before he could finish, Otsutsuki Kaguya cut him off, sounding a little stubborn.
"...", Aoba's expression became more serious, "This isn't something to joke about. If you don't go out, are you planning to stay inside this sealed space forever?"
"It's fine. After all these years, I'm already used to it."
It was obvious that Otsutsuki Kaguya was speaking out of spite.
But Aoba had no way to deal with it, so he brought out his trump card, "If that's the case, then I probably won't be able to come see you for quite a while."
"!"
Otsutsuki Kaguya's shoulders shook.
Then she immediately turned back around and stared straight at Aoba.
The expression on her face was no longer as cool as before, "So... are you going to use me and then throw me away?"
"That's not what I mean."
Seeing her like this, Aoba reached out again and took hold of her hand, not giving her a chance to pull away.
Then he said seriously,
"It's just that I'll be busy preparing for the wedding. The ninja world can't really be considered completely stable yet either, so I won't be able to pay as much attention to your side of things."
"W-Wedding? You're getting married?", Otsutsuki Kaguya once again found it hard to believe.
"Yeah. It's a wedding with everyone. It'll probably keep me busy for quite a long time. Do you still want to stay here?", Aoba asked again.
"..."
Otsutsuki Kaguya lowered her head and stayed silent for a while before speaking softly.
"No..."