On the park bench, three beautiful girls with completely different temperaments sat resting side by side—a truly eye-catching and delightful scene.
In just five minutes of resting, Makoto had already noticed several male passersby sneak glances or turn their heads.
A few young men huddled together as if planning something, then a short guy walked toward Yukino and the others.
Clearly, he wanted to strike up a conversation.
But as soon as Yukino looked up and her cold aura spread, the young man's smile froze.
Looking sheepish, he immediately turned and walked away.
Ichika couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Itsuki also smiled.
No doubt about it, watching that guy flee was pretty funny.
Yukino, on the other hand, was calm as ever: "I'm done resting. What about you two?"
"I'm good too, but I have a question for Makoto."
Ichika grinned as she turned to look at Makoto relaxing on the next bench.
Yukino and Itsuki also looked over, a bit curious about Ichika's sudden question.
"What do you want to ask?" Makoto turned lazily.
Ichika's eyes sparkled: "You praised Itsuki just now, and you also praised Yukinoshita—but you didn't say anything about me. Why's that?"
Yukino immediately looked away.
So it was this kind of silly question again?
She thought Ichika would follow up on that failed pick-up attempt and ask Makoto something romantic.
That would've dragged her into the mess too.
She'd already been ready to argue with Ichika again.
But this?
"The answer's simple. Everyone saw how much Itsuki improved today, and the same goes for Yukinoshita," Makoto replied.
Ichika teased: "So I didn't improve in your eyes?"
"Of course not. You did an excellent job today—especially that later scene where the grandma asked to swap bodies. Your expressions were spot on."
Makoto praised her, then glanced naturally at the attentive Itsuki and continued,
"It's just that I hadn't seen your acting before, so when you performed so well today, I simply assumed that was your normal level."
Ichika smiled happily: "Thank you."
She dreamed of becoming a top actress, so hearing that from the guy she liked naturally made her happy.
Was today's performance her normal level?
Ichika knew it wasn't.
If anything, she had been inspired by Makoto. His encouragement had made her bold and determined, which pushed her to perform beyond her usual self.
Though even she couldn't explain exactly why she'd suddenly become so brave.
She wasn't the only one with that question.
Yukino and Itsuki also recalled how they had felt earlier.
They remembered clearly how decisive they'd been, without even a hint of fear or hesitation.
Just charge forward bravely.jpg
Both Yukino and Itsuki liked that version of themselves.
And they both knew that it was Makoto who made it possible.
No one in the "crew" had worked harder than he did today.
Even now, Yukino was a bit surprised—when that guy fully committed to a role, the determination and conviction he showed were genuinely attractive.
After resting long enough in the park, everyone headed home.
But Yukino didn't leave right away. Instead, she followed Ichika and Itsuki.
Naturally, this confused the two girls.
"Yukinoshita, I thought you lived the other way?" Ichika asked.
Yukino nodded. "I have something to ask you."
"Oh? Go ahead then. As long as I know the answer, I absolutely won't tell you," Ichika replied playfully.
Itsuki rolled her eyes, thinking, You two aren't going to argue again, are you?
But Yukino wasn't interested in jokes. She calmly asked, "Ichika, do you really like playing cat girls?"
Ichika paused, then teased, "Why are you so interested in cat girls? Don't tell me you've thought about it too?"
"I'm being serious."
"Eh? Fine, fine. I'll give you a serious answer then. If you hadn't brought up cat girls, I wouldn't have even thought about it."
Just as I suspected.
Yukino's eyes darkened.
She'd made a mistake in judgment.
Last time, she'd heard a very obvious fake cat meow over the phone. Because Ichika was always provoking her, she had naturally assumed it was Ichika making the sound.
But earlier, when Ichika openly meowed, she realized she might have been wrong.
This is a preconceived mistake.
Although Yukino was intelligent and outstanding, she was still just a high school student—she could make mistakes too.
"Yukinoshita, what's wrong?" Itsuki looked concerned.
Yukino's sudden silence had already piqued her curiosity.
"I made a mistake," Yukino sighed as she rubbed her temples.
Ichika didn't take it seriously and smiled, "So what if you made a mistake? We've talked about this in the cafeteria before—everyone makes mistakes."
But Yukino shook her head and asked, "Ichika-san, you should know your sisters well, right? Do you happen to know which one of the other four has a hobby of pretending to be a catgirl?"
Question marks simultaneously appeared on the faces of Ichika and Itsuki.
Seeing this, Yukino realized her explanation wasn't clear enough, so she elaborated,
"A few days ago, I was on the phone with Fushimi discussing the shooting schedule. During the call, I distinctly heard a girl make a cat-like sound."
In the past, she would never have brought this up.
But now she was confused herself, wanting to get to the bottom of it and correct her mistake caused by preconceived assumptions.
"This kind of thing really happened?"
Ichika's heart sank, and her expression turned a bit grim.
Itsuki was equally shocked.
Because no matter how you looked at it, this whole thing sounded kind of lewd.
Whose subordinate had become such a pervert?
Wait a second.
Yukino had just said "the other four."
That meant… she was suspecting us?
