"Mashiro, let's go back..." Perhaps thinking too much and seeing herself as a savior, Rita spoke as if she had fulfilled some sort of mission, her face filled with resolve. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again..."
Before she could finish, while Mashiro still had not realized what Rita meant, Yukino Yukinoshita, Masuzu Natsukawa, and Utaha Kasumigaoka all went, "???"
What did she mean, she would not let anyone hurt Mashiro again? Why did that sound like they had been hurting Mashiro? If anything, they were the ones who had been hurt by Mashiro in all sorts of ways!
"Go back? Why should I go back? I'm not going back..." Well, Mashiro truly had not realized what Rita meant by being hurt. She had only noticed that Rita wanted her to go back. "Rita, my manga..."
"Forget about your manga!"
"Huh?"
"You haven't been... well, not exactly happy here, have you?" Rita had originally wanted to say Mashiro had been very unhappy, but considering this was someone else's territory, she chose what she felt was a more tactful phrasing.
"Why would Rita say that?" Mashiro Shiina, unaware that Rita had gotten the wrong idea, asked in confusion. After speaking, she glanced at Yukino and the others. "I'm very satisfied with my life right now. Everyone is very nice..."
"Stop lying!" Before Mashiro could finish, Rita misunderstood again—Mashiro had looked at those people before speaking. Could she have been threatened?
"If you're satisfied with your life now, why did you look so troubled just now? The Mashiro I remember..."
"Hold it right there..." Utaha Kasumigaoka could not hold back any longer. Mashiro was clearly troubled over her final exams, so how had that turned into her being unhappy here? Mashiro lived under the same roof as Sougo and her. Wasn't