These were clothes that had only just been ironed neat and tidy.
By the time Su Yuzu took Lyudmila by the hand and left the stairwell, another ten-some minutes had passed.
But it was fine~
Because a few steps had been skipped this time, Lyudmila tidied up the hem of her skirt far faster than before.
The flawless Saintess kept her head lowered, her lovely pale-golden eyes seeming to ripple with watery hues.
In the lobby of the Healing-type academic building, the little rabbit, seated on the very bench where Yuzu had sat earlier, stared blankly at Yuzu-senpai and her own roommate as they walked out from the direction of the stairwell.
Thud——
The little rabbit's schoolbag slid straight off the girl's lap and dropped onto the floor.
The ahoge that had been swaying back and forth nonstop out of the anxiety and urgency in her heart now stopped swaying altogether, and Saotome Yukina instinctively gave her little nose a sniff.
The air seemed permeated with a kind of intoxicating fragrance.
That elegant, delicate floral scent... was just like locust-tree blossoms plucked by a girl at the height of their blooming season, dried out, and made ready to be savored dipped in honey.
It was just like... that sunlight-belonging floral fragrance on Lyudmila.
There was really nothing she ought to say, and yet the little rabbit's eyes suddenly seemed to brim over with tears.
And what's more... it was completely different from the sort of tragicomic, aggrieved look 「.0.(°□□□)」 that Soga Yura would make.
o(TへTo) That look the little rabbit had—wanting to sniffle and sob, yet struggling to hold it back—
was actually rather adorable.
Su Yuzu bent down to pick up Saotome Yukina's schoolbag for her.
The little rabbit stared blankly at the collar of the senpai who had bent down.
First of all——
she had to clarify that the widely circulated rumor... that she was called 'little rabbit' had absolutely nothing to do with rabbits having an especially vigorous mating season.
Secondly——
she had to clarify that... senpai really was good-looking enough to make a person forget what they'd been wanting to cry about a moment ago.
And then there was... the little rabbit gave her nose a soft little sniff.
Senpai... why did senpai have that heavy scent on her, like locust-tree blossoms after they'd been baked dry?
It was practically as if she'd been marked by Mira.
Saotome Yukina, full of grievance, lifted her head and gazed at her own roommate.
The expression with which the little rabbit looked at Lyudmila was exactly that of an aggrieved little rabbit whose own home-side grass had been nibbled away by her own rabbit.
What happened to sharing weal and woe together... what happened to... the pure and holy maiden who, for the sake of her faith, guards her heart and stays unmoved with a beauty in her lap.
How... how did it turn into striking first to gain the upper hand?
I was... I was clearly here first.
Senior Yura was one thing.
That detestable Aberrant, leaning on the fact that she couldn't take care of herself in daily life and needed senpai to look after her—that was one thing.
「Mira, you're the person I trust the most!」
Facing her roommate whose sense of grievance was practically about to overflow off the screen, and recalling how, just moments ago... separated by no more than a single wall, her very own Lady Saintess had 'delivered' the Light to Yuzu-senpai like that.
Even Lyudmila could only stiffly tilt her head aside, fleeing from Saotome Yukina's tearful gaze.
The little rabbit was just one step short of pointing at Lyudmila and gaping with her mouth wide open, unable to catch her breath.
Su Yuzu picked up the little rabbit's backpack.
Crouching down before the little rabbit, she stuffed the backpack back into the little rabbit's arms.
"Waah——" Saotome Yukina lunged straight forward, throwing herself into Su Yuzu's arms.
If Soga Yura was Poor-Yuzu Armor... then Saotome Yukina—Su Yuzu simply felt that a heavily-armored little rabbit had come slamming straight into her arms.
Though she was a Healing-type medic, under the drilling Su Yuzu insisted upon day after day, the little rabbit's physical fitness was already in no way inferior—indeed, it would even surpass that of an ordinary Assault Department girl of the same level.
It was only because she was Su Yuzu that she could brace the girl's waist and rise up in a hurry, all but lifting the little rabbit clean off the ground.
