Sasaki Kotoko's home is in Saitama Prefecture. The distance is not too close. It's an hour's drive and requires a slight detour, but it's still better than two current idols going to a hotel to book a room at night.

The manager specially drove the two of them there. After all, the member's family was in trouble, so they bought souvenirs on the way to show their appreciation.

The person who opened the door was Sasaki's mother, who had a similar face to her daughter and had her hair tied back.

Seeing the people in front of the door, he was obviously stunned for a moment. The manager bowed and handed over the souvenir in his hand. Sasaki's mother hesitated for a moment, but did not accept it. She just waved her hand with a wry smile.

"I'm sorry, my husband is not at home. He told me not to buy anything randomly before he left."

"ha"

The manager didn't react for a moment, and the hand giving the gift was frozen in mid-air. Zhongyuan tugged on the corner of her clothes and said softly

"Did Aunt treat us as door-to-door salesmen?"

It’s no wonder that the agent’s attire is indeed business-like, so it’s normal to be misunderstood.

It's just that I was misunderstood. Secondly, maybe Sasaki hasn't contacted his mother about the members staying overnight?

Before she could explain, Sasaki squeezed in between the two of them. The mother relaxed after seeing her daughter's attitude.

"So that's it. Sorry, there are so many people suddenly in front of my house. I'm a little nervous. You are the same, Qinzi. It's great to tell me in advance. If you don't like to make phone calls, just send a text message." After listening to my daughter,

After the introduction, Sasaki's mother smiled, then turned sideways to greet a few people to come in.

Sure enough, this child didn't even tell his mother.

The agent looked at Sasaki who was minding his own business and felt a little headache. She chatted with Sasaki's mother at the door for a few words, gave the three Ikuta some precautions, and then left in a hurry without entering the door.

"The agent's work seems to be very busy," Sasaki's mother sighed, then turned back to Sasaki who was sitting in the entrance hall to change shoes, "Kotoko, you didn't cause any trouble to me, did you?"

"No, it's better to say that I'm very grateful to my aunt for letting us stay overnight. It's been a big help."

Before Sasaki could speak, Zhongyuan had already spoken politely.

"I'm glad you can come, Ikuta-chan, Hiyaka."

"Auntie knows about us" Zhongyuan was a little surprised.

Sasaki's mother nodded and smiled gently, "Qinzi usually doesn't talk about things over there. I checked many of them from the Internet, including members' names. I also bought the new single, although I don't hear it very often."

Even so, Zhongyuan felt flattered. Except for Ikuta, she could be remembered by name even though she had been at Under all year round. It was obvious that Sasaki's mother was really interested in understanding her daughter's work.

"Everyone can come as a guest when you have time. Qinzi didn't have many friends when she was at school. It would be great if she could take this opportunity to be more relaxed." Sasaki's mother looked at her daughter's back as she walked towards the living room.

Said softly.

"No problem, everyone in Nogizaka is very friendly."

"Then I'll be relieved." Sasaki's mother smiled and brought Zhongyuan into the living room.

Sasaki's family is well off. It is a two-story independent house with four bedrooms and one living room. The kitchen and living room are very close to each other. The house is cleaned and tidy, and the items are neatly stored. The furniture is traditional but not traditional.

It's too rigid and gives me an inexplicable sense of security.

Think about it, Sasaki, as an animation enthusiast, has collected a lot of animation peripherals, BD discs, character figurines, gunpla, and voice actor magazines. If her family was poor, how could she have the energy to maintain this hobby? Not to mention her

He is relatively introverted but not gloomy, and he is well protected by his parents at first glance.

Sasaki's mother made dinner, but she didn't expect that there would be members as guests in the evening. Ikuta also knew about the interruption and said that he was not hungry, but ended up eating three bowls of rice without many side dishes. In comparison, Nakamoto and

Kotoko eats very little because of habit.

After dinner, Sasaki's mother went to help them tidy up the room where they were going to stay. After the three of them took a shower, they were bored and happened to turn to the video tapes of the last few episodes of "Where's the Noban Board"? The three of them huddled on the sofa and watched quietly.

.

Unexpectedly, it happened to be the outdoor scene of Qidan’s prayer.

Ikuta happened to be absent from these two episodes due to injury, so Ikuta was still there when the members were being recorded in the studio, applauding her more happily than anyone else. However, when she was actually on location, it was Zhongyuan who helped her explain on the show.

.

