Chapter 165: Kasumigaoka Utaha's Second Act! King!
Kasumigaoka Utaha had a habit.
She liked to stay alone on the rooftop. She cherished the quiet, peaceful, and uncrowded atmosphere.
In this serene environment, she could rest, think, or, most importantly, harness her inspiration to write her manuscript.
Today, she came to the rooftop as usual, her laptop bag slung over her shoulder. She sat down in her favorite spot by the railing, a raised concrete platform that overlooked the sports field.
Her smooth, black-stockinged legs were pressed neatly together, and her hands rested naturally on her lap.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two empty bento boxes left on the ground near the wall, just a few feet away.
"Is anyone else here?"
She surveyed the surroundings of the rooftop. It was an open space; there were no visual obstructions. Yet, she didn't find anyone at all.
How strange. Maybe they left in a hurry.
Unsure what was going on, she decided not to bother with it. She took out her laptop, opened her editor, and with a slight frown of concentration, began to delve into her inspirational thoughts, her fingers flying across the keys.
A while later, she stopped her work, a sigh escaping her lips.
She took a piece of melon bread from her backpack. This was her lunch.
Her home was quite far from the school. To make the commute easier, she lived alone in a small rented apartment. Yesterday, she had stayed up far too late finishing a chapter, causing her to wake up late this morning. Rushing to school, she hadn't had time to prepare a proper lunch.
So, she could only fill her stomach with cheap bread, a reality she was already used to anyway.
Her eyes remained fixed on her laptop screen, editing a line of dialogue, as she brought the bread to her mouth and took a bite without looking.
"Hmm?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha paused, looking at the bread in surprise.
"Why is today's bread... damp?"
It wasn't just damp; it was slightly sticky, as if it had been spritzed with water.
However, when she turned her head, she also noticed a few small, pearlescent water stains on her laptop screen.
She frowned and looked up at the sky. The sky was crystal clear and cloudless.
"Is it going to be a sun shower? How bizarre."
She had just looked up and mumbled that single sentence.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"
A sudden, light spray of 'rainwater' splashed directly onto her face, with some landing in her open mouth.
Kasumigaoka Utaha spat instinctively, a look of disgust on her face. It had a strange, sharp taste. Salty, and slightly metallic. Not like rain at all.
She suddenly remembered having almost the exact same experience in this very spot last time.
"!!!"
Her eyes darted around in a panic, and a shiver ran down her spine, her body trembling.
"There... there aren't ghosts, are there?"
School was always rife with campus legends. Horror stories like Hanako-san in the toilet. Adding to that, Kasumigaoka Utaha herself was a writer with a rich, and sometimes overactive, imagination.
Two extremely similar, eerie incidents involving strange, salty "rain" on a clear day... it immediately made her think of ghosts, spirits, or some other lecherous yokai.
The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became.
She quickly stood up, slamming her laptop shut. She didn't want to stay here for another second.
Ignoring the dust on her skirt, she immediately grabbed her things and ran for the rooftop exit.
"..."
From a hidden corner of the rooftop, concealed by a spatial distortion, Ren stood holding the blushing, disheveled Megumi Kato in his arms. Her head was buried in his chest, and he was calmly fastening his pants.
Just moments before Utaha's arrival, Megumi had been kneeling in front of him, her head in his lap, her soft hair brushing his thighs. Her determination to "satisfy him" had been... overwhelmingly successful. As he climaxed, he had used his vector control to direct the spray away from them, sending it arcing over the edge of the raised platform.
They had heard Utaha's footsteps just as they were finishing, and Ren had immediately pulled Megumi up and veiled them from sight, just before Utaha sat down... right in the splash zone. They had watched the entire, bizarre scene unfold.
Ren looked down at the spot where Utaha had been sitting, then at the fleeing girl. His expression was a bit strange.
"Does this count as an alternative way for the 'mob heroines' to get to know each other?"
Megumi just burrowed her face deeper into his chest, too embarrassed to even speak.
Wednesday.
Student Council Room.
Today, there were only two people in the Student Council office. Ren, sitting comfortably on the sofa, and Kaguya Shinomiya, sitting beside him, maintaining a dignified and elegant posture.
In reality, Kaguya's mind was racing.
The President is sitting right next to me... Should I reach out? Should I hold his hand?
According to TV dramas, this is the point where one should naturally hold the other's hand and then confess, right?
Hmm, or should I just propose to the President?
No, no, a proposal should be made by the man... Wait, is there actually a rule about that? I don't think so!
Wow! But I don't have a ring! Should I text Ai-chan to prepare one for me right now? Or ten? No, that's tacky. A custom one!
Beneath Kaguya's calm and dignified exterior, she was frantically planning, not a confession, but her own marriage. This was Kaguya after her ultimate growth; her love-struck brain had upgraded directly to a wife-material brain.
Her mind wasn't on dating. It was on...
Marriage! Marriage! Marriage! Marry him now, right now! I have the registration forms in my bag!
Ren didn't have a habit of prying into others' thoughts, so he naturally had no idea what Kaguya was thinking. But he did have something he needed her help with.
"Kaguya."
Kaguya's head snapped toward him, her response almost instantaneous. "Yes, President! Is there something you need?"
"..."
Ren was momentarily stunned by her lightning-fast, almost too eager response.
He collected his thoughts and said, "Can you help me find an apartment building?"
Yes, he wanted to move. His current apartment's rooms were severely lacking in space for his growing family.
He could, of course, use his spatial abilities to create new spaces internally, but that felt... artificial. When it came to a home, it was definitely better to have a real, substantial, physical structure.
