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Disclaimer: I don't own Tokidoki Bosotto Roshiago de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san or any of its characters...

"I need to do more than just a simple apology. I have to earn her complete forgiveness."

Both Kujou sisters had the same task of handling the farm and crops, granting an immediate opportunity for Alisa to speak with Maria.

All that's left for her to do was initiate the conversation itself, which was nerve-wracking, to say the least.

This was the first time that they have worked together in two weeks, mostly because they have kept their distance from each other the whole time.

But even before this, they haven't had a proper conversation at all. Her sister made multiple attempts to try and reach out to her, to try and talk to her, but all she did was remain quiet and refuse to even say anything remotely related to the events that transpired.

While Alisa was taking note of the number of crops that were fully-grown by now, Maria was working on watering all of them.

The younger Kujou took the chance as she approached her sister, bearing a sorrowful expression on her face. Earlier, she was somehow confident that they would be able to have a genuine talk about everything that happened, but now she felt nervous.

Hearing several footsteps from behind her, Maria turned around to see her younger sister just there.

"Masha, can we—"

Before she could say anything else, her sister went back to watering the crops, having no intention of listening further.

Alisa wasn't surprised at her response, though she was caught off guard at how quick it came. She couldn't even finish her question, and Maria was already firm with her decision.

"Masha, I'm aware of my own actions. I would like to you about them and… discuss some things," she spoke up again, this time making her point clear and straightforward.

However, Maria continued with her work as if she didn't hear what her sister said.

The silver-haired girl felt a pang of guilt and hurt inside her chest at being ignored by her own family, but there's also a part of her who had a hunch that she had this coming.

Alisa couldn't help but think of the sick irony in this situation as well.

Before, it was Maria who struggled to get a response out of her. Now, she's the one getting ignored by her sister and the worst part about it is that the brunette is perfectly justified in doing so.

"O-Onee-chan, can we please talk…?" she asked again, this time referring to her sister in a more affectionate manner, which is exactly what Maria would ask of her from time to time.

—and yet, the older Kujou still didn't turn around to even look at her. Maria continued to hide her face from her younger sister, who had no idea what to do next.

There's no way her sister wasn't doing this on purpose, and Alya couldn't even be angry with her.

Masachika had warned her about this outcome, but she didn't think that it would actually happen. Now that it did, all she could feel was sadness and regret that she wasn't able to fix this mistake a lot sooner.

"I understand," Alya nodded sadly. "If you don't want to talk, that's fine. But I want you to know that I'm here and I won't ignore you anymore, Masha. I'm ready to talk whenever you are."

Alya lowered her head to hide her face, before walking away with a heavy heart as the girl wondered how she would inform Masachika of the outcome of this encounter…

As soon as her sister was out of sight, Masha would finally raise her head and look at the direction where Alya headed off to, bearing a similar downcast expression on her face.

"Alya-chan… I'm sorry… but I still can't bring myself to face you," she thought to herself.

Her younger sister was there, finally able to talk openly about everything that happened, and she couldn't reciprocate it.

The guilt brought by her actions was still eating away at her, and Masha had no idea what to do in order to deal with this.

But maybe… someone in particular does.

The pair of Masachika and Chisaki ended up having only a single catch in the span of two hours, but it was still a good effort on their part. As long as they keep their heads up and continue to work hard, they'll continue to have a surplus of food and they won't have to ration their supply.

As the two secured the raft at the beach after returning, Chisaki gave a curious glance at her companion.

"You know, you had my curiosity at first, but now you have my attention. How exactly did you do it?" she asked.

Masachika looked up at her in confusion, "Do what?"

"Alya-chan! How did you get through to her? Even Masha felt that she couldn't do anything to make her listen but somehow, you did. What happened between you two?"

The young man had a feeling that someone would ask him this question eventually, so he prepared an answer ahead of time. He thought that it would be Masha who'd ask him about it, though.

"We just had a long conversation where she started to realize a lot of things. It took more than an hour and a lot of convincing, but… patience pays off," he shrugged.

"She didn't hurt you again, did she?" she asked, feeling slightly suspicious of what could have happened between them.

He quickly shook his head before a misunderstanding could occur, "No, it never reached that point. If anything, I was the first one whom Alya apologized to. After that, I convinced her to apologize to Ayano."

"So that's why she wanted to talk with Ayano-chan…" she hummed to herself.

"Obviously."

At that moment, the two were done securing the raft and began walking back to the house with the lone fish that they caught, which they stored in a plastic bag.

