Some say love is like a tornado.
Because love is always sudden, violent. In an instant, it seizes a person's inner world, leaving them utterly captivated.
However, experience has proven that some things always arrive much faster.
For instance, that thing on Otto's head.
Miss Ana stared blankly at the girl licking the corner of her lips, her previous meekness completely gone, replaced by the look of a leopardess on the hunt. The light in her magnificent pink eyes vanished.
This girl named Seele... was just kissing the Director.
And... her words seemed to reveal something crucial.
—The Director had confessed to her.
It was like being doused with a bucket of ice-cold water, then immediately struck by lightning.
Miss Ana felt her vision start to go dark.
At the same time, a tremendous change was occurring within the girl named Seele.
The colors in her azure eyes, which had held a hint of red, were now shifting wildly. Before she knew it, they had transformed into heterochromatic eyes—one red, one blue.
"Other me, what are you doing?!"
The girl, who never imagined her other self would throw such a direct ball, shrieked in panic at the personality currently in control of her body.
Confessing to Big Brother right in front of another girl is just too humiliating!
Besides, Bronya-jie likes Big Brother too, right? If my other self confesses using my identity, how am I supposed to face Bronya-jie after this?
The girl, who didn't want to confess precisely because she didn't want to hurt Bronya, hoping only to maintain their current ambiguous status, grew more and more frantic, attempting to wrest back control of her body.
"Don't squirm, Little Fool."
Miss Dark Seele, clearly intending to cut this Gordian knot with one swift stroke, suppressed her other self's consciousness while hissing in a low voice. "Can't you see that Big Sister has been yielding to you this whole time?"
"Yielding?"
Miss White Seele was a little stunned.
All while maintaining a sweet smile for the young man who was contemplating whether or not to just activate his Reality Marble and unleash Bites the Dust, she continued the conversation in her mind.
"You haven't noticed? Bronya-jie has constantly been trying to set you up with your Big Brother."
"Set me up?"
The girl, vaguely remembering that Bronya had indeed been the one to buy the tickets for her dates to the amusement park and the movies with Big Brother, froze.
She remembered now. Bronya-jie would always buy two tickets and ask her to go out, but just before they were supposed to leave, she would suddenly have something to deal with and tell her to find someone else to go with.
Miss White Seele fell silent.
A deep sense of guilt rose in the girl's heart, making her uneasy.
Bronya really was yielding to her. Just like in the past, always giving her the best of everything.
"Alright, stop feeling guilty, Little Fool. If you really feel bad about it, then just let Big Sister have her way a few times later on."
Miss Dark Seele, who had clearly noticed her other self's state, glanced back at the girl who was practically petrified, and then spoke up.
"The priority right now is to get the irrelevant party to exit the stage."
Ignoring all consequences, the girl who had first chosen to declare her sovereignty spun around intimately and glided to Li Zihan's side, wrapping her arm around his.
A soft, warm sensation traveled up the young man's arm, accompanied by the faint, fresh scent of the young woman.
"So, Big Brother, where are we going for our date next?"
"The aquarium? The Ferris wheel? Or the movie theater?"
The girl clutching the young man's arm chuckled, her smile light and dazzling, like a dancing butterfly.
"And after our date is over, should I move in with you, Big Brother?"
Those words drifted effortlessly into the ears of Ana, who had just been labeled an "irrelevant party."
"Wait!!"
"What... what are you two doing?!"
The girl, her mind in a state of chaos, was snapped back to reality by the statement that sounded suspiciously like a plan to move in together.
Although she had no idea what kind of dramatic love-hate relationship existed between Li Zihan and this girl who had popped out of nowhere, she understood one thing clearly.
If she didn't react now, she was about to be kicked out of the game.
"You're a student at St. Freya Academy, aren't you! A student's duty should be to study!"
"Puppy love is a bad thing!"
Miss Ana tried her absolute hardest to put on the air of an elder, scolding the girl who was acting like a completely different person from when she first appeared.
Her demeanor was frankly one of flustered exasperation, or perhaps, impotent rage.
For these words to come from Ana, who was only a year older than Seele, was truly jarring.
Where did this idiot come from?
Miss Dark Seele's smile held a hint of amusement as she listened to the girl who didn't seem very bright and whose words were already becoming incoherent.
She didn't even notice that Li Zihan hasn't actually agreed to my confession yet and use that point to counterattack.
She's so dumb it's almost cute.
Miss Dark Seele, whose rank in this game was clearly several tiers higher than Ana's, looked with pity upon this rare, heaven-sent loser dog. Then she turned back, using her eyes, which had now turned completely crimson, to gaze at the face of the young man beside her.
And then—
"Other Seele, you really are quite restless."
The young man, who could activate Bites the Dust at any moment, wore an expression of feigned vexation.
"Oh? So Big Brother already knew it was me."
The girl, whose entire goal was to shatter Li Zihan's harem dream so he could live happily with her other self, stood on her tiptoes, pressing her vibrant lips close to the young man's ear as she giggled.
That sight made Miss Ana's eyes, watching from the side, turn a little red.
"Is Big Brother angry that I ruined your fun?"
Miss Dark Seele had indeed ruined quite a few of Li Zihan's plans.
"I'm not angry."
The young man, who had originally planned to use Bites the Dust, deactivated the magic circuits in his body. Using telepathy, he sent his voice to "Seele."
Then, he gave the dejected Ana a meaningful look.
Ana, who felt the Director's gaze but couldn't decipher its meaning, was stunned for a moment before a flicker of hope rose in her heart.
It seems there might still be a chance for a turnaround in this situation.
The young man gently stroked the hair of the girl beside him and smiled slightly.
Seele and Ana were different.
Accepting a confession from Ana, who had basically no connection to the people in the Rice Herrscher's dorm, would lead to a total collapse, a true ending of fresh blood.
But Seele was different.
Bronya would happily accept the fact that Seele had become his girlfriend. Mei and Kiana already had some inkling of this. Because of that premonition, they wouldn't have a mental breakdown in the first instant, leaving him room to maneuver.
The only problem was Ana.
The young man, who had already figured out how he would explain to Ana why he had to accept Seele's confession, gave her a helpless look.
And then—
Before Ana's stunned gaze, the young man's thin lips captured Seele's, caressing them gently.
As if he were kissing delicate flower petals.