Ritsuka appeared shortly afterward, dressed in casual clothes.
Upon seeing the two of them together, she alternated her gaze between them for a moment.
"Ah... were you two busy?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Arthur replied first in a relaxed tone. "Just a random conversation."
Tamamo tilted her head slightly, smiling openly, though her eyes subtly changed the moment she realized who had arrived.
"Fufu, random, is it? I'd say it was going quite well until you showed up, Ritsuka-chan."
"Hm?" Ritsuka blinked, not immediately understanding the tone.
Arthur, on the other hand, merely sighed.
He could already sense the beginning of another war.
"I just came to see Arthur," Ritsuka explained, approaching without ceremony. "I was thinking about doing my report since he's my superior. But I still haven't had time to organize everything properly."
Tamamo leaned slightly to one side.
"I see, I see... work, work... always so responsible."
Ritsuka ignored the tone and turned toward Arthur.
"Are you busy too?"
"Always," he replied naturally. "But that doesn't mean I can't take a break."
He lightly tapped her shoulder, only to notice the faint dark circles beneath her eyes.
"You should get more rest, you know."
"I rest when I can," Ritsuka answered unconvincingly.
"Hm... you'll get wrinkles if you don't sleep properly," Tamamo commented.
Before the conversation could continue, Arthur raised a hand and gently patted Ritsuka's head without any hesitation.
"You're not overdoing it again, are you?"
"I'm not overdoing it... I think. Mash keeps saying the same thing..." Ritsuka replied while lightly massaging her temple.
Tamamo observed that for a few seconds.
"Fufu... you two seem pretty close."
"We're partners," Ritsuka immediately replied.
"Exactly," Arthur agreed.
The synchronized answer made Tamamo tilt her head even further.
"How convenient."
"You're acting strange today, Tamamo," Ritsuka said while looking at her with a frown.
"Strange? Me?" Tamamo placed a hand on her chest, feigning shock. "That was rude, Ritsuka-chan."
"Okay... this is going to start," Arthur muttered.
"Start what?" Ritsuka asked.
Tamamo moved a little closer to Arthur without asking permission, naturally wrapping herself around his arm.
"Nothing important. Just an intimate conversation between Tamamo and her Master," Tamamo said provocatively.
Ritsuka remained silent for half a second.
Then, without fully realizing what she was doing, she grabbed Arthur's other arm.
"I'm his partner too," she said.
"Ritsuka-chan, you really shouldn't interrupt a couple's conversation, you know?" Tamamo smiled sweetly.
"A couple?" Ritsuka repeated, blinking.
"Hey, wait." Arthur immediately interrupted. "That's not—"
"It is," Tamamo calmly cut him off.
Ritsuka stared at the two of them for several seconds, as if processing the statement.
"Arthur, are you agreeing with that?" she asked while turning her eyes toward him.
"I didn't agree with anything."
"But you didn't deny it either," Tamamo added, pressing his arm lightly against her chest.
Arthur opened his mouth, closed it, and let out a resigned sigh.
"This isn't a vote."
"How are you going to settle this now?" Ritsuka suddenly asked.
"Settle what exactly?"
"Who's more important between us."
Arthur looked at one and then the other in silence.
Tamamo was smiling adorably at him.
Ritsuka was completely serious.
He ran a hand through his hair, exhausted.
"Why does this always happen...?"
---
"So basically..." Tamamo continued, still clinging to his arm with a sweet smile. "You don't need to worry about our relationship, Ritsuka-chan. Some things require... maturity."
"Maturity isn't the problem here," Ritsuka immediately replied without looking away. "The problem is you acting like you have priority over him."
"I'm not acting like I have priority. I do."
"That's literally the opposite of not acting like you have priority."
Arthur raised a hand.
"Can I just—"
"No."
Both answered simultaneously.
He immediately closed his mouth.
'I think it's better if I stay quiet this time... Wait, I've got it!' Arthur muttered mentally as an idea suddenly came to him.
"Ritsuka-chan, do you even understand what it means to stand beside him?" Tamamo suddenly asked.
"I've worked with him longer than you have," Ritsuka replied. "I know exactly what kind of person he is."
"Fufu... that's not enough," Tamamo answered softly. "I know what kind of man he is in a different way."
