Chapter 72

That night, Yuki received a message from Eri.

To be precise, he was lazily watching a movie on the TV in the living room, and just as he was about to go to bed, he absentmindedly picked up his phone and noticed the message.

"Did you do something to Rion?"

"What did I do?"

When Yuki replied to Eri's message, the screen suddenly switched to an incoming call. Surprised by the sudden call, he accidentally hung up when he pressed the button. It rang again immediately, so this time he pressed the call button firmly.

"You brainwashed her, didn't you?"

Her first words were these, and her voice was very forceful.

"What do you mean by brainwashed? I didn't do anything like that. By the way, how was it today? Did you get along well? Did you become friends?"

"We were already friends, okay? Hey, are you free tomorrow? The tests are over, so you should be free, right? Come to the station."

This no-nonsense attitude was quite forceful for Eri. From her tone, it seemed like she was angry.

As she said, he didn't have any particular plans for tomorrow, but...

"Tomorrow... I might be sleepy."

"Then go to sleep. Go to sleep right now."

"Can I go in the afternoon?"

"Um... Okay, then let's meet in the afternoon."

When Yuki asked what the matter was, Eri insisted on talking about it when they met tomorrow.

"Then good night," he said and hung up abruptly. A message came in immediately: "Why did you hang up all of a sudden!?" But since it would be endless, he decided to go to bed quickly.

"Huh? Was that a call from Yui? You already hung up?"

As Yuki was about to get up from the sofa, Sana, who was playing a mobile game next to him, asked curiously.

"You don't have to be so shy just because I'm here."

"I'm going out a bit in the afternoon tomorrow."

"Oh, a date. You're quite active, huh, huh."

"It's not really a date."

"Then what is it?"

Sana gave him a suspicious look.

Since it was troublesome, Yuki decided to say it was a date, and Sana nodded in satisfaction. Then, as if she had an idea, she slapped her knee and stood up.

"Right! Let's have a party to celebrate the end of the tests tomorrow! Yui can come too!"

"Sana, you haven't finished your tests yet, have you?"

"That's not what we agreed on."

It seemed she just wanted to have a party.

Or maybe she just wanted to say "party to celebrate the end of the tests."

Yuki and the others had finished their tests, but Sana was currently in the middle of her test period.

She had three subjects left, but she felt confident that she was doing better than ever this time.

"In other words, the tests are practically over. The remaining subjects are just minor ones."

"Hmm, is it thanks to Rion?"

"Thanks to Elder Rion, Sana's hidden power has been unleashed."

Rion had come to check on Sana a few times since then.

Sana had also exchanged contact information with Rion and was often in touch with her.

"Don't worry, I won't interfere with your date. After that is fine."

As she said this, Sana paused her game and started fiddling with her phone.

She was probably messaging Eri.

"Hmm, since we're at it, let's add a surprise..."

"What?"

When Yuki peeked at Sana's phone, she quickly hid it, hugging it to her chest.

It seemed she was planning something, but he hoped it wouldn't turn into a hassle...

---

The next day, Yuki woke up late and leisurely finished his breakfast and lunch before getting ready to go out.

As he was about to leave, Sana reminded him, "I'll be waiting for you to get ready today," and he left the house at one in the afternoon.

Yuki stifled a yawn and walked to the station.

The place he arrived at was the rotary square in front of the station.

The weather was good, so there were quite a few people around.

They had agreed to meet at one in the afternoon, but even after the time passed, there was no sign of Eri.

After five, ten, fifteen minutes... he was about to call her when...

"Hey, I'm here!"

Eri's face suddenly appeared from the side.

Yuki put his phone back in his pocket and, without any reaction, looked down at Eri.

"So, what is it?"

He urged her to get to the point.

Eri silently took out a piece of paper from her pocket and held it out in front of him.

"I'm using this."

"Huh?"

It turned out to be a piece of paper with "obedience" written on it, which he had seen before.

It was crumpled and patched with tape in some places.

(This is... an obedience ticket?)

Yuki thought Eri had torn it up and thrown it away, but it seemed she had picked it up, unfolded it, and taped it back together.

Even if he understood that much, he couldn't understand why she was presenting it to him and saying, "I'm using this."

"...What do you mean?"

"I'm using this. The obedience ticket."

"But it's not for you to use, it's Eri's obedience ticket, right?"

"It doesn't say that anywhere."

"No, no, no."

This woman was usually incomprehensible, but today she was even more so.

As Yuki remained calm and didn't engage, Eri rolled the obedience ticket into a long, thin shape and tried to push it into her nose, so he pushed her arm away.

She pouted and said, "What? You're not going to do it?" and seemed particularly irritable.

"Did something happen with Rion yesterday?"

"Nothing happened, but because you said something weird, Rion went crazy and it was hard to calm her down."

"Crazy...?"

She used a rather alarming word.

But since it was Eri, he assumed she was exaggerating the story.

"Then you kept entertaining her. You even gave her the pudding you were going to eat later."

"Is that why you're angry?"

"Well, that's not the main issue! By the way, weren't you making fun of me behind my back? You and Rion. I don't like being talked about behind my back. If you keep underestimating me, I'll shoot a beam from my eyes. It's an unstoppable one."

Eri opened her eyes wide and leaned in close.

Although Rion had called her a devil, it seemed Yuki was being blamed for it.

Yuki, who had a vague idea of what they had talked about, said,

"Sorry, sorry, we weren't making fun of you. We just thought you were cute."

"You are making fun of me. What do you mean by cute?"

Eri growled at him from close range, more aggressive than usual.

Upon closer inspection, her eyes were more defined than usual, with a faint black line around them.

She had a black ribbon on her head, a black blouse, and a black skirt with red patterns.

Eri usually wore brighter colors, but today she was dressed in dark colors.

"You look different today. Black clothes are rare for you."

"This represents my mood today. Hehehe... Yuki, you've awakened to the power of malice... in other words, Malicious Yuki."

"That just makes you a bad person, doesn't it? But you look pretty good in that outfit."

"Hehe..."

Eri's lips almost curved into a smile, but she quickly covered her mouth and fiddled with her nose.

She then immediately put on a serious face and said,

"That won't work. I'm not just a little devil today, I'm a full-fledged devil. Understand?"

"Did you just smile naturally?"

"I didn't smile. I just let out a little breath through my nose."

"That's what smiling is."

Eri stuck out her tongue for a moment and then pulled it back.

Then she started hitting Yuki's shoulder with her fist.

"This is for Rion!"

"Ouch, what are you doing?"

"Obedience punch. Hmph, this is the punishment for underestimating the obedience ticket."

After saying that, Eri started slapping Yuki's cheeks with the obedience ticket.

"You said you didn't want the obedience ticket. You said it was troublesome, didn't you?"

"You hold grudges more than I thought."

"Are you reflecting on your actions?"

"I am, I am."

"Really? Then here."

Eri held the obedience ticket in front of Yuki's face, and they were back to the beginning.

Yuki sighed deeply and said,

"Really, you're hopeless..."

"Hopeless, I got it!"

Despite being a devil, she was unusually cheerful.

However, Yuki thought it was his role to be kind and watch over her, so he should tolerate her whims to some extent.

If this interaction could help Eri's mental state in a positive way, then it was worth it, he reflected.