Lining up with the girls at the entrance of a crepe shop.
Although Su Yuzu didn't turn around, just kept her head down looking at who-knows-what, but... Unohana Chiyo and the others all understood.
Su Yuzu was thinking about Soga Yura.
The girl had just smiled so brilliantly, yet she had pushed Soga Yura a thousand miles away.
Although Soga Yura still maintained that cold and aloof appearance, like a flower on a high peak, but... the tremor in the girl's eyes, even when concealed by "Domination," could no longer be hidden as securely as before.
"Yu... Yuzu-senpai..." The sensitive girl gently tugged on Yuzu's cuff. Mihou Sakai could feel that the girl from before, who looked almost identical to Yuzu-senpai, only lacking a little... a billion little bits in figure...
Must be someone very important to Yuzu-senpai.
Was that Yuzu-senpai's older sister?
Mihou Sakai sincerely hoped that Yuzu-senpai could be happy, that the sisters could get along.
"What's up~" Su Yuzu revealed a smile.
She looked at the girls beside her, each one wearing a worried expression.
"That girl..." Mihou Sakai hesitated.
"Ah~" Su Yuzu looked at the [Operator Development] in front of her.
˚o.(˚ˊㅁˋ˚).o˚
The Q-version of little Soga Yura sat on a sofa, constantly waving her arms, crying until tears covered the floor.
After she had left, Soga Yura must have been sitting in a private room at some restaurant, crying her eyes out.
Originally, Soga Yura crying so miserably should have been something that made Su Yuzu feel awful... to the point where she couldn't even breathe.
But... watching the Q-version of little Soga Yura cry so sadly, Su Yuzu found it inexplicably cute.
After she reached out and picked up the Q-version of little Soga Yura, the Q-version, held dangling in mid-air by the scruff of her neck, immediately stopped wailing. She looked at her with teary eyes, hiccupping.
Beside Su Yuzu, Teacher Unohana Chiyo was already overflowing with the aura of a gentle, beautiful woman, just short of saying directly to Yuzu... if you feel sad, come into teacher's arms and have a good cry.
"I'm fine." Su Yuzu gently caught Mihou Sakai's hand, giving her soft palm a light squeeze.
Although the girls all looked like they didn't believe her at all.
But... Su Yuzu was telling the truth.
She really was fine.
If she hadn't awakened this [Operator Development] game, hadn't seen Soga Yura's affection level for her, which was already as high as "99 (Doting)"...
Then no matter what, Su Yuzu would not have shown that brilliant smile today.
And with a single sentence, made Soga Yura cry like a mess.
If Soga Yura truly detested her from the bottom of her heart, finding her a nuisance just by looking at her, Su Yuzu might have... ultimately chosen to just watch over her in silence.
Just like what Soga Yura was doing now.
—A guardian hidden in the shadows.
Because... that was a promise little Su Yuzu swore to Soga Yura, a promise that if broken, she would have to swallow a thousand needles.
But if Soga Yura's affection for her was nearly maxed out, just one step away from unlocking all sorts of useful CGs, yet she insisted on pretending to be so cold...
Su Yuzu found that a little hard to accept.
She wanted to know why.
She wanted to know why, more than anything.
She even wanted to pin Soga Yura down and swipe "Combat Records" after "Combat Records" on her.
To ask her... if she knew how much her repeated distancing, her repeated cold words and scorn, had hurt her.
Her heart was about to shatter.
Su Yuzu didn't actually care what the people of the Soga clan thought of her.
Nor did she care how Soga Retsu saw her as a daughter.
The only thing Su Yuzu cared about... was Soga Yura's opinion.
So—
When the cake she had spent a whole day working so hard to make fell to the ground, Su Yuzu suddenly felt... that everything could be over.
Soga Yuzu became Su Yuzu.
Su Yuzu left the Soga family.
"Miss Yuzu..." Miss Hayabusa, who had been standing respectfully to the side, couldn't help but speak up.
Although she was the only outsider among this group of girls.
But... she sincerely didn't want such good sisters to become estranged because of some 'misunderstanding.'
She had clearly seen it... Hayabusa hesitated, deciding to risk being hunted down by Soga Yura to tell what she had witnessed last night.
She saw... after watching her own superior carry the fainted Miss Yuzu away in his arms.
Soga Yura had whimpered and whined miserably, biting on her trench coat like a little girl sulking behind an adult's back, muttering something as she stomped in puddle after puddle.
That Soga Yura was a completely different person from the ice-cold girl today.
"Perhaps Miss Soga Yura is completely different from how distant she appears on the surface."
Looking at Miss Yuzu before her, she suddenly realized.
Last night, what Soga Yura had been miserably mumbling about... was, "That's right—"
"Miss Soga Yura, after Lady Kujou left last night, she kept calling your name very aggrievedly."
"Probably..."
"Miss Soga Yura was very vexed at that time that the one holding you wasn't her."
"Maybe right now, Miss Soga Yura is hiding somewhere crying."
Hearing Miss Hayabusa's words, Su Yuzu looked at the [Operator Development] screen, at the Soga Yura who was, for some reason, crying even harder, and suddenly couldn't help but break into a smile.
"That's right~"
"Eh???" The girls were suddenly a little baffled by Su Yuzu's smile.
They could feel it, Su Yuzu was being genuine.
She was really smiling.
"That person is a difficult one."
"She actually likes me a lot."
If anyone else had said that, the girls might have thought she was talking nonsense.
The Soga clan's prejudice against Su Yuzu was something anyone with a slight understanding of the Soga clan could find out.
Soga Yura's indifference toward Su Yuzu had appeared time and time again on various occasions.
If Soga Yura was the protagonist in the center of the spotlight...
Then Yuzu... was just a shadow hidden beneath Soga Yura's spotlight.
But... she was Yuzu.
So the girls sincerely believed her words.
Looking at the knowing smile on Su Yuzu's face, Unohana Chiyo suddenly had a feeling.
That great young lady of the Soga family... was now being played in the palm of this girl's hand.
But... that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Regardless of whether she had her reasons, or was just being a tsundere, that person had bullied Yuzu so much, she deserved to suffer a little.
And Kujou Katora's thoughts were even simpler.
"She's so bad!"
"I love it!"
"I want Miss Yuzu to play me like that too."
Meanwhile... in a private room of a coffee shop.
Having cried herself tired, Soga Yura rested on Sakura Mai's shoulder, sobbing as she fell into a nightmare.
Mm... it was a nightmare that repeated over and over...
One that had entangled her ever since the day she awakened her ability as a child.
Endless darkness.
And... darker than the darkness... a giant throne hidden in the shadows.
"Don't..."
"Touch my Yuzu."
________________________________________
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