Dun, dun, dun!
The instant Sakura Koishin's words landed—that Su Yuzu had to take responsibility for Sakura Mai—
Every heart in the room lurched upward at once.
Soga Yura nearly stepped forward on the spot to demand what exactly Auntie Sakura meant by that, but the look Sakura Koishin gave her—the one that said don't be rash—slowly settled her back down.
The ahoge swaying above the little rabbit's forehead froze mid-sway, and her pretty blue eyes wandered back and forth between Su Yuzu and Senior Sakura, who was still bracing herself against the wall.
Sitting up in the hospital bed, Tsukiyomi Fuya pressed her lips together.
The scale of this girl's philandering seemed to exceed even her expectations.
But... had Sakura Koishin arrived at the base a single day earlier, her words might well have overturned Tsukiyomi Fuya's whole view of Su Yuzu.
Now, though... beneath the blankets, Tsukiyomi Fuya's left hand brushed lightly over her own lower belly.
The skin there was still smooth and unmarked.
And yet, the moment she touched it, she remembered every one of that girl's outrages—one after another, stroke after stroke.
A girl who was just a little sly. Just a little wicked.
Sitting in her lap, telling her with pure invasion in her voice—
"The rest of Senpai's life already belongs to me."
"The rest of Senpai's life already belongs to me."
"Senpai—"
"—is already my possession."
Tsukiyomi Fuya's Favorability toward Su Yuzu had been locked at [Obedience].
Which meant that no matter how wantonly Su Yuzu trampled the affection budding between them, no matter how badly she ruined that precious feeling—
because of that [Contract of the War Maiden], because of that agreement written like a "cat betrothal letter"—
every word Su Yuzu spoke, every attitude she took—
would be met with unconditional Obedience.
Not that Su Yuzu would ever actually do such a thing.
That contract served only a handful of purposes for Su Yuzu. Beyond closing the distance between her and Tsukiyomi Fuya, beyond dragging Tsukiyomi Fuya back from the state of being eroded by the Catastrophe Crystals cluster... perhaps—
perhaps its only remaining use lay somewhere in the future, late at night.
Just the way Tsukiyomi Fuya had once imagined it.
An empty alley, and her dressed up as a cat, with Yuzu holding her hand.
Only at a time like that would the "cat betrothal letter" be invoked, and only to set a little bit of mood.
So long as that right was never exercised, Tsukiyomi Fuya's Favorability toward the girl remained Favor, then Dependency... all the way up to Doting.
It was simply locked on the panel as [Obedience], nothing more.
Behind Sakura Koishin, an equally mortified Sakura Mai gave her mother's sleeve a small tug.
"Mother!!!" There was a note of petulant whining in the girl's voice. "It's... it's supposed to be me taking responsibility for Sister Yuzu."
She was the one who had to take responsibility for Sister Yuzu.
How... how had it turned around in her mother's mouth, into Sister Yuzu taking responsibility for her?
Yes, she was still bracing herself against the wall.
But some things—some matters of principle—could not be overturned so easily.
Sitting obediently in her chair, Su Yuzu felt as though her scalp were about to split open.
"Wh-wh-what... what kind of situation is this?"
Calling it a battlefield of jealousy no longer covered it. This was a judgment seat.
Her own faithless heart had been cut open and laid out on the table for everyone to see.
Su Yuzu glanced cautiously at Sakura Mai, then at Soga Yura, then at Tsukiyomi Fuya, then at... the little rabbit, who had come for the gossip only to find it served at her own family's table.
All Su Yuzu could do was knead her skirt uneasily and wait for Her Honor the judge to pronounce sentence on her "wiliness."
And the judge who was to pass sentence—
that is to say, Sakura Koishin—rolled her eyes at her own foolish daughter with something close to exasperation.
Whether it was Little Yuzu drawing the Sword of Erasure entirely of her own accord, or her little Mai, who looked so valiant and turned out to be exactly like her useless mother—routed at the first push, helmet and armor scattered behind her.
In short... in Mai's current condition, how exactly was she going to take responsibility for Little Yuzu?
And still so pigheaded about it.
Honestly, being the one taken responsibility for wasn't bad at all.
On the contrary—
it let you hold the other person's heart in a grip they'd never escape.
Back in the day, her grand plan for a night raid... well, in short, back then, if she hadn't botched her move and been taken instead, then turned the tables and forced Tennouji Jurei to face her, to take responsibility for her—
Mai would still be off somewhere unborn, doing nothing at all.
And by the time she grew up, all she'd be able to do was gaze up at Little Yuzu's silhouette while she did it.
And then Little Yuzu would pin her against her chest and make Mai call her Sister—exactly the way she herself liked to bully Little Yuzu.
Of course—
one really shouldn't take Sakura Koishin's version of those old events as the whole truth.
Perhaps back then she'd been every bit as mouthy as Sakura Mai was now, and... aside from the mouthiness, she'd been held in a grip she couldn't break, too soft to so much as lift her waist.
Watching Sakura Koishin's coquettish eye-roll, Su Yuzu understood that her best available option right now was, most likely, to simply surrender.
She bowed toward Sakura Koishin.
"I'll take responsibility for Sister Mai!"
Crunch—
Soga Yura's fist clenched hard enough to crush stone.
On the hospital bed, Tsukiyomi Fuya—who had been mulling over something else entirely—seemed to arrive at a sudden understanding, and quietly made up her mind.
Sakura Mai was so mortified she nearly buried her head in Sakura Koishin's back.
"Mother!!!"
Sakura Koishin sighed inwardly. A married-off daughter really was like water poured out of the bowl—and this one wasn't even married off yet, and her elbow was already bending the wrong way.
Only... certain people seemed to have forgotten something.
Namely her own heroic exploits back in the day, when, in order to talk the old master of the Sakura family around, she'd very nearly plucked bare the beard he'd spent all those years growing.
"Ms. Tsukiyomi should get some proper rest."
"It's getting late." With her objective achieved, Sakura Koishin sounded the gong and withdrew her troops.
Tsukiyomi Fuya looked at Yuzu.
Yuzu, rather flustered, looked back at Tsukiyomi Fuya, the two of them saying goodbye with nothing but their eyes.
"Oh, that's right—"
Just as the atmosphere in the room had finally settled into something peaceful, Sakura Koishin offered Tsukiyomi Fuya a reminder, as though it had only just occurred to her.
"Ms. Tsukiyomi is a little dehydrated."
"Remember to drink plenty of warm water~"
"And to replenish your salts and electrolytes too."
"Otherwise~ it puts a strain on the heart, and your electrolytes go out of balance."
Tsukiyomi Fuya, who had only just barely recovered her composure, shoved her head straight under the blankets and clutched them tight in her shame.
Sakura Mai tugged at Sakura Koishin's sleeve.
Sakura Koishin reflected that children really were just children.
This was war!
They left the mobile hospital.
And the moment they stepped outside... Sakura Koishin saw—
Two figures, one in black and one in white, squatting at the mobile hospital's entrance.
And one of them...
Kirishika looked at Sakura Koishin, and her eyes lit up all at once.
"Ah... it's you, from that day—"
"Mai~ Mama just remembered she has something to do!" Sakura Koishin turned on her heel, ready to flee.
She would rather go back inside and share a bed with Tsukiyomi Fuya all night.
"Eurypterid!" Kirishika slapped her thigh.
Something in Sakura Koishin's chest trembled right along with it.
Su Yuzu watched the interaction between Sakura Koishin and Kirishika.
So... everything has its nemesis?
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