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On the other side of the classroom, Saiki could hear Teruhashi telling Yumehara about how she recently ran into Saiki Kuriko at a clothing store, as well as Aiura Mikoto. Yumehara moaned, “I always miss out on the really good stuff. I feel like I just go missing half the time…”
“I’m sorry, Chiyo!” Teruhashi said. “If I had known that it was going to become an outing, I would have invited you to come along.”
Yumehara stuck her lower lip out in a pout. The apology didn’t seem to satisfy her much.
“How about we have a sleepover party?” Teruhashi suggested. “I’ll make sure everyone comes and you won’t miss out on anything!”
Yumehara’s frown inverted in a second. She clapped her hands together with excitement. “I can’t wait to tell Miko-chan!” she said.
Teruhashi winced slightly, but she wasn’t going to protest. She had a nice time out shopping, so she decided she could survive a night with the eccentric, fortune-telling gyaru anyway.
Saiki sighed, because he realized that soon, Teruhashi would make her way stuttering and blushing to ask if he would be so kind as to pass along a sleepover invitation to his “younger sister.” And as much as he wished he had a good excuse to reject the invite on his “sister’s” behalf, he really didn’t. So he politely told her that he would let Kuriko know and made plans to transform into his female form for a weekend of uncomfortable girl talk.
Teruhashi was true to her word. Everyone really was in attendance, even Mera who would normally have to work. With a bribe of lots of snacks, she agreed to come. When she arrived, Saiki realized that she would have to come up with a decent excuse for why she and Rifuta Imu had never met, since they were supposed to be in the same year after all.
“This is Saiki-kun’s younger sister, Kuriko,” Teruhashi said, gesturing to the pink haired girl in question after she ushered her into her soft and delicately decorated bedroom. “She’s in your year.”
Rifuta cocked her head, and Saiki could tell from her thoughts that she did not recognize her, but she simply shrugged, assuming that there must be people she still hadn’t met, even a year after transferring to PK Academy. Saiki tried not to visibly sigh in relief when Rifuta decided not to question it. It was unlike her, really, since she was such a detective usually. But Saiki figured that she was much less interested in investigating girls than she was in investigating boys, even given her tendency to crush on those of the same sex.
“Isn’t Kuri-chan much cuter than her brother?” Aiura teased, placing her hand on Saiki’s shoulders and giving it a squeeze.
“That’s not nice to say about him,” Yumehara snickered behind her hand.
Rifuta’s brow furrowed in more confusion. Isn’t she dating Saiki-kun? Why would she say his sister is cuter?
Saiki felt herself tensing. This was getting way too complicated. This little sister lie was going to get him exposed.
Aiura cackled. “I’m just joking. The Saiki siblings are all waaaay too good looking.”
Teruhashi blushed furiously in silent agreement, even acknowledging the eldest Kuusuke for being kind of a pretty boy. A jerk, but a pretty boy nonetheless.
“Wait, are you saying you have a crush on the Saikis?” Yumehara asked, her finger pointing in playful accusation.
Aiura slumped against the side of Teruhashi’s bed, snatching a chip from Mera’s hand bravely. Everyone was shocked that she didn’t get bitten in the process. “Like, duh,” she agreed, popping the chip lazily into her mouth.
Yumehara’s eyes narrowed with mischief as she looked in Teruhashi’s direction, relishing in the drama of Aiura and Teruhashi being rivals for Saiki’s affection.
“Let’s not embarrass Saiki-san,” Teruhashi said, waving her hands, trying to change the topic away from the male Saiki for fear of exposing her crush more than necessary. It’s not like anyone was really unaware at this point, except maybe Mera who was clearly more interested in food than romance.
Saiki plucked a cookie from Teruhashi’s carefully arrayed spread of treats, agreeing with Mera’s priorities.
Never one to steer away from romance, though, Yumehara was intent on grilling all of the other girls thoroughly about their love interests. “So, what about you, Imu-chan? Do you have any boys you like?”
Rifuta tapped her chin thoughtfully while peering at Teruhashi, the true object of her affection, from the corner of her eye. “I mean, I’m not sure. The boys at PK are so immature.”
Aiura snorted from her nose, thinking about Yumehara’s crush on the least mature of all the guys.
