"Miss Yuzu, are you going to the hospital to see Lady Kujou?"
"Or will you wait for Lady Kujou to return?"
Looking at Su Yuzu's stunned expression, the young female superintendent standing quietly by her door asked softly.
For the girl before her, who always had a lazy air about her, the woman's heart was now filled with nothing but endless admiration.
That day... her own Lady Kujou had knelt before Su Yuzu with a look of utter humiliation, letting out a cry of such shame that it made the woman's jaw drop.
The most terrifying part was... her Lady Kujou didn't even try to settle the score afterward.
When she ordered them to investigate the "Eye of Insight," any mention of Su Yuzu... would bring a complicated look to her face, as if she'd muster some resolve only for it to deflate immediately.
"This is too strange."
So strange it was as if... as if Lady Kujou had been 'tamed' by the girl before her.
That's it—
"Tamed."
She repeated the word in her mind, then quickly shook her head to drive the horrifying thought from her mind.
"Too strange."
Su Yuzu had no idea that the superintendent before her, who appeared so prim and proper with her cold, pretty face, was thinking such bizarre things.
Su Yuzu was thinking about the matter of Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
Whether by common sense or by the plot, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, having Fallen and become a Second Sequence Aberrant, should have been beyond any hope of salvation.
But... the superintendent before her had said she was the victim of an attack.
And was still being treated in the hospital.
This plunged Su Yuzu into a strange state of confusion.
Deeply confused, yet also a little relieved—
Relieved that Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi hadn't completely Fallen and become corrupted, turning into something inhuman.
Otherwise, she would have felt guilty.
"Let's go to the hospital and see." She smiled at the young female superintendent before her.
No matter how she thought about it, she wanted to go to the hospital and see for herself what Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's condition was.
And while she was at it... she could also go find young Sakai and 'collect' today's "Combat Records".
"Yes, ma'am." The young female superintendent nodded lightly.
Then, she inadvertently saw the torn curtains in Su Yuzu's room.
Hiss—
Yesterday, before Lady Kujou and Miss Yuzu went to the movies, the curtains were perfectly fine.
The young female superintendent's mind was instantly filled with many wonderful... ah, no, terrible images.
She looked at Su Yuzu. "Miss Yuzu..."
"Hm?" Su Yuzu tilted her head.
"Do you need us to replace the curtains for you?"
"Rest assured, when it comes to restoring a scene... ah, no, I mean, tidying up a home, we're quite skilled."
As part of the Investigation Bureau, the Fourth Action Division did often handle tasks like restoring a battle site to its pre-combat state after a fight with Aberrants.
"Oh, well..." Su Yuzu's expression was one of pleasant surprise. She sincerely clasped her hands together. "Then I'll be counting on you, sister."
Great, that saves a lot of money.
Thump, thump—
Gazing into the girl's crimson eyes.
For a moment, the young female superintendent seemed to understand... just what that hesitant, tongue-tied look her superior always had when mentioning Su Yuzu was all about.
"No... it's my superior who has troubled you."
"? ¿ ?" A row of question marks suddenly appeared above Su Yuzu's head.
She looked at the young woman, who had an apologetic expression that screamed 'I've let my imagination run wild'.
This woman... has she been imagining something outrageous?
This isn't some weird 'battle' scene, hey!!!
-
-
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Keigunen Private Academy school hospital, third floor.
A room that was a bit small, but impeccably clean.
The air was filled with the distinct smell of hospital disinfectant.
Sunlight streamed through the blinds.
It passed through the vibrant leaves of a potted plant on the windowsill, leaving warm speckles of light on the girl's snow-white sheets.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi was curled up on her side, her beautiful crimson eyes staring blankly at the leaves of the potted plant.
The sounds outside the hospital room were noisy, but... they seemed to have nothing to do with her.
In her daze, the girl looked like an exquisite doll.
She had been found by a passerby on the side of the road where the incident occurred.
