"And that's why you have nothing to worry about! Amazing, isn't it!?"
Natsumi proudly explained her most recent exchange with Cinderella to Yamato and Yuki, who were initially already in bed.
"…Boo, can I snap her neck?"
"No, Yuki, just… Let me get this straight, Natsumi… You spied on us, heard we were going to attack the elves tomorrow, in a perfectly legitimate response to their attack on us today, and your first thought was to inform the enemy of that, and then just leave?"
"…"
"Is that what's happening, yes or no?"
"…Well, if you put it like that…"
"Are you serious right now?"
"Y-you left out the best part!m though!"
"Being…!?"
"She agreed to a peaceful meeting, for everyone to apologize!", she proclaimed.
"…Oh, well in that case, thanks a lot, Natsumi. My mistake, you really are a lifesaver."
"See? And all that was achieved by a little honesty and mutual respect!"
"She's lying you moron!", Yuki snapped, while Yamato just went silent to think.
"What!? W-why would she do that!?"
Yuki's eye twitched at the assault she had to prevent herself from committing right now.
"What if she just leaves now, ever thought about that? We need to kill herc, Natsumi!"
"…Why? Won't you still get to take over the elves, as well as get rid of the heroes? I doubt she would take them with her. She did not seem particularly fond of them."
"No! She's a bitch and I want her dead! Besides, the prophecy states the sins are supposed to end the world. So eliminating a rouge one is in everyone's best interest!"
"Prophecy? Since when do you care about that sort of thing…? And how exactly does this prophecy go?"
"I care when if helps me win an argument~ And how it goes isn't important right now! What's important is that we are somehow part of it, and we are obviously the good sins!"
"The good sins, huh…"
"Don't look at me like that! This is all your fault in the first place, you dumb goody two-shoes!"
"W-well…! Uhm… At least I'm not the incarnation of envy! You… You evil envy!"
"Fuck you, Natsumi!"
Natsumi gasped, ducking against the wall of the Sphere with her back turned. While she purposefully turned away, the reflection of the glass wall showed her eyes watering.
"That wasn't very nice…"
"Calling me evil envy wasn't the most polite either, was it!?"
"…I'm sorry."
"Good. You should be."
"Now you apologize!"
"Dream bigger."
"You're just… Always like this!"
"Like what, huh? If you wanna pick a fight so badly why don't you just do it without sabotaging everything and—"
Yamato covered Yuki's mouth, feeling he should have done so sooner, at which Yuki began to pout as well. She cussed something unrecognizable behind his hand, before looking away.
"Okay, why don't we all just take a deep breath. Natsumi, I'm sure you meant good, no one's angry with you. And Yuki, this isn't the end of the world. Everything can still proceed as planned. This changes nothing, I promise."
Yuki just pouted and refused to look at Natsumi, who was literally taking deep breaths as instructed.
"You're just saying that now… I know I messed up, okay? Just let me have it, and don't hold back…! I can take it! Tell me how stupid it was to try it the nice way, and how you could have just manipulated everyone in some grand scheme to achieve the same thing but better, even if I hadn't completely failed and made everything worse!"
"Wow, you are really insecure about yourself…"
"Sniff… W-what was that?"
"Nothing… I just said it wasn't all that bad, and like I said, you meant good, so I can't blame you for wanting to help."
"Huh…? What do you mean, why isn't everything bad?"
"Well, you mentioned Cinderella said she assumed control over the Naru Empire, and was lightly dressed on the balcony of some sort of palace. I was suspecting Musami had some sorr of help, or was acting under someone else's influence in his whole regime. What this tells us is, that the she has most likely been that person. She probably has some sort of sexual relations with him, I'd guess. Her presence in Vancia suggests she had a similar thing planned for the Holy Empire, but when we arrived at that moment, we destroyed that by taking it over ourselves."
Yuki seemed interested at that, making a muffled sound of understanding it now. She even started looking at Natsumi again, she was still curled up squatting on the ground, but had her head turned over her shoulder to look at them.
"S-so what you're saying is I made a big discovery…?"
"Yes! Without you, we might've never solved that mystery."
"Phew… I'm glad I was able to quickly figure that out based on her vague description of their interaction… Otherwise it would have been really difficult to find something else positive about this situation that would have made Yuki forgive her."
"…So you really aren't mad?"
"Of course not. Like I said, it changes nothing in the end. I will just have to make a few adjustments. You can be proud of yourself."
"O-okay… I will! You're welcome!"
"Yes, thank you, Natsumi. But… Since when do you care when I get mad or not…?"
"I-I don't, okay!? It's because then Yuki will be mad at me as well!"
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense…"
"Didn't sound like that to me though…"
With that resolved, Yamato felt like he might be able to get something else out of this situation. Though there was no way to make sure it worked, and it felt more like a gamble than a strategy, since his absence was required for this to work.
