"Hmm."
I woke up. I checked the futon.
"Phew..."
Good, no one is in it. It seems Lala listened to my instructions. I don't know how long this will last, but for now, I'm relieved. The possibility of me going on a rampage has decreased.
"Alright."
I got up from the futon. It was time for morning practice again. In the end, my relationship with Kirin is still the same, but I can't skip practice.
Yesterday, I had a meeting at the Sixth Division about the Index transport. The transport date is this weekend. I'm supposed to go to the Sixth Division in the evening on that day, and until then, I'm off. I should make sure to rest my body well until then.
As I stepped out of my room,
"Ah, Sho! Good morning!"
"Huh!? La-Lala...!"
I bumped into Lala. And she was only wearing a towel!
She must have just taken a shower, as her hair was wet. I could even feel that the air around Lala was a bit more humid. There's no doubt she just came from the shower. Wait, no, if she hadn't, she wouldn't be walking around with just a towel... right?
"Lala, did you just get out of the shower?"
"Yeah, why?"
Lala looked as if she was asking, "So what?" There were many things I wanted to say, but...
"Lala, let's not walk around with just a towel after a bath, okay? And being naked is a definite no-no!"
"Ehhh? But I forgot my change of clothes. Peke is still charging, too..."
"Make sure you don't forget next time. If you do, call someone... other than me!"
"Okay~"
I quickly added the last part, and Lala responded obediently.
I really respect how she listens to what I say. Still, I can't believe this is an everyday occurrence for Rito-san...
"...Sho?"
My spine tingled at that voice.
That distinctive anime voice. Now that I think about it, she wasn't home during the whole engagement conversation...
"A-Aria?"
Behind me was Aria, whom I hadn't seen in a while. Her face was bright red, and her canines were glinting. It was clear she was on the verge of erupting.
"What is that person behind you doing?"
"N-no, this is... wait, a pistol is a no-go! She's royalty!"
"Tch!!"
Aria audibly clicked her tongue, let go of the pistol she was about to grab, and crossed her arms.
"I have something I want to talk to you about, if that's okay. Or am I interrupting?"
"Of course not! Now, Lala, let's go back to your room, shall we?"
"Okay~"
Lala replied and ran down the hallway.
After seeing her off, we went to the living room and sat opposite each other at the table.
Aria began to speak.
"I'm going back to England."
She got straight to the point.
"I see."
"You don't seem very surprised."
"Well, you know."
I had been so distracted by Lala, but Aria wasn't an ordinary person either. Aria was a British noble.
And I had... with someone like that.
"Yeah. We... did it."
"Tch!! Y-you're right!!"
Aria's face turned bright red, and she agreed in a shaky voice. It was obvious what "did it" meant without having to say it. In our current situation, there was only one thing it could refer to.
Imagining it made Aria's face red, but I couldn't tease her today of all days.
"So, did your family say something?"
"Well, a little bit. I know it's old-fashioned, but I can't go against them in my position. So I have to go back for a while."
She was probably talking about having a physical relationship with someone she wasn't married to, or even dating. I could understand that.
She would almost certainly be scolded.
"I'm sorry. If I had controlled myself back then..."
"N-no, it's not like I... I didn't want to! It's not like that at all!"
Aria denied it in a flustered manner.
"I didn't know what it meant at the time, but I don't regret it... And even if my family says something, as long as it's with you... you're my partner, after all!! That's right! My partner!"
"O-okay."
I think it's too late to try to smooth things over, but if I pointed that out, a bullet would probably come flying at me.
"Anyway! You don't have to worry about a thing! Got it!? While I'm gone, don't go messing around with girls willy-nilly!! Answer me!!"
"Y-yes!!"
After forcing me to agree, Aria pulled her suitcase and headed for the entrance.
"Well then, I'm going."
With that, Aria left for England.
---------
After that, I was able to go to school without any trouble.
A day had passed, and almost all the students had stopped asking for an explanation of the incident. No, maybe they realized they couldn't get any information from us and started investigating on their own.
In other words, things were quickly returning to normal.
For an incident that happened at school, everyone was moving on quickly, but I guess that's just how Butei High is. Even when I talked with Tsuchimikado and Yase, the topic of the incident no longer came up.
"So, you see~"
As I listened to Tsuchimikado's silly story,
"Hmm?"
There was a commotion outside the classroom.