"What about Suou-chan? Did you tell her to apologize to your sister too?"

"Alya did that on her own. I was as surprised as everyone, but it worked out surprisingly. Looking back at it, she did have a bone to pick with Yuki as well, and not just me."

Chisaki nodded a few times, before releasing a hearty laugh. "Earlier, you were saying that we wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for me. Hah! What a joke. I think that applies to you more, Kuze-kun."

"Uh, I don't think I'm—"

"Nope! I don't wanna hear any sort of downplaying from you," "Don't forget, it was you who said that we should prioritize our safety more than getting home. Look at where it led us."

"...nowhere closer to getting back?"

"That's beside the point. We're all alive until now because we care more about our safety. It's a shared effort between all of us but we wouldn't have worked for it in the first place if you didn't bring it up."

"I get it, I get it… you don't have to make such a big deal out of it, Sarashina-senpai…"

"Hah, you're getting embarrassed, aren't you?" she teased as they went inside the lodge and headed for the kitchen. As of now, they were the only ones there so the others must be busy with their individual tasks, still.

"—no, I'm not."

"I can see that you are, Kuze-kun…" Chisaki patted his back like he was her younger brother. "Come on, have some pride in yourself and what you've accomplished."

"No thanks…" he sweat-dropped.

"This is the same Kuze-kun who is also the current secretary of the student council? A secretary whom Alya-chan and Suou-chan speaks highly of? I expected a lot more from you," she playfully mocked.

"You'll continue to feel disappointed, senpai."

"Regardless of what you feel, I can't stress this enough — thanks for not giving up on Alya-chan," she chuckled.

"I know, you already said it earlier."

"Nope, that didn't count because I was still feeling a little unsure about it. Now, I can say with full confidence that you solved a major problem and kept it from blowing out of proportion."

"Well… I guess…" Masachika rubbed the back of his head as he placed the fish they caught in the ice box next to the fridge.

Folding her arms across her chest, Chisaki leaned against the counter and sent him a smirk. "If it's not a problem, can I count on you to keep an eye on Alya-chan for the foreseeable future?"

"You don't even have to ask, senpai."

"That's what I like to hear!" she exclaimed. "I actually thought that things were over between you two when the you-know-what happened. I'd hate to see you break up after finally getting together."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Why are you talking as if we're a couple?"

"...wait, you're not?" she blinked a few times in surprise.

"I don't know what exactly gave you that idea, Sarashina-senpai, but we're not."

Chisaki's jaw dropped.

"Are you actually kidding me?! Even after three years and even after we left the school, you two still haven't made things official?" she asked incredulously.

"Seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about, but we're not dating."

"How come? I thought you two would be going out by now!"

"Do people need a reason for why they wouldn't be dating?" he remarked sarcastically.

"Hmm… this attitude of yours kind of reminds me of Touya a bit… and it makes me want to smack you in the head for acting like him…" Chisaki muttered, cracking her knuckles dangerously as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

Masachika quickly backed away out of fear, "Hey, hey, what gives! You said earlier that you have enough self-control over yourself to not give in to violence!"

Seeing that he was finally taking this seriously, Chisaki turned off the act and shook her head in disappointment.

"Come on, Kuze-kun. Are you really going to play the dense guy right now? I'm sure I'm not the only person who's spoken to you about this."

"Look, is this really the time to talk about this thing?" he sighed. "Even if I wanted to entertain what you're saying, we have bigger things on our hands, Sarashina-senpai. I'm pretty sure Alya would say the same thing."

Fortunately for him, that reason was enough to convince the older girl to drop the entire issue, knowing that he was right.

This wasn't the time nor place to talk about romantic relationships, and they shouldn't focus on things that's not relevant to their survival.

"Fine, I'll let this go…" Chisaki rolled her eyes before sending him a stern look. "But you shouldn't make each other wait too long, otherwise you'll only be hurting yourselves. As a matter of fact, it almost happened with me and Touya. The only reason why it didn't is because I got sick of waiting for him, so I said fuck it and just asked him out one day."

"So it was you who made the first move. I find that kind of cute, senpai…" he snickered, taking the opportunity to shift the conversation elsewhere.

"I see what you're trying to do, but this isn't about me, Kuze-kun. It's about you and Alya-chan. I'd bet that if you two were already a couple before, she wouldn't have hurt you like she did."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep it in mind…" he shrugged nonchalantly, while feeling relieved that the conversation was finally over.

