Chapter 2142: Wake up...

Understanding that I might complicate things more if I approached Futaba and checked on her condition, I decided to put my attention back to returning to my place between Akane and Fuyu.

I should take the pillow substitute between them and squeeze into what little space it could provide, right?

I know. Waking up one of them could solve this instantly but... I somehow didn't want to disturb them when they both got exhausted because of me.

Even if that could be taken as something over the top consideration... I couldn't help it. My girls ranked higher than me when it comes to my priorities.

Before I knew it, my overthinking trait was already working at full throttle thinking of possibilities and how to accomplish them without disturbing the two girls.

However, right before I could finish thinking about a solution, someone suddenly spoke. "Hmm? What's wrong? Can't sleep?"

Turning my head to the source of that voice, I found Eri who looked like she was still half- asleep. Judging from her voice which was a little coarse as though her throat dried up during her sleep and her eyes were only partly opened. Her eyelids were still heavily affected by her sleepiness, she probably woke up just now.

Was it due to the shaking of the bed when I dropped Akane? Possibly.

She had just rolled back to her original position and seeing me sitting up like this looking like I was contemplating somehow piqued her interest.

This girl... She should continue sleeping. I was being very careful of my girls but I ended up with the other two waking up because of me.

What a laughable situation.

"I'm about to. Don't worry. You can go back to sleep, Eri." With my usual smile on my face, I replied to the girl.

She should be easy to convince, right?

Eri nodded but right after that, she lifted her body a bit. Most likely, to check the situation.

Upon finding Akane and Fuyu in their current state, Eri couldn't help but let out a giggle, "Ruki, what did you do? Did you use the substitution technique from that ninja anime and now you can't go back?"

I'm impressed. She got that right away at a glance. Although it was tinged with fantasy, I no doubt used that technique. Manually though. And surely, this girl's next question would be...

"Oh... What did you do? Did you go to the bathroom?'

"Something like that. Well, this is fine. I'm just hesitating to wake one of them up."

"Eh. Why?"

"I didn't want to disturb them?"

No matter how I spin it, that's really just my reason not to do so.

And once again, Eri figured me out quite easily. Despite her throat sounding so dry, she giggled once more. This time, her heavy eyes seemingly lightened as her drowsiness must've been partly dispelled when her interest in my situation rose.

"Uh-huh. You're being so considerate again, Ruki. That's not good."

"I know, right?" I shrugged and shook my head. But I still waved my hand to not trouble her further, "I can find a way here. You should go back to sleep, Eri. It won't be good if you grow some bags under your eyes, no?"

"Hmm? If you say so... But Ruki... there's a space here if you really don't want to wake them up. You also have to protect your eyes from having bags, no?"

Upon saying that, she moved closer to the edge and then tapped the space that opened up between her and Fuyu.

Although this could play to her proposal of sleeping next to me earlier, I could sense the girl's sincerity with her suggestion. She clearly just wanted to save me from overthinking. Given her current state, she had yet to connect that to her proposal.

"Sure. I'll consider it if I really can't decide. Thanks, Eri."

She nodded and beamed a pleasant smile. Not long after that, her head dropped back to her pillow and her eyes closed as she returned to her dreamland.

What an impressive girl.

Shaking my head inwardly, I observed the girl for a while until her peaceful snoring resumed.

Well, because of that, I got another option. Not to mention, Akane's original spot was also opened with the trembling Futaba nearby.

At this point, I was also starting to feel the heaviness in my eyes. I should decide soon or just pick one of the two options.

Ugh... I get it. I just turned a simple thing into something so complicated.

If Akane, Fuyu, or any of my girls heard this internal dilemma I was having, they'd all scold me for being indecisive like the bastard Ogawa.

Alright, I found my answer... I dread being compared to that guy. Never. Anything but that.

After taking a quick scan of everyone starting from Eri and then ending at Futaba who hadn't made a move even when she heard me conversing with Eri, my knees sank on the bed as I started crawling to my chosen spot.

The space between Fuyu and Eri.

How did I end up with that choice? No idea. It was 50/50 after I decided not to wake up Akane or Fuyu.

Ah. On second thought, I have a reason. I still don't want to complicate things with Futaba.

If I fell asleep next to her, there's a possibility that instead of sneaking out alone, she might wake me up to accompany her. But if I fell asleep on the other side, that possibility greatly lowered.

And with that, I found myself crawling to the space between Fuyu and Eri

Perhaps noticing the movement at her side, one of her Eri's eyes opened to check. Upon seeing me about to lie down next to her, a pleasant smile formed on her lips as she turned sideways

facing me.

"Goodnight, Ruki."

"Mhm. Goodnight, Eri."

After that exchange, the girl happily giggled before closing her eyes again. Falling asleep for

real this time.

I fixed her blanket and covered her up to her shoulders. I also combed her hair which got a little disheveled from rolling, fixing it before gently patting her head. Eri hummed in satisfaction as the line of her lips extended into a bigger smile.

Once that was done, I turned to Fuyu's side, hugging her from behind and closing my eyes while cuddling my girl.

With peace and comfort already occupying my head, I soon found myself dozing into sleep...

This night was so long but like I told Akane. It's hella fun for me. How can I describe it? It's like everything went smoothly.

Ah... Did I just jinx that?

I don't know. But for some reason, I could already feel something was about to happen again. However, nothing happened. Or at least, not at that specific moment.

Was it ten or twenty minutes? I couldn't be sure as my eyes were already so heavy I couldn't open my eyes right away.

At some point, my consciousness returned due to someone shaking my legs in a bid to wake

me up.

I quickly took a look with squinted eyes and it wasn't any of the two girls next to me.

My Fuyu was still fast asleep enjoying my cuddle and Eri had rolled back to her previous position, facing the edge of the bed.

By the process of elimination, it could only be Akane or... Futaba.

Yeah. I could see Akane past Fuyu's shoulder....

"H-hey, Onoda-kun. Wake up... I need to go to the bathroom..."

I tried to run away from this yet here we are. Is this fated to happen? Ugh...