The doorbell rang at nine o'clock sharp on Sunday morning.
Masao opened the door to find Yukinoshita Yukino on his doorstep, but it was a version of her he had never seen before.
She had forgone her usual school uniform and black tights for a crisp blue jacket over a simple white dress, with a brown bag slung over her shoulder. Most strikingly, her signature long, dark hair was gone, replaced by a pair of elegant twin tails.
She tilted her head, observing him as he stood frozen in the doorway.
"Masao-kun? Are you going to stand there all day, or will you invite me in?"
He blinked, finally breaking from his stupor.
"Yukinoshita? Is that really you?"
She fixed him with a look of pity.
"Has a single day apart truly eroded your cognitive faculties to this degree? I must admit, my confidence in today's tutoring session is dwindling."
"You can't blame me for being surprised," he said, recovering enough to step aside and let her pass. "Your style today is completely different. It's so... vibrant. It's an unfair level of cute."
As she brushed past him, he caught the faintest hint of a blush coloring her cheeks.
"While I appreciate your observation, Masao-kun, I feel the need to correct one point."
"Oh? What's that?"
"It's not just 'today', I am always on an unfair level of cuteness."
Masao could only offer a silent, defeated shrug.
Yukinoshita slipped off her shoes and stepped into a pair of waiting indoor slippers, each adorned with a playful cat face.
They were a recent gift from his mother, who had noticed how often Yukinoshita visited. Masao had suggested the cat pattern, and it was a clear success; a small, pleased smile touched her lips as she put them on.
She walked into the living room and set her bag down, her gaze sweeping the quiet house.
"Where are your parents? Do they work on weekends as well?"
"Ah, them," Masao said, fetching her a glass of cold barley tea.
"They said it had been 'too long since they had a proper date,' so they went out for the day. They won't be back until dinner." He shook his head, slightly baffled. "They usually just laze around on Sundays. I have no idea what inspired this sudden romantic excursion."
(Unbeknownst to Masao, his parents were at that very moment sharing a silent high-five, congratulating themselves on their masterful plan to give their oblivious son some quality alone time.)
"How lovely for them," Yukinoshita remarked, a touch of genuine warmth in her voice.
She couldn't help but contrast their easy affection with the cold, transactional formality of her own parents' marriage.
Her eyes scanned the room once more. "I don't see Jahy. Did she go with them?"
"Jahy?" Masao's expression shifted to one of mild amusement. "She had a bit of a rough day yesterday. Got herself bullied. She's been moping in her room ever since."
"Bullied?" Yukinoshita's brow furrowed, her tone instantly sharpening. "By whom? And why do you look so entertained, Masao-kun? Even if she isn't your biological sister, you should show some concern. Given your own history, I would have thought you, of all people, would understand how she feels."
A spark of protective anger flared within her. If Masao wasn't going to act like a proper older brother, then she would.
The image of a grateful Jahy looking up at her with tear-filled, admiring eyes and calling her "Onee-sama" was a powerful motivator...
'Focus,' she chided herself. 'This is about justice, not... ear-related privileges.'
Her duty was clear: reprimand Masao for his callousness and comfort the poor, bullied girl. She'd read that a gentle head-pat could be very soothing.
Seeing the genuine fire in Yukinoshita's eyes, Masao realized he needed to explain himself, and quickly.
"Wait, hold on. The one who bullied Jahy wasn't a person. It was a crow. The whole story is actually kind of ridiculous."
He proceeded to explain how Jahy, finally free after a week of school, had dedicated her day off to searching for the Mana Stones. Using the small shard she possessed to sense the others, she had triumphantly located a sizable piece in a nearby wooded park.
Her victory, however, was short-lived. The moment she held the stone aloft, a crow—sleek, black, and impossibly fast—swooped down and snatched Mana Stone right from her hand.
A frantic chase ensued, which ended not with the stone's recovery, but with a humiliated Jahy taking a nosedive into a muddy patch of ground.
The entire ordeal had crushed her spirit. The depth of her despair was best measured in rice: her usual five-bowl dinner appetite had been reduced to a pitiful three.
In a final, desperate bid for vengeance, she had begged Masao to don his Mark armor and reduce the feathered thief to a cloud of black feathers.
He had refused, pointing out the sheer absurdity of using a cutting-edge combat suit to wage war on a single, clever bird.
(Masao, in his retelling to Yukinoshita, wisely omitted the part about the Mana Stones, saying instead that Jahy had her favorite "shiny rock" stolen.)
After hearing the full account, Yukinoshita was left speechless.
Being outsmarted and humiliated by a crow was a uniquely pathetic, and strangely hard-to-avenge, form of bullying.
"Still," she said after a contemplative pause, "we should go check on her."
"Right. Follow me." Masao led the way upstairs.
As she followed a step behind, Yukinoshita's voice, softer now, broke the silence.
"I... apologize."
Masao glanced back over his shoulder. "Huh?"
She refused to meet his gaze, her attention fixed on the steps.
"I misunderstood the situation and directed my anger at you unfairly. It was my mistake."
He turned to face her properly.
"It's fine, really. You were just being protective of Jahy. I get it."
"It's not fine, but I appreciate you saying so," she replied, her formal tone returning.
"However, I'll admit, it's a novel experience to hear you admit you were wrong."
Her head snapped up, her sharp eyes locking with his. "Do you typically see me as an unreasonable person?"
"Not at all," he said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "It's just that you always seem so infallible. The idea of you making a mistake, let alone apologizing for one, never really occurred to me. It feels like I've seen a rare celestial event. I consider myself lucky."
Yukinoshita's cheeks puffed out in a slight pout.
"Your assessment of my general infallibility is correct, Masao-kun. However, I am, in the end, human. Fallibility is an unavoidable part of being one." She paused, holding up a finger to emphasize her point. "And let me be perfectly clear: this was not a submission. It was an objective recalibration of my stance based on new evidence. In fact," she added, a note of self-satisfaction creeping into her voice as she tapped her chin, "the capacity for self-reflection and the integrity to admit a fault are marks of a truly superior character. If anything, this just proves how impressive I am."
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