But in the end, they chose to trust those Tetsu no Sosuke trusted.
They handed Noro Kira over to Tamayo and Yushiro, then held off the enemy themselves.
Until now, no one had known why. Even the Love Pillar had thought the Serpent Pillar simply trusted Tetsu no Sosuke's judgment.
In fact, Tetsu no Sosuke only learned what the Serpent Pillar had been thinking when they met today.
"They were all demons. We were the only two humans. If they'd been in league with the enemy, we would've been left with no hope at all."
The Serpent Pillar continued, "Letting Miss Tamayo and Yushiro take Noro Kira away was a gamble too. If we won, at least Noro Kira would be safe. If we lost, at least they wouldn't catch us off guard and stab us in the back."
Tetsu no Sosuke didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Still, he couldn't fault the Serpent Pillar's judgment.
In that situation, he probably wouldn't have kept anyone he suspected might turn on him close by either. It would only have added another risk.
And with both him and Ubuyashiki Kagaya vouching for them, the Serpent Pillar's gamble had a fair chance of paying off.
Tamayo and Yushiro had never intended to betray them, of course, and in the end, everyone had survived.
"But I have to admit... your plan worked."
The Serpent Pillar said, "We were among the first to leave, but they didn't catch up to us until nearly dawn. Your plan to throw them off the trail worked remarkably well... Though if we hadn't run into Kibutsuji Muzan, I might have asked the Master to punish you instead. You proposed that plan without any evidence and put it into action immediately. You risked far too much. Everything we'd worked