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Filled with enthusiasm, Koto-chan heads to her father’s office. Her figure from behind reminded me of Sou; I guess it shows how much she inherited from them. Still, I wonder why Koto-chan’s family members have such a complicated look on their faces?

“Is there something wrong?”
“I’m worried that dear sister has returned to her former self.”

Koto-chan has previously told me about her past. Seeing Koto-chan gleefully going to her father, they might have thought that her father complex relapsed. That’s not the case at all, though.

“Shihocchi, what’s Koto-chan’s condition?”
“It’s ‘Getting concerned about the other person’-level of danger. Their life could be at risk, honestly.”
“She does look like she’s literally out for blood.”

Her ruthlessness towards her family feels like something she inherited from Sou. Treasure your family and, if they make a mistake, give them strict punishment before putting them back on the right path. It’s the influence of Sou’s parentage. And probably my mother, too.

“People really don’t change that easily, huh.”
“Not at all, sister has changed drastically.”

Koto-chan’s little sister seems pretty ruthless herself. Maybe Sou and Koto-chan really were somewhat similar to begin with. Maybe that’s why they were able to become one. Still, if we had met them when they could act together, they could have been one of the prominent pairs of rogue’s den.

“It’s a mostly good change for Koto-chan, I think.”
“She has become a wonderful older sister.”
“Sis talks and plays with us now.”

The younger brother who’s been hiding behind little sister Kisaragi up until now finally joined the conversation. I don’t know why he’s being so cautious. Just like the little sister, he also only has passing resemblance to Koto-chan. I guess Koto-chan must have taken from her father appearance-wise.

“Isami. Any thoughts regarding little bro Kisaragi?”
“We definitely can’t bring that to Koto-chan’s home.”
“Right? It’s obvious that she‘ll go out of control.”

We might have to be careful about who to bring along to Koto-chan’s home. We cannot let this defenseless looking, adorable little brother and the one we commonly call the child caregiver to meet. At worst, she might end up transforming into a one man army.

“We’re not the ones to talk, but she’s really got a weird personality, so there’s no telling when her switch just flips.”
“Still, many are able to read her. You’re the one that’s the most unreadable, Shihocchi.”
“Being adaptable is important, you know?”
“There’s nothing more annoying than spontaneous events.”

Despite there being no prior preparations, sudden chaos could erupt and inflict collateral damage to various different people. We’re no exception to that. Being able to quickly sense this and protect yourself becomes very important. And that’s why betrayal is so rampant.

“Well, what do we do now?”
“Kotone isn’t here anymore, so we don’t really have much else to do. I didn’t come here with any particular goal, either.”

While Shihocchi might have come along on a whim, I bumped into Koto-chan with a particular goal. Our meeting today wasn’t a coincidence, but an inevitable. When the rogue’s den and the twelve families join forces, locating one person is easy.

“I know that I’m going to be captured anyway, so I probably can’t intervene with your little event. Not that I’m planning something in particular.”
“Why do you know?”
“It’s because this wasn’t a coincidence. I don’t think you’re the type to aimlessly loiter in that sort of place at all.”

It doesn’t happen often, but Shihocchi’s perceptiveness is troublesome. The scary thing about her is that while it may seem that she’s always reckless and never thinks things through, she actually has most of the possibilities constantly in mind. Yet despite that, disasters always hit Shihocchi; it doesn’t make sense.

“I really don’t like it when you use your head, Shihocchi~”
“It’s mostly from my experience with the rogue’s den, you know~”

We’re just idly chatting right now, but since Koto-chan isn’t around anymore, the Kisaragi family’s interest is no longer on us. I can probably do as we please right now, but I don’t want Koto-chan to get angry at me when she returns. I guess I’ll behave here for now.

“Still, I’m so used to the frugal Koto-chan that I really can’t picture her living in an extravagant place like this.”
“With her disposition, it can’t be helped. Her amicability does stands out more.”

Sou may know Kotone, but I don’t know her at all, so I don’t feel like I’m at a familiar friend’s home, but at a complete stranger’s place instead. However, it seems like Shichocchi has a different impression.

