"…What are you talking about?"
Yuuki stood up, brushed the dirt from his clothes, and looked in the direction Ryougi Shiki had left…
"Young master… you're not seriously going after her again, are you?"
"…"
Yuuki thought for a moment, then bent down and picked up the knife Miss Tama had just knocked out of his hand.
"I need to return it."
"I think you're beyond saving."
Yuuki was about to answer when another voice suddenly cut in—abrupt, out of place:
"I think the maid is absolutely right. Yuuki, you should give up while you can."
Almost instantly, Yuuki moved to step forward. But Miss Tama reacted faster—she threw herself in front of him, wrench raised, staring the intruder down.
A girl in an orange kimono had silently returned to where she'd appeared earlier. She stood seven or eight meters away, back against the trees, watching the two of them with not a hint of tension.
"Miss Tama, it's fine. She won't attack me again."
The person before him was Ryougi SHIKI.
At first, Miss Tama still looked confused, but when she heard Yuuki's reassurance, she finally remembered that this was one of the Ryougi family's inheritors.
…So it's a split personality.
That was Miss Tama's immediate conclusion. With the stark difference in aura and temperament compared to the girl from earlier, she instinctively linked it to the Ryougi bloodline's "nature."
Yuuki, meanwhile, was too focused on SHIKI to notice Miss Tama's slight stiffness. Seeing him like that, the girl in orange let out a small, mocking laugh.
"Yuuki, don't be so sure of yourself. Even I could decide to come at you out of nowhere."
The impulse to kill didn't belong only to Shiki's personality—SHIKI seemed to be reminding him of that. But Yuuki wasn't interested in that warning. He cared about Shiki.
"SHIKI… where is she? How is she?"
"Nothing. She tossed out a 'I'll leave the rest to you' and went to sleep. Holding those urges down takes a lot out of her—plus, you've been showing up in her line of sight a lot lately… ah, I wasn't supposed to say that. Forget it, Yuuki."
For the past month, Yuuki hadn't seen Shiki even once—yet Shiki had still been seeing him. That surprised him.
But what SHIKI said next was like a bucket of ice water poured over his head.
"Yuuki, I asked you before whether you'd fallen for 'me'… or rather, for 'Shiki.' But it still won't work. No matter how you feel, the conclusion is the same: you and 'Shiki' can't be together. Literally. It's not possible."
"…What do you mean?"
"Shiki is awkward. She probably can't explain it properly, so I'll do it for her—while she's not conscious. Call it my own meddling."
Ryougi SHIKI looked at Yuuki and took a step back, speaking evenly.
"Back when Shiki killed, you could still argue it was 'killing to save'—the targets were people who deserved to die. But you're different. Physically speaking, you're the only person who knows Shiki has killed. Psychologically speaking, the way you keep trying to get closer to Shiki—if she realizes you even want to protect her, it will provoke her killing intent."
"…So wanting to be closer to Shiki is wrong? Wanting to protect her is wrong?"
"Yuuki, you don't understand Shiki at all."
SHIKI let out a long sigh and took another step back.
"Because you're my friend, I'll spell it out. Shiki has never been alone—because I'm here. And because she's never been alone, she rejects the idea of a third person entering that space. What you've been doing lately is trying to break that balance.
"Shiki hates being protected. It dulls her blade. She also hates forming relationships that run too deep. It makes her hesitate. Yuuki—you've been doing nothing but things she will dislike."
"…"
For the third time, SHIKI widened the distance between them.
"And lastly—this is advice from my perspective. Don't come near 'me' anymore… don't come near 'Shiki' anymore. She really will kill you.
"Yuuki, you're normal. You're innocent. You shouldn't die by Shiki's hand. And if Shiki kills you… she'll cross the line into 'murder' and never come back."
Even as the distance kept growing, Yuuki still couldn't bring himself to do what he always did—to stubbornly step forward and close it.
SHIKI finally relaxed. Because that meant Yuuki was truly listening.
"Then this is goodbye. For your sake—and for Shiki's—don't meet us again. That short blade… keep it."
With that, the orange figure vanished into the night.
…
"Ah… young master got completely dumped, huh. Would you like Miss Tama to comfort you?"
Trying to lighten the mood, Miss Tama turned to Yuuki. But Yuuki didn't look heartbroken at all. He merely lowered his head with a grave expression, chewing his thumbnail like he was deep in thought.
"…Young master?"
Yuuki didn't usually bite his nails. Miss Tama grew worried.
In her memory, she'd only seen him like this twice: once when he broke with his father and seized control of the Asagami family's decision-making, and once when he left her behind at the old Asagami estate and returned alone to Tokyo.
This time, though, Yuuki didn't think long. He patted Miss Tama's shoulder.
"Let's go. Home."
"Young master…"
Miss Tama was about to say more, when she suddenly remembered why she'd come here in the first place. She jolted, then looked around frantically.
There was nothing—only trees.
"Young master… it was right here, it was stuck in the ground—th-that huge sword! When did it disappear?!"
Watching Miss Tama stretch her arms wide in exaggerated disbelief, Yuuki put on a face of total innocence.
"You must've seen it wrong…"
"No, no, no, I definitely saw it! It was that huge—hey, young master, don't walk so fast!"
Of course, Yuuki had already put the sword away. He wasn't sure what would happen if it got exposed, but his system was something he wanted to keep from others as much as possible.
After nearly dying again—and after being seriously rejected by SHIKI—Yuuki finally began to reflect on himself.
Truthfully, he didn't need to get close to Ryougi Shiki.
Just like before, helping the people who mattered to him didn't require building a "good relationship" with them.
He only needed to solve the problem.
Just like his father: even now, his father still hadn't forgiven what Yuuki did back then, and yet after surviving the crisis of '93, he'd taken over the Asagami family's Tokyo operations again and returned to a lavish life.
So all Yuuki needed to do was resolve everything about Araya—without Shiki ever realizing it.
All his attempts to get closer to Shiki… were probably just a whim.
Because she was someone he once admired.
That was what Yuuki told himself.
And he decided to believe it.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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