Rubbing her belly, which clearly seemed to have swelled a little, Su Yuzu's pretty crimson eyes seemed to have lost all their luster, her focus settling somewhere far off in empty space.
[So... full...]
"I... I really can't eat any more."
[Ugh... I'm already stuffed full.]
She'd once seen it in an anime before—the Two-timing anime protagonist forcing a near-mournful, strained smile as two jealous, pretty girls competed to heap food onto his plate one after another.
Back then, Su Yuzu had only sneered at it.
Wasn't it just eating a little more?
What was the big deal?
It wasn't until such a thing actually happened to her... and what's more, when she was up against not just two girls, that Su Yuzu finally realized that being full to bursting... could sometimes drive a person to such despair.
"Yuzu... you're all right, aren't you?" Sitting across from Su Yuzu, Soga Yura, who had barely managed to summon a bit of energy, looked at Yuzu with concern.
She instinctively shrank her neck in.
After all... the sight of Yuzu sitting limply in her chair, gazing blankly at her while she gently stroked her swollen belly, carried an inexplicably eerie air about it.
'What should we name the baby?'
It was roughly that sort of feeling.
As for~~~ why even Soga Yura, the persecutor herself, also looked as if she could barely muster a shred of energy.
The persecuted Su Yuzu, naturally, couldn't possibly offer no resistance at all.
As the girls vied with one another to press rice balls on her, pile on side dishes, and ladle out soup, Su Yuzu issued her own final ultimatum——
Today's ration of [Intermediate Combat Records].
But the effect of this Feed counterattack seemed rather underwhelming.
Take the little rabbit, for example.
The little rabbit, who had merely been helping Su Yuzu shape rice balls, after taking a [Combat Records] counterstrike, let out a startled yelp and promptly squeezed out a rice ball the size of a fist.
Mm.
Soga Ishikawa Irube's fist.
And while Su Yuzu wore a face full of despair, the gentle, kind, considerate, and perceptive Sakura Mai would still beam radiantly and say to Yuzu...
"Sister Yuzu surely wouldn't let down Sister Yukina's heartfelt sentiments, now would she."
Su Yuzu just—REALLY—TRULY—loved Sister Mai SO much.
Why had she never noticed that Sakura Mai actually had a side like this to her?
But come to think of it carefully——
This didn't really seem to be the first time Sakura Mai had let that little-devil-like devilish tail of hers show.
That earlier time when she'd run into Soga Yura on the commercial street of Keigunen Private Academy.
That too, it seemed, had been the result of Sakura Mai wickedly... dragging Soga Yura out of her office.
"It's just this tiny bit of breakfast~"
"It's not even enough for a single meal for me."
"Sister Yuzu might not even be full yet." Sakura Mai beamed as she soothed Soga Yura.
Hearing Sakura Mai's words, Su Yuzu nearly catapulted straight up out of her chair.
Not full yet?!!!
If she ate any more, she'd break! She really, truly would break!
But thankfully——
Soga Yura evidently hadn't bought into Sakura Mai's unreliable, persecutory claims.
"How could Yuzu's appetite possibly compare to yours."
As a Knight Princess, Sakura Mai had naturally also inherited the trait common to so many Knight Princess-attribute girls.
A glutton with a bottomless stomach.
The girl's eating posture couldn't be called elegant, but it was absolutely never lacking in manners—and it was efficient.
Sakura Mai didn't argue.
She merely beamed as she tidied away the cold leftover scraps on the table.
Where the leftover rice was concerned, she turned none of it away.
Even the little bit left in Yuzu's bowl she didn't mind in the slightest, her fingertips wiping up the glistening grains of rice and pressing them into her mouth.
Watching the girl looking as though she were about to burst, Sakura Mai only snickered to herself.
When Yuzu had come back, she'd caught the rich, cloyingly sweet floral fragrance on her—and, hidden within that floral scent... the milky, toasty aroma that fine cheese gives off after being baked.
Yuzu had definitely eaten breakfast before coming back.
And what's more——
She'd eaten quite a lot of it.
Sakura Mai had done it on purpose.
Beyond helping the girl out of her predicament, it also counted as... a punishment for the girl who had 'snuck a bite.'
After all~ who knew whether breakfast was the only thing Yuzu had snuck.
It was only that, as Sakura Mai looked around at all the girls beside her, Ms. Unohana included—
Lady Fate, even as she rained down her Blessing, had passed over her, and her alone.
Ordinarily, whenever Lady Fate bullied Soga Yura, she would bully Mai a little on the side as well.
Or else... it was precisely at Mai's most awkward, mortifying moments that Fate would reach out that wicked, teasing hand.
But today?
Why had she, of all people, been the one left forgotten?
Was it because Sister Yuzu was angry at her?
Perhaps that was possible.
But... Sakura Mai could sense that this would be the beginning of an even bigger prank.
Apart from Sakura Mai and Unohana Chiyo, all the girls—Su Yuzu included—left the base swaying and tottering somewhat. It even gave one the feeling of, 'Is it really all right to entrust such an important mission to them?'
The entire base had long since swung into operation.
The surveying equipment that had been planted into the sea last night had also begun running.
On the screens inside the main base, all manner of numbers and images leapt and flickered without pause.
Tsukiyomi Fuya, who had already changed into a fresh dress, waited for the girls.
Sakura Mai could plainly sense it—
In the instant she laid eyes on Sister Yuzu, Ms. Tsukiyomi's expression seemed to brighten with a good deal more delight.
At a moment like this, she perhaps ought to learn to meow like a cat and say, "Le~~~gs~."
"Good morning~ everyone." Tsukiyomi Fuya smiled as she looked toward the girls.
Then... she noticed, just a little, that something was off with the girls.
They all seemed to be in pretty rough shape.
Even Yuzu—who had been in perfectly good spirits when she'd seen her out of bed—now looked rather listless.
Tsukiyomi Fuya was suddenly seized by a flicker of worry.
Still, she decided to entrust today's mission to the girls.
More precisely——
To entrust it to Su Yuzu and Sakura Mai.
"Yuzu, Mai—you both know how to dive, don't you?"
"As I recall, your diving scores are both A+."
"Yes." Su Yuzu and Sakura Mai both nodded.
"Then——"
"Let's begin with some simple diving practice." Tsukiyomi Fuya doled out the assignments.
"First, get acclimated to the bay's environment."
"A real outdoor setting and a simulation hall are never, ever the same."
"Ms. Akiyama Yo will be going along with you."
Akiyama... Yo?
Su Yuzu turned her head to look at that woman with the cold, resolute gaze, and recalled the woman's character art.
The woman, descending in a downward dive, carried in her eyes a kind of sacrificial resolve.
"No way!!!" Su Yuzu reacted on reflex.
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