As soon as Arashi and his friends enter the house, they see Ren and Ayane standing right in front of them.
Ayane is lightly hitting Ren on the arm and saying, "Ren, why did you do that? Because of you, everyone saw me and when I'll go back they will question me."
But in the middle of her complaining, her eyes fall on Arashi and the others. Instantly, she freezes and goes completely quiet, as if nothing had happened. Ren also straightens up and acts normal the moment he notices them.
However, everyone has already seen the scene. The group exchanges strange, knowing smiles, but no one says a single word about it. After a moment, Arashi speaks up and says, "Can we come in?"
Ren replies casually, "Yeah, of course. It's your house after all."
After that, Arashi walks in, and the rest follow him into the house.
Once inside, they all sit down in a circle — Arashi, Mizuki, Ayane, Ren, Takumi, Hina, Miyu, and Satoru.
For the first few seconds, no one speaks. Everyone's gaze is lowered, and a heavy silence fills the room. Ren starts to feel very awkward because of the silence, so he finally says,
"Umm… is anyone going to talk?"
Arashi looks at him, takes a deep breath, and says…
"Are you out of your mind?! You did all of this! There's a limit to everything! Where did you even get that much money for all those things? Do you have any idea what could've happened? And when we go to school, what are we supposed to tell the teachers now?!"
Ren responds, "Whoa, calm down. I'm telling you, okay? Do you seriously think this was all my idea? Do I even have that kind of brain to pull something like this off without making mistakes?"
Hearing that, Arashi says, "Oh really? Then whose idea was it? And before that, tell me where you got the money for all of this."
Ren hesitates. "Oh… umm… uh… I started a job."
Arashi hears this and says in shock, "You? A job?"
Ren nods. "Yeah. I used some money from there, some Mom gave me, and some I borrowed. And most of the stuff I bought from a wholesaler."
After hearing this, Arashi is left speechless. He can't find any words to say. He just stays quiet, his jaw slightly dropped in disbelief.
Hina raises her hand and asks, "Do you two know each other?"
Arashi replies, "Yeah. This idiot is my cousin."
Ren grins and says, "Yep, I'm the idiot cousin. Nice to meet you all."
Takumi then says, "Wow man, you really went all out. That's impressive."
Hearing that, Ren replies proudly, "Well, I don't do things half-heartedly."
After that, Ren says, "Alright, I'll tell you what actually happened. First, I was chatting with Ayane for a while. We talked about a few things, and she told me I'd have to show what I could do for her."
Ayane, a little embarrassed, quickly says, "W-wait, I was just joking when I said that."
Ren nods and says, "Yeah, I knew. But I wanted to do something interesting. My brain wasn't giving me any ideas, so I messaged Mizuki."
"I told her the situation and that I wanted to do something explosive and memorable. At first, Mizuki didn't give any special ideas, but then she suggested the idea you all saw."
Mizuki says, "Yeah, I saw something like that in an anime, so I suggested it."
Then Ren continues, "So I followed the plan. I prepared the fireworks setup and made sure the area was safe so nothing around would catch fire. I even took precautions with the ground nearby so things wouldn't get out of control…"
"And I did the same kind of setup with the crackers. As for how the balloons flew up with the press of a button…"
Ren continues, "Basically, I bought a small device — I don't really know what it's properly called — but when you press its button, a small sharp part comes out and it can pop or cut nearby things. I found it randomly and bought it."
Arashi asks, "Didn't anyone catch you while you were doing all this?"
Ren replies, "No. Everyone was busy with their own work. No one was paying attention to me."
Ren then adds, "Only Mizuki and I knew about the plan. But when Arashi caught me, I had to involve him in the plan too."
After that, Arashi holds his head and says, "Ugh, my head is starting to hurt."
Then he suddenly realizes something and says, "You all should just stay here tonight for a sleepover."
Everyone looks at him and replies, "We weren't planning to leave anyway. We're already staying here."
Hearing that, Arashi feels a bit embarrassed and says, "Umm… alright then. I'll order something from outside."
Mizuki says, "Why don't we all go out and eat together? It'll be like a small outing too."
Everyone likes the idea, so they all agree, and it's decided that they'll go out to eat.
Arashi then asks, "Alright, but you all told your parents that you're staying the night, right?"
Everyone nods, and Ren says, "I already told them that Arashi invited me to his house."
Hearing this, Arashi says, "Oh great, blaming it on me for no reason. You could've at least asked me."
Ren replies, "Don't worry. They won't question it."
After that, the whole group gets ready to go outside.