Kikukawa Kyo lay beside Sakiko, her half-lidded eyes lazily watching her.
"What are you suddenly talking about? 'Source of all evil' hardly sounds like a compliment," Sakiko sighed, clearly exasperated, yet her hands moved gently, pulling Kyo's rumpled shirt back into place.
Kyo squirmed slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable. As Sakiko adjusted her shirt, her thumb would occasionally graze against Kyo's stomach. Kyo's skin was soft and sensitive, and the light brushing sent a faint ticklish sensation through her.
"I wasn't wrong, though," Kyo muttered under her breath.
Her mind drifted back to CRYCHIC.
Soyo had played the role of the band's mother, always carefully maintaining the group's atmosphere. Taki, despite her constant pressure on others, was a driving force, pushing them to improve. And beyond that tough exterior, she had been struggling with her own self-worth, something Kyo only realized too late. Tomori had grown more expressive over time, her smiles becoming more frequent.
And then, at the very center of it all—the one who had set everything in motion—Sakiko had left.
Like the first domino to fall.
Yet, it wasn't as though she had done it by choice. Before becoming the so-called "source of all evil," Sakiko had been everyone's source of good.
"Forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything..."
With that, Kyo shut her eyes. The slight effort she had made to prop herself up faded, and she let herself drop back onto the cushions with a soft thump.
"Alright, that's enough. Get up," Sakiko chided, reaching out and giving Kyo's hand a gentle tug. "If a customer walks in and sees you lounging around like this, they'll immediately know you're Yuu's sister. That wouldn't reflect well on the store, would it?"
Even after everything, Sakiko still carried herself with elegance, refusing to abandon the dignity she had upheld in the past.
She glanced at the empty cartons and bottles scattered beside Kyo and felt a deep sense of disapproval.
"Mmnh, just let me lie down a little longer," Kyo mumbled, making no effort to free her hand from Sakiko's grasp. Instead, she curled inwards, using Sakiko's arm as a makeshift anchor, clinging to her like a lazy cat unwilling to move.
Sakiko hadn't expected this at all.
Before she could react, Kyo's sudden weight pulled her downward, dragging her halfway down onto the cushions. Their faces ended up mere inches apart.
Even with her eyes still closed, Kyo sensed a shadow fall over her, followed by a faint warmth against her eyelids—a soft rush of breath. Her lashes trembled slightly in response.
When she opened her eyes, she found Sakiko looming over her, her upper body hastily propped up, one hand braced beside Kyo's head while the other remained trapped in Kyo's grasp.
"Ah—sorry, did I scare you?"
Kyo assumed Sakiko's uneven breathing was from being startled by the sudden movement, so she loosened her grip.
Sakiko had been caught off guard, but that wasn't the real reason for her unsteady breath.
Of course, Kyo wouldn't have realized that.
"Honestly..."
Sakiko let out a quiet sigh, regaining her composure. She watched as Kyo, seemingly unfazed, settled back into her makeshift nest.
From somewhere—Sakiko had no idea where—Kyo pulled out another carton of milk pudding.
The previous one had been orange-flavored. This time, it was chocolate.
"I don't think I've seen you drink this one before," Sakiko noted.
"Mm. I had a weird opinion about these half-solid, half-liquid things before, but I was kind of forced to try one yesterday. Turns out, they're pretty good," Kyo replied, retrieving the long straw from her empty carton and inserting it into the new one. With a satisfied expression, she began sipping again.
Sakiko watched her for a moment before casually asking, "So, what did you do yesterday? You mentioned embarrassing yourself behind a bar counter, but you weren't working at VA-11 last night, were you?"
Normally, she wouldn't care much about Kyo's activities, but her behavior today was so... unusual that Sakiko couldn't help but be curious.
Kyo's gaze flickered with something unreadable.
"You really wanna know?"
"Of course. We have a contract, don't we? It's only natural I'd want to know more about my contract partner."
By now, Kyo was used to Sakiko's overly dramatic, chuunibyou-like way of talking, so she didn't think much of it.
"I warned you," Kyo drawled before lazily taking another sip from her straw. Then, she smirked slightly.
"Yesterday, I met with Shiina Taki."
"…"
"You see? I knew the moment I mentioned their names, you'd start overthinking things again." Kyo spoke in a tone of complete certainty, as if she had expected this reaction from the start.
"I've already moved on. I just wanted to know how the band is doing now. It was a place I belonged to, after all." Sakiko's expression hardened, her voice firm—though her words rang hollow, even to herself.
"The band disbanded a long time ago. You probably had a feeling, didn't you? Without you, it was never going to last."
"...I thought you might be able to... Never mind. So that's what you meant earlier by 'source of all evil'?" Sakiko lowered her gaze slightly but quickly straightened her posture again. She refused to let this weigh her down any longer.
And yet, Kyo's words echoed in her mind.
If it had been anyone else calling her that, Sakiko would have brushed it off without a second thought. But if even Kyo—the one who had supported her so strongly—saw her that way...
"Not entirely." Kyo's expression remained unreadable, offering no trace of accusation. "Bands form and break up all the time. It's just how things are. And considering we're in the golden age of all-girl bands now, it's not really worth dwelling on."
She paused, then added, "I just think you could've handled your departure way more maturely. The way you left—so sudden, so forceful—only created unnecessary misunderstandings. If you had been more tactful, you could've minimized the damage, maybe even avoided it entirely."
Kyo, who understood social dynamics all too well, criticized Sakiko with ease.
Back then, Soyo had been devastated, and it had fallen to Kyo to come up with an excuse to placate her. But even as she spoke critically of Sakiko, there was a level of restraint in her words.
"Not that I'm blaming you completely. No matter how high your standards for yourself are, you were just a middle schooler back then."
Sakiko rarely backed down in an argument, but this time, she exhaled softly and admitted, "That was my mistake."
After a brief pause, her expression shifted into one of concern.
"Kyo... did Taki blame you for it yesterday?"
Because of my immaturity?
"Huh? Oh, no, not at all," Kyo waved a hand dismissively, seeming almost amused by the idea. "If anything, we actually got along pretty well."
She rested her chin on one hand, looking intrigued as she recalled the conversation.
"I always knew she was the tough, no-nonsense type. But I never expected her to be so fragile underneath it all."
"You two must've had quite the deep conversation then. Did you enjoy yourself?"
Sakiko tilted her head slightly, a smile playing on her lips—one that carried a subtle but unmistakable sense of danger.
Kyo, entirely oblivious, did notice Sakiko's fingers tighten slightly, but she misread the situation completely.
Thinking Sakiko was simply uncomfortable talking about their former bandmates, she didn't give it another thought.