"Well… I'm glad we were able to figure that out. I guess we should go to bed then. Why don't you two sleep here tonight?"
Yuki looked incredibly annoyed at the thought alone.
"…What?"
"W-well, I wouldn't mind if it's not too—", Natsumi carefully attempted to agree.
"—Like hell I will! And where are you going to sleep?"
"I was thinking about sleeping downstairs, in our old room."
"Well, then I'm going to sleep there too!"
"Aww, no you won't. But it's cute how you want to stay with me, and I appreciate it."
"But why!?"
"Because you need to apologize to your sister."
"No I don't, and you can't make me! Besides, I told you what I would do if you didn't drop this! I'm warning you!"
"Actions have consequences, boo. This earlier fight was not just because of Natsumi and you know it. You can't be setting examples like this if you want to be a parent. Besides, it's just for the night."
"T-this is ridiculous! Are you actually going to force me to sleep in the same room as her just because of this!?"
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. If you truly despise it that much, feel free to come after me. But know that I will be very disappointed if you do."
"That's totally forcing me! I too can play these games, boo! The last one I won, remember?"
"Well, yeah. Good thing this isn't a game. Night you two. Oh, but I'm not a monster. There…"
After giving Yuki a good night kiss, he walked to the teleportation circle in the center of the room and winked them goodbye.
"Wait, don't you teleport now! Or else…!"
"Love you too, boo. Sweet dreams."
As he disappeared, Natsumi could not help but feel relieved that he went through with it. However she expected Yuki to just walk after him and leave her by herself, at which point she would go to her own room. But to her surprise, Yuki was still in the room, though she seemed really angry and just stood there. Natsumi was nervous to say anything, since she did not expect Yamato to make such a blunt move just to fulfill his promise to her. But it seemed that he really had been trying many things just for them to get along. It made her feel an uncomfortable kind of grateful, which she would rather not have him know about.
"Let's just get this over with…"
She went into the bedroom and left the hidden door open, which Natsumi took as Yuki's way of giving her permission to follow. Already lying in bed with the lights out, Yuki paid her no mind and pretended to already be asleep. Natsumi awkwardly laid down next to her, and did the same.
"What was Yamato thinking…? Obviously, I'm thankful for the opportunity, but I don't know what to do now! Will I wake up with a bloody nose tomorrow? Well, I guess that'd heal over night without me noticing… But I'd see the blood on the sheets! Would Yuki get mad over something like that even though she was probably the one that gave it to me in the first place? I'm totally overthinking this, aren't I…? Yamato, couldn't you have told me what I need to do…!?"
"…Are you happy now?"
"H-huh?"
"This is your doing, is it not? He's doing this so you and I get to make up."
"I didn't know he was going to do this! I didn't even think he'd value the promise…"
"Well, shows what an idiot you are. Another reason why I can't stand you. You can't even realize how amazing he is… None of you do… So give me one reason why I should want to be sisters with you."
"W-well… Becau—…"
The words just would not leave her mouth, even though she had many things to say. It was not that she was scared. Or maybe that was exactly it? She knew how Yuki would react if she said the wrong thing. And while she did not feel in danger, she felt their relationship was. With every interaction they had, it seemed she gambled on whether Yuki would hate her more afterwards or just hate her the same as before. Even though she had made progress in the sense that Yuki was no longer literally trying to kill her at every chance she got, it just felt as if she was not getting anywhere. But for some reason, Yamato's recent support had her still hold onto the thought that thinks were going to change for the better. After all, for all the despicable characteristics that she saw in him, there was still his ability to put himself above even the heavens. And if someone like that was supporting your wish for connection with your sister, was it not comparable to a blessing? Making that comparison felt blasphemous and wrong, yet she found it fitting and the first thing that came to her mind. So she gathered her courage, and spoke her mind.
"Because whether I like him or not, or support your relationship with him, I love you! I will always love you… Even if… Even if it means leaving God behind… Because you mean everything to me, Yuki. Ever since I exist, I have been with you. Of course I would get angry if I heard you threw all that away… Threw me away, for some guy you barely knew at the time! But… You got to know him better… And stayed with him… And it gets to a point, where I can no longer call it a spontaneous mistake, a fluke or a heat of the moment thing… And I have to accept that it's something that can only be described as love. And I'm sorry for ever trying to break that apart… I did not realize that all this time, if I had succeeded, I would have hurt you more than any good I could ever do for you…"
"…That's the conclusion you came to?"
"Uh… Yes…? Is… Is that bad?"
"…It's alright…"
Yuki grabbed Natsumi's hand under the blanket, with no grip or angle that would prevent their hands from getting separated by the slightest movement. Though Natsumi covered that part by squeezing as tightly as she could. Falling sound asleep, at which Yuki never drew her hand back.