Chapter 128: I and Me / An Unexpected Chain of Events (2/2)

「Basically, you’re saying that your objective is to capture me and have fun with me and that person together.」

「That’s right.」

「Hmm, is that so.」

「”Is that so”? New Moon-sama says it like it’s not her problem――」

「I’m glad that Tsubaki’s right-hand man just so happens to be the kind of man who is obsessed with his own interests. Everything will be considerably easy from here on.」

「……」

Tsukumo’s face changed color and he closed his mouth.

Youran shouted with exultation in her heart.

「So have you secured that person already? If not then I can contact them」

「……I’ve established myself to be Tsubaki-sama’s loyal subordinate.」

「Can you stop fooling around already?」

「I am not fooling around. At the same time, I’ve established myself to be a man who likes mother-daughter bowls more than anything. Those two coexist and the former is prioritized, is all.」

Tsukumo said, laughing depreciatively.

「A bit of a miss on my part…No, that has to be established as the highest priority. Well anyway, there’s nothing I can do about it.」

「So what do you plan to do to me? Do you really want to line us up on the bed?」

「If it’s possible to implement without orders then I’d like to do so. Cause I’ve established myself in that manner.」

「So?」

「I don’t know that much. I’m here, and I’ve been ordered to thoroughly capture New Moon-sama, is all.」

「You’re still calling me by that name, I see.」

「……I’ll have the privilege of treating you courteously until the next order comes. I ask that you be content with that.」

Knowing that Tsukumo was implicitly telling her not to resist, Youran surveyed her surroundings, perceiving that escape with her own strength was impossible.

「What will you do until then? You’re not going to seriously continue to be here, right?」

「I will seriously be here.」

「If I’m here too long then help will come. The electromagnetic waves from my cell aren’t transmitting right now, but they can get all sorts of information from knowing that I came near here.」

「Even so, they will not come.」

「……Why?」

Youran furrowed her brow, not being able to understand why he was able to say that with certainty.

Tsukumo took out his own smartphone, showing Youran the screen. She didn’t immediately understand what his intentions were, but she soon realized that the electromagnetic waves were transmitting through it.

With an intense expression, she took out her own cell, and it still had no signal, out of range.

She took turns looking at her cell and Tsukumo’s face.

「This building isn’t jammed in the slightest.」

「What do you mean?」

「What I mean is that New Moon-sama’s cell is the only thing that became unusable by pinpointing it.」

「……？」

Even being explained to, she couldn’t immediately understand. She searched through her head for knowledge of potential techniques or methods used for that.

「That cell’s contract has been cancelled, you see.」

「……I see.」

Youran was convinced, able to understand that. Certainly, if that were the case, then it would be possible to make only her cell unusable by pinpointing it.

She had the initial impression that jamming was being used, which was why it had taken time for her thoughts to reach that point.

「Even so, nothing has changed. They’ll realize that I’ve come here and――」

Youran stopped talking with a start.

Because the origin of her thoughts had been different, her thought process hadn’t only delayed on the situation of the cell.

Well, it was unquestionable that the cell was involved in there. By the point that she had heard of the cell she used being halted, she should have suspected something.

But Youran hadn’t realized; she had not had the slightest idea.

「Don’t tell me……」

Not directly answering Youran with her stiffened face, Tsukumo began a phone call with the smartphone. Not putting it to his ears, he set the speaker to on and a sound came out.

The mechanical sounds of connecting rang, and then shortly afterward…

「Hello?」

She could hear a woman’s voice from the speaker.

A familiar voice that she heard on a daily basis: the woman’s voice that she had heard just earlier from her cell.

「Michiyo……」

This was the voice of the one who Youran regarded as a trusted friend; the voice of the maid who had supported her for a long time as her right hand.