Chapter 478. Guarding Against Lesbians
「The drugged soldiers noticed nothing unusual upon waking. They simply assumed they had been overly exhausted and accidentally dozed off.」
「Having obtained intelligence on the Blade Hero, Blade, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was in no rush to strike immediately. To prevent the Second Princess Norn from sensing anything amiss, he planned to wait until the eve of the massacre to make his move.」
「In doing so, the Kingdom's side would have no buffer time and would be unable to realize that Blade's disappearance was not due to her typical self-indulgence, but rather because she had been targeted.」
「Before that moment arrived, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka spent his nights in revelry; Setsuna, Kureha, and Eve were all pushed to their limits by his torment. Similarly, during these days, Blade was also indulging in nightly debaucheries.」
「She spent all day wandering the city of Buranikka. Whenever she spotted a beautiful woman, she would approach her, use her charm to lure the girl back to her manor, and then immediately reveal her true colors. In a single night, she would toy with those beauties until they were convulsing and foaming at the mouth.」
「Not a single beautiful woman who entered Blade's manor survived the night. Every one of them went in that evening, only for a cold corpse to be sent out the next day.」
"Eek!?"
Watching Blade's actions, many girls trembled in fear.
To them, this heavy-tasting lesbian Blade, who toyed with girls until they died, was far more terrifying than the First Princess Flare or even the powerful King.
In this moment, they finally experienced the same bone-chilling revulsion the men felt when they saw the Cannon Hero or the "Ultimate Four."
Furuhashi Fumino shuddered on the spot and instinctively burrowed into Yuiga Nariyuki's arms. Yuiga Nariyuki pushed up his glasses, devoid of any particular ulterior motives.
Just like the time he accidentally saw Fumino completely naked in the bathhouse, he simply believed that, according to general common sense and morality, he shouldn't be looking—but he lacked any romantic sentiment regarding it.
Current Nariyuki was the same as back then; he lacked the emotional awareness for romance. He simply felt that since Fumino was scared, and if doing this reduced her fear, then so be it.
"Ugh…"
Bashfully hiding in Nariyuki's chest and being held by his gentle embrace, it was only then that Fumino realized what she had done. Her entire face turned beet red with embarrassment.
Yet, alongside the shame, she also felt a taste of happiness.
Fumino's heart pounded… having observed the romantic progression of Emilia and the others from a distance, she could tell that she had absolutely fallen deeply in love with Nariyuki.
"I—I… ugh!"
She wanted to confess, but her voice was as faint as a mosquito. Fumino, stumbling over her words, finally understood what a courageous act it was to summon the nerve to throw a "straight ball."
Regarding romantic intuition, Ogata Rizu—who was almost as dense as a wooden block—couldn't understand what the obviously acting-out Fumino was thinking. She only felt a sudden, subconscious surge of displeasure.
Seeing Fumino throw herself into Nariyuki's arms made her mood turn sour.
But Rizu didn't understand what was wrong with her. She simply followed her instincts and pounced onto Nariyuki's back, only to see Fumino's face stiffen.
At that moment, Rizu found her mood had become excellent. Entirely unable to comprehend herself, she could only mutter under her breath: "Why is that?"
The oblivious Rizu successfully took advantage of the situation.
Meanwhile, the Nakano sisters, who had long since undergone a transformation and understood their own feelings, were all charging toward their beloved Futaro like hungry tigers when Itsuki accidentally tripped them all.
"So scary, Ichika!"
Itsuki, frightened by Blade, wanted to seek comfort from her sister. She jumped toward Ichika, who couldn't brake in time and fell over.
As she fell, Nino, Miku, and Yotsuba—who were busy pulling at each other behind her—all crashed into the pile. With several consecutive thuds, the five sisters ended up in a tangled, head-over-heels heap on the floor.
"Naka~no~I~tsu~ki~"
Like a voice from the depths of hell, three resentful shouts made Itsuki flinch. Though she didn't know exactly what she'd done wrong, one listen to their tone told her: "I'm doomed!"
Uesugi Futaro, who understood nothing just like Rizu, scratched the back of his head in confusion at the farce.
At the same time, in the Concert Band club, Shuichi was overjoyed. He thought that no matter what, Kumiko was still a girl and would surely be afraid of the lesbian Blade.
In other words, this was his, Shuichi's, springtime!
He would let his childhood friend give him a good hug and fast-forward straight to being her boyfriend!
However, as he spread his arms and turned his head…
"It's okay, it's okay. I'll protect you, Reina."
Omae Kumiko was hugging her best friend, Kousaka Reina, affectionately. She looked exactly like a boyfriend doing what a boyfriend should do.
Shuichi felt that no matter how he looked at it, these two girls looked exactly like a lesbian couple.
He wailed toward the heavens: "No way!?"
But he didn't even have the freedom to wail. As soon as he cried out, Kumiko turned to glare at him: "What are you howling for? Shut up, Shuichi! Can't you see Reina is scared? Keep it up and I'll punch you!"
'Am I your childhood friend, or is she?' Shuichi, speechless and choking with grief, didn't dare say the words out loud.
Because he was truly afraid Kumiko would simply say, "What's a childhood friend? A hundred childhood friends can't compare to one Reina," then he would truly be finished.
Several male classmates who saw through his thoughts patted Shuichi on the shoulder with the expression of people visiting a grave: "Shuichi, our condolences."
"Heh… heh heh…"
Thousands of miles away, in a mochi shop, another pair of childhood friends were having a completely different experience. Mochizou Ōji had boldly and proactively put his arm around Tamako. Tamako initially didn't realize this was an intimate gesture, so she didn't resist at all.
By the time she realized, she was in a situation similar to Fumino's, too shy to raise her head and look at Mochizou.
In the Classic Literature Club, Chitanda Eru and Oreki were just beginning to feel a spark, but before she could act, Ibara Mayaka let out a scream and jumped onto Fukube Satoshi.
This immediately shattered the romantic atmosphere between Eru and Oreki. Neither had the courage to try anything after that.
Fukube Satoshi's lips twitched… he had been dying to see those two "get some sugar," but now he was technically the reason the sugar had been smashed. It was truly helpless.
Simultaneously, in Eriri's home where no men were present, Utaha, Eriri, and Katou Megumi first looked at one another, then all suddenly felt a chill. With two swift movements, they proactively backed away from each other.
A three-way standoff was established, with everyone keeping a significant distance, guarding against lesbians.
Blade's fearsomeness had reached a terrifying level.
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