They returned with the party supplies in the back seat. Sora did not speak a word while they returned. Her chatty self had completely disappeared, and she just looked outside the window like a hospital patient waiting for her diagnosis. Whenever he talked to her, she said that she’d surprise Ando with a bright smile on her face, but unlike her excited voice, her hands were neatly piled on top of her lap.

“How do you think we should decorate?” Sora said as she laid out the party supplies on the floor.

Maru sat down on the sofa and quietly stared at her. She was walking around the living room on tiptoes while carrying glittery ropes in each hand until she eventually turned her head his way.

“Help me out.”

“Don’t you have something to tell me before that?”

“What are you talking about? An apology for using your house without permission?”

“For that, I’ve semi-given up, so I don’t care. In the first place, this is not even my house, and there are many people who use this place as they wish. Above all, a friend wants to use my house, so it’s not like I want to stop you from doing it.”

“I never knew you thought of me as a friend. At most, I thought I’d be an annoying girl.”

“Looks like I should update my opinion to an annoying...