What did you do to Lian, hm?
Su Yuzu looked at Kujou Iruka standing before her.
In her military uniform and that peaked cap so much her personal trademark, Kujou Iruka looked so dashing she could have been the Empress straight out of a CG.
Still~ sometimes Su Yuzu liked Kujou Iruka better in her full Aberration, in that getup that looked like a bikini paired with over-the-knee socks.
Especially… the CG from after her defeat, the over-the-knee socks all torn and tattered, Kujou Iruka slumped weakly in the seawater with her head tipped back.
She raised her hand and caught the fingertip Kujou Iruka had resting at the corner of her lips.
Su Yuzu looked at Kujou Iruka, the corners of her mouth curving up slowly, bit by bit.
"What did I do?"
"Shouldn't Sister Iruka know that better than anyone?"
The Blessing.
Su Yuzu's final trump card against Kujou Iruka.
Those who chase the Blessing seem fated to fall upon the Blessing in the end.
Truthfully, Su Yuzu hadn't planned on laying it out this early.
After all… Kujou Iruka herself had said it, hadn't she~?
Whoever flips their trump card first is the loser.
Su Yuzu would much rather have been the one to move second.
But~~~ a situation like this didn't seem to be a problem either.
For Kujou Iruka, who had fallen into the Abyss precisely because she chased the Blessing, the Blessing was practically a poison that would make her willingly sink into nightmare.
When your stakes are heavy enough, it hardly matters whether you flip your trump card first or last.
Kujou Iruka stared at Su Yuzu, at the girl standing before her.
Even inside the erosion domain, the girl's beautiful crimson eyes hadn't lost their true color, and the domain's filter hadn't tinted them.
On the contrary—
Inside the erosion domain, the girl's eyes seemed to shine even brighter.
Ever since she'd opened the erosion domain that morning, Kujou Iruka hadn't closed it once.
The erosion domain could block almost every kind of technology in the ordinary sense.
Once the vanguard against Aberrants, Kujou Iruka knew perfectly well how many bugs would be trembling as they tried to spy on her.
She hated bugs.
Besides… ordinary Aberrants burned their own stamina to open an erosion domain, and without power plundered from other living beings, they could hold one for a few hours, a few days at most.
For Kujou Iruka, ever since the day she fell into the Abyss, opening an erosion domain had been as easy as eating or breathing.
Oh. She'd forgotten.
These days, she had long since lost the right to eat.
But she could still savor other things.
For instance… the girl in front of her, holding her fingertip, utterly bewitching, smiling like a blooming flower.
Even Kujou Iruka, the Aberrant Empress with a heart already defiled by the Abyss, felt a faint flutter in her chest.
It was just like the first time she had received the Blessing of Lady Fate.
If she could go back twenty years, back to before Kujou Iruka had fallen into the Abyss…
If she had met a fairy as lovely as the girl holding her fingertip back then…
Perhaps she would never have gone chasing the illusory Blessing at all.
Kujou Iruka looked at the girl, grinning as if she had her by the throat and victory firmly in hand.
True—
Su Yuzu really did hold a weight heavy enough to turn the situation around. If only she weren't herself the far heavier weight.
Only children make choices.
Whether it was Su Yuzu or the Blessing, Kujou Iruka wanted them both.
If Kujou Iruka had first slipped into the Tokyo metropolitan area just to see what kind of fairy the girl who had tamed Kujou Katora really was…
then by now, she had probably already tasted the charm of this fairy.
Clearly—
this fairy hadn't even realized how serious her situation was.
Her right hand cradled in Su Yuzu's, Kujou Iruka steadfastly stroked her way up to Su Yuzu's cheek.
True, the girl in front of her had already tamed Kujou Katora.
She had already left her brand on Kujou Katora.
By all common sense, Kujou Iruka, who kept watch over Kujou Katora, ought to do no more than test Su Yuzu a little.
Bully her a bit, win back some face from her.
But… Kujou Iruka was Kujou Iruka, after all.
She had never once pretended to be a good sister.
As a child, she'd loved bullying Kujou Katora.
Whatever Kujou Katora liked, she was happy to buy for her.
Then… just as Kujou Katora was having the most fun, she'd snatch it right out of her hands.
So~
In the few photos of Kujou Katora that existed, you could often see a teary-faced, babyish little Katora sitting in Kujou Iruka's arms.
Empire's most powerful Valkyrie wiped away Su Yuzu's ingrained image of a strong, fervent, resilient Valkyrie, grinning like some arch-villain.
She held the cotton candy Kujou Katora had taken just one bite of, sat on Katora's favorite carousel, and cradled the sobbing Katora.
She really—
loved taking Kujou Katora's things.
Too bad… Kujou Katora had never shown Su Yuzu those forbidden… Shameful photos.
She had never brought up Kujou Iruka on her own, either.
Of course, if Su Yuzu wanted to ask, or wanted to see, Kujou Katora, practically Yuzu's dog, would never refuse.
But although Su Yuzu loved bullying people,
she preferred bullying girls in the flesh, or deliberately making them feel Shame, to touching the last line in a girl's heart.
Otherwise, Su Yuzu might have had some idea of Kujou Iruka's nature.
With her face cradled in Kujou Iruka's hands, Su Yuzu suddenly felt a little flustered.
She had never met anyone as unreasonable and illogical as Kujou Iruka.
Could it be that… Kujou Iruka, after falling into the Abyss, was no longer interested in the Blessing?
Kujou Iruka watched the flicker of panic in the girl's eyes, and her Aberrant body seemed to taste something exquisite.
On par with the Blessing, even.
"I want you to tell me—" Kujou Iruka stopped right in front of Su Yuzu, close enough that the chest of Su Yuzu's maid outfit pressed against the stiff buttons of her uniform.
Her breath, in her Aberrant form, carried no warmth at all. It brushed over the girl's earlobe and stirred a strand of her hair.
Su Yuzu shivered all over.
"The Blessing…"
"It's the Blessing, okay…"
The moment the words left her mouth, Su Yuzu knew she'd already lost.
But deep down, she was still stubbornly set on pinning Kujou Iruka to the table and running her Combat Records.
Beep—
Yuzu Card.
Kujou Iruka lifted her chin slightly.
Cradling Su Yuzu's face, she wanted her to raise that little head and look her in the eye.
In theory, this was the moment Su Yuzu should be blushing coyly, like a shy young girl. Unfortunately… having just shivered, Su Yuzu only glared back at Kujou Iruka in a huff.
Kujou Iruka didn't mind in the slightest.
"Come—"
"Please me with your Blessing."
"Otherwise—"
"I'll have no choice but to please myself with you."
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