[Now arriving at the Tokyo Terminal Station. Passengers getting off, please prepare your belongings in advance.]
"Ah~ we're here. What a pleasant trip! Right, Sakurako?"
"Yeah!"
A two-hour train ride isn't particularly long. As the train pulled into the Tokyo underground station, Sakurako Busujima felt she had completely vented her frustration.
After all, she'd only been yelled at a few times—not a single ounce of her flesh was missing. But the scarred old man whom Miyazawa Yuu had left in the seat as he stood up was a different story.
Carefully squeezing through the gap in front of the man to grab her luggage, she watched the man's eyes roll back as if he'd been broken, drool leaking from the corner of his mouth. Her eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
"Um... is he dead?"
"If he doesn't have coronary heart disease or something, he should be fine? He sounded quite energetic earlier, so he must be tough..."
His tone held a hint of uncertainty. After all, there was no precedent for "overwhelming physical pressure" causing a knockout like that. Since there was no rule against it, let's call it "zero calories"!
Shrugging with feigned regret, Yuu reached out humanely to close the man's stubbornly open eyes, then pressed his palms together and bowed piously three times.
"Namu..."
"You totally think he's a goner, don't you!"
A chill spread from her hair follicles to her toes. Sakurako Busujima clearly wasn't moved by Yuu's pious ritual; instead, she panicked like a terrified cat.
She was just coming to Tokyo for a visit—she didn't want to be dragged to the Metropolitan Police Department as a suspect!
Without a second's hesitation, the moment the train stopped and the doors opened, she grabbed Yuu's hand and bolted out of the carriage, looking for all the world like a pair of runaway lovers ready to flee to the ends of the earth.
Out of respect (fear) for the man who had neutralized a Yakuza, the other passengers were exceptionally generous about their line-cutting.
The platform attendant outside had just put on her professional smile when she felt a dark blur streak past her!
Looking closer, that massive, muscular back seemed... human?
"...No, I can't stay up late binge-watching dramas anymore. I'm starting to have hallucinations!"
Staring until the hallucination vanished from sight, the attendant rubbed her temples furiously, apologizing to the brain cells she'd killed by staying up late!
"Huff... huff..."
Ten minutes later, with her hands pressed against a wall, Sakurako Busujima panted heavily, her chest burning as if it were on fire.
Every breath she took felt shallow; if she tried to inhale more, an unimaginable searing pain shot from her lungs straight to her brain!
In truth, the Tokyo subway station is the largest in Japan. Attempting to charge out like a headless fly on two legs would result in nothing but a severe side stitch.
"I say, Sakurako, you've really seen too little of the world."
Gently patting her back to help her catch her breath, Miyazawa Yuu crouched down with a helpless expression and shoved an opened bottle of mineral water through her messy long hair, which was draped over her head like a waterfall.
"Here, drink some water and we'll keep running. No rush!"
"Glug, glug, glug! Do you even have a conscience?!"
Though she was dissatisfied with his attitude, seeing the water was like seeing a savior. Busujima shoved the bottle into her mouth, hair and all, drinking frantically for several seconds before coughing back half her life!
"I worked so hard running just so you wouldn't be caught and turned in!"
"Yes, yes~ Busujima-sama. So, if you were afraid of being caught, you could have just run yourself. Why drag a 'wanted criminal' along with you~"
Yuu nodded repeatedly with his arms crossed. To be honest, seeing Busujima's face flushed with anger while she had strands of hair in her mouth was quite refreshing!
It wasn't that he had masochistic tendencies or disliked people being nice to him; he just simply disliked the "fake gentle little woman" act Busujima put on.
Just like how Kohei preferred the real Aina over the "Make-up Corpse Beast" version, the PaB club played for keeps—they played for the truth!
"Right now, even if Busujima-san did nothing, she's guilty of harboring a fugitive!"
"Hiss... that's right!"
Taking a sharp breath, Sakurako Busujima used her stalled brain to think for two seconds. Her eyes widened as she realized the truth with a delayed look of shock!
What on earth had she been thinking when she grabbed him?
It was like her brain had short-circuited and she'd just dragged the bastard along. But doing that made her a legitimate accomplice!
"Ugh... I miscalculated!!!"
"Well~ please don't show so much regret in front of the NPC you just 'rescued.' It'll lower my favorability rating."
Yuu pulled Busujima away from the wall she was dejectedly banging her head against. He felt his favorability for her had actually ticked up a bit—only a bit, of course.
