A few moments later, Smith and her MON crew ran over to the scene. They were fully armed, and seemed to be ready for combat. They seemed relieved to find out that it wasn't necessary. Or to be exact, everyone except for Zombina seemed to be.
"What even happened?"
Smith took a few more breaths before she spoke. Whether it was because she was out of breath, or because she found it difficult to talk about the subject, was a mystery.
"Satsuki and I," she glanced over into her direction for a short moment. Seeing that Satsuki didn't seem like she wanted to reveal the content of the information to the rest of the gang, she continued on. "were having a conversation. Then someone-something-whatever it was, came over and physically strangled her."
I didn't even know she existed before that happened. I couldn't hear her footsteps. It was as if… she transported to this area. The moment I found out she was there, it was already too late. She already had her arm around her neck.
She then looked over at me and said something along the lines that I shouldn't interfere in this business. I was about to say something, but then I suddenly felt really strange, as if someone lifted me up in the air. The next moment, I was at a place that was at least a kilometer away from where I was!"
"Honestly," Doppel snorted. "I thought that our boss was having mental issues."
"I… kinda thought so too…"
"Either way, what's the point!" Zombina always knew how to cut out Manako's speech. "She's gone, and now there's no one to hunt! Dang it, we lost an opportunity to hunt!"
"Um…but Zombina, wouldn't it be difficult for us to fight against someone that uses magic?"
"What matters!" Zombina pointed at Doppel. "We have her. Magic doesn't work on her!"
Doppel made a face at her. "It does, actually. I am immune to weaker magic, but if what Smith saying was true, then I don't think I would have been much help either."
"Dang it!"
"Either way," Philia interrupted. "It does not matter anymore. I am now here to protect my master, and none of you are necessary."
"For the tenth time, Philia, I never agreed to-"
Smith had to cut in. "Wait a minute, isn't she Centorea's mother? What's going on here?"
"Nothing. I'll settle this and you guys can somehow help her way back to-"
"Nonsense!" Philia posed in a way that Kimihito found oddly familiar. It was the pose Centorea made when she talked about chivalry, knights, or her duty. "I have already spoke out the vow! I cannot go back now, since I have already pledged this."
Satsuki groaned. "What the hell is wrong with you centaurs!"
Kimihito spread his arms as if he was a referee at a sports game. "Okay, okay. Let's have the rest of this conversation back at home. We're attracting too much attention from the people around us."
He was quite right.
Back at home, they pretty much had to go over this story all over for the sake of the other housemates, Centorea in particular. What happened between Philia and Satsuki, what Smith saw, and Philia's never-ending pledge was repeated.
"Okay then, let's get to the part that we couldn't hear about. What were you two talking about?"
Smith looked at Satsuki. Looking at the way she looked at her, everyone in the room could figure out that their conversation had a very big impact in their relationship. Before then, they remembered Smith being interrogative to her, and Satsuki obviously hating her. Now it seemed like Smith was much more careful towards her, while Satsuki was, well, still hating her.
"She was my aunt."
"Huh?"
"What?"
A bunch of other questions followed and got mixed together. It took a while until Kimihito could finally calm down the situation by giving out a loud sigh, and then actually give a decent follow-up question.
"What do you mean by she 'was' your aunt?"
Satsuki looked at him. "You seem awfully composed."
Kimihito looked back at her. "At this point, I'm not surprised of anything."
Satsuki took a moment. "Remember that day when you found me? That day of the flood?"
"Of course." He could never forget that.
"To be honest, I had a family that was taking care of me before I got caught up in that flood and drifted down all the way to this neighborhood."
He nodded. "I assumed so. But you didn't tell anyone about it, so everyone thought you lost your memory because of the accident."
"Wait, wait. What are you two talking about?"
Kimihito traced his hands around his tea cup as he spoke. "My family didn't adopt Satsuki from an orphanage. There was a big flood around this area when I was around 10 or something. This neighborhood was fairly okay, but there were a lot of nearby places that had it really bad. Around that time, I found a girl that seemed to have drifted all the way to the small stream, you know, the one in that direction." He pointed towards the east.
"I thought she was dead. She was caught up in some twigs and trees that were stuck in the stream, and I wasn't even sure she was breathing." He chuckled. "I remember calling the police, telling them that there was a girl in the stream. When they arrived with some specialists to help get her out of that mess, they told me that she was still breathing. I followed them. Now that I think of it, it was weird that none of the people sent me back to my parents. They didn't really have the reputation of being the best parents, but still…" He shook his head as if he tried to shake that part off.
"Anyway, she woke up in a few hours. The police and the local departments tried to find her parents, but they just couldn't find out. After all, she wasn't speaking a word. Anyway, long story short, I really wanted a sibling, so I asked my parents to adopt her into the family. The police had to give up searching for her parents, since they couldn't find a missing child around the area that fit her, so they let us do that. Case closed."
Everyone seemed to have their own thoughts about this story. Rachnera thought that it was weird how Kimihito always ended up accepting people in his house.
"So, that's the story. Let's get back to your story."
"Sure, let's talk about an even depressing story than that one." Satsuki sipped her tea. She didn't seem too happy about talking about this. "My parents died when I was really young. I remember being at their funeral. So I happened to move into my grandfather's house. She," she pointed at Smith as if she would point at a bug, "was my grandfather's daughter, so that would make her my aunt. My grandfather's family never liked me. They disowned me after I was lost in that flood-they didn't even look for me. So I don't call her my aunt. That's all."
