Story:

For one brief moment, all three regarded the girl on the sofa.

Irina with a surprising maid costume stood.

“Some of you have already met,” Reika continued.

“This is Irina-san from Class 2E. She transferred this semester too.”

Peach heard Violet make a small, interested sound. Reika either missed it or chose to ignore it.

“We happened to speak the other day and got along well. Since we’re all at the same school, I thought this would be a nice opportunity.”

Irina gave a short, proper bow. “Irina. I moved here from Osaka this term. Nice to meet you.”

The Kansai cadence was effortless. Peach held on to that.

An entirely ordinary girl from Osaka could look like somebody else. It was possible. It had to remain possible, or every familiar face in this world would become an investigation.

Beside her, Violet and Butterfly exchanged a glance. Peach knew that glance.

It meant they had already decided the explanation was an elaborate performance and were admiring the effort.

She stepped firmly between them.

“Thank you for having us,” she told Irina.

Irina’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Not calling me anything else today?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Absolutely not.”

“That sounded less reassuring.”

Peach smiled with all the dignity she could assemble.

Behind her, Butterfly made a suspicious coughing noise.