“Somehow, it feels like my image of Koto-chan is different from yours.”
“That’s easy, I knew Kotone when she was little, you see. I know both her future and past, and that’s what caused the difference.”

This is my first time ever hearing that, and probably no one from the rogue’s den knows about it, too. Why don’t I, Sou’s childhood friend, know about her, while Shihocchi knows? I felt a bit of jealousy, but it immediately vanished. That’s just how Shihocchi is sometimes.

“What was the little Koto-chan like?”
“I want to know about that, as well.”
“Lil’ sis is joining in too, huh. And it seems like you want to hear it too, lil’ bro?”
“Yes.”

Honesty is a good thing. Maybe they were just feigning disinterest? To begin with, Koto-chan is unlikely to bring friends home. And in Koto-chan’s eyes, she might have seen this place as enemy territory. Even though there’s only one enemy around.

“Still, it’s not like we had a lot of interactions. To put it in a way you’ll easily understand, Isami, it was like there were two Soujis.”
“In what way?”
“The way they sighed at me in sync.”

I can easily imagine that. I’m sorry for the twins, but when I imagine Sou and Kotone, I can see them as close siblings. It’s only based on my personal impression of them. However, if Shihocchi thinks the same way, then it’s probably not that far off.

“My impression of her is that of a behaved girl who, despite her size, had a strong sense of responsibility, but didn’t have much assertiveness. She’s the type to control the flow of the situation.”
“I see. The complete opposite of Shihocchi’s ‘make a huge splash’ type. Sou is the type to redirect the flow by force, so it’s the hard and soft methods combined now. Uwah, that’d be so troublesome to deal with.”

Suddenly we started assessing Koto-chan’s current battle potential. If we assume that she inherited all of Sou and Kotone’s quirks, she’ll definitely be high-tier. Victory against her will likely depend on going far beyond her expectations. As for her total battle potential, I’m sure we’ll see it sometime in the future.

“I can’t imagine a behaved sister at all.”
“I thought that sis had always been the type to go her own way.”

So she does give that sort of image, huh. I’m sorry, but I really can’t imagine a behaved Koto-chan either. Rather, I feel like she’s gotten more assertive compared to her days as Sou. Maybe the circumstances surrounding her made her that way.

“Still, the current Kotone’s full power right now is a complete mystery. I’m pretty sure she’s powered up a lot.”
“Powering up as each year passes, there’s no telling what her limits are.”
“Our sister becoming more powerful is a wonderful thing.”
“Big sis is the strongest.”
“These twins are crazy.”
“I can feel rogue’s den energy in them.”

Shihocchi also showed a smile while slightly taken aback. Come to think of it, Koto-chan did grieve about how the twins were starting to show signs of having a sister complex. Though she’s already given up on it, since it’s apparently the Kisaragi family’s karma.

“Welp, it should be about time.”
“For what?”
“For Yayoi to come barging in.”

I really wonder how she even knows that, but if I asked, she’ll probably just say that it’s her primal instincts at work. And maybe her experience as well. Yayoi was contacted earlier just now, but is she really going to arrive here that fast?

“Madam. Lady Yayoi has come to give her greetings.”
“Just as Hiiragi said, it seems. Perhaps we should raise the estimated danger level up a notch.”

Is it just me or are they anticipating a rogue’s den vs twelve family conflict? We aren’t planning to do anything like that, but I’d love to join if it was some sort of event. I unfortunately couldn’t join during the New Years. It might be really nice if we rent a park somewhere to have fun.

“Shihocchi. Why are you on a crouching start?”
“To crush at first hit.”

What is she even anticipating? Also, I don’t think it’s smart to use ‘crush’
against a lady of the twelve families. I personally can’t make that kind of statement myself. At best, I could only say something like that towards people I know like Koto-chan.

“Ready, go!”

Seeing the door’s slight movement, Shihocchi sprung forth. Her first move was perfect. A normal person would never expect being attacked on sight. Yes, a normal person.

That’s why I have to admit, her response was perfect.

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