What does it feel like to poach someone's girl, wall corner and all, right in front of a person you have no hope of beating?
Kujou Iruka wasn't even giving off any terrifying pressure, yet Su Yuzu still felt her life flickering like a candle in the wind.
The character "danger" might as well have been written across her thighs.
Hm.
Exactly six strokes, too.
There didn't seem to be any good way out other than becoming Kujou Iruka's wall corner, or turning Kujou Iruka into one.
Su Yuzu stared at Kujou Iruka and tried to push herself up off the ground.
But… there was still a girl pressed against her chest, the front of her maid outfit clutched in a death grip by the Aberrant girl. Su Yuzu honestly had no idea how to get up.
All she could do was hold that pose, the one that looked exactly like being caught cheating, and gape awkwardly at Kujou Iruka. "N-no, it's not what you think, Sister Iruka."
Damn… somehow that sentence only made things worse.
Sure enough.
The moment the words left Su Yuzu's mouth, Kujou Iruka's face darkened even further.
And… Su Yuzu noticed another awkward problem.
The house.
It had collapsed.
The Aberrant girl was no professional builder. It was just an ordinary Japanese-style wooden house, so how could it possibly withstand the outburst of a Fifth Sequence Aberrant?
Besides… even a reinforced concrete building would be no different from paper in front of a Fifth Sequence Aberrant.
The reason Su Yuzu could hear Kujou Iruka's footsteps so clearly.
The reason she could turn her head and see Kujou Iruka's furious face right away.
It was because Lian had already torn the whole house down.
There had never been many buildings here to begin with. Su Yuzu had demolished one that morning, Lian had demolished one that afternoon, and now only a single lonely hut remained standing amid the broken walls and rubble.
Before Su Yuzu could say anything,
"Lian!" Kujou Iruka barked.
The girl pinned beneath Su Yuzu pushed herself up on trembling legs, and Su Yuzu was flipped right over, landing on her back at Kujou Iruka's feet.
The girl in the maid outfit looked a little undignified in that pose.
Her expression wasn't exactly alluring either. If anything, it was a bit flustered.
But… she was Su Yuzu, after all.
Even lying there like that, the girl was strikingly beautiful.
At the very least,
seeing her own adjutant curled up in Su Yuzu's arms looking thoroughly bullied, and now barely managing to stand with her legs wobbling, knees practically knocking together,
Kujou Iruka rather wanted to pry open Su Yuzu's mouth and ask her, very carefully, exactly what she had done to Lian.
And then… win back some ground.
But Kujou Iruka didn't.
She only stared coldly at Lian, who was barely holding herself upright, then glanced at Su Yuzu, who was scrambling to her feet.
Kujou Iruka could sense it clearly:
just now… Su Yuzu had plucked a thread of Fate.
Something like a "Blessing" had descended on Lian because of it.
To Kujou Iruka, that was something unfathomable… and something she could never resist.
The Kujou Iruka of the past had chased that very thread, the one plucked by Lady Fate.
She had chased the "Blessing" that Lady Fate bestowed, become drunk on it, obsessed with it, and step by step she had descended into the Abyss and fallen into darkness.
That was also one of the main reasons Kujou Katora had once screamed curses at that bitch Lady Fate.
However much she seemed to hate Kujou Iruka, in Kujou Katora's heart her sister… no, that person had fallen into the Abyss because of Lady Fate's seduction.
Though… to this day, Kujou Katora herself had also willingly jumped into the trap Lady Fate had so carefully woven.
And that Lady Fate was named Su Yuzu.
Back to the point.
Ever since she fell into the Abyss,
Kujou Iruka had never tasted the flavor of Lady Fate's "Blessing" again.
Lady Fate seemed to be a goddess on humanity's side.
She had long since cast away any Aberrant who fell into the Abyss.
Worse still… after those powerful Aberrants were slain, she would grant the "Blessing" as a reward to their killers.
Kujou Iruka had never once heard of
an Aberrant receiving the Goddess of Fate's Blessing.
Twenty years… nearly ten thousand days and nights…
Kujou Iruka felt she had almost forgotten the past, when she chased Lady Fate's Blessing and ultimately fell into darkness.
But… when she saw Su Yuzu pick up the thread of Fate,
when she saw Lian, shrinking in Su Yuzu's arms and so clearly touched by the Goddess of Fate's Blessing,
Kujou Iruka had to admit it. Her heart stirred.
A heart that had been parched for twenty years caught the scent of sweet rain once more.
She was the Seventh Sequence Empress of the Abyss, a sovereign in all but name… and yet Su Yuzu plucking a thread of Fate had made her heart stir.
She craved the "Blessing."
Craved the taste of the "Blessing."
But how could Kujou Iruka let any of that show in front of Su Yuzu?
She only watched Su Yuzu and Lian coldly.
"Lian!"
"Y-yes…" Her voice was weak and feeble.
Having chased Lady Fate's "Blessing" countless times, Kujou Iruka knew exactly what Lian needed most right now.
"Go take a bath."
"Yes!!!" On unsteady feet, Lian clutched the Special Candied Haws in her hand and fled, or rather shuffled, toward the hot spring.
Her geta clogs clacked against the ground.
But… for a Fifth Sequence Aberrant, her steps could only be described as a shuffle.
Among the ruins, only Su Yuzu and Kujou Iruka remained.
Kujou Iruka, in her military uniform, closed in one step at a time, and Su Yuzu found herself wanting to back away.
But… she had to steel herself, puff out her chest, and glare back at Kujou Iruka.
Kujou Iruka's expression suddenly turned mocking.
After all… the maid outfit Su Yuzu was wearing was one Kujou Iruka had personally picked out for a girl.
Not to mention~
it suited the girl's figure rather well.
Quite… shapely.
Kujou Iruka stopped right in front of Su Yuzu and caught the enticing fragrance drifting from the girl's body.
Fresh out of the hot spring, she seemed even more bewitching.
So bewitching that Kujou Iruka felt the faintest urge to devour the girl whole.
She looked at Su Yuzu,
her expression gradually turning serious, and then… reached out to touch the girl's cheek.
Her slender, cold fingertip came to rest at the corner of Su Yuzu's mouth.
"What did you do to Lian?"
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