"Hmm, this problem was successfully resolved. But... what's going on here? Can you explain it to me, Tsukiyo-chan?"
Theresa, who had awakened from her slumber, thought she could return to her previous days of slacking off, but she frowned, realizing things weren't as simple as she'd imagined.
Inaba Tsukiyo was currently sitting on the sofa in the Headmaster's office, and of course, there was nothing wrong with that; sitting on a sofa wouldn't break it.
However, what Theresa found a bit unbearable was Yae Sakura and Higanbana sitting beside Inaba Tsukiyo.
"What happened? Haven't I already said that under Jizo Mitama's power, Sakura can project her consciousness into the real world? However, what's a bit surprising is that Sakura's body actually has no problems, completely unlike a consciousness projection."
Inaba Tsukiyo somewhat surprisingly took Yae Sakura's slender hand and examined it.
She had originally thought that Jizo Mitama's power only allowed Yae Sakura's consciousness to descend into reality, but she didn't expect her body to come along too.
Not only had Yae Sakura appeared, but Higanbana had also come out with her.
Of course, Higanbana's state was just like it was in the Stigmata Space, very small, the kind that could float in the sky.
And it seemed like she could also grow larger, but Inaba Tsukiyo didn't know what she would have to sacrifice for that, so she had Higanbana maintain her current form.
Yae Sakura looked at Inaba Tsukiyo a little shyly, letting Inaba Tsukiyo knead her hand.
As for Higanbana, she sat beside Inaba Tsukiyo, happily eating the aburaage Inaba Tsukiyo had prepared for her.
Indeed, the aburaage in the real world tasted better, or rather, the aburaage Inaba Tsukiyo made was delicious, so addictive after one bite.
"Sigh~ While your atmosphere is indeed very nice. However, what exactly is this document about? You're not still planning for Sakura and her to go to school together, are you?"
Theresa displayed the document on her desk. This was something Inaba Tsukiyo had submitted to Theresa earlier, with the aim of allowing Yae Sakura and Higanbana to attend school just like her.
This was the conclusion Inaba Tsukiyo reached after much thought: Yae Sakura, as someone from five hundred years ago, had perfect domestic skills but lacked modern knowledge.
Higanbana was even more so; although her predecessor was a human from the previous civilization, that was tens of thousands of years ago, and she had long forgotten most common life knowledge.
"Alright, I'll grant you that point. But what's with this latter part? You want Sakura and this girl's clone to be known by the other people in the Academy?"
St. Freya Academy had so many students, all gathered there to fight against Honkai, students who would become Valkyries in the future.
Although their future was not entirely bright, their identity was to fight against Honkai.
Now, a Pseudo-Herrscher and a former Herrscher planned to become students of the Academy, and even wanted them to integrate into the Academy. Wasn't this just asking for trouble?
"Why not? Is a Herrscher truly evil in your eyes? Even after knowing about Higanbana's situation, do you still think so?"
"I know that, of course… But even if I know, others would never agree to their existence. Don't forget, a large portion of the students gathered at St. Freya Academy lost everything they once had because of Honkai. If they knew Sakura and Higanbana's identities… it might…"
She didn't elaborate, but even without saying it, Inaba Tsukiyo knew what Theresa wanted to say.
Yes, it was difficult to make everyone accept Yae Sakura, who was a Pseudo-Herrscher, and even Higanbana, due to her unique appearance, would find it hard to gain others' recognition.
This was only natural; most people in this world hated Honkai, but they didn't know that most disasters were actually caused by humans themselves.
Inaba Tsukiyo lowered her head. She didn't know what to say. Should she force Theresa to do this?
Don't be ridiculous. Even if Theresa allowed Yae Sakura and Higanbana to become students of the Academy, as soon as Yae Sakura and Higanbana's information was uploaded to the Schicksal database, Otto would know.
He wouldn't even need this information; Otto would know what was happening at St. Freya Academy through his spies.
If Otto knew that Yae Sakura was here, he would probably send the main force of Schicksal.
It was because of Yae Sakura that he had been cuckolded countless times.
Now that this person appeared at St. Freya Academy, was she eyeing his adorable Granddaughter?
Only Otto didn't know that Theresa had already been won over by Yae Sakura back in Changkong City, because that gentle kiss had already touched her heart.
"It's alright, Tsukiyo. Even if I don't go to school, I don't mind."
Yae Sakura held Inaba Tsukiyo's arm, comforting her.
"As long as I can stay by your side, what does it matter if I'm ostracized?"
"Yes, Sister Tsukiyo. My elder sister and I won't care what those people think. Every day, my elder sister and I will wait for you to come back to the dorm. We'll prepare hot food and hot water for you."
