"..."
Faced with Rize's sudden question, Touka momentarily froze.
Coming to her senses, panic began rising within her. Rize-san looked angry...?
Rize seemed to notice the flicker of alarm in Touka's eyes and smiled. "Don't worry. I'm a bit annoyed, sure, but I'm not angry."
"Oh, okay..."
Touka responded. "Yes, last night Byakuya and I..."
"Did he force you?"
Rize pressed.
"No—if anything, I was the one who forced him..."
Touka admitted awkwardly.
"Figures. That guy's always like that—he doesn't have the guts to force anyone."
Rize nodded slightly.
"Exactly!"
Touka found herself agreeing wholeheartedly, unable to resist venting. "If I hadn't insisted so strongly, he wouldn't even have gone along with it."
"That's how it is. You have to use forceful enough methods to make him comply."
Rize nodded again.
"I know..."
Touka echoed, then suddenly realized something was off...
For Rize-san to understand this so deeply, could she have already...?
"Rize-san, don't tell me you've already...?"
Touka asked hesitantly.
"I won't hide it—yes, I've done it with Byakuya."
Rize admitted without reservation.
"So it's true..."
Though Touka had anticipated this, hearing Rize confirm it still surprised her.
She'd thought herself bold enough, yet Rize had beaten her to it.
"..."
Rize hesitated briefly but ultimately didn't mention her pregnancy to Touka.
It didn't feel appropriate at this moment—it would seem like she was rubbing it in. She was being considerate of Touka's feelings.
"Touka, you've probably noticed by now. That guy's defining trait is that he won't take initiative but won't refuse either. As long as a girl makes the first move, he can't turn her down."
Rize spoke calmly, conversationally.
"Exactly..."
Touka had long since realized this.
That's why she'd reacted so strongly when Irimi said those things.
She knew that if Irimi ever truly expressed her feelings to Byakuya, he probably wouldn't refuse.
"So we can't just do nothing. We need to take action..."
Rize proposed. "Let's exchange information. You probably know about some girls who like Byakuya that I don't know about. We can trade intel."
"Okay."
Touka nodded, accepting Rize's proposal.
"First, there's his CCG partner Akira Mado. Then there's a half-human girl from Squad Zero named Hairu Ihei. Also Kiyoko Aura, who's Kurona and Nashiro's superior. And the girls living in this house go without saying..."
Rize shared what she knew first.
Touka listened, inwardly marveling at how many there were.
Some of these were girls she hadn't known about—like this Hairu Ihei...
Then Touka shared her own information. "Just at the café alone, there are several. Hinami definitely likes Byakuya—I just don't know if it's the way you like an older brother or... And while Eto-san's feelings seem ambiguous, I feel like she'll make a real move eventually. Even Irimi-san told me Byakuya is the most exceptional man in her eyes. I think that's a potential threat..."
"Really? I could see Eto coming, but Irimi-san is unexpected."
Rize was somewhat surprised. "Though Byakuya being exceptional goes without saying—if Irimi-san actually develops feelings because of that, it could be problematic."
"I know..."
Touka agreed.
Though it felt disloyal to Irimi, who wouldn't want their beloved all to themselves if they could?
"Let's set aside the ones we already know about—even if we wanted to manage them, we couldn't. Going forward, the priority is preventing him from casually fooling around outside."
Rize spoke seriously. "I think we should team up to keep an eye on him. He's usually fine when he's not meddling in other people's business..."
Rize had already spotted the pattern—almost every time, Byakuya's meddlesome nature led him to inadvertently attract new women.
"So we just need to limit his habit of butting into other people's affairs. No—I can't really call it a bad habit. Anyway, we watch him more closely. Whenever his meddling involves a girl, we handle it for him instead."
Rize laid out her plan.
What bothered her wasn't Byakuya's kindness in helping others—it was that his kindness kept attracting new girls.
"That plan sounds workable to me..."
Touka nodded.
The girls who already existed—Hinami, Eto, Irimi, and the others—since they couldn't be controlled anyway, there was no point dwelling on it.
Preventing Byakuya from attracting more women was the most effective approach.
"Now that CCG is cooperating with Aogiri Tree, you're practically one big family. You could accompany Byakuya on his activities."
Rize continued. "Though you have exams coming up, right? Focus on those first. I'll discuss everything we talked about today with Kurona and Nashiro."
"Mm, I'll have plenty of time after exams."
Touka nodded.
Clearly, Rize's plan was to form an alliance to prevent Byakuya from constantly attracting new women...
"Speaking of which, there's something I've been curious about for a while..."
Touka suddenly spoke up.
"What's that?"
Rize asked without hesitation.
"I remember when you and Byakuya first met at Anteiku, he confessed to you directly, didn't he?"
Touka finally voiced the question that had puzzled her for so long. "Back then, I thought you were just stringing him along to prey on him. But now..."
There was more than one inconsistency—like how Byakuya hadn't reacted even after learning Rize was the Binge Eater, or how Rize apparently never actually tried to eat him. Had she been playing along until genuine feelings developed...?
Of course, Touka knew nothing about the steel beam incident.
"Now that you mention it..."
Rize suddenly realized—Byakuya had only ever actively pursued her...
...
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