At that time, the girl... looked miserable, like a drowned rat just pulled from the water. Her body had almost completely lost its warmth, and her breathing and heartbeat were so faint she might as well have been dead.
But she was lucky—
Keigunen Private Academy's hospital was one of the few school hospitals equipped with a "Medical Unit" and an emergency medical pod.
Although a single "Medical Unit" was so expensive it was equivalent to ten years' salary for a veteran teacher like Unohana Chiyo.
But... as long as there was a breath left, the "Medical Unit" could pull the injured back from the brink of death.
Besides, for the Soga family... a "Medical Unit" wasn't considered particularly expensive.
Outside the room, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's father was in a standoff with Kujou Katora.
Only then did Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi realize... that the short-haired, scarlet-eyed woman by Su Yuzu's side...
Was not some bodyguard or guard sent by the main Soga family to protect Su Yuzu.
But... something far more terrifying, a hound of the Empire—
Senior Superintendent of the Investigation Bureau's Fourth Action Division, Kujou Katora.
That infamous madwoman.
That was far more terrifying than any bodyguard from the main Soga family.
The thought of nearly defying Kujou Katora sent a chill down Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's spine.
She bit her lip lightly.
Just yesterday, she had been thinking about making her Father feel a little bit guilty, a little bit remorseful, by letting herself get cold, hungry, and sick.
A tiny sense of victory would have made her feel triumphant.
But... now that she had faced death, survived a disaster, and seen her Father, who looked as if his hair had grayed considerably overnight...
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi felt an infinite guilt welling up in her heart.
She... shouldn't have thrown a rich girl's tantrum.
Shouldn't have disobeyed her Father and gone to provoke Su Yuzu.
At the sudden mention of that name, the girl's body curled up, and a flicker of terror and... Shame appeared in her shrinking crimson eyes.
Huddled under the covers, she gently pulled open the collar of her gown.
Beneath the collar... on the girl's milky-white skin, a thin, blood-red line glowed faintly.
It stretched from the hollow of her collarbones all the way down to her lower abdomen.
That thin, luminous line and her long hair, which had at some point lost its dye and returned to its beautiful black color, all reminded Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi...
That the nightmare she'd had last night... was no simple dream.
It was a fact that had already happened.
She had truly Fallen... been tainted... and degenerated into an Aberrant.
An incurable Second Sequence Aberrant, at that.
But... what made Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi tremble even more than the fall itself was what happened afterward.
Su Yuzu, sitting naked... on a pitch-black throne, had given her a demonic smile.
"I'm hungry."
Powerless to resist... she was pinned by her wrists and ankles by the thorns that spread from behind her.
She could only watch as Su Yuzu smiled, embraced her... and ate the Aberrant Crystal from her body, bite... by bite.
Who's the real Aberrant here!
Fear and Shame spread through her heart simultaneously. Just recalling it made Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi tremble, her legs shaking as if on the verge of collapse.
And yet... as the Aberrant nightmare in her own dream, she didn't even have the ability to faint, and could even perceive everything in the dream with perfect clarity from every sensory angle.
In the end, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi could only stare blankly at the sky, letting those crimson eyes burn themselves into her heart.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi swore an oath.
She never wanted to see Su Yuzu again in her life.
From now on... no matter what, she would stay far, far away from Su Yuzu.
Just then—
Creeak... The door to the hospital room opened.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi heard her Father's voice. "Kiyomi... look who's come to see you."
Almost bashfully, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi hurriedly closed her gown and turned her head.
Just in time to see a girl in a short dress standing gracefully in the sunlight.
The girl's short hair was playful, and her crimson eyes seemed to hold a captivating magic.
She exuded a charm that transcended gender.
But... she was Su Yuzu.
"Guh..." Just looking at Su Yuzu's smiling face, identical to the one in her dream, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi felt like she was about to break.
A mournful whimper squeezed from her throat.
"Just kill me!"
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