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Not long after Penny left, Dixie and Koko arrived at the 'Disciplinary Committee Office' as well, and the freckled girl jumped into Emilia's arms as soon as the door opened. Or at least, she tried.
Feeling her collar being clutched from behind just as she was inches from her target, Koko didn't need to look back to know which ever-annoying knight was responsible. "O-Ow! Let me go, hey you!"
Emilia sighed as she opened the door fully, motioning them to enter first. After all, there were many other clubrooms in the building, and she could see a few curious heads peeking over to watch Koko and Dixie's antics already.
Dixie pursed her lips as she pulled Koko further back by her collar before letting her go. Once the door closed behind them, she gave her princess a pitiful look. "Y-You can't always defend her like that, princess. Or she'll keep getting more and more rude, and what will people think when they see her acting so uncultured?"
Koko stomped her foot indignantly with a pout. "You're always picking on me! Emilia, you tell her not to be so mean! She promised to treat me with 'due respect' after that deal with mom, but look! Dixie, you're such a liar!"
Dixie blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, but I just don't think you're due any respect if you keep acting so stupid?"
As the two of them continued to argue, Emilia moved over to Crystal with a sigh. The blonde girl was watching their fight with amusement, and Emilia couldn't help but squeeze her cheek. "Are enjoying it?"
Crystal blushed. "A-Ah, no no, it's just… a little funny to see Dixie not look serious."
Emilia nodded. "It doesn't suit her face, right?"
The heroine giggled. "Right? It's just like what you said."
Emilia sighed as she wrapped an arm around Crystal's neck to pull her closer to whisper in her ear. "But does trouble me that they always keep fighting. After all, Koko may be naughty, but her antics aren't really troublesome. But I can't scold Dixie either, she's just trying her best for me. Won't my angel help me solve it?"
Crystal's face had already turned red as she felt Emilia's hot breath brush against her ear. "M-Me? S-Solve it? I… Let me think…"
After a while, Crystal nodded. "H-How about this… teach them how to keep the peace for shorter periods of time first, and eventually they will start tolerating each other? You can motivate them using small rewards, like, um, those super good chocolates! Oh, and I think Dixie really loves your baking!"
"Good girl."
Emilia grinned as she kissed Crystal's cheek, making the girl turn away shyly.
Shaking her head with an exasperated smile, she got up from the bed and ruffled both of the still arguing girls' hair. "Don't fight like kids! How about this? For each day the two of you swear not to fight, I can do you one 'small' favor. It cannot be greater than a kiss, and if you take the favor and violate the rule later that day, you're banned from getting the favor for one week!"
Crystal blanked. 'H-How did chocolate and cakes change to kiss?!'
The two of them stared back at her, stunned, before Koko jumped for joy. "So I just don't have to fight with this stupid knight, and I get a favor every day?!"
Emilia nodded as she patted her head. "Yep."
The freckled girl grinned, looking smug. "That has got to be the easiest deal in the world! I always get bullied by this bullheaded knight anyway, I just don't have to respond. Hmph, piece of cake."
Dixie rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't 'bully' you if you just stop acting stupid."
Koko, who had already started practicing for daily rewards, decisively ignored her.
Dixie, on the other hand, wasn't worried about losing her 'favor', since they had already fought today after all. It was all Koko's fault that she lost it!
Emilia giggled. "Alright. Well, I won't count what happened earlier, the deal starts from now."
The freckled girl jumped. "EH?! I want to exchange mine right away, please!"
For once, Dixie's thoughts matched with Koko's. "Me too!"
Emilia smiled. "Okay okay, no rush, one by one."
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Meanwhile, George Porter found that, ever since he met that ghost, every moment of his life seemed to have transformed into a living nightmare.
No matter how he tried to convince them, neither his mother nor his older brother believed any of his words. They called him a liar, a drunk, an idiot.
In the end, his mother even forced him to come to college and pretend that everything was normal!
Of course, if there was one thing he feared more than that long-armed, long-legged abomination, it was his mother.
After all, she was both uglier and stronger than the ghost, and even had access to his bank account!
When he thought about it like that, the boy with bleached blond hair couldn't help but calm down a little. 'T-That's right, s-so what if s-she's got that freakish form as a g-gh-ghost now, my mom is definitely worse than that Michelle in every way! A-And, maybe I really was just drunk?'
His calmness didn't last long, however, as he soon saw how scared all of his college friends were.
"Y-You too?"
"You saw h-h-her too?"
Their fear compounded with each other, sending a new wave of terror through their hearts. Even if one or two of them could convince themselves that it was just a nightmare, all of them being haunted the night after the girl's death became known to them… was too much of a coincidence.
The worst of them by far was George, who was not only the victim of the most vicious ghost form, having seen the shapeshifted Emilia, he was also the primary culprit in the eyes of everyone else, making them blame him for their own misfortune.
A brown-haired boy slammed his fist on the desk, glaring at George. "I told you not to go too far, George! Look what happened now! What do we do?!"
He had been one of the first to start making fun of Michelle. After all, she was a bit too proud, and her arrogance rubbed him the wrong way.
However, when things started to get out of hand, he couldn't help but get a little uncomfortable, and had once mentioned it to George. Of course, neither of them really cared at that point.
Even he had just turned a blind eye from that point on, but never expected the ghost to haunt even him! After all, aside from a few incidents in the beginning, he was innocent!
"Y-You should go and apologize to her grave! Tell her it was just you, we were just playing along!"
George couldn't help but step back, pointing a shaky finger at the suddenly aggressive group of boys and girls. "D-Don't lie! Weren't you all having so much fun mocking her too?! Don't blame it all on me now! We were all in it together!"
Of course, individually, none of them thought they were the main bully, or responsible for Michelle's death. They just had a little fun, while the only real criminal was George, who started it all!
"You sick fuck! Do you think we're all like you? If not for your goading and misleading, why would we ever do anything?"
"It's like the butcher blaming the knife for being too sharp! It was clearly all your doing, and you're not even going to accept now?"
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