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Even though it was almost lunchtime, Bokue still chose to leave immediately after wrapping up negotiations regarding the upcoming war games.

Scene cut—back to the Old Capital's royal castle.

Although morale among the harem had dropped a good five percent that morning—mostly due to certain neglected "watering duties"—the age-old saying still held true: a person needs food to function. Lunchtime was lunchtime, end of story.

❁❁❁❁

By the time Bokue returned to the Old Capital, the girls were already busy transporting food from the first-floor kitchen up to the dining room on the second floor.

Surprisingly, the scene was... pretty harmonious.

Despite the number of highborn ladies in the group, their brief time cohabiting in the Old Capital had created a mutual understanding. No one had thrown tantrums or refused to help out with chores.

Everyone pitched in with cooking too, and after trial and error yesterday, they realized it was faster to just carry the food up directly instead of loading it all onto a serving cart. Each person grabbed a dish and headed upstairs.

Kuroka, of course, was no exception. She never carried herself with that high-society princess attitude—well, aside from occasionally acting like a spoiled girlfriend.

Case in point: her ongoing grudge over not getting properly "watered" that morning.

So there she was, carrying a giant plate of what looked like steamed demonic garlic lobster, a specialty of the Underworld. The aroma wafted along the staircase as she climbed up with her sister Koneko by her side, grumbling the whole way.

"Nya~ so Shirone, don't you think Bokue was totally unfair this morning? It's already the next day, and he still gave special attention to Akeno and Asia first. That's straight-up favoritism. So I was thinking—what if after lunch, we pull the same move we did yesterday? Get him to go wash dishes, and while he's stuck in the kitchen, we just sneak in and..."

"Mmhmm!"

It was absolutely a conspiracy at this point. But the white-haired nekomata girl beside her listened intently, equally serious.

After all, when it came to Bokue-senpai, she and her sister were ride-or-die.

Rias might've been generous and caring when it came to other matters, but if it involved Bokue-senpai, she got real territorial real fast. And with so many women orbiting Bokue, things could easily erupt into full-blown combat mode.

That's why it was essential to draw inspiration from Kuroka's many questionable—er, experienced—strategies.

And as sisters, naturally what one ate, the other shared.

That's real sibling loyalty.

"...What the hell are you two scheming now? Something about sneaking into the kitchen again?"

Just as Kuroka's little feline brain was spinning through scenarios, a familiar voice called out from behind.

!!!

They hadn't expected the man in question to appear right in the middle of their private plotting session. Kuroka's ears shot straight up, and her twin tails stood at attention under her kimono.

Then the plate of lobster took flight.

"Bokue—!"

Without even glancing at the airborne platter, Kuroka spun and launched herself at Bokue, throwing her arms around him in an aggressively affectionate hug, voice sugary sweet to the point of absurdity.

"Hey, maybe don't hug me while you're mid-catastrophe..."

Bokue's eyes followed the rising—and rapidly falling—plate of food.

He was tempted to reach for it... but his arms were currently locked down by one overly affectionate nekomata.

Thankfully, at the last second, two slender white tails arced up beside him like springs and neatly caught the dish midair.

"No need to worry, Bokue-senpai."

Koneko looked over calmly, balancing her own food plate in one hand while her tails held Kuroka's would-be disaster with practiced ease. She even gave him a confident thumbs-up.

"Daijoubu desu (I'm Okay)~"

Bokue: "..."

Why did she look so damn proud of herself?

"Fufufu~ Bokue, you're finally back."

Still clinging to him like a cat on catnip, Kuroka rubbed her cheek against his with zero shame—totally unconcerned that she'd nearly caused a lunchtime catastrophe.

What she had forgotten, though, was that everyone else was still hauling food up the stairs... and she was currently blocking the path.

Sure enough, a familiar voice called out from behind them.

"Huh? Bokue, you're back! And hey—no hugging on the stairs!"

"Ehh? Since when was that a rule? First I've heard of it~"

Still latched onto her human scratching post, Kuroka lazily cracked open one eye and peeked over his shoulder—only to see Rias emerging from the kitchen with a full plate in hand.

Her tone turned teasing.

Rias wasn't having it.

"That's a rule in the Gremory household. Mio is my cousin, so this castle falls under our family jurisdiction—meaning our rules apply."

"Right, your Gremory rules. But I'm not a Gremory, am I~? You can't boss me around, nya nya nya~"

Kuroka started singing her smug little cat song.

"You—!"

Rias's eye twitched. Her blood pressure spiked.

Sensing an impending brawl, Bokue quickly stepped in, raising both hands to calm the tension.

"Alright, alright, cut it out. Let's head upstairs first. I'll explain what happened with the Current Demon King Faction over lunch."

"Oh? Negotiations?"

Rias looked surprised.

"What, they still haven't agreed to hand over the Old Capital?"

In her mind, there was no reason for them to say no—neither logically nor emotionally.

Emotionally, they'd just helped the faction take out Ramusas, drastically boosting their chances of seizing control of the North.

Logically, their forces weren't even on the same level. If they didn't say yes now, were they hoping to get wiped out?

"No, they agreed. Or rather... sort of."

Before Bokue could finish explaining, a sharp, uncertain voice rang out from the castle's front hall.

"Who—who are you people?? What are you doing here??"

Huh?

That voice didn't ring any bells.

Bokue, Rias, Kuroka, and Koneko all turned toward the entrance in unison.

Standing at the doorway was a striking red-haired woman in a Valkyrie-style outfit, her brows furrowed in confusion as she stared up at the four of them.

At that same moment, another figure exited the kitchen—Maria, who had just finished helping Mio carry dishes.

She caught sight of the redhead and her eyes widened.

"Aunt Sapphire??"

The woman standing at the door was none other than Sapphire, who had stormed out of the Old Capital a few days ago after a major falling-out with her brother, Ramusas.

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