Translator: Reflet

Editor: ryunakama

“Akiha!”

Taiyou was a moment too late . He grabbed s.h.i.+rokiyami’s face, attempting to open her mouth .

“Not here . Over there . ”

“—-gh!”

Akiha was actually the calm one in this situation . Taiyou realized what she was trying to say .

He swung around, charging at Yuri . As soon as they came into contact, he made a blow to her vitals, knocking her unconscious . He set her limp form on the ground before he turned back to s.h.i.+rokiyami .

She was slowly opening her mouth in amazement . Akiha flicked her hands, breathing on them . They had deep teeth marks on them with blood welling up .

“Akiha!”

He raced toward her only to get flicked on the forehead .

“Like I said, not here . Over there . ”

She grabbed his face with both hands and steered it toward the dumbfounded s.h.i.+rokiyami . As he stared at her, Taiyou asked Akiha for affirmation .

“Is everything really okay?”

“How many times I gotta tell you? I swear I’ll knock you down . ”

Akiha pushed his shoulders . Taiyou lost his balance, having been pushed over to s.h.i.+rokiyami . He decided to forget about Akiha for the time being as he looked at s.h.i.+rokiyami . He firmly grasped her so that she wouldn’t try and run away .

“You alright?”

“I…am…”

“Mhm . ”

“…going to di—-”

“Nope, not letting you . ”

Taiyou completely cut her off . He just had the feeling that if he didn’t cut her off, she would actually end up in an irreversible situation .

“Bu…t…”

He covered her mouth with his hand, preventing her from saying another word . He turned to Juurokuya and spoke in a commanding tone .

“Take that girl along and lock her up somewhere . Treat her with care, but make sure that she doesn’t get away . ”

“O-O-Okay!”

Being that Taiyou was her master’s master, the order was quickly carried out thereafter . After Juurokuya contacted someone, two well-built men appeared and took Yuri away somewhere . Watching them leave, Taiyou stared at Sakura as he continued to prevent s.h.i.+rokiyami from speaking .

“What a handful…”

“I do hope that I’m not next . ”

“No, I’m not going to have you take responsibility over what just happened . ”

“You should realize that responsibility belongs to people not just because of their orders, but also because of the consequences that their orders bring about . ”

“I’m not trying to head in that direction right now . ”

“Then what are you trying to do?”

“I wanted to discuss your marriage appointment . ”

“…”

Sakura’s smile was now slightly unraveled .

“Her sister coming over here and Akiha getting hurt as a result was simply a means to an end, or at the very least a byproduct . I see no point in further debating the particulars, as it would only prolong things and prevent me from discussing what I came here for . ”

“But if you do not resolve this, then she will remain in that state . ”

She was talking about s.h.i.+rokiyami .

“Nothing bad will occur as long as I have her in my arms like this . ”

“How long will you hold on to her then?”

“As long as I need to . ”

“Ooo~”

Akiha jeered from the side .

“Hush . ”

“You’re quite the cool one . ”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What would that be?”

“Why are you here?”

“Because Juurokuya asked me to be here . ”

He promptly answered . That was the biggest and only reason .

“You came because she asked you to?”

“Indeed . ”

“So this was not voluntary . ”

“…What exactly are you getting at?”

“I was simply wondering how I could get you to give up . ”

“You want to make me give up?”

“I know what you are trying to say . However, I do not think of this as a particularly bad thing . ”

“Particularly?”

“Right . ”

Sakura nodded, and he could tell that she was being upfront about it .

“I feel like how a man would if he had led a happy life and then suddenly got sent overseas in order to find work . Sure, it’s a bit sudden, but it is work after all, and after completing said work, he may very well be set for life after a few years . ”

“…I see . ”

“So it’s actually troublesome to get in the way of this . ”

“I understand . ”

“So can you do me a favor and leave now?”

“No, I think not . ”

“…Oh? Why not?”

Her face stiffened .

“If this were only about you, then I would have left by now . ”

“Is there some other reason, then?”

“You see, Youran has blocked me on her phone . ”

“…”

“I don’t want to constrain her . In fact, I want her to be more free than she is now . But as of right now, she wants to call me ‘Master’ and rule over her . So it has got to be something serious if she, of all people, blocks me on her phone . ”

“…New Moon-sama?”

“…All right, I’ll just go ahead and abduct you . ”

“Huh?”

Sakura’s face was filled with astonishment at what he just said .

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing will be resolved if we stay here . I don’t understand what is going on, but there are too many things in this world that become too late to take back once they’re in motion . I will first put a stop to this, then think about what to do next . ”

“You can’t just—-”

Sakura half-rose to her feet . This was the first time that she had moved since they had intruded .

“Don’t bother . There is no one here who can stop me . ”

With s.h.i.+rokiyami in tow, Taiyou charged at Sakura, lifting her up onto his shoulders . He turned around, looking at Akiha .

“Are you okay?”

“‘Course! Who d’you think I am?”

“Any injuries?”

“It’s all fine, nothing to worry about . ”

“Okay…but I’m glad . ”

“Hmm?”

“When she tried to kill herself, the force of her mouth must have been seriously strong . I’m amazed that all you got from that was a slight injury . ”

“Heheh . ”

Akiha snorted .

“What kind of a reaction was that?”

“Look at this . ”

Akiha held out the hand that had not been bitten . There was a ring through her ring finger .

“Isn’t it because of this?”

“…Ah . ”

When he realized what she was trying to say, Taiyou’s face flushed just a bit . It was the ring that converted feelings into protection, originating from ‘Blood Soul’ . Taiyou felt a little bit embarra.s.sed to hear that her wound was light because of that .