“Kyaaaaa?!”
Ruth lost her balance and flailed her arms wildly as she fell towards the ground. Koutarou easily caught her since he was right in front of her.
“Are you okay, Ruth-san?”
“Mas― n-no, Satomi-sama! I'm fine, t-thank you!”
Having been caught off guard from being suddenly pushed, Ruth almost called Koutarou her Master in front of others. Shaken by those things, Ruth's voice faltered. In the next moment, she realized that she was being held in Koutarou's arms and her face turned red.
“Ah, ah, eh?! Uhm...”
Ruth couldn't form any words. There were so many things she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't find the words to convey it. Ruth opened and closed her mouth countless times in an attempt to form words, but the only thing she could do was shed tears.
“...Ruth-san”
Koutarou noticed Ruth crying in his arms, and reached his right hand out towards her cheek to wipe her tears away. But since her tears wouldn't stop, he wiped a second and a third time.
“U-Uhm... I...”
Ruth didn't know what to do or what to say, and simply entrusted herself to Koutarou.
“...Welcome back, Ruth-san”
“Ah...”
The moment she heard that, Ruth figured out something she wanted to say. And she went all-out to turn it into words.
“...I'm back... Satomi-sama...”
They were words she had so often spoken. But Ruth had never tried harder to form those words.