Chapter 94: Ibuki and Enju

Today I went to the cafeteria to have lunch with everyone for the first time in a while. It really did feel like it had been a while. Everyone sat in their usual seats while talking about our outing.

“It is alright to keep the date, time, and destination the same as previously planned, yes?”

“That’s true~… we don’t have any reason to change it and there’s not many days we can go, so I think it’s fine.”

We didn’t plan to change the actual date and there was nothing we needed to change. And like Tsubaki-chan said, we didn’t have much time, so it was better not to suddenly change plans now. More importantly, it was better to stick as close to the previous plan as possible.

“Oh! But I also want to go here~”

“Hold on, Yuzuriha! We decided that already! Do you want to bring it up again?”

“Ahaha!”

Everyone laughed. This was a peaceful everyday life… Even days like this that I thought were normal before could be so easily destroyed. I had realised that I shouldn’t have taken this everyday life for granted. That was why… these days with everyone, I would be more…

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“Xb! Nssj! Rv’p Fyjwuy-nbyd!”

“Rv alyzzu kp! Fbl’p ps nwvl!”

“Qallvkdtp, Fyjwuy-nbyd.”

“Xb, tallvkdtp.”

Sktbv… vbkp oypd’v vbl pyxl lhlaueyu zkql yp clqsal… sdzu xu lhlaueyu zkql bye pweeldzu nbydtle.

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Mblu’e pyu R oyp nwvl, clywvkqwz, yde svbla vbkdtp elrldekdt sd vbl pkvwyvksd, vbld tallv xl. R oyp clkdt valyvle zkjl y qyxswp rlapsd sa y ayal ydkxyz.

Ggyxk-nbyd tsv jkde sq xye obld pbl pyo vbspl rlsrzl. Elzz, kv oypd’v zkjl R nswzed’v wdelapvyde obu. R vbswtbv kv oyp hlau plzqkpb.

“Again! Now they’re doing an about-face and say “Sakuya-sama! Sakuya-sama”! How selfish of them!”

“Now, now…”

Right… like Azami-chan was saying, it was obvious that they’d completely changed after yesterday’s whole-school assembly and seeing the posters today. If something happened again, their opinions would probably change completely.

In the beginning, they knew nothing about me and had never even interacted with me. They blamed me and thought I was the bad guy because of what they’d heard from rumours and the newspaper, but the moment my name was cleared and they knew the Konoe and Takatsukasa families supported me, they conveniently changed what they thought.

I definitely couldn’t trust them. I definitely couldn’t agree to that. I thought that it was quite convenient for them.

But… that didn’t mean I’d get annoyed and lash out. They didn’t know anything about me. That was why the rumours just spread. Now that they knew that those rumours were lies, their behaviour would change. That was it. Weren’t humans like that? That wasn’t the case for just them. Everyone was like that.

Of course, I still held a horrible impression of them. I wasn’t going to get friendly with them now. But that was why I didn’t have any reason to lash out and make enemies. They were strangers near and far. I could just go along with them and let events play out. I didn’t need to flatter or antagonise them.

“I have everyone here. That alone is fine…”

“——gh! Sakuya-sama! I love you! Please say the words you said at that time again! I love you too, Sakuya-sama!”

“No, um…”

I knew what Azami-chan was talking about. The poster also had text written on it… the words I’d said at that time… the words I’d said as I was hugging everyone… “Everyone… I love you.”

Aaaaaaaah! My cheeks burned just from remembering that! It was embarrassing! Too embarrassing!

No, it wasn’t a lie, though? It was absolutely true? Actually, it was overly embarrassing because it was true! Aaaaaaaah!

“Sakuya-chan! I also want to hear it again!”

“Sakuya-chan…”

“Aaaaah! Please forgive me!”

Everyone was forcing me! But they absolutely knew that and did it! My being embarrassed jsut made it funny!

Aaah… but… this everyday life was precious to me…

　　～～～～～～～

After school, Satsuki-chan, Azami-chan and I headed to the salon. It had also been quite a while since we’d done this.

“Greetings.”

“Sakuya! Why didn’t you discuss anything with me!?”

*bang*…

I immediately closed the wide-open door.

“Oi! Sakuya!”

Even though I’d closed the door, this irritating guy opened the door by himself and showed me into the salon.

“If you were experiencing that, why didn’t you say anything to me!?”

Woah… how annoying… getting involved with Ibuki the moment I went to the salon… this was really annoying…

“It must’ve been hard, Kujou-san.”

“Takatsukasa-sama…”

Even Enju came. They didn’t do anything when it was important and just stuck their heads into my business at annoying times. Well, if Ibuki and the others said something, it’d disrupt the situation and end in failure. If you thought about why Mrs. Konoe didn’t tell Ibuki anything, the answer was obvious.

“Oh~… I would not do something that would trouble Konoe-sama…”

“Stop it!”

“…huh?”

Ibuki, with tears pooling in his eyes, yelled in a way I’d never heard him before. He looked really mad. When I looked over at Enju, he looked mad as well.

“You… you don’t care about how people feel!”

“Oh…”

Ibuki ran out of the salon. His face was… really angry…

“Hey, Kujou-san… is it strange for your friends to worry about you? Not consulting your friends, suffering somewhere they don’t know about, and resolving it all by yourself… then saying those cold words… what do you think of that?”

“…I am sorry.”

Admonished by Enju… I lowered my head.

I was distancing myself from Ibuki and Enju. If it went like the game said, I and the Kujou family would probably be destroyed. That was why… anyway, I decided not to get involved with them and keep my distance. That would be fine. But… Ibuki and Enju viewed me as their friend. Even so, I treated those friends who worried about me coldly… wasn’t that the worst?