The little rabbit wrapped herself directly around Su Yuzu.
"What's wrong..." Su Yuzu gently stroked the little rabbit's snow-blue hair, lightly toying with the strands whose very tips were tinged faintly blue.
The little rabbit only buried her cheek in the crook of Su Yuzu's neck, whimpering softly, unable to get a word out.
After all... the one standing behind Yuzu-senpai was her own roommate.
The roommate who treated her the best, the very best... who would throw herself in to shield her with her life in a moment of danger.
And besides... what if, just what if, things weren't the way she imagined?
And also——
that sort of thing... if senpai hadn't minded it at all, hadn't even noticed it, then how was she supposed to bring it up?
The little rabbit could only cling to Su Yuzu, her little face buried in the crook of Su Yuzu's neck, sulking all on her own.
Su Yuzu pressed her chin down onto the girl's shoulder.
She lowered her head and looked at the girl's snow-blue hair, then turned slightly to glance at the one beside her—Lyudmila, who was already doing her best to put on a stern face, kneading at her skirt and pressing down the hem, seeming to have returned to the Saintess image everyone was familiar with.
She couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.
A citrusy fragrance stirred up a few strands of snow-blue hair, and the little rabbit's shoulders shrank as she tensed up her body.
Su Yuzu stroked the little rabbit's hair. "Yukina..."
"Are you worried about the mission the day after tomorrow?"
She was making up an excuse on Saotome Yukina's behalf.
Cradling the girl's soft, squishy body, Su Yuzu held Saotome Yukina and bent down, wanting to once again pick up the girl's schoolbag that had fallen to the floor.
But Lyudmila, who had been waiting behind Su Yuzu, had already taken a step ahead, pressing down her skirt hem as she crouched and picked up Saotome Yukina's schoolbag.
"It's fine to leave it to me."
"Mira..." Before Su Yuzu could even finish speaking, she saw that the very tips of the Saintess beside her had already flushed an adorable shade of red.
In Su Yuzu's arms, the little rabbit's eyes went wide.
Some! Thing's! Up!
But——
at this point there was clearly no longer any chance for the little rabbit to play the role of master detective.
Cradling the little rabbit, on the face the little rabbit couldn't see, the corners of Su Yuzu's lips had already curled up wickedly. "Not happy~?"
The warm, soft voice was like a sweet, cloying snake, biting down on the little rabbit's ear.
Her water-blue eyes went wide all at once, and the little rabbit's spine seemed about to arch up.
"Sorry about that——"
Su Yuzu apologized with the utmost sincerity.
"As compensation..."
"how about I take Yukina to eat crepes?"
"We'll get Yukina's favorite... strawberry cream crepes."
The little rabbit still hadn't noticed anything amiss.
It wasn't until... she realized senpai apparently intended to just keep cradling her like this, carrying her out of the Healing-type academic building lobby the way one would hold a small child, that Saotome Yukina finally caught the whiff of something bad.
"Wait..."
"Wait a moment!!!"
"Yuzu-senpai..."
"Senpai..."
"Put... put me down, won't you..."
"I can walk on my own." The girl's voice seemed about to break into sobs.
It was already past dismissal time, and there was hardly anyone in the lobby.
Being carried like this by senpai was merely embarrassing.
But... once they left the academic building, it would be a completely different story.
Outside the academic building, students were coming and going, and most of them were the little rabbit's own classmates.
At the same time... the place senpai wanted to carry her to was the commercial street, no less.
School was out!
Mealtime!
The commercial street!!!
The little rabbit seemed to see a sweet, cloying... 'nightmare' woven by senpai.
She did not doubt in the least whether Su Yuzu had the stamina to carry her that far.
"Yuzu-senpai..."
"Lady Senpai..."
"Sister——"
"Master"
"I know I was wrong, okay?!!"
Su Yuzu could feel that the body warmth of the girl in her arms seemed to be rising right along with her sense of shame.
In [Operator Development], the little rabbit's Q-version chibi had already turned into a steam princess.
Only now you know you were wrong?
Too late!
____
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