"Sayaka, look, look. Up ahead is my favorite place on all of Itogami Island."
Watching Yukina Himeragi beam with excitement as she held her hand and introduced various places around the island, Sayaka Kirasaka couldn't help but smile happily.
No matter where she went, she always wore a gentle smile and treated others with kindness. That was Yukina Himeragi, the little angel who constantly brought her happiness.
"Ah… come to think of it, I've been the only one talking since we met again.
Sayaka, do you not like the places I mentioned? Or… am I being too annoying, and you don't feel like talking to me?
Sorry, sorry, that's my fault. I got a bit carried away talking to myself."
"No, of course not. I'm very happy being with you, Yukina. It's just that you described everything so well that I didn't feel the need to say anything."
Seeing Yukina Himeragi looking a little embarrassed, Sayaka Kirasaka quickly denied it.
How could she ever get tired of being with her little angel, listening to Yukina Himeragi's voice?
To be honest, just being by her side was already enough to make her happy. The fact that Yukina Himeragi kept talking to her only made it better. No matter what Yukina said, she would support her unconditionally.
Even if it meant badmouthing their teacher, she would gladly join in and call her an old hag. If that old hag found out later, the worst that would happen was getting punished. It was not like it had not happened before.
"Really? That's great!
Then let me tell you about the café where Cid-senpai took me for sandwiches after we first met. It's my favorite place to go.
It's just that it's a bit expensive, so I haven't been there many times since coming to Itogami Island."
That "Cid-senpai" Yukina Himeragi kept mentioning ever since they reunited…
She hated boys. She absolutely hated them.
Especially this one who might have taken her little angel's heart.
She had known Yukina since she was ten. It had been almost nine years now. Their bond was already closer than family.
If she had to die in place of someone, she would resent that person.
But if that person was Yukina Himeragi, she would only think the enemy was too slow in taking her life.
Because the moment they first met, her heart had already been melted by that angel-like girl, and from then on, she had resolved to become someone like an older sister to Yukina Himeragi.
To make Yukina feel that she was reliable like an older sister, she trained harder than anyone else, stayed up later than anyone else, and was even sent out on missions earlier than others by the higher-ups of the Lion King Organization.
And now, just after she had finally managed to remove Yukina Himeragi from the Lion King Organization's surveillance mission on the Fourth Primogenitor, she learned that someone might have taken her little angel's heart. What kind of situation was this?
Sayaka Kirasaka's current feelings were like a father who saw the daughter he raised being snatched away, or like someone who only dared to treat his goddess like a close friend, only to suddenly see her taken away by a stranger.
And the worst part was, she could not even do anything to drive that person away.
Because Yukina Himeragi had told her that the person named Cid had once saved her. Her morals, her conscience, and her reason would not allow her to act against him.
But with her dislike of men and the fact that he might have taken Yukina's heart, it was impossible for her to feel any goodwill toward him.
To put it simply, if that person ever asked for her help, she would at most do a few small favors, just out of respect for the fact that he had saved her little angel.
Thinking of this, the smile on Sayaka Kirasaka's face faded noticeably, though Yukina Himeragi did not notice.
"Yukina, could you stop bringing up your senpai all the time?
You know I hate boys. I really hate them."
As she said that, Sayaka Kirasaka, aware of the gazes from nearby boys, instinctively checked her outfit. Only after confirming that she was fully covered did she let out a small sigh of relief.
"Um… don't be so extreme, Sayaka. Not all boys are bad. For example, Senpai has always been really kind to me.
I think if you could just meet Senpai once, you'd understand."
Yukina Himeragi stopped walking, turned around, and looked at Sayaka Kirasaka with a helpless, awkward expression. But instead of blindly agreeing with her, she told her plainly that her way of thinking was wrong.
"Yukina, I'm begging you. We finally managed to reunite, so please stop talking about that senpai of yours."
