Evening.
Homura found himself once again surrounded, this time by the nine members of Muse, with Yukiho and Alisa watching from afar.
As for why they found out about his deed with Megumi so quickly?
It was all thanks to Elf and Sagiri!
"So, this kind of thing happened, huh..." Nozomi grinned at Homura. "Two consecutive nights of ambush..."
After saying this, she glanced over at Rin, Kotori, Honoka, and Umi.
"Why didn't you girls ever think of that? You were all staying over!"
It was a rather amusing scene as Rin, Kotori, Honoka, and Umi blushed at Nozomi's words, not knowing how to respond.
Didn't ever think of it?
No, they did!
They just felt too embarrassed to act on it!
But how could they say that in front of everyone?
Going with the excuse of not thinking about it?
It might come off as a bit too insincere!
"How about you all stay over tonight too!" Nozomi declared.
"No way!" Kotori was on the verge of tears. "How do I explain it to my mom?!"
Nozomi actually thought about it seriously for a moment before chuckling.
"Just say, 'Mom, I won't belong to the Minami family anymore!'"
"Nozomi-chan~!"
Kotori pounced over, delivering a flurry of little punches to Nozomi's chest, but Nozomi quickly raised her hands and made her usual pervert claw movement.
Watching Nozomi's hands move, the traumatized Nico instantly ran off into the distance.
===
After the commotion, things returned to their previous calm, but Homura couldn't shake the feeling that this peace wouldn't last long.
In various ways, things were about to get lively, weren't they?
Meanwhile, as everyone was busy practicing—
"Nozomi, have you heard?" Nico leaned in close to Nozomi's ear. "Megumi said a couple of people wouldn't even be Homura's match."
"Yeah, right... I took down four thugs ages ago. How could a couple of people be my match?"
Instead of a response from Nozomi, Homura suddenly chimed in from behind Nico, emanating an intimidating aura.
Nico shivered, beads of sweat starting to trickle down.
"Nico-chan, can we not talk about this during class?" Homura's face lit up with a brilliant smile.
"No problem!" Nico nodded frantically.
"Hahh..." Homura sighed. "Seems like everyone's all worked up."
"Can't help it, nyaa~" Rin muttered under her breath. "Everyone heard about it..."
"I see..." Homura nodded calmly.
"What?" Rin raised her eyebrows.
"It looks like your favorite vegetable juice should make a comeback!"
"Eww..." Hanayo involuntarily gagged.
"No, please!" Honoka shook her head frantically. "Anything but that! Please spare me!"
"If Homura-kun insists... then bring it on!" Umi furrowed her brow, looking ready to accept her fate.
"Homura-kun... that one is really hard to bear..." Kotori also wore a pained expression.
"Ehh~? Why's everyone sound so... obscene..." Nozomi's words shattered the atmosphere completely.
"!!!"
Everyone widened their eyes and froze.
"Nozomi... where did you learn all that nonsense, really?" Homura's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"Well, since we have Kashiwagi Eri-sensei, I figured I should learn a bit..." Nozomi replied casually.
'So it's your doing, Eriri!'
Homura and the others thought bitterly in unison.
===
Eriri suddenly sneezed and rubbed her nose.
"Hmm, is Mom talking about me?"
"Maybe it's your fans, you know, going like, 'Why isn't Kashiwagi Eri-sensei drawing doujin anymore?'" Utaha chuckled.
"…"
Eriri was silent for a while before responding with a sigh.
"Well, can't help it… too busy. I just draw whenever I can… It's not like I have to do doujin, right?"
"Speaking of which, Eriri-nee, can you draw doujin about Fate?" Izumi asked curiously.
"Hmm…" Eriri pondered, stroking her chin. "Well, it's a bit hard to get started... I mean, it feels like abandoning my own work."
"I feel the same!" Izumi nodded quickly. "I was thinking of drawing doujin of Shirou and Archer, but suddenly I can't get started either!"
Upon hearing this, the girls exchanged peculiar glances.
"It's okay... you can work on that. Assassin and Kuzuki-sensei's pair is also fine..." Eriri responded with a deadpan expression.
"Ehh? I don't wanna draw that pair. How about Gilgamesh and Kotomine Kirei instead?" Izumi's eyes were already sparkling.
"Why are they all men?" Sagiri asked, looking puzzled.
Hearing this, Izumi instantly froze.
'Awful! Forgot Sagiri-chan is here too!' Izumi thought in panic.
Eriri thought for a moment, then remembered how Homura handled Sagiri last time.
"Sagiri, don't ask, or are you ready to proudly tell people that you're Eromanga-sensei?"
"Proudly tell people that I'm Eromanga-sensei?" Sagiri muttered in a daze before shaking her head. "Not yet..."
'Good, no more questions.' Eriri nodded, satisfied.
"But can I tell everyone here?" Sagiri suddenly asked.
'Come to think of it... Sagiri didn't instinctively reject her pen name this time...' Eriri thought, narrowing her eyes.
"Um... I am, Erom... Eromanga, yes, that's right, I am Eromanga..." Sagiri nodded, clenching her little fist. "I am Eromanga-sensei!"
Seeing this unexpected scene, Eriri's eyes turned into dead fish eyes.
'Homura, looks like Sagiri's joined the dark side, but hey, everyone kinda nudged her that way, you know? I wonder if you'd be happy to know your little sister can finally face her pen name...'
As she thought this, Eriri sighed.
===
"So... can someone explain to me... what the heck happened?"
Homura asked with a smile as he looked at Eriri, Utaha, and Izumi.
Earlier, Homura, accompanied by Muse's girls, stepped into the living room, where Sagiri suddenly approached and exclaimed to him, 'I am Eromanga-sensei!'.
He was dumbfounded for a moment before snapping out of it, then turned to the most guilty-looking ones and asked that question.
"It's probably... my fault..." Utaha's hands were tangled together as she whispered.
"So, Eriri and Izumi were the ones who started this topic?" Homura asked, with both Eriri and Izumi nodding in unison. "In that case... why would Utaha, being a novelist, start a topic about doujin?"
Upon hearing this question, Eriri raised her hand.
"It's because... I sneezed..."
"Sneezed?" Homura was still puzzled. "Bruh, what does sneezing have to do with it?"
"I said someone must be talking about me, and then Shi-chan said it's my doujin fans talking about me..." Eriri explained.
Utaha maintained her composure, pretending she hadn't heard her nickname, but oddly, the expected fierce stare didn't come. When she looked up, she found Homura staring at Nozomi, dumbfounded.
'What's with his dumbfounded look?' Utaha thought, puzzled.
'Is that even possible?' Nozomi thought speechlessly, her mouth hanging open dumbly.
Clearly, she was also dumbfounded by this nonsense about 'sneezing when someone talks about you'.
"Eriri, can you tell us roughly when you sneezed?" Nozomi asked directly.
'Why ask that? I totally don't remember!' Eriri frowned and thought in frustration.
Before Eriri could answer, Elf raised her hand.