Kneading at her skirt, Lyudmila gazed at Su Yuzu before her, her eyes wavering.
The pitiful Saintess thought to herself: it seemed... Lady Michael had disgraced herself before Yuzu-senpai even more thoroughly than she herself had.
Both she and Saint Michael attributed the reason for being utterly without resistance before Yuzu, for being so completely devoured by Su Yuzu, entirely to the fact that this body simply could not resist Su Yuzu.
Merely catching the fragrant scent on the girl, feeling the breath of the girl before her, touching the body warmth of the girl before her—she would all but melt in the... malice of the girl before her.
Lyudmila likewise pinned the blame for her own flustered, awkward state at this moment upon Lady Saint Michael.
Once the veil of divinity over the deity in the girl's heart had been lifted, Lyudmila's awe toward Saint Michael seemed to vanish along with it.
Lyudmila and Saint Michael shoved the blame back and forth at each other, each trying to convince herself in her own heart that it was Lyudmila / Michael who was the weaker party before Su Yuzu—using this to prove, to assert, her own strength of will.
It was simply that Saint Michael could not, and would not, pry into the girl's inner heart.
Otherwise... the last shred of awe the Saintess held in her heart toward Saint Michael would likely also dissolve into thin air amid their squabbling over who was the more feeble existence.
Su Yuzu stood with her back to Lyudmila.
In the stairwell, the sound of the girl's clothing sliding rustled softly.
The zipper of her schoolbag slid, and Lyudmila gently smoothed the wrinkled hem of her skirt. The girl's little hand, harboring the Holy Flame, was just like a miniature iron, billowing rolling steam, pressing the wrinkles out of the skirt's hem.
The air was suffused with a pleasant fragrance.
Lyudmila looked at Su Yuzu almost shamefully. "Yu... Yu... Yuzu-senpai..."
"I'm done."
The passage space within the stairwell was already very narrow to begin with.
Although the girl before her was no proper mental-type Esper, that... bloodline from the Soga clan likewise destined the girl's mental power to be far from poor.
Lyudmila did not doubt in the least that every single one of her movements was, in fact, under Su Yuzu's watchful gaze.
But... all she could do was choose to turn a blind eye.
After all, it was already embarrassing enough as it was.
If she absolutely had to lay it bare, the Saintess's already paper-thin skin would likely be burned right through by her own sense of shame.
As for... having Su Yuzu step outside to give her some space or the like.
First, Lyudmila simply hadn't thought of it in the moment; and second... Student Saotome Yukina was still out there waiting in the hall outside the stairwell.
Wait... Lyudmila suddenly thought of something even more embarrassing.
Student Saotome had very keen ears.
Then... would she... would she have overheard anything?
Lyudmila instantly grew even more bashful, to the point that she scarcely knew how she ought to face her roommate.
Not far in front of her, Su Yuzu, who had been standing at the head of the stairs "keeping watch," turned her head back.
Su Yuzu looked at Lyudmila.
In truth... she did have a skirt and undergarments she could provide to Lyudmila to change into.
But if Lyudmila and she entered and exited the stairwell together and then Lyudmila had changed her skirt, wouldn't that be the same as confessing to the little rabbit without being asked... no—
it would be the same as telling the little rabbit that a tiny little mishap had befallen Student Lyudmila.
As for... the undergarments.
Su Yuzu looked at Lyudmila, who was bashfully kneading at her skirt hem before her.
For her to just so happen to be carrying another girl's undergarments and the like—it sounded an awful lot like the behavior of a pervert.
Even if she were to then tell Lyudmila that it was actually only because of some kind of rule—that when Lyudmila's Favorability was repeatedly bouncing up and down, materials related to Lyudmila just so happened to appear in her own Material Inventory—
Lyudmila probably wouldn't believe it anyway.
But still... Su Yuzu watched Lyudmila's rather practiced motions as she ironed the skirt.
As well as that expression—kneading at the skirt with some bashfulness, yet, unexpectedly, not exactly one of strong refusal.
Why did she feel that even if she directly told Lyudmila about that pervert-like conduct, this Saintess would only grow more excited?
The pleasant scent of flowers permeated the air; both girls had their heads lowered, and for a moment they had once again sunk into that strange, awkward state.
"Student Lyudmila..."
"About the matter of Lady Saint Michael..." Su Yuzu still wanted to soothe Lyudmila a little.
After all, earlier she really did seem to have provoked Lyudmila just a touch too severely.
The girl's faith had nearly collapsed.
No... it wasn't only her faith.
One could even say that the first half of the girl's life had all been false... fabricated.
She was not the Saintess of the 「Holy Royal Court」.
All the memories she held concerning the 「Holy Royal Court」 came from the memories of Saint Michael.
The 「Holy Royal Court」, the Inquisition... her faith, her life, were all imported counterfeits.
Within the 「Holy Royal Court」, there had never been such an existence as Lyudmila.
Or rather—
there had only ever been the Lyudmila Michael of the past.
Su Yuzu did not even know how she ought to console Lyudmila, how to tell Lyudmila the truth.
But... what Su Yuzu did not expect was that Lyudmila actually gave a gentle shake of her head and revealed a smile that was almost one of relief. "It's all right—"
"Yuzu-senpai."
"I heard it all—"
"Those words between you and Lady Michael."
"Every single word... I heard all of it."
She placed both hands before her and bowed respectfully toward Su Yuzu. "Please do not worry on my account. I am not the type who... would come to doubt their life because of this."
"My very birth is already a miracle."
"To have been able to meet Yuzu-senpai... is all the more my good fortune."
Su Yuzu suddenly caught a faint, subtle—and not-quite-right—whiff of something.
Although the previous Lyudmila's Favorability had indeed been slowly climbing toward her, her attitude had always been one of wanting to resist yet being powerless to resist.
The Saintess's posture of having no choice but to submit was truly something Su Yuzu found amusing.
But... Lyudmila right now?!
Su Yuzu began to sense that something was off.
"How could I, who possess such a miracle and such good fortune, wallow in self-pity?"
Though something seemed off somewhere—still... a Lyudmila who walked out of her predicament like this could probably be counted as a good thing.
Su Yuzu had originally been quite worried that Lyudmila would grow dejected because of this, becoming gloomy and despondent from then on, doubting her life, doubting herself.
"It's just—" Lyudmila looked toward Su Yuzu almost earnestly.
Su Yuzu could see pleading in the girl's gaze, like one who had plunged into the Abyss and grasped at the last straw, crying out for rescue.
"That deity..."
"will she still grant me a Blessing?"
"Will she... still acknowledge me?"
Though she was ostensibly asking Su Yuzu about that unknown deity, Su Yuzu could feel that the girl was, in fact, asking her.
She was yearning, craving, hoping that she could obtain an acknowledgment.
The faith within the heart of the devout ascetic had already crumbled.
How difficult it is to rebuild a faith.
Lyudmila had already grown accustomed to that devout way of life; the girl's instincts impelled her to seek a new faith.
That faith could be Lady Fate, who toyed with her wickedly every single day... yet who seemed to truly exist.
It could also be... Su Yuzu.
"She will~" Su Yuzu looked at Lyudmila before her.
The cooldown on 「Combat Records」 had not yet elapsed, but—
she still had something else that could prove that 'deity's' acknowledgment of the girl.
Swiping open Lyudmila's Development panel.
Su Yuzu looked at the 「Second Sequence Promotion Emblem」 glittering within [Development].
"I am right here."
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