[BONUS CHAPTER] Chapter 120 — Crisis Averted!

"What are you all doing?"

Fresh out of the bath and dressed in a loose robe, Himeko Murata came upstairs, her eyes comfortably half-closed—until they widened slightly at the strange scene unfolding in the living room.

"A strategy meeting for the game?"

She glanced at the paused screen on the monitor behind them, then casually grabbed a can of beer from the fridge before sitting down on the sofa.

Her amber-golden eyes shifted back and forth between the three white-haired girls and Bronya.

"Auntie Himeko! Guess what? Nagami healed Bronya's legs!"

Kiana's voice was full of pride, her face practically glowing with joy—as if she had been the one to heal Bronya herself.

"Hmm?"

Himeko paused, the beer bottle halfway to her lips.

Her gaze slid past Kiana toward the girl curled up on the sofa.

A pair of slender, pale, flawless legs immediately caught her attention.

"That little rascal... really is dependable, huh."

Her tone was complicated—probably equal parts joy, helplessness, realization, and a dash of surprise.

But when she thought about how Nagami had even managed to resolve the artificial stigmata problem, healing Bronya's legs didn't seem so unthinkable anymore.

Then Himeko paused again, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she looked over the group—until a look of sudden realization dawned on her face.

"Oh~ I get it now… Did Bronya do something to Nagami?"

Recalling her own little "accident" from earlier, Himeko instantly pieced together the strange, tense mood in the room.

With these three white-haired girls gathered like this... it was obvious.

After that brat healed Bronya's legs, this quiet girl must have done something unexpected.

"Uh…"

No one expected Himeko to hit the nail so perfectly on the head.

Kiana blinked blankly for a few seconds before scratching her head and laughing awkwardly.

"Well... it's nothing, really... haha…"

Normally, with Kiana's personality, this wouldn't have been hard to explain.

But given the way things had been changing lately... even this simple-minded tune had subconsciously decided not to drag Himeko into it.

Sighing quietly, the heiress Kiana crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. The serious, unhappy look on her face gradually faded.

[The Heiress Kiana: Case solved. So this is why Bronya suddenly made a move.]

[True Kiana: Tch. That little brat…]

Outwardly, True Kiana still wore a gentle, warm smile.

But her ice-blue eyes shifted toward the red-haired woman on the sofa, clearly puzzled by how accurately Himeko had guessed the truth.

It wasn't impossible for Himeko to figure it out on her own... but this fast, and with this much confidence?

A faint golden gleam flashed in girl's pupils.

Her special intuition caught the scent of something unusual.

[True Kiana : And you two... weren't you playing games just now? Why weren't you paying attention?]

[The heiress: ...]

'Because I was focused on that tuna the whole time! Who had time to worry about Bronya?!'

That thought surfaced briefly in her mind before she forced it down, doing her best to keep her emotions steady and avoid letting Sirin sense anything through their connection.

[The heiress: Besides, they've been pulling all-nighters playing games for days... Who would've expected this today?]

Now that this accidental truth had been exposed—and knowing that feelings like this couldn't possibly appear out of nowhere—and that Bronya clearly didn't have true Kiana's special qualities... the meaning behind it all became even more troubling.

Unlike the clueless Kiana—the "tuna" whose brain only lit up in very special situations—these two Kianas were no fools.

Which meant that while the two of them had been busy trying to outsmart each other... this expressionless little girl had silently slipped a crown on both their heads!

If they hadn't been lucky enough for Kiana to catch this by accident... Bronya would had won without anyone noticing!

Feeling each other's growing frustration, the invisible weight on their hearts grew heavier, darkening their expressions even more.

"Sirin... you two—what's wrong?"

At that moment, Raiden Mei stepped out from her room, having just finished theory training with Rita and planning to move on to practical practice.

One look, and she could see the two girls' gloomy faces, the cold aura they radiated so intense that even someone thirty meters away would have felt it.

Her words of concern slipped out naturally.

"Your faces look a little off... Are you feeling unwell? Should we head to the school's medical wing?"

Mei gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, her soft, elegant voice carrying the power to soothe the heart.

Though her words did make the two girls' expressions ease a little—it wasn't because of Mei's gentle concern.

It was because of... other, more complicated reasons.

"We're fine, Mei. Really. Nothing's wrong at all!"

The heiress Kiana raised her small hand and waved lightly, smiling as Mei walked closer.

In her heart, she silently apologized.

But when she saw Mei's innocent, clueless expression... she felt a little comfort after all.

She wasn't the unluckiest one here, after all.

At least Mei had no idea what had just happened.

"Mei! Mei!"

Facing her dear friend and longtime companion, Kiana of course wouldn't act as casually as she did toward Himeko.

She immediately rushed to Mei's side, clinging to her arm like it was second nature, and leaned close to whisper in her ear.

"Hey, let me tell you something—Bronya actually... mmphh..."

Just as the tuna Kiana dashed toward Raiden Mei, the other two—the heiress and true Kiana—were already on high alert.

They had just been secretly relieved that Mei was completely in the dark, but now this dummy was about to spill everything right in front of them?

Like hell they'd let that happen!

The heiress deftly yanked Kiana back by her collar, while true Kiana quickly stretched out a pale, delicate hand to cover Kiana's mouth.

"What... what's going on with you three?"

Mei looked at the trio of white-haired girls, a mixture of confusion and disbelief on her gentle face.

"It's nothing, really! Mei, you go back to what you were doing!"

Raising her voice to cover the muffled sounds of Kiana's struggling, true Kiana pulled her clone away while the heiress thoughtfully helped Mei put on her apron.

Placing her hands gently on Mei's soft shoulders, the heiress spoke warmly, full of encouragement:

"Mei, you can do it! Good luck!"

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