Chapter 319: Yuuko's Strange Questions, Yuuko's Transformation
Kasugano Sora was awake. The sky was just beginning to lighten with the first blush of dawn, and Ren found it rather surprising to see her up at this hour.
He offered a gentle smile and a nod. "Good morning, Sora. What has you up so early? You usually sleep in, don't you? Especially after spending so much time at the gym yesterday."
Sora sighed, a hint of weary resignation in her voice. "I was sleeping, but I suddenly felt like I was falling off the bed, and that woke me up. I tried to go back to sleep, but then my leg cramped..."
Ren chuckled softly. "You really are an unlucky girl. Well, the shop isn't closing just yet. If you wait a bit, you might get to see some guests from other worlds."
"Oh... They're coming for breakfast this early?"
"Who knows," Ren mused. "For them, it might just be getting dark."
"Mm... Huh? Ren, you still haven't told me who this is," Sora said, her gaze finally settling on the elegant woman standing beside him.
Before Ren could speak, Ichihara Yuuko's eyes lit up with a knowing glimmer. "You must be Sora. I am Ichihara Yuuko. You can just call me Sister Yuuko. Due to a... special relationship with Ren, I'll be staying here for a while. Please take care of me from now on."
Kasugano Sora nodded slowly, her eyes wide as she took in the scene. A wave of emotion crossed her face. "Ren... you're really incredible. There are always so many beautiful women around you... And Sister Yuuko, you're so tall!"
Ichihara Yuuko let out a low, musical chuckle. "That's probably just an innate talent of his. Also, Sora, I happen to be one of those otherworldly guests you mentioned."
"Eh?! Sister Yuuko is from another world? But why are you staying here... and you have a special relationship with Ren... Sister Yuuko, did you know him before?"
Yuuko paused, startled by the directness of the question, before shaking her head. "No. I suppose you could say we only just met today. The relationship began today, and then I stayed."
Kasugano Sora was stunned into silence. She stared at Yuuko, then turned a peculiar gaze on Ren. "Ren... you really are a natural-born heartbreaker."
Hearing this, Ichihara Yuuko nodded in solemn agreement. "Mm, I think so too. It's how he so successfully gets his way with women."
Sora looked from Yuuko back to Ren, then nodded once more before turning to head downstairs. As she left, a single sentence drifted back up to them.
"I have a feeling that one day, this place is going to have a lot of landladies..."
When her footsteps had faded, Yuuko was left standing in a state of mild bewilderment. After a moment's hesitation, she turned to Ren, her brow furrowed. "Ren... what did Sora mean just now?"
Ren looked at the woman before him, who still carried the obvious air of a queen, and debated what to say. If he told her the truth, Yuuko might try to clarify the misunderstanding with Sora, only to end up hiding in her room for a week out of sheer embarrassment. Even a queen would feel mortified upon discovering she was the subject of such a wild assumption.
But if he didn't tell her, he knew Sora would eventually blurt it out anyway. In that scenario, Yuuko would likely freeze on the spot, wishing the ground would swallow her whole. The sudden, horrifying realization that she had unknowingly played along with the misunderstanding would be a social death sentence.
After a moment's thought, Ren simply smiled. "Perhaps it was just the whimsical thoughts of youth. Now, did you have anything else to say? You've already asked two completely useless, pointless questions."
Yuuko's lips thinned. "They were not pointless questions! They were perfectly normal!"
Ren sighed dramatically. "If I rephrase your two questions and ask them back to you, you'll understand why they're so strange."
"Go on, then! They aren't strange at all!"
Ren cleared his throat, adopting a serious tone. "First question: 'Yuuko, I need to go back to my hometown to tie up a few loose ends. Once I'm done there, will I still be allowed to return to my own home?'"
Yuuko froze. Before she could form a response, Ren continued.
"Second question: 'Yuuko, do you think it would be alright if I worked part-time at my own house? For free, of course.'"
A muscle in Yuuko's cheek twitched. Hearing them framed that way... they did sound rather odd. She quickly recovered, pressing on. "The third matter is more important. The currency in this world..."
Ren let out another long-suffering sigh. "You... honestly..."
"Hey! This question is very important!" she protested, her voice sharp. "Don't give me that look like I'm a lost cause! I was just resurrected!"
"For that question," Ren said, his tone laced with amusement, "I suggest you ask Lucifer and Cerberus. They'll fill you in. You can ask your fourth question now."
"How did you know there was a fourth?"
"Because you said 'the third matter,'not'the last matter.' Besides, I didn't think you'd stop at just three useless questions."
Ichihara Yuuko rolled her eyes at him before her expression turned more serious. "Clow Reed's gift to you—that notebook and pen—I've placed them in my room. You can retrieve them whenever you think of it. I have no interest in looking at them."
"Mm, got it. And for the record, that was the only question so far that had any meaning."
A hint of resentment crept into Yuuko's voice. "I think I'm starting to understand how you managed to make the dignified Queen of Hell so utterly infuriated yet fond of you. Don't you have anything else to say?"
Ren considered this very seriously for a moment, his playful demeanor vanishing. He met her gaze, his own expression turning solemn. "Yuuko, remember this."
"Remem... remember what?" she asked, caught off guard by the sudden shift.
"Whether it's this trip back to your world to handle things, or any time you go out in the future... if you encounter something you can't overcome or face a setback, don't carry that burden alone. You have a home now. You have a family. You can lean on us. When a situation like that arises, just come home."
Staring at the gravity in his eyes, Yuuko's gaze wavered. "What if... what if I can't win... Eh?"
Before she could finish her sentence, Ren reached out and gently patted her on the head. He looked down at her with the kind of fond, caring expression one might give a silly, beloved child.
"Yuuko, if you can't win, you run. You come back here. Anyone foolish enough to follow you through that door will be taken care of. No matter what happens, be it happiness or danger, your first instinct should be to come home. You're surprisingly... and endearingly, clumsy."
For a moment, Yuuko simply stared up at him, a strange tremor passing through her heart. Then, the meaning of his words fully registered, and she flushed, swatting at his hand. "Ren! Are you calling me clumsy?! And that look... I am not clumsy!"
"Eh? Mm..."
"You hesitated!"
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did!"
Perhaps it was the lingering influence of Cerberus's straightforward nature, or the novelty of a world with technology far beyond her own, or simply a conscious decision to embrace a new life with a new attitude. At this moment, though Ichihara Yuuko still possessed the regal bearing of a queen, in front of Ren and Lucifer, she was beginning to resemble a normal girl.
As she herself would later reflect, who would ever feel the need to maintain a lofty, aloof facade around family—especially a family as interesting as this one?
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