Homura, being stared at by everyone, chuckled.
"Well, what about the last senpai's opinion?"
Homura asked with a smile as he glanced at Eli, who hadn't spoken.
"Me?" Eli pointed at herself.
"Yep, what do you think?" Homura nodded.
Eli thought for a moment before answering.
"No opinion."
"Okay, since that's the case, I'll skip calling all of you senpai from now on!" Homura declared.
"Good." Nozomi nodded in satisfaction. "Now, let's hear it?"
At this, Homura raised an eyebrow, feeling like she was teasing him.
"Nozomi, satisfied now?" Homura said while patting her head again.
Before Nozomi could respond, Eriri spoke up from the side.
"Ah! I almost forgot again! Weren't we just talking about headpats?" Eriri turned to Utaha. "Just now... what did you mean by that, Shi-chan?"
'So there was no avoiding the 'Shi-chan' thing, huh?'
Utaha thought with twitched lips before answering Eriri with a playful smile.
"You were asking if I've been headpatted by Homura-kun? Nope, I haven't."
"Huh? Then how do you know what it feels like?"
"I don't." Utaha shrugged. "The one who said Homura-kun's headpats feel good was Mashiro. I never said that."
"But you did agree with Mashiro's statement..." Eriri looked skeptical.
"Yes, I haven't been head-patted, but..."
Utaha paused with a smile that only made it seem like something was up.
Seeing this, Homura started feeling a bit of a headache.
What was she trying to pull now?
"I do know what it feels like to be patted elsewhere..."
Upon hearing this, Eriri's eyes widened in shock, nearly popping out of her head!
Even Muse's members were a little stunned, and a few of them had flushed faces—who knew what kind of images were running through their heads?
*Whoosh!*
Homura suddenly could feel all the eyes on him, and it was kind of stabbing into his back.
"When did you make a move on her?!" Eriri shouted with anger. "I've been here the whole time, so there shouldn't have been a chance for that!"
"...I can understand other people looking at me like this, but Eriri, even you?" Homura said helplessly.
"Why can't I look at you like this?" Eriri looked annoyed.
"Look at Megumi. Is she looking at me like this?"
Hearing this, Eriri quickly turned her head, only to find Megumi looking right at her.
"Huh? Why did Megumi's name come up..."
Eriri rubbed her chin like she had just uncovered some kind of 'blind spot.'
"Wait... don't tell me... you made a move on Megumi too?!"
"I made a move on you too, for God's sake!" Homura rolled his eyes and shot back.
"Oh, c'mon. When did you ever make a move on me?" Eriri waved her hand dismissively, then suddenly blushed. "Wait... was it when I was sleeping?"
"Megumi… I'm begging you…" Homura looked like he was about to break down.
"Alright then." Megumi nodded, accepting the mission.
"Eriri, why did you forget?" Megumi was also a little confused. "Homura-kun was helping us with a massage, remember?"
Eriri: "..."
"What the heck?! It was about that massage?!"
Eriri's jaw dropped before she turned to look at Utaha, who was smirking.
"Kasumigaoka—Shi-chan! You totally misled us on purpose, didn't you?!"
As soon as Utaha heard 'Shi-chan', her good mood took a little hit.
"Ara, did I?" Utaha replied after adjusting her mood. "I wasn't lying, was I? When Homura-kun's hands were on me, it really did feel amazing."
"It was just a massage! Why does it sound so freaking suggestive when you say it?!" Eriri was losing her mind.
Upon hearing this, Muse's members felt a bit embarrassed.
Even though they hadn't quite mustered the courage to try Homura's massage yet, they had imagined it plenty of times. Furthermore, after hearing Utaha's words, they felt even more tempted.
"By the way, Eriri, you should've been the one feeling it the most, right?" Utaha said with a knowing look.
"Huh? What are you even talking about?" Eriri frowned.
"You know, the day Elf showed up." Utaha raised an eyebrow. "Homura was lying on the ground, and then something unexpected happened. Eriri end—"
"Ahhhhhh—!!!"
Eriri lunged at Utaha, trying to cover her mouth, but she failed miserably.
Seeing this scene, Homura covered his face.
Somehow, just hearing Utaha call her 'Eriri' made it feel like Eriri was getting played so hard already. More importantly, it didn't seem like Utaha was planning to stop anytime soon.
"Something unexpected happened, and Eriri ended up sitting on—"
"Ahhh! How do you even know that?!"
Eriri charged at Utaha again, but once again, she couldn't stop Utaha.
"I'm guessing when I was talking to Eriri, Utaha-senpai—Utaha-chan was eavesdropping outside?" Megumi guessed.
"Ara, ara, this little piece of intel sure sounds interesting~" Nozomi said with a smile before turning to Utaha. "Utaha-chan, what exactly happened?"
"Homura and I have already had some close contact! Yes, that's what happened!" Eriri suddenly answered before Utaha could.
"C-C-Close contact?!"
Exclaimed in surprise, Hanayo looked absolutely shocked, a little conflicted, kind of curious, and a little... envious?
"Wait... do you mean... that kind of thing?"
As Hanayo asked this, she held up three fingers, forming a circle with two while moving the other in and out of it.
Seeing this, Homura's eyes couldn't help but widen.
'Why the hell is Hanayo making that gesture?!' Homura thought speechlessly.
Even Rin looked at Hanayo like she was seeing her for the first time, her expression utterly dumbfounded, mouth hanging wide open.
Regardless, everyone actually got what Hanayo meant since one could tell just from how red their faces were.
"W-W-What the hell?! It's not like that at all!"
Eriri yelled before diving straight into Homura's arms, burying her face deep.
"Seriously..." Yukiho blinked her eyes speechlessly. "Eriri-nee was blushing like crazy just now, but now she's acting all bold?"
Homura looked down and saw that Eriri's neck was red.
No doubt, she was absolutely dying of embarrassment right now.
Homura wrapped an arm around Eriri, gently patting her back with one hand while running his fingers through her blonde hair with the other.
"You're a freaking master in the doujin world, yet you get embarrassed over this kinda thing?" Homura said with an amused tone.
Hearing this, Eriri stomped her foot in protest.
"Fine, fine, I won't say anything more." Homura kept comforting Eriri.
Utaha watched the scene unfold, pouted, and said nothing.
However, a minute later, Utaha, glancing at Eriri, who was still clinging to Homura, unmoving, had a vein pop on her forehead.
"Hey, Megumi, don't you think Eriri is doing this on purpose now?" Utaha asked, though she already knew the answer.
Not even waiting for Megumi to reply, Utaha marched right up to Homura and stood behind Eriri, huffing.
"Eriri! Cut it out already! How long are you planning to embrace him?!"
Eriri, however, kept silent, pretending not to hear.