According to my childhood friend, “You can’t sleep if your pillow changes? Then I’ll sing you a lullaby!” apparently.

…No, if it’s Ayu’s singing, I really can fall asleep, not in a weird way, but it’s still embarrassing, so I want her to stop.

So then, speaking of that childhood friend, Sakura Ayuri…

“I’m back from the bath—what are you doing?”

“I’m cleaning Hina-chan’s ears.”

“I’m getting my ears done~”

After enjoying a bath far bigger than the one I use normally, I returned to the living room and was greeted by Ayu giving Hina a lap pillow and cleaning her ears while Hina just let it happen… this feels like déjà vu.

“Then I’ll take the next bath.”

“Have fun, Sumire-chan.”

“Have fun~”

“Have fun.”

Sumire-san would normally be way more excited, but she went to the bath like it was nothing.

Is it because we were together all day, so she got used to it, or is ear cleaning with friends actually normal and I just don’t know?

“Customer, you’ve got a lot built up in this ear too.”

“I saved it up because I wanted Ayu-chan to do it~”

‘Disgusting’ almost slipped out, but I swallowed it. Ayu would say it casually, but it’s Hina we’re talking about.

“…Hina-chan, the person over there isn’t reacting.”

“If there’s no straight man, I’ll turn into a twisted pervert~ oh no~”

“Wait, you were waiting for a retort?”

Honestly, I thought she might actually do that…

“I did it for Sumire-chan earlier and she was super interested and asked me a bunch of questions, so maybe it’s a standard thing.”

“Maybe it’s a weak joke~”

“No, Sumire-san is… well, whatever.”

Maybe she said it so calmly because she’d already asked everything she wanted.

Standing around won’t help, so I flopped onto the sofa and decided to mess with my phone. With the TV left on as background noise, the two of them kept cleaning ears like nothing.

“It kind of feels like a school trip~”

“I know, it’s got this relaxing vibe, like…”

“Hina, you’re at your own house.”

“Ehh? But when we’re all relaxing together at night, it feels different, you know? Usually at this time I’m in my room~”

“And right now I’m cleaning your ears.”

“Yeah~”

“Huh…”

It’s true that for me, this time is usually when I’m in my room gaming, so it feels fresh.

Even whatever’s on TV right now, I don’t usually watch it, so it’s something unfamiliar.

“Alright, ear pick is done, next we move on to cotton swabs.”

“Okaaay.”

“You’re doing it more properly than I thought.”

“Hehehe, Ayu-chan is good at cleaning ears, you know~”

“Every time we do a watch party at Hina-chan’s house, she begs me, so I've gotten used to it.”

“So it’s Hina’s fault.”

“I do it back for her too, so it’s fine~”

By the way, the ‘watch party’ is exactly what it sounds like, an event where they watch movies and stuff at Hina’s house. Even if they invite me, I refuse fairly often, so it sounds like it’s usually just the two of them.

“Hehe~ Gin-chan, jealous?”

“No, not really.”

“Nope~ right now Ayu-chan’s lap is for me only~”

“I don’t care.”

“Hoo…”

“Hyaah…”

“No, Hina-chan, don’t bully Gin-chan.”

“I’m sorry…”

“What am I being shown right now?”

No, seriously, what is this?

“I’ll do it for Gin-chan later too.”

“I’m good. I have a rule of not doing it after baths.”

“Ehh, try it, Gin-chan. I wanna see what face you make when Ayu-chan blows in your ear~”

“Yeah, now I really don’t want to.”

I didn’t really want to in the first place. Making Ayu draw out a voice like Hina’s just now, absolutely not.

“Look at you saying that~ even though you’re looking at me with jealous eyes right now~”

“Huh! Really!? Gin-chan is behind me so I can’t see… I wanna see so bad!”

“Right now, Hina, all you can see is Ayu’s stomach, so stop saying random stuff.”

Is this phone-in-hand gaming face supposed to look jealous to them?

“…Wait, don’t we only have ear picks for me and Hina-chan?”

“…Ah, right~ reusing it is kind of… yeah… sorry, Gin-chan~”

‘I got labeled jealous without permission and then apologized to without permission…’

Is it okay if I get mad now?

* * *

“Alright, let’s get ready for bed!”

“Yeah~”

Around when it started feeling late, Ayu stood up and declared that… when I checked the time, it was pointing to 11 o’clock.

