Of the "Su Yuzu Fan Club" at Keigunen Private Academy, nearly every girl Su Yuzu had Recruited as an Operator and Fed "Combat Records" to had turned up at the Public Prosecutors Office.
That even included the girl Su Yuzu had Recruited purely by accident — the one she had Fed "Combat Records" exactly once, out of simple goodwill, just to help her break through her own shackles: Asagiri Sachi.
Only... Mihou Sakai wasn't there.
This was not, of course, any bias on Su Yuzu's part. Nor was it because Sakai Miho was merely a background character who existed only in other people's conversations. Nor had Sakai Miho's Favorability toward Su Yuzu dropped.
It was simply because Su Yuzu trusted Mihou Sakai.
Back when she had left Keigunen Private Academy — left the Tokyo metropolitan area — together with Kujou Katora,
Su Yuzu had had no other option but to entrust the little cat to Sakai Miho's care.
Sakai Miho had looked after the little cat beautifully.
She was an Aberrant, and yet when Su Yuzu came back she'd been left with the faint, unaccountable impression that the little cat had gotten... a bit rounder.
Which was precisely why Sakai Miho remained the third girl — after Su Yuzu herself and the little cat — to have completed the iris authentication for Su Yuzu's dormitory through proper channels, free to come and go from her room as she pleased.
Mm. Proper channels.
There was also a certain siscon crybaby who would rather not have her name disclosed, and who had completed the iris authentication for Su Yuzu's dormitory by somewhat less legal means.
Mihou Sakai was a well-behaved girl, and Su Yuzu had no fear that she'd get up to anything unruly.
Probably.
And since it had occurred to her that Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" really shouldn't be showing their faces inside the Public Prosecutors Office, Su Yuzu had asked Mihou Sakai to mind the pair of them for a while.
Su Yuzu trusted that Sakai Miho, who had once taken such good care of the little cat, could keep Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" in hand too.
Evidently—
She had.
What Su Yuzu clearly hadn't anticipated was the colossal romantic warzone that would break out the moment the public prosecution ended.
Because when Mihou Sakai appeared at the doors of the Public Prosecutors Office with Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" in tow and shouted "Senpai!" across the crowd... a certain delicate balance shattered on the spot.
The first to react was, as ever, our Saintess — Lyudmila.
Lyudmila had been raised and schooled almost entirely by Saint Michael, and the instant she laid eyes on Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil," she knew. That was the Lady Godmother who had appeared in the scriptures Saint Michael once hauled over for her to study—
Kirishika.
The true owner of the Holy Relic Su Yuzu carried — [Godmother's Laurel].
But... why were there two Lady Godmothers standing there at once?
Lyudmila's thoughts went to the legends of the "Seat of Evil." At the "Seat of Evil's" side had stood that era's rule-type ability user, the holder of the rule that could Erase every abnormal power in existence... Lady Kirishika.
The connection rested on a subtle error, and yet it overlapped with reality in a rather amusing way.
Lyudmila's expression, as she gazed at Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil," turned holy and devout.
Except... her gaze began to drift slowly downward.
"So small."
"They look so young."
"Younger than me, even, maybe."
An anger mark — "#" — popped onto Kirishika's forehead. She had no idea what had caused it, but she could absolutely feel the offense radiating out of that junior's stare.
[Damn it!]
[I'm going to kick her right in the a— ...forget it. The knee will do.]
Meanwhile the little rabbit at Lyudmila's side bit down on her lower lip, prickling with jealousy the moment Sakai Miho called out "Senpai."
At first she was only sulking that Sakai Miho had hijacked the form of address she considered exclusively hers for Yuzu-senpai.
But then... the little rabbit, who had stopped in her tracks alongside Lyudmila, watched the dense swarm around them surge ahead of her and Lyudmila, until it looked ready to blot Yuzu-senpai's back out entirely.
And it hit her. Sakai Miho wasn't the only one trying to steal her Yuzu-senpai.
This place was ringed with wolves.
The little rabbit seized Lyudmila's hand and scrambled to shove her way forward — which promptly set off a chain reaction of its own.
Besides the little rabbit and Lyudmila, Sakura Koishin's reaction was just as plain to see.
Only it wasn't directed at Su Yuzu, or at Sakai Miho.
It was directed at Kirishika.
The moment she saw Kirishika, Sakura Koishin dimly recalled those two seemingly endless nights — and the dry, wrung-out sound of her own voice.
Tennouji Jurei, whose hand was wrapped around Sakura Koishin's, naturally felt that rather conspicuous reaction.
The woman's face stayed as untroubled as a clear sky.
She trusted Sakura Koishin's fidelity, and she knew this creature's nature inside and out.
Terrible at it, and still incapable of resisting a game.
Well, if she loved playing that much, then how convenient... today she could pack Mai off to go play with Little Yuzu.
And tonight, she would play with her thoroughly. Very, very thoroughly. Until she'd had her fill.
Exactly when "enough" arrived would, of course, be hers to decide.
Her hand still caught in Tennouji Jurei's, Sakura Koishin felt a faint, ominous something come crawling up her spine and into her body.
The burly man looked at the crowd that had bunched together out of nowhere, and then at Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi standing in front of him — meek and hesitant, wanting to press forward, one foot easing out only to shrink straight back.
Soga Ishikawa Irube sighed.
He glanced at his wife.
Soga Ishikawa Asumi merely stood quietly at his side. Soga Ishikawa Irube studied the daughter in front of him, the one who wanted to step forward and didn't dare, who wanted to see Miss Yuzu and could only push herself up... just a little... a little bit onto her toes.
Over Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's low yelp of alarm, the man lifted the girl by the back of her collar and set her on his shoulder.
Built like a small mountain, Soga Ishikawa Irube stood among that flock of girls like a crane among chickens — no. Like a bear among chickens.
And Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, seated on his shoulder, suddenly had the best view in the building.
She watched Su Yuzu, who had heard the yelp and, desperate as she was to flee, still turned back with a worried look — and abruptly felt as though she'd been mounted on an execution scaffold. Her fingers clenched tight in her skirt, and her face went hot and red.
Soga Ishikawa Asumi watched the Interact between Su Yuzu and Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
"Kiyomi..."
"Have you made up your mind?"
"About what?" The girl looked down at her mother, whose face gave nothing away.
"Miss Yuzu..."
"...is a very endearing girl, isn't she."
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi kept her silence.
"And Miss Yuzu... is also a very fickle girl, isn't she."
"You don't understand, Mother." Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi only kept her eyes on Su Yuzu, hemmed in on all sides, still wearing that look of pure despair, still visibly plotting an escape route.
The girl touched her own chest, lightly.
There... lay a single thin red line.
It looked like a tattoo. Or perhaps a brand.
Branded into her was the fact that she had trespassed into another person's dream, and been devoured there.
"The others and I..."
"...aren't the same."
Somewhere, a certain Sixth Sequence lady teacher whose Favorability likewise read [Obedience] was looking down at the Seat of Evil — who had tipped her head back to glare daggers at her — when she suddenly sneezed.
"...aren't the same."
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