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Fortunately, Mrs. Aiba had developed good early-to-bed, early-to-rise habits over the years. She'd basically wake up for morning exercise every day, then spend the entire day drinking tea, chatting, and shopping with her girlfriends, not returning until seven or eight at night. At this hour—with lunch approaching in another hour—she'd never be home.
This saved Asagi from having to eat breakfast outside just to avoid her mother's gaze.
After all, if she came out of her room alone in the morning, that was fine—normal for high school girls.
If she came out with Bokue, that was also okay—Japan had no concept of "too young to date," and girls living with their boyfriends was normal.
Even if she came out with Liala, that would be no problem either—they were both girls, she could just say a female classmate had come over to hang out.
But if she not only woke up with Bokue but also emerged from the room with Liala alongside them—that would be a huge problem.
Two women, one man—such a combination would definitely make Mrs. Aiba wonder if her daughter had gotten into some questionable activities.
But since Mrs. Aiba wasn't home, no need to worry about that.
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Scene shift to the downstairs living room—
Having dressed and freshened up, Asagi now sat at the dining table, facing Liala across from her.
Bokue wasn't sitting with them at the table. He was currently in the living room's open kitchen, contemplating what to make for breakfast while looking at three empty plates.
No one spoke at the table. The atmosphere was slightly silent, though only Asagi felt awkward.
Liala across from her still wore that smiling expression, as if little flowers were dancing all around her, emanating waves of pleasant fragrance.
Is she really that happy...
The blonde girl couldn't help complaining internally.
And whether it was her imagination or not, that subtle sense of displacement from the bedroom earlier was becoming increasingly obvious.
Again—normal people learning about her, Bokue, and Rias's group from the Underworld should theoretically be surprised first, then turn to gossip.
But somehow, Liala gave her the feeling that aside from initial surprise, there was no other reaction.
If anything, it was... satisfaction?
No idea what she was so satisfied about...
Asagi shook her head internally, speechless.
Just then, Bokue's inquiring voice came from the kitchen.
"Is bacon and egg pasta okay for breakfast?"
"Oh..."
Asagi responded reflexively.
But Liala across from her stood up directly, heading toward the kitchen while speaking:
"I'm fine with anything, no dietary restrictions... Oh, need help?"
"No need, it's already done. Just help carry it over."
With a crisp finger snap, as Bokue stepped aside, three steaming plates of bacon and egg pasta appeared on the stove.
"Wow~ It looks delicious!"
Liala clapped her hands in appreciation, then picked up two plates, turning toward Asagi still sitting at the table.
"Alright, come have breakfast, Miss Aiba."
"Thanks..."
Asagi reflexively thanked her out of modern young person's polite habit when accepting the breakfast, only realizing after the words left her mouth.
Wait, why was she saying thanks? This was her own home!
And stop acting like an old married couple, you two!!
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Meanwhile, at the Gremory household in the Underworld—
"Alright, I'm full."
In the dining room, Rias put down her utensils after her last bite of breakfast, pushing her chair back from the table. After wiping her mouth with a napkin, she glanced at Akeno, Kuroka, Mio Naruse, and the others clearly ready to go on her right, then turned to her mother at the head of the table.
"We're leaving now, Mother."
"Mm, go ahead. Be safe on the road. You remember everything you need to do?"
Venelana put down her wine glass, her lips moist with deep red wine as she smiled.
"Of course!"
Kuroka forcefully punched the air, striking Jonouchi's classic pose.
"Today we must capture Bokue thoroughly, then squeeze him dry until the end of time!"
"That's not it at all..."
Rias held her forehead as if in pain.
Well... though she also wanted to do what Kuroka said, there were other serious matters to handle first.
"With half a month until school starts, we have three things to do during this time—first, Itogami Island's ownership; second, merging Kuoh Academy with Saikai Academy; and third, building the new house."
"Kuroka doesn't care about that stuff, nya~ That's your business, Rias, nya,"
The black-haired cat-eared girl turned her head away, pretending she hadn't heard anything.
Rias glanced sideways: "Oh? You say you don't care, so even after we all move into the new house with Bokue, you plan to ignore everything and stay in the now-empty apartment building as a stray cat?"
"That's impossible, nya~"
Kuroka completely ignored the red-haired girl's mockery, shaking her head and humming:
"I just need to follow Bokue anyway. Wherever he goes, I'll follow."
"Good. Since you say that, you can't ignore everything, because Bokue has things to do too."
Rias stepped back from the table, turning toward the dining room door.
"Let's go. Grayfia-neesan has prepared the train. We should depart—"
Before she finished, spatial magic fluctuations suddenly rippled through the dining room, then immediately dissipated without a trace.
?
Rias instinctively looked back, but where a certain kimono-clad cat girl had been standing was now empty.
"Really... she just teleported directly? Traveling between worlds without going through customs counts as smuggling..."
The red-haired girl held her forehead again.
Behind her, Akeno Himejima covered her mouth with a light laugh.
"Can't be helped. Kuroka-san never cared about such things anyway, and it really has been a while since seeing Bokue. Not just Kuroka-san—even I really want to teleport directly over."
"That won't do."
Rias pouted in warning.
"She's a stray devil anyway, so of course she doesn't care. But our Gremory family is one of the seventy-two pillar families. If we did that, it would be seen as provoking conflict and we'd be held accountable."
Right, at least not yet.
Akeno chuckled: "You're right, President. So let's hurry and depart, reaching Bokue through 'legal channels' as quickly as possible~"
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Scene shift to Asagi Aiba's home on Itogami Island—
The three were still eating breakfast around the table when spatial magic fluctuations suddenly rippled through the air above.
The next second, Kuroka—who'd vanished from the Gremory castle dining room—suddenly appeared, diving headfirst with arms spread in a cat-pounce toward the youth at the table.
"Bokue, I'm here~ Let's make lots of kittens together! Eh... who are they?"
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