Loki held it in all through the auction, all the way back to the Familia—back to her own room—before she finally burst.
"Pff—hahahaha!"
"Ishtar, that unlucky fool. Freya practically warned her out loud, and that idiot still walked right into it. Denser than the little runt."
"Quit laughing before you cramp," a voice reminded from behind.
Sawada Tsunayoshi stepped in just as Loki started to wheeze.
"Haha… ow, ow, ow! Tsuna, rub it, quick."
"I told you to take it easy."
He sighed and slid his hand over her abdomen, kneading the tight muscle where her laughing fit had knotted it. There wasn't an ounce of extra flesh there; his palm felt the twitching beneath her skin—she really had overdone it.
"Is it that funny?"
"Of course!"
She raised her voice and another spasm hit.
"Inside voice. Or did you forget your stomach's still cramping?"
"Mmh…"
A soft whimper, then silence. Feeling the warmth at his fingertips, Loki found her skin suddenly over-sensitive. His fingers were smooth, no roughness at all; when they passed over her, she could swear the touch left a pleasant echo behind.
The cramp eased, but she didn't let him stop. She simply leaned back and let his hand keep moving in gentle circles.
Tsuna wasn't in a hurry either—but standing was tiring.
"Loki, sit first?"
"…Mm."
He drew her to the bed. She turned sideways and settled on his lap. Before he could say anything, she took his hand and pressed it back to her belly.
"Leave it. Keep rubbing. Still hurts."
He blinked, then wordlessly obliged. Loki half-closed her eyes, content in the quiet.
"That woman Ishtar really doesn't use her head," she murmured. "Freya spelled it out—don't bite on the bait—and she still chomped straight down."
"Even if she hadn't," Tsuna said, "Freya would've pushed the price to the point it hurt Ishtar anyway."
"You don't think Ishtar could have flipped the trap on Freya?"
"If she could, Freya wouldn't be using her for toys and amusement."
"Pfft—"
The line was merciless; Loki couldn't hold a chuckle. The twinge warned her, and she swallowed the rest.
"The key is that Ishtar would never let Freya walk away with it. She's been butting heads with Freya from the start," Tsuna went on. "As long as Freya kept bidding, Ishtar would keep climbing. No matter what, Freya's game works; Ishtar gets snared unless she lets go."
"Impossible. Asking Ishtar to give up on targeting Freya is a joke. If she could let go, she wouldn't be Ishtar."
Loki didn't even pause to consider it. The odds were zero. Freya didn't even regard Ishtar as a proper rival, while Ishtar stayed convinced she could stand against Freya. That alone meant she would never stop. Freya had her pegged too well.
"So everything went like you two expected from the start?" Loki asked.
"Not everything. Only that Ishtar was the likeliest buyer. She can't resist what she thinks is a chance to choke Freya."
"That one… same as ever."
Loki knew Ishtar's temperament better than most. Asking her to put down that grudge was harder than killing her.
"This auction wasn't only to boost Hephaestus's new line, was it?" she added.
"No." Tsuna nodded. "We blew 'Great Work' into the open to make it clear a newcomer in the Hephaestus Familia accomplished the impossible. With Tsubaki saying, plainly, that I'm in Hephaestus's camp—and gods unable to call that a lie—no one will doubt it."
"In other words," he continued, "my two identities are now cleanly split. No god will instinctively tie Hephaestus's newcomer and Loki's newcomer to the same person."
"You are careful," Loki said, half in admiration.
"It's for insurance. Lady Hephaestus agreed. Keep both identities protected so no one can confirm either one. The key is that I must never stand in front of Freya."
If both names were registered at the Guild—acknowledged by Hephaestus and Loki—outsiders would have no reason to suspect the two faces belonged to one soul. There was just one flaw in the plan: Freya.
Unlike the other gods, whose lie-sense was about the same, Freya had the power to look into a person's soul.
"Worried she'll see through yours?" Loki asked.
Tsuna shook his head. "I don't think my soul is special, and I doubt I'm the kind of person Freya would fancy. What worries me is the mechanism. If souls share 'similarities,' could she notice that the soul she sees in Hephaestus's circle and the one in Loki's are the same?"
"Which is why the best solution is to never let her see me at all," he concluded. "If she never looks, that god—keen as she is—won't put her attention on me."
(End of Chapter)
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