"Wait a minute! Keine!"
A frantic voice echoed from the sky. Everyone looked up to see a descending girl with silver-white hair as long as her height, tied with many red-and-white ribbons, the largest one at the back of her head. She wore a work shirt on her upper body and red overalls covered in talismans on her lower half.
She immediately positioned herself in front of Kamishirasawa Keine to prevent the situation from escalating. The fact that Keine, having transformed into a Hakutaku under the full moon, had run off to cause trouble at someone else's house gave Fujiwara no Mokou a massive headache, and she couldn't simply ignore it.
"Keine, don't cause any more trouble right now! If you actually start fighting, it'll be impossible to clean up the mess." Mokou was aware of the situation involving the child named Kars, and she was utterly shocked that Keine would charge directly into his home on the night of the full moon.
"Keine, acting like this will only make things worse, and it certainly won't make them agree to your proposal."
"Exactly, I think this older sister is absolutely right, Teacher Keine! There's no way I can agree when you're like this! Especially with what you said about helping me—it sounds like you want to do something really weird!" Kars wholeheartedly agreed with Mokou. He was relieved that someone had stepped in to stop Teacher Keine.
"Are you really sure you don't want to? You proposed marriage to your teacher the first time we met. Now your teacher is willing to teach you knowledge in that area—why are you refusing? Your teacher is quite looking forward to training you."
Fujiwara no Mokou: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴
Wait! What does that mean?! What happened that I don't know about?! And why do her words spark such… imaginative thoughts in my head?!
But most importantly, that kid proposed to Keine?! A person who barely looked pubertal was already thinking about that sort of thing?! And Keine! I didn't know you were interested in children! Why would you say such strange things to a child?!
The events of the evening caused a mental short circuit for Mokou. Seeing the side of Kamishirasawa Keine that she had never imagined before left her completely blindsided.
"Keine… he's still just a child. You need to think carefully." Mokou said solemnly, but Keine's reply left her speechless.
"It's precisely because he's a child that he's even more worth doing this to."
"Isn't that going too far, discussing this right in front of me? Kars is still my nephew! I won't stand by and watch you do that to him!" Remilia felt extremely angry being a party to a conversation about her nephew, especially one that implied such strange things. She couldn't believe this seemingly proper teacher was such a person on the inside, harboring such thoughts about a child.
"That's a misunderstanding! Keine has transformed into a Hakutaku because of the full moon, which is why her personality has changed so drastically! She's not actually like this!" Mokou defended Keine. She didn't want Keine to be branded as a pervert with a fixation on children.
"Is that so?" Remilia considered that possibility. The difference in personality was too vast; only Mokou's explanation could account for the situation.
"Anyway, I will figure out a way to take Keine back." Mokou looked back at Keine. Taking her back was going to be difficult. Perhaps…
Thinking about why Keine had come here, Mokou considered asking Kars for help—asking him to temporarily agree to go back with them. That way, Keine would surely return to the Human Village smoothly.
The problem was that the child seemed terrified of the current Keine. Would he even agree?
"Can you please help us? Can you temporarily agree to Keine's request? Don't worry, I'll protect you on the way." Mokou promised Kars safety while making the request.
"Otherwise, this situation will just drag on until morning, and only then will it stop."
Faced with Mokou's plea, Kars glanced at the intense Keine staring at him. He felt he shouldn't agree to this, as he had no idea what might happen. However, letting the situation continue wasn't good either, especially for those involved, including himself.
Yet, he remembered that even though the day's Keine had tried to help him—even if she ended up dragging him to a boring class, which was frustrating—her intentions were good.
"Kars, are you planning to agree? This is very dangerous, you could be attacked by her!" Remilia cautioned Kars, seeing his hesitation. Mokou wanted to insist that Keine wouldn't do that, but given the current Keine, she couldn't say anything.
"Hmm, I think it will be fine. If not, we can just let Sakuya come along, too. Sakuya is more than capable of protecting me, right, Sakuya?"
"Yes! I will protect Young Master Kars with my life!"
Since Kars had made up his mind, Remilia didn't argue. Sometimes, it was best to let Kars decide for himself. She knew she couldn't make decisions for him without considering his feelings, as she had done in the past.
"Alright then. Since you've decided, go ahead. Be safe and return quickly." Remilia sat back down in her chair and picked up her teacup.
Mokou breathed a sigh of relief. The problem was finally resolved, and she could take Keine back, ending this nightly farce. She really didn't want to deal with this kind of thing anymore.
"Then, let's go."
Kars chose to be held by Sakuya for the journey. Only then did he feel safe, and Sakuya could easily whisk him away if there were any problems.
But Kars couldn't shake the feeling that Sakuya's chest felt bigger than usual.