"You've passed with flying colors. Congratulations." Saori smiled while Atsuko was behind her, cleaning the wound.
A sudden yelp escaped her lips. "Stop moving, you'll make it worse."
"Aha... Sorry. I really didn't expect for her to pull out a grenade out of nowhere. Speaking of which, that tactic you pulled out what absolutely brilliant, Azusa."
After apologizing to Atsuko, Saori began her evaluation.
"You've gotten a read on my character so well, I really never expected that out of you." Of course, everyone knows just how much Saori treasured her friends.
Atsuko, Misaki, Hiyori, and now there's also Kasuka and Azusa.
These 5 people, they're already considered a family to her. Of course, she never admitted to that fact.
But it seems like... Azusa had easily seen through her.
'...I'm still too inexperienced.'
"No, it wasn't me."
Saori heard this and suddenly became confused.
"Huh? What do you mean it wasn't you?"
But before Azusa could respond, Misaki answered the question for her.
"I'm pretty sure it's that injured patient, the one smiling from ear to ear that had helped Azusa out." She listlessly looked at Kasuka, who pointed at herself in confusion.
"What did I do?"
"...As you can see, she really doesn't want to admit it." Sighing slightly, Misaki rubbed her head.
"Haha... is that so? It seems that I've lost fair and square, then. Not putting into account an outsider's info turned out to be my first mistake."
As she said that, a sudden growl came out of nowhere.
"..."
"That was...?"
"It was nothing."
"Eh? But I clearly heard..."
"It's nothing."
The back and forth banter between Kasuka and Saori caused the people watching to let out a quiet chuckle.
Although Saori was fighting wholeheartedly against the allegations, she couldn't really delete people's memories.
She doesn't want to admit it, but everyone probably already heard her stomach rumbling.
...Of course, that doesn't stop her from denying reality.
Saori's ears were extremely red.
---
"Here, your eating-ban have been lifted, right?"
"Hm, thank you, Hime."
"No problem. Just call out to me if you need anything more, understood?"
"Understood."
After giving Saori the plate filled with bread and fillings, Atsuko turned and left the room.
Slowly, she made her way towards the door, leading to the outside.
"...The sun shines brightly once again today."
The sight that met her eyes were sparkling. Across the ruins and the rubbles, the blue sky looked extremely beautiful.
Perhaps this place isn't so bad after all.
It was here that she met the people whom she could confidently call a family.
When she was first discovered, the adults had declared of her as part of Royalty. She came from a noble birth.
Due to that, most people wouldn't try to associate themselves with her, most would look at her with disdain due to their difference in background.
Perhaps it was also due to that that her personality took a turn, she became more silent and less talkative.
"...Flowers could bloom even in the most unlikely of places."
"Eh? What does that mean?"
"?"
Suddenly, a voice which had regained it's flutter echoed from somewhere, directed at Atsuko's muttering, questioned the meaning behind her words.
"Kasuka?" Turning towards the source of the voice, Atsuko noticed that Kasuka was crouched before a hole, probably used to have a manhole cover before it disappeared.
What was she watching inside the sewers?
"Don't get to close to that, you might fall into it."
"Don't worry! I'm merely trying to take note of any movement from the rats! They might lead us to a place with a lot of food, you know?"
"...What kind of logic is that? Besides, if the rats already claimed the food, it would no longer be safe for us to eat."
"...Ah."
Looking at Kasuka's defeated face, Atsuko smiled, a chuckle escaping her lips.
"Are you getting used to the new environment?"
"Hm. Well, I wouldn't say that I'm 'getting used' to the environment. There's practically no difference in treatment in this place. Don't you also think the same?"
"...True, I can't deny that."
As she responded, Atsuko was reminded of the way she was treated back before she met Saori.
Although no one had confronted her and said anything, perhaps they never even talked behind her back. But-
Their gazes already said much more than what words could convey.
Compared to that... this was practically heaven.
"I'll rephrase, how do you feel about us now that you've interacted with us more?" With new-found confidence, Atsuko questioned Kasuka.
"How I feel? That's quite a broad subject. I can't really say that I've concluded everyone's character enough these past couple of days to be able to say what I should really say."
It's true, it has barely been a week since Kasuka met the Arius Squad. Usually, nobody could perfectly read the character of someone after meeting just a couple of times, more over in a week.
Their impressions should still be too weak!
...Well, that's what should've happened if Kasuka really was part of that 'usually'!
Unfortunately! That is not the case!
Kasuka already knew, there's absolutely no way the Arius Squad would let Atsuko out of the house alone. She's just way too precious for such dangerous act!
In truth, almost everybody was listening in on their conversation!
A streak of black hair could be seen from the window, barely visible!
A girl could be seen replacing the bandages on her arm!
A white haired angel was currently hiding behind a wall! Why? Probably trying to put guerilla warfare tactics into practice!
A teal haired girl was... hiding inside bushes? What is she doing there?
...Well, doesn't matter.
All the important 'Characters' are currently in the most optimal position for her.
If Kasuka were to fumble this, she could say bye-bye to her own image. She'd never recover!
'...It took quite a bit of effort trying to get this scenario to work. After all, is it really easy trying to orchestrate a secretive public hearing while making sure none of the people were suspicious of the fact that the person they're listening to actually knew that they were listening?'
All the pieces had to fall into place!
Why wouldn't she just have this sort of conversation when everyone was already gathered?
That wouldn't have any sort of impact at all!
It is very important to note that the people secretly listening in shouldn't know that she knew they were listening. After all, isn't information said by someone without the presence of the person in question be more trustworthy?
If the person in question was there, they might've changed their wordings a little bit as to not hurt their feelings.
But if they're not here? What is there to worry about?
That's exactly this scenario.
The person Kasuka had the most trouble with was most definitely Misaki. For some reason, such a small child was already extremely alert to the point of suspicion.
Not only that, she had always doubted Kasuka's sincerity.
'Was it really impossible trying to believe the fact that someone could be as Saint-like as me?'
Of course. But it was that kind of resistance that Kasuka loved the most.
Have you ever seen a person who wouldn't open up to anyone? To Kasuka, they merely looked like a bag of unopened gold!
If she could somehow break that door and enter their heart, there's nothing more fulfilling than that!
Just imagine what kind of things she'd be able to do then?
The reason they could never open up doesn't matter, once someone made their way into their heart, nothing else matters!
You're never going out!
Hahahahaha!