"Have you learned your lesson?"
Inside the room, Clara untied Sparkle, who had nearly been broken by Silver Wolf's antics, then placed her hands on her hips and spoke to Sparkle with an icy expression.
"Hah… I… hahah… I was wrong…"
Sparkle sat slumped on the floor, her face flushed, tongue out, greedily gulping fresh air.
"I'll ask once more. Do you really understand what you did wrong?"
"I was wrong, wrong, I really… know… know I was wrong."
Trembling, Sparkle slowly pushed herself to her feet. With disheveled hair, she bowed to Clara in apology.
"I'm… I'm sorry, Sister Clara…"
"It… it was my fault…"
"Please… please forgive me."
After apologizing to Clara, she shifted her gaze to Silver Wolf and bowed to her as well.
"Even though… I don't know what happened…"
"I'm sorry too…"
"I shouldn't be named Sparkle… or look like this…"
"Which caused… caused Sister Silver Wolf to misunderstand."
"I'm… I'm sorry…"
By now, Sparkle's voice was thick with unshed tears.
"You… you're crying?" Hearing the obvious sob in Sparkle's words, Clara was taken aback.
We just tied you to a chair and tickled your feet with a feather for an hour, is that really worth crying over…
Oh, and Silver Wolf played with you for an hour too.
Other than that, we didn't do anything else to you. It really shouldn't make you cry… probably.
"Cry? As if. How could Miss Sparkle possibly cry."
Hearing this, Sparkle hastily wiped at the tears welling up in her eyes and shook her head.
"Miss Sparkle doesn't cry!"
Sparkle declared this with firm conviction, but the very next moment, the tears in her eyes began streaming down her face as if they cost nothing.
Looks like she really was played to tears.
"I… I'm sorry."
Seeing Sparkle's state, Silver Wolf finally realized she had gone too far. She quickly offered a handkerchief and apologized.
Sparkle didn't take the handkerchief Silver Wolf offered, instead wiping the ceaseless flow of tears with her sleeve.
"You're not wrong! I'm the one who's wrong!!"
"This is all my fault!"
"I shouldn't be named Sparkle, and I shouldn't look like this." Sparkle cried out, on the verge of breaking down, before tears once again cascaded uncontrollably.
"Wahhhhh… Boo hoo hoo… Sniffle…"
"I… I… I…" Watching Sparkle's complete breakdown, Silver Wolf's guilt reached its peak.
Seeing Sparkle now, who was nothing like the person she'd been before, Silver Wolf pressed her lips together.
Looking at it this way, the difference between that Sparkle and this Sparkle is really huge, so huge it's like they're two different people…
Or rather, they are completely two different people.
"I'm… I'm sorry, sorry, I misunderstood you." Silver Wolf finally understood. The Sparkle before her was not the same Sparkle who had been so 'high and mighty' in front of her before.
Since this one isn't the target of my revenge, then… what in the world did I just do to her!
Sparkle: Waaaah~ Boo hoo hoo…
"Sorry, I'm so sorry." Hearing Sparkle's sobs grow louder, Silver Wolf grew increasingly flustered.
"I'll treat you to the most delicious feast in the whole universe, just please stop crying."
"Or I'll hack you the most top-tier gaming account in all the cosmos, please, I'm begging you, stop crying."
Hearing this, Sparkle's crying actually stopped.
"Whew…"
Seeing Sparkle finally cease her tears, Silver Wolf sighed in relief. Then, meeting Sparkle's eyes directly, she spoke three words with utter seriousness:
"I am sorry."
"..."
Sparkle's large, watery eyes stared right back into Silver Wolf's.
Just like that, the two held each other's gaze for a while.
Then…
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH! Boo hoo hoo~"
Biting her lip, her expression gradually crumbling, Sparkle burst into tears again, all the pent-up grievance in her heart pouring out unreservedly in that moment.
"Aaaaaah, please stop crying!" Hearing Sparkle's renewed wails, Silver Wolf felt like crying herself.
If this mess weren't entirely her own fault, Silver Wolf would have long since picked up a baseball bat to… persuade Sparkle to cease her tears through more direct means.
"Ahhh, I'm begging you. Please don't cry."
"I'll agree to any demand you have, just please stop crying!"
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Sparkle instantly stopped crying and sought confirmation from Silver Wolf.
Silver Wolf: ?
"Wahhh~ Sob sob~"
"Really, really, it's all true. As long as you stop crying, I'll agree to any request."
Hearing Sparkle's voice break again, Silver Wolf agreed without a second thought.
...
"Shouldn't we really go over and comfort her?"
Watching the tears stream down Sparkle's face and Silver Wolf's frantic state, Firefly turned to Clara, who was beside her holding a slice of watermelon and watching the show, and asked in confusion.
"Comfort? Comfort who?"
"Sparkle or Silver Wolf?"
Hearing Firefly's question, Clara paused her watermelon-eating and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Huh?" Firefly was momentarily bewildered, then collected herself and pointed at the tear-streaked Sparkle.
"Sparkle, of course! Look how much she's crying."
"Sparkle is still our guest, after all. For a guest to be crying like this in our home while we just stand here watching and eating watermelon like it's a show…"
"It just doesn't seem right…"
"Not right? What's not right about it? Don't talk nonsense." Clara finished her watermelon and shot Firefly a sidelong glance.
"Watching poor Silver Wolf get scammed out of everything she owns by Sparkle…"
"Isn't that hilarious? What's not good about it?"
"Scammed?" Hearing that word, Firefly was puzzled, but quickly caught on. "Sparkle is fake-crying?"
"Of course, isn't it obvious?"
Firefly: …
Obvious? Not obvious at all. There's no way you can tell that's fake crying… Can fake crying even look like that?
"You're underestimating the Masked Fools. If you wanted to see, I could probably start crying for you right now too."
"And I could cry even more pitifully, more sorrowfully, more heart-wrenchingly than Sparkle."
"Want to see?"
Clara: ?
"See my foot."
Clara gave Firefly a somewhat disdainful look, then walked over towards Sparkle and Silver Wolf.
If she didn't intervene soon, Silver Wolf might just sign a contract selling herself into servitude.
…
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