"So... is this really okay?"
The black stretch sedan had come to a stop at the entrance to a cherry blossom grove. Su Yuzu stared at the sign of 「Tsukimisato」, just barely visible through the trees.
She absolutely hadn't expected this—
What Sakura Renxin had called 'infiltrating' turned out to be walking straight in through the front door, bold as brass.
Su Yuzu pressed her right hand to her chest.
She held down the beast lurking inside her ribcage, doing everything she could to keep her presence from being detected by Dai Ling.
Just as Su Yuzu had been able to sense Feng Ke the moment she trespassed into Keigunen Private Academy, Su Yuzu suspected that Dai Ling would be able to sense her arrival in turn.
If the other party noticed her... she'd probably be delighted.
Sitting peacefully at home, and Yuzu falls right from the sky.
Still—
Su Yuzu glanced at the glamorously dressed — one might even say alluring — woman seated beside her.
[If we have Lady Sakura with us...]
As if she had heard the girl's thoughts, Sakura Renxin's beautiful eyes — shimmering with a rippling, flirtatious light — suddenly lifted, and she flashed Su Yuzu a dazzling smile.
[Ahem — if Sister Sakura is here, it's just a Mountain after all. Nothing to worry about, I'd say.]
"Don't you worry—" Sakura Renxin looked at the girl before her.
"My 'Snow-Drift Fragrance' concealment is good enough that even your father might not notice. A mere Fourth Sequence Aberrant?"
"If she can detect Yuzu, I'll change my surname to Tennoji tomorrow."
The ability Sakura Renxin called 'Snow-Drift Fragrance' was a kind of illusory concealment technique — one of the derivatives of her ability, 「Hanami」.
Soga Yura looked at the confident, chest-thumping Sakura Renxin. "If Sister Sakura's ability can completely mask our presence... then why don't we just apprehend that Aberrant directly?"
Sakura Renxin suddenly reached out and cupped both of Soga Yura's hands in hers.
She looked at Soga Yura with an expression of near-sincerity. "Yura..."
"We can't afford to keep our eyes fixed only on that Aberrant."
"Aberrants can't all be killed off."
"We need to investigate the motive behind that Aberrant's attack on little sister Yuzu."
"Understand what they want."
"And even... why they were able to secure sponsorship from Epiphany Manufacture."
"These are all things that need to be investigated thoroughly."
Sakura Renxin's sincerity was so convincing that Soga Yura had almost believed her—
That is, until Sakura Mai practically shoved the car door open in exasperation, shot the 'disgraceful elder' a withering look, and added: "You just wanted to come play at Tsukimisato yourself, didn't you."
"Ahehe~" Sakura Renxin even pulled an adorable face at her own daughter. "That was just a bonus~ just a little bonus~"
But... Soga Yura looked at the woman before her, and something tugged at her chest.
Was it really... just a bonus?
Sakura Renxin might seem scatterbrained, but she was, after all, the current head of the Sakura family.
And she was no mere figurehead.
Under Sakura Renxin's leadership, the Sakura family had flourished like never before.
Even that grand, world-shaking wedding between Sakura Renxin and Tennoji Jurei back in the day — under Sakura Renxin's deft management — had never once generated a whisper of gossip. The prevailing sentiment was one of admiration... and longing for Sakura Renxin's courage.
Soga Yura... actually admired that, too.
She tucked her reservations quietly away inside herself.
Soga Yura watched Su Yuzu — who looked entirely carefree — step out of the car first.
Even Su Yuzu herself couldn't quite understand how Sakura Renxin had done it.
The girl's lush, generous curves had been completely concealed.
Those near-iconic crimson eyes of the Soga clan had been transformed into a clear, lake-blue.
In Sakura Renxin's own words: as long as the figure and the eyes were disguised, no one would ever think that the gracefully stepping girl before them was Su Yuzu.
Soga Yura was no exception.
Her eyes, too, had been turned that same limpid, lake-blue.
And where her figure had been near-nonexistent before, it had now — as if by magic — been reshaped into Su Yuzu's more modest dimensions.
Soga Yura's expression could only be described as quietly delighted.
Whatever Sakura Renxin was actually up to — she approved.
Then, Sakura Renxin's slender, dewy, elegantly long fingers slipped out from the sedan, a delicate silver chain glittering at her wrist like a fallen star.
The woman looked at Su Yuzu with all her languid charm.
Su Yuzu was just about to take that outstretched hand — when Sakura Mai practically yanked Sakura Renxin bodily out of the car.
The slender heel struck the ground; Sakura Renxin's calves tensed. Those beautiful eyes caught the look Sakura Mai was directing at Su Yuzu, and softened all at once into something helpless and indulgent.
Su Yuzu smiled. She glanced back at Soga Yura still inside the car, offered a small bow, and held out a hand to help her down.
Sakura Renxin watched the two sisters carefully avoid any unnecessary physical contact with each other, and something flickered deep in her eyes.
Before the girls could do anything else—
A greeter in a yukata robe came trotting over from within the grove, bowed respectfully to each of them in turn, then led them all into the cherry blossom trees.
Well, what could you say — it truly lived up to its reputation as that kind of establishment.
The hemline of the yukata was obscenely short.
The greeter girl's legs were entirely on display before Su Yuzu's eyes. Lovely legs, too — nothing like the stiff, worn lines you'd expect from someone who kneels all day. These were the supple, well-trained lines of a dancer who had practiced her form from childhood.
「Tsukimisato」 was nestled right in the heart of this cherry blossom grove.
Su Yuzu watched as Sakura Renxin deftly tucked several banknotes into the greeter girl's yukata, then accepted a wooden name-tag from the now-blushing attendant.
The corner of Su Yuzu's eye gave an involuntary twitch. She looked toward Sakura Mai. "Lady Aunt..."
"Is it really your first time here?"
Crushed it. Dead.
Sakura Mai's fist had officially been crushed to nothing.
Su Yuzu watched Sakura Renxin tuck the wooden tag into her purse, then turn back around. "The attendants hand out their wooden tags to guests who seem wealthy or who take a liking to them. With a tag in hand, you can request that particular girl to serve you anywhere in Tsukimisato..."
"Ow ow ow — Mai! Mai, what are you doing!"
Sakura Mai wrenched the tag out of Sakura Renxin's hands. "Mother!!"
The Knight Princess looked like she was about to develop a tic over her eyebrow.
"We are here for serious business."
"Mai—" Sakura Renxin placed both hands on Sakura Mai's shoulders.
The woman's voice was grave and earnest. "We are guests here."
Sakura Mai bit her lip and was just about to concede—
When she looked up and saw Sakura Renxin take another greeter girl's small hand and, beneath that girl's bashful gaze, accept another wooden tag.
"MOTHER!!"
"There are four of us, you know. If we only request one little sister, she'll cry."
"Will you please act your age!" Sakura Mai looked at her best friend struggling mightily to keep a straight face, and then at little sister Yuzu — "Father is already in tears over there, you know!"
"It's fine, Mai — next time we can bring her along too. Ow — ow ow ow!"
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