Chapter 211. [Central Cleaning]

“Oh, really~. Onee-chan, will you show it to Mai too~?”

Mai stood up with an expressionless face, attempting to invade my room.

Angu Ogu and I tried to stop her somehow.

“Wow, Mai! Stop, stop! It’s my room, so it’s not okay for you to enter without permission!?”

“Why not? You used to let me in when we were in Japan, right~?”

“Huh!?”

“Oh, that! Iroha is also a ‘secret lover,’ right? Well, this is a peaceful place.”

“Wow, Angu-san, you know a lot about Iroha-chan, huh~?”

“Eh!?”

“I’ll intrude then.”

Despite our desperate resistance, Mai broke through.

With fear, we cautiously followed her into the room.

“Really, two pillows. And sniff… this smell, one of them isn’t Iroha-chan’s, huh~?”

Mai turned around with a creaking, almost robot-like movement.

The moment we saw her face, Angu Ogu and I embraced each other in fear.

“On the same bed, what were you two doing every night? And why are you so naturally close? It’s like you’re used to physical contact, huh~?”

“Wait, this is not… I mean, um!”

“D-Don’t kill me…!”

“Iroha-chan? Ogu-san!?”

“”Hiiiiii!?””

And so, with Mai and Ah-nee’s arrival in the United States, we experienced a terrible ordeal.

***

“But it’s a really lovely room, isn’t it~? In the future, it wouldn’t be bad for Mai and Iroha-chan to live together.”

“No, that’s not it. This is my and Iroha’s room. It’s called sticking together too much.”

“Did you say something? Ogu-san?”

“N-No, it’s nothing!”

I guided Mai through the room, who had hooked her arm around mine. Angu Ogu followed behind.

“Why is this happening?”

In the end, my life with Angu Ogu completely got exposed.

Especially when Mai knew that we “bathe together”.

I felt like my life was in danger.

Really, it was much more terrifying than a robbery.

Angu Ogu, too, had ingrained the fear, trembling every time Mai glared at her.

“Ango-san is really sly. To think you had such a life with Iroha-chan. Well, while I’m here, Iroha-chan belongs to Mai, okay~?”

In the end, for the time being, Mai and I slept in the same bed and took baths together to reach a compromise.

Originally, there were only two beds, and dividing into two pairs was fine, but…

“H-Help me, Iroha! Sleeping in the same bed as Anego every day, I’m going to die!”

“Ogu.”

“Iroha!”

“…Do your best.”

“Iroha!?”

From my knowledge of Anego’s sleeping habits, this proposal might be fortunate.

However, the bath…

Why?

I wasn’t gaining anything from the beginning, so why was I subjected to such a punishment?

But, at that moment, I didn’t dare to argue with Mai.

“Wow, this is the bath~? Iroha-chan and I can fit in here perfectly~. But it’s strange~. It’s not just the living room; even the bathroom feels cool~”

“It’s called central heating.”

“Heating~?”

“By the way, even though it’s an air conditioner, I also call it heating. Conditioning is more accurate. Well, it depends on the person.”

“Isn’t that right? I sometimes call the air conditioner a cooler.”

“I see~”

Answering Mai’s question, Angu Ogu and I. As summer approached and it got hotter, we used air conditioning in the room.

The heating and cooling system in the United States is completely different from Japan, where each room has its air conditioner.

All rooms, including the toilet, are connected by ducts.

And one heating and cooling unit manages the temperature of the entire house.

“As expected, the living room alone isn’t enough, so we also run the ceiling fan.”

It’s a fan-like object hanging from the ceiling, integrated with the lighting.

It’s often used in cafes in Japan.

It looks fashionable at first glance, but it seems to be more mainstream in the United States.

Even this kind of air conditioning is different between Japan and the United States.

“Iroha-chan! Can I change the temperature of all the rooms with the machine on this wall?”

From the living room, Ah-nee asked loudly.

What, was she listening?

She was exploring the rooms on her own.

I didn’t plan to stop her until she got tired of it.

“Because it’s a bit hot, can I lower it~?”

“Sure.”

She must have gotten excited and lowered the temperature. Well, it’s better than her saying, “It’s hot, let’s wear swimsuits!” or something.

Actually, I was a little hot too, and it was convenient since Mai had her arms around me all the time!

“So, about this room…”

I nodded in agreement and continued the tour.

But.

***

“A-nee, you idiot~!?… Ah-choo!?”

“If you catch a cold after this, I won’t forgive you, stupid Anego!”

“Onee-chan, you’re such a fool~!”

Sniffing, I wiped my nose.

We ended up huddling together, shivering under the blanket.

“Uh, um… huh~!?”

Ah-nee tilted her head in confusion.