Very few people knew that Naotsugu Chiba had been defeated by Angie Sirius. However, among those few was a girl close to both the victor and the vanquished. Erika, who had grown surprisingly close to the Stars' Commander (whose true identity was Angelina Shields), was currently fuming over the fact that her brother had lost to her friend.
"Tatsuya-kun, one more stop! We're hitting another place!"
"Don't you think you're overdoing it?" Tatsuya asked, his voice a pillar of calm against her storm.
"I don't care! I never got the chance to pay Lina back for what she did, so this is the only way!"
"It's not like you were the one who lost, Erika. And besides, your brother only went down because he was caught off guard by a surprise attack."
Tatsuya was right. Naotsugu hadn't lost in a fair, head-on duel; he had simply been wounded by Sirius's opening gambit. But to Erika, such logic was irrelevant.
"I don't care if it was a sneak attack or a divine act! She laid a finger on my brother, so I won't be satisfied until I've given her a proper 'thank you' visit."
"And how exactly is this stress-eating marathon related to this 'thank you' visit?"
"Because!" Erika huffed, pointing a finger at him. "You knew who Sirius was all along and kept your mouth shut, didn't you? That makes you an accomplice. You're just as guilty!"
"What kind of logic is that…?" Tatsuya sighed.
Despite her sharp tongue, Erika was internally beaming. The truth was simple: she was using this as an excuse to spend time with her boyfriend. While she was indeed annoyed that Lina had hurt her brother, her rage wasn't actually deep enough to warrant a vendetta. It was notoriously difficult to get Tatsuya alone—even for his girlfriend—so she was shamelessly using Lina as a pretext.
"Look, Tatsuya-kun... we're finally dating, but you hardly ever take me out anywhere. Just consider this 'stress-eating' a combination of a date and a vent session."
"I suppose I understand the situation," Tatsuya replied. "But I have family obligations to attend to. Give me a break."
"I know, I know. You've got it tough."
To an outsider, Tatsuya's "family obligations" sounded like he was busy looking after Miyuki. But Erika, who had a fair inkling of the true nature of his circumstances, understood exactly what he meant by "tough."
"Besides," Tatsuya added, "didn't your brother getting hurt actually give you a chance to be pampered at home for once?"
"Not a chance! If anything, I want to stay away from home because 'that woman' is there every single day."
"By 'that woman,' do you mean Watanabe-senpai?"
"Exactly. Mari Watanabe."
Since Mari had already graduated and had plenty of free time, she spent every waking moment nursing Naotsugu. Far from being pampered, Erika felt like a third wheel in her own house. Naotsugu's wounds had likely healed, but he wasn't quite ready to return to the front lines of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion just yet.
"I felt your brother's presence when we were wiping out the Parasites," Tatsuya noted. "Is he still unable to move?"
"He can handle small stuff like that, but for a real mission? Yeah... it's still looking a bit grim."
"And what about Toshikazu-san? I imagine he's been busy."
"That damn brother of mine? He's out chasing cases today, just like every other day. He'd better, considering he's living off our tax money."
"That's hardly the way a young lady should speak."
Erika's reaction was instantaneous, likely because she heard the same lecture at home daily. "What was that?! Are you going to start nitpicking my tone too, Tatsuya-kun?!"
Tatsuya didn't flinch. Instead, he stepped closer, his expression unchanging, and gently stroked her hair.
"I have no intention of trying to change the way you speak, Erika. I'm just saying I can sympathize with why your brothers are always sighing."
Erika's fire died down instantly, her voice dropping to a mumble. "It can't be helped... this is just the way I talk."
"I recall seeing you act like a 'refined lady' once. Even Miyuki looked like she was about to burst out laughing."
"I told you, that was an emergency! I can't help but get stiff and formal when I'm around my second brother!"
To Erika, Naotsugu was the brother she had to surpass. It was natural to feel more tension around him than anyone else. Even so, she harbored a deep-seated disdain for the "Ojou-sama" persona she was expected to maintain.
"Hey, Tatsuya-kun."
"Yes?"
"Your parents aren't living at your place, right?"
"That's right. My father basically lives at his second wife's apartment, and my mother passed away long ago."
"In that case... do you have any spare rooms? I'm honestly thinking about running away from home."
When she had entered high school, her father had offered to buy her an apartment near First High, but she had turned him down. Now, however, the Chiba household felt increasingly suffocating. She wanted to be independent—so much so that she felt like leaving this very second.
"I thought about crashing at Mizuki's place, but I figured that'd be too much for the poor girl to handle."
"Probably wise. If Mizuki had to see your face twenty-four hours a day, she'd likely collapse from the stress."
"Yeah, true... Wait, hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Erika barked, then shook it off. "Anyway, about the spare room. Do you have one?"
"We have the space, but it'll be a headache in other ways. Are you sure?"
"You mean Miyuki? Don't worry, I can handle her."
"No... there's someone else."
Erika felt a prickle of intuition—a bad feeling—but she couldn't stop herself from asking. Regardless of who it was, she took pride in the fact that she was the special one in Tatsuya's life. "Who?"
"She's likely a monitor sent from the main house. To make sure Miyuki and I don't go rogue. You understand, right?"
"Yeah... I figured as much. I know you guys are in a unique position," Erika said, her eyes narrowing. "So... is it a girl?"
"It is. She'll be our junior at First High starting next month."
"Oh... I see. Is that so...?"
Panic flared in Erika's chest. At this rate, her "territory" was going to be invaded. Driven by pure momentum, she decided right then and there to march straight to the Shiba residence.
Upon arriving, she was met with a preemptive strike of polite skepticism from the young maid, Minami. But the moment Erika declared herself to be Tatsuya's girlfriend, Minami's knees buckled, and she collapsed on the spot in shock.
After a grueling session of "persuading" (and perhaps wearing down) both Miyuki and Minami, Erika successfully moved into the Shiba household. Her new life was a blissful, if chaotic, one—spent dodging the sharp glares directed at her by the other two girls every day and successfully thwarting every attempt they made to steal the spot by Tatsuya's side.
Some time later, when the head of the Chiba family visited the Shiba residence to retrieve his daughter, Erika vented every bit of suppressed resentment she had ever felt toward him. After he left, she proceeded to take every grain of salt in the kitchen and scatter it across the entryway in a ritual of "purification."
Her father, for his part, remained blissfully—and perhaps luckily—unaware of the full extent of her rebellion.
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