[Ding—]
[Recruitable Operator detected.]
[Recruit?]
Without any hesitation, Su Yuzu tapped "Recruit."
Mihou Sakai's features could be considered pretty and youthful. When her Aberration was undone and she fell into Su Yuzu's arms... Su Yuzu, holding the girl tightly, had felt the astonishing potential of her bust.
Perhaps not yet on par with Saotome Yukina.
But... as a Combat-type Esper, the upright and perfect form of Mihou Sakai's figure was something the little rabbit couldn't compare to.
Developing little Mihou was definitely a profitable venture with no downside.
Besides... Mihou Sakai's resilience and kindness truly made even a bad woman like Su Yuzu feel a sense of pity for her.
[Ding ding ding ding ding—]
Mihou Sakai's character portrait appeared before Su Yuzu.
[★★★★★].
It was somewhat unexpected for Su Yuzu.
She had originally thought that a girl she had picked up so casually would probably be a one-star or two-star Operator, like POI or Yamabuki Nanako.
But... she was actually a golden legend.
Su Yuzu felt the joy of hitting the jackpot for free.
For a moment, the world turned into dark-colored cubes.
Mihou Sakai, her hair in twin tails, was half-kneeling on the hospital bed, draped only in a plain white hospital sheet.
The girl's right hand, clutching the sheet, lifted slightly, and on her left side... the plain white sheet slid down her slender shoulder.
The portrait froze.
"Yuzu-senpai's sleeping face... is... is so pretty."
"Ah!"
"Sorry."
"I think I stared for too long by accident."
Gulp—
Su Yuzu swallowed subconsciously.
This... this sheet is so white.
No, this sheet is so round.
Combat-type Espers are really something else.
Hitting the jackpot for free?
This is an ace!
An ACE!!!
[Operator: Mihou Sakai]
[★★★★★]
[Level 10 - Body Restoration Esper]
[Talent: Perfect Execution]
[Talent: Unyielding Will]
[Inherent Ability: Return from the Abyss]
[A first-year student at Keigunen Private Academy and a victim of the "Insight" Project. A seemingly insecure girl who will absolutely obey her commander's orders on any battlefield.]
[Initial Favorability: 51 (Admiration)]
The color of the girl's favorability was the same vibrant red as Soga Yura's and Ms. Unohana's.
Looking at Mihou Sakai's portrait.
Without a moment's hesitation, Su Yuzu immediately set the girl as the assistant on her system interface.
"Eh..."
"Me?"
"Senpai..."
"Would you really choose me?"
A timid, soft voice. The girl in the portrait looked as if she wanted to prop herself up.
Su Yuzu was so moved that tears were about to stream from the corners of her mouth. Sniffle... She's so obedient.
Then... Su Yuzu looked at the frozen portrait and the plain white sheet that was conveniently stuck at the girl's elbow.
She silently gave the system a bad review.
She's just too alluring.
But... tilting her head, Su Yuzu looked at Mihou Sakai's rarity.
[★★★★★]
Dark gold stars.
Opening the "Operator Index," Su Yuzu double-checked with the little rabbit, who was also a five-star Operator.
[☆☆☆☆☆]
Brilliant, shining gold stars.
It wasn't her imagination.
Mihou Sakai was a completely different type of Operator from the little rabbit and the others.
Su Yuzu carefully examined Mihou Sakai's abilities.
[Body Restoration] was self-explanatory.
It was purely literal.
As for "Perfect Execution"... it meant that as her ability improved, the girl would constantly move toward perfection in all aspects.
Including... her figure.
That was amazing.
An ability that was just a balanced, all-around stat boost in a game was simply fantastic in reality.
No matter how hard she trained, she wouldn't develop the kind of powerful muscles you'd see on a "Protein Queen" from a textbook.
But her strength, flexibility, speed, endurance, and the excellence of her figure would continuously improve.
Mihou Sakai was truly an ace she was lucky to have found.
"Unyielding Will" would grant the girl tenacious willpower, and at the same time, she would grow stronger with every injury.
