The poor little kitten was crying so miserably.
Su Yuzu extended a hand toward Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
Subconsciously, she desperately wanted to resist.
But... both her body and mind had already obediently drawn closer.
Just as she had been taught in last night's dream.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi gently nuzzled the back of Su Yuzu's hand.
Su Yuzu confirmed a few things.
"You still remember what happened last night, don't you?"
Her tone was almost certain.
Su Yuzu glanced at the door.
The soundproofing in the school hospital wasn't all that great.
Otherwise, the girl wouldn't have found the outside world so noisy before.
For a Third Sequence Esper like Kujou Katora or Soga Ishikawa Irube,
if they wanted to, they could easily hear every little sound inside the room with perfect clarity.
So... Su Yuzu's words were a little vague.
Whether it was Kujou Katora or Soga Ishikawa Irube, hearing Su Yuzu's question would only make them think she was asking about the Aberrant cult's attack.
But... Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi understood.
Su Yuzu was talking about how she had transformed into an Aberrant and attacked her, and... everything that happened afterward.
She nodded pitifully.
It was her fault for wanting to attack Su Yuzu.
If Su Yuzu didn't have the 'Dominator's Aegis' or her protective cheat ability, she might have really been killed by the nightmare, never to wake up.
But... she had already been punished enough.
She didn't know what else Su Yuzu wanted her to do.
She didn't know how much more she had to do.
Gently pressing Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's shoulders, Su Yuzu, under the girl's terrified yet submissive gaze, 'unfurled' the girl's curled-up body and 'tucked' her back into the bedding.
As if treating a normal patient, Su Yuzu helped Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi pull up the covers.
Since Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi remembered... well, some questions didn't need to be asked in such a hurry.
Su Yuzu decided to ask about something else first.
A question that she, Kujou Katora, and Soga Ishikawa Irube were all concerned about.
"What happened after I went back to my dorm?"
Outside the hospital room, everyone's ears perked up.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi shrank back.
Looking at Su Yuzu's smiling face, forget arrogance—the girl was so obedient that not a single shred of defiance could rise within her.
In the dream... she had thoroughly learned the consequences of resistance.
"I... I left the school."
"I took a taxi to go home."
Outside the room, Kujou Katora's brows furrowed.
The wrecked taxi had already been recovered.
The driver died at the scene.
On his body, they had indeed found the 'Eye of Insight' cult's signature black-and-purple eye-shaped totem.
Bit by bit... Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi confessed everything.
"That driver seemed to be a member of some evil cult."
"He asked if I resented you..." As she said this, the girl looked miserably and nervously at Su Yuzu's reaction.
As if terrified that Su Yuzu would get angry because of her answer.
"He said..."
"he could grant me the power to get revenge on you."
"A power originating from the world's very beginning, a power that could glimpse the world's true nature."
In her heart, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi had already cursed that man ten thousand times over.
Glimpse the world's true nature, my ass.
Before that terrifying, pitch-black throne, her own mental domain had been forcibly pried open, and even her Nightmare Singer form couldn't escape.
Even now... it felt as if black thorns were still growing wild in her mental domain, leaving behind a citrus-like fragrance.
"I..."
"I refused him right then and there!" she hastily added.
Outside, any sense of unease Soga Ishikawa Irube had felt due to the girl's tearful state was erased.
"See!"
"Look, it's just as I thought."
"Little Kiyomi refused him on the spot."
"Then he got angry... and started driving recklessly."
"I tried to use my ability to stop him, but the car crashed into the sea."
"And after that..." Her small, soft toes curled as her crimson eyes, tinged with a hint of orange, glanced tentatively at Su Yuzu.
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi knew.
The fact that she had fallen and become an Aberrant must never be known by anyone else.
And moreover... the fact that she was only freed from aberration because Su Yuzu had... devoured her aberrant regalia, piece by piece, was a secret she had to take to her grave.
"You already know the rest."
Su Yuzu nodded, indicating she understood. "Can you remember any other clues?"
"About that driver."
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi recalled, "I saw an eye on the chest of his clothes."
"A... black-and-purple eye."
"Can you draw it?" Su Yuzu asked Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
The girl nodded repeatedly, terrified of displeasing Su Yuzu.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi said, "Oh, right... his equipment too."
"Equipment?"
"Yes." The girl lifted her head with a hint of pride. "He might have known beforehand that my ability was Mental Interference."
"So he prepared equipment meant for mental-type Espers to resist my ability."
"But he didn't expect... that my ability is actually Wide-Area Mental Interference." The girl, who had been feeling proud, suddenly couldn't feel proud anymore after seeing Su Yuzu's beaming smile.
Su Yuzu didn't know her real ability either.
But she still effortlessly crushed her, twice.
"That kind of equipment is special."
"It's not something you can just buy anywhere."
"I can find the model of that equipment. Using that lead, we might find some clues." Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi truly hated those evil cultists to the bone.
Her pitiful eyes gazed at Su Yuzu, her heart filled with grief.
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
Besides understanding that an invisible collar had appeared around her neck, with its chain held in the hands of the girl before her,
there was another point... an Esper who returns from aberration.
With the sole exception of the 'Seat of Evil,' their abilities were, without exception, locked at the level they were at during their aberration.
The girl was a proud black swan.
Her ability had once been her greatest asset, her source of pride.
But now... she had nothing left.
Because of that terrifying pitch-black throne and its piercing thorns,
she didn't even have the capacity to resent Su Yuzu.
She could only despise the 'Eye of Insight' over and over again.
"Oh... right," she added with a sob.
"That man suddenly got very agitated after I mentioned 'rats.'"
"Rats?" In a daze, Su Yuzu suddenly thought of someone.
In the game.
Soga Yura's combat lines, her derogatory term for cannon fodder was... 'rats.'
This... couldn't possibly be related to her, could it?
"Get some rest," Su Yuzu comforted Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.
She watched the girl's unending tears.
Having gained a deep understanding of Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, Su Yuzu knew exactly what was causing that look of utter despair in the girl's eyes.
She said softly, "By the way..."
"Kiyomi, have you heard?"
"A few days ago, your kouhai, Mihou Sakai, was also attacked by the 'Eye of Insight' and underwent aberration..."
"It seems she recently managed to break through and enter the First Sequence."
Thump thump—
Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi stared at Su Yuzu, dumbfounded.
In her crimson eyes, tinged with a hint of orange, a light of hope seemed to shine once more.
More than anyone, she knew and yearned for... the meaning behind Su Yuzu's words.
"Oh, what the hell..." Looking at the girl's miserable state, Su Yuzu tapped 'Confirm.'
[Ding ding ding ding ding!]
[★★★★★]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new Operator: Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi.]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new achievement: Sailing the Abyss.]
[...]
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on Patreon. with 50 advanced chapters available on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/GirlsLove1