Not Quite Honest

Kurona Yasuhisa only hoped Hajime Iba would hurry up and move aside.

"Kurona, why do I get the feeling you're really concerned about that guy..."

Nashiro Yasuhisa had noticed her older sister acting strangely and couldn't help asking her in a low voice.

Only her younger twin sister could have noticed. Most people wouldn't have been so perceptive.

Kurona Yasuhisa was slightly startled. "Is it that obvious?... I just want to ask him a few things."

Naturally, Nashiro Yasuhisa didn't doubt Kurona's explanation. "Then just go ask him. Or are you embarrassed because there are other people around?"

"A little... Anyway, I'm not in a hurry. It doesn't matter."

Kurona Yasuhisa wasn't being entirely honest.

Just a moment ago, she had been wishing Hajime Iba would hurry up and move aside.

That was because Kurona Yasuhisa didn't want Nashiro to think she cared so much about this.

After a while, Hajime Iba finally finished talking to Amahane Byakuya and returned to the front of the group.

Only then did Kurona Yasuhisa hurry over, quickly coming to Amahane Byakuya's side.

"Did you need something?"

Noticing Kurona Yasuhisa's approach, Amahane Byakuya couldn't help asking.

"Um... Why did you save me back there? I treated you as a rival before, and I wasn't exactly nice to you..."

Kurona Yasuhisa couldn't stop thinking about it.

He had acted so promptly to save her, seemingly without even the slightest hesitation.

Amahane Byakuya smiled faintly. "You don't need a special reason to save someone, do you? Besides, wouldn't it be a shame if something happened to a cute girl like you?"

Hearing the word "cute," Kurona Yasuhisa's pretty face immediately flushed slightly.

He actually called me cute...

"Wh-what are you saying?! Don't say unnecessary nonsense like that..."

Kurona Yasuhisa deliberately tried to hide her embarrassment, but the blush on her cheeks had already betrayed her.

Being called cute out of nowhere certainly made her happy inside.

"How is it nonsense? You really are cute."

Amahane Byakuya spoke with a perfectly straight face.

He was simply stating the facts.

Even before he had transmigrated, the first time he saw Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa, he had thought the sisters were cute.

Unfortunately, the Yasuhisa sisters had suffered plenty of misfortune later in the original story...

Kurona Yasuhisa had still been trying to hide her embarrassment, but Amahane Byakuya's words immediately made her even more flustered.

"I get it, so stop saying it!"

Feeling far too embarrassed, Kurona Yasuhisa hurriedly stopped Amahane Byakuya.

Although Amahane Byakuya and Kurona Yasuhisa were speaking fairly quietly, Nashiro Yasuhisa was close enough to hear them.

Watching the changes in her sister's expression, Nashiro Yasuhisa also felt that she really was acting strangely.

Her sister had never behaved like this around other boys.

To be precise, Kurona barely paid those boys any attention at all. Normally, she only spent time with Nashiro.

However, Nashiro Yasuhisa was still quite naïve about certain things, so she didn't understand why Kurona became like this around Amahane Byakuya.

I'll have to ask her later...

Meanwhile, Juuzou Suzuya, who wasn't far away, also vaguely noticed that Amahane Byakuya and Kurona Yasuhisa seemed to get along quite well.

But he was even more innocent than Nashiro Yasuhisa and had no idea what that meant, so he only gave them a couple of casual glances before losing interest.

Kurona Yasuhisa felt that she couldn't let this continue. If Amahane Byakuya said any more strange things to her, she would start acting strange herself.

So she returned to Nashiro Yasuhisa's side as though fleeing.

Now that her sister had come over, Nashiro Yasuhisa quietly asked Kurona, "Kurona, why do you act completely differently around that guy than you do around other boys?"

At those words, Kurona Yasuhisa only looked a little startled on the surface, but her heart gave a sudden jolt.

Was my reaction that obvious again? Nashiro saw everything.

"N-no, I don't, do I? He did save me back there, after all. I can't be as cold to him as I am to the other boys..."

Kurona Yasuhisa explained with feigned composure.

In truth, she was panicking inside, and her tone sounded somewhat unnatural.

"Is that it? I see."

Nashiro Yasuhisa believed the excuse Kurona had made up on the spot.

Since she didn't understand matters of romance, it never occurred to her to think along those lines.

Whew...

Kurona Yasuhisa breathed a small inward sigh of relief.

Still, she also felt that something really was off about her. What exactly was going on?

Even if I see Amahane Byakuya as the person who saved my life, I shouldn't have reacted so strongly, should I?

Could it be because...

No, no!

How could that possibly be?

He's my rival!

Kurona Yasuhisa immediately rejected her own suspicion. Whether that was out of embarrassment or something else, only she knew.

Kurona Yasuhisa forcibly cleared the distracting thoughts from her mind. She was still in the middle of her field training, so she couldn't let her attention wander again!

But before long, Kurona Yasuhisa could no longer maintain that focus.

Hajime Iba kept chatting and laughing with Amahane Byakuya from time to time, making her unable to stop paying attention to them and leaving her increasingly unsettled.

[Ding! The host defeated a "B-Rank Ghoul." Reward received: 5 fusion points!]

[...]

[Ding! The host defeated a "B-Rank Ghoul." Reward received: 5 fusion points!]

[...]

Kishou Arima's Zero Squad led Amahane Byakuya and the others through several hours of operations in the 24th Ward.

They never ventured too deep into the underground labyrinth, because going too far in made it easier to encounter higher-ranked ghouls, which would defeat the purpose of Amahane Byakuya and the others' field training.

The underground labyrinth of the 24th Ward was vast, covering almost all of the space beneath Tokyo. As a result, even without heading deeper, they could wander around without easily returning to the same places.

During that day's field training, Amahane Byakuya and Juuzou Suzuya eliminated a total of three ghouls.

Although Kurona Yasuhisa and Nashiro Yasuhisa had performed poorly at first, they made up for it afterward, successfully eliminating two ghouls.

The two boys also eliminated two, but their overall performance wasn't as good as the Yasuhisa sisters'.

Now, everyone was leaving the 24th Ward.

It was already getting rather late. Even if they skipped dinner, they couldn't possibly spend the night somewhere like the 24th Ward.

Of course, their field training wasn't over yet. It would continue tomorrow.

Upon reaching the cavern exit of the 24th Ward, Amahane Byakuya and the other students prepared to take the subway back.

"Goodbye, Mr. Amahane."

Hajime Iba waved to Amahane Byakuya.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Hajime."

Amahane Byakuya responded with a smile.

"!"

Hearing Amahane Byakuya actually call that "little girl" by his first name, Kurona Yasuhisa became even more concerned.