On the sweltering beach.
Beneath the parasol, Kitasan Black found herself flanked on both sides by the two young ladies of the Satomi family, her heart sinking with dread.
(What is going on here?!)
Honestly, the moment she saw Satono Crown suddenly appear, her brain nearly short-circuited.
She simply couldn't understand why Satono Crown would come after her.
She could at least rationalize Satono Diamond scheming against her—it was probably to recover that recording.
But she had no quarrel whatsoever with Satono Crown.
If she hadn't noticed that Satono Diamond and Satono Crown's attitudes seemed to be at odds with each other, she really would have been at a complete loss.
After all, if Satono Crown had come to help Satono Diamond, it would mean Diamond had already broken their original agreement and revealed her secret to Crown. And the reason for doing so was likely because Diamond had begun doubting whether that recording actually existed.
Something that didn't exist in the first place would be very hard to hide once Diamond started having doubts.
Don't assume that bluffing tactics can work twice in reality—it takes luck for them to succeed even once.
The only reason she'd managed to threaten Satono Diamond with that bluff last time was because Diamond was still young, with immature methods and mindset.
But the current Satono Diamond had clearly evolved to a level that even she found hard to read. She had no confidence in deceiving her a second time.
Fortunately, things hadn't deteriorated to that point.
Satono Crown didn't seem to be targeting her—in fact, she seemed to be at odds with Satono Diamond.
In that case...
Kitasan Black had a new idea.
But before that, she needed to take a risk and probe once more.
"Um, I'm going to go buy some drinks. Could I trouble you two to watch our things?"
Kitasan Black forced herself to speak up.
Her gaze tentatively moved toward Satono Crown. Would the result match her expectations?
Hearing Kitasan Black's request, Satono Diamond was about to answer when Satono Crown beat her to it.
"No problem, Kitasan-san. Go ahead—Diamond and I will watch your things."
This was the perfect opportunity for her to have a private chat with Diamond.
What was Diamond trying to do, using the family's power to scheme and lure Kitasan Black's entire family to a place like this?
Satono Crown looked toward Satono Diamond.
And at that moment, from an angle Kitasan Black couldn't see, Satono Diamond was staring at her sister with a rather dangerous look in her eyes.
(Crown, why are you interfering? This has nothing to do with you!)
Satono Diamond conveniently chose to ignore the fact that it was actually Crown who had first taken notice of Kitasan Black.
Because Crown's friendship with Kitasan Black had made zero progress, and since Crown would be leaving for Hong Kong at the end of this summer break, Satono Diamond had already internally concluded that Satono Crown was now an outsider to the relationship between herself and Kitasan Black.
On the other side, seeing Satono Crown answer first, Kitasan Black confirmed her suspicions while quietly relaxing a little.
It felt somewhat wrong to think this way, but Satono Crown could now be considered a supporting character on her side!
Crown hadn't come here for her—she was here for Satono Diamond, for some unknown reason.
Though she didn't know what that reason was, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Satono Crown was now someone who could potentially become her "friend"—she just had to be careful because Crown could betray her at any moment.
After all, she had no idea why these sisters had fallen out with each other. They used to be so close. Perhaps their current conflict was just due to some minor misunderstanding, and once cleared up, they'd return to being good sisters again.
When that happened, Satono Crown would no longer be her friend but another opponent.
"What would you two like to drink?"
"Are you treating us, Kitasan-san? Thank you. Could you bring me a bottle of oolong tea?"
"Sure."
Kitasan Black turned to look at Satono Diamond.
"What about you, Diamond-san?"
Satono Diamond instantly put away the glare she'd been directing at Crown and gave Kitasan Black a gentle smile.
"The same as whatever you choose will be fine."
"...Understood."
Though Satono Diamond's expression changed rapidly, she clearly didn't know that Kitasan Black's exceptional perception was like the Byakugan—with no blind spots. Her perception could observe changes in aura and emotion, so even without seeing facial expressions, she could see through disguises and lies.
(It seems I was right. Now let's see if they'll clear up their misunderstanding while I'm getting drinks.)
Leaving these two alone was actually a very risky move.
Once Satono Diamond and Satono Crown resolved their misunderstanding, she would lose Crown as a supporting character.
But Kitasan Black actually preferred to see this happen sooner rather than later.
If their misunderstanding could be resolved so easily, leaving this landmine undetonated would actually be more dangerous for her, since she had no idea when Satono Crown might suddenly defect back to Satono Diamond's camp.
So it was better to give them a chance to communicate now.
This way, even if she might lose Satono Crown as an ally, she would simply return to her original situation.
Losing an ally was somewhat unfortunate, but she wouldn't suffer much loss, and she'd avoid the risk of being betrayed later.
Moreover, if their misunderstanding remained unresolved, it meant the issue between them wasn't so easily fixed.
Perhaps the misunderstanding would even deepen, making their opposition more severe—then she could confidently view Satono Crown as an asset.
Kitasan Black walked away while thinking about all this, her eyes taking on a somewhat sharp edge.
She was amazed that she could come up with so many plans in such a short time. She was truly brilliant.
With such wisdom, she would definitely get through this crisis!
However, what Kitasan Black didn't know was that Satono Diamond had long since stopped caring about the recording.
Keeping her secret wasn't because of any agreement or threat—she simply didn't want to share this secret with anyone else.
Thus, all her strategic maneuvering was completely pointless.
This wasn't really Kitasan Black's fault.
She simply couldn't imagine how a lazy slacker like herself could possibly attract the young lady Diamond.
