Chapter 206 – Amami-san’s Room

Amami-san's birthday party quickly came to an end.

It was still early in the evening, but it wouldn't be appropriate to stay too long here. Besides, Amami-san also needed some time to celebrate with her family alone. Everyone cleaned up the remaining dishes and decided to head home.

"Thank you for coming, everyone! There were more people than usual today, I'm so happy! See you at school! Sanae, Manaka, let's hang out together later, okay?"

Amami-san sent everyone off and they went their separate ways. Some of them went straight home and some of them went somewhere to have more fun.

Today, everyone seemed to hit it off and enjoyed themselves at the party. From the basketball players, Nitta-san and Nakamura-san, everyone had fun talking with each other. Nozomu didn't join the girls' group, but he was already satisfied just by being invited. Rocky kept him company too, so he wasn't feeling lonely throughout the party.

"What should we do now, Maki?"

"Hm? Nothing, I guess… I wanna go home–"

"Hm? What did you say?"

"…Fine, let's go to your house."

"Hehe, that's what I'm talking about. Let's have dinner at my house. Don't worry, I told mom about this before I left."

My fate had been decided without me knowing about it. Oh well. I'm tired, but I don't mind staying with Umi a little longer.

I could invite her to my house instead, but if we were to do that, we would most definitely get carried away and do more than just hanging out. 

"Ah, wait, Umi, Maki-kun."

But as we were about to leave, Amami-san stopped us.

We'd said our goodbyes to both Eri-san and Rocky, so I don't think they needed anything from us. Did we forget something?

"What's up, Yuu?"

"Um… I wanna talk to you two a little longer… Do you mind?"

"I don't mind, but… What about you, Maki?"

"I don't mind either."

"Really? Hehe, yay~"

A soft smile bloomed in Amami-san's face.

We hung out earlier, but we didn't talk much because we were being  considerate with other people around.

We had to accommodate her because of this, but since this was her day, it should be fine to let her be a little selfish.

"Since it's just the three of us, do you want to talk in my room? Mom, can you bring us some drinks and snacks?"

"Sure, wait a bit, okay Dear?"

After receiving Eri-san's permission, Umi and I entered the house once more.

We passed the living room on the first floor and went up the stairs to Amami-san's room on the second floor.

This would be my first time visiting her room.

"Go ahead~ I'm going to help my mom, you two can wait inside~"

"Did you clean up? I'm not the only one entering your room this time, you know? You should put away anything you don't want him to see."

"Eh, it should be fine, I cleaned up properly… Well, I guess it won't hurt to check…"

'Wah! Mom! Why did you leave the laundry on my desk?!'

"Jeez, she's as clumsy as ever…"

"Haha… At least she noticed before it was too late."

There was a commotion behind the door. It was a blessing that I didn't enter the room first.

By now, I'd gotten used to seeing Umi in her underwear, but she was my girlfriend, so she was a special case. It would be awkward if I were to look at another girl's underwear.

"Hehe, sorry for the wait… I cleaned up the mess, so you can come in now."

"Be more careful next time. Excuse me."

"Excuse me, Amami-san."

"Go ahead~ I'm going to get the snacks and drinks, okay?"

After giving her a small bow, I entered her room.

I've been inside Umi's room many times, but I'm still feeling nervous inside another girl's house.

If I were to stare at one point for too long, Umi would pinch either my cheek or my waist. Well, not that I would do that since it would be rude to Amami-san. In any case, her room didn't look so different from Umi's, save for the amount of the plushies, she had more of them than Umi. Aside from that, there were more accessories and girly stuff on her desk. Her bookshelves were filled with popular shoujo manga and anime BDs. There were reference books and other books for studying, but their numbers were sparse.

…Also, her room smelled sweet.

"Maki, did you just sniff her room? Pervert."

"I'm just trying to breathe normally, okay? I'm really nervous here… I can't relax here like I usually do in your room."

It wasn't like there was something wrong with Amami-san's room, it was just, I felt more relaxed in Umi's room. Rather, her whole house felt more comfortable than here.

Probably because by now, her house was pretty much a second home to me. Ever since we started dating, her family was very welcoming toward me and because of that, I found myself visiting her house often.

The familiar smell of Sora-san's cooking, the fresh vegetable smell in the garden, the sweet smell of Umi's room… They became a part of my life, my second home…

"Alright then, I'll be staying by your side so you won't get nervous."

"Please do."

After that, we stared at each other and were about to drift into our own world. But the unfamiliar scene of Amami-san's room managed to bring us to our senses. Thanks to that, we restrained ourselves from getting too carried away with our flirting.

If this was Umi's or my room, we wouldn't need to hold back, but since this was Amami-san's room, we couldn't do that.

"Thank you for waiting, Umi, Maki-kun! I accidentally put too much food on my plate, but we should be able to finish everything… Huh? What's wrong, you two?"

""Nothing's wrong.""

For now, let's just focus on Amami-san. We could save the flirting for another time.