Of course—
Kujou Iruka's refusal wasn't entirely because her jealousy jar had tipped over.
A mere little sister she hadn't seen in twenty-odd years.
A mere subordinate who had followed her for twenty-odd years.
How could that possibly make her, the Seventh Sequence "Seat of Garan" herself, churn with a sea of jealousy?
Aside from that faint, negligible trace of jealousy, there was another important reason—Su Yuzu's phone had died from all her playing with it.
It was still in the Tokyo metropolitan area, charging at the inn Kujou Iruka had checked into.
Having finally made it to a human metropolis, Kujou Iruka was determined to enjoy herself to the fullest.
That included the phone, no exception.
If only those electronic devices weren't so fragile.
Back when she had corrupted and fallen into the Abyss, the erosion domain she'd unleashed had turned every phone in the area into electronic scrap.
These past twenty years... had she really been that bored?
[Twenty years. Twenty years...]
"Do you know how I spent these twenty years?"
Over those twenty years, Kujou Iruka had come close to counting every single feather on her wings out of sheer boredom.
The proud Seventh Sequence "Seat of Garan" had even disguised herself as a Low Sequence Aberrant, intimidating and robbing phones and laptops from passing ants she looked down on the most.
And then—
Kujou Iruka discovered two problems.
She couldn't unlock them.
She couldn't complete the authentication.
And she couldn't charge them either.
Truly worthy of the electronic scrap those small, lowly ants produced.
Kujou Iruka seemed to have completely forgotten how much fun she'd had holding Su Yuzu's phone and playing with it, from last night until this morning, right after Su Yuzu's first fainting spell.
The times had moved on, technology had advanced—even games had gotten flashier than they were twenty years ago.
Especially when she'd scrolled to the photos Su Yuzu had saved—the ones she'd taken of Kujou Katora.
A tangle of mixed feelings churned inside Kujou Iruka.
She'd wanted to see them so badly—
Watching Kujou Katora's silhouette from far away, gazing across the Tokyo metropolitan area, was surely nothing like seeing her up close in photographs Su Yuzu had taken.
But... seeing the Kujou Katora in those photos—the one who should have been consumed with hatred and resentment toward her, fierce as The Empire's Hound—
looking instead at Su Yuzu, who had taken those pictures.
Some of them were absolutely off-the-charts shameful—like the one in a maid outfit, wearing an obedient, pleading expression, or the one in the Investigation Bureau's Fourth Action Division combat suit, holding out the chain of the collar around her neck toward the camera in a display of utterly shameless Shame.
And yet in every one, that same expectant look remained—like a big dog who'd just finished a task for its master, hungry for its master's reward.
Kujou Iruka nearly wanted to pin Su Yuzu to the ceiling again and have a little discussion about the finer techniques of using a Throne.
The one who took those photos... wasn't me.
The one who could take Kujou Katora's hand and make her smile like that... wasn't me either.
That Kujou Iruka hadn't simply torn Su Yuzu apart on the spot already counted as remarkable restraint.
After all, if anyone dared toy with Soga Yura like that—
Su Yuzu would turn into a demon on the spot and make sure to even the score.
But—
Su Yuzu didn't know any of this, and wouldn't have cared even if she did.
She simply watched Kujou Iruka, who had just flatly refused her, and began scheming something else entirely in her mind.
Su Yuzu wasn't without some means of reaching the Tokyo metropolitan area.
She still had one last trump card.
The Favorability between Kujou Katora and Su Yuzu had already broken past 100, and was now stuck at 199 (Fanatic Pledge).
One could say that short of Su Yuzu handing Kujou Katora a dagger and telling her to stab herself, there was nothing Kujou Katora wouldn't do.
The only thing Kujou Katora absolutely could not bring herself to do was hurt Su Yuzu.
What's more—once Favorability broke past 100 (Pledge), there was one huge bonus unlocked.
Su Yuzu could remotely Feed Kujou Katora.
She could use Combat Records on Kujou Katora, use the various potions from her Material Inventory on her.
Change her outfits, and... other things too.
Originally this system was meant to boost the coordinated combat ability between Su Yuzu and Kujou Katora, letting Su Yuzu take care of her Operator during battle and reducing the difficulty of Development.
But... occasionally, it could also be used for other purposes.
Su Yuzu looked at Kujou Iruka—
You brought this on yourself!!!
Without exchanging any more words with Kujou Iruka, Su Yuzu returned to that state of feeling imprisoned.
Only now the room had changed from the single-person space before to Lian's room.
The Aberrant girl sat cross-legged before Su Yuzu, staring almost blankly at Su Yuzu, who lay there before her as if completely defenseless.
