"Yeah! This is it...!"

The door was slightly ajar.
Yuria, peeking through the crack, felt her body trembling with excitement.

She had been deeply disappointed after seeing Aslan Vermont forcefully reconcile the two of them yesterday.
What she wanted to see was the awkward Charlotte and Yulia clashing again and naturally making up—not some formal "make up" forced by Aslan’s single command!
So, when she thought she wouldn’t see the natural reconciliation between Charlotte and Yulia anymore,
she came back from running ten laps around the track, and an exciting scene was unfolding inside the room.

"So cute... combining cute things with cute things makes it incredibly cute... Hehehe..."

As expected of Charlotte!
She had predicted this when she had invaded Yulia's bed because of her bad sleeping habits.
But the reality was even more intense than expected. In the narrow distance between them, Yuria could feel her heart pounding wildly.

To see Charlotte and Yulia so close together.
They were close enough that a slight movement would cause their bodies to collide.
This was something that had to be etched into her memory.
Yuria drooled as she stared without blinking, watching the scene inside the room.

"Even if we end up fighting for real, it’s okay. I’ll keep approaching you again and again. So don’t worry."
"Th-thats... I feel like Charlotte always comes to me first or lightens the mood... but I wanted to be brave and do this now..."

Yulia said this!?
Yuria’s eyes shook with disbelief at this unexpected advance from Yulia.
The introverted and shy Yulia was saying such words!?

Isn’t this basically a confession!?
Aah! This is too sweet!
I’m really going to die from this!
Just as Yuria was wiping the drool off her chin.

"Ughhh! What should I do!? Isn’t Yulia just too cute!?"
"Ughh... it’s... hard to breathe, Charlotte..."
"Ah, sorry."

Wow, they're hugging there?
Charlotte's sudden action made Yuria’s mind come to a screeching halt.
Unable to withstand the huge stimulus, her brain shut down.
As a result of the overload, her nose started bleeding.

"Haaah."
"...?"
"...?"

At the moment when the sudden nosebleed made her choke on her breath,
a sigh of exasperation echoed loudly.
And, to make matters worse, Yuria’s hand reached forward, causing the door to swing wide open.
Immediately, Charlotte and Yulia’s gazes locked onto her.

Ah. I made a sound.

"Ah."
"Huh?"
"Huh?"

At that very moment, Yuria realized something far more important than the nosebleed.
She wasn’t wearing her mask.
In her moment of carelessness, she had come in without it!!!

"Ah, hey? Yuria..."
"...!?"

Did she just call me Yuria?
That wasn’t some slip of the tongue, right?
Yuria quickly turned around to hide her face.
But in her foolishness, she froze, and her face was exposed for more than three seconds, so there was no way they didn’t notice.

Ah, am I really this stupid?
I had sneaked into the Vermont Mansion quietly, planning to stay hidden and uncover Aslan Vermont's true nature,
but I had gotten drunk on the sight of Charlotte and Yulia rolling around, hugging each other,
and now, on the second day, my identity was completely exposed.

A disaster brought on by a moment of carelessness.
Regret washed over her, but it was already too late.

"What do I do? Should I just deny it and say it’s not me?"

There were plenty of options.
She could run away.
She could deny it and say she wasn’t Yuria.
She could even make up some nonsense, saying this was a real life experiment to test their reactions by showing them her friend's face.

But did that even matter?
Wasn’t that just the same as closing her eyes and pretending everything was okay?

If she denied it strongly right now, Charlotte and Yulia would probably pretend they hadn’t figured out her identity.
They were kind-hearted kids, so they would likely do that.
But would that actually be beneficial?

"Maybe I should just tell the truth..."

Yuria made up her mind, squeezing her eyes shut.
She had been hiding her identity from Charlotte and Yulia this whole time,
because she was afraid of Aslan Vermont finding out about their relationship. She had blocked off the possibility from the start.

But now it was too late.
Even if Charlotte and Yulia pretended not to know, if it was obvious, they would eventually figure it out.
It would be the same with Aslan Vermont.

Since it had come to this, maybe it was better to just tell Charlotte and Yulia the truth.
She had endured this long.
She had held back the desire to chat with Yulia and play around with Charlotte.
She had been watching from close by all this time, so now, it was time to reveal it.

With that thought, Yuria gathered her courage and turned around.

"Y-Yulia! What do I do if I get your name wrong?"
"Ah? Ahh! Right, it was Yuria, not Yulia. Yuria."
"I’m actually Yuria...!"

"...?"
"...?"

