Chapter 465: Mashiro's Words Awaken the Dreamer
Yakumo Ran had never felt so grateful for Yakumo Yukari's presence. She had been on the verge of resigning herself to another night of nothing but water, her spirit slowly draining away with each sip. Just as she was about to give up all hope, her master appeared as if from a dream.
A lazy, satisfied smile graced Yakumo Yukari's lips. "There," she announced to the quiet room. "I've finally made up for the five minutes and thirty seconds of sleep I missed yesterday! I'm absolutely brimming with energy now!"
Ran stared, her nine tails twitching in surprise. "Lady Yukari! Why are you awake?" she asked, her voice a mixture of relief and confusion.
"Didn't I mention we were going to eat something delicious tonight, Ran?" Yukari tilted her head, a playful glint in her eyes. "What's the matter? Has drinking all that water finally gone to your head?"
Ran was taken aback for a moment before shaking her head vigorously. "No, no, of course not! I was just… a little confused. You said we were going to eat, but we haven't made any move to leave."
"Hmm… How should I put this…?" Yukari tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Just think of it as a restaurant that serves exceptionally delicious food!"
"A restaurant…" Ran's brow furrowed. "But, Lady Yukari, it's so late. Surely all the restaurants are closed by now…"
Yukari's smile widened. "No, no, quite the opposite. His restaurant is a late-night establishment. In fact, it has only just opened."
At those words, Ran's eyes lit up, and her fox ears perked straight up, twitching with anticipation. This was wonderful! It seemed there truly was delicious food in her future! No more water!
"Then… then Lady Yukari, should we be leaving now?" she asked, her voice trembling with excitement.
Yukari shook her head. "Not yet. We'll go in about half an hour." She paused, her gaze turning curious. "But, Ran, I don't recall you being so passionate about fine dining before."
Ran flinched, quickly composing herself. "It's… it's nothing! But Lady Yukari, why must we wait another thirty minutes?"
"Probably to avoid scaring anyone," Yukari said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Never mind, never mind. You'll understand when the time comes, Ran! For now, go and brew some tea."
As she watched her loyal shikigami hurry away, Yukari's playful expression faded into one of contemplation. 'So, the world link… Tsk… This is really giving me a headache. Should I ask that shrine maiden for her opinion?'
She considered it for a moment, then shook her head with a soft sigh. No, she couldn't go to her. Or at the very least, she couldn't discuss this particular matter with her. The mere thought of that conversation was enough to make her temples throb.
'Yuuka should be getting ready to leave as well, I imagine,' Yukari mused, a hint of hunger stirring within her. 'I'm actually feeling a little peckish… Now, what should I eat today? It's truly a dilemma…'
Meanwhile, an hour after being dragged from her own room, Sōryūin Akemi's eyes were wide with awe. Even the usually stoic Shiina Mashiro seemed impressed as she gazed around Kasugano Sora's new, divine-looking bedroom.
"I'm honestly speechless…" Akemi sighed, taking in the perfectly arranged setup. "How on earth did you decorate your room to look like this…?"
Kasugano Sora thought for a moment, hugging a plushie. "I suppose it's because I want to enjoy life more. I thought this layout was better, so I arranged it this way. But… it just feels a little conflicted…"
"Conflicted?" Akemi and Mashiro echoed in unison.
Sora nodded. "Mhm. My original room had a refrigerator. Akemi, you remember that, right?"
"Mhm… You always said that refrigerator was the soul of the entire room."
A faint smile touched Sora's lips. "I still think so. And that's the main problem. Before, I'd stock the fridge with fruits, drinks, and other things. Whenever I wanted something, I could just grab it. But now… the refrigerator is gone!"
Shiina Mashiro spoke softly, her voice as placid as ever. "So, Sora, are you going to put a refrigerator in here?"
Akemi smiled encouragingly. "Sora, this room is even bigger than your first one. You could get an even larger refrigerator now, right?"
But Sora shook her head, a troubled look on her face. "If I get a bigger one, it definitely won't be as good as the one in the store downstairs. Just thinking about it makes me feel so conflicted…"
Akemi blinked, confused. "Eh? So, you're conflicted about whether to put a refrigerator in or not?"
"That's right," Sora lamented. "If I put one in, it feels redundant. The store's refrigerator has everything, and I can just go downstairs to get whatever I want. Putting another one in my bedroom… it would be convenient, but it also feels completely unnecessary…"
Shiina Mashiro, who had picked up a rabbit doll from Sora's bed, stared at her with expressionless eyes. "So, Sora, you just don't want to go downstairs?"
The moment the words were spoken, a flash of realization struck Kasugano Sora. It was as if a veil had been lifted, revealing the simple, unvarnished truth at the root of her conflict. Was it really just because she was too lazy to move?
"No, that's not it!" she denied instantly, her cheeks flushing. "I just… I just… Uh… I just think it's redundant, yes! That's it! It's redundant!"
She would never admit that she was simply too lazy to walk down a flight of stairs when she was in the middle of having fun. Sōryūin Akemi let out a long sigh; it seemed the real reason had been found.
Her gaze then drifted to a stack of untouched homework on a nearby desk, and her mouth twitched. "Sora… your homework…"
Kasugano Sora waved a dismissive hand. "Homework? That kind of thing is meant to be done on the last night of the holiday!"
Shiina Mashiro nodded slowly and repeatedly, as if she had just learned a deep and incredible life lesson.
Akemi's eyes widened in alarm. "Mashiro! You absolutely cannot do that! Absolutely not!"
Mashiro tilted her head, glanced at Akemi, and then gave a small, understanding nod. Akemi breathed a sigh of relief before turning her attention back to the true culprit. "I'm not even talking about whether you've done it or not! My question is, how did you even manage to get these answers, Sora?!"
Sora looked at her open workbook, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "I wish I could do it! No, I can! But I just… I tend to make calculation errors," she mumbled indignantly. "Science is too difficult…"
"Sigh… You're really one of a kind," Akemi said, shaking her head. "But Sora, aren't Sister Lanterby and the others all top students? You could just ask them for help."
"How do you know that, too?!"
"Eh? Because an Executive Officer of the WGO couldn't possibly be held by someone with an ordinary education, right?"
Sora sighed dramatically. "I made a mistake before and someone corrected me, so I knew how to solve the problem, but… but I still calculated the final answers wrong…"
"You could try using a calculator…"
"I just forgot to do multiplication and division before addition and subtraction, that's why I got it wrong!" Sora wailed.
Sōryūin Akemi fell silent, then slowly gave her a thumbs-up, an expression of deep, resigned respect on her face.
"It's a small matter, a small matter," Sora declared, quickly changing the subject. "Mashiro-nee! Let's play games!"
"Games?" Mashiro's eyes held a flicker of interest.
Sora nodded enthusiastically, then ran over to a large cabinet. After rummaging through it for a moment, she pulled out a console and began connecting it to a large monitor. She plugged in two controllers and beamed. "Mhm! Akemi, you play too. I remember your reaction time is pretty good!"
"Eh? Oh… What game is this…?"
"It's a co-op adventure game. It's a lot of fun."
Akemi stared at the professional-grade setup. "Eh? Your equipment is so complete…"
"Of course!" Sora puffed out her chest with pride. "I can find any kind of gaming equipment here! Now, let's start, let's start!"
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