It took quite a while to decide the room assignments.

Since Shouko and Minori had been on either side of me last time, the two of them argued that there was no need to change the assignments.

However, Chiyu, Shion, and Roa insisted that since we had built a new house to match our increased number of companions, we should decide the room assignments again for the sake of fairness.

The two factions with differing claims engaged in heated debate, but no conclusion was reached.

In the end, the women decided to hold a majority vote, and Shouko and Minori lost after gaining only two votes.

So the room assignments would be decided again.

“Today, I reclaim my position as the childhood friend who lives next door.”

That was Chiyu, my petite childhood friend with silver-white hair and blue eyes.

“You want to be close to the person you love, after all.”

That was Shion, a graceful, lovely beauty with long black hair.

“...I just have to win it again!”

That was Shouko, the blond side-ponytail gal kind even to otaku.

“Yes. I can’t afford to lose.”

That was Minori, the serious Class Rep with her black hair in a ponytail.

“As a maid, I believe one ought to be positioned where one can immediately answer her master’s call.”

That was Roa, the gentle but highly capable maid with wavy cream-colored hair flowing behind her.

“...I don’t really care which room I get.”

That was Yumekai, the lone-wolf, downer-type girl with a dark-blue angled bob.

“I can take any room too... No, as an adult, perhaps I should be positioned somewhere I can supervise the students?”

That was Ms. Luminous, our assistant homeroom teacher, with her yellowish-brown long hair tied into a bun at the back.

“Kuno, you’re seriously popular. All right, maybe I’ll aim for the room next to you too.”

That was Urume, the energetic, teasing dark-skinned gal with long gray hair and part of it tied at the back of her head with a scrunchie.

The eight of them split into two groups and held rock-paper-scissors matches within each group.

Each group produced a ranking, and then people with the same rank played rock-paper-scissors against each other.

The winner and loser of the match between the first-place girls would pick first and second. The winner and loser of the match between the second-place girls would pick third and fourth, and so on.

The grouping was simple: the initial four and the four new members.

I could not exactly leave the room, so I watched the proceedings.

If I had never come to this deserted island, I probably would have gone my entire life without ever seeing eight beautiful women and girls fight a heated battle over the rooms next to mine.

Before long, both groups had their results, and it was time for the same-ranked matches.

Once this was settled, the room assignments would be decided.

And the result was—

“My victory was inevitable. The trend of childhood friends being losing heroines is now a thing of the past. I am the overwhelming winning heroine, Chiyu. Iyama Chiyu, at your service.”

Chiyu said that while raising one small hand as though waving to an audience.

The one who took first place in her group and first overall was my childhood friend.

Naturally, she chose the room next to mine.

“Then, following Miss Chiyu’s example, I suppose I shall become an overwhelming maid.”

Roa, who had taken first place in her group and second overall, chose the room on the opposite side.

With that, both rooms beside mine were filled.

Third overall was Shouko.

“Ugh. Then I’ll take the room across from Sousuke!”

Fourth was Ms. Luminous.

“Um, in that case, I’ll take this room, all right?”

It was not directly across from mine, but Ms. Luminous chose a position where she could rush over if something happened.

Fifth was Minori.

“Then I’ll take this room. It’s next to Shouko’s, and it’s close to Sousuke’s as well.”

Sixth was Urume.

“Whoa! I can’t get close to Kuno anymore. It’s hard even getting near a popular guy, huh? Then I’ll take the room next to Shouko.”

Seventh was Yumekai.

“...I’ll take this corner room. That side sounds like it’ll be noisy.”

And eighth was Shion.

“Uu... No matter where I choose, I’m a little far from Sousuke.”

With a lonely look on her face, Shion chose the room next to Chiyu’s.

Excluding empty rooms, the assignment ended up like this.

On one side of the hall were Roa, me, Chiyu, and Shion.

On the other side were Urume, Shouko, Minori, and Ms. Luminous.

Yumekai took the corner room away from everyone else.

“Well, you’ll probably only use your own room at night anyway...”

I was not sure if it would be any consolation, but I said that to Shion.

“Y-yeah. And it isn’t like I’m not allowed to go to your room, right?”

Shion looked up at me with damp eyes.

“Right.”

When I nodded, Shion smiled in relief.

Chiyu and the others looked up at me with half-lidded stares.

“Of course, all of you can come over anytime too.”

The pressure from their gazes stopped.

“I’m happy it’s a mansion and all, but when it’s this big, won’t it be a pain when we’re looking for someone?”

At Urume’s words, I laughed and said, “True.”

“Oh, then let’s do this. We’ll hang a plate on each room. Make it double-sided, like ‘In Use’ and ‘Out.’”

“Mm. Good idea. If we put them on the library and other rooms too, it’ll save us the trouble of searching inside every room.”

“Nice, nice. Also, why don’t we make signs? Or decorations? For our own rooms?”

Shion nodded at Shouko’s idea.

“Hehe, that sounds nice. Just numbering the rooms would feel bland, and without some kind of marker, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ we might get them mixed up.”

Apparently, the other members agreed too.

“Then let’s make plates for each room, and once that’s done, we’ll have lunch.”

Since Ms. Luminous and Urume had joined us, maybe it would be a welcome-party grilled meat meal.