She's staying in my room?!

My mind is an utter mess right now so I’m letting Mom do all the talking. When entering our house, the first room to enter is the combined dining room and kitchen where we just spent some time. From there, a door leads into the general living room that has a couch, TV, and everything else you’d expect in a typical living room. Towards the left, a door leads to the chambers of my parents though we’re not entering the room. Towards the right, another door leads into my father’s office and study which is locked whenever Dad isn’t in there working from home. Therefore we’re not entering that room either.

Going back into the lounge, there’s the bathroom to the right, complete with a shower, bathtub, and toilet as well as a washing machine. Koyori disappears for a quick moment and Mom apparently deems me worthy of showing her the way to my own room which is to the left on the 2nd floor of the building. This leaves me with a short moment to collect myself.

Okay, so let me get this straight. Yori suddenly appeared here after calling on short notice. Mom didn’t bother to tell me about it and they’re both acting secretive about this. She’s supposed to stay over for an unknown time and therefore carries a lot of baggage with her. Now where’s the catch?

My mind is drifting while I’m waiting. All those little mysteries aren’t even the worst of it. During the 30 minutes or so I’ve spent together with Koyori, she’s managed to make me experience so many unfamiliar feelings that a short potty break simply isn’t enough to make sense of them. To make matters worse, the teenage version of her has snuck back into my subconscious, combining my newly acquired picture of adorable present-day Koyori with the dream version. This is leading to a fairly grotesque mental image I’d rather forget immediately.

Either way, what should I do with her while she’s around? I can’t exactly play Gunshot Online with her, can I?

I’ve been able to wing all social situations somehow up until now. However, I have no idea how to engage in conversation with a girl and I don’t expect any of my usual pastimes to be any fun for her. This is a serious problem, what should I do?

That’s when the door flings open. Koyori emerges from the bathroom and our gazes meet for a split second before I avert my eyes again. To my surprise, there’s a conflicted look on her face, and she doesn’t give me any time to prepare for the talk to come.

“Kei-kun, is everything alright?”

What a silly question. Why would I not be alright? I mean, yes. I slept in, having an accident while imagining a more adult version of yourself. Mom is getting on my nerves all day, I’m having bad luck at my game and my only ‘friend’ is no more than a perverted idiot who’s being a bad influence on me. You suddenly came crashing into my life again without warning, making me feel all weird by clinging onto me and twisting my feelings and emotions. You’re staying over for who knows how long and you’re expecting me to be just like the old Keiichi? Heck, I can’t even hold a conversation with you but I can’t even tell you all of this…

She must have noticed my confusion, elaborating on her question.

“You’ve been acting kind of weird so I’m just checking…”

Looks like I need to dissuade her somehow without getting to the root of the problem.

“I’m just a little overwhelmed right now, this is all so sudden. It’s like I’m not entirely convinced yet whether this is all real or just a very long dream…”

Yori seems to perk up at this, inching a little closer to me until…

Ouch!

… she pinches my cheek with a playful laugh.

“If you just felt that, then you’re probably not dreaming, hehehe.”

Yes, I felt it but you also entered my safe space without warning again. I swear I’m just blushing because you nipped me there, ugh!

“Guess I wasn’t dreaming after all then, what a relief…”

Koyori looks at me playfully though she seems to be somewhat disappointed when I expand my statement.

“No more drinking bitter coffee then, that stuff makes you all fuzzy in the head…”

“I’m happy this isn’t a dream either. I’ve always been a little curious about what your room might look like…”

I’m not entirely certain if the girl is saying exactly what’s on her mind right now but who am I to judge her? Right, I have to show her my room. Which reminds me…

“I really wonder where I’m staying the night.”

sometimes ‘the catch’ is so blatantly obvious that it just doesn’t catch you until it’s right under your nose. God this is cringe.

“It’d be so cool if we’re sharing a room, you know…”

Two fools sharing a thought, guess we’ve synched up already to the point of sharing brain cells huh? But more importantly…

“I’m actually really curious about that myself,” I admit without any flowery words, raising my voice so Mom would hear me through the door. “Mom, you forgot to tell Koyori where she’s staying!”

Her answer arrives almost immediately.

“This should be obvious.”

“What!?” I exhale immediately.

Is she saying… No, it can't be?!

“Your room is big enough; she can sleep there.”

I know a critical hit when I see one but this is clearly a critical hit that’s critting again. Mom are you serious?!

“Are you a witch or something?!” I yell into the hallway in a last attempt to pretend that she isn’t being serious here.

“Keiichi, you don’t need your computer while she’s here, right?”

She’s dead serious, well that makes things a lot more complicated…

“So she is a witch…” I’m muttering under my teeth. “Or more like the demon lord, rather…”

“What was that?!”

I’m hearing steps from inside the kitchen so she must have heard that regardless.

“Nothing at all, Mom! Nothing at all!” I quickly yell while Koyori is trying not to die from subduing her laughter.

“It better be!” Mom shouts through the closed door before her steps begin to move away again.

“Darn it, never underestimate the enemy,” I literally whisper while Koyori is trying to recover from the hilarity of it all though I have little reason to laugh about this. A girl in my room, that’s just madness…

“By the way, what’s a demon lord exactly?” Koyori inquires, still struggling against the giggles but I lack the mental capacity to explain it properly.

“The end boss, I suppose?”

Koyori is clearly confused regardless but I’m starting to feel like there’s little point in delaying the inevitable. Resigned, I’m pointing up the wooden ladder leading vertically to the 2nd floor.

"Be careful not to fall."