Oh, if only Chisaki knew what was actually happening behind the scenes…

After taking a bath, Masachika immediately headed upstairs to his room, where he was at peace reading through a web novel on his phone.

The young man was brought back to reality upon hearing a knock on the door. Before he could say anything, the person from the other side made her way in, someone whom he was expecting to see before the day was over.

"Oh, Alya. I noticed that you've been quiet for almost the whole day. Did something happen?"

Masachika turned off his phone and turned his full attention to the half-Russian girl, only to be met by the downcast look on her face.

"Hey, what's with that look? What happened?" he asked out of concern.

Before he knew it, Alya dropped to her knees in an instant and prostrated herself before him, nearly hitting her head against the hard floor.

"I failed…! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Masachika-kun…! I was too late…" she cried.

"Wait, just calm down for a moment! What the hell happened?" he asked, taken aback by her sudden actions.

"Masha… s-she didn't want to listen to me at all…" she sniffled as tears fell from her face. "You were right… I was too late, Masachika-kun. She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore… I drove her away with my own actions…"

Masachika stared at the girl as he processed her words deeply. He was completely silent as well, which unknowingly gave the prostrated Alya an ominous feeling.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I failed…!"

Within the girl's mind, she was already fearing the worst outcome. She wanted to hide her face out shame, even. Alya had sworn to herself that she wouldn't fail Masachika and that she would succeed, but it wasn't meant to be.

And because she was unable to accomplish what he asked of her, she will surely be punished for it.

"I couldn't do what Masachika-kun wanted me to do… I failed to live up to his expectations… he's going to throw me away…" Alya wept, dreading the inevitable consequences of her failure. "Masachika-kun will throw me away…"

However, to her complete surprise, she only felt his fingers running through her hair before ruffling her locks in an affectionate manner.

"It's fine," Masachika spoke in a gentle tone as he grabbed the girl's chin and made her look up at him.

"...eh?"

"I'm not surprised that this happened. About a week ago, I was talking to your sister and she said that she wasn't ready to face you yet," he explained.

Alya could only stare at him in confusion, a multitude of questions passing through her mind at once but one of them stood out in particular.

Why wasn't he angry or disappointed with her?

She was unable to do what he asked her to do, right?

"There's no need to force things to happen, Alya. You were in a situation that's out of your control, and I can't be mad at you for that. At the very least, you apologized to Ayano, right?"

"Y-Yes…" she nodded.

"Good. And you apologized to Yuki even if I never told you to do it, correct?"

She nodded again.

"Then you've done all you can. And you did well," he smiled while patting her head akin to how an owner would award their pet.

Masachika got on the floor and grabbed her hands, guiding her to kneel upright instead of her current position.

"But… I still failed…"

"Honestly, I kind of had the feeling that you would. I remembered something Masha-san told me a week ago, and I was wondering if she was actually serious about it. After hearing of what happened between you two, it looks like she is."

Alisa bit her lip, "What did she tell you?"

"Right now, I guess you could say that she's having an internal turmoil. On one hand, Masha-san feels guilty that she didn't defend you against everyone else when you were about to get punished for assaulting me. On the other, she believes that there was no excuse for what you've done and that punishing you for your actions was the right call to make."

"I-I know what I did was horrible, and… I agree that there's no excuse for what I did to Masachika-kun," she muttered. "Masha shouldn't feel guilty over it. If anything, it's only fitting that I get punished for my actions."

"You may think that, but you're her sister. The younger sister whom she would go through any lengths to protect, and she failed to do that. I'm not surprised that Masha-san feels devastated over her actions. Right now, she can't bring herself to face you because she's too conflicted."

"Then what do we do about Masha now? I-I have to fix this mistake I made…! It's my fault that Masha's like this!" Alya spoke in a panicked tone.

"I'll talk to her tomorrow," he replied while pulling her in for a much-needed hug. "If my gut feeling is correct, then she'll be willing to listen to me at least."

Alya wrapped her arms around him and returned the hug, desperate for some warmth and comfort that only he could provide.

"She will…?"

"Masha-san was willing to open up to me about her problems. I don't see any reason why she wouldn't talk to me now. I'll try to convince her to hear you out at least."

"W-Will that work? I can't let my sister stay like this, Masachika-kun…" she buried her face into his chest as he cradled her in his arms.

"Don't worry about it. We'll fix this, Alya. You can trust me on that," the young man whispered into her ear reassuringly.

All Alya could do was nod, having complete faith in him and his words, while also feeling a sense of uneasiness at the same time…

MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*

-Lance