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Seeing Niki flounder around trying to explain his sniffing habit was humorous, Himeru thought. He watched with a small amused smile as Kohaku’s sister went on about Niki’s new responsibility to ask for her hand in marriage and defeat her father, who is apparently hard to beat. Niki’s expression grew more distressed, backing away from Kohaku’s sister and apologizing profusely.
Rinne swooped in to make the situation worse, as he stood close to Niki’s side, wrapped his arm around his shoulders, and said that no, Niki couldn’t marry Kohaku’s sister, because Niki’s already going to marry him! Kohaku’s sister suddenly paled, and she stopped talking. Rinne let out a delighted cackle at her reaction.
Niki put space between himself and those two, crying out, “Both of those options sound like hell!” Himeru felt a small pang of concern seeing his distress.
Himeru’s smile grew as he thought of a way to distract Niki, and he teased, “You’re in high demand, Shiina. Good for you.”
A small moment passed between Himeru and Niki. There was an electricity in the space between them from Himeru’s comment that only they could sense. Himeru could feel the electricity travel into small shocks in his fingertips and stomach. He gazed at Niki coyly, holding back an even bigger smile from the joy of teasing him. It was clear to them what Himeru was implying, and the subtle flirting riled up Niki. His floundering came back, and his cheeks somehow got warmer than they were before as he exclaimed a flustered, “You can take my place!”
Himeru’s amusement only grew as Niki struggled to figure out how to deal with Himeru’s light-hearted teasing. He looked to the other two and groaned, “Gagh… it’s no fair that Himeru-kun’s always out of harm's way, unlike me!”
By observing Niki’s physical reaction, however, Himeru could tell he wasn’t as upset about it as he said he was.