Her pretty crimson eyes stretched wide, Soga Yura stared at Su Yuzu and Sakura Mai, who had inexplicably vanished for an entire afternoon.
Her gaze was full of confusion and disbelief.
Su Yuzu's fully unfurled throne of thorns had turned that shower room completely into another world.
Not even Soga Yura's mental power had been able to detect the anomaly there.
Perhaps... only a being like Su Yuzu could catch the tender, misty enchantment of that place.
If she hadn't still been able to sense that Yuzu was probably fine now—
and on top of that... on top of that, the way Yuzu had acted so strangely when she left the deck, looking exactly like Soga Yura's own flustered state when she had received the Blessing—it had made it impossible for Soga Yura to go tell Ms. Tsukiyomi and mobilize everyone to search for where Yuzu was.
Otherwise Soga Yura would long since have flipped the whole ship over just to find where Yuzu had gone.
But—!!!
Soga Yura stared wide-eyed at Sakura Mai's utterly contented, blushing expression, and then at Yuzu behind her—who, thanks to the built-in filter Soga Yura always wore, looked as gentle and clinging as a little bird nestling against someone.
The girl's meager chest suddenly began to tremble.
"Y-y-y-you... what did you just say!?"
Aside from the utterly stunned Soga Yura, even Ms. Unohana Chiyo set down the tea in her hand.
Seated beside Unohana Chiyo, seemingly in the middle of discussing something with her, Tsukiyomi Fuya also wore a shocked look, her gaze wandering back and forth between Soga Yura, Su Yuzu, and Sakura Mai.
The little rabbit's ahoge sprang straight up with a whoosh.
[Senior Mai, why aren't you playing by the script!!!]
Looking at Soga Yura's dumbfounded, shaken expression, Sakura Mai could actually understand it.
If she too had a Little Sister as well-behaved, adorable, and even downright captivating as Sister Yuzu, and then her best friend wanted to make a move on that Little Sister, her own expression would probably be even harder to swallow than Soga Yura's.
But... Sakura Mai looked at Su Yuzu beside her.
"I've already committed a grave mistake."
Beneath Soga Yura's wildly twitching eyes, Sakura Mai gently took Su Yuzu's hand. "What I mean is..."
"Yura—"
"I like Sister Yuzu."
"I want to take responsibility for Sister Yuzu."
When it came to feelings like this, the Knight Princess was always more open and forthright than anyone else.
Her temperament meant she didn't like to hide or conceal things.
Her temperament meant that once Sakura Mai had set her heart on something, she would absolutely never let go.
It meant that... since she had already committed a grave mistake, she could never tolerate acting as though nothing had happened; she had to take responsibility for it.
Sakura Mai looked earnestly at Soga Yura.
Trembling, the corners of her eyes twitching wildly, Soga Yura stared at Sakura Mai.
Soga Yura realized—
Sakura Mai was serious.
Just as Sakura Mai understood Soga Yura, in truth... Soga Yura understood Sakura Mai too.
Looking at Sakura Mai's earnest expression, Soga Yura understood... this was completely different from all the times before, when this girl would wear either a blank look or a teasing one and say to her, "Your Little Sister is so cute~" or "Why not let Sister Yuzu come stay with the Sakura family~"
This time—
this girl meant it for real.
"Sakura Mai, you jerk!!!" No longer caring about anything else, in that instant Soga Yura displayed astonishing physical prowess.
She lunged straight at Sakura Mai—so fast that even the little rabbit sitting right beside Soga Yura didn't have time to react.
"Yura—"
"Sister..."
"Sister Yura!!!"
Amid a chorus of startled cries, Soga Yura had already knocked Sakura Mai down, pinning her beneath her and flailing away with her little fists.
"Sakura Mai, you jerk!!!"
"Do you even know what you're saying?" Soga Yura's voice was almost a sob.
Sakura Mai, who had only just recovered a little, had no room at all to defend herself—or rather, even if she had, she could only choose to silently endure this storm.
In Sakura Mai's heart, Soga Yura was entirely within her rights.
If it were her instead... she'd probably have hit even harder.
She just silently pursed her lips, watching Sister Yuzu try to pull Soga Yura away.
Soga Yura yanked at Sakura Mai's cheeks, the rims of her eyes gone all red.
She had thought about it... that many, many people would one day come to dig at the corner of her wall.
After all, the corner of her wall was simply too tempting.
But... but... Soga Yura had never imagined that the very first person to swing a hoe straight at the corner of her wall would turn out to be Sakura Mai.
Su Yuzu hurriedly hugged Soga Yura from behind, pulling the aggrieved, furious Soga Yura off of Sakura Mai.
"Wait... wait a moment... wait a moment."
It might have been better if Su Yuzu hadn't pulled her at all—for as Soga Yura caught the almost lush scent of banksia rose on Su Yuzu, in her very hair... she grew even more aggrieved and angry.
She even wanted to give the Sakura Mai on the floor a kick, but... though her leg had already stretched out, in the end she still couldn't bring herself to do it.
The pitifully aggrieved Soga Yura threw herself into Su Yuzu's arms.
She was already just a tiny bit shorter than Su Yuzu to begin with, and combined with such wobbly movements and the posture of tumbling sideways into Su Yuzu's embrace—
Soga Yura looked at Su Yuzu's drooping, lightly tied-up hair, and caught a subtle, ominous scent.
She brushed aside the girl's strands of hair.
The good news was—
it wasn't a hickey that had been planted there.
The bad news was... the situation seemed to be even worse than a hickey.
A terrifying mental storm seemed poised to brew the very next second, so Su Yuzu hurriedly held Soga Yura tight, going straight for the girl's soft, delicate earlobe, softly murmuring to soothe and settle her.
Even though Sister Mai wore the face of an eternal, unforgivable sinner—
Su Yuzu knew that the true culprit... was actually herself.
A moment later—
Sakura Mai sat alone on the single-seat sofa, her hands hanging limply together in her lap.
In front of her were the pitifully aggrieved Soga Yura clutching Yuzu, along with Unohana Chiyo and Tsukiyomi Fuya, and the little rabbit.
"So... what on earth actually happened?" Tsukiyomi Fuya and Unohana Chiyo exchanged a glance; both were very curious.
"It was me—I didn't control the Sword of Erasure well—"
"It was me—I carelessly got poisoned—po-poisoned—"
Su Yuzu and Sakura Mai spoke almost in perfect unison.
The two of them glanced at each other.
"It was me!"
"It was me!"
Tsukiyomi Fuya and Unohana Chiyo both suddenly felt a headache coming on.
And Soga Yura looked so pitifully aggrieved that she seemed about to turn into a walking meme the very next second.
Watching Su Yuzu and Sakura Mai each try to shoulder all the blame themselves—
Soga Yura wanted nothing more than to pounce right over and tear this girl apart.
"Sakura Mai, y-y-y-you... you jerk!!!"
The Sister who was at a loss for words even when cursing someone out was, unexpectedly, adorable.
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