(Translated by AI)
Yotsuha threatened Rikka with the video on her phone, demanding that after school that day, Rikka accompany her to Eito’s house to find out the trigger behind Uichi’s bullying in middle school. Hurt in her pride, Rikka tried to stall for time by using the excuse that she "had to celebrate her father’s birthday." Yotsuha recalled that while in the hospital, she had asked her brother Mitsuha about their father, to which Mitsuha replied, "My father and yours are different," and "It’s better if you don’t know." This led her to suspect that she and Mitsuha were half-siblings and that her father might not be a good person. With this in mind, Yotsuha dismissed Rikka’s excuse. However, after Rikka stated that "her father meant to her what Uichi means to Yotsuha," Yotsuha wavered and agreed to visit Eito’s house after school the next day.
To prevent suspicion about Rikka’s cut hair when they returned to the classroom, Yotsuha offered to trim Rikka’s hair. She then asked Rikka about her motive for framing her. Rikka admitted that she wanted to bully Uichi and saw Yotsuha as an obstacle, so she tried to remove Yotsuha from Uichi’s side. This reminded Yotsuha that the mastermind’s (🍀) goal was "to make Uichi commit suicide," which made her realize that she, too, was an obstacle. Yet, the mastermind had taken no action against her. In fact, it was only after Yotsuha severed Rikka’s connection with the mastermind that Rikka actively moved to frame Yotsuha—almost as if the mastermind was trying to stop Rikka from harming Yotsuha... Thinking this, Yotsuha wondered if she was overanalyzing the situation and decided to leave the matter for the next day.