I am that male friend in the harem story

"You two haven't gone home yet?" 

"No, we're waiting for the rain." 

Watching Chitanda quickly come to Satoshi's side, Oreki sighed in relief as he didn't have to face a troublesome situation. 

"By the way, Fukube-san, listen! There is a rumor around the school!" 

Her eyes gleamed with excitement as her pupils enlarged. Satoshi felt like Chitanda was like a puppy waiting for its owner to feed her. Still, somehow, her image resembled Iino for some reason, but fortunately, Chitanda wasn't as perverted as Iino. 

However, no matter how decent and straight-laced someone is, they are usually perverted. 

Satoshi thought inwardly, but thinking of Oreki's energy-saving way of life, he could imagine that instead of tapping Chitanda's naughty side, Oreki would probably make her quiet and obedient, without understanding the joy of a woman, he thought.

'Well, probably, he is the one that is tamed by her.' 

Chuckling inwardly, Satoshi quickly threw away his thought and focused on Chitanda. "What kind of a rumor?" 

"Listen well, okay?"

Hearing that answer, Chitanda quickly told Satoshi about her discovery, which was the talk about a girl who came to the special building on the 4th floor. She told him how the girl heard the "Moonlight Sonata" piano in the music room that was located on that floor. Curious, the girl wondered who could play such beautiful music, but as she entered the music room—

"The music stopped abruptly! The piano's lid is wide open, but there is no one there! There is no piano player!" 

"Then?" 

"Then, in the deep dark of the music room, a face covered in long, untidy hair, wearing a sailor uniform, had no energy to move at all, and the girl met bloodshot eyes!" 

As Chitanda became more excited, Satoshi and Oreki just remained silent. Chitanda moved around excitedly, showing her curiosity that couldn't be controlled like an avalanche that fell all of a sudden.

"....."

Oreki was helpless, speechless, feeling overwhelmed by Chitanda's excitement, then looked at Satoshi. "You're not going to stop her?" After all, he was sure that what came after this would be extremely troublesome. 

"...it's too late." 

"...you are right." 

As she clenched her fists, Chitanda moved so close that she would almost kiss Satoshi, which made him speechless since this girl didn't listen to him, and never thought the close distance between them might cause a misunderstanding.

"Fukube-san, it was said that the piano club had been taken over by the evil spirit of the deceased piano player who died on the—" 

"Eru? Satoshi?" 

"...." 

'Like this,' Satoshi thought. 

"Ah? Kaho-san?" 

Chitanda was dumbfounded, but Kaho looked at Chitanda and asked, "Are you going to steal my boyfriend?" 

"....." 

Oreki wanted to leave at that moment since he had to say that this situation was so troublesome! 

However, Satoshi grasped his arm! 

'Don't fucking leave me alone!' 

Oreki thought while he upheld the motto of energy saving, he should try to work out from time to time, so his reaction was much faster when he ran away. 

---

"So... she was curious about something and asked you, Satoshi?" 

"Yes." 

While Satoshi nodded, Kaho also nodded since she didn't think that her boyfriend would seduce another girl all of a sudden after they had dated, so the problem was at Chitanda, who couldn't control her distance with the opposite gender. 

"So, you are curious about something, Eru?" 

"Ah, um, yes. Fukube-san is quite good at solving mysteries, so I asked him about the mystery that I am curious about." While Chitanda said so, her expression was a bit helpless as she felt Kaho's eyes were quite fierce. 

"Are you good at mysteries, Satoshi?" Kaho asked curiously. 

"Not that good." 

"No! You have a talent in this area, Fukube-san!' 

"There you have heard it." 

As the two girls looked at him together, Satoshi felt helpless, but he tried to change the topic of their conversation, "I know that it might be strange to ask this in this situation, but do you know each other?" 

"Yes." 2x

"Our families know each other." 

"I have known Eru since I was a child." 

Chitanda nodded at Kaho's words, then looked at the two in doubt. "So... do you know each other?" After all, she felt like... Kaho and Satoshi were a little too close. 

Or rather, Kaho sat directly on Satoshi's lap!

"He is my boyfriend, so I hope that you are not so close to him, Eru." 

As Kaho said so, she clung to his neck, showing that Satoshi was hers. 

"..." Satoshi. 

Only Chitanda's mouth was wide open. "You two are dating!' 

"Yes." 2x

"....." 

Their answer was so plain, Chitanda and Oreki thought. 

Still, Chitanda only remembered that Oreki told her yesterday that Satoshi had a girlfriend, but she never expected that it would be her childhood friend. 

"...since when?" 

"Yesterday, he confessed to me." 

