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「Sis. Please don’t leave me by myself.」
「You’ve finally arrived, Rin. You should’ve left without answering them like I did.」
「Please consider the consequences. It was so hard to justify your leaving.」

The little sister finally managed to escape. And it looks like she’s quite mad. On the other hand, Aya is showing no signs of reflecting at all. Well, I guess she wouldn’t have done it in the first place if she’d reflect on it.

「By the way, she’s also camouflaging too.」
「Sis!」

C’mon twelve families.

「And Aya just exposed it like that.」
「It’s just how she is as usual, Hadzuki. Look at Kotori, she can’t seem to follow the situation at all.」
「At all.」

Since Kotori has only seen Aya when her mask is on, she couldn’t follow the conversation. Still, it doesn’t seem like Rin is camouflaging herself at the same level as Aya does. I guess she only changes her way of speaking like I do.

「I can tell that you’ve been through a lot with her.」
「Pleased to meet you. I’m Shimotsuki Aya’s little sister, Shimotsuki Rin. Miss Kisaragi, I’ve heard a lot about you from Sister Aya and Brother Shizu.」
「Yup, you don’t need to tell me the details. Since I’m sure that they’ve said things that are hard to agree with.」

With Aya, she’s probably like I found someone else like me! and I get that; but with Mr. Shizuo, I’m scared that he might have seriously said that I’m his spouse’s wife. What’s his plan if other people took his words at face value?

「Please don’t worry, I understand. I know that it’s best to think that they are mostly half-joking.」
「I’m glad you understand.」

She’s so proper, I can’t believe that she’s actually Aya’s little sister. Having no interest in our conversation, Aya’s sights were now locked onto Kotori. Let’s have Hadzuki back Kotori up.

「They look like a wolf and a rabbit, don’t they?」
「The wolf here is clearly Sister Aya. I feel bad for Miss Fumidzuki.」

No, don’t just sigh there, help her out. I know that you’re exhausted even though the party just started a while ago, but still.

「I’ve never had any interaction with you up until now, Kotori. So I was thinking that maybe we could get a bit more closer with this opportunity,」
「Kotori, you mustn’t get used to Aya as she is right now. The whiplash will be too strong.」
「I agree with Miss Kisaragi.」
「Eh? Ehh?」

Kotori looks at Rin and me in confusion and then at Aya with a scared look. Don’t worry, she’s not going to gobble you up in a place like this. Though I can’t anticipate what could happen during the after-party.

「It seems like you’ve been through a lot, Rin.」
「I’ve already given up on her. After all, no matter how many times I tell her off, there’s really no changing one’s personality.」

She’s getting philosophical. Is it because she understands Aya as family, or is it that their long time together has made her surrender, I can’t say for sure.

「Big bro and big sis are like that, and even Sister Aya has me wrapped around her finger.」

Thinking about it, Akane is similar to them. I’m really amazed that she can hold herself together when she’s in the middle of them. I would either try running away or just go wild myself.

「I’ve tried imagining the situation, but it’s nothing but terrible.」
「I feel glad that you can understand. And when my parents join in too, it just goes out of control.」

What happened in the past? I can’t read anything from Rin’s faraway gaze. Maybe her situation is even worse than I can imagine.

「For the time being, as long as you stay here, you’ll be at least freed from the crowds, so rest up.」
「Don’t mind if I do. Dealing with other people in addition to Sister Aya is frankly tiresome.」

It’s really tiring to deal with people who either keep asking what faction you’re in or just straight up tries to recruit you. Moreover, these people are adults, and she’s still a kid, which just makes it even more tiresome.

「I’ve always been distant from things of those sort.」
「After all, you didn’t have a clique and recruiting you wasn’t really going to be profitable. Though what will happen from now on, I’ll leave it to your imagination.]

There are probably people who think that the current me can bring them profits. Currently, I have connections with the twelve families in this group. Besides that, since I don’t pick fights anymore, many people probably find me more approachable now.

「I really appreciate you keeping Sister Aya company.」
「I don’t want to deal with her for too long, though. It’s still better when she has her camouflage on.」
「It’s difficult to hold her back when she’s with her mask off. During the fireworks display, it made me really nervous.」

She was talking to me with her true personality back then. Even though she was at the back of their venue hall back then, there was no telling who might go there, so Rin must’ve been on alert the whole time. Well, yeah, she’d be exhausted.

「Next year, I’ll be watching from Kotone’s room, alright?」
「You plan on being absent?」
「I’m leaving things to you, Rin. When I graduate, I plan on slowly preparing to be independent, you see. I’ll also be stepping away from high society.」

It seems like she’s serious about leaving their family. Still, what does she plan on doing after being independent? I’ve never really heard about her hobbies in particular. Perhaps she already has something in mind.

「Try being the one that people persistently keep asking questions from.」
「Just be a bit vague about it. You’re worrying too much, Rin.」
「You’re just too arbitrary. Every time, just every time-」
「Okay, let’s calm down a bit.」

Rin seemed to be recalling a lot of things and was about to explode, so I soothed her. Why am I the one doing this? Hadzuki only shows a strained smile and doesn’t help out at all.

「Will the after-party be okay?」
「All the pent up emotions might explode. From multiple people at that.」

Since you understand that, take control of the reins. Hadzuki doesn’t seem to have any pent up stress to release, but Rin and I are definitely going to explode. The remaining boys might have some stress too. Will we be okay with this?