When Asakura woke up, a light rain was pattering outside the window.
Raindrops constantly broke through the obstruction of the curtains from the window, which had not been tightly closed for ventilation last night, stubbornly wetting a corner of the room.
The air was also filled with that unique scent of the rainy season.
Asakura sat up. The fox he had called to be his mattress had slipped away at some point, and the hard chair-bed left him with a sore back.
He glanced at the overcast sky, then thought to wake Yanami, but when he saw Yanami, who was supposed to be sleeping not far from him, he froze.
"Hooo~"
Perhaps sensing Asakura's movement, the girl let out a big yawn, her eyes opening slightly, though the sleepiness in them was still heavy.
Probably because her sleeping posture wasn't very good, unlike last night when she was completely curled up in her sleeping bag like a large silkworm cocoon, a large part of her body had poked out of the sleeping bag, her head was full of curled up cowlicks, and her clothes were wrinkled, exposing her smooth and slender… no, her chubby little belly to the air. It was a scene of spring light peeking through, yet it evoked no sense of desire at all. In a way, this could be considered a unique ability of Yanami, that airheaded beauty.
However, what made Asakura freeze was naturally not just the girl's terrible sleeping posture.
"What time is it?"
"I don't know~"
"The sky isn't even bright yet, maybe we can still catch some more sleep."
"Agreed~ The five minutes of lying in bed in the morning are more precious than an hour of sleeping early at night."
"It looks like it's raining outside, maybe it's already seven or eight o'clock now."
"Hmm, unfamiliar ceiling… Oh, right, yesterday it seemed like…"
"Huh, Asakura's voice sounds strange, like a girl's…"
"Since just now—" Asakura, who had been silent for a long time, said, "I haven't said a single word."
"Eh?"
Yanami froze. She and the person she had just been talking to stared at each other for a moment, and then the sleepiness in her eyes instantly flew away to the ninth heaven.
"Eeeek?! Why is there another me?!"
Then both of them, in perfect sync, showed a silly expression: "I feel like this scene is a bit familiar…"
"It seems you've split again."
Asakura frowned and took out his phone to make a call.
The phones on both Yanamis rang simultaneously.
"Don't answer."
He told them, making the two Yanamis' movements to take out their phones pause for a moment.
A moment later, the call connected, and Yanami's flustered voice came from the receiver.
"Oh no! A new me has appeared today!"
"No, you're the new one! I was here yesterday!"
"Liar, I'm sleeping on the bed and you're under the bed, doesn't that mean I'm the real one?"
"I was kicked off the bed by your terrible sleeping posture, okay?!"
"You're not much better, even your pajamas have already—"
"Wahhh, what are you saying? Asakura is still listening on the phone!"
"Hmm, what should we do now?!"
"It'll be absolutely terrible if Mom and Dad find out!"
Good. It seems that not only here at school, but also the Yanami who went home yesterday has become Yanamis.
Asakura pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice.
"Elaborate on the underwear."
"No, no, no, that's not the point!"
"No way! By the way, is Asakura really such a pervert?"
"Please say I have a passionate heart… Just kidding. Anyway, you two calm down first, don't let your family find out. I'll go over and pick you up."
Saying that, Asakura optimistically thought that at least this proved that this paranormal phenomenon had nothing to do with the school.
After hanging up the phone, he noticed that the blank expressions, which had just been on the faces of the two Yanamis beside him after waking up, had disappeared, replaced by worry and anxiety—to be honest, seeing such an expression on Yanami's face was quite novel.
Originally, after their late-night talk yesterday, the girl had actually somewhat come to terms with the situation, but she didn't expect such a situation to occur today. Not only had the situation not improved, it had gotten even worse.
It was normal for her to feel uneasy because of this.
So Asakura put away his phone and said seriously: "Don't worry, everything will be fine."
"But…"
The Yanamis exchanged glances, clearly not comforted.
"Don't look at me like this, but actually, as I said before, I've already solved many supernatural problems, and there are even some world-class big~ troubles among them. It's just a mere proliferating Yanami, don't be so arrogant!"
Asakura said with a smile.
"Don't make me sound like some strange mold…"
Yanami mumbled, but her complaining tone still sounded somewhat weak.
"Then let's talk about some parts that can be revealed. The number of people itself isn't a problem, whether it's two or four Yanamis, it doesn't matter… Actually, I've pretty much figured out the solution since yesterday. Now I'm just missing some necessary conditions."
Asakura mysteriously made a 'shush' gesture: "But with occult matters, speaking them out might make them ineffective, so allow me to keep it a secret for now."
"It's not some curse that makes us play rock-paper-scissors and turns the loser into a snake, is it?"
Yanami asked with some suspicion.
"How sadistic… So the so-called solution isn't 'a solution to the problem' but 'a solution to us'?"
The other Yanami also expressed her opinion.
"Putting aside that I was just joking yesterday, even if I really intended to do that, if this proliferation continues, in just a month or so, the entire island nation would be submerged by snakes."
Asakura shook his head: "Moreover, a future where you wake up and have to play rock-paper-scissors, and if you lose, your life immediately ends, and to survive you have to keep winning, is simply too despairing. Having to constantly wait for misfortune to descend with trepidation every day, perhaps dying directly would be even happier than having your spirit tormented like that."
Even the prisoners of Azkaban weren't that anti-human.
"So just stay here obediently, I need to go pick up the other two Yanamis, and besides that, there's some preparatory work to do—" Asakura assured them: "Don't leave the clubroom until I come back…"
"Um… can't we go wash up?"
"And picking flowers…"
The two Yanamis, with their heads full of cowlicks, hesitated for a moment, then asked awkwardly.
Asakura froze for a moment, then clapped his hands in sudden realization: "Oh, as for the restroom, you two can take turns."
"Don't say it so nonchalantly!"
"That's why you're no good at this, Asakura!"