Arriving at the town's entrance, they met Lucy who was carrying a large wooden case, like that of a guitar only with a plain rectangular frame.
"I've been waiting for quite some time now, Sir, did anything happen? Oh, and who is that little cutie~?"
Carefully putting her case aside, she crouched down to meet the little girl accompanying Yamato. Though she slightly backed away and hid behind Yamato, Lucy just smiled at her brightly.
"What beautiful turquoise hair you have… What's your name, little one?"
"Uhm… Pheobe's name is Pheobe… She is the sloth…"
"Ah, are you saying that you are a lazy person, Pheobe? That's okay. I'm lazy too sometimes, although I don't get much time to slack off… My name is Lucy."
"Pheobe is happy to meet you, misses Lucy… She hopes to become your friend maybe…"
"Awww, what a polite and adorable greeting that was…!"
"Thank you… What else do you have to do, if you can't slack off…?"
"Oh, adult stuff. You don't need to concern yourself with those kind of things. But I see you have taken a liking to Yamato… Which brings me back to my previous question…"
"Something unexpected came up, and it resulted in me taking her with me. I'd like to get Yuki somewhere safe first though before I explain the details to you. Good work with that shot by the way."
"Of course, and thank you, Sir! She looks completely exhausted. I'm glad we managed to intervene in time."
"Yeah, me too…"
Back in the Cube, Yamato met up with Peteisha and ordered her to change Yuki's clothes and put her onto a bed, after which he and sat beside her. Pheobe copied him.
"This place is very big, mister pridey… Won't the owners be mad when they find out we use it without permission…?"
"Lucky for us, I am the owner. I run this town, y'know?"
"That sounds like a lot of work…"
"It is. I'm sure you'd rather do something more relaxing."
"Maybe… Will the pretty lady be okay…?"
"Her name is Yuki. And I'm sure she will wake up soon. She's just tired. But I will be there once she wakes up…"
"…Mister pridey? Phoebe's hungry."
"Then I will make sure you will get something to eat. Is there anything specific you want or dislike?"
"Phoebe likes sweet stuff and hates all that is orange…!"
"All that is orange? How come?"
"…"
"It's alright, you don't have to tell me. I will make sure not a single orange thing will be in the food. I promise."
"Yay…! Thank you, mister pridey…"
"My name is Yamato, y'know? Or do you not like using names?"
"…Using names makes the grown ups angry… Phoebe doesn't know why… So she addresses with mister, and lady, because it is polite…"
"Well, you don't have to do that with me. I promise I won't get angry with you."
"…"
"Unless of course, you prefer to do it your way. I'm gonna get you your food, you just wait here for me."
"…Thank you, Yamato…"
Yamato left the room to talk to Petrisha who was waiting infront of the door, making sure to mention Pheobe's firm dislike of all that is orange. As he returned to the room, he wandered off into thoughts about today's events. The meeting of the sins in particular.
"It didn't matter to me at the time, but now I can't stop thinking about it. Why would one of the other sins go through all the trouble of bringing us all together, just to not do anything? Did something unexpected happen that had them change plans? Because I can't imagine this was what they had in mind… As to who it could be… Pheobe doesn't seem likely to me. As for everyone else… I can imagine anyone of them as the one responsible. I will have to devote more time to this…"
He was so distracted that he at first did not even notice that Phoebe had fallen asleep on the bed next to Yuki. As he looked at the two of them, he could not help but compare it to the picture of a family. Though he pitied only feeling something when looking at Yuki. Or was that truly still the case, he wondered.
Surprisingly, she slept for the rest of the day, which meant Petrisha had made the food for no reason, though she was used to things like that by now. Early in the morning,Yuki was the first to wake up. Looking over to her side, she possessively crawled over to her side and was about to cuddle up to Yamato, when she was pulled back by something lying on part of her clothes. She stared at the sleeping child next to her, unsure of how to react. Though she quickly decided to ignore it, forcefully pulling her clothes out from beneath her and cuddle up to Yamato. While doing so, she kept glancing back at the child, unable to fully ignore her. She definitely did not give birth to this child, was something she said to herself. Though this was fairly obvious, she felt the need to point that out. She wondered what possible sequence of events could have taken place after she passed out for her to wake up in this situation. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned on her back again. Though one arm still pulled Yamato against her, with her other one she gently poked the girls cheek.
"Wakey wakey…?"
When that did not wake her the girl up, Yuki flicked against her forehead with a bit more force.
"Ouch… Pheobe didn't like that…!"