"What's that?"
"I don't know."
Yase tilted his head. I didn't know either, but I saw a familiar pink-haired person at the entrance to the classroom.
"Ah, Sho~!!"
"La-Lala!? Why are you here...?"
Lala, who should be in a different grade, was here for some reason.
"Ehehe, I was bored until my class started, so I just came here~"
Lala tried to hug me. I wish she wouldn't do that in the classroom...
Everyone's eyes in the classroom were on us, and I could hear them whispering. Even though there were many people in the classroom, it felt like only Lala and I were on a stage.
"You two are really close, aren't you~"
"Yeah. I wouldn't think this is just a bodyguard relationship... Well, I guess that's how it is when she almost got kidnapped, right?"
Lala heard their comments and said, "Yup! Because Sho is a fiancé candidate!"
"Ah."
By the time I tried to say something, it was already too late.
---------
Meanwhile, in the middle school, the second period had ended, and it was now break time.
In the third-year classroom, Yukina and Mami were preparing for the next class. A girl came rushing in.
"Mami-san! Yukina!! Did you hear!? And Yukina! Why didn't you tell me? Or did you not know?"
"Huh, um...?"
"Miki-san? I don't know what you're talking about when you say it so suddenly."
Sayaka Miki, their friend, came rushing in, out of breath. She rushed up to Yukina's desk, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her back and forth.
But she was in such a hurry that she left out the subject, so it was hard to understand what she was saying.
"Hey, Sayaka. The teacher's furious and coming toward you because you ran in the hallway."
Kyouko showed her face with a lazy look. Kyouko moved her face to check outside the classroom.
I could feel a murderous aura from outside the classroom that couldn't be directed at a student. Running at full speed in the hallway was bad, but the punishment for it seemed way too severe. That's the vibe I was getting.
"Whoa, crap...!! I'll tell you all about it during lunch!! See you later!!"
Sayaka's face turned pale, and she abruptly said goodbye to the two and ran out of the classroom.
"I wonder what that was all about..."
"I don't know..."
They were left with a strange feeling because Sayaka didn't end up telling them what she wanted to. The answer didn't take long to come out.
---------
"So, what does this mean!?"
At lunchtime, Sayaka, who had gathered the usual members, excitedly showed them her device. It was a Butei High information site. It's a site where volunteer information-department students summarize things that happen on campus, and it's filled with gossip that's been collected using Butei abilities.
Just recently, the site was bustling with the news of Lala, the Develuke royal family member, studying abroad, but today a new piece of information was posted.
"Princess Lala Engaged!? Her Partner is her Bodyguard?!"
"This is it! This, this!"
A drop of sweat ran down Yukina's forehead.
She didn't have to wonder where the information leaked from. Sho wouldn't spread rumors about himself, and neither would the other girls. The only exception was Lala herself.
They had decided to keep it a secret to avoid a commotion, but no one thought Lala would be able to keep it a secret forever.
Even if she didn't intentionally talk about it, there was a high possibility she would let it slip.
"(I just didn't expect it to happen so soon...)"
She didn't think it would even last a week. That's all.
Everyone besides Sayaka also took out their devices to check the news. Yukina also took out her device and checked the content.
"But Sayaka-chan. This site sometimes posts stuff that isn't true, right?"
"No, no, Madoka! Read it carefully!"
"Huh? Um... "
The content wasn't that complicated. It said that this morning, Princess Lala went to Shō Yozuki's classroom and, in front of everyone, declared that he was a fiancé candidate.
"If this is a lie, the person who wrote this article is going to get roasted!"
"Yeah, that's true."
Kyouko nodded half-heartedly at Sayaka's words.
The article stated that the engagement was announced in the classroom in the morning, where there were many eyes. It would be foolish to write something that could easily be proven false with a little investigation.
"So Yukina, is this true!?"
"Which is it, do you believe it or not?"
Kyouko's retort to the excited Sayaka sounded hollow.
"That's..."
Yukina started to think about how to answer.
The girls, who said various things in front of Sho, understood in their hearts.
That night when Lala became a fiancé candidate, in the conversation with Gido and the others. There are not many people who can face a member of the royal family like that and talk back to them.
Besides, Lala was next to Sho at the time. Lala, who was on cloud nine and hadn't fully understood her newfound feelings.
