"Still, I'm more curious about how you knew this thing was here and yet didn't take it away beforehand."
"Things like snatching treasures can be left to underlings. How could I trouble myself with them?" Kaguya said casually. "Besides, it's only something a little unusual."
Her interest in this so-called Stone Flower was merely that—interest. Getting it would satisfy a passing fancy; failing to get it was nothing worth regretting.
"...Underling." Jiu Ming fell silent for a moment. "Is that how you see me?"
"If that's what you think, I don't mind."
"I mind a lot." Shaking his head, Jiu Ming joined Kaguya in watching Misaki Kirihara and that... seemingly the young lady who was the star of this birthday banquet. At first, the atmosphere seemed quite nice, but then everything changed abruptly—they pulled guns on each other!
"Could it be that the end of every pair of besties is to fall in love and kill each other?"
"Nonsense. It's clearly a disagreement born after besties chose different paths." Kaguya poked Jiu Ming in the small of his back. "One's a cop, one's a bandit... Mm-hm, do you think the cop will get shot dead?"
"You're really looking forward to her getting killed, huh? If nothing unexpected happens, it does look like she'll die."
Though he said that, weren't unexpected turns made precisely for moments like this? For some unknown reason, the lights throughout the place suddenly burst one after another, plunging everything into darkness. Misaki Kirihara, with a gun aimed at her, swiftly slipped away from where she stood.
"What a fine 'accident.'"
After everyone had left, Jiu Ming caught a bee buzzing around the room and stared at it for a while. "How should I put this... judging from what that young lady said, these bees seem to