As Koutarou and Sanae's conversation reached a conclusion, Koutarou returned to his own work with Sanae on his back. He was currently in the process of maintaining a certain tool he was using.
“... By the way, Satomi-kun, why are you polishing a rope?”
Harumi who had been showing some interest peeked at what Koutarou was doing with his hands. He was ardently polishing the bamboo handle of a traditional insect catching net.
“How good of you for asking, Sakuraba-senpai”
Koutarou stopped polishing the handle and presented the net to Harumi. Both the handle and Koutarou's eyes were shining.
“This Maximilian's true value is revealed during the summer season!”
“Maximilian?”
Harumi didn't understand the meaning of the word.
“... Sakuraba-senpai. Maximilian is the name that Satomi-san has given to that net”
Confused by the term she had never heard before, Yurika who was sitting next to Harumi whispered to her. Just a few moments before, Harumi had been teaching Yurika how to solve problems.
“Ah, I see...”
Understanding the situation, Harumi slightly nodded and smiled at Koutarou.
“Satomi-kun, are you going out insect hunting?”
“Yes. When you think of summer, of course you would think of insects. And the king of the summer insects is―”
Koutarou suddenly realized what he was about to say and looked around his surroundings. Fortunately, he wasn't in a situation he needed to be alarmed of, and was able to continue.
“―The king of the summer insects is the beetle. My season has finally come!”
Koutarou tightly gripped his insect catching net and his eyes sparkled. This year, he was planning on capturing beetles. He had his trusty net, Maximilian, his insect cage, Henrietta, and the bottle filled with sap that he had been using from the start, Geraldine. It was still early in the summer season, but Koutarou was already in attack mode.
“But, but, Satomi-san, even if you capture beetles, you can't keep them here, right?”
Yurika worried for the safety of any beetles brought to this room. Based on her experiences up until now, she couldn't imagine that they would have a bright future.
“Fufufu, fear not, Yurika. I'm different this year. After all, I have princess Clariossa with me this year”
“Hm? Did you call, Bertorion?”
Clan reacted to Koutarou's words. However, her voice could be heard from a place close to the ceiling. Clan was using one of her inventions to use one of the walls in room 106 as the floor, and she was lying on it, reading books. This was a highly useful device now that the small room 106 had more people in it.
“I did. I was telling everyone how I'd be keeping beetles at your place”
“Ah, that's what you were talking about. We did indeed make that promise. I have some interest in the life forms of this planet too”
“So that's why you were making preparations while looking so happy”
Beetles couldn't be kept in room 106. That's why Yurika had only been able to keep a beetle in room 106 for a little while. But this year was different. With Clan here, they could keep the beetles on her spaceship instead. That was why Koutarou's eyes sparkled as he eagerly waited for summer to come.
“You have my love, princess Clariossa”
“Geez... You only treat me like a princess at times like this...”
Despite Koutarou confessing his love to Clan, she couldn't take his words at face value when he was holding an insect catching net and his eyes were sparkling. On top of that, Koutarou had officially become Theia's vassal a while back. Having gotten a delayed start, Clan's train of thoughts were complex.
“Satomi-kun, if you want I can keep them in my home”
Seeing Clan's bitter expression, Harumi offered her assistance. While Harumi was scared of aggressive animals and insects, she didn’t harbor any hatred for harmless insects.
“It's okay, Sakuraba-senpai. Clan has a fully automatic breeding cage at her place”
“...Clan-san, then why do you look so reluctant?”
Since she had specialized equipment for it, it wouldn't be much of a pain. Yet, Clan had a reluctant expression, which caused Harumi to give her a confused look.
“...It's not like I’m reluctant... but...”
Clan blushed slightly and looked down. That gesture was all it took for Harumi to understand.
“Oh, so that's why”
Harumi quickly smiled at Clan and glanced at Koutarou.
“...”
That made Clan turn even redder and she turned her face away.
“What do you mean?”
“That's a maiden's secret”
Koutarou didn't get it like Harumi had and asked for an explanation , but she simply smiled and declined Koutarou's request.