Rei Ao's gaze swept over everyone at the table,

finally landing on Kei Shirogane beside him, still a bit stiff, eyes darting away.

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat and made the formal introductions:

"This is Kei Shirogane, my kouhai—a first-year at the academy. I invited her over as a guest today."

Then he pointed to each girl in turn:

"This is Tohru… our all-purpose maid and head chef."

Tohru puffed out her chest and let out a proud little "hmph."

"Emilia… you could say she's the house's… pastry chef and mascot?"

Emilia's cheeks colored as she shot Rei Ao a playful glare.

"Illya—and Sora—are basically my cousins."

Sora swung her little feet with smug satisfaction; Illya remained composed.

"Futaba, a close friend's little sister—she drops by to help sometimes."

Futaba gave a calm wave.

"Nodoka Toyohama—also part of the household."

Nodoka nodded to Kei with a gentle smile.

"Sakurajima Mai,"

he added, looking to his left.

"You all know her—these days she's one of the regulars here."

Sakurajima Mai lifted her water glass with poise and gave Kei a flawless, big-sisterly smile.

"Hello, Shirogane-chan. Welcome."

Her eyes flicked between Kei and Rei Ao, carrying a hint of knowing amusement and something hard to read.

Introductions done,

a delicate quiet settled over the table.

Kei stared at the lineup in front of her—maid, "cousins," the gentle kouhai, an idol star…

Her brain had completely overloaded; the CPU was fried.

How was this "dropping by as a guest"?

She'd clearly wandered into some sort of "beautiful-girls shelter."

"Don't just sit there spacing out, Kei. Try Tohru's cooking—she's amazing."

Rei Ao's voice pulled her back from the brink of a system crash.

He lifted a golden piece of fried shrimp and placed it in her bowl.

Kei picked up her chopsticks mechanically.

She looked at the tempting shrimp,

then at the too-beautiful, mystery-laden "family" around her,

then at Rei Ao beside her, watching her with that lazy half-smile.

She silently picked up the shrimp and took a bite.

Crisp outside, tender inside—astonishingly good.

It tasted great.

But…

this meal was destined to taste like nothing to her.

Way too much information.

She'd need time—so much time—to process this "Rei Ao-senpai's home" that flipped her entire worldview.

Sakurajima Mai took in Kei's look—worldview shattered yet forcing herself to act composed.

She leaned to Rei Ao's ear and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, whispered with a teasing lilt:

"Looks like our pure little bunny kouhai is going to need a long, long while… to get used to the size of your 'harem.'"

…

Dinner's bustle gradually faded.

The bright clink of dishes gave way to the rush of running water.

Tohru hummed some unknown dragonfolk ditty while working at the sink.

Emilia and Nodoka Toyohama spoke softly about how to store the leftover cake frosting.

Sakurajima Mai lounged at the other end of the sofa, flipping through a fashion magazine;

from time to time her eyes, carrying the faintest smile, drifted to the silver-haired girl in the middle of the living room who still seemed a bit out of place.

Kei sat primly on the soft fabric sofa,

hands neatly placed on her pressed-together knees,

hugging her slightly childish schoolbag to her chest

as if it were the last tether to a "normal world."

She fought to keep her surface calm,

but deep in those amethyst eyes was a churn of confusion and loss.

She'd learned a lot about Rei Ao-senpai's household:

cohabiting superstar girlfriend Sakurajima Mai; the mysterious maid-slash-girlfriend Tohru; the silver-haired office-worker girlfriend Emilia; the cousin girlfriends Illya and Sora; the young idol girlfriend Nodoka Toyohama…

These girls—so different in identity yet all breathtaking—whirled through her head like a carousel.

Every natural, easy intimacy they shared with Rei Ao

was like a tiny needle pricking the very tip of her budding, adolescent heart.

At last—slow to catch on yet painfully clear—she realized:

she'd fallen for Rei Ao-senpai.

Not admiration from a kouhai to a senpai,

but a young girl's first crush—sweet and aching.

And before that tender feeling could even see the sun,

the crushing "harem reality" in front of her doused it with ice-cold water.

Her heart thudded dully in her chest,

tight with a squeezed, sore ache.

So… this is what Senpai is like?

Beneath the gentle exterior—almost an emperor's kind of amorousness?

She felt like a dwarf who'd blundered into a giants' banquet—small and ridiculous.

Yet that pure, moonlit first-love feeling was impossible to discard.

"Here."

A warm bone-china cup appeared before her, steam carrying the rich scent of black tea.

Kei jolted back to herself,

and when she looked up she fell straight into Rei Ao's deep eyes.

At some point he'd taken the single chair beside her,

sitting casually, wearing his usual lazy smile.

"Yukino brewed this herself. It's quite good."

His voice was low and pleasant, as if that data-dump of a dinner had never happened.

"Th-thank you, Senpai."

Kei hurried to take the cup with both hands.

The heat through the porcelain touched her palms, but couldn't warm the chill inside.

She sipped in tiny tastes,

letting the fragrance spread across her tongue.

After a long hesitation,

the surge of stubbornness and the need to know finally broke through the dam of shyness.

She gathered her courage,

her voice quivering just a little,

and cautiously asked the question that had circled in her mind forever:

"Um… Senpai—your relationship with Yukinoshita-senpai… is…?"

She asked carefully,

but her eyes locked on his, clinging to the faintest last hope.

Rei Ao lifted his own cup of tea; at her words, one eyebrow ticked up,

a bit surprised she'd ask so directly.

He didn't dodge it.

If anything, his smile deepened, a calm, matter-of-fact openness.

"Yukino?"

He took a sip and said evenly, "Pretty much what you think."

He paused,

his gaze sliding past the busy Emilia and Tohru in the kitchen,

then to Sakurajima Mai on the sofa with her magazine, and added,

"And Utaha, Eriri… them too."