In front of a Lala like that, there was no way Sho could mercilessly say, "No, I don't want to." So it couldn't be helped that he ended up in this situation by not going against the flow.
But...
"(I really think that's a bad part of you, senpai! You say things that make people misunderstand, and that's why things like this happen. Honestly, do you have any self-awareness about that?)"
"U-um, Himeragi-san?"
"What is it?!"
"Eek!"
"Ah, I-I'm sorry, Homura-chan."
Yukina's thoughts and her frustration with Sho combined, and she became overly aggressive toward the voice that called out to her.
Homura, who had to bear her anger, let out a small shriek and cowered a little.
Kyouko, who was watching this, let out a sigh of relief.
"You're mad, so you knew about this, huh?"
"Well... yeah, I did."
"Then, does that mean you broke up with that guy!?"
Sayaka latched onto the conversation.
"That guy" was, of course, Sho, whom Yukina was dating (though Yukina hadn't said so explicitly). These five friends of Yukina's, especially Sayaka, were suspicious of Sho.
That's because there were constant rumors that he had many women around him and that he was physically involved with them. If it were a lie, she could confidently say "That's not true," but unfortunately, it was the truth. Because of that, Yukina could only always smile vaguely and get past the subject.
This time, too, she tried to get through it that way. With a troubled, bitter smile,
"Well, it's not like that..."
"But Sayaka-chan. The article says he's a fiancé candidate, not an official fiancé, right?"
"Either way, it's weird! He has a girlfriend, after all!"
"(She's right...)"
Sayaka's indignation was perfectly normal, and Yukina couldn't argue with her about it.
However, since there were some misunderstandings, she wanted to correct them.
"But Senpai didn't approach Lala-san himself. He's just being pursued by her."
"So it's not his real intention?"
"...That's right."
"W-why did you hesitate a little?"
Homura asked cautiously. The reason she hesitated was that even Yukina couldn't say for sure. Her intuition as a Sword Shaman told her that he wasn't displeased. It felt more like he was just trying to be careful not to hurt her feelings.
"But it's true, huh? He's being pursued by her."
"Sakura-san? Is there something you're curious about?"
Clutching the wrapper of her finished rice ball, Kyouko continued.
"Nah, I'm just thinking that if it were me, I'd still get married even if I had a boyfriend. It's a ticket to a good life. It's normal for something like this to only happen once in a lifetime, right? Is the princess over there pretty?"
"Here."
Madoka held out her device. A picture of Lala chatting in a classroom was on the screen. This was also a photo from the information site.
"She's super pretty. I was wondering how she compares to Yukina. Her breasts are huge, too, so no guy would hate that."
"Oh, right. Guys like blatant boobs like that... Honestly..."
"Sakura-san, that's a little vulgar."
"Sayaka-chan, too..."
Kyouko was reprimanded by Mami, and Sayaka by Madoka.
Yukina looked down at her own body.
"(Compared to Lala-san, I might be lacking in feminine charm...)"
Yukina had seen Lala's body twice. The first time was when she teleported to the changing room with the 'Hopping Warp-kun' and the second time was in the bath the other day.
The two plump fruits and the curvaceous bottom were seared into her memory. Even as a woman, Yukina found her attractive. So what about a man like Sho?
"(Blatant boobs... I wonder if Senpai likes them big, too...)"
While Yukina was thinking about something completely different, the conversation continued.
"But if he gets married, he'll become a king, won't he...? It seems like it would be a lot of work..."
"You're right... He'd have to get involved in politics, and stuff, right...?"
Kyouko joined in on Homura and Madoka's conversation.
"Ah... I see, that's a good point... Yeah, that would be a pain. So it's not such a good deal, after all..."
"Besides, if you choose a marriage partner for that reason, you'll definitely regret it."
"Is that how it is...?"
Kyouko nodded reluctantly.
"(Okay, I think I'm safe.)"
The topic had changed to what would happen if he married Lala. She was able to vaguely brush it off and end the conversation as usual.
Thinking that, Yukina got up from her seat.
"Ah, I have to go soon, so I'll be leaving."
Sho was off for the night shift, but Yukina and the others were heading to the Sixth Division as usual.
"Have a good one~"
Seen off by the five of them, Yukina left the rooftop.
She had left so easily because she thought it was over, but...
"So, what do you think of Yukina's boyfriend?"
It wasn't over yet.
--------------------------------------------
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