72. Punishment

72. Punishment

“What….”

Freya faced Golden Sun. Taken aback by the sudden appearance of the other, Freya let out a dumbfounded sound. It was as if she was asking, “Why are you here?”

I said to Freya.

“I brought you here on purpose, Freya.”

“What? Why?!”

Even if she asked why, I only had one answer. I dodged Freya’s tail, which was trying to reach me, and said.

“Freya, you had a duel with Sorina, right?”

“Wait, how did Sister know-“

Freya was knocked out by the stone I threw from out of sight. So she wouldn’t have known I was there. I continued.

“And you lost the duel.”

“Lost?! I didn’t lose!! If that stone hadn’t flown at me, I could have won against this kind of person with just a flick of my finger….”

“Freya, you shouldn’t swear. That’s one more day added to your punishment.”

Freya froze like stone.

This made Freya’s no-physical-contact period extend to 8 days. A week and one more day. It was a rather long period to have no contact with my sister, but if it meant Freya could become a well-behaved child, I could endure it.

I continued speaking to Freya.

“Sorina said that in a duel between someone who can’t fight and someone who can, the one who can fight receives a penalty. So, Freya, you were judged to have lost.”

Duels between nobles are a matter of honor. However, there can be no honor in the strong crushing the weak. If a non-combatant and a combatant duel, the moment the combatant falls, for whatever reason, it is ruled a victory for the non-combatant.

“What kind of nonsense is that!!”

“What, the Duke’s daughter is shamelessly denying her defeat? After you were the one who initiated the fight?”

Golden Sun said mockingly. Freya shouted in fury.

“You’re the one who stole my sister first!!”

“Me? When? Ah, perhaps you mean touching her tail?”

Golden Sun walked towards me step by step. Stopping beside me, Golden Sun reached for my backside and began to massage my fluffy white tail.

“Why, this is ‘common sense,’ isn’t it?”

“That’s not true…!”

Freya, who had been about to retort, looked at me and then shut her mouth tightly, trembling. For some reason, she looked like she had fallen into her own trap.

“Hmm? What’s wrong? No more arguments?”

“Hngh….”

As Golden Sun began to massage my ears as well as my tail, I let out a groan, feeling a strange sensation. Freya shouted.

“You, you…!! You blind bastard…!”

“Freya. Swearing is not allowed.”

“… Grrr!!”

Freya’s black tail trembled. Soon, her tail puffed up menacingly and stood straight up towards the sky. A dangerous aura emanated from it.

The tail is a window to a beastman’s emotions, and that posture was her tail expressing extreme anger. I rarely saw such a display in the North, so it was clear that Freya’s puberty was indeed in full swing.

Avoiding the threatening Freya, Golden Sun hid behind me and continued.

“You remember the conditions, right? If you lose, what do you have to do?”

“… Apologize to the people I bothered by bowing my head….”

Freya said through gritted teeth. It seemed the condition for Freya’s loss was to apologize to the victims.

Golden Sun scoffed.

“You’re not going to run away, are you? The second daughter of the Duke’s family confidently challenged someone who can’t fight, and almost everyone in the Academy knows you lost. Even your sister.”

“…… Y-you, with all your useless connections…! Hmph.”

Freya took a deep breath. She seemed to be trying to calm her anger.

“I’ll do it if I have to, I’ll do it!”

“Oh, really?”

Golden Sun took out a piece of paper from her school uniform pocket. At first glance, it looked like a memo with something written on it.

“Let’s see, the list of people to apologize to is… Ariel, Rose, Sylvie, Sera, Catherine, Jabjol, Yuri, Shiro, Helena, Mia, Alice….”

“….”

Golden Sun’s mouth kept listing names endlessly. I didn’t know what she had done, but Freya seemed to have bothered quite a lot of children.

It was strange that all but one were female names.

Suddenly, Freya stopped Golden Sun.

“Wait, who is Jabjol?”

“A bald muscular monster.”

“I didn’t bother him!! He was the one who picked a fight first, and I just hit him and came back?! Do I look like someone who would approach a man?!”

It was an outcry filled with immense indignation. Golden Sun shrugged and took out a pen from somewhere, drawing a line through the name.

“Well then, I’ll exclude him. But you know there are still many left, right?”

“… Tch.”

Golden Sun looked at Freya and said.

“You have to apologize sincerely, you know? To everyone, ‘sincerely’.”

Golden Sun’s arm wrapped around my shoulder, her body pressing close. Aside from the heat, my tail instinctively wrapped around Golden Sun, and Freya trembled upon seeing us pressed together.

I asked Golden Sun.

“Excuse me, so….”

“Yes?”

“Now Freya has to apologize to you guys, right?”

Freya and Golden Sun’s conversation was over, and it was time to fulfill the conditions. That meant my sister would have to wander around the Academy apologizing.

Yes, a ‘sincere apology.’

“Uh… right?”

“Then….”

As I trailed off, Freya stared intently at me. Then, as if realizing something, her face turned pale, and she waved her arms frantically.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, Sister, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?!”

“I think I am?”

Perhaps because she’s my sister, Freya often seemed to read my mind like a psychic. It was probably the same this time. I smiled at Freya and then said to Golden Sun.

“Then I’ll help you too. So that Freya can ‘sincerely apologize’.”

“Really? Well, I’m grateful then.”

Freya shouted.

“Hey, you idiot!! You should say no there!!! You don’t even know what Sister is talking about!!”

Golden Sun tilted her head.

“What is she talking about?”

“What do you mean! Sister is talking about a kiss-“

After saying that much, Freya turned her head towards me. Her cute black eyes glanced at my face, then looked up at my ears, and then back at my face. It was a movement whose meaning was unclear.

Meanwhile, I pricked up my ears towards Freya, listening intently to my sister’s words. Being a good listener to my sister was basic etiquette for an older sister. As I looked at Freya with sparkling eyes, Freya, sweating profusely, avoided my gaze.

Freya shouted again.

“Ah, anyway! Cancel it! Quickly! If you don’t want to get caught up in it too!!”

It was an outcry filled with desperation. I said to Freya.

“Freya, you’re not just pretending not to want to apologize, are you? If you are, I’ll really get angry.”

“Ah, no! It’s not like that…!”

“Then?”

If you commit a sin, you must bear the appropriate responsibility. Shouldn’t we be grateful that simply offering a sincere apology is enough, even though the memo is full of names?

Freya looked up at me with teary eyes and pleaded.

“P-please, Sister. I’ll apologize properly, so just let me do it alone-“

“No. You might pick a fight with someone else while I’m not looking.”

Puberty is truly a time of tempest and waves. A tempest like a strong wind, a wave like raging tides. Although she seems to be listening to me obediently now, I couldn’t know when Freya might turn around and start bothering people if I weren’t by her side.

My heart wavered slightly at the sight of my sister whimpering with round eyes like a puppy abandoned by its owner, but this was for Freya’s own good, not for anyone else’s. I hardened my resolve and shook my head.

As Freya was firmly rejected by me, she grabbed her head and trembled. I pulled Freya along and said.

“Ah, no…!”

“Come on, Freya. First, you need to ‘sincerely apologize’ to Sorina, right?”

Golden Sun was also among the people Freya had inconvenienced. Of course, it was only right to apologize to her as well.

Freya stood before Golden Sun. Golden Sun, who had been smiling at Freya, seemed to sense something was wrong with Freya’s excessive nervousness and tilted her head.

Freya turned her head towards me with a creaking sound like a rusty machine. Large tears welled up in her eyes.

“Oh, Sister….”

“Freya.”

She’s still so small and fragile, my sister. Even when standing in front of her to apologize, she’s so nervous and struggling.

To make such a delicate child go around bothering people, the power of puberty is truly evident. As her older sister, I must help her here.

“Huh? Skadi? What are you trying to-“

I grabbed both Freya and Golden Sun by the back of their heads.

And then, I pressed their mouths together.

Golden Sun trembled, perhaps moved by Freya’s sincere apology. My sister’s black tail vibrated. A moment later, as I let go, Freya and Golden Sun coughed and sputtered on the ground.

“Gak!”

“Ke, kek!”

With this, the apology to Golden Sun was complete… but there were still many names left on the list.

A lot.