"Pheobe, huh… That's a cute name. Want to explain to me what you think you were doing just now~?"
"Ah…! You're awake…!"
"…Yes?"
"I'm gonna tell Yamato then and—"
Yuki put her finger on Pheobe's lips to shush her.
"Shhh… You will do no such thing. Can't you see he's asleep right now. Don't you know it is disrespectful to wake people up?"
"But… But you woke Pheobe…"
"Obviously that rule doesn't apply to me. Now, answer my question."
"Uhh… Okay… So, what Phoebe was doing… She was sleeping…?"
"Uh huh, and why would you be doing that?"
"Because… Phoebe was tired…?"
"And how do you know Yamato? Did he allow you to sleep here? This is very strange to me… And why do you refer to yourself in the third person? Is something wrong with you? And you speak so slowly, as if you are still half asleep…"
"Uwah… Lots of complicated questions… Pheobe has a question too… Is Yuki the envy…?"
"…What did you just ask me?"
"The envy. Pheobe asked if it was you…"
The sharp edge of a golden sword hovered behind Pheobe's back as Yuki's expression went from halfheartedly interrogative to serious.
"Now you better tell me who you are in detail, missy..."
"Pheobe already told you her name… But if you forgot already, it's Pheobe."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes right now…"
"Are you angry with Pheobe…? Pheobe is sorry… She… Will do better next time… She promises… She… Waaaah"
She started sobbing uncontrollably, suppressing the urge to cry. Which took Yuki off guard, to say the least.
"H-hey, shut up…! You're going to wake him up!"
"Pheobe's sorry…!"
"Alright, alright, I forgive you! Just calm down before—"
"Yuki, what are you doing!?"
"M-me? Nothing! I didn't do anything!"
She quickly made the sword disappear, hoping Phoebe would not mention it.
"It's okay, Phoebe, don't cry. No one's angry with you."
He leaned over Yuki at which Pheobe clung to him immediately, sobbing into his clothes.
"Pheobe's sorry… She ruined your chance to have a happy moment when she woke up…!"
"No, no, everything is fine, Pheobe. No one's moment is ruined because of you."
"It would have been much more romantic if it were just the two of us…"
"That's enough, Yuki."
Now she pouted.
"It's not fair! I almost died and all you care about is this stupid child! You're supposed to look at just me! Boo and me!"
Then she started crying as well, pushing Yamato to the limit of how much emotional comfort he was able to provide. So he hugged her too and began petting her head to calm her down. Though he let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, I get it, and you are right. I'm here for you first. I was very worried about you, which is why I stayed by your side the entire time. That's pretty romantic too, isn't it?"
"I… I guess it is…"
"See? No moment is gone. And now you get to cuddle and be close, which is nice, right?"
"Yeah…"
"You hear that, Pheobe? Both Yuki and I are very happy right now, and so you didn't do anything wrong either."
Yuki's and Pheobe's eyes met as their faces were both buried against Yamato. As their sobbing calmed down it felt awkward seeing each other like that, as they had both preferred if it had been just Yamato that saw them like this. In a strange sense, one could say they bonded over this moment. Yuki was the first to break the silence that endured for a couple of minutes.
"I'm sorry, Pheobe… I should not have confronted you so bluntly without having Yamato explain the situation to me first. That would have made things easier and avoided this situation, I presume… I was overprotective and should not have treated you with such hostility."
"Pheobe's sorry too… She could have tried answering the questions mire directly… She will be better in the future…"
Yamato gave them both head pats, somewhat proud of them for being able to resolve the situation.
"That was very mature of both of you. I'm proud of you two… Now, you both should introduce each other properly. But first, Pheobe, you and I need to explain to Yuki what took place yesterday, because as you know, she was asleep."
"Pheobe remembers lots of things from yesterday…!"
After receiving a not so detailed description from Pheobe, which mostly included vague imagery and overdramatized dialogue, Yamato gave her a more accurate breakdown.
"Ah, so you really did carry me like you promised…~ And you met all the other sins without me conscious… That's such unlucky timing… But whatever, I suppose it turned out alright in the end. But what happened to Natsumi? You said Iky came back and there's no trace of her left. Did he… Like, eat her?"
"I don't think so. He was meant to merely distract her, and she should have the means to escape even if she can't win in a direct confrontation. Though I think we won't need to worry about her for a while, seeing as Hana's loss should be quite devastating for the empire on its own. Add to that roundabout a third of their army has been whiped out along with her, it seems this war has been decided."