"So, that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Ed chuckled as he gazed up at the stars, "You're really gonna be moving in with us again?"
"You make it sound like you didn't at all miss me, Eddie~" Issei did some kissy faces, "In any case, the sooner we finish making a house for Othelia, Eleanor and me, the sooner we'll get out of your skin... again."
That's right, now that Issei has decided to live in this world indefinitely, he'll need a place to call his own. Once all the festivities of the four of us have settled down, and I finally had my fill of apologizing to Nelly in tears for being a trainwreck of a father, Issei had quietly pulled Meil, Ed and me aside to have a more private talk out on the balcony.
"By the way, I want a house twice-no, three times the size of Meil's." Issei put both hands on his hips proudly as he remarked, "Double the wives means double the kids, so we'll need a ton of space to fit everyone."
"My ass!" Ed immediately scolded him, "That's bigger than even the Grys Estate! Just how many kids is your shrimp dick having ass thinking of producing!?"
"More than you, it seems." He shot back with a smug smirk, "Hey, I wonder if your kid is gonna be old enough to wipe his ass by the time mine come of age."
"Do not make this topic a race." Meil stopped them from feuding any further, "If anything, the decision to have children should be the last thing to rush in life. It takes a lot of sacrifice and determination, so you should take as much time as is necessary."
"You sure know a lot about conceiving kids..." Ed gave him a sidelong glare, "Found anyone you fancy recently?"
"What kind of-?"
"No, I'm interested too." I interrupted, not allowing him to dodge this question in particular, "Any females catch your Eye? Be honest, we're all friends here, right?"
Right, we never got to ask him this properly before. If he says he's interested in someone, be it that Jelena, Nelly or even a third contender, then it'd help us figure out what his stance is in general. Of course, knowing Meil, I highly doubt he'll reply with anything other than a robotic "No", but it doesn't hurt to ask.
"Well..." He looked uncomfortable as he confessed, "I would usually give a resounding no to that question, but..."
"But?" Ed and I gave him nasty death glares, "What's there to but about?"
"Whoa, you guys are terrifying when you're like that." Issei chuckled.
"When it comes to that, well..." Meil ultimately chose to run away from the topic, "Never mind. I refuse to spread any misinformation, so until I am certain, I will keep quiet on this matter."
"What the hell kind of excuse is that!?" We shouted, "Come on, don't add logic to emotions!"
After that, the case went cold. We kept trying to reignite the topic, but he vehemently dodged every single one of our attempts. Looks like he really doesn't wanna admit it, but his denial to give us an answer is already more than enough evidence for us. He's definitely got SOMEONE in mind, he just better pray it's not who we think it is.
"By the way - Nelly..." I namedropped her before gauging his unwavering facial expression, "Tsk, didn't work..."
"What about Nelly?" Meil asked with a head tilt.
"Does she ever talk about missing her home?" I twiddled my thumbs as I asked, "Like, does she ever talk about wanting to come see us back in Cardina?"
"No." He replied calmly and immediately, "Not at all. As a matter of fact, the only thing she ever puts her attention to is studying and complaining about how much of a hindrance Lemmy is to her."
"At least she's diligent..." I sobbed as the other two consoled me, "I guess my little girl has left her nest, after all..."
"Ah, but summer vacation is coming soon." He noted, "If you were to ask her to come with you, then..."
"She'd decline immediately, don't bother." Ed pessimistically interjected, "Speaking from experience, it's always a pain having to regularly come with Anna to check on Arthur, so you'd be better off fishing favor from her by waiting for her to come of her own volition, Grim."
"Yeah, Lune can vouch for me when I say this - Visiting your parents is a complete sham." Issei added, "They sweet talk you over the phone, make up this elaborate story about how they miss you and all that, but then you come back and all they have in store is a bunch of complaints and impossible requests."
Ah, I guess there was that. Now that I recall, Itsuo kept pestering Issei to just ditch me and leave to travel the world on my own, and Asa (from what Issei told me) kept trying to force him to get a job while he was here. Neither of them liked the idea of Eleanor and Othelia being his lovers, so they would always switch the topic whenever he tried talking about them. It was annoying for me to witness even as a third party, so I can only imagine how livid that made him feel. Is that... how Nelly sees Cecily and me?
"But I don't have anything against who she dates!" I decidedly announced.
"Ahem." Both Issei and Ed alluded to the fourth member of our balcony troupe.
"...Dammit, I forgot about that."
"About what, Lune?" Meil naively inquired, "I appear to be out of the loop on this one."
"Yeah, stay there." I commanded, "Gods, but then how am I to make her come visit us for the summer?"
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***
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Tomorrow morning, the new day shone through the blinds of Nelly's room. Yawning before recalling all that had happened the night before, she angrily grumbled just as she did every morning for the past week.
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"Dammit, when are they gonna leave already?" She rolled around in bed for a bit longer, "I miss sleeping in Meil's bed~!"
"Nelly?" A knock on the door jolted her.
