— — — — — —
"S… Sir?"
The moment she felt Ryo's gaze suddenly swing toward her, Yukina jolted back a step, panic written all over her face.
Weren't they just talking about angels a second ago?
Why was he suddenly looking at her like that?
'Could it be…' did Kato stir up his vampiric instincts, but now he didn't fancy that witch and wanted her blood instead?
No way?!
But… it really looked like it!
"Yukina."
A gentle male voice called her name.
She shuddered, then blurted out in a rush, "I-I'm very sorry! I—I'm not ready yet, so please, please give me a little more time!"
Ryo: "..."
The girl's face flushed red as she finished in one breath, then she added nervously, "I think… this kind of thing should wait until I'm eighteen, after I'm an adult, and after I've been in a proper relationship, and then… then…"
She couldn't finish. Her thoughts had completely short-circuited.
"Yukina, you… you're cheating on me?!"
From the side, Sayaka stared in disbelief.
She never imagined that her pure, ice-clean Yukina would be thinking about this kind of thing.
Not ready yet?
Give more time?
Wait until eighteen and fall in love?
Good grief. You never told me any of this, and now you're saying it to that Ryo Yagami?!
What's that supposed to mean?
Are you putting a green hat on me?!
And you too, Ryo! Sure, you're the only guy I don't mind, but what's with stealing her right in front of me?! You've known her for less than a day!
Grinding her teeth, Sayaka seethed silently.
The girl she likes picks the only man she can tolerate as a romantic option?
That's not just a green hat. That's a green hat stacked on another green hat.
"Cheating…?" Yukina echoed, startled by Sayaka's outburst.
Meanwhile, Shizuri Kasugaya, who was supposed to be the one under supervision and was now stuck between them, was completely dumbfounded.
Her eyes darted from Yukina to Ryo, then to Sayaka. Her not-so-sharp brain rapidly stitched together a relationship chart.
Sayaka likes Ryo. Ryo likes Yukina.
Yukina secretly has feelings for Ryo. And Sayaka and Yukina are best friends.
Oh wow.
This is White Album levels of drama.
You could straight-up write a novel about this. Call it "I Became a Primogenitor and Somehow Fell Into a Love Triangle, Is Something Wrong Here?" ...or "Is It Wrong to Become a Primogenitor and Still End Up in a Love Triangle?"
She'd totally buy it.
Ryo's facial muscles twitched slightly, then he said calmly, "Eighteen, huh. I understand."
He didn't explain what he understood. Instead, he gestured toward Yukina.
"Lend me Snowdrift Wolf for a moment."
Without waiting for her reply, he beckoned. Snowdrift Wolf slipped from Yukina's grasp and flew straight into his hand.
Yukina seemed to realize something then. She lowered her head, hiding her burning face.
Holding Snowdrift, Ryo looked at Kato, whom he had tucked under his arm.
"Don't resist. Recall the moment you signed the contract."
Kato trembled. She seemed to have guessed what he was doing, but said nothing, only closing her eyes and carefully replaying the memory.
Ryo's gaze flickered.
From a spiritual perspective invisible to human eyes, his consciousness wrapped around Kato's spirit.
Formless thought, like a boneless creature, coiled around her soul layer by layer, constricting it like a giant serpent encircling its prey.
Her memories stirred.
Like a drop falling into still water, ripples spread outward.
And within those ripples, a scene emerged.
It was a fragment from one of Kato's constructed worlds.
Standing before her was a youth in a black tailcoat with a blue bow tie, brilliant golden hair, and iridescent eyes. His features resembled Avrora's, yet he was unmistakably male.
The boy smiled at her. "A set of coordinates for a prison-like fabricated world, plus a time-based grimoire left behind by the LCO. I think that shows sufficient sincerity."
"Not enough."
Kato's own voice answered, cautious and guarded. "Vampire King, you know who I'm dealing with. The Fourth Primogenitor, the monster who sliced territory off Japan without breaking a sweat. If you want me to trap him and probe his strength, I'll need more compensation."
The boy called the Vampire King fell silent for a moment, then said, "Two hundred milliliters of a Dragon's blood. You understand how valuable the blood of this creature is, right?"
"..."
"Deal!" Kato replied cheerfully.
The Vampire King produced a contract. He bit his finger, pressed a bloody handprint onto it, then handed it over.
As she signed, Kato casually asked, "I'm curious. Why are you so intent on going up against the Fourth Primogenitor? He isolated the island's landmass, sure, but he hasn't caused much destruction otherwise."
"That is precisely why it's necessary."
The Vampire King's iridescent eyes fixed on her, his voice low.
"A Fourth Primogenitor who isn't feared by the world is nothing more than a half-finished product."
"He hasn't yet gained the bearing worthy of the Fourth Primogenitor."
"Only when he tastes despair will he understand that in this world, only power is real."
"Oh?" Kato chuckled. "Interesting. You sound awfully invested in him. Come to think of it, your appearance is far too similar to those Kaleid Blood dolls… According to the Library's classified records, when the Fourth Primogenitor was first created, there was a test model. That was you, wasn't it? The Prototype Fourth Primogenitor."
"You shouldn't ask what you shouldn't know." The boy frowned. "You ought to understand. Sometimes, knowing too much isn't a good thing."
"Oh my, but witches are curiosity incarnate, aren't we?" Kato pricked her finger with a needle and pressed her bloody mark onto the contract.
The scene froze there.
Ryo's consciousness lingered on the boy called the Vampire King for a long moment, then surged outward, sweeping across the entire planet.
He searched for the Vampire King's presence, but found nothing.
Another dimension? Or hiding within a fabricated world, using spatial isolation to block my perception…?
Ryo narrowed his eyes, said nothing, and turned his attention back to the frozen image.
Five fingers spread, grasping at empty space around the contract.
Outside the spiritual view, Snowdrift Wolf glimmered with a faint, subdued light.
It pulsed once.
Twice.
Ryo's fingers flexed in time with it.
On the third motion, his hand sank, seizing an energy mass from a higher-dimensional space.
He withdrew from the spiritual plane and returned fully to reality.
In his right hand, he was now holding another person's hand.
A woman with jet-black long hair, dressed in a black sailor uniform, eyes tightly shut. Behind her floated six pairs of illusory wings of light.
Ryo was gripping her hand.
The instant he saw her face, his eyes flashed in recognition.
It was Touka Fujisaka of the Lion King Organization.
The first-generation wielder of Snowdrift Wolf and the former observer of Meiga Itogami.
.
.
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