Although it seemed there was also the solution of just cramming [Combat Records] into everyone to knock them all out.
But... Su Yuzu clearly wasn't so unreasonable.
Or rather——
It hadn't yet reached the point where that step was necessary.
Su Yuzu wrapped an arm around the little rabbit's shoulders and gently pinched the very root of the little rabbit's ahoge, which was swaying back and forth, bobbing along merrily.
Su Yuzu could clearly feel the spine of the girl in her arms seem to suddenly want to arch.
The girl who, just a moment ago, had been interrogating her so urgently was effortlessly seized by her vital weak point by Su Yuzu.
Sometimes Su Yuzu was genuinely curious about just what the deal was with a girl's ahoge.
Was it her true body? That kind of unscientific... thing that in anime always gets jokingly called the "true body"—was it really so magical?
Sometimes she even had the urge to pluck out a strand and take a look.
But... Su Yuzu didn't yet want to unlock the ending where the girl clutched her own head and sailed off into the distance in the afterglow of the setting sun.
And besides... what if it really was the little rabbit's true body, and she ended up hurting the little rabbit?
In any case——
This crisis bearing down on her was, for the moment, one quarter defused.
Su Yuzu looked over at Soga Yura.
Soga Yura wrinkled her nose.
On Yuzu's body... was a perfume scent she knew very well.
Rich and cloyingly sweet, so dense it made Soga Yura think of gardenia blossoms.
And within this base, the only one with such a body fragrance... the only one with the ability to take Yuzu in, was none other than Ms. Tsukiyomi.
"Ms. Tsukiyomi... is that it?" Soga Yura pursed her lips and looked toward Yuzu, her pretty crimson eyes seeming to shimmer with welling tears.
Her own Yuzu... had been spirited away by Ms. Tsukiyomi, was that it?
No surprise there.
The Soga Yura Q-version chibi in [Operator Development] had already morphed into a °·□□).0.(° kind of look.
The girl's expression, brimming with resentment and so very pitiful, made a powerful sense of guilt rise up in Su Yuzu's heart.
But——
She still wasn't willing to lie.
"Yes."
As Yuzu's voice fell, Soga Yura's expression fully synced up with the Soga Yura Q-version chibi in [Operator Development].
Synchronization rate: 1000%.
Beside Soga Yura, the corner of Sakura Mai's eye twitched right along with it.
Sister Yuzu... really does dare to come out and say it.
"Last night, while I was watching the sea... I spaced out for too long."
Su Yuzu gently stroked the little rabbit's hair and let the girl go. "By the time I came back to my senses, it was already very late."
"Tsukiyomi-senpai had me drink something to warm myself up."
Soga Yura's mouth puckered.
"Tsukiyomi-senpai seems to like Sister a lot. She even said... that in the future she wants Sister to become her assistant too."
Everything Su Yuzu said was the truth.
Tsukiyomi Fuya did indeed like Soga Yura and Su Yuzu.
Tsukiyomi Fuya, who yearned for the starry night, also liked girls who yearned for the starry sky.
Among all the students who had chosen The Order of Celestial Bodies as their elective, she felt the most natural affinity for Soga Yura.
So when the academy hoped she might come out of the observatory to protect Soga Yura, she hadn't refused.
Soga Yura's eyes went wide.
"Next year's campus recruitment... I want to apply to Imperial Capital University too."
"Then I can go to Tsukiyomi-senpai's observatory together with Sister."
"And I can..."
"Just like before, watch the stars together with Sister."
Sakura Mai looked at the girl and said nothing.
Ms. Tsukiyomi did indeed like Soga Yura very much, but... Sakura Mai could also sense that Ms. Tsukiyomi's fondness for Soga Yura seemed a little different from her feelings toward Sister Yuzu.
Or rather——
After many people laid eyes on Sister Yuzu, some of the thoughts in their hearts seemed to be quietly altered by Sister Yuzu.
The girl was like a bewitching fairy out of a fairy tale.
And yet before such a fairy it was hard for anyone to resist, in the end willingly letting themselves be captured by her.
Unlike Soga Yura, who turned dazed and silly and easy to coax the instant she was in front of Yuzu, Sakura Mai caught the tiny something hidden between the girl's words.
And——
Ms. Tsukiyomi had never before had any intention of making Soga Yura her assistant.
Ms. Tsukiyomi of the Fifth Sequence didn't like assistants.
Many upperclassmen had once wanted to become Ms. Tsukiyomi's graduate students, but in the end they were all politely turned down by Ms. Tsukiyomi.
