"Um…"
"Whoa!?"
When Kars's hand landed on Youmu Konpaku's shoulder, the latter reacted quite strongly, pulling away in a panic, leaving Kars momentarily stunned.
"Huh? Are… are you alright?"
When Kars touched her, Youmu Konpaku was worried that she would experience that strange reaction again, but this time nothing happened, which made her feel relieved. However, her expression quickly grew a little strained, as her reaction just now could easily leave a bad impression.
"Are… you okay?" Kars asked cautiously, looking at his hand to confirm that his energy was not currently active. Still, Youmu Konpaku's reaction just now had left him somewhat bewildered.
Even Yuyuko, who was secretly watching from the side, couldn't help but cover her face, feeling helpless about Youmu Konpaku's reaction.
"Cough, cough… I… I'm fine. Please don't mind what just happened."
"It's okay. Ultimately, the reason you reacted like that is my fault. After all, if it weren't for me before… I wanted to apologize to you for that, too." Kars understood that Youmu Konpaku was acting this way because his activated energy had caused a reaction in her body before, leading to this overreaction to his touch, so he wasn't angry.
Hearing Kars's apology, Youmu Konpaku was momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected the situation to reverse, with Kars apologizing to her. Especially judging from his tone, he must have indeed known what happened to her body at the time!
"Don't say another word. In short, you absolutely cannot tell anyone about that, understood! Otherwise… But why are you looking for me now?"
"…Sister Yuyuko told me to. She said she seems to know about what happened before, and then she said she hopes I can get to know you more."
"Huh? Lady Yuyuko knows!?" That embarrassing thing about me is already known? How did it get exposed so fast!!
Youmu Konpaku's face instantly flushed with shame. Now, she wished she could find a hole to crawl into. Was my reaction when I ran back to Hakugyokurou really too exaggerated?
"Youmu is really shy." Yuyuko couldn't help but sigh, watching Youmu Konpaku's current appearance. She's blushing after such a short time; it's going to be hard to communicate.
"Are you alright? I'm sorry, if it wasn't for me, things wouldn't have turned out this way." Kars felt guilty seeing Youmu Konpaku looking completely mortified.
"Saying that now won't help. Lady Yuyuko already knows about this! It's too embarrassing! And why did Lady Yuyuko ask you to come and find me?"
"Her idea was that she wouldn't mind what happened between us, and she even seemed very supportive. I didn't quite understand what she meant either." Since the conversation at the time even made it sound like she wanted him to do it more, Kars hadn't asked for more details, so he couldn't properly answer Youmu Konpaku's question.
This left Youmu Konpaku's expression a little conflicted and puzzled. She didn't quite understand her Lady Yuyuko's intentions. Kars's explanation sounded like she was trying to set them up.
Wait! Set us up? Did Lady Yuyuko think that since I had such an embarrassing reaction in front of Kars, she wanted to set him up with me?
After all, it would be almost impossible for her to completely disregard the fact that a boy knew about such an embarrassing situation concerning her.
So, was Lady Yuyuko taking action for this reason? And if that was the case, it would explain why Kars said what he did. But this is too sudden, isn't it? She didn't even notify me and just arranged things like this.
"Um, Youmu… why don't we talk another time? I think you might need some time to process this." Kars looked at Youmu Konpaku, who was looking down and not speaking, and suggested leaving first.
"Ah? Yes… let's do as you say." Youmu Konpaku nodded slightly in agreement. She really did need to calm down. After watching Kars leave, she walked over to Yuyuko.
"Lady Yuyuko! Why didn't you even notify me about something like this! I wasn't prepared at all!"
"If I didn't arrange this, Youmu, you wouldn't do anything yourself, would you? Although I shouldn't pry into these matters, I couldn't pretend not to see the way you looked when you came back. Especially since I even confirmed the details with Kars, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to do nothing, would it? Besides, what do you think of him?" Yuyuko asked with a smile. Hearing this question, Youmu Konpaku confirmed that she indeed had the idea of setting her up with Kars.
"He's… he's alright. But we're not very familiar with each other, so it's hard to say."
"That's why I asked Kars to interact with you more, and I also hope Youmu, that you'll seek out Kars more often. This way, you can quickly become familiar with each other. After all, this stage is particularly important, and it's a hard-won opportunity. You know opportunities don't come along all the time." Since Kars was the only person Youmu had ever shown interest in, she couldn't just ignore it.
"I… I understand." Youmu Konpaku nodded, indicating she understood. Since this was what Lady Yuyuko wanted, she would comply with the arrangement, especially since Kars seemed to have satisfied Lady Yuyuko.
Yuyuko smiled happily at the sight. She had to say, doing something like this gave her a sense of accomplishment.
"Alright, now let's continue to enjoy this banquet. The rest is up to your own efforts. After all, I can't help you all the time."
"Yes! I will do my best, Lady Yuyuko!"