Inori snaps his fingers in front of Tōkan's eyes. "Stop standing there like an idiot and go grab the nori!"

"—yes, sir!"

Many steps of cooking aren't sensitive to the number of people helping so this doesn't go mostly instantaneously but it still goes much faster than it otherwise would.

While Kuroji is setting the table up Tōkan's phone rings. He frowns at the unknown number and picks it up.

"Yes?"

"Hello. This is Ōta Makino. Am I speaking to Kokonoe Tōkan?"

Ōta Makino... why is this name familiar...

Oh.

Oh.

Inori notices Tōkan's facial expression and tilts his head inquisitively.

Tōkan makes a "wait" gesture before replying: "Yes, this is him. How may I help you?"

"Is Yamada Inori near you? I tried to call him just now and he didn't pick up, but I'd been told he often misses calls and that I should call you if he did. Could I talk to him?"

Holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit—

"Yes, ma'am. Would you rather call him again? I'll let him know he should look at his phone."

"That would be ideal, thank you. I will call him in a minute." And she hangs up.

"Holy shit holy shit holy shit—Inori-kun, do you have a missed call from someone just now?"

"...?" He grabs his phone to check. "Yeah. Who?"

"It's Ōta Makino, from Ōta & Ōta." Both Harutsugu and Kuroji stop to stare at Tōkan at that. "She is a famous lawyer who—"

But Inori's phone rings, then. He frowns at it, too, but picks it up. "Yes."

"Is this Yamada Inori? I am Ōta Makino."

"Yes."

"Would it be possible for you to go somewhere Kokonoe Tōkan isn't likely to overhear you?"

"...why would I want that?"

"You may share the contents of this conversation with him at a later point if you judge it safe but I would prefer it if initially it were a conversation between only you and me. If you do not have a safe way to do this, please respond with 'I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I don't think you're talking to the right person'."

"...safe...? What, you think this wimp could make me do stuff I don't want to do? Fuck off, I'll kick his ass."

The other three slowly facepalm in unison.

"...that is a reassuring reaction," she says, her voice changing from full professional mode to something a lot softer and fonder. "I would nevertheless feel better if you had space for yourself here."

Ugh. "Fine." To Tōkan: "I'm gonna be in my room, don't go upstairs, I'll break your arms if you do."

Loooooooooooove~

He goes upstairs and closes the door behind him then sits on his bed. "I'm alone. What is it?"