She preferred to stay alone in the observatory.
Just like a brilliant star in the night sky.
It looked as though it were very close to the other stars, but that distance, even measured by the time light takes to travel, had to be counted in years... or even tens of thousands of years.
But even such a dazzling star seemed to have met the hand that would pluck it down.
Sakura Mai only gazed quietly at Su Yuzu.
Su Yuzu watched Soga Yura's expression nervously; she truly didn't want to make Soga Yura sad.
But... right at this moment, she discovered that Sakura Mai's Favorability had suddenly become unstable.
In the past, this kind of situation had only seemed to crop up with Lyudmila, whose Favorability lurched back and forth.
[I'm done for——]
She had the illusion of a philandering player at the scene of his own pileup.
Although she knew that at a moment like this, just bringing out [Combat Records] would overturn everything—
making them lose even the ability to think—and the problem would be solved.
But... Su Yuzu didn't want to do that.
Su Yuzu could only gaze at Sakura Mai with a pitiful, almost pleading look.
Sakura Mai looked at the girl.
Sister Yuzu wearing a pleading look gave the impression of having her soft spot grabbed, which always stirred in Sakura Mai the urge to seize the opportunity and coerce Sister Yuzu.
Taking the chance, she could dress Sister Yuzu up into whatever she liked.
A kendo uniform, a miko outfit, a kimono bathrobe and the like~
Of course.
It absolutely had to be worn in the most authentic way.
Wearing just the under-robe and such was pure heresy.
[Ding——]
Even though the notification of Sakura Mai's rising Favorability rang clearly in her ears, looking at Sister Mai's expression... Su Yuzu inexplicably felt a touch of unease in her heart.
But... who told her that today she was the 'sinner,' the one who'd 'crashed'?
Her timing in stepping onto the scene had been just a bit too poor.
She'd put one foot straight into some kind of shameful shuraba.
Only Unohana Chiyo was looking at the marks on the girl's neck.
Very familiar...
They weren't kiss marks.
Rather, they looked like the faint marks left from back when... she and Yuzu had been staying together for a while, and she'd held Yuzu in her arms all night long.
Had Unohana Chiyo not been so intimately familiar with every single inch of the girl's being, she probably wouldn't have noticed either.
Without saying much, Unohana Chiyo instead smoothed things over for Yuzu. "Let's eat breakfast first."
"If the breakfast gets cold, it won't taste good anymore."
Dun dun!!!
Yuzu suddenly felt a chill in her chest.
Eat... eat breakfast!?
She'd just polished off a full two servings' worth of beef and cheese sandwiches.
But... watching the atmosphere and momentum of a terrifying shuraba faintly taking shape before her, she suddenly realized she probably really couldn't dodge this one.
Was this Teacher Chiyo's revenge!?
Was this the punishment she deserved?
"Eat." Su Yuzu cracked a smile that looked more like crying. "Everyone, hurry and eat."
"Yuzu... why are you making such a face?"
"Did you already eat over at Ms. Tsukiyomi's place?" Soga Yura keenly picked up on the abnormality.
"Mmgh!" Su Yuzu could only bite down on a dango with tears welling in her eyes.
She didn't want to deceive the girl.
"Is Sister Yuzu this hungry? Last night must have been so tiring~ Come on, come on, eat a bit more." Beaming, Sakura Mai prepared a piece of sushi for Su Yuzu.
Su Yuzu looked tragically at the Sakura Mai who was "rescuing" her from her predicament.
"Eh..." The utterly clueless little rabbit glanced at Su Yuzu. "Senpai... are you very hungry?"
Even though she couldn't tell at all.
But the little rabbit still obediently picked up her own portion of thick tamagoyaki and placed it into Yuzu's bowl.
[Noooo!!!]
[I really can't eat any more!]
"Yuzu is still growing... she needs to take in more nutrition." Unohana Chiyo, also one to enjoy the spectacle and not mind how big the trouble got, ladled out a brimming bowl of miso soup for Yuzu.
The corners of Su Yuzu's eyes seemed to be dancing.
"Is... is that so!" Soga Yura looked at Yuzu, then took the biggest-looking piece of rock-grilled salmon from the breakfast Unohana Chiyo had brought back and placed it into Yuzu's bowl too.
"Yuzu... eat more."
"Uu..." Su Yuzu was moved to grateful tears.
"Uu uu uu uu..."
[I... I thank you so much! Sister Mai!]
[Lady Fate will surely——dote! on! and! love! you! so! dearly!!!]
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