"That doesn't help at all."
"Yes, it does."
Arthur massaged his temples.
"Okay, this has gone too far—"
At that exact moment, Arthur heard someone muttering something in the corridor.
He felt a small sense of relief when he saw a familiar figure appear.
When Tamamo and Ritsuka had started their ridiculous argument, he had quickly realized where things were heading.
He could confidently say that dealing with two stubborn women at the same time was far from a pleasant experience.
That was why, at the very beginning of that silent war, he had contacted Ishtar.
Her initial response had been exactly what he expected.
A refusal.
Ishtar had shown absolutely no interest in getting involved in his problems, and for several minutes Arthur had believed that conversation would go nowhere.
Then he made her an offer.
If she came to help him, he would spend some quality time with her afterward.
Arthur hadn't been entirely sure that would work.
Now, watching the goddess approach through the corridor, the answer seemed painfully obvious.
She could pretend to be uninterested all she wanted.
But the fact remained.
In the end, that tsundere goddess really had been tempted by the promise.
The argument had already gone too far several minutes ago.
The more Tamamo and Ritsuka tried to prove their point, the more the conversation became an unwinnable contest.
Any answer he gave would only feed the problem.
So he chose the simplest path.
He slipped both arms free, leaned forward, and stole a quick kiss from each of them.
Neither of them seemed to have processed what had just happened.
Arthur didn't waste the opportunity.
He immediately backed away from both of them.
His hand found Ishtar's before she even understood what was happening.
"You're coming with me," he said as he immediately retreated at full speed.
"Wait, I—"
Ishtar tried to protest, but it was useless.
By the time Ritsuka and Tamamo finally regained their ability to think, Arthur and Ishtar had already disappeared down the corridor.
Tamamo was the first to fully recover her composure.
Her fingers touched her lips as she stared down the empty hallway.
The smile on her face gradually disappeared as the pieces started falling into place.
She knew he hadn't done that to end the argument.
He had done it to create a distraction.
Ritsuka reached the same conclusion a few seconds later.
The two remained silent for a moment.
Then they realized another detail.
Arthur had already planned an escape route.
And Ishtar had been part of it.
The corridor became strangely silent.
Neither of them seemed particularly pleased with that discovery.
---
The room's door closed behind them as Arthur let out a sigh of relief.
Ishtar remained standing near the entrance, watching him with crossed arms while he dropped into a chair.
The goddess seemed torn between irritation and curiosity.
"So the terrible emergency that justified calling me was just this?" she asked.
"It was a matter of life and death," Arthur replied.
"I saw enough to know it wasn't," she mocked him.
She walked around the room without asking permission, examining the place as though she owned it.
It was an old habit.
Ishtar possessed an impressive ability to behave as though any place she entered automatically belonged to her.
Arthur watched her for a few seconds before noticing something amusing.
"You know..." he commented. "You could just admit it."
Ishtar looked back at him.
"Admit what exactly?"
"That you came because of the promise," Arthur replied with a grin.
"I came because I was curious."
"Of course."
"And because you looked desperate."
"Of course."
One of her eyebrows twitched as she noticed that with every answer, the smile on Arthur's face only grew wider.
Arthur was enjoying himself far more than he should have.
"You realize none of those explanations change the fact that you came because of my promise, right?"
"The reason doesn't matter," she immediately answered.
"Ohoho? Is that so?"
Ishtar opened her mouth to respond, then stopped and frowned.
That only made Arthur smile even more.
He knew she was too intelligent not to notice the trap.
If the reason truly didn't matter, she would have left already.
"You're unbearable today. I should've just refused to help you," she grumbled.
"But you didn't."
"Because you made a promise," she shot back.
"ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ"
Finally.
Arthur saw the exact moment Ishtar realized what she had just said.
Her gaze shifted away for a fraction of a second.
The goddess crossed her arms again, as though that could somehow restore her lost dignity.
"Don't start imagining things."
"I don't need to imagine reality," Arthur replied.
"Art—"
She tried to speak, but stopped when she realized he was already standing right in front of her.
"I think I should fulfill my promise," he said as he lifted her chin and captured her lips.
"Humf!?"
Ishtar reacted in complete bewilderment to his actions.
(End of Chapter)