"I'm very interested in the thing around your neck~"
Rita sat directly across from Hashiko Yui on the sofa, her gaze fixed on the teardrop-shaped crystal hanging from the necklace at her chest.
"What...?"
Hashiko Yui instinctively clutched the object at her chest with both hands, her gaze toward Rita turning wary once more.
"Don't worry... Though I'm interested in it, I won't just snatch it away. If I wanted to take it by force... you wouldn't be able to stop me anyway. I'm merely curious... This is no ordinary object. How did you come by it?"
Completely unconcerned by Hashiko Yui's wary stare, Rita crossed her right leg over her left, folded her hands over her knee, and looked utterly at ease.
"Who... who exactly are you?"
"I... suppose I'm a Valkyrie. Or perhaps a magician, a shrine maiden, or even a god. But that isn't important."
"A shrine maiden... a god..."
Hashiko Yui was a little bewildered by this, but then she seemed to recall something. She gripped the Snow Woman's Tear even more tightly, rose from the sofa, and stared at Rita. "You want this? No! My mother gave it to me... No one is allowed to take it away."
"Your mother gave it to you? Then do you know what it is?"
As Hashiko Yui stood, Rita remained still and merely continued asking.
"I know... It's my mother's tear."
"What? Your mother's tear?"
Upon hearing the girl's words, Rita immediately stood as well. Her calm expression instantly shifted to one of surprise.
There was no mistaking it—this had been formed from a snow woman's tear. And if Hashiko Yui said it was her mother's tear, then that meant... her mother had been a snow woman, and she was the snow woman's child?
But that was strange.