After hearing the explanation given by Ren, Utaha Kasumigaoka was stunned. She truly hadn't expected Ren to give such an answer... letting Eriri Spencer Sawamura take revenge on Tomoya Aki?
Was that even possible?
If it were the old Eriri, whose guilt was gripped tightly by Tomoya, it would certainly be impossible. But now that Ren had straightened out her thoughts, and Eriri understood that Tomoya was "dragging" her down with him, it became possible.
"Eriri was a diamond to begin with. Her parents were protecting her, keeping her from losing her luster and from being hurt."
"Yet Tomoya Aki tried to let this diamond be covered in dust so he could use her for his own purposes."
"Previously, this unaware diamond would even block her own parents, who cared for her, for the sake of Tomoya Aki."
"Now that the diamond clearly recognizes her own identity, the Sawamura parents no longer have their own diamond blocking them."
"What will happen in the end? I'm truly curious."
"Don't you agree, Senpai?"
Ren's face was full of a sunny smile. To Utaha, however, this smile was so cold it made her whole body shiver.
Back when Eriri was still brainwashed by Tomoya, whenever he encountered a difficulty he couldn't solve himself, he would go to Eriri for help. As long as Eriri refused, Tomoya would bring up their childhood, making it impossible for Eriri to turn him down.
Could Eriri solve every difficulty Tomoya encountered on her own? That was unrealistic. And when Eriri couldn't solve it, and Tomoya used "guilt" to kidnap her, what would Eriri do? She could only go home and act spoiled to Sayuri Sawamura, asking her to help solve the problems they couldn't.
Over time, the background named Sawamura behind Eriri became the strongest shield behind Tomoya Aki.
After Ren's "cleansing" today, as long as Eriri wasn't a hopelessly stubborn love-brain, she would understand how much damage Tomoya had caused her and how much unnecessary trouble he had brought to her family.
Unless someone is a masochist, no one wants others to control or tame them—especially when the tamer is an inferior from a much lower social class.
To put it more seriously, Tomoya Aki was clearly trying to "overthrow his superiors," which is something no upper-class person can tolerate. If Tomoya had enough ability and capital to succeed in overthrowing his superiors, people might treat his story as a positive example for teaching younger generations.
Due to Ren's intervention, Tomoya's little scheme to overthrow his superiors was exposed early, and the victim, Eriri, had woken up. What Tomoya would face in the future was the frantic revenge of Eriri and the Sawamura family behind her.
New grudges and old debts would be settled together.
Tomoya Aki now had only two ways to survive. One was to hope that Eriri wouldn't wake up and would remain drowned in "guilt." The other was to brainwash Eriri again and wash away everything Ren told her before she could process the information.
But today, Tomoya and Eriri had a falling out. Given Tomoya's personality, he wouldn't go to find Eriri so soon. He would "dry her out" for a while first and then take the initiative to find her, using it to deepen her sense of guilt.
Look, even though you said such awful things, Eriri, I'm still the one who came to find you.
Just like when you abandoned me as a child, our reunion was because I sought you out, and this fallout ended because I sought you out.
Eriri, don't you really... feel guilty?
The deeper Utaha thought about it, the colder her body became. The sunlight投射 down could not bring her a trace of warmth.
Cruel. Too cruel.
Ren said he had already collected the debt for his own revenge against Tomoya, but now he was using the Sawamura family to complete his "killing with a borrowed blade." It wasn't even strictly killing with a borrowed blade, because this "blade" might have wanted to kill Tomoya long ago.
They were simply frustrated that their precious pearl was always blocking them, and they couldn't find a reason to act. Now that Ren had given the "reason" to the "blade," not only would the blade not blame Ren for using it, but it would even owe him a favor.
Is it really... going to be played this big...
Utaha raised her red eyes to meet Ren's. Unlike Utaha's red, Ren's eyes leaned toward a dark red, full of pressure and indifference.
He truly was high and mighty.
"Kohai-kun, is there no room for negotiation?"
Utaha's eyes were full of pleas, begging Ren if he could let Tomoya Aki go. After all, he was someone who had helped her. Utaha still felt a trace of reluctance, even though she no longer placed any hope in Tomoya.
Just consider it as paying back a favor to Tomoya...
Utaha sighed and leaned toward Ren. "I can pay a price."
"Senpai, you still don't understand."
Utaha's sense of purpose was too strong, which Ren didn't like. He stood up, giving the ownership of the bench to Utaha. Looking down at her as their eyes met, Ren spoke.
"It's not that I want to play this big; it's that Tomoya Aki wanted too many things."
"When he made a move on Eriri and began to brainwash her, he should have thought about the result if his brainwashing plan failed."
"Opportunity and risk are equal. He coveted Eriri's status but didn't want to bear the consequences of his greed?"
"There is no such good thing in this world."
Ren reached out and touched the cheek of the mature-looking Utaha, who was looking up at him. He continued speaking as he looked at her.
"Or perhaps Tomoya Aki actually knew everything, but he just felt he couldn't possibly fail."
"If he succeeded, he would soar into the sky. If he failed, he had the identity of a childhood friend to keep him alive?"
If it were anyone else who dared to be so disrespectful to her, Utaha would have slapped them long ago. But the one being disrespectful was Ren.
Raising her hand to cover Ren's palm on her cheek, Utaha looked at him once more with a humble, pleading gaze. Utaha attempted to use this method to win a bit of softness from Ren's heart.
Ren wasn't afraid of Eriri, which meant Ren's background could completely stop the Sawamura family from retaliating against Tomoya.
Favors... they truly were the hardest thing in the world to repay. To pay back Tomoya's favor, Utaha showed nothing but humility.
Utaha's performance was also within Ren's testing. It seemed Tomoya Aki's manipulation didn't stop with Eriri, but also included the Utaha in front of him. It was just that Utaha hadn't been manipulated quite as deeply.
"Senpai, have you ever thought..."
"Why would a girl as excellent as you be so humble in front of me?"
As Ren's words fell, Utaha's body froze.