If I was in their place, what would I think? If Azami-chan or Satsuki-chan had some sort of problem, but they didn’t talk to me about it, relied on other friends, resolved the matter, then treated me coldly when I asked about it… what would I think… I’d feel horribly down…

That was the same thing that I was doing with Ibuki and Enju. This wasn’t the same thing as needing to be Ibuki or Enju’s partner or fiancée. The two of them were worrying about me as friends, but… I was really the worst.

“Don’t look at me, run after Ibuki…”

“That is not needed!”

As we were having that exchange at the entrance, a voice called towards us. You didn’t even need to think about who that was. It was…

“If you chase after Konoe-sama now, an inconceivable misunderstanding will happen and you will be forced into a corner, Sakuya-chan! I cannot overlook that! It is Konoe-sama, so he will forget once he walks three steps! More importantly, let us talk about our planned outing!”

“Uwah…”

My and Enju’s voices overlapped… Kaya-san… should someone from the Oogimachisanjou family, who was under the Konoe monryuu, go that far? Wasn’t that pretty bad? And I thought what happened earlier was my fault, but…

“Hey… why aren’t you running after me…”

“Aaaah!”

Then someone called me from behind and I jumped. It was a depressed-sounding voice. It was different from his usual arrogant tone, but I could tell exactly who it was.

“K-Konoe-sama… as for running after you…”

“I thought that someone would immediately run after me, but no one did…”

Woah… this guy was annoying to the end… but… wait…? Was the “Arrogant Prince” Konoe Ibuki from the game “Love Flowers” like this? I thought he’d changed quite a lot. Maybe it was because he was still in first grade, but I couldn’t think of him as the same guy who’d become the “Arrogant Prince” in the future.

What was this supposed to mean… if I continued acting different from the in-game Kujou Sakuya, would the future change again?

I felt something cold… at the back of my neck…

Would it really be okay… would it really be okay if it continued like this? It’d be great if this changed to a better direction. It’d be nice if the Arrogant Prince became a compassionate prince who understood others. But… was it really okay for it to continue like this?

I didn’t really care about Ibuki and Enju. But… they wouldn’t be the only ones who changed. At this moment, the relationship between Lady Sakuya and those in her group had clearly changed. Azami-chan and Lady Sakuya were definitely close, but that was still different from now.

It was the same as the rest of Lady Sakuya’s followers. They should’ve been a group that was more haughty and lady-like, saying things like “Hey, clear the path!” and “As you say, Sakuya-sama”.

But what about now? Wasn’t this a somewhat sapphic laughing and chatting group?

No, that was fine too, though? It was what I wanted. I wanted this change. But… would it really end with this? The events from before were rather strange. An event this big hadn’t been recorded in the game “Love Flowers”. No matter how many ladies were side villains, something about this event should’ve been officially written about.

But in reality, I didn’t have any information on it. This world had really changed from the game “Love Flowers”.

If the world continued changing like this… would everything go well? In this world that was strangely cruel to Lady Sakuya?

Impossible. That was absolutely impossible.

Maybe… something worse would… happen in the future. Nothing about the Kujou and Ichijou fight had appeared in “Love Flowers”. Maybe… if this fight was more intensified, more drawn-out… something more terrible would happen to Lady Sakuya…

Then… I had to make allies now! I was saved by Satsuki-chan, Azami-chan’s group, Kaya-san, and Mrs. Konoe in the previous matter. They were close friends to me in this world. If those people hadn’t saved me, I’d probably be suffering an even worse fate.

That was why… I needed to get Ibuki and Enju to be my friends…

I didn’t want to become lovers or fiancees with either of them. I just wanted to become friends with them so they’d be my allies if something happened… I didn’t know if you could call that calculated relationship friendship, but… at the very least, they thought of me as friends even now.

I also… even though I was approaching this out of selfishness, wanted to meet Ibuki and Enju halfway.

“Konoe-sama… I am sorry. And thank you.”

“…date.”

“…huh?”

I lowered my head towards Ibuki… and he muttered something. I asked him to repeat, and he blushed, turned away, and opened his mouth once again.

“Go on a date with me. Then I’ll forgive you.”

“…huh?”

What was this precocious brat saying? Should I punch him? Should I?

“Sakuya-sama being expressionless… she can also look like this, I see! Azami is happy that she can see so many sides of Sakuya-sama!”

“Konoe Ibuki, I will kill you! With no mercy!”

“Kaya-san…”

Kaya-san, who looked seriously mad, stood relaxedly behind Ibuki. He was seriously no good. I might have to really kill him.

“I refuse the date, but… let us get to know each other better as friends. You too, Takatsukasa-sama, okay?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“So I am also becoming one of your companions?”

Ibuki sniffed while acting domineering for some reason, and Enju smiled softly.

“Now, Sakuya-chan! More importantly, let us discuss our outing, yes?”
“Oh! Wait! Kaya-san!?”

Though I was still talking to Ibuki, Kaya-san dragged me away.

“Wait! Oogimachisanjou-sama!”

“Let me be involved with the conversation as well!”

Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan were pulling me to the left and right. This had gotten really extra, but…

“Aha!”

“Sakuya-sama! Why are you laughing!?”

“That is true, Sakuya-chan… is there not an approaching danger to your safety?”

“Because… ahaha!”

It felt strangely beloved. Finally… I’d finally returned to this everyday life. I hoped this calm everyday life would continue forever…