“Ah, we’re almost at the station, let’s just get off here… Eh? You’re going this way too? Ah… well, alright, I guess we can walk a bit further together…”
“My bus is here, Miss Tendou, I’ll take my leave… Eh? You’re getting on this bus too? Ugh… Okay, fine, but please don’t stand so close…”
“Mm… Miss Tendou, I’m getting off here, you… huh?”
Shiyo stood by the bus stop, watching as Yukino Tendou got off the bus and took her hand again, her face filled with disbelief.
“Hmm? Oh my, what a coincidence. I didn’t expect your office to be so close to my house, Miss Shiyo.”
Yukino’s beautiful, light blue eyes gazed at her, as pure and unblemished as always during their three years together, seemingly without a trace of negative emotion.
Shiyo pressed her lips together, standing still as she stared at their joined hands, momentarily at a loss for what to do.
Honestly speaking, if it were anyone else besides Yukino holding her hand, she would have suspected some ulterior motive and given them a taste of her “good fruit juice.”
But the person in front of her was none other than the one she loved most in this world…
Once loved the most.
She was an Evil God, an enemy of Humanity.
Shiyo kept warning herself over and over in her heart.
She couldn’t help but wonder—had those three years Yukino Tendou spent with her also been for some impure purpose?
“Miss Shiyo, is something wrong?”
Catching Shiyo’s mood shift, Yukino leaned over to ask.
Here it comes again.
Whenever she was feeling down, Yukino would always use this tone to comfort her.
No, please, don’t make me remember…
Shiyo closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, her expression had returned to calm. She forced a polite smile:
“Yes, what a coincidence. Let’s go.”
Yukino frowned slightly at her change in demeanor, but soon nodded and walked with Shiyo along the sidewalk.
The two walked in silence for a long while, both outwardly calm, though Shiyo’s heart churned violently.
When it came to Yukino, she couldn’t help but think too much, but reason told her not to dwell on it.
Yes, this is for the best. For both of us…
“You and Ye Xi are very similar.”
“Pfft!”
Shiyo was in the middle of drinking a white peach soda she bought from a vending machine and couldn’t hold it in, spitting out the pale, translucent juice.
“Cough, cough! Cough…!”
Shiyo kept patting her chest, but thanks to the thick airbag, it didn’t seem to do any good.
“Miss Shiyo?!”
Yukino worriedly patted her back:
“Are you alright?”
“I’m—I’m fine, just choked a little… cough…”
Shiyo took the tissue Yukino handed her and wiped her mouth, forcing a smile so fake even she could feel it:
“Why do you say that, Miss Tendou?”
“Mm… just a feeling, I suppose?”
Seeing Shiyo was alright, Yukino turned her gaze ahead:
“Miss Shiyo gives me a sense of being easy to get along with, very much like him.”
Who?
Are you talking about that Ye Xi who’s always pulling a long face, too lazy to even speak, and dreads trouble more than anything?
“Must be your imagination,” Shiyo laughed awkwardly.
Yukino ignored her smokescreen and continued:
“And at the station, your face-touching gesture was also…”
Hiss!
In an instant, Shiyo remembered the scene of their chance encounter at the station.
Back when she was still Ye Xi, touching her face was a subconscious gesture whenever she felt uneasy.
She even picked up on such a tiny detail…
As expected of my…
Ugh, what a terrifying woman!
Shiyo maintained a calm face and replied:
“It was just a coincidence! Lots of people have little habits like touching their face, right? Miss Tendou, maybe you just miss Mr. Ye Xi a little too much. Your relationship must have been…”
“Very good, I suppose.”
Even though she was lying, Shiyo still felt a faint ache in her heart as she said that last sentence.
“Yes, it was very good.”
Yukino Tendou lowered her gaze:
“You’re right, Miss Shiyo. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive.”
Seeing that Yukino dropped the subject, Shiyo secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to change the topic:
“By the way, it’s almost evening. Are you hungry, Miss Tendou? Would you like to get some bread as a snack? My treat!”
“No need.” Yukino shook her head. “I usually prepare my own dinner…”
She glanced at Shiyo out of the corner of her eye:
“If you haven’t decided what to have for dinner yet, Miss Shiyo, why not come over to my place? It’s no trouble to prepare a meal for one more person.”
“Ahaha… I don’t think I should trouble you like that, Miss Tendou…”
Yukino was being far too assertive—she wasn’t quite like the Yukino Shiyo thought she knew, and it made her break out in a cold sweat.
“And besides, I have work tonight—”
“It’s alright.”
Yukino smiled gently, but her grip on Shiyo’s hand tightened a little:
“It won’t take up much of your time, just for a meal, right?”
N-no, this isn’t right!
Shiyo, caught off guard, was dragged toward a side street to the left—even though the navigation clearly said her office was straight ahead.
Is this really just about dinner?
Could Yukino have been acting all this time, and her real aim is to take me home and eat me?
Eh? Does a Yuki-onna eat people?
Ah, what am I even thinking at a time like this!
Shiyo dug her heels in, refusing to budge no matter how much Yukino pulled her.
An Investigator’s instinct told her that she absolutely couldn’t follow Yukino home. Even if the Evil God’s powers were severely weakened in this city, and even if she had the strength of a Legendary Investigator, she couldn’t possibly take on Yukino Tendou—a Yuki-onna—in a direct fight.
“Miss Shiyo…”
Just as Yukino turned around to say something, a cool voice drifted from the direction they’d come, from around the corner:
“The lady over there.”
The two turned toward the source of the voice and saw a girl standing under the streetlamp. Her moon-silver hair was styled in a jellyfish cut, and she wore a white dress adorned with black lace and a large black bow at the chest.
She blinked her silver-gray eyes, hands folded in front of her, and spoke with a faint smile:
“Sorry to interrupt you two, but would you mind handing ‘teacher’ over to me?”
Miss, I don’t know who you are, but thank you.
“See? Someone from the Company has come to get me. I’ll be going now, alright?”
Making excuses as she wriggled free, Shiyo eagerly moved toward the unfamiliar girl—only to be reeled back in by a gentle tug from Yukino.
“Uwah…”
The difference in strength was too great—she couldn’t resist at all!
Shiyo had no choice but to obediently stand by Yukino’s side.
Yukino tilted her head, gazing at her with a searching look:
“…’Teacher’?”
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