"Ah, she really did lock it from the inside!"
Anon frowned deeply after twisting the doorknob to no avail.
"She really just does whatever she wants. You have to pay in advance to rent this place!"
"No, no, no, that's clearly not the point here..."
Soyo retorted, exasperated.
"The point is, why did she lock the door."
"No matter what she's planning to do, we need to find a way to open the door first," Sakiko said, turning to Taki beside her.
"Taki, since this is a facility within the live house, there should be a manager's key, right?"
"Now that you mention it... I think I remember seeing one."
Taki thought for a moment, then immediately turned around.
"I'll go check the staff room. You guys wait here a minute!"
With that, Taki immediately hurried off in the direction of the staff room.
Meanwhile, after a moment of thought, Soyo resumed knocking on the door with force.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Hey, hey, hey... won't that break the door?"
Hearing the loud noise that nearly echoed through the entire hallway, Anon couldn't help but shrink back.
"Maybe you should use a little less force?"
"No. I'm deliberately knocking this loudly to interrupt them."
Soyo said with a deadpan expression.
"Besides, even if I do break the door, I can pay for it."
"Wow, as expected of a rich young lady, so responsible!"
"Why are you so relaxed about this..."
Sakiko looked at the idiot who was watching her companion bang on the door with great interest, her expression one of utter confusion.
"It's your brother who's locked in there. Aren't you worried at all?"
"Eh? That's true, but... Hoshino Ai does like my brother, right?"
Anon scratched her head, looking confusedly at the anxious Sakiko.
"And Taki already went to find the key. It's not like a locked-room murder is about to happen. I don't think we need to be in such a rush."
"...It's certainly not a murder."
Mutsumi stared blankly at the closed recording studio door.
"If anything, it's the complete opposite, making a person—"
"Mutsumi, you are not to finish that sentence!"
Sakiko first shot Mutsumi a blushing glare, then turned back to Anon.
"In any case, Chihaya-nii is at a crucial point in his life right now and absolutely cannot get into this kind of unnecessary trouble! Besides, you don't want to just suddenly end up with a sister-in-law, right?"
"Mmm... that's true."
Hearing that term, Anon nodded in deep agreement. She then immediately turned around and pumped her fist at Soyo, who was still banging on the door.
"Go for it, Soyo!"
"Instead of this useless encouragement, you'd be better off helping me bang on the door."
"That works too!"
And so, Anon joined Soyo in pounding on the door.
Meanwhile, Tomori, who had been silent this whole time, couldn't help but look towards the end of the hallway.
"If we do this... won't we attract other people's attention..."
"...If Taki doesn't find the key, someone will notice us sooner or later."
Sakiko sighed softly.
"But even so, I'm not going to just let Hoshino Ai do whatever she wants. So—"
"Everyone, I found it!"
Just then, Taki's voice, full of excitement, came from the other end of the hallway.
"The manager's key is right here! I'm coming to open the door!!!"
...
"...You hear that, Ai."
Tetsuya looked at the girl in his arms, who was glaring daggers at the door.
"They've found us."
"Every single one of them, getting in my way."
Ai said through gritted teeth.
"So, everything you said just now was just to stall for them?"
"No."
Tetsuya shook his head.
"You know, Ai, there are no lies between us. So... everything I said was from the heart."
"What a coincidence... everything I said was also from the heart, things I've been thinking about for the past seven years."
Taking advantage of the moment Tetsuya looked at the door, Ai once again pressed herself against him.
"If they want to come in, let them. I've long been prepared to announce this to everyone anyway."
As she spoke, her expression became even more frenzied than before.
"If anything, if they're watching, there'll be absolutely no turning back for us!"
"Wait, Ai!"
By now, most of the buttons on Tetsuya's shirt had been undone, and Ai's hand was already on the waistband of his pants.
At the same time, the sound of the key entering the lock reached his ears clearly. In a few more seconds, the girls outside would burst into the room and witness the worst possible scene.
...
In his desperation, Tetsuya's mind began to race. Fortunately, there's always a way out. As he looked at the door, being pressed against the wall, he also noticed another very important object.
The next second, in the instant the lock turned, and in the instant Ai was about to succeed, he shot out his right hand and forcefully slapped the switch on the wall—
Click—!
All the lights in the recording studio instantly went out, leaving nothing but pitch-black darkness.
And then, as a sliver of light from the crack in the door spread inside, the girls who burst into the room let out a collective gasp at the sudden darkness.
"Why did the lights go out?!"
"It's so dark! I can't see anything..."
"Chihaya-nii, are you in there?!"
"..."
Ai, who had been stunned by this sudden turn of events, wore a displeased expression upon hearing their voices. However, Tetsuya's voice made her instantly stop what she was doing—
"Everyone, don't worry... everything's fine over here!"
Tetsuya held Ai tightly in his arms, and with his back to the group at the door, he shouted:
"Ai and I are almost done talking... Before that, please just wait outside for a moment!"
"..."
Through the light spilling in from the doorway, Sakiko immediately noticed what looked like two figures pressed against the wall deep in the room. And besides that, not far from them on the floor, there seemed to be a coat...
...
"...I understand!"
Sakiko hurriedly pulled back Anon, who was about to go inside to turn on the lights, and said towards Tetsuya's direction:
"We'll be right outside. If you need anything... just call for us."
"Mhm, thank you."
Tetsuya replied in the calmest voice he could manage.
"We'll be out soon..."
And so, Sakiko led the other bewildered girls out of the room, leaving only the two of them tightly embracing in the silence and darkness.
And this near-irreversible farce finally seemed to be heading towards a tense but harmless conclusion.