"..."
The first half was fine, but wasn't the latter half a bit too strange?
It was true that one needed to prepare bathwater in advance for bathing in the dorm, but why emphasize this?
Eh? Wait a minute, now that she thought about it, every time she finished bathing, Yae Sakura would be the second to enter the bathroom. Was there a connection here?
Inaba Tsukiyo felt like she had discovered something incredible. Had Yae Sakura done something without her knowledge?
Actually, Yae Sakura and Higanbana's room was Inaba Tsukiyo's room.
Because her room didn't have too many things, after Yae Sakura moved in, she and Higanbana added some items to the room, making it a Japanese-style room.
Bronya harbored a lot of resentment towards Yae Sakura's move-in, especially regarding the fact that Inaba Tsukiyo couldn't sleep with her at night recently, which caused Bronya to complain countless times.
This led to Bronya being hostile towards Yae Sakura whenever they were in the dorm.
Seeing that they wouldn't come to blows, Inaba Tsukiyo had no intention of interfering. As long as they didn't tear down the dorm building, anything was negotiable.
Theresa sent Inaba Tsukiyo's report to the shredder, where it was completely destroyed. In fact, she was very worried that Inaba Tsukiyo would force her to approve the application.
Although St. Freya Academy had begun to develop in recent years, it still couldn't escape Schicksal's control.
Theresa usually acted foolishly cute, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that there were still many problems within St. Freya Academy, not just issues from Schicksal, but even people from Anti-Entropy had infiltrated it.
Just like the last invasion incident, if no one had been there to assist, Theresa would never have believed it.
Although it was indeed related to St. Freya Academy's security, being able to enter St. Freya Academy's confidential area without any alarms was too strange no matter how one thought about it.
Of course, the most important thing was Einstein, who had invaded with Cocolia last time, the deal this person made with herself, and the secret experiment she discovered Schicksal was conducting.
Leaving the Headmaster's office, to prevent others from seeing Yae Sakura, Inaba Tsukiyo deliberately chose an empty area to return to the dorm.
It was already late; the sunset had fallen, and only constantly shining stars hung in the night sky.
"! Sakura? What's wrong?"
Suddenly, Yae Sakura hugged Inaba Tsukiyo from behind, her hands firmly embracing Inaba Tsukiyo's petite body.
Feeling the softness from above her head, Inaba Tsukiyo somewhat understood how Higanbana felt when she had pounced into her arms last time.
Compared to Yae Sakura's size, her own physique indeed felt very uncomfortable.
Although she didn't care about her figure, what was with this inexplicable feeling of displeasure in her heart?
"I just don't want to go back so soon. Once we're back in the dorm, we won't be able to get along well."
Although Higanbana was here as a third wheel, without Bronya's disturbance, Yae Sakura still wanted to spend some quality time with Inaba Tsukiyo.
"...It's already very late. If we don't go back soon, we'll miss dinner."
"It's alright. As long as we go back in time, they won't notice anything. And… now is a good opportunity."
Yae Sakura's voice was very soft for the latter part of her sentence, but Inaba Tsukiyo still heard it.
However, hearing it didn't mean Inaba Tsukiyo understood what Yae Sakura meant.
What was this 'good opportunity' about? What kind of good opportunity? What on earth are you talking about?
Inaba Tsukiyo and Yae Sakura found an empty lawn and lay down. Inaba Tsukiyo opened her eyes.
Although the previous incident allowed Inaba Tsukiyo to see things without the help of Seele's power, she was already accustomed to keeping her eyes closed.
Therefore, Inaba Tsukiyo generally wouldn't open her eyes unless it was a special situation.
Inaba Tsukiyo and Yae Sakura lay together; Higanbana had run off somewhere, perhaps to play.
Their heads rested closely, and Yae Sakura took Inaba Tsukiyo's right hand, her gaze fixed on the ring on her ring finger.
That's right, it was the ring on her ring finger. In fact, everyone had noticed Inaba Tsukiyo's ring.
But no one asked about it; they just went to Bronya, who had met her first, to inquire about the situation.
However, Bronya didn't know where the ring came from either. She also really wanted to know who had put the ring on Inaba Tsukiyo's finger.
This was a secret. Bronya had once, while sleeping with Inaba Tsukiyo, used the machine that could delve into the Stigmata Space to try and look at Inaba Tsukiyo's memories, to see who had given Inaba Tsukiyo this ring.
But as soon as she entered Inaba Tsukiyo's dream, the device broke down, breaking down without any logical reason.
Even when Bronya later checked the machine and found no problems, wanting to try again, the machine would break down due to some unknown reason.
"Hey… can you tell me who put this ring on you?"
"…"
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