Someone who instinctively chooses to drag their friend along when fleeing can't be a bad person. She was just a slightly tsundere gyaru!
In short, as long as Busujima stopped trying to add him to her "fish pond," he decided to unilaterally include her in his circle of close friends!
"Alright, do you have someone picking you up? You have my number, right? If you run into trouble in Tokyo, you can call me for help!"
"I do~ But can 'Mr. NPC' really not provide this maiden with a 'Big House'?"
"You're still thinking about that..."
Twitching his mouth in speechlessness, Yuu made an "X" with his arms and shook his head vigorously—not a chance!
Look at Iori and Kohei's treatment. Those two were embarrassing, but they were technically best friends, and even they couldn't squeeze a single Yen out of his pocket unless he'd forgotten to zip up!
"Anyway, call me if anything happens. I'm off!"
"Mm~ Sigh..."
Feeling super dejected, Sakurako Busujima let out a helpless sigh with dead-fish eyes. After all, she'd played her hand all the way here and hadn't even managed to snag a place to stay.
It was true! While she did have the intention of mooching off a "rich guy," she hadn't been lying.
In truth, compared to going home and sleeping on the floor in a room that now belonged entirely to her younger sister, she'd much rather rent a place outside—ideally sharing one with a "fat fish" like Miyazawa Yuu!
But now that her true colors were exposed, she couldn't keep pestering him. She'd save the "wall-digging" attempt for their next "chance encounter." With Iori as her inside man, there would be plenty of opportunities.
"..." x2
Ten minutes later, standing before Station Exit A, the two of them turned simultaneously to look at the far-too-familiar person beside them. They issued a question from their souls:
"Are you following me?" x2
"Lies! My little sister promised to pick me up at this exact exit!"
"Same here..."
Checking the address Rin had sent on Line, Yuu scratched his head in confusion. There was no mistake; the exit his sister mentioned was definitely this one!
But if the Busujima house happened to be in the same direction, being told to meet at the same exit wasn't impossible!
"Then let's walk together. By the way, I'm curious what a gyaru's sister looks like. Is she just like you?"
"That's a terrible prejudice!"
Squinting her eyes, Sakurako Busujima huffed and bared her canines. Her sister was a model student!
Getting to the point of being a shut-in must have been because she'd simply lost her way, just like she had...
At that thought, she clenched her fists and hid her canines, her mood visibly plummeting. The "gyaru" aura was replaced by a heavy sense of gloom as bad memories resurfaced...
"OK! STOP! I apologize!"
Pat! Yuu's hand landed on her head. Although it was a casual remark, he was keen enough to catch the negative impact it had on her mood.
A joke is only a joke when everyone finds it funny. He had no problem apologizing for that.
"Want an ice cream? My treat. An apology gift for the 'Little Sister' I haven't met yet."
"Yuu, you actually dared to hit my head! I'm going to eat you into bankruptcy!"
"Yes, yes~ But please don't expect me to reimburse the medicine for your stomach ache tomorrow..."
Having her head patted caused her "memory module" to fail to load. Sakurako Busujima actually laughed this time—a genuine, relaxed laugh. With an idiot like this around, there was no reason to be "heavy"!
"Yuu, what about your sister? Don't tell me she's covered in muscles like you..."
"Isn't that an even bigger prejudice?! Rin is a kuudere! A stone-faced loli kuudere, do you understand?!"
Klang! Klang!
Just as the two were chatting happily, having forgotten they were even there to be picked up, two powerful guitar chords suddenly cut through the noisy chatter of the station exit.
Wondering if it was a street performance, Yuu turned his head. Three girls dressed in flashy, gyaru-styled outfits came into view.
The girl acting as the rhythm guitarist... looked exceptionally familiar to him.
"This next song is dedicated to the Big Brother and Big Sister who don't like coming home. It's called: 'The Little Sister's Screaming Elegy'!"
With no drummer, the girl band chose to let the pianist fill in. Following three crisp piano notes, a tsunami-like rock melody instantly swept through the station exit. Surprisingly, they played much better than typical street performers.
It wasn't until the song ended three minutes later that the two guitarists, each sucking on a lollipop, walked up to Miyazawa Yuu and Sakurako Busujima—who were currently cosplaying as stunned fish.
"Welcome home~ Onii-chan/Onee-sama!"
"MY LITTLE SISTER!!!!" x2