Itsuki's mind began racing. She believed she knew her older sisters well, but she still couldn't imagine any of them boldly pretending to be a catgirl.
If she had to pick one, she thought only Ichika could possibly do something like that.
So she asked tentatively, "Ichika, was it you?"
Ichika let out an exasperated laugh. "Why would you ask that? If it were me, I'd buy a full cat girl outfit and proudly show it to all of you."
After all, it would be a great opportunity to declare ownership.
Yukino then added, "Although I didn't hear clearly that day, I'm sure the person wasn't Ichika-san."
Itsuki thought for a moment. "Yukino-san, when exactly did you hear the sound?"
Yukino pulled up her call log and showed it to the two of them.
Ichika looked thoughtful. "At that time… I think I was taking a shower?"
Itsuki, however, fell silent.
As soon as she saw the call time, she instantly knew the answer.
It was Nino!
She had personally seen Nino drag Makoto into her bedroom.
So it turns out, Nino wasn't just sneaking him to herself—she was also meowing?
And this whole act had already been noticed by Yukino and Ichika.
Yukino asked straightforwardly, "Itsuki-san, do you know who it is?"
Itsuki averted her eyes, pressed her lips together, and didn't answer.
Even though she knew who the catgirl was, she also knew how easily irritable and tsundere Nino could be, so for the sake of her sister, she decided not to say anything for now.
Otherwise, once Ichika got home and confronted Nino, the whole house would be in chaos again.
Yukino looked at Itsuki's guilty expression and suddenly said, "I see. Since you don't want to say, I'll investigate it myself."
She was always clever—just by considering Itsuki's personality for a moment, she could guess the reason.
It was simply to protect her sister.
Ichika also realized this. She deliberately teased, "Itsuki, it was you, wasn't it?"
"As if!" Itsuki denied it with a red face.
She couldn't even imagine herself meowing, let alone doing it in front of Makoto.
Wait a minute.
Now that she thought about it, when did Nino get so shameless?
She didn't seem like someone who could do that kind of thing.
Or… were she and Makoto playing some kind of mysterious game?
The more Itsuki thought about it, the more flustered she got just from her imagination.
After the group parted ways, Itsuki was silent the whole way.
Meanwhile, Ichika had her brain working full throttle, secretly observing Itsuki's expression.
When she was sure the girl had spaced out, she suddenly asked, "It was Nino, right?"
"Eh?"
Itsuki froze, instinctively trying to change the topic.
But Ichika didn't give her the chance. "I knew it—it was Nino!"
She even spoke in an unusually gentle tone, "I understand what you're thinking. Don't worry, I won't fight with Nino."
"Really?" Itsuki looked pleasantly surprised.
Ichika beamed. "I absolutely won't fight with her."
That night, when the others weren't in the living room, Ichika knocked on Nino's bedroom door.
When Nino opened the door in her tracksuit, Ichika pulled out her phone and showed her a very cute picture of a cat. "Isn't it adorable?"
Nino frowned. "What's wrong with you?"
Ichika smiled sweetly. "Kittens are cute. Especially their soft, adorable meows—those are even cuter."
Then, staring into Nino's stunned face, she whispered, "Nino, can you give me a little meow?"
Nino froze.
The next second, her fair little face turned crimson, her eyes filled with visible embarrassment. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
Bang! She slammed the door shut in a flustered panic and hid away.
She was panicking!
Only then did Ichika feel a little less stifled inside.
Her sister meowing like a cat to a boy behind her back—that really pissed her off.
Especially when that boy was someone she liked.
Given what she knew about Nino, it was easy to deduce that her meowing definitely wasn't normal.
Either Makoto's massage technique was too good, and Nino was purring under his hands.
Or… she felt something.
Or to put it another way—"the little bean was controlling the big head."
Ichika loved using different ways to describe things.
She had promised Itsuki not to fight with Nino, so she didn't—she just showed her a cute kitten picture.
And sometimes, different ways of describing things led to unexpected outcomes.
She picked up her phone and messaged Yukino: [I've found the culprit who was meowing.]
Yukino: [If possible, I'd prefer it if you used more appropriate adjectives.]
Ichika: [I remember you know how good Makoto's massages are. So tell me honestly, have you ever meowed because of one?]
Yukino: [You're so dumb I don't even want to talk to you.]
Ehehe, she's mad.
Score one!
Ichika was proud of her cleverness.
But then she thought—Yukino hadn't denied it directly. Did that mean… did it actually happen?
She suddenly had a headache.
When facing her sister, she was confident of winning.
But when it came to the formidable Yukino, she lacked confidence.
"I need reliable allies."
Ichika looked toward Itsuki's bedroom.
She was close with Yukino and was also her own sister. If she didn't have feelings for Makoto, she'd make the perfect undercover ally.
So Ichika opened Itsuki's door and gently invited her, "Itsuki, let's form an alliance."
Meanwhile…
Nino was rolling around on her bed in shame. It took a while for her to barely regain her composure.
Damn you, Ichika!
I'll strike back!
But if I want to fight back, I can't do it alone.
Nino immediately thought of Itsuki, who was in the same club as Ichika.
Most importantly, Itsuki loved food—and that was something Nino could definitely provide.
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