(5/5)
"Well the's get back to today's gathering."
Ren shifted the topic ba track.
"The main purpose of today's meeting is for everyoo get to know each other better."
"After that, I'll expin my course of a."
"My move might be a bit reckless."
This statement piqued the i of everyone present.
After giving them a moment to process, Ren tinued.
"Regarding the future, do any of you have a specific dire in mind?"
"The future?"
Kaguya sidered the question carefully before shaking her head.
"I never really pnned for my future."
"The Shinomiya family has always dictated my path. Most of my future has been decided for me."
"I haven't spent much time thinking about it myself."
---
"Hah. No surprises there from Ice Queen over here."
Sonoko smirked.
Ah even a basiderstanding of the Shinomiya family knew what it was like.
A rigidly traditional household, so much so that raising their daughter as a pristine, trolled noblewoman was sidered normal.
From a young age, Kaguya had been groomed not as an individual but as a perfect tool to serve the family's is.
Her eduphasized etiquette and talents, while personal autonomy was deliberately suppressed.
If possible, the Shinomiya family would have preferred Kaguya to exist without an indepe personality at all.
"In the end," Sonoko tinued, "the Shinomiya family is just too traditional."
"Their whole approach to raising people treats them like instruments rather than individuals."
Her criticism wasn't directed at Kaguya but at the Shinomiya family itself.
Kaguya, unfazed, g Sonoko.
"So, Miss Suzuki, do you have a pn for your future?"
"I did."
"But that's ged."
"…ged?"
Kaguya's gaze flickered slightly before shifting to Ren.
It was uandable.
After disc the hidden side of the world, it was natural for someoo rethink their future.
---
"I want to gain mystical power and explore a world beyond my previous imagination."
Sonoko's decration was clear and straightforward.
Kaguya had suspected as much, but hearing her say it ht firmed it.
At that moment, something clicked in Kaguya's mind.
That strange sense of familiarity she felt toward Sonoko.
Now, it made sense.
"I see," Kaguya said.
"I uand where you're ing from, Miss Suzuki."
"After entering this extraordinary world, I don't think I could give up my power either."
Having experierue strength, Kaguya uood its value.
Even if she didn't pn on dominating the Shinomiya family with force,
The existence of power alo opportunity.
Pave her leverage.
Power was the ultimate truth.
"Oh? So you get it now, Shinomiya?"
Sonoko grinned.
"I'm gd to see someone who shares my perspective."
"Power is the truth—"
"But only after it reaches a certain threshold."
Nagi spoke up, cutting in.
"Power also serves as a way to rectify regrets."
"It allows us to pursue things we wouldn't have been able to otherwise."
"I don't think anyone here would disagree with that."
Ren nodded.
"There's no doubt that power open doors."
"But ultimately, power is just a tool, it's a means to an end, not the end itself."
"Perhaps," he tinued, "we could pursue something that all of humanity has long sought after."
"Immortality."
Silence filled the room.
"That… might not be unrealistic for us," Ren added.
"But it's not something we o chase desperately."
"Let things take their natural course."
"In Beika City, there's never a she of iing things happening."
"It's just that… not all of them will be pleasant."
At this moment, everyone grasped the meaning behind his words.
Indeed, Beika City wasn't g in criminal activity.
Cases of murder, theft, and spiracies occurred so frequently that they were practically mundane.
For people living there, running into criminal is was about as surprising as seeing a clear sky.
Though cases like that werely pleasant,
No one in the room doubted that they would tinue entering such situations.
After all, this was just the beginning of a very long story.
"To summarize," Ren said,
"The story has already begun."
"We're already part of a long, unfolding narrative—"
"And we should let it take us forward rather tha it."
"Like an audience, we'll watch each chapter unfold with our own eyes."
"Then that means… the story of Shinomiya-san has gone pletely off script."
Kaguya nodded slightly.
She had no iion of returning to Shu Academy.
She held no attat to the events that would take pce there.
In other words, the story she was meant to be a part of.
Had already bee irrelevant to her.
---
"Just as Amamiya-san said."
"My story was a romantiedy."
"But as the supposed protagonist, I've stepped out of it."
"The events over there have nothing to do with me anymore."
"…Ahem. Shinomiya-san, I think you're speaking a little too soon."
"…Huh?"
"Did you fet?"
"Your only friend at Shu? That e hasn't been severed."
Kaguya's face twitched as the realization hit her.
She hadn't seen that person for a whole week.
She had pletely fotten about her.
But now that she thought about it.
Her ties to that pce weren't pletely cut off yet.
---
"Kaguya-san," Hayasaka reminded her,
"You haven't tacted Fujiwara-san for quite a while now."
"Given her personality, she's probably going to show up unannounced any day now."
"…"
Kaguya fell into silence.
Because Hayasaka's reasoning was too on point.
Now that she thought about it.
It had been far too long since she st spoke with Fujiwara Chika.
---
"There's no way…"
"The Fujiwara family is a political family. She should be aware of what happeo me."
"Miss Kaguya."
Hayasaka sighed.
"Don't you think that's exactly why Fujiwara is ag like this?"
"She's probably been holding back this eime because she knows what happened."
"How long do you think she'll stay quiet?"
Kaguya was pletely speechless this time.
Because Hayasaka was absolutely right.
If anything, Fujiwara Chika robably at her limit already.
"Pfft—Hahaha!"
Sonoko suddenly burst into ughter.
"Oh, man! Ice Queen, I suddenly really want to meet your friend!"
Seeing Sonoko's amused expression, Kaguya could only stare at her in silence.
And at that moment, a terrible premonitioled over her.
