In her mind, she had already made a little straw doll of Kujou Iruka and was busy sticking pins into it.
On the surface, though, Su Yuzu still had to put on a pitiful, long-suffering look.
She tugged at the slightly puffy hem of the maid dress, a thing far more decorative than practical.
Whatever else you could say about it… at least this skirt came close to covering her knees.
Up on the roof, Kujou Iruka had only just felt the girl's killing intent and scooted her rear away from it. Then she watched the girl pinch up a bit of the hem, and just like that, the feeling flew off to the ninth heaven.
How did that saying go again?
Human nature always settles for the middle ground.
If you told Su Yuzu straight out to wear a maid dress, she'd flatly refuse.
But if you first made her wear a yukata that couldn't even cover her thighs, and then handed her the maid dress…
She'd put it on all on her own.
Food and clothing, the basics.
With the clothing problem solved, the next problem to solve was food.
Obviously—
Su Yuzu couldn't expect Lian to bring her anything proper to eat.
At best, she'd pick some oversized fruit.
In a place blanketed with Calamity Aura, even the size and sweetness of fruit mutated as if someone had turned on cheats.
Su Yuzu gave Lian all the credit.
Even the Aberrant girl seemed so pleased at being praised that she tilted her chin up a little, which made Su Yuzu want to reach out and gently scratch under it.
Lian told Su Yuzu that some of the fruit wasn't actually that easy to pick.
There was a plant that looked like a strawberry vine, and it cared a great deal about its fruit.
If some weak Aberrant got curious and tried to pick it… the plant would wrap her in vines and leave her hanging for days.
Watching the girl in front of her slowly describe her life like this,
if Kujou Iruka hadn't dragged her back, Su Yuzu probably would have been happy to listen to her talk through the whole night, and then let her sleep on a lap pillow, leaning against her.
Though Lian looked small and adorable,
she was in fact a senior of the same generation as Ms. Unohana.
Ms. Unohana had already grown into a mature, beautiful woman, but Lian, who had fallen into the Abyss and become an Aberrant, seemed to have had her time frozen, trapped in the past forever.
Unable to resist, Su Yuzu reached out, wanting to pet the head of the Aberrant girl in front of her the way she would pet the other Lian.
Maybe it was because Kujou Iruka wasn't there.
Maybe it was because Su Yuzu had just listened earnestly to her whole story and praised her.
Lian didn't refuse.
As if enduring something, Lian closed her eyes completely in front of Su Yuzu for the first time… and waited for her touch.
Su Yuzu didn't push her luck.
She only brushed the girl's head lightly.
She didn't even mess up the carefully styled hair before pulling her hand back.
The Aberrant girl opened her eyes in a daze.
She had imagined how Su Yuzu would pet her.
Would it be powerful and rough, like Lady Kujou's?
Or would it be like the hand in her memories, belonging to someone she couldn't place, tender and doting?
It was neither—
The girl in front of her was cautious, and withdrew the moment she touched.
Su Yuzu was just Su Yuzu.
Not Kujou Iruka, and not that faceless person from her memories.
After a moment's hesitation, Lian took Su Yuzu's hand and placed it on top of her own head.
Only… it was nothing like the warm picture it seemed on the surface.
Su Yuzu could feel the strength in Lian's grip as she pulled her hand over.
Lian had once been a Fifth Sequence anti-Aberrant weapon. She could probably twist Su Yuzu's arm clean off without effort.
Su Yuzu gently ruffled Lian's head.
Looking at that small face, which finally showed a trace of movement on the Aberrant girl's features,
a different thought suddenly crossed Su Yuzu's mind.
If Lian, as an anti-Aberrant weapon, was Fifth Sequence, then her partner—
how strong had Ms. Unohana been back then?
At her peak—
Teacher Chiyo in her Death Squad state.
Su Yuzu gave a self-mocking little laugh.
Honestly… what was she even thinking?
She couldn't even be sure Lian and Teacher Chiyo had been comrades in the first place.
"..."
"Do you know Unohana Chiyo?" Su Yuzu asked the Aberrant girl in front of her.
She just came right out with it.
And then, in the next second—
the Aberrant girl seemed to seize up completely where she sat.
The silent-type girl, frozen in place, looked like a broken machine, a malfunctioning doll.
Those dark golden vertical pupils, once inorganic and distant, suddenly shook violently.
"Un…"
"Unohana…"
"Chiyo?"
Broken, halting sounds spilled from the Aberrant girl's mouth.
Seeing Lian's state, Su Yuzu already had a bad feeling.
She tried to pull her hand back, but the Aberrant girl caught her wrist at once.
It hurt—
it really hurt.
This was a Fifth Sequence Aberrant.
The girl, out of control, had no sense of restraint in her grip. Su Yuzu felt as though her forearm was about to snap, and her face twisted in pain.
"Chi…"
"Chi…"
"Chiyo…"
Lian kept murmuring the name Unohana Chiyo in fragments.
Inside her head, shattered… hollow… scattered memories seemed to be slowly piecing something together, tracing the face of the person who had stroked her head so tenderly and doting.
A terrifying pressure erupted in an instant.
Su Yuzu felt as if she were about to be hammered flat against the wall.
And yet her right hand was still locked in the other girl's grip.
"That idiot…" Up on the roof, Kujou Iruka's face turned ugly.
It was rare for an Aberrant to awaken a complete sense of self.
Lian might look fairly normal now, but in truth… her consciousness and personality were still fractured and in disarray.
Clearly—
that idiot Su Yuzu had stepped right on Lian's weak spot.
Unohana Chiyo?
The name rang a faint bell for Kujou Iruka.
She seemed to have been Lian's companion back in the day.
The one who had swung a greatsword like a steel plate and charged straight at her.
Her movements had been so savage they were practically plowing the ground.
Kujou Iruka hated that type most: brutes who knew nothing but brute force and had no technique at all.
But right now—
Kujou Iruka was ready to dash over and bail Su Yuzu out.
There wasn't a doctor anywhere around here.
If Su Yuzu carelessly got her arm snapped for real, Iruka would have to go kidnap a doctor for her.
What a hassle.
But… halfway through her dash, Kujou Iruka stopped dead in midair.
Dark golden vertical pupils shimmered with shifting light.
She saw… Su Yuzu take hold of the threads of Fate.
Facing this predicament, Su Yuzu bore the pain in her right hand and swept her left hand open to bring up the [Operator Development] panel.
Then… on Lian's panel, she tapped [Development] for "Basic Combat Records."
"Eeyaaaah!!!"
Thud—
The girl's knees knocked together, and she let go of Su Yuzu's hand and dropped to the floor on her knees.
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