Hemmed in on all sides by the girls pressing close.
Su Yuzu was starting to sense that things had taken a very bad turn.
Especially after Mihou Sakai called out "Senpai" — after that, the air around them seemed to turn sweeter, hotter, more charged.
Cold sweat had already beaded on her forehead and slid down her back, but faced with the earnest, hungry light in Mihou Sakai's eyes, Su Yuzu had no way of turning away.
She understood—
What Mihou Sakai wanted most in the world was to be acknowledged.
Especially by her.
So, with every girl there watching, Su Yuzu reached out and gently ruffled Mihou Sakai's hair — hair the girl had styled with such care just to come see her — leaving it a little mussed.
"Thank you."
"You've worked hard, Miho..."
Clearly—
Sakai Miho was too happy to contain herself.
In fact... tonight, when the girl went through her usual routine of coaxing herself off to sleep, she'd probably be rubbing her own head the whole time, replaying her Senpai's praise from that afternoon.
Seeing Su Yuzu and Sakai Miho Interact, the surrounding girls surged in even tighter.
Su Yuzu could smell the tangle of lovely fragrances mingling together.
The rustling tide of soft, chirping voices.
She wanted to run.
But... at the very last moment when she might have slipped clear of the crush, she heard a low gasp of alarm.
It was Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
Su Yuzu couldn't ignore a single person at her side.
Just like before — if it hadn't been for Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's Third Sequence Promotion Emblem, Su Yuzu would have forced her own breakthrough to the Third Sequence long ago.
She turned without thinking, scanning the crowd of girls for Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, wanting to see what had happened, whether she needed help.
And then... she found her, a face full of Shame, hoisted up by Soga Ishikawa Irube onto her shoulders, riding the VIP "shoulder seat" with the very best view of Su Yuzu in the house.
Su Yuzu had squandered her one good chance to run.
"Senpai, Senpai~~~"
"Yuzu..."
Before she was completely swallowed by the circle, Su Yuzu genuinely considered it — fastest hands she could manage, harvest the most "Combat Records" possible, and blast her way out of the encirclement.
But of course—
Standing here weren't only the girls she'd Recruited. There were juniors who'd come purely to cheer her on, and elders who'd come because they were worried about her.
If a whole crowd of girls suddenly went flushed and boneless one after another like a chain reaction, Su Yuzu didn't dare imagine how Seniors like Director Saionji Sagara, or elders like Soga Ishikawa Asumi, would look at her from then on.
Her only remaining option was to take the whole lot of them to a restaurant nearby.
Su Yuzu glanced at the balance on her bank card.
She could only pray that the modest little pile of money she'd saved up over all these months — faithfully Feeding the girls, tirelessly squeezing every last drop out of them — wouldn't be spent down to nothing in one evening.
Su Yuzu booked out the entire restaurant.
The girls from Keigunen Private Academy who'd come to cheer her on sat together.
In the middle of them, sitting perfectly upright even at a gathering like this, the Saintess looked distinctly out of place.
Beside the Saintess sat the little rabbit.
Lyudmila's eyes stayed fixed on Kirishika and the Seat of Evil... the Seat of Ever-Hungry, rather, both of whom were already shoveling food down like there was no tomorrow.
Mihou Sakai sat there stiffly, hands in her lap.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, who got on well with Mihou Sakai, saw how small and timid and self-conscious Sakai Miho was making herself, glanced over at her mother, then picked up her bowl and chopsticks and went to sit down beside Sakai Miho.
Soga Ishikawa Irube, Soga Ishikawa Asumi, the whole Sakura family, along with Ms. Unohana Chiyo and Ms. Tsukiyomi Fuya, had meanwhile assembled into a parents' faction of their own.
And beyond that, there was a whole knot of burly men from the Fourth Action Division crammed shoulder to shoulder.
They were egging their boss on to go pour Miss Yuzu a drink.
Today was a day worth celebrating.
But Su Yuzu still wasn't twenty.
So while they called it liquor, what she actually had was fruit juice under two percent alcohol.
Even so, after making a full round of the room, a faint, adorable peach-pink had bloomed across Su Yuzu's small face.
Light seemed to swim in the girl's wavering eyes like water.
"I... I could make you cry right here, right now! Want to bet?"
Su Yuzu raised a hand and pointed at Lyudmila.
Lyudmila looked at the girl — beaming, radiating pure mischief — and despair spread across her face.
It had been the tiniest bit of juice. Why had Su Yuzu gone all "perverse" like this?
She knew Su Yuzu was perfectly sober right now, but... she also knew Su Yuzu was using that little buzz as an excuse to let the monster buried inside her out for a walk.
The Saintess even knew exactly what Su Yuzu intended to do.
But... but...
Anywhere else and she might have endured it, but here... with this many people.
If she burst into tears here, her life as the Saintess of the "Holy Royal Court" would be over, wouldn't it—
All Lyudmila could do was screw up her face on the verge of tears. "Uuu..."
Su Yuzu blinked at her.
Fine—
She'd let her off. For now.
Su Yuzu let Lyudmila go.
And right then... Su Yuzu tilted her head, because something interesting had caught her eye.
Over by the entrance, the waitress was apologetically explaining something to a girl.
A girl with long, straight silver hair.
Her frame looked frail and very small.
But the most striking thing... was the thing she was sitting in... a wheelchair that looked far too big for her.
Su Yuzu walked over.
The waitress hurried to explain to both Su Yuzu and the girl.
"This young lady would like to dine here."
"But I told her... I'm very sorry, the whole place has already been booked out by you."
"Ah... that's fine." Su Yuzu looked at the girl in the wheelchair.
The girl's arms... and her calves were wound with thick layers of bandages.
She looked so pitiful and so lovely that anyone would want to scoop her up into their arms and cradle her.
She lifted her head and looked at Su Yuzu.
The girl's pressed lips were thin, and their pale color made her seem even more fragile. Her features were exquisite, too.
Of every girl Su Yuzu had ever met, she'd rank in the top ten at least.
And a top ten where the internal ordering could no longer be determined.
With that whole package — sickly, wheelchair, long straight silver hair, plus a delicate face — she'd absolutely be another whale-bait character if you dropped her into a game.
But... Su Yuzu also caught the faintest sense of threat coming off her.
She was strong.
"It's no trouble at all—"
"It's just one more person. One more friend, that's all."
"I'm Su Yuzu~"
"If you don't mind..."
"How about you let me treat you?" Su Yuzu held her hand out to the girl.
Cool fingertips came to rest lightly against Su Yuzu's palm.
"Hitomi."
"What?" Su Yuzu paused, caught off guard.
"My name—"
"Shingai... Hitomi."
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