Anyway, he wasn't short on money at all, so he might as well buy a new building.
"A... a whole building?" Kaguya's eyes widened slightly, though she maintained her composure.
Ren nodded. "Yes, I'm planning to buy an entire building. There are too many people living at my home now, and it's getting a bit cramped."
"Too many people... Yes, it does seem so."
Thinking of the many beautiful women she knew were living in Ren's home, Kaguya felt a pang of... agreement. It was definitely too crowded.
As for those women... before, she would have tried everything to exclude them. Now, she would only choose to get along with them harmoniously. (As long as she was the main wife, of course).
"Then, President, what are your requirements for the building?" Kaguya had already swiftly taken out a notepad and a rather expensive-looking pen, ready to take notes.
The President's request! It must be fulfilled perfectly!
Rubbing his chin with one hand, Ren slowly stated his needs. "First, it needs to have enough units, since quite a few people will be living there. At least twenty or thirty apartments."
"Secondly, each unit needs to be large enough. I'm talking multiple bedrooms, a large living room, ample space. Some people, like Leone and her friends, prefer to live together as a group."
He was thinking of Night Raid. They needed space, perhaps even a training area.
"Then, regarding the location, it's best if there are plenty of shopping malls and conveniences nearby. No issues with transportation or lighting."
He didn't have to worry about anyone making noise; it was just a matter of adjusting vector parameters or controlling his aura. With his current abilities, he could even set up a spatial protective layer around the entire building. Safety and privacy were not an issue.
"Finally, it should be as empty as possible. I want to buy the entire building."
This was the tricky part. It was rare for a building with over twenty units in a prime location to be completely empty. He didn't expect it to be 100% vacant, but at least enough units should be available.
"Okay, I understand. Please await my good news, President." Kaguya nodded, having noted down all the conditions.
And in the last point, she quietly added her own note: "No other men allowed!"
Then, Kaguya took out her old-fashioned flip phone and sent all the requirements to Hayasaka Ai.
"..."
Hayasaka Ai, currently in her "gyaru" disguise at her own school, read all the information on her smartphone and immediately felt depressed.
"My Young Lady has given me work outside of my normal duties again... I'm so tired!"
A wave of negative emotions surged forth. If her Young Lady didn't start taking better care of her, she was seriously going to collapse.
Straightening her expression, she then felt strange about her Young Lady's task. Finding a building? Did her Young Lady need to live in another building? The Shinomiya Family mansion is more than sufficient...
"Ai-chan, want to go to the convenience store?" A girl dressed in a similar gyaru style suddenly asked her.
Hayasaka Ai's expression instantly shifted. She put on a bright, carefree smile and gave a peace-sign hand gesture: "Totally! OK!"
This was Hayasaka Ai's current disguised identity at school. She sighed internally, but kept all of Kaguya's matters firmly in her mind.
Boom!
Bang!
Smoke billowed, rising in thick, black columns that choked the sky. Flames spread from block to block, and massive explosions erupted continuously.
The city's skyscrapers and buildings crumbled one after another, raining debris, tiles, and glass onto the streets below.
Even more strangely, six massive, peculiar metal blades floated in the sky, shimmering with power. Each blade was embedded with gems of different colors, and their bodies shone with surging, multicolored light: Golden, silver, red, blue, green, and gray.
Among them, only the golden and red lights were the most dazzling and intense.
A great battle was raging in this city. A war of the Kings.
A thick, gray mist permeated a large area, and bullets imbued with a strange power shot out from within it. A curly-haired man with a gun moved along the edge of the battlefield, using the debris as cover.
His name was Tenkei Iwafune, originally Seigo Ootori. The Sixth King, the Gray King, in charge of "Guard."
The bullets shot from his hand attacked a white-haired old man at the center of the conflict. However, the moment the bullets approached him, they were completely pulverized by an invisible, crushing aura.
Within the battlefield, it was a chaotic melee. Four against one.
A silver-haired man holding a white parasol flew through the air, repeatedly enduring the heavy, devastating punches of the white-haired old man.
"Wake up! Lieutenant! This isn't you!" The silver-haired man anxiously shouted, being sent flying like a cannonball by a punch strong enough to shatter the building he crashed into, yet his body remained completely unharmed.
He was Adolf K. Weismann. The First King, the Silver King, in charge of "Immutability" and "Indestructibility." The origin of all Kings, the overseer of the sky. His ability was the King's power that could not be interfered with; he could manipulate gravity and maintain an eternal appearance and life.
The moment Weismann was sent flying, the other attacks descended.
Surging crimson flames that melted steel;
Green, violent lightning that tore the air apart;
A focused, blue energy impact that distorted the space around it;
All three attacked the white-haired old man at the same time.
The attackers were three people.
Mikoto Suoh, with wild red hair, wearing a simple short-sleeved shirt, and surrounded by boiling, destructive flames. The Third King, the Red King, in charge of "Violence."
Nagare Hisui, with pure white hair, wearing a white robe, and surrounded by surging green lightning. The Fifth King, the Green King, in charge of "Change."
Reisi Munakata, with neat blue hair, wearing glasses, and dressed in a long, formal blue suit. The Fourth King, the Blue King, in charge of "Order."
The white-haired old man whom these five Kings were jointly fighting stood his ground. He had white hair and a matching white beard, slightly darker skin, and wore ancient, elegant, and majestic attire.
His name was Kokujoji Daikaku. The Second King, the Golden King, in charge of "Destiny."
He was also, without question, the strongest King. The Dominator of the land.
[Inorin Note:
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