The sun had not yet risen.
The steps of the girl who woke first and went straight to prepare someone else's meal were nothing short of lighthearted.
Though the ingredients she had bought yesterday evening filled both her hands and should have been heavy, recent events made what she carried feel not the least bit burdensome.
"...It's one thing that she gets along well with Sora, and that girl seems to be trying to fit in lately too. I can't bring myself to do anything bad."
"It's fine. We're friends; if you don't want to, you don't have to. There's no question of doing it or not."
"Inna!"
Of course, not everything had gone according to plan, but if everything had, Yu Inna would have become a god long ago.
The world might grant her conveniences, but not everything revolved according to her will.
Then again, it wasn't as if everything had completely escaped her control.
She had expected the matter with her friend to blow up and play the role of cornering Erica, but if Erica tried to push everything away once more, the expected role would simply change to that of a hidden bomb only to be revealed then.
Though not everything had come to pass as hoped, nothing had completely escaped her expectations.
Unexpected happiness also existed in this world, as shown by the church presumed to be where the "Queen of the School" had stayed being completely destroyed, and the people there scattering with bewildered expressions.
Her feet couldn't possibly be heavy. She hadn't captured the Queen of the School herself, but the speed at which the Queen gathered strength must have decreased tremendously thanks to this incident. With continuous effort from the Association and the school, she would soon be captured.
With a cheerful heart, Yu Inna punched in the passcode to Erica's house and stepped inside, where she spotted Erica's familiar shoes alongside an unfamiliar pair of white flower slippers.
"Unless someone with tremendous influence over those two groups helps the Former Queen."
"Are you awake?"
Unlike when she asked in her usual leisurely manner, cracks formed on Yu Inna's face. Seeping through that cracked face was a hideous rage ill-suited to a girl.
The Former Queen of the School who had been active before Yu Inna. To be frank, as long as she didn't interfere between them, Yu Inna had no reason to care what she did with her powerful abilities.
Put differently, if she tried to interfere in their relationship, the Former Queen's very existence would make what Yu Inna desired false—so threatening that she was not merely an eyesore but someone Yu Inna wanted to tear apart and kill.
Although Yu Inna had openly revealed her existence as the Queen, since Erica knew that the being called the Queen of the School was tormenting her, Yu Inna had even considered pinning everything she herself had done as the Current Queen onto the Former Queen.
Before the Former Queen or Erica could quickly enact a plan to impersonate the "Former Queen," Yu Inna had settled the situation, and the Former Queen had left the school.
"Are you still sleeping?"
Even so, Yu Inna did not lower her guard against the Former Queen who had left the school.
That was because, during her first year before Yu Inna had gained the influence of the "Queen," the Former Queen had confessed to Erica, been rejected, and then tormented her.
People thought the Student Council President had gathered forces to defeat the Queen out of a sense of justice, but in truth, she was merely an ordinary human who had moved to protect her lover.
And the Queen hadn't tormented her for any grave reason—she had simply tormented her because her confession was rejected.
It seemed both the Former Queen and Erica were unaware that the conversation they had shared then was a confession and its rejection.
Yu Inna knew it had been a confession. That was precisely why she had let Erica's efforts to overthrow the Former Queen be, even leaving alone Erica's going to ask the Student Council President for help so as not to hinder her, but—
"Then she must be here."
Unlike the steps that had been nothing but lighthearted on her way here, her steps climbing to the second floor were heavy. One could even say they were sluggish without being wrong.
Lately, when the Student Council President had been inside Erica's house, it had been somewhat bearable.
The President was someone Erica had liked for a long time. No matter how hard Yu Inna tried, overturning Erica's feelings for her had been difficult.
But that someone who had never once tried to make Erica like her, who only sought to reap the fruits without the effort, could actually sleep with Erica?
Such a thing must never happen. And even if it did, one who reaped unearned rewards was bound to die.
Standing before Erica's door, the girl took a deep breath, trying her best to calm the heat that had filled her body.
She must not get angry. Erica moved as though she had lost her memory, but seeing how she occasionally spoke information she shouldn't know or acted as if she knew such things, she definitely had fragments of her previous memories.
If Yu Inna gave Erica reason to retrieve her old memories to attack her, not knowing whether Erica had them or not, she would be the only one at a loss.
As Yu Inna was steadying her heart, a sound that absolutely should not have reached her ears at this hour reached her.
"Why are you hurting like this? Was yesterday very hard on you?"
Hurting? What had they done? The voice was different from the "Former Queen" she had known, but Yu Inna was certain it was her.