“Yeah, it’s about time.”

“We still haven’t taken the futons out either.”

“Oh yeah, Ayu-chan, you said ‘You don’t have to prepare a futon for me!’ but… what are you going to do?”

When planning this sleepover, the problem was the number of futons.

It seems Hina’s house only has two guest futons, so we were short by one and couldn’t decide what to do, then Ayu declared that and we went ahead anyway.

“Of course I brought something! Ta-da! A sleeping bag!”

“…That’s what you mean by brought something?”

What Ayu pulled out of her luggage was a sleeping bag, the kind you see with camping gear… how does she even have that?

“My uncle had a phase where he got into camping and bought it cheap and he said, ‘I never used it and it’s for both summer and winter, so you can have it,’ so he gave it to me.”

“You’re using that?”

“Yeah! I thought I’d use it once while I have the chance. It’s a sleepover plus indoor camping vibes!”

“That’s just you.”

Ayu happily spread out the sleeping bag. Meanwhile, the other three of us, including me, looked far from happy, but Ayu didn’t notice.

“I think you shouldn’t.”

“Huh, why?”

“…Well, if you try it a bit, you’ll see.”

* * *

“It’s so hot!”

“Yeah, obviously.”

In the bedroom, three futons and one sleeping bag were laid out. Ayu tried sleeping in the sleeping bag, but like we expected, it was stifling, so she crawled out.

“Even if it’s for both seasons, midsummer nights are still too much~”

“I thought if I unzipped it, it’d be fine…”

“I think that’s still pretty rough…”

Also, didn’t she test it at her own house?

“Fine… tonight I’ll sleep on top of the sleeping bag and use my clothes for tomorrow as a blanket instead…”

“Mm… you don’t have to do that, there’s a better idea~”

Hina suggested it with a bright smile.

That visibly cheerful face gives me a slightly bad feeling.

“Huh, what, what? You have a spare blanket or something?”

“Nope, it’s… you can just intrude into someone’s futon~”

“Eh…”

There it is, bad feeling confirmed. As expected, Ayu froze, then shot me her usual look asking for help.

“T-that might not be good… a young maiden sleeping in the same futon as someone might not be good, maybe…”

“We’re all young maidens so it’s totally fine~ also you used to do it all the time, right~”

“I did, but…”

While saying that, Ayu kept glancing at me. The fact she’s not clearly asking for help probably means she’s thinking she might end up sleeping with me if she’s not careful.

“I’m fine with it~ we did it all the time back then~”

“Ah, I’m fine too. I kind of admired sleepovers like this.”

“Sumire-chan too!?”

Okay, that one surprised me too.

It’s not four-sided pressure, it’s two-sided pressure, but she’s already at her limit. Ayu was clearly flustered and trying to think of some clever way out… I guess that’s fair.

“…Then… you can use my futon.”

“Gin-chan!?”

“Oh, you’ve got a lot of choices~”

“I think wherever Ayuri-san wants to sleep is fine.”

I figured if it turned into a ‘go ahead’ flow, it would be smooth, but it didn’t. Fine, I’ll help a little more.

“Well, you probably sweated a bit in the sleeping bag, so why not drink some water and decide after that?”

“Y-yeah… I’ll do that…”

Alright, after Ayu leaves the room, I’ll send a message on my phone…

* * *

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight~”

“G-goodnight…”

The room light turned off and it became pitch-dark.

In the end, Ayu chose my futon and ended up sleeping with me. The official reason was, “If I sleep by Gin-chan’s side, on the edge and on the hallway side, it seems cooler.”

“……”

Ayu was way over on the edge, leaning toward the wall. Because she was sleeping like she was trying to escape me, the blanket was barely covering her.

So I took the blanket back once and then tossed it over Ayu.

Maybe she gave up, because while still lying down, Ayu shuffled closer to me a little and returned part of the blanket.

‘Seriously…’

The message I sent to Ayu was just, “If you pick me, at least you won’t feel like you tricked anyone, right?”

Even so, Ayu tried to sleep at a slightly distant position, but that’s fine. With Hina, she’d probably allow clinging, or even do it herself, but I don’t want something stifling.

‘Tomorrow I’ll make her go home once and bring a blanket.’

I’m not helping a second time.

Thinking that, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.