“I know what you mean,” Yumehara agreed obliviously with a very serious and sober nod.
Teruhashi gave her a pitying expression. Everyone else present thought the Kaidou was probably one of the least appealing guys at the school, but a good girlfriend doesn’t talk bad about another girlfriend’s crush.
“What about you Chisato?” Yumehara asked, leaning into her personal space. An errant crumb flung from Mera’s mouth and landed on Yumehara’s cheek.
“Huh? Boys?” Mera asked around the food in her mouth. “I dunno. Who has the time?”
Yumehara frowned at both the crumb on her face, which she flicked away with distaste, and Mera’s boring answer. She at last turned to Saiki, who had thus far contented herself with munching on cookies.
“What about you, Saiki-chan? Do you have anyone you like?”
Saiki grimaced.
Yumehara took this change in expression as an admission. “Oh?”
With an eyebrow quirked, Aiura waited to see what kind of answer Saiki would give, knowing that this Saiki was really one in the same with her romance averse “brother.”
A half-truth formulated in Saiki’s mind. She figured that it would be better to satisfy Yumehara’s curiosity rather than having her try to stir up drama between Aiura and Teruhashi in her boredom. “He’s in your year. Satou Hiroshi.”
Aiura laughed out loud, knowing about the boy Saiki’s obsession with the totally average, nothing of a guy.
All of the other third year girls exchanged looks. “Who is that?” Teruhashi asked first.
Saiki simply shrugged, not wanting to hash out her “crush” any more than that.
“Sounds like a fake, generic name,” Yumehara said. “But… I think he was in my ex’s class last year?” She had a fairly decent knowledge of the guys in the school, since at some point she’d had a crush on most of them. Satou was one of the few to escape her romantic fantasies.
“Well, I’m rooting for you, Kuri-chan,” Aiura said as she tried to get her laughter to subside. “Maybe your older brother can introduce you?”
Saiki scowled at her. She could do without the teasing.
Aiura simply threw up a peace sign in response to the stink eye, which further irritated Saiki.
“Enough boy talk,” Teruhashi declared. “Let’s give each other manicures.”
Aiura clacked her nails together. “I need a refresh on my polish,” she said. “But I want to paint Kuri-chan’s nails first.”
Aiura snatched a couple of color options from Teruhashi and Yumehara’s combined stash. Saiki tried not to frown deeper as she picked an unassuming pale pink.
“Very girly,” Aiura appraised sweetly, taking Saiki’s hand.
The gentle, casual touch made Saiki slightly less annoyed for some reason. Aiura deftly and accurately swiped polish onto each of her nails while Teruhashi watched with jealousy until Rifuta begged to paint Teruhashi’s nails.
But after a while, Teruhashi asked if she could take care of Saiki’s toes, and Aiura graciously allowed it.
Saiki tried not to feel embarrassed as Teruhashi handled her feet. If only she knew the truth of whose foot was resting on her upper thigh, she would combust and die. Aiura watched with amusement as the pedicure continued.
Once the salon treatments were over, Saiki had shining pink finger and toe nails, a new hairstyle courtesy of Yumehara which emphasized her smooth pale forehead, and a face of “flattering” makeup by Rifuta. Saiki felt pretty, sure, but also kind of ashamed of how much she kind of enjoyed being doted on.
When all of the girls settled into their respective futons, Saiki was shocked that he didn’t hate this sleepover. The girls definitely had a better idea of how to enjoy each other’s company than those idiot guys he normally associated with.
The next Monday at school, Aiura noticed that Saiki’s fingernails remained pink, even though he was back to his normal appearance.
“You, like, totally enjoyed that manicure, didn’t you?” she asked in a whisper.
Saiki frowned. The truth was he didn’t know how to get it off, figuring it would fade when he transformed back into a guy.
“I’ll help you take it off later,” Aiura told him with a wink. “For now, I’ll just enjoy how frickin’ cute you look.”
Whatever. It was a small price to pay for a relatively stress-free evening with girls who would normally over-analyze him and try to impress him. He considered, not for the first time, how much better it was to be around Teruhashi (and perhaps the other girls) when he wasn’t a boy, but he wasn’t really sure what that meant.