"…I might be wrong, Master, but you aren't planning to keep going to the Ryougi house and causing trouble, are you?"
"Not 'after.' Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
The longer he waited, the more the anxiety grew. Yuuki didn't say that out loud—but he tapped lightly on the thick neck brace.
"Don't worry. Like this, I can't do anything dangerous. I'll solve it as peacefully as possible."
"Can't you just not go?"
Even after he said that, Tama didn't smile and wave it off like she usually did. She looked at Yuuki with a more serious—almost sorrowful—expression, and Yuuki didn't know how to handle it.
He had a feeling that if he kept looking at Tama like that, he might actually change his mind. Like he was searching for an excuse to leave, he averted his gaze and explained quietly:
"If I don't do something… my friend will be in danger."
Because Tama was the person Yuuki trusted no matter what, the purpose slipped out before he could stop it. But he also understood—he couldn't reveal more.
He couldn't waver because of this. And he couldn't drag Tama in deeper.
Fujino—one of the targets he was protecting. Fujou Kirie, whom he'd kept safe in the hospital. And Tama, who had abilities Yuuki himself didn't fully understand.
If Araya Souren noticed them, it would be bad. Very bad.
Yuuki stood decisively, intending to leave—but Tama caught his hand from behind.
"Then what about your safety, Master?"
"…"
"Master, as far as I know, you and the young lady of the Ryougi family aren't close. Why are you going this far for someone else?"
Why…?
Shiki had asked him that before—why he trusted her like that.
Shiki's other self—Ori—had asked him too, whether he liked "her."
Yuuki remembered the first time he saw Fujino. She'd been starving long enough to feel sick. She'd been afraid because the house had been empty for so long. Yet Fujino didn't cry, didn't beg—she simply sat quietly in her room, playing with a Japanese doll her mother had given her.
When she learned her biological father had died, her mother had left her, and the place she'd lived would no longer be her home—elementary-school Fujino had only said:
"I see."
No request for help. No tears. Just resignation.
But unlike Fujino's resignation, Yuuki had abandoned the idea of leaving her alone the moment he saw her.
When he'd made that decision, Tama had asked him a similar question back then.
"Tama… do you remember, when we first met Fujino?"
"…"
"The question you asked me then—I still haven't found the answer. But this time is the same. I can't give up. I can't pretend I didn't see it. I can't just leave it alone. I—"
Before he could finish, Tama had somehow moved to stand in front of him. Before he noticed, she shoved her finger into his mouth.
Warm, metallic blood. A faint fragrance—almost like hand soap.
After a brief surge of discomfort—and a strange sensation like something being peeled away—his neck pain and the swelling in his chin began to ease.
Tama withdrew her bleeding finger and pressed a hand to her own throat, grimacing.
"Tama…"
Without thinking, Yuuki used the old form of address again—like he used to, before he handed her to Fujino's care.
Tama waved him off—both to tell him not to worry and to signal him not to speak yet. After a moment, she steadied herself and said with a weary smile:
"Sounds nice, but last time, when it was Fujino… you 'gave me up,' didn't you? We finally live together again and you want to do it twice?"
"Calling it 'giving you up' is harsh. Back then, you were the only person I trusted."
"Hmph. Then why didn't you just dump the Tokyo mess on your old man and stay here with me?"
She looked genuinely angry. She dropped her honorifics. Her voice stopped being cute.
"Dump it on him? In '93, could he have handled it?"
"That wasn't some random disaster from nowhere. If you never let him try, how would you know? Maybe he wouldn't have done it as perfectly as you—but it's not guaranteed the Asagami family would've collapsed like that. In the end, it was still—"
Yuuki was about to argue back—then froze.
In the original worldline, without Yuuki's existence, the Asagami family had been far weaker than now—but they also hadn't gone bankrupt like so many Tokyo companies. They'd simply withdrawn from Tokyo and returned to Kanbu City, still a modestly known construction firm.
Yuuki had never considered it before. Looking back now… maybe his "successes" hadn't been as perfect as he'd believed.
Tap.
Tama's hand gently chopped the top of his head, pulling him back to the present.
"Sorry. I'm not saying all that to blame you. I'm just… venting. Because I can't change your mind—and if I talk too much, you'll leave me behind again."
So she really had been furious back then…
"But I also know you didn't spend those years working for the company just for yourself. So if you're going to take risks, at least try not to get hurt."
She paused, eyes steady.
"And if you must get hurt… then like this—Tama will get hurt with you."
Yuuki knew she was in pain. She'd transferred almost all the damage onto herself. Her body recovered quickly, but the initial pain still had to be endured.
No one likes pain.
And in the split second her eyes flickered away, Yuuki thought he saw something else there—something like guilt.
Then, a little later, Fujino returned—proudly carrying a carefully prepared Japanese meal.
Tama claimed she didn't feel well and went to rest early. Because Yuuki knew it was because of him, he didn't argue—and even covered for her.
As for the food… it was salty.
Because Fujino's congenital insensitivity dulled her sense of taste, her seasoning ran heavy. She'd improved enough under Shiki's guidance not to mix up ingredients anymore, but the flavor was still too strong.
To keep Tama's abilities secret, Yuuki pretended he was still in worse condition, ate only a little, then returned to his room.
The next day, after Tama sent Fujino to school, Yuuki removed the bandages around his head and chin and took off the neck brace. He called a car—and went to the Ryougi house again.
-------
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