For Soga Yura and Su Yuzu, it was probably a long yet warm night.
The honeycomb-like capsule dormitory wasn't large.
Even though it could use simulated scenery to make one feel as if they were sleeping within an endless galaxy.
Even a single person, trying to spread out their arms, would touch the walls on either side.
For Soga Yura and Su Yuzu... one person felt a little cramped, but two people—somehow it seemed just right.
Much like the memory of Soga Yura and Su Yuzu squeezed onto a single child's bed, their legs tangled together.
In that narrow space, Soga Yura nestled into Su Yuzu's arms and slept soundly.
As for Su Yuzu—
She gazed at the starry night the capsule dormitory simulated, watched the little rabbit being seized by Auntie Sakura for a lecture in [Operator Development], watched Kirishika and the "Seat of Evil" yawning as they clung to each other, yet never quite falling asleep.
She watched Mihou Sakai in the middle of self... never mind, this one can't go on screen.
In the end, she too sank heavily into peaceful slumber.
And then—
After Su Yuzu had fallen asleep, the girl nestled in her arms suddenly opened her eyes.
Soga Yura looked at Yuzu, who had never seemed so close, and held Su Yuzu a little tighter.
The girl's head nuzzled softly against Su Yuzu's neck. Soga Yura pressed her ear to Su Yuzu's chest, listening closely to the girl's even breathing and heartbeat, until at last... she too drifted into a tender dreamland.
*
The series of Events set off by the "Seat of Evil" had finally drawn to a close.
At the same time... the matter of the declining Holy Radiance left behind by Saint Michael had also come to a resolution.
Or rather—it was forced to a resolution.
The reason the Imperial Capital University survey team had come to this bay in the first place was the abnormal Calamity Aura within it.
The Technology Division researchers from Imperial Capital University and Keigunen Private Academy believed that the Holy Radiance left by Saint Michael was fading precisely because of the abnormal Calamity Aura within this bay.
It was this abnormally active Calamity Aura, they thought, that had torn open the radiant power Saint Michael had left behind.
After all—the Holy Radiance left by Saint Michael was declining entirely because of her own Development of Lyudmila.
At its root—
Lyudmila was Saint Michael.
Or rather—she was the self born of the "Sanctuary of the Sacrificed," the ideal—yet not quite so ideal—version of Saint Michael.
It was because Su Yuzu's Development of Lyudmila had indirectly affected the Saint Michael dwelling within Lyudmila's body that the Holy Radiance power left by Saint Michael had come to fade.
Lyudmila and Saint Michael's situation was somewhat similar to that of Kirishika and Kirishika "Dark," yet not entirely the same.
For Lyudmila, Saint Michael and she were not the same individual.
In Lyudmila's understanding, Saint Michael was the Saintess who had raised her, the deity and faith dwelling within her heart.
Although... beneath the merciless trampling of Su Yuzu's "Development Record," Lyudmila's faith had nearly shattered.
Her relationship with Saint Michael was actually closer to the one between Sakura Mai and the Sword of Erasure.
The only difference was... whenever Su Yuzu cast the "Development Record" upon Lyudmila, both Lyudmila and Saint Michael would be affected.
This was also the fundamental reason why, each time Su Yuzu dropped the Goddess of Fate's Blessing under Lyudmila's trembling gaze, Lyudmila would always lose contact with the deity in her heart.
In truth, it wasn't that Lyudmila had turned her back on her faith.
On the contrary—
it was probably just that... Saint Michael, bullied in sync, had been sobbing too hard to make a sound.
But Sakura Mai and the Sword of Erasure were entirely different.
Their senses were independent of each other.
In fact... even to this day, Sakura Mai still couldn't remember what exactly had happened after she tore open the glass partition door of Yuzu's compartment that day.
She only vaguely recalled... that when she came to, she was lying in Sister Yuzu's arms.
Sister Yuzu's face was very red.
Her own legs were very weak.
In any case—
During the "Seat of Evil"'s attack Event, Su Yuzu had been forced to use the "Saint's Blessing" that Saint Michael had granted her.
