Chapter 92

Tamaki had come close enough to touch him. She reached out with her left hand to touch his cheek. Smack. A dry slapping sound rang out as something collided with her left hand. A right hand was holding it in place—Tamaki’s right hand. “Aaaaah! I can’t do this! I’d be worse than garbage if I was to betray Shiren’s friendship! Garbage has pride, too, you know! Please do not underestimate what garbage can do! Garbage knows it belongs in the can, okay?!” Tamaki screamed, her eyes tearing up. “If I do this, I’ll just be going with the flow instead of making my own decisions! I wouldn’t be able to look anyone in the eye ever again!” There was a will in her gaze that Ryouta had never seen before. “I’ll go find the others right away! Stay here, Ryouta!” She turned to leave the house. Her teary eyes had spilled over now, and she was openly sobbing. “This won’t make me happy! I have to win in my own garbage way! Nothing less will do!” Once he was alone, Ryouta took his first real deep breath in a while. That was close. Had she kept going, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop himself. I almost became heir to a convenience store, or maybe an adult bookstore… Just moments away… Fifteen minutes later. “Ryouta, we’re home…” “We’re back now…” “These new snacks are delicious. Chomp, chomp.” In came an exhausted Shiren and Tamaki, and a relaxed Kokoko. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but everything’s settled now, right…?” Not even Ryouta knew what to say; he just felt awkward. “For now, bring tea for everyone, Ryouta. And then go and stay over there.” And so Ryouta had been gracelessly shooed away. After Tamaki had had some tea and calmed down somewhat, Kokoko looked up at her without raising her head. “I gave you the biggest and best chance you will ever get. So I guess this is your answer, Big Sis.” “W-well… It would’ve been unforgivable… How awful would it be to treat Shiren that way…?” “If that’s how you really feel, then I have nothing to say.” Pat, pat. Kokoko patted Tamaki’s shoulder again. “You chose friendship, and that’s your answer. Be proud of it.” “A-all right… I wasn’t ready yet… I will do my best the next opportunity I get…” Tamaki nodded slowly. “I think things will only get harder for you now that you’ve let this chance slip by. But I guess you’re okay with that.” “Yes. I can’t give up just because I’m the underdog… It’s more my style to bet on a one-in-a-hundred chance anyway.” “You’re growing up, Tamaki.” Kokoko smiled, her expression still calm. “But it’s not really one in a hundred. You should probably consider dropping out of the race. At best, it’s more like one in ten thousand.” “Could you possibly raise the chances just a little bit…? At least make it three in ten thousand…” Kokoko was surprisingly realistic. “Shiren, I’m sorry for causing you all that trouble. But it worked out in the end, so forgive me. I went too far to make Big Sis Tamaki happy. I should stop doing that.” “I—I trusted Tamaki, okay…? I wasn’t worried at all… I just cried a little because I was so surprised…” Both Shiren’s and Tamaki’s eyes were still red. Both of them had shed tears, even though they weren’t sure if they were sad or not. “Munch, munch, crunch. Looking at you two, I’ve realized how difficult friendship can be. There’s still a lot I need to learn, it seems. Anyway, these snacks are great. Munch, munch, munch. Their one flaw is the small package size. Crunch, crunch, crunch.” “If you’re going to give us grown-up advice, you could at least finish eating your snack first!” Her childlike appearance really made it hard to take her seriously. “All right, we’re going home… I need to take care of all those jam rolls.” “Right, good luck.” “I’ll probably be eating nothing but jam rolls for three months.” “Well… Try to make sure you get all the necessary nutrients…” “Oh, and Ryouta?” Before leaving, Tamaki turned to Ryouta. “Uh, yeah?” “I’m leaving you fifty copies of Kairakuten, okay?” “No thank you! I’m not even old enough to have one!” “That was a joke.” “It’s hard to tell when you’re joking, Shijou…” “Oh, and if you make some mistakes in the future and decide you wouldn’t mind working in a convenience store, please give me a call.” “Oh…sure.” “If that happens, I’ll serve you for the rest of my life…” “What?” He had the feeling he’d just heard Tamaki say something very unusual. Her face was bright red, but she seemed a little proud. “I am a pessimist, but I am not a liar.” “Oh, uh, yeah…” “I’ll be off, then. Let’s go home, Kokoko.” “Okay. You know, it seems like maybe I don’t need to look after you anymore, Big Sis Tamaki.” This was apparently a satisfying conclusion for Kokoko. But she then added, “It sure would be nice if things continued like this, without any more fighting.” She sighed, like an older lady might. “But things never go the way we want them to, do they?” “Hey, stop being so ominous. It’s creeping me out.” Shiren shot her down with a frown. “If words are enough to bother you, then you’ll really be in trouble when reality hits. The one to make the next big decision probably isn’t going to be Big Sis Tamaki. It might be you.” Kokoko’s remark stuck with Shiren. Meanwhile… “Mm-hmm, is that so…? In that case, you can confirm that there’s no involvement whatsoever on the national level?” …Alfoncina sat in the First Cathedral office, talking on the phone. On the other end of the line was a certain central figure from the country of Japan. “I see. Japan would indeed face inevitable chaos if the Empire was to collapse now and create that many refugees~. So there’s no way you would go along with such a dangerous scheme~.” Alfoncina scribbled “no Japan involvement” on her notepad. This was exactly the response she had been expecting. The assumption of the Sacred Blood Empire’s existence had, for better or for worse, solidified in the Japanese national consciousness. And on the economic side of things, the Empire was essentially another market within Japan. Attempting to crush it at this point would be a losing move, and thus, very unlikely. Then could this be the work of a cult with no concern for consequences? “Oh, in that case, have you heard of the Virginal Father? I’m sure you’ve heard the name, at least~. They haven’t been acting suspiciously, have they? They’ve been pretty quiet of late~.” Once she knew how the order was doing internally, she would know how to handle them. “What? They’re in disarray, partially dissolved?” The news was so anticlimactic, Alfoncina was stupefied. “All right, I think I have the gist of it~. Thank you, as always, for you-know-what. Until next time~.” But the other end did not hang up. “What? You want to know what’s happening with that?” Alfoncina turned around to visually sweep the room. No one was there.