“War, you say…?”

“That’s right. It’s simply a competition for Yō-kun.”

In response to Marin’s question, Nagisa answered in an indifferent tone of voice.

On the other hand, Marin buried her face in her knees and wore a sad expression on her face as if she was embarrassed.

“I honestly don’t wanna fight with anyone…”

Marin doesn’t like any conflict.

She doesn’t like it when someone gets hurt, and she also doesn’t want to do anything to hurt them.

There was no way that Marin was going to be able to face forward when she was told that she would have to fight for Yō.

“I know you are a kind girl, and I know you don’t want to do anything like that. But they don’t care about you, they are attacking you. If this continues, you will inevitably lose, okay?”

Marin understood that this wasn’t a lie or a threat, because Nagisa’s speech wasn’t the usual cat-like language, but a normal tone of voice with a tinge of seriousness.

Then she remembered what she had heard on the previous call, and her heart began to ache.

“Is it true what you’ve said before… that Nemoto-san is going to be glued to Hazakura-kun…?”

When Marin first called Nagisa, Nagisa had told her about the relationship between Yō and Kasumi.

If Yō was trying to get back together with Kasumi, she would not be able to stay away from Yō and would spoil her.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Yes, I do… I know that Nemoto-san is overly obsessed with Hazakura-kun, but I can’t imagine… her acting spoiled…”

The Kasumi that Marin knows is a cool and stylish type of girl.

She was a girl who showed some negative emotions towards Yō, and now she had the impression that she was a mean and black-hearted girl.

She couldn’t imagine such a girl acting spoiled, so she couldn’t give up the possibility that Nagisa was just trying to scare her.

“Well, it’s hard to imagine from the usual Kasumi-chan, isn’t it? However, her personality changes drastically when it comes to Yō-kun.”

“Does that mean she wears a cat-like front…?”

“Isn’t it the other way around? I think the way she treats Yō-kun is her true self, and when she treats other people, she dares to treat them coldly.”

“W-Why would she do that…?”

Marin couldn’t understand why she would dare to push others away and make them dislike her when her true personality is so cute, so she asked Nagisa in confusion.

“It’s very simple. That’s how you can create a private space for her and Yō-kun, and if she becomes isolated and hated by others, Yō-kun will definitely take care of her. That is how much Yō-kun means to Kasumi-chan.”

“…………”

Hearing this information from Nagisa, Marin recalls how Kasumi was unusually obsessed with Yō.

As expected, it was hard to imagine her acting spoiled, but Marin thought that if she was all about Yō, then her abnormal obsession with him would make sense.

“She was quite a handful in middle school. She would always follow Yō-kun wherever he went, and if I was with him, she would look like she hated me and would try to fight with me.”

Nagisa complained with a sense of frustration, while recalling his middle school days.

In response, Marin asked a question that suddenly occurred to her.

“That reminds me, Nagisa-chan, you are not from Okayama, are you? It was just a precaution to avoid being exposed, and I wonder if you really live in the same place as Hazakura-kun and the others?”

From Marin’s point of view, Nagisa seemed to be close to Yō, and he also seemed to know a lot about Kasumi.

And since there was no other connection between him and Yō, Marin thought that Nagisa and Yō might be from the same middle school.

However―

“Ah, hmm. I’ve been living in Tokyo for a long time now.”

Nagisa easily denied Marin’s words.

Marin couldn’t hide her surprise.

“S-so how did you get to know Hazakura-kun and the others…?”

It’s impolite― is what she thought, but she couldn’t control her desire to know, so she asked him anyway.

“Ah, well, I can’t tell you the details of that, because if I do, Yō-kun will get mad at me.”

But for some reason, Nagisa, who until just now had been answering her questions about everything, gave a wry smile and refused to tell her about this.

Of course, this kind of deception made Marin even more curious, but she knew that asking here would only embarrass Nagisa, so she held back.

Then, Nagisa opened her mouth.

“You’re a good girl, after all.”

Nagisa, who understood that Marin was holding back for him because she didn’t speak up, evaluated Marin in a gentle voice.

In response, Marin replied in a gentle voice.

“No, I think everyone has things they can’t say, so it can’t be helped.”

“Yes, thank you. But it’s not in my nature to make you endure too much, so I’ll tell you this. I approached Yō and the others a long time ago after I researched them.”

“Nagisa-chan researched and approached them…?”

Nagisa is a punishing video streamer.

The fact that Nagisa did such a great job of investigating the background of the two, it is likely that the two had something to hide.

The clever Marin guessed that much.

Nagisa, who had naturally anticipated that Marin would come to that conclusion, immediately opened his mouth to correct Marin’s misunderstanding.

“Ah, it’s not like they were a purge target or anything, okay? It’s just that I was personally interested in them and did some research.”

“What is that interest…?”

“Hmm, sorry. It’s also a secret. But I’ve already given Marin-chan a hint, so she might be able to get to the answer.”

“Eh…?”

“Well, I guess I’ll leave it at that. If I say too much, Yō-kun will get angry at me. However, I felt it would be a bit unfair if I left it at this state, so I’ll have to intervene. To be honest, I personally don’t want Marin-chan to lose.”

If you only listen to the words he said, it would seem like he is just genuinely supporting Marin.

However, Marin didn’t miss the fact that the tone of Nagisa’s voice changed in the second half.

And she felt a slight sense of discomfort.

She could tell from the tone that Nagisa was holding a black emotion, as if she was angry with Kasumi.

“…Thank you very much.”

But after thinking about it for a few tenths of a second, Marin did not point out the change in Nagisa’s tone of voice, but thanked him for all the information he was giving her.

―After that, they chatted for a bit, and after learning how Yō was spoiling Kasumi, Marin hung up the phone with a bewildered feeling in her heart.

And then―

“I feel like I’m going rumbling…” [TLN: She’s becoming angry in a way I think.]

After sorting out the current relationship between herself, Yō and the others in her mind, Marin couldn’t help but mutter that.

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Translator’s Afterword: Looks like she’s going to start her antics soon, Marin I mean. And oh yes, finally a proper length chapter. It’s been unusually short these days to be honest.