It was because she knew the Former Queen enjoyed tormenting the girl she liked, and because the word "pain" was associated with her—
—and because a loving girl's intuition told her so. That the Former Queen was slipping through the gap in Erica's defenses, which Yu Inna had barely managed to create by removing the Student Council President.
Glamour—the intuition of Yu Inna, who received the world's love through her ability—was mostly correct.
Yu Inna was certain of the identity of the person inside the room. But she didn't think for a moment that Erica had fallen to the Former Queen, who hadn't even been able to expand her power much.
What Erica possessed was defense close to impenetrable. Except for Yu Inna herself, who had spent her whole life trying to break through that ability, no one could possibly break through it—
"M-My waist h-hurts, so d-don't... touch."
Whether she was truly in pain or not, the sentence came out in stuttering fragments. At the words "my waist hurts," Yu Inna stood before the doorknob and turned things over in her head again and again.
What had they done to make her waist hurt? It wasn't that she had no idea, but the girl with dark green hair worried quietly alone in the corridor where sunlight had yet to enter, hiding her rising irritation.
"Is it more painful because you didn't sleep? Well, you couldn't sleep until late, so it makes sense. Sleep a little more beside this unni?"
"Th-That's! Whose f-fault is it!"
Erica had been kidnapped by the Former Queen yesterday. Because she had carried the Former Queen on her back to escape, her waist hurt, and because the Former Queen had woken her while she was sleeping, she was now suffering from fatigue and pain even at dawn—a fact unknown to Yu Inna, who couldn't help but slightly misunderstand.
A waist that hurts from enjoying themselves too much. And what they normally do until late at night. Finally, something that had made them close enough to call the Former Queen "unni."
Yes—the Former Queen had done last night what Yu Inna had wanted to do with Erica. Yu Inna's intuition insisted such a thing hadn't happened, but intuition did not always react correctly.
"Even setting me aside, don't you have school? I'll wake you up, so why don't you sleep a little longer? I won't do anything; I'll stay still."
"If I b-believe that and sleep! Hiiiiiiik!!!"
That was enough. Erica's excited voice was always pleasant to hear, but it was a different story if it was for someone other than herself.
Yu Inna hesitated no longer and opened the door, entering where a girl in white pajamas groaned with her hand on her waist, and a woman in a clean white uniform who had been burying her face in the girl's shoulder turned around at the sound of the door opening.
The woman presumed to be the Former Queen was playing with Erica's side, tickling her.
Due to her blessing, it had originally been impossible even for Yu Inna to play pranks like tickling that Erica hated; unless Erica had wastefully expended her blessing as she had before, this would only be possible with her permission.
The sight of the two playing, tickling each other as if unified in white, evoked the image of lovers, so Yu Inna smiled a genuinely bright smile, grocery baskets still in both hands.
"You're here a-already? Ahhhhhh!!!"
"Ah... A bothersome girl has arrived~. Hey, if you want to be in that kind of relationship with me, wouldn't it be better not to invite that girl to your house?"
That kind of relationship.
Even without explicit words, Yu Inna's excellent mind, which earned top grades in the school, quickly found the answer in the Former Queen's words.
Erica had demanded some kind of relationship from the Former Queen, and it was a relationship in which Yu Inna's presence in this house would be an obstacle.
Good.
If Erica thought so, it was only right to help as a childhood friend. Maintaining the same murderous smile she had worn moments ago, Yu Inna spoke.
"Let's kill her."
"H-Huh?"
It sounded like words spoken to Erica, who had been dazed—whether from lingering sleep or from going out of sorts due to the pain of whatever happened last night—but Yu Inna's intent had not been directed at her.
They were nothing short of words spoken to the Queen resting her face on Erica's shoulder—the one who pretended to look pure while seducing Erica with her lewd body.
—You, if you keep this up, I'll kill you.
It didn't matter that the Former Queen was older than her. Consequently, it also didn't matter that the Former Queen was originally Erica and Yu Inna's senior.
The most important thing was who occupied the seat beside Erica, and the most important fact was that after she had finally knocked away the Student Council President who had been the most likely candidate, a rat-like woman had snatched that spot.
"Hmm...?"
Despite the clear declaration of war, the Former Queen of the School merely looked at Yu Inna with interest, her face still resting on Erica's shoulder.
In truth, she had been offered comradeship by Erica, but seeing how Yu Inna was obviously misunderstanding it as a different relationship, she had been racking her brains over how to best tease her—but that was neither here nor there.