"Rinji... I think you're becoming a harem protagonist," Ishigami said.
"...Huh?"
"It's like those anime and manga tropes. The moment the 'falling from the sky' girlfriend confesses, suddenly the main character gets all kinds of attention," Ishigami continued flatly. "Then it's the usual cringe plot of him surrounded by girls. So cliché. So trashy."
"No—this isn't a good thing! That stuff only happens in fiction..."
"Didn't it just happen to you in real life!? You damn winner!"
"Don't look at me like that, Ishigami..." Rinji muttered. "You're acting like I betrayed you or something."
"Aren't you a traitor!?"
Ishigami's eyes darkened.
"Now that I think about it, everything changed when you got a girlfriend. You suddenly got popular and turned into a normie—just like in those awful anime."
"Wait..."
"At this point, if you told me you got magic powers, I'd believe it. Girls who fall from the sky always come with weird baggage."
"No—this is why I'm bringing it up to you all."
Rinji scratched his head, clearly frustrated.
"You know I have a girlfriend. So waking up with two naked women next to me—one of them being my girlfriend—do you know what that implies?"
"It implies you're a hateful light novel protagonist."
"I'm not!!"
Rinji shouted, exasperated.
"It means Fusui being on my bed was something Karura allowed! Why!? Isn't a girlfriend supposed to protect my chastity!? Why is Karura encouraging this!?"
Kure Karura and Kure Fusui—these two women from the Kure clan clearly had values that didn't match normal society. Who knew what kind of ideology their family drilled into them?
"...Isn't that kind of nice?" Ishigami asked.
"It's not nice!"
"You're not happy?"
"How could I be!?"
Rinji grabbed his head, his voice heavy with distress.
"Ugh... I thought Karura just lacked a bit of common sense, but now I realize it's that bad. Does she have zero understanding of social norms?"
"Coming from you, that sounds ironic."
Honestly, ever since they started dating, Rinji had noticed Karura's baffling behavior.
Including but not limited to her strong desire to have children, trying to jump him the first time they met, and randomly trying to strip no matter the setting.
But this latest stunt—allowing another girl to sleep in the same bed—was the final straw.
"Th-Three people!?"
Iino turned bright red behind Fujiwara.
"D-Don't tell me it's some s-sort of..."
"That's enough. Stop right there."
"Th-th-thr..."
"I said stop."
"O-org—"
"Where do you learn these words!? Can you please clean up your vocabulary!?"
"This is just too impure!!" Iino cried out.
Even though she had clearly picked up a ton of weird vocabulary, she clearly still couldn't mentally process it.
"I told you, I didn't do anything."
"I think we can drop this topic now."
Shirogane covered his face and glanced back.
"Shinomiya fainted."
As a sheltered young lady, Kaguya Shinomiya had never heard such scandalous talk. Her face had flushed red long before she collapsed onto the floor.
"As for your girlfriend, I really can't comment much… but maybe..." Ishigami looked at Rinji with a complicated expression. "Maybe you're in the burnout phase."
Love burnout phase.
This refers to when a couple becomes so familiar with each other's looks, personalities, and habits that they can no longer tolerate imperfections. It's the feeling of fatigue or aesthetic exhaustion.
In short, the dopamine fades and the partner loses their appeal.
"I don't think so," Rinji retorted. "I just think Karura's behavior lately doesn't make sense. It's not that she's lost her charm. It's because I like her that I care enough to question it."
"Hmm?"
"Ishigami, think about it. If your girlfriend kept wanting to sleep with you all day and even allowed you to sleep with other women, how would you feel?"
"Isn't that great? She's letting you cheat—how amazing is that?"
"..."
Rinji stared blankly at Ishigami and pointed to the side.
Ishigami turned his head, puzzled, and saw Shirogane looking away while Fujiwara and Iino stared at him like he was scum.
"Wait, no, I meant—"
Iino gave him a disgusted look. "Don't talk to me."
Fujiwara smiled sweetly. "Ishigami-kun, you're disgusting."
"..."
It was as if lightning had struck him. Ishigami's entire presence darkened.
He slumped his shoulders and dragged himself toward the door like a zombie, mumbling, "I want to go die. See you."
"Oh, but don't actually die," Rinji said.
Sometimes Rinji really thought Ishigami was brave—though his communication skills were lacking.
With Ishigami out of commission, Rinji turned to the remaining people in the room.
"That's the gist of it. Any good solutions?"
"Well… I don't really have any ideas." Fujiwara looked troubled. "Your girlfriend isn't like a normal girl, so it's hard to analyze."
Though she called herself a love detective, Fujiwara's methods only worked within the bounds of common sense. Karura didn't seem to understand those at all.
"How about trying to explain it to her?"
"I already did. She just doesn't get it."
Iino said, "How about breaking up?"
"Don't joke. Even if I mess around sometimes, I still understand what responsibility means," Rinji rejected immediately. "Breaking up is out of the question—we're even planning to get registered."