"Your hem..." Lian reminded Su Yuzu quietly.
After Kujou Iruka left, Lian's expression had gradually, bit by bit, come alive.
Su Yuzu tugged at the hem of her garment.
The yukata-style robe was already so short to begin with, and with no long under-robe or underwear beneath it, the slightest movement left nothing hidden.
Su Yuzu simply propped herself up and sat upright.
In front of her, the silent-type Aberrant girl still wore her usual expressionless look, but in her dark golden vertical pupils, a faint shimmer of moisture seemed to have gathered.
"I'll go..."
"...find you something else to wear."
Su Yuzu looked at Lian, then nodded.
Perfect—
That way she could get Lian out of the room for a while.
As for whether Lian might run into trouble outside?
Don't be ridiculous.
She was a Fifth Sequence Aberrant, someone strong enough to walk unchallenged across this entire land, not to mention she carried the [Godslayer] Talent and Inherent Ability—the kind of name that made people uneasy just hearing it.
What could possibly happen to Lian?
Su Yuzu watched the girl push up on her knees, rise, and take small steps toward the door—then suddenly turn back.
The Aberrant girl leaned against the doorframe.
"Don't run—"
"Lord Iruka will be angry."
"Besides... Miss Yuzu should understand that there's nowhere for her to run."
On the day she met Su Yuzu, Lian had spoken more words than she had in an entire year with Kujou Iruka.
Su Yuzu nodded to show she understood.
Run?
With the Seventh Sequence Kujou Iruka standing guard here, where could she possibly run?
Tomorrow she'd probably have to talk to Kujou Iruka again, to figure out what exactly Kujou Iruka wanted.
But for now, Su Yuzu watched the closed door.
She pulled a roll of bandages out of her Material Inventory.
It was Sakura Mai's Favorability Gift.
Though it looked like an ordinary sweat-absorbing bandage, by category it was classified alongside little rabbit's bandaids as an "Apparel" type item.
She took out a marker and began writing on the bandage.
The content was simple—just that she was fine for now, and that Sister Katora shouldn't worry too much.
Also—could Sister Katora please let Soga Yura know, and maybe keep an eye on Soga Yura, so Sister doesn't do anything reckless.
What was meant to be a simple message letting them know she was safe somehow kept getting longer and longer as Su Yuzu wrote.
There was more and more she wanted to say to Soga Yura too, but considering the bandage would eventually be wrapped around Kujou Katora's body, Su Yuzu had to allocate some of the space to Kujou Katora as well.
Things like—Kujou Iruka didn't actually seem so unreasonable after all.
She often looked toward the Tokyo metropolitan area, toward you, and so on.
In the room next to Lian's, sitting on the roof, Kujou Iruka watched Lian scurry off in a hurry, and watched... Su Yuzu writing furiously.
Being able to see all the way to the Tokyo metropolitan area, sensing exactly what a girl was doing within her own tiny domain wasn't remotely difficult for Kujou Iruka.
She'd originally intended to stop Su Yuzu.
But... seeing the kind words Su Yuzu was writing about her on the bandage, Kujou Iruka gave up on that plan.
She simply failed to notice the faint, triumphant smile curling at the corner of the girl's lips.
Su Yuzu, who had once unfurled a gray domain of her own, understood perfectly well the absolute control a domain's master held over their own little world.
She was doing it on purpose.
"All right~" The bandage was now covered edge to edge in Su Yuzu's dense handwriting.
For a moment, Su Yuzu even considered writing in her native language, which would have been far more convenient.
After all, Soga Yura could read it perfectly well, and it wouldn't make the bandage too long, wouldn't leave Kujou Katora gasping for breath when wrapped, and wouldn't be such a hassle to unwind later.
But in the end, pen in hand, Su Yuzu felt a small flicker of hesitation.
A deep breath—
Su Yuzu put the bandage back into her Material Inventory.
She swiped open Kujou Katora's status panel.
In [Operator Development], Kujou Katora's Q-version chibi seemed to be inside a conference room.
There seemed to be quite a few people around her—quite a few girls Su Yuzu recognized.
She knew full well this might get Kujou Katora socially executed, but Su Yuzu didn't have time to spare for hesitation.
She swiped quickly into [Development], and on the option she'd nearly forgotten about—the one with the smallest side effects, "Basic Combat Records"—she tapped confirm.
Su Yuzu glanced in Kujou Iruka's direction.
[You made me do this!]
Kujou Iruka watched the girl's strange expression.
For some reason—even though Su Yuzu was clearly writing kind words about her on the bandage, as if fawning or currying favor—
Kujou Iruka felt a strange, subtle unease all the same.
Was it just her imagination?
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