"Eep! Y-Yes!?"
"Did you call for me?" Meil asked from the other side, "Come on down, breakfast is ready. You've got 2 big tests today, haven't you? Be sure to revise some more while you have the chance."
"Ugh, if I didn't learn the material by now, then I certainly won't learn it on the day of the test..." She rolled her Eyes.
"I don't mind whatever you choose to do, so long as you remember the deal we made." He threatened, "If you fail even once more, I am sending you back to your parents in Cardina and continuing my studies here alone."
"Gah, anything but that!" She kicked herself out of bed, "Alright, coming! Just gotta get dressed!"
"Good." He happily replied, "I am happy you are this serious."
That being the case, this statement of his wasn't all that true actually. Of course, he did want her to take her studies in university seriously, but after giving the talk he had with her father some more thought after, Meil had come to concoct a rather mischievous plan of his own. Lune wants Nelly to come back to them, and so the best way to do so would be to put the idea of "failure" in her head. If one were to ask him, Meil would definitely consider this to be an evil mastermind level scheme, but the truth is he isn't actually doing anything concrete. He's just reminding her of the consequences of laziness, just like he always does.
"Morning, Nel." Ed caught her in the hallways leading down to the dining room.
"Morning, uncle Ed!" She returned a bright smile.
"Shine like a sunshine, eh?" He joked about her pure and friendly smile, "You know, people that have a smile as effective as yours would make bank as waitresses."
"Uncleeee, I'm not gonna work at an Arthur's!" She laughed, "Geez, when are you gonna stop joking about that? You and auntie are just so adamant about it."
"It's not a joke, though." He explained, "We never said we wanted you to work there for the rest of your life. Just saying, the offer's always there if you want a part time job back home for some extra spending money. I'm sure the real-world experience would also put you miles ahead of these bookworm dorks at university."
"Extra money?" She heard a tantalizing term, "Well, now that Meil gave away all his money, I guess I should look into helping him out with the living expenses..."
"Yeah, yeah! Addagirl!" He ruffled up her hair like a happy uncle.
"...But I think I'll find a job somewhere closer to here." She ultimately let him down, "It's a hassle to go across the ocean just for a couple thousand shils."
"Aww, what? Come on!"
It was at this point that they joined everyone else at the table to eat. It seems both Meil's and Ed's plans to get her to come back home and visit her parents fell flat, so now it was time for the reader to see how the others will fair in this endeavor.
"Good morning, everyone!" She sat down at her seat before counting a head extra seated around the table, "Ack! What the hell are you doing here!?"
"You guys make better food than my old man." Lemmy replied in a dry tone, "Besides, I have to pick you up anyways so we can go to school together, so it's the same result either way."
"Now now, kids." Issei said in a relaxed tone, lovingly hugging and squeezing the two girls seated next to him closer, "Why not just enjoy the moment? As Jobin Higashikata put it, live every life like it's summer vacation."
"Jobin? Never mind." Eleanor then did her best to follow the script he gave them ahead of time, "Isn't summer vacation coming soon for them?"
"Ye-" Lemmy tried to speak.
"Yeah, it is, in fact!" Othelia, still following the script, cut him off, "So kids, did you make any plans for summer vacation?"
"Why are you talking like that?" Lemmy scowled.
"Just answer the damned question, twerp." She growled.
"Damn, SOMEONE'S on their period..." He gave an offhanded retort that made Nelly giggle, "But to answer the question, yeah, we planned to study."
"...Study?" Everyone looked at him oddly, "Over summer break?"
"What do you expect us to do? Slack off?" Nelly shrugged.
"Yes!" Lune's voice snapped, "You're kids! You're supposed to enjoy summer break, not waste it on studying!"
"You're quite the irresponsible geezer, you know that?"
"I'm not even thirty, don't call me a geezer!"
As the two hotheads bickered on and on, Nelly had gotten the gist of what was going on. When you add up how oddly sentimental Lune was last night, as well as all the constant pressure from everyone to have her come over for the summer, it didn't take a genius to figure out what their goal was. Thus, Nelly thought long and hard about it, and after weighing her options realistically, she had made a decision.
"Well, next semester shouldn't be too much of a hassle." She figured, "I guess I'll be free for the first month of summer break, so how about I visit mom and Cene back home?"
With this, everyone had gone quiet. They couldn't believe their ears - The plan had worked. Soon after, loud cheering erupted in the room, and as everyone was busy high fiving and hugging each other in celebration, there was but one teen who felt very left out.
"Your family lives in Cardina, right?" Lemmy asked as he leaned back on his chair, hands behind his head like he owned the place, "Great, I've never been, so I'm pretty excited."
"Eh?" They turned to him, "Kid, what are you...?"
"What?" He shrugged, "If her lazy ass can afford to skimp out on summer cramming season, then so can I."
Without even being mentioned-nay, without even being invited, Lemmy had somehow managed to 'cram' his way into this summer vacation with his crush. Much to her dismay, that is...