Tokyo, Vienna Music Hall, audience seating. Perhaps because it was only the preliminary round, there were not many spectators. Thanks to that, Sogo Doma and the others' quiet conversation did not draw anyone's attention. Or rather, if it had not been so, they would not have been whispering in the first place.
"Kaori lied to everyone, you know..." Sogo Doma's usual way of changing the subject was to drag someone else into it.
"Onii-chan..." But before he could finish, his useless little sister cut in and said seriously, "That doesn't matter. Umaru believes Kaoru had a reason she had no choice but to lie. I believe in Kaoru!" Yukino Yukinoshita froze at those words. "..." Was this what they called trust?
"So who was that person who looked like they wouldn't rest until they got an answer?" Seeing that he had successfully changed the subject, Sogo Doma promptly pressed his advantage and twisted the conversation even further off track.
"I wasn't going to pursue it to the bitter end..." Lady Umaru shot him a sidelong glance. "The proof is that Onii-chan didn't say anything..."
"Of course, you have to ask the person herself about this..." Sogo Doma said with an awkward laugh. He did have his suspicions, but they were only suspicions. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if he guessed wrong?
He would go from Zhuge Wuhou to Zhuge Village Bumpkin in an instant... The others all agreed deeply with Sogo Doma's answer and sighed inwardly—although Doma usually seemed rather unreliable, whenever it involved someone else's privacy or personal boundaries, he would not speak carelessly. Surprisingly dependable.
Naturally, all of that was within a certain someone's calculations. After all, the contrast effect was a powerful tool for maintaining one's image... Speak of the devil, and the devil appeared. Just as Sogo