"Here is an unfortunate news announcement. Our team member Ikuta-chan is unable to participate in this location recording due to injury and is absent from the event today."

"I heard that it was because I was too anxious when doing laundry, and the newly bought laundry detergent hit my foot, and my toe was broken." Here Hashimoto was already covering his mouth and laughing.

Zhongyuan and Shiraishi on the side wanted to laugh, but they were holding back, showing extremely sad emotions, resulting in strange expressions.

"This is it." Ikuta pointed at the TV, filled with indignation, "If Nanamin hadn't laughed so happily on the show, I wouldn't have been teased by so many people. This is obviously a very sad thing. People with a little sympathy

They won’t take pleasure in others’ misfortunes.”

"Well, Hashimoto-san has a low smile, please forgive her." Zhongyuan comforted her.

In fact, she was having a hard time holding it in at the time. It wasn't that she thought the reason for Ikuta's injury was interesting. After all, she knew about it early on and went to see the doctor. The main reason was that Hashimoto laughed so uncontrollably that he successfully infected her.

Ikuta was actually just complaining. It was done. The show had already been broadcast. What else could she do? Besides, she also ate a lot of snacks that Hashimoto asked Ko Asuka to bring during her recuperation.

Soon, Sasaki's mother tidied up the room, and the three of them waited to watch the two programs before going up. Midway through, Yuan's shoulders sank, and she turned her head and found that Ikuta had fallen asleep at some point, with his neck tilted and his head resting on it.

on her shoulders.

"Do you need to turn off the TV?" Sasaki asked. She has been holding a pillow beside Ikuta since the beginning. She said nothing while watching the program. She seemed not interested in the variety show, but her eyes were fixed on the screen.

Rarely moved.

"Close it if you don't want to look at it, Kotoko-chan." She noticed the clock on the wall, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening.

Zhongyuan turned around carefully and gently pushed Ikuta's arm.

"Ikuta-chan. Ikuta-chan."

"Um"

"Let's go to the room and sleep."

""

Ikuta squinted his eyes and straightened up, rubbing his eyes as he stood up and walked towards the stairs. Nakamoto and Sasaki followed closely behind.

After the two of them helped Ikuta lie down on the bed, Zhongyuan breathed a sigh of relief temporarily.

"I had to make a fuss to stay overnight, but the power ran out so quickly. What's the point of all this trouble?" She said with a smile, looking at Ikuta's sleeping face.

"Maybe Ikuta-san just wants to stay with Nakamoto-san for a while."

"Um"

"During the recording of the broadcast, Ikuta-san kept staring at Nakamoto-san," Sasaki said. "When we came back in the car during the break, he kept actively looking for topics to chat with. Didn't Nakamoto-san notice?"

""

Noticing Zhongyuan's gaze, Sasaki waved his hands awkwardly, "Ah, I'm sorry, these don't seem to be what I should say, right?"

"No." Zhongyuan shook his head and had a somewhat changed view of the girl in front of him, "I just didn't expect Kotoko-chan to observe so carefully."

Sasaki was embarrassed to meet Zhongyuan's eyes and just said softly

"Maybe Ikuta-san feels a little lonely."

Zhongyuan remained silent and raised his hand to help Ikuta pull down the quilt.

There was a buzzing sound. Sasaki took out his cell phone.

"What's wrong"

"It's nothing, Houlisang just sent a message in the group."

"Group of second-generation students"

Sasaki nodded and saw that Nakamoto seemed to be waiting for the next step, so he continued, "I said that I went to the Kinokuniya main store in Shinjuku today and saw an issue of a magazine whose seniors were on the cover."

"Oh, that's how it is."

"Well, Zhongyuan-sang, please have a good rest. I'm going out first."

After Sasaki closed the door, Zhongyuan had the opportunity to look around. Apart from the bed, desk and a small cabinet, there was nothing else in the room. The layout was simple and it seemed that it was specially prepared for overnight guests. But there were some piles in the corners.

The box seems to have been used as a temporary storage room.

The size of the bed is slightly larger than a single bed, so it won't be too crowded for two people. Ikuta turned over, and Zhongyuan sat next to her.

She looked at the side face of Ikuta who was immersed in sleep.

"Are you lonely?" he muttered to himself.

Maybe she had been focusing on her own affairs recently and had unintentionally neglected Ikuta, which gave her a sense of crisis. That's why she was crying and clamoring to spend the night together today.

Zhongyuan sat quietly for a while, then stood up and turned off the light in the room.
Chapter completed!