"O-Okay…"
Seeing Sayaka Kirasaka resort to the emotional angle, Yukina Himeragi could only give in.
She knew the reason for it. Because of her childhood experiences, being abused by her father and then sold off, then later joining the Lion King Organization and being trained as a Shamanic War Dancer, with almost everyone around her being female, Sayaka Kirasaka had developed an overly one-sided view of men.
But Yukina still had to use this moment, while Sayaka was happy about their reunion, to say more good things about Cid and ease some of Sayaka Kirasaka's dislike of him. Otherwise, what was she supposed to do if those two started arguing when she introduced them?
If her favorite Senpai and her best friend were at odds, then she, stuck in the middle, would be the one who suffered most. It would mean having to choose between them.
Her time was limited. If she spent time with one of them, the other would definitely feel left out, and that would only create distance.
It was not as if she could split herself in half, with one half accompanying Cid-senpai and the other staying with Sayaka Kirasaka.
Back at the Forest of High God, she never had to think this hard about it, because almost everyone around her was a girl. Although those girls and Sayaka Kirasaka did not really get along, they did not hate each other either, so there was never any real conflict.
So… when Sayaka and Cid-senpai met, she did not expect them to instantly become good friends. She only hoped they would not clash and end up disliking each other.
It would be one of life's great regrets if the bride's best friend hated the groom so much that she refused to come to the wedding and be the bride's bridesmaid.
"Oh, right! Sayaka, how many days off do you have, and how long are you planning to stay here? I'll try to arrange things for you while you're here."
Since her plan to improve Sayaka Kirasaka's opinion of Senpai had failed, Yukina Himeragi could only ask about the other thing she cared about.
But when asked, Sayaka Kirasaka froze for a moment, unsure how to answer.
There was actually no mission on Itogami Island that required the Lion King Organization to send an Attack Mage, so when she explained why she had come, she used the excuse that "the Lion King Organization gave Attack Mages some vacation time, so I came here specifically to spend time with Yukina."
But lying was easy. Covering for the lie was the hard part.
The Lion King Organization did indeed have a leave system for its Attack Mages, but it was annual leave. Only after meeting performance standards for the entire year would they get three days off.
It was not that no one complained. For a profession like theirs, one that demanded constant vigilance, had an extremely high death rate, and was basically lived with your life on the line, three days off a year really was ridiculous.
But the Lion King Organization was basically a spy-like institution for training Attack Mages. The fact that they even got three days to relax was already something. If they actually followed labor law standards, then would any missions ever get done?
Complaints were just complaints. No one dared protest. The only option was to keep climbing higher until you became part of the Lion King Organization's upper ranks. Only then could you get leave that actually matched labor law, or even paid annual vacation.
So now the problem was this: even if she claimed she had not used any leave over the past four years, that still only added up to twelve days. And there was no way monitoring the Fourth Primogenitor would take only twelve days. It simply was not enough.
Telling Yukina the truth was immediately ruled out.
She knew Yukina Himeragi too well. If Yukina found out that Sayaka was the one who had replaced her, Yukina would only feel guilty and then ask to take back the mission of "monitoring the Fourth Primogenitor," replacing Sayaka in turn.
"Uh… Yukina… hm?"
Just as Sayaka Kirasaka was about to answer, she noticed Yukina Himeragi standing there with her lips slightly parted and her eyes vacant, staring straight ahead like she had just seen something deeply shocking.
Following Yukina Himeragi's line of sight, Sayaka Kirasaka looked through the café's glass wall and saw only a black-haired boy sitting in a secluded corner across from a silver-haired woman, with two sandwiches on the table.
What was so strange about that?
"S-Senpai?!"
The muttered words came from the stunned Yukina Himeragi beside her.
Good news: the man who might have stolen Yukina's heart was a scumbag, so now she could openly tell Yukina to stay away from him.
Bad news: the "might have" could now be removed.
This man really had stolen Yukina's heart.