Yet, why were you two so close? 

Would someone become so close just as they made their relationship into a couple? 

Yet, Chitanda felt that she wasn't curious at all! 

Still, Kaho looked at Satoshi and asked, "So what were you three talking about?" 

While Oreki tried to erase his presence like a Jizo statue without moving and hopefully ignored like an ornament in the background, Kaho wasn't so rude to ignore him, after all.

"Chitanda-san asked me about the rumor that circulated lately." 

"Rumor?" 

"Well, Chitanda-san..." 

"O-Oh! It's..." 

As she got Satoshi's cue, Chitanda repeated the story that happened in the music room about the female pianist ghost that was seen by the female student yesterday. 

"I see..." Kaho nodded, then looked at her boyfriend. "What do you think, Satoshi?" 

"Probably, it is the only member of the piano club who slept, then awoken by the female student. Bloodshot eyes and messy hair, wasn't that how one woke up from sleeping?" 

Instead of a female ghost, Satoshi believed that the member of the piano club, who was sleeping, then woke up the female student who made the rumor. 

"....." 3x

"T-Then, what about the piano sound? Why did it sound without being played? And why did it stop abruptly?"

"It should be the piano club member who played the radio cassette and played it on the interval, and that female student happened to enter when the music stopped." Satoshi felt that the mystery that happened in this school was so predictable and easy to guess, but it was a good spice for the boring days as nothing really interesting happened in the countryside. 

"..." 2x

It was just as Satoshi finished his words, Kaho and Chitanda stared at him in silence. 

"What's wrong?" 

"No, you are amazing." 

"Yeah, Fukube-san, you are good at mysteries!" 

"How about we check the music room now?" 

"That's a great idea!" 

To confirm Satoshi's hypothesis, it was necessary for them to check the real answer, so while it was quite far, Kaho and Chitanda thought to visit the music room! 

As Kaho held his hand naturally, Satoshi knew that he had to leave, but he couldn't help but look at Oreki and ask, "Houtaro, do you want to come too?" 

"No, it's okay." Oreki quickly shook his head and said, "You should go with them." 

"Then, let's go!" 

"Okay!" 

While Kaho didn't care much about Oreki's answer and Chitanda decided to respect Oreki's reluctance to join, Satoshi was helpless since if this guy kept doing this, would the romance between Oreki and Chitanda even happen?

Yet, he thought so. He was pulled by Kaho, and at the same time, he noticed Chitanda's gaze on him was quite... weird. 

Regardless, watching the three leave, Oreki sighed in relief, knowing that his peace had returned, but then again, as he was used to the commotion that happened, this silence and solitude didn't feel as comfortable as before. 

'Rose-colored high school life...' 

As he thought so, he looked at their figures from his seat. 

Nevertheless, Satoshi, Kaho, and Chitanda didn't waste their time and quickly confirmed the truth of the rumor, which was similar to Satoshi's hypothesis. 

The truth is no evil spirit existed at all, and it was just a misunderstanding about the only member of the piano club who had just woken up from her sleep due to the sudden interruption of the female student.

"So, it's like that..." 

"That female student was the one who caused all of this trouble." 

If the female student had been more responsible and knocked on the door politely instead of just entering the piano club directly, then all of this wouldn't have happened. 

Still, when they were satisfied, they decided to go back; Kaho also thought of bringing Satoshi to her home as it was too lonely to stay at home alone. 

It was just Chitanda who asked, "Um... Kaho-san is your father, okay?" Naturally, due to her parents' connection with Kaho's parents, she knew what had happened to Kaho's father. 

"Ah, yes, he is fine. It was all due to Satoshi." 

"Eh? Fukube-san?" 

"It's like this..." 

Kaho probably just wanted to show off, and as her relationship with Chitanda was quite close, she didn't mind telling me what had happened the previous day. 

"Really?" 

Still, Chitanda was surprised that Satoshi was there during the crisis when Kaho's father fell. 

"Yes, that's why... I am glad that he is by my side." 

"...." 

Feeling the intense gaze of Kaho, Satoshi was a bit helpless. 

"Then, Eru, we will leave first." 

"See you later, Chitanda-san." 

"Ah, yes, you see you later, Kaho-san, Fukube-san." 

The mystery was solved, and the two thought of going back directly, but Chitanda remained on her spot. She stared at the two before focusing her eyes on Satoshi. When she thought of what had happened yesterday and now, she knew that he was the only one who could solve her problem along with Kaho's story at how he helped Kaho's father during the crisis, so—

"I am sorry, Kaho-san." 

Chitanda knew that Satoshi was the only one who could help her to solve her problem.