The final week of the semester.
The time after final exams is the last period of joy for second-year high school students, the final stretch of hard work for third-years aiming for university, and for Ryo, who had decided not to pursue higher education... it was time to slack off and rot.
Grades were completely unimportant!
What made Rin Ito somewhat exasperated was that Ryo wasn't studying, but she wasn't practicing her bass either!
However, during this final week, Rin Ito didn't harass... wait, no, didn't disturb them. He even had Sajuna take off her little toys.
Play is play, but they were still students, and grades were important!
Moreover, the holidays were coming up, and Rin Ito would visibly become very busy. Finishing his manga early would make things easier later.
Having promised to find them a new apartment, Rin Ito was searching for nearby places while taking breaks from drawing. While searching, he suddenly noticed a small delivery truck parked outside his neighbor's house.
His neighbor, Mr. Kondo, was slowly loading packed boxes onto the truck.
"Mr. Kondo, what's going on?"
Rin Ito walked over to greet him and asked while helping to carry the boxes.
"Someone offered a high price to buy my house."
"Oh? Such a good deal? Who has that kind of money?" Rin Ito asked casually. This was just an ordinary neighborhood, nothing special, and the houses weren't exactly new... Someone offering a high price to buy it instead of the owner actively selling was definitely abnormal.
Karen? Kaguya? Or Sakiko?
"I don't know either. The person who came to sign the contract didn't seem like the one who was going to live here. Are you thinking of selling yours and moving in with your little girlfriend?"
Rin Ito and Kaede had never moved since they were kids, and all the neighbors knew they were dating.
"No, I'm just curious about what kind of people my new neighbors will be."
"I don't know either. They should be moving in next week. I'm just slowly moving my stuff out first. I'll come say goodbye properly when I actually move."
"Alright." Rin Ito didn't ask further and continued helping with the luggage.
Since he wasn't moving out immediately, there wasn't much luggage—just some infrequently used miscellaneous items.
After helping, Rin Ito went home and took out his phone. Karen and Kaguya had both expressed this idea before, but when he asked around, they all denied it.
If they were really moving in, there would be no reason to hide it from him. Since it wasn't them, Rin Ito couldn't think of who else it might be, but he didn't dwell on it and continued looking for an apartment for the quintuplets.
Besides Ichika and her sisters, Rin Ito also had to help Eriri and her group. For example, he needed to handle the promotional materials for How to Train a Boring Girlfriend, as well as physical bonuses for on-site purchases, like life-size standees and posters.
Regarding voice acting, Nanami had already recorded most of it by renting a studio on weekends. Once exams were over, she would finish the remaining work, and then they could produce physical discs. They would also submit it to gaming platforms for review to release it simultaneously.
Rin Ito needed to contact people for all these things personally, which also helped him familiarize himself with the entire process.
While they were busy with exams, Rin Ito was busy with various odds and ends until the final day of exams.
...
In the afternoon, after preparing a full table of food for Kaede and the others in advance, Rin Ito headed to Ichika's apartment.
Kaede and Suzu's grades were nothing for Rin Ito to worry about. Nanami's grades, while not top-tier, had always been stable. Even though her grades had dipped slightly due to voice acting lately, she was still quite excellent overall.
The condition Nanami's parents set for her to pursue her dreams in Tokyo was to maintain stable grades... not stably low, but stably above average. As for Mashiro... although her grades didn't matter at all, thanks to her photographic memory, her grades were equally excellent.
The only ones whose grades Rin Ito needed to worry about were the five idiot Nakano sisters... He had already prepared rewards, so surely they wouldn't do too poorly, right?
He hadn't waited long in the apartment before he heard the girls chattering downstairs.
Turning the key and opening the door, Nino, seeing Rin Ito waiting in the living room on the tatami mats, took off her loafers that wrapped her white-tights-clad feet and eagerly ran up to him with a proud look.
Now that the weather had turned cold, they all wore tights similar to Miku's under their pleated uniform skirts. The thick, opaque tights kept them warm even in winter, allowing them to continue wearing skirts and show off the perfect curves of a young girl's soft legs.
Noticing Rin Ito's gaze, Nino smiled, gave a soft hmph, and slightly lifted her leg, presenting it to Rin Ito.
"Mmh... smells bad."
"!?"
Rin Ito's teasing made Nino blush fiercely. She lifted her leg and stomped towards Rin Ito's face.
"Smell this!!!!"
Rin Ito reached out and grabbed it. Losing her balance, Nino fell onto Rin Ito, her full, massive breasts tightly enveloping his face.
The unique scent of a young girl wafted into his nose, making Rin Ito instinctively take a deep breath.
"My, my, getting along so well~" Ichika covered her mouth and giggled. Among the five, although Nino was always sharp-tongued, she was perhaps the one who liked him the most.
This was textbook tsundere behavior.
Rin Ito pushed Nino away and stood up... It definitely didn't smell bad. The weather was cool, so they wouldn't sweat much, plus they were just taking exams today and hadn't been very active. At most, there was a faint scent of sweat.
In terms of smell, Miku, who wore tights in the summer, had a much stronger scent, though it wasn't foul, just a slightly heavy sweat smell.
"How did the exams go? Are you confident?" Rin Ito ruffled the hair of the deeply displeased Nino. "I've found the apartment; it all depends on your grades now."
"It... went okay, I guess." Yotsuba guiltily scratched her cheek. Although she felt it went okay, she also felt it went okay the times she did terribly... Regardless of whether it's right or wrong, I filled the whole paper!
Considering I filled it all out, even if it's wrong, the teacher should give me a few points, right...
Yotsuba's thoughts were pure wishful thinking. That might work in elementary school, but it definitely didn't fly in high school, especially for subjects like math—if you don't know it, you don't know it; if it's wrong, it's wrong.
"Why talk about such depressing things after exams?" Nino pushed Rin Ito's hand away and stepped on his toes with her white-tights-clad heel. "We're done with exams anyway... You better not skimp on what you promised!"
"I've got Miku's gift ready, but as for yours, Nino..." Rin Ito glanced at Nino's chest. "How about I get your grandma another hair accessory?"
"Pervert!" Nino glared at Rin Ito. What 'hair accessory for grandma'... he just wants to pierce another one for me!
However, Nino secretly loved this kind of thing. She crossed her arms, looked away, and put on a perfectly tsundere expression.
"I-If I'm the only one getting it, then... I suppose it's fine."