Before anyone could say anything about that, she changed her tone and started talking. "Enough of that. That's not what's important. What's more important is to get ready for my mother."
"Darling's mother?"
"No, not that one. I don't even know where she is."
"Um… then Smith-san's mother?"
"She disowned me." Satsuki snapped. "She wouldn't come looking for me."
"But then your parents already died…"
"Those parents were already my second parents." Satsuki seemed impatient at this point. "My birth parents, or at least, my biological mother, is still alive, and is probably going to come back for me."
"Why would she-"
"That's an even more depressing story than this one. And it's a long one too. Just keep in mind that she's a crazy person that takes pleasure in making me suffer. She enjoys toying with me for a while and then intentionally lets me escape her, so that she could have fun trying to find me. It sounds hideous just by the sound of it, but honestly, that's really all you have to know."
Not giving heed to the other's horrified looks, she continued. "As far as I know, she's not really interested in harming other people than myself. But then, she would have assumed that by now some of you would know my past. And she always seems to know how I'm doing even when I'm away from her. It's probably something related to a spell. It doesn't matter at this point."
"In other words, Master could be in danger."
Satsuki had no choice but to agree to that. "It would be safe to say that all of you are, but again it would be right to say that if she is planning to attack one amongst you, Kimi would be the one most likely. She knows that…. Anyway, and she also had to retreat thanks to Philia's appearance over there. She doesn't enjoy losing. She would probably come for her revenge in one way or another."
"My lady, I do not mind! Witches like her I can take-"
"As far as I know her, she would probably come for Kimi, since she would know that I'm more closely related to him than to any of you. As I told you, she takes pleasure in seeing me suffering." She looked over at Rachnera. "If you were in her shoes, wouldn't you do the same?"
Rachnera fell a chill work up her spine. They knew each other for just a few days, but it seemed like she was already in this young girl's hands.
"Then we have to find a way to protect Darling!"
"Exactly the point. Which is why I would suggest Suu always staying close to him."
"Suu?"
"I can protect my Darling better!"
"For Master I will-"
"It's not the problem of your skills or strength or whatever." Her voice was silent, but extremely powerful. "Remember what I did to you? She can do it worse. Suu's the only one that's immune to those kinds of stuff. It's just logical thinking."
"Master, now we must discuss-"
Satsuki cut her off. "Not now, Philia. It is late, and it is time for everyone to go to sleep. You and I could have our own conversation."
She turned her head to the rest of the people. "Considering her style, she probably won't come back until at least tomorrow afternoon. Don't ask me why, but she enjoys taking some time in these kinds of games. You all can go to sleep now," she looked towards the MON team. "And you guys can go back. We might or might not need you tomorrow-I'll make Kimi call you if we need you."
And she dismissed that meeting like that. Most of the girls were still surprised or needed time to think over everything that she said, but she didn't seem to care about that. Kimihito grasped his hair, as if he was trying to figure out something. For a while, it seemed like everything was so mysterious-now everything seemed to be complete chaos.
Philia followed Satsuki up to her room. Before she followed her, she looked back to meet eyes with her own daughter. Centorea couldn't really tell what kind of message she was trying to deliver when she looked into her eyes for a few seconds before she turned back to follow her self-proclaimed master.
"So, you have no intention to go back."
"Yes, Master."
"You know this could cost you your life."
"It would be the most honorable death to do so."
Satsuki sighed. At this point she had to give up on trying to understand her or persuade her.
"Fine. Do as you wish."
"Master, may I really-"
"It's not like I can force you to go back by force. I might be able to, but then I won't have enough energy to face my mother again. Besides, simply speaking, it could never hurt to have another ally."
Philia's knees hit the floor of Satsuki's bedroom. "I shall live for-"
"Before you read out that whole pledge or whatnot, just promise me one thing."
"Anything!"
"If the situation gets dire, protect Kimi over me. Although I don't want the situation to get that bad, this is my mother we're facing. We can't take chances."
"But I vowed-"
"That is my only condition." Satsuki looked at her straight in the eye. "If you are not happy with it, you are more than welcome to leave this room immediately and go back to where you came from."
Philia didn't speak, nor did she move.
"I'll take that as an agreement. Now, I'll tell you everything I know about her. Perhaps we'll be able to think of a nice plan if you and I could think together on this."
"Master… are you sure you want to kill her? I understand your sentiment, but she is your mother."
Satsuki sighed. She was silent for a while.
"I only had one mother throughout my whole life. And that one is long dead."
She stared down towards her hands and fidgeted her fingers as if she was trying to think of something. After a few seconds of that, she held her head again to meet eyes with Philia.
"Maybe we should talk about my past before we move on to talking about our plans. After all, it would be nice for someone to know my story after I've died."
"Master, you do not have to die! Your survival-"
She held a finger against her own lips, to signal Philia that it was not the time for her to speak. "We'll get to that point as I go through my story. Are you ready for this? You've already sworn your loyalty to me, and you can't take it back. It might be better for you to be ignorant of this."
"No." Philia's mature atmosphere seemed to have seeped into that very word. "I shall not go against my oath. You are my master, and I shall never turn my back on you."