As Charlotte and Yulia scrambled to pretend they didn’t notice,
Yuria came out with her confession.
For a moment, silence settled in the room.

Ah, so this was how it would come out?
Charlotte and Yulia became awkward, scratching the back of their heads.
They began pretending to be surprised, trying to act like they hadn’t known.

"Wow! Waaaah! Yuria was Yuria all along?"
"I-I really didn’t know... I was so shocked... I thought Yuria had disappeared, so I never expected her to show up like this... Wow..."
"....You guys really didn’t know?"
"...?"
"...?"

Under Yuria's suspicious gaze, Charlotte and Yulia looked away,
their eyes clearly showing that they weren’t being honest.
Yuria, stunned again, opened her mouth wide.

"No. Wait, you knew all along!? When did you find out...?"
"Umm? When was it? Oh! I remember! The day you showed up wearing the mask! I figured it out when we were going north!"
"So you figured it out right when I put on my disguise...!"
"Well, not exactly right when, but that evening, you briefly took off the mask, and I peeked..."
"That’s just a few hours apart...!!!"

So what have I been doing all this time!?
Had I been wearing my mask, changing my voice, acting stiff, and making a fuss in front of the kids who clearly knew my identity!?
Yuria slumped down in defeat.

"Hah... Ahaha... Hehehe... Ahahahahaha..."
"...?"

Yuria suddenly burst out laughing, and
Charlotte and Yulia were left bewildered.

Did she finally lose it?
With a visible nosebleed still on her face, she was laughing madly, and they couldn’t help but worry.

"Yuria, are you okay? Your efforts weren’t wasted..."
"No... no, it’s just too funny. Ah. It was this easy. I just needed a tiny bit of courage to take one step. And then I could have skipped all the heartache and faced you both without a mask... I couldn’t muster that tiny bit of courage, and here I am. If I hadn’t made the mistake of forgetting my mask today, I might’ve kept playing this ridiculous game for even longer."

Wiping away a tear, Yuria gave a hollow laugh.
What had she been so afraid of all this time?
Charlotte and Yulia had known all along.
Why had she been so desperate to hide it?

But that thought lasted only a moment.
Yuria felt an overwhelming sense of liberation, as if her heavy chest had been freed.

Now she didn’t have to wear the uncomfortable mask anymore.
She didn’t have to pretend like Charlotte and Yulia didn’t know.
She didn’t have to hold back the desire to join in while Charlotte and Yulia shared sweet moments.
With that thought, her heart swelled with joy.

"Charlotte and Yulia knew from the start. But since they didn’t tell Aslan Vermont, it’ll be fine moving forward."

Eventually, when Charlotte and Yulia figured out her identity,
she realized hiding it from Aslan Vermont was impossible, but that fear turned out to be delusional.
It didn’t matter anymore.
It was fine if they knew.

It was a shame she hadn’t known this from the start,
but knowing it now,
the happiness of not having to hide her identity from her friends was overwhelming.

"Hah. That’s such a relief! But why did you pretend not to know even after you figured it out?"
"Ah, well..."
"I thought there was a serious reason you were sneaking around like this!"
"Yeah, I thought you had to hide your identity for some big reason..."
"Ah, it’s not like that..."

Yuria slapped her forehead and gave another hollow laugh.
They thought she was doing this for some deep reason, but in reality, she had just been acting like an idiot.
Now that everything was out in the open, she couldn’t believe how pointless and absurd it had all been.

"We should have had the courage to act like we knew earlier..."
"But it’s really, really good to see you like this again! It’s been so long since we’ve all been together like this!"
"How have you been, Yuria? I’ve been so curious!"
"Well! I..."

Yuria grabbed Yulia’s hand,
and with her arm around Charlotte, she began telling them everything that had happened.

How she had gone to the Imperial Magic Academy with a heart set on getting them back.
How she met a precious connection and gained special admission.
How she joined Vermont Security through that connection... and so on.

Yuria shared everything that had happened during this time.
The things she could never tell anyone.
Even the hard things she couldn’t tell that dark old man.

The only people she could tell these things to were Charlotte and Yulia.

And as Yuria’s long story was coming to an end,
Charlotte and Yulia, who had been enthusiastically responding and listening,
looked at each other.
Both had the same thought in their eyes.

"That dark old man... he’s really suspicious, right?"

The mysterious sponsor, "the dark old man," who had appeared so often in Yuria’s story...
He was starting to seem really suspicious, wasn’t he?
Could he be trying to use Yuria for something shady...?