When the breakfast finished and I returned to my room, everyone was relaxing as they pleased.

「Kaguya, your breakfast」

I put a heap of chicken tenderloin on a plate and presented it to Kaguya. I sprinkled it with finely chopped katsuobus.h.i.+ as a bonus.
I was troubled whether to give her something with deep flavor when she"s in the cat form…

『Lord, our meal…』

Kurogane inquired about the absence of their meals.

「You two are without a breakfast today」
『『Eh!』』

「As Kaguya said, everyone here are companions, so children who don"t get along won"t get food」

I should put a nail in the coffin right about now.

Mas.h.i.+ro trotted over and weakly clung to me.

『… Cristea, I"m sorry. Don"t be angry?』
「You should be apologizing to someone else, right?」
『… Kaguya, I"m sorry』

Startled by the sudden apology, a tenderloin got stuck in Kaguya"s throat as she coughed it out.
I produced water with magic in panic and poured it in a deep plate.

『Cough… ah, that startled me… well, it"s fine. I understand that any contract beast has a strong desire to monopolize the lord. You were just jealous of me, weren"t you?』
『……』
『Looks like I was right on the mark. Unlike you guys, I have no intentions of getting along with this Ojouchan. That"s why, quickly let me have enough magical power I need to keep living, alright?』
『… Un』

Mas.h.i.+ro answered despondently.

「Eh! Why!? We will get along! I want to mofu Kaguya to my heart"s content, you know?」
『You… it finally went this well and you spoilt it!』
『… That is Cristea』
『… You can say that』

Mas.h.i.+ro and Kaguya let out deep sighs.

Eh? Hey?? You will hit it off there???

「I, I mean, I think I have to mofumofu everyone the same in order for everyone to get along…」

I think something would be off if I mofued only Mas.h.i.+ro and Kurogane and left Kaguya aside…

『… No, that"s wrong. I told you that contracted beasts have strong desire to monopolize, right? We are such creatures. Something like this wouldn"t happen if this was just one-on-one between a contracted beast and a Lord, but confrontations will happen no matter what when contracting several beasts』
「That can"t be…」
『Well, it"s as Kaguya said. However, it"s not like we, the contracted beasts, cannot grant our Lord her wish. Moreover, we don"t know whether others will get a wind of your magical power like Kaguya did this time. It won"t be good for us to keep quarreling like this』

Kurogane…

『Got it. Will get along…』
『Well… Ojouchan has the grasp on my life, so I have to make her live as long as possible at the very least. For that reason, I have no choice but to yield to you guys』

The dispirited Mas.h.i.+ro and Kaguya who snorted like a spoiled child said.

「Everyone… thank you」
『I will act to the best of my abilities for Lord』
『We will protect Cristea together, okay?』
『I, I"m in such state, so I might not be of help, but… if there"s anything I can do, well, why wouldn"t I do it?』

Auu… my children are all good kids…!

『Umu, the case is closed with this』

Kurogane nodded to himself.

「… Wait a moment? Kurogane, you have not apologized to Kaguya, have you?」
『… Nu? Is that so?』

Yeah, he said something good, but he didn"t apologize, did he? He"s making Huhh? face, so he must have believed it would end just with reconciliation, I"m sure of it.

「Un, you didn"t」
『… I apologize』
『It"s fine, seriously』

When he awkwardly apologized, Kaguya replied with her head turned the other way.

「I too, understood everyone"s jealousy, but I didn"t think it wa.s.s something that big of a deal… I"m sorry」
『… This is our problem, Lord doesn"t have to be troubled by it』

Kurogane pon, pon patted my hung head. Uu… I"m sorry.

「I will make sure to be affectionate to all of you equally from now on, okay! Equal mofumofu too! … Huh? Everyone, what"s wrong?」

Everyone looked at me exhaustedly and let out a sigh.

『… Well, Lord is fine that way』
『… Un』
『… You"re right』

… Huh?