The next morning, Kasumigaoka Utaha slowly woke from a hazy sleep.
As her mind cleared, memories of the previous night came rushing back.
It had been her first time leading troops into battle, and she'd never expected to be routed so thoroughly that she could only beg for surrender again and again.
Now that she thought about it, her face burned with shame.
Saku was right—her skills were far too sloppy, which was why she'd been cut down at every pass.
After some painful reflection, she resolved to spar with Saku more often in the future, to hone her combat prowess and take him down next time.
"Mm..."
While she was still lost in thought, Utaha noticed the bunny she'd raised for years being held captive in someone's palm.
"Awake?"
"Yeah."
Familiarly, Saku pulled Utaha into his embrace and gave her a good-morning kiss.
"Mm... I haven't brushed my teeth."
"I don't mind."
"..."
Utaha gave him a flat look.
"Have you considered that I might mind?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible! Last night you were still—"
Before he could finish, Utaha covered his mouth.
"Don't say it."
Saku helplessly nodded, prying her hand away.
"It's still early. How about a morning workout?"
"No way, absolutely not!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head frantically. Was he joking? Her entire body was already sore and aching. A morning workout? That would be the death of her.
"But my second brother still wants to fight. Look at how flushed his face is—his battle spirit is clearly boiling over, impossible to suppress."
"No. I have no generals left to deploy."
"It's just a morning workout. I'll teach you spear technique. As the saying goes: a month for the staff, a year for the saber, a lifetime for the spear. Spear technique can't be taken lightly. You have to practice constantly to build real skill."
"F... fine."
Utaha compromised, but when Saku began hands-on instruction, she discovered that spear technique was indeed vast and profound.
The two trained for a full hour before finishing their morning workout. Thanks to Saku, Utaha had learned several sets of spear techniques.
The only drawback was that now she wasn't just sore and aching—her arms and hands could barely muster any strength.
Sure enough, practicing spear technique was strenuous work. Without decent stamina, it simply wasn't possible.
After breakfast, the two returned to the room and lay down again.
Utaha would soon have to take the Shinkansen back to Chiba, so naturally, she wasn't willing to waste even a minute of the time they still had alone together.
"Saku-kun."
She rested her head against him.
"Let me ask you something."
"Do you like me more now, or Mai?"
「What must come eventually comes. Utaha or Mai... why does this have to be a single-choice question?」
「Sometimes I really envy ancient times.」
「Still, if you're going to ask me something like this, don't blame me for fighting fire with fire.」
Utaha heard his inner voice but had no idea how he intended to counterattack.
"What question?"
"You answer mine first, and then I'll answer yours."
"Fine. What is it?"
"Who do you like more, your dad or your mom?"
"..."
Even though Utaha had long grown accustomed to Saku refusing to follow normal conversational logic, this question still caught her completely off guard.
He really had turned her own question right back on her.
"...My mother."
Utaha answered after thinking for a moment.
"I like my mother a little more."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Now answer me."
"Sure."
Saku didn't hesitate.
"I like you more."
"You're lying."
"I don't believe you."
Utaha looked completely confident she'd cornered him.
"Then break up with Mai."
Her fingers pinched lightly at his side.
"From now on, you can only have me."
"Ow! That hurts!"
Saku howled from the pinching and immediately grew furious. He grabbed the bunny beside her and squeezed hard.
"Ah! Damn it, you dare fight back?"
"A defeated general dares speak of courage?"
Then Saku, displaying the contempt of a victor, turned her own argument against her.
"You said you like your mother more."
"So can you kick your father out of the family?"
"That's... that's completely different."
"How?"
"Your dad loves you. Your mom loves you too. And yet you like your mom more."
Saku refused to let her escape.
"But according to your logic, since you like your mom a little more, that means your dad is unnecessary."
"So getting rid of him shouldn't matter, right?"
"You... you're doing this on purpose!"
Utaha's face flushed with frustration.
"Those aren't the same kinds of love! You can't mix parental love with romantic love!"
Saku nodded thoughtfully.
"So what you're saying is parental love is less important than romantic love."
"I'll tell your parents."
"You—you—!"
Utaha nearly exploded.
"You're infuriating!"
"I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Even Kasumigaoka Utaha, who normally remained composed no matter what happened, had finally been pushed past her limit.
If that conversation somehow reached her parents, she'd be in for a serious spanking.
She'd wanted to use the breakthrough in their relationship to finally gain the upper hand over Saku.
Instead, she'd been beaten senseless by completely unreasonable logic.
Jinnai Saku was truly terrifying.
Unable to win the argument, Utaha could only drop the subject.
She could have attacked his logic from another angle.
For example, if Saku could romantically love multiple girls, couldn't she also romantically love multiple boys?
But Utaha knew perfectly well what would happen if she actually said that.
Saku would let her go immediately.
Only those confident in being loved could afford to act fearlessly.
Utaha didn't have the courage to test that outcome.
So in the end, she could only accept Saku's shameless reasoning.
Besides...
Thinking about it carefully, she'd already managed to get ahead of Mai in one important sense.
There was still plenty of time. They were all still young. There would always be opportunities.
Who could say she wouldn't eventually make Saku choose only her?
「Never expected Utaha to be the first one to devour me. I guess the proactive person really does get to eat—otherwise you can't even catch warm shit.」
「I wonder what Mai will do when she finds out. You can't wrap fire in paper forever. I need to find a chance to talk to her.」
「You can't hide loving one person. Loving two people means you have to hide it carefully.」
「But I don't want to hide. Only sincerity can be exchanged for sincerity.」
「If Mai decides she doesn't want me anymore, I'll accept that too. Either way, deliberately deceiving her is out of the question.」
Utaha rested her head against Saku's chest, listening to his strong heartbeat and the thoughts drifting through his mind.
She knew those thoughts were genuine.
This man really was different from most people.
He had no interest in sneaking around forever.
When he decided to do something, he acted decisively and accepted the consequences afterward.
Utaha simply didn't know how Mai would react.
...
Far away in Tokyo, Mai currently wanted to tear Kasumigaoka Utaha apart.
The person she liked... she hadn't even dared to make a move, and somehow Utaha had gotten ahead of her.
It made all of Mai's previous restraint feel almost pointless.
'If I'd known this would happen, I should've been more proactive too...'
"Kasumigaoka Utaha."
Mai's expression darkened.
"Just you wait."
"You think getting ahead of me is enough to tie Saku-kun to you?"
"Not a chance."
Mai believed the bond between herself and Saku was far deeper than anything Utaha had built.
As far as she was concerned, Utaha was nothing but a sneaky thief who'd taken advantage of an opening while Mai wasn't there.
Still, Mai also knew that boys—especially adolescent boys—simply couldn't resist something freely offered. They'd easily succumb to desire and lose the ability to distinguish between feelings and lust.
So she needed to take things further herself.
Once they were standing on equal footing again...
What advantage would Utaha have left?
And Saku?
In Mai's increasingly biased interpretation, Saku was practically the poor innocent victim who had been swept along by an overly aggressive girl.
Clearly, he wasn't the real problem here.
At that moment, Mai had absolutely no idea just how absurd her own panicked reasoning had become.
…