Moreover, she had once thoroughly destroyed Diamond in competition.
The fear Diamond had shown at that time was undoubtedly genuine.
So in Kitasan Black's mind, her current self had nothing that could attract this young lady.
And having completely rejected her uma musume instincts, she'd also forgotten that uma musume were actually creatures that greatly admired strength.
Just like in the manga, classmates who initially looked down on Oguri Cap quickly fell and became her fans after being overwhelmed by her strength.
Let alone the fact that she had displayed historical monster-level power to the young lady Diamond.
The fear was real, but being attracted was also real—these two emotions weren't contradictory for uma musume at all.
Add to that a whole semester of fermentation, and those feelings had reached their peak.
Kitasan Black was convinced that worlds created by the System were all wholesome and wouldn't feature the gravity fields found in weird fanfiction, but she subconsciously ignored the fact that even without weird fanfiction, the Uma Musume worldview inherently contained elements of gravity and obsession.
Completely unaware of the gravity of the situation, Kitasan Black continued to marvel at her own wisdom.
After Kitasan Black left.
Satono Crown and Satono Diamond stared at each other. At this moment, the gentle smile had completely vanished from Satono Diamond's face.
"Crown, I don't recall inviting you to this outing."
Since there was no longer any need for pretense, Satono Diamond's tone was quite cold from the start.
Perhaps she hadn't even noticed that when dealing with Satono Crown now, hostility had unconsciously formed in her heart.
After all, she remembered that Satono Crown was also quite concerned about Kitasan Black.
But she wouldn't allow it!
There was no particular reason—she simply didn't want the three of them to become friends.
Kitasan-san only needs me as her friend!
Satono Crown could sense Diamond's hostility, but she didn't understand where it came from.
Just because she wanted to meddle?
But a sister caring about her younger sister's situation—how could that be called meddling!
Even now, Satono Crown didn't understand the root cause of Satono Diamond's conflict with her.
"Diamond, what exactly are you trying to do? What did Kitasan-san do that requires you to use the family's power to target her?"
Satono Crown adopted a serious attitude. Even if there was discord between classmates, going this far was simply too excessive.
Moreover, Satono Crown didn't believe that someone like Kitasan Black would actually do anything too terrible to Satono Diamond.
In her view, even if the two had conflicts, it would be at most something like a quarrel.
It wasn't that Satono Crown wanted to doubt Satono Diamond, but the problem was that Diamond was unwilling to come clean and explain.
And Kitasan Black, in her impression, wasn't a bad person.
Given all these factors, she couldn't help but suspect that the one who had changed for the worse was actually Satono Diamond.
Perhaps under some kind of pressure, her little sister had become someone different from the gentle Satono Diamond she used to be. Satono Crown had to consider this possibility.
Hearing Satono Crown's questioning, Satono Diamond perceived Crown's thoughts and found it somewhat amusing.
(So this is why Crown came to interfere with me?)
Because she suspected Diamond would do something bad to Kitasan-san?
She didn't know why Satono Crown had such a huge misunderstanding about her, but Crown's thinking was completely off base.
She just wanted to grow closer to Kitasan-san.
"Don't go too far, Crown. You're misunderstanding things on your own. I'm just—just on a date with Kitasan-san!"
Though Satono Diamond still felt somewhat shy when saying "date," she said it loud and clear in the end.
She even felt a small sense of satisfaction seeing Satono Crown's shocked expression.
That's right—she wanted to prove to Crown that her relationship with Kitasan-san had already reached this point. There was no room left for Crown to interfere!
"A—a date?!"
Satono Crown was utterly stunned.
As a precocious young lady, she naturally understood what her sister was trying to express.
She was genuinely shocked.
She hadn't noticed when these two had developed to this extent, but she quickly caught on.
No, wait—Kitasan Black's demeanor just now didn't resemble that of someone on a date at all.
That vigilant, ready-to-bristle attitude looked exactly like someone being threatened.
Was Diamond trying to use this topic to fool her?!
"How come I didn't know your relationship with Kitasan-san was this good? And if it's a date, did you really need to go to such lengths to scheme and trick Kitasan-san's entire family into coming here?"
"None of your business. This is between me and Kitasan-san!"
Satono Diamond looked at Satono Crown with annoyance as she caught on.
Even now, when you can't even get close to Kitasan-san, you still won't give up?
Women who cling on desperately are going to be disliked, Crown.
"I can't just ignore this, because I can't watch my little sister go down the path of crime!"
"I told you, that's just your misunderstanding!"
"Then explain yourself clearly! What exactly are you doing, using the family's power to scheme and trick Kitasan-san's family here? Don't tell me this is some kind of date—I've never seen a date like this!"
Even in movies, there was no dating method this outrageous. Satono Crown refused to believe such an excuse.
"Well, now you have."
Satono Diamond also seriously suspected that Crown had come specifically to interfere with her.
After all, suspecting her of going down a criminal path—that kind of thinking was truly unreasonable.
She suspected Crown was using that excuse to interfere with her relationship-building with Kitasan-san.
"Since you won't explain, then I won't let you continue!"
"...I knew it. You're here to interfere with me, aren't you!"
At the surveillance post of the agent dispatched by Madam Satomi, the images transmitted through monitoring glasses made the madam sigh in amazement.
Kids these days really know how to play.
She was also curious—what charm did that little girl from the Kitakami family have to attract the two most outstanding children of their Satomi family?
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Kitasan Black really had just gone to buy drinks.
Though she stood at the eye of this storm, Kitasan Black was probably the only one who didn't understand what was actually going on.
...
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