Combined with "Body Restoration" and "Perfect Execution," it was a perfect combo.
There were no issues with these.
So the problem must lie with... "Return from the Abyss."
Su Yuzu tapped on the description for "Return from the Abyss."
[Return from the Abyss: A girl who has returned from the abyss of Aberration. ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, all abilities will be greatly enhanced.]
This was indeed the problem.
"Se... Senpai..." a timid, gentle voice called out.
Feeling her senpai's fingertips tracing the calluses in her palm, Mihou Sakai frantically tried to pull her hand back.
It was hard to say if it was out of shyness... or because she didn't want Su Yuzu to touch her ugly parts.
Su Yuzu held Mihou Sakai's hand tightly.
"There's nothing to hide..."
"These are proof of your hard work, Sakai-san."
"Eh?" Her pretty, light green eyes shot up.
She studied Su Yuzu intently, as if wanting to sear the girl's smile into her heart.
[Ding—]
[Comfort: Mihou Sakai Favorability +1]
[Favorability Increase Reward Obtained: Girl's Recipe Notebook.]
"Ha... Hard work..."
"Everyone has seen your hard work, Sakai-san," Su Yuzu said, gently holding the girl's hand.
Ms. Unohana had said... Mihou Sakai often trained past 11 PM.
During the entrance examination, the girl had so many injuries that the teacher in charge almost suspected her family was abusing her.
They were only reassured after observing the girl for over a month and confirming that the injuries were indeed from her own training.
The girl trained too frantically.
So frantically that even "Body Restoration" couldn't keep up with erasing the injuries and calluses on her body.
"She's so kind..."
"Senpai... is truly so kind..."
In her light green eyes, tears seemed to be welling up.
But—
The kinder her senpai was, the more she praised her efforts, the closer Mihou Sakai's heart came to collapsing.
"There's no chance anymore."
"There's no hope left."
"For me..."
"Having once been an Aberrant... I have no future to speak of."
Biting her lip hard, the girl tried with all her might not to cry.
But the tears were uncontrollably about to fall.
"Unfortunate, unfortunate, unfortunate, unfortunate—"
Her unfortunate fate had nearly struck her down.
The girl could only try her best to lift her head, trying to keep the tears from spilling from her eyes.
"M-Mom said... when you're about to cry, if you just look up and smile, the tears won't come out."
At the door to the hospital room, Kujou Katora sneered at Su Yuzu.
"Your kindness... is just poison to her, a futile attempt to quench her thirst."
"And you... will pay the price for your kindness and recklessness. You'll kneel before me like a puppy, all dignity lost."
"If you want to cry..."
"...then just cry." Su Yuzu gently hugged Mihou Sakai.
She rested her chin on the girl's head.
The body in her arms... was so soft.
And so slender.
It made one's heart ache.
"Wuu..."
"Waaaaah..." No longer able to hold back, the girl wrapped her arms around Su Yuzu's waist and began to wail.
"The Goddess of Fate..."
"...smiles upon strong girls," Su Yuzu whispered in the girl's ear.
"Can you stop spouting that useless chicken soup for the soul..." Kujou Katora's expression suddenly turned cold.
"The Goddess of Fate?"
"To think someone would actually believe in that bitch."
If there really was some Goddess of Fate in this world...
...why was she so unfair to the Kujou family?
Hadn't the Kujou family sacrificed enough for this world, for the fate of humanity?
Why did she have to... curse the Kujou family again and again?
Kujou Katora's crimson eyes fixed on Su Yuzu.
"Su Yuzu—"
"I originally thought you'd at least be as interesting as your sister, but I never expected..."
Holding Mihou Sakai tightly, Su Yuzu listened to Kujou Katora's words.
Then... she gently tapped [Develop].
Checking the glittering crest, Su Yuzu tapped confirm.
Dark gold runes suddenly bloomed, pushing Su Yuzu away from her tight embrace with Mihou Sakai and circling around the girl.
Kujou Katora's words caught in her throat.
She stared blankly at Su Yuzu and Mihou Sakai, holding her breath for a long moment...
"Damn it."
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