That was supposed to be an important power meant for countering Kujou Iruka's assault.
A power that could grant Su Yuzu the qualification to stand before a Sixth Sequence Aberrant.
After Su Yuzu had used up that blessing... the Holy Radiance that had shrouded the skies above the Tokyo metropolitan area for nearly the past twenty years finally vanished.
It had disappeared completely—so naturally there was no longer any need for deeper investigation, no need to try to halt its decline.
In the report Tsukiyomi Fuya submitted to Imperial Capital University and the [Investigation Bureau] police station, she pinned the cause of this radiant power's decline squarely on the "Seat of Evil."
At the cost of a single lollipop, Su Yuzu had Kirishika teach the "Seat of Evil" to behave.
After all... even after being thoroughly wrung dry, the "Seat of Evil" was still, by any measure, a Sixth Sequence Esper.
Su Yuzu was still a little wary, when it came down to it.
But—not so afraid as all that, really.
[Synesthesia] between the "Seat of Evil" and Kirishika meant that whenever the "Seat of Evil" refused to obey, Su Yuzu could simply scoop up Kirishika, lay her across her lap, and deliver a sound spanking to her bottom.
What's more—
the "Seat of Evil" wasn't linked with the other girls.
The "Combat Records" could take effect twice a day.
It was just that Su Yuzu wasn't the sort of wicked soul who'd bully a girl for no reason.
At most it was... oh dear, the day's nearly over, mustn't let it go to waste.
And then watching the "Seat of Evil" and Kirishika go weak in the legs in perfect sync.
Nothing to be done—the mechanics of [Synesthesia] dictated that every day, at the stroke of midnight, the "Seat of Evil" and Kirishika received a double blessing.
After the "Seat of Evil" fell into Su Yuzu's palm, the abnormal Calamity Aura of Tokyo Bay vanished along with it.
The white mist still rose at night.
Only this time, there was no longer any song from the mermaid.
But in the deeper reaches of the sea—
in some place farther across the land.
Dark golden vertical pupils gazed out at the city that had lost all its protection, the corners of alluring lips curling upward.
*
Back at Imperial Capital University.
Tsukiyomi Fuya swiftly recovered her usual dignified, gentle bearing.
Even though that night she'd seemed to have been bullied rather pitifully.
But in the end... Tsukiyomi Fuya was still the proudest white swan at Imperial Capital University.
Her softer, girlish side, she reserved for one person alone.
Tsukiyomi Fuya packed up her luggage in the temporary observatory—most important of all being the fresh ingredients in the fridge.
She had prepared so much before setting out, never expecting this operation would end so quickly.
Tsukiyomi Fuya made herself her familiar sandwich, but this time... it seemed that, for now, she had no one to Feed.
Perhaps next time she should go to Keigunen Private Academy and hold an astronomy outreach session—
Presumably Nishizono-senpai wouldn't turn her down.
Tsukiyomi Fuya carried the luggage from the temporary observatory into that castle wholly her own—the largest, most luxurious observatory at Imperial Capital University, in all the Tokyo metropolitan area... indeed in the entire nation.
Tsukiyomi Fuya switched the observatory's dome projection to a starry sky.
She tidied her luggage, listening to the crisp ringing of the Orion wind chimes.
"If Little Yuzu could see this... she'd probably love it."
And besides... Tsukiyomi Fuya looked at the glass curtain wall that had turned into a field of stars.
A scene rose unbidden to her mind... Little Yuzu pressing and kneading against her back, pinning her to the glass curtain wall, then making her teach her the names of the stars.
Tsukiyomi Fuya's heart quivered.
All at once—
her fingers brushed against an unfamiliar nightgown.
Tsukiyomi Fuya blinked, and it came back to her—that day... Little Yuzu seemed to have changed into a different dress in her room.
Slender, pale-white knuckles slowly clenched around it.
Tsukiyomi Fuya hugged that soft silk dress to her chest.
"Yu~zu."
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