"I'm so sorry, Yugo... It's my fault Shiroi was taken because I couldn't keep quiet..."
"Please, don't worry about it. Given the situation, it couldn't be helped. Besides, we're just as much to blame for focusing so hard on investigating the Village that we failed to leave a Guard behind."
After the commotion subsided, Yugo had been placed in a state of Semi-confinement. He remained alone in his room, speaking with Presia, who had come to visit him.
Yugo offered words of encouragement to Presia, who was drowning in regret over the string of poor judgments that had led to this disaster. As he spoke, he helped himself to the Vegetable Soup she had brought to sustain him.
On orders from Cyan and Egos, it seemed he was forbidden from leaving the room for the time being. Members of the Cooking Club were taking shifts acting as Guards at his door, and they seemed to be watching him with extreme caution.
Perhaps they simply wanted to torment a "piece of trash" they despised, or perhaps they wanted to clear the meddlesome Yugo out of the way so they could cozy up to the girls they liked. Regardless, Yugo didn't care about Cyan, Egos, or how he was being treated.
His only priority now was rescuing Shiroi from the Villagers' clutches.
Marcos had predicted the culprit would make a move soon. Trusting those words, Yugo knew he had to be ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. He steeled his resolve, determined to do everything in his power to save not just Shiroi, but the Mimicked Villagers as well.
Just then, the door swung open, and Hao stepped inside with a deathly pale expression.
"Um... well..."
Hao muttered under his breath, eyes fixed on the floor as Yugo and Presia watched him. Finally, in a thin, fragile voice, he addressed Yugo.
"...I'm sorry. It's all my fault. President Presia didn't do anything wrong..."
"Hao..."
Having forced out an apology to Yugo—a man he detested—Hao hung his head in utter dejection. As Yugo watched him in silence, the Vice President repeated his apology, his voice trembling.
"I didn't mean for things to go this far. I was just... I was just worried about the President. I just wanted her to tell me if she was hiding something. But I let my emotions get the better of me, and those two overheard us. I backed her into a corner until she had no choice but to reveal what she was hiding, and then—"
"...Don't you believe what those two said?" Yugo interrupted. "According to them, I'm just a piece of trash who kidnapped a child so I could drive up the Reward Money."
"...I saw Shiroi being dragged away. No one could believe them after seeing that," Hao replied. "If you'd really tricked him into coming here, he wouldn't have fought back like that. He would have been happy to be 'saved.' And I know the President would never be a part of something so wicked. I realize now you must have had your reasons. But even so, I couldn't stand up to those two. When your brother, Fee, glared at me... I finally realized the weight of what I'd done. I am so incredibly sorry..."
Hao understood now that his meddling had triggered a catastrophe. The entire mess had started because he had invited Cyan and Egos to act as Bodyguards in the first place; in that sense, the fault was entirely his.
Instead of protecting Presia as he had intended, he had trusted two men who did whatever they pleased. He had hurt the President he adored, made a child cry, and brought about an irreversible disaster.
Despite realizing all of this, he had still been too cowardly to defy Cyan and Egos, and had even accepted money from them as a reward. Staring down at the Gold Coins in his hand, Hao was consumed by self-loathing.
"You don't need to shoulder the blame alone, Vice President," Yugo said. "As I told the President, we're at fault too. I should have explained the situation to you much sooner."
"...You had no reason to trust a man who hated you so much. I'm the one who should have had more faith in you."
"Then let's call it even and leave it at that. There's no use dwelling on the past. Let's focus on how we're going to rescue Shiroi."
"...Are you serious? You're still... still going after him?" Hao asked, his voice thick with surprise. He couldn't understand how Yugo could still be so focused on saving the boy, completely ignoring his own ruined reputation or what the famous Hero Candidates thought of him.
Yugo met his gaze with a faint, natural smile.
"I made a promise to protect him, and I intend to keep it. Besides, a Hero never betrays a child's expectations."
"He really was a good person, wasn't he, Yugo?"
"Yeah... he truly has changed..."
Hao answered President Presia's question while scrubbing the Tableware and Cooking Utensils they had used to prepare Yugo's meal in the Inn's kitchen. He felt a profound mix of shame and gratitude toward the man who had offered him forgiveness and support instead of condemnation. He finished the dishes and set them on the counter, letting out a heavy sigh.
"I'm sorry, President. If only I had been calmer, this wouldn't have happened..."
"Don't worry about it. I should have been honest with you from the start. Like Yugo said, we're both to blame."
"But this only happened because I forced you to answer. If I hadn't—Ah!"
Hao balled his fists in frustration and brought them down on the counter. The impact sent a freshly washed Spoon skittering across the surface and flying onto the floor. Hao turned pale.
"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine, it's fine! Hao, you're being way too hard on yourself. You need to relax a little!"
When things go wrong, they come in waves. Hao felt like a total failure who couldn't get a single thing right. He knelt down to retrieve the Spoon, sighing as he reached under the furniture—and then he froze.
"Wait... what?"
As he looked at